>>If prostitution is bad (which I agree with, though probably for different reasons than the most), wouldn't the simplest way to make it vanish be to cut the demand? With no market, this industry wouldn't exist. Is there any religion around here which tries to use this approach?

>I doubt it matters much. You can attack the supply or the demand side, but all that will happen is that the transaction will be driven further underground, making it both more dangerous and more expensive. When there are enough people demanding and enough people supplying, I don't think there is any practical way to stop the transactions. The only real hope imho is to legitimise it, regulate it, and tax it.

Attacking both sides and submitting them to same treatment (i.e. they get into the same holding cells, where they can even complete the transaction if it was interrupted) would be a way to at least keep the numbers low. As long as customers know that they're safe from both police and serial killers, they don't have to think of anything but price (and probability of getting mugged while at it). If they knew they'd be getting a criminal record, they'd think twice.

There's an alternative: opensource it. When anyone can have it for free, there'll be no viable market.

>I'm having trouble coming up with any frowned upon area of society in which there is willing supply and willing demand, where any attempts to stop it have been successful.

Like smuggling - as long as there's borders, there'll be contraband. Stricter control only raises profits per unit.