I can't see a real cause and effect though. Reducing penalties or legalizing some forms don't necessarily mean that violence towards prostitutes will be eradicated. For once, I think the 'women's empowerment' crowd are actually on to the right thing.

I can't find any statistics at the moment but there's a significantly high proportion of prostitutes with severe emotional issues. I'm not talking functional either, like sectioned, messiah seeing crazy. With meds and a large amount of treatment they could be functional but they must be removed from the environment completely. I'd say legalizing will actually make getting that kind of support for prostitutes more difficult. Once something like that is in the mainstream, I think people will lose a lot of their sympathy.

Personally, I don't really have a problem with prostitution itself. I doubt it's fundamentally about sexual release for repeat customers. I think there's a certain type of control/power fetish happening.