5: Does Legislating Sex Work?

Recently, a debate developed among some scholars about whether the law affects outcomes related to sex work or fails to do so entirely. Weitzer (2017) argued against researchers with relativistic positions vis-à-vis any attempt to regulate sex markets. This debate may be partially rooted in the century-old conceptual distinction between ‘law in the books’ and ‘law in action’ (Pound, 1910). The least one can say is that the law does not linearly translate into changes in society. Many mechanisms and potential moderators dictate whether a law changes the situation in the regulated area, and in which direction this effect goes.