MANY view prostitution policy as a means to combat violence against women. This is, in fact,
true for those who oppose prostitution and also for those who advocate legalizing it. Unlike
the question of whether commercial trade of sex is per se immoral, everyone agrees that
violence against women, or anyone else, for that matter, should be prevented. However,
there is disagreement about what constitutes violence and whether, or which, laws are
effective in curbing it. To start with, there are various forms of violence. Which of these forms …

This chapter explores three issues in prostitution markets and their implications for
prostitution law: bargaining, coercion, and entry. The discussion is organized around three
different views on violence: prostitution as a product of violence, voluntary entry into
prostitution markets, and transactional coercion. The chapter pays special attention to
transactional coercion, which acknowledges the fact that violence against prostitutes is not
restricted to pimps and traffickers. A simple model of bargaining and coercion in prostitution …