It is difficult to say. In Thailand, prostitution has been institutionalized for 40 years now. No longer is there really any way of keeping track. In the 1990s and early in 2000, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Greece, Germany and The Netherlands legalized prostitution, thinking that this would protect women and that by regulating prostitution, it would no longer be controlled by organized crime. At the present time, municipal authorities in Amsterdam are questioning the very existence of the city's red light distinct, because people have realized that organized crime has even tighter control there than before.
Canada is a country where Canadian citizens engage in sex tourism, but it is also a country that attracts pedosexual tourists. The cities of Vancouver and Toronto are know for their “kiddie strolls” which attract sex tourists. There are newspapers in Vancouver which publish the best addresses for pedosexual tourists and that are funded by the Canadian government through tax measures.
For some years now, people have been assessing the connection between what might be called the trivialization or standardization of prostitution -- including within our society, particularly through the belief, as expressed by some, that it is a job like any other job -- and phenomena such as the oversexualization of young girls and early sexualization. So, the connections are now being made.
I would just like to say as well that in Canada, there has been no inquiry into the sex industries, and particularly pornography and the effects of using pornography, since 1985, and the work of the Badgley and Fraser commissions. Pornography exploded in the 1990s. In a way, it is a kind of propaganda in favour of prostitution. There has been no inquiry into the effects of pornography on people, and even less so on young people. I have done a survey, which will have to continue, but we already know that young people start to using pornography around the age of 12 or 13, on average -- in other words, even before they have reached sexual maturity.
How does that influence their vision of the world? What impact does it have on their relationship with their body, their relationship with their sexuality and the fact that it is normal to be able to buy sex from a woman. We don't yet know much about this, but there is a need to do more research on the topic. Of course, if we are just talking about sex work, there is no need to do any research; all that is needed is better enforcement of labour laws.