Brothels in The Suburbs

Their research brought a strong reaction from Clare Phillipson, the director of Wearside Women in Need, who was incensed at the comment.

‘I think that this whole exercise is utterly repellant.  There is no evidence whatsoever that prostitution is the oldest profession and if it is, it just reinforces the fact that women have always been abused and used for their bodies.

‘I am totally opposed to the legalisation of prostitution in the same as the legalisation of heroin.  The sex industry of which prostitution is only a small part is extremely destructive, not only to women but to our whole society.

‘We would like to see pornography stamped as we do hard drugs.

‘There’s always the argument that prostitutes reduce sex attacks on women.  We would argue that opposite, that prostitution puts all women in danger

‘There is no absolute right for men to have their sexual needs met.’

After studying the website, the academics analysed the prices paid for the range of services and estimated that the gross earnings of prostitution to be about £770million a year.

‘As economists we are interested in the way that the market operates,’ said Dr Moffatt.  ‘This area has never been studied before because as a black market, it was impossible to get reliable market research.  There are features of it that are quite unique which makes it a very interesting area to study.’

There findings show that working girls earned most during their younger years, reaching their peak at about 19 years 3 months.  However the field reports indicated that clients gave the older prostitutes, especially those at the ideal age of 30½ far higher marks for the quality of their service and performance.

Other facts that emerged were that hotel visits tended to be 80% more expensive than clients visiting the girl in her own establishment.  That London, apart from the Soho district, is a third dearer than the rest of the UK.

The less attractive girls had a tendency to charge clients 15% more as they are less likely to have repeat visits.  Prostitutes who are aged 30 and above are more likely to attract repeat business while the 20 year old girls tended to charge the highest prices.

The price of business is dictated primary by the duration of the visit with the nature of the sex acts requested by the client having surprisingly little impact on the fee.

‘The government may the interested in the extend of income flow from what is primary a black economy service,’ said Dr Moffatt.

The legalisation of prostitution along with the required medical checks could go a long way in containing many of the sexually transmitted diseases though little can be done about the girls who sell their bodies for their next drug fix.