A woman who does a one-night stand with a guy picked up in a bar is likewise selling herself, her soul, and her own integrity - the only difference is that she winds up with less money, instead of more money, than she started with.
You're confusing prostitution, the symptom, with the much more expansive disease of the cheapening and debasing of sexual relations. The "hedonism" is not on my part, it's on the part of people who engage in casual, meaningless sex regardless of whether or not they're fairly compensated for it.
The pimps take half the earnings because of the ban - because the women can't organize or sue for a better compensation schedule because they face criminal charges if they try it.
What would result in better protection for women? Licensing, regulation, and avenues of legal recourse, or continuing the mafia-controlled, pimp-managed status quo?
Death penalty for pimps and madams. That'll take care of the status quo.