The word ‘prostitute’ has a very negative connotation in today’s world. Society often stigmatizes prostitutes, painting them as either victims that need to be protected, or immoral women who sell their bodies to the highest bidder. People fail to view sex workers as people with rights and agency, and instead view criminalization of prostitution as a measure that will slow down the industry to a halt.  
Prostitution is illegal in most countries around the world; however, these measures do not decrease the numbers of prostitutes working. Laws and regulations instead push this industry into the underbelly, creating a frightening reality for the people who work as sex workers, who face violence and abuses of their rights. They are displaced to more dangerous and violent locations and forced to forgo most safety measures, such as screening clients for STDs or using condoms. To avoid arrest or further abuse at the hands of police, sex workers may be unwilling to report crimes committed against them, or other rights violations. The stark reality is that sex workers face several systematic barriers through criminalization, such as surveillance, incarceration, lack of safety, and difficulty seeking justice, that make providing for themselves and their families much harder. To protect the rights, health, and safety of sex workers, prostitution must be decriminalized. 
Decriminalizing sex work will be effective in helping establishing safety standards for sex workers, which will protect their health, safety, and human rights. Laws that criminalize sex work, discrimination, and stigma, have been shown to increase risks of violence for sex workers to an amount that 45% to 75% of adult female sex workers admitting that they have been assaulted or abused at some point. According to UNAIDS, decriminalizing sex work could avoid between 33% to 46% of HIV infections of sex workers. When sex workers are forced to work in secret, it is much harder for them to seek healthcare services or negotiate safe sex practices with clients. They may even be afraid to carry condoms around, as in some places, they can be used as evidence against them. Only when sex work is decriminalized and treated as real work can safety standards be established, which will be more effective in protecting the rights and health of women than practices that solely forbid their only source of income. 
If nothing changes, women will continue to face higher rates of violence, both at the hands of clients or police, and be vulnerable because reporting it often means getting arrested. The Sex Workers Advocacy and Rights Network, which incorporates 18 countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, where sex work is criminalized, found 280 cases of violence against sex workers out of the 301 people surveyed. One out of five of them said that they had faced physical violence from the police. Laws that criminalize sex work cannot claim to protect sex workers when they encourage more violence and often lead to police officers perpetrating it themselves. 
One might argue that decriminalizing sex work will only make it easier for women to be taken advantage of, when traffickers transform from dangerous criminals to businessmen, and brothels become fully legal. This argument, however, ignores the fact that decriminalization can take many forms, with notable examples showing an emphasis on the protection of women. However, decriminalization does not have to fit a single mold. Already, countries are trying out different policies that seek to protect sex workers, some more effective than others, but all an improvement over complete criminalization. In Sweden, a new policy attempts to target the demand, by making selling sex legal, but buying it illegal. Goals of this were to help grow the agency of sex workers, reduce demand, and decrease the exploitation of women. This law also encourages people in the sex industry to leave it, as they know there are no criminal repercussions from being involved in the first place. The Swedish government has since administered an evaluation of this policy and its effects, and has stated that laws have deterred sex trafficking, street prostitution, and have decreased the demand hugely. Street prostitution has decreased by more than 50%. If done right, decriminalization can work to protect vulnerable women in the industry, increase health and safety regulations, decrease demand for sex work, and offer women an exit strategy. 
Criminalization of sex work does little to protect women, and instead makes them more vulnerable, when they are put in a position where they must keep their livelihood secret at any cost. Being arrested often means shame and humiliation, further assault at the hands of the police, and a criminal record that might make it even harder for them to escape the sex industry. A world where no one is forced to prostitute themselves would be ideal, but that is a far-off fantasy. The best thing we can do is to ensure women in the sex industry maintain their health, safety, and dignity, which cannot be done with oppressive laws that shame and punish rather than protect the vulnerable in our society.