Dr Toni Abela, in his customary style, has re-ignited a debate that in more ways than one has been making the rounds for quite some time, namely that of regularizing brothels. 
Dr Abela during last Saturday's Ghandi xi Nghid endeavored to push forward this issue for public scrutiny, probably in view of his own experience as a lawyer who is asked to advocate on behalf of sex workers.
www.independent.com.mt in its article, 'Leading criminal lawyers feel  it is 'high time' prostitution and brothels are regularized', collates the comments and reactions of some of the top 'criminal' lawyers in Malta.  But what tickled my attention was the reaction of Dr Philip Carabott, director of the Genito-Urinary (GU) Clinic, an expert in Sexually Transmitted Diseases and an avid promoter of sexual education, where essentially he appeals that such a debate should not be simplified into nothingness.
If truth be told I agree with him on most of what he said in this interview.  On my part I still have to fathom the arguments that such regularization will contribute in resolving this predicament.  I think that such a debate is complex and needs to be grounded within a culture, a socio-political context, a historical milieu, religious tradition, and a debate around human rights. 
That is why I would like to invite you to reflect on the following issues before going for a'naqbel - ma naqbilx' standpoint. 
 
1.             Whilst regularizing this industry has its benefits, health and safety probably being the main, isn't there a danger that this industry will be going underground knowing that 'pimps' are the main financial beneficiaries of this trade who would be unwilling to let go? If we don't have illegal brothels and instead have legal ones, doesn't that still imply that some sort of 'pimp', oh sorry, 'manager', will have to take on this role in the 'house of pleasures'?
2.             Will 'controlling' the activity resolve in the main the innumerable instances of exploitation, abuse and violence on women (who are the largest, by far, population of sex workers)?
3.             Will regulating brothels decrease this phenomenon being so lucrative a business, as claimed by a leading leisure entrepreneur himself?  Wouldn't this lead towards having a spike in the amount of people hitting the streets entrenched in illegal/not so glamorous prostitution?
4.             In what way will brothels affect the community as a whole or are we OK with alive and let live/f**k you, Jack, I'm all right approach?!
5.             Does having a modern neo-liberal society necessitate that what's good for the 'goose [becomes] good for the gander' in terms of how other countries choose to uphold their communities?
6.             Do we need to do any empirical research on the impact of criminalization, on the way such an attitude will affect negatively sex workers as compared with what the country gets in return?
7.             Have we consulted, (are we interested in) what women have to say about this?  (Let's face it, they are the ones that are the mainstay at the receiving end of this activity).
8.             Are we aware of how vulnerable and exposed to threats people are when providing such or similar sex related services? Has this been calculated in our argumentation?
9.             Have we really brought into the debate the issues that sex workers are closely contextualized with; violent relationships, vulnerability, poverty, child abuse, drug consumption, usury, amongst other - will regulating brothels resolve or increase these occurrences?
 
I'm not a bigot and to say the truth very much ready to accept that people should do as they please, but the main issue at play here is precisely  the fact that this is not just about 'individual choices' but about a wider context this situation might impinge on.
Whilst I think that Dr Abela and some others have done the right thing in raising this issue and bringing it to the fore, yet we cannot have simplistic knee-jerk decision-making on such a multifaceted matter that doesn't only affect the individual but also the revere of our communities.
This debate must be spurned by what sex workers narrate, what civil society (employers, unions, associations) contemplate, what professionals like social workers, youth workers and psychologists have to say, what moralists, philosophers and historians believe, what lawyers, medical professionals, legislators and politicians assume, what the general populace mull over ....and then, slowly and gently we can wind up.
Let's discuss further.  
Andrew Azzopardi presents Ghandi xi Nghid and lectures at the University of Malta