I've actually been reading up a bit on the subject out of interest today. It appears that the issue of emotion also comes into play. ie: prostitution is seen as sexual acts performed for immediate gain, with no emotional attachment.

That means that lap dancing is technically a more serious offence than paid penetrative sex with someone you really like.

Also, fredfudpucker is bang on target. What is an indecent act? Jacking off in public is an indecent act, but doing it in private isn't. So why is it illegal to get a handjob in a private place where no-one else is apart from two consenting adults?

And the fine is R1000 if you get caught

Anyway, how do you prove what happened between two (or more) consenting adults in private?

The fine is R1000 for who? The client or the prostitute? Surely it also involves going to court, public records etc?

That is why escorts get away with it... Not getting paid for sex, but for companionship.

Anyway - regarding 'Indecent Acts : ?Something is indecent if it offends against recognised standards of decency. The applicable standards are those of the ordinary reasonable member of contemporary society?. '

That is the whole problem of the definition - it is vague and based on personal bias. For the typical Afrikaans housewife an indecent act could be thinking about having sex with the lights turned on.

For a liberal European immigrant it might be having sex with an animal. It is all relative....

Hey NG

I'm an 'ordinary reasonable member of contemporary society'!
And my standards would accept wanking while looking
at a naked Woman (not a male mind... that definitely be below standard!) as long as she was a turn on for me.....

That is an easy one. Try it and try to get caught. If they catch you you know you are not an ordinary member of contemporary society!!

As far as I'm concerned, what happens between consenting adults cannot be considered as indecent. It only becomes indecent when it involves a non-consenting adult, a child, or an animal.

Well said R.L. I am in agreement. As long as you both
(sometimes all !! NG) consent then it's okay ! :)

You are all funny...

The fine is for the client. If you don't pay, then there is court, etc.

The chance that you will be caught at a girl working from a private house is very small. They focus on street workers and clubs. The police canvas the streets and raid clubs. It will obviously not be worth their while to raid a house with only one or two clients inside, if they could rather raid a club with 50+ clients inside. And they are overworked and underpaid, so my guess is raids doesn't happen that often.

As for the 'Indecent Acts' - when this law came into existence, the average person was Afrikaans boere tannies (1957) - so you could take it that the law looks at it from that perspective, not the average horny male (which is 99.9% of our population) that walks the streets. Sorry guys, if you don't get an openminded policeman/women on the day that you get caught, a lapdance will cause you a fine.