NGCOBO J [17] It was not suggested that prostitutes have no choice but to engage in prostitution. It was accepted that they have a choice but it was contended that the choice is limited or “constrained”. Once it is accepted that section 20(1)(aA) is gender neutral and that by engaging in commercial sex work prostitutes knowingly attract the stigma associated with prostitution, it can hardly be contended that female prostitutes are discriminated against on the basis of gender. I am not persuaded by the argument that gender discrimination exists simply because there are more female prostitutes than male prostitutes just as I would not be persuaded if the same argument were to be advanced by males accused of certain crimes, the great majority of which are committed by men. [18] In my view, a gender neutral provision which differentiates between the dealer and the customer, a distinction that is commonly made by statutes, and which is justifiable having regard to the qualitative difference between the conduct of the dealer and that of the customer, and which operates in the legal framework that punishes both the customer and the dealer and makes them liable to the same punishment, cannot be said to be discriminating on the basis of gender, simply because the majority of those who violate such a statute happen to be women. [19] In contending that section 20(1)(aA) discriminates unfairly against women, reliance was also placed upon the practice of the police and the prosecutors. It was contended that in practice only prostitutes are prosecuted and that customers are not. As pointed out earlier, a customer who engages in sex for a reward commits an offence at common law and in terms of the provisions of the Riotous Assemblies Act. What happens in practice may therefore point to a 10