When Eleanor Roosevelt read a convention paper on sex-work to the United Nations in 1949, she added herself to the list of endorsers of a prostitutes' rights movement which would fight on for decades to come. The leaders in most of the rest of the world, undoubtedly recognized not only the vast waste of resources necessary to punish prostitutes, but also that the rights of all women are contingent upon the rights of those most vulnerable in society. Compare the repressive U.S. situation with the long history of openness and acceptance of sexuality as natural in Thailand. The situation is much more complicated than what I've addressed, but I feel there are good cultural reasons why American women are so uptight and fear both sexuality and intimacy compared to women raised in most other more open cultures. Not all U.S. women are cold, there are fine exceptions, they are just rare in my experience and from reading others reviews for the last two decades on new groups, discussion lists etc.
Studies suggest the more sexually repressive the culture, the more violent the culture tends to be.
This makes sense since sexual frustration unfulfilled can lead to unwanted sexual aggression. In Phoenix I've read news reports of murders of escorts who were rip offs by frustrated men. I monitor the Phoenix police radio, and often hear calls to assist a provider in a dispute. Massage Parlors have panic alarms for which I often hear police responding to. There have been murders of massage providers, rapes etc, probably out of sexual frustration since you can't easily find professional, legal sexworkers as you can in most of the world.