The world's oldest profession gets an alibi

I was quite interested to read an article the other day about businesses which provide alibis/ alternate identities for prostitutes in Japan.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-21/businesses-sell-alibis-to-japanese-sex-workers/4023420

While Japan, the land which invented used-underpant vending-machines, is perhaps the mecca of all things odd, I got to thinking about the cultures which create the market for alibi-creation agencies.

Prostitution is an industry which is met with a wide range of reactions, from disgust and outrage, to acceptance of it as a service to a market all the way to the other end of the spectrum and opinions such as I was once offered: "If you take a girl on a date and go to dinner or a movie you spend so much time and money... at least with a hooker you know you'll get sex, and don't have to waste time on conversation etc".

With such a range of attitudes and opinions you would think that sex workers would face some criticism and discrimination along the way, but, like anyone, could eventually find someone who accepted and loved them and their profession, if that's what they want. I know some health workers in Australia who frequently perform health checks on sex workers (as is required by law in most states), and report that many are married, often with children, and aside from their profession, live relatively banale lives in the suburbs with mortgages, as with the rest of us.

The creation of a service which makes fake workplace documents, answering services, business cards is undeniably creative genius, but its somewhat worrying that its required or desired at all. If these women (as it states in the article, though certainly there would also be males sex workers in the industry, and presumably accessing the alibi service) are in a situation where they feel they have to be dishonest to their partners and families, it generates risk to all involved. Would the initial shock about a partners career be any worse than having discovered they've been lieing about it for years, or even decades?

By trying to hide what their real job is, it means any suspected STIs would be less likely to be identified and treated before any harm was done, and condom use or other strategies to prevent infection with a long term/ regular partner are less likely to be initiated.

Does it come down to the stigma associated with non-monogamous sex, or is it about trust in relationships? Perhaps a combination of both, and a lot more factors? My own discomfort with prostitution lies mostly in women being treated as products or services instead of human beings, and that conservative laws stop the industry from being properly regulated, making it safer for workers and clients alike. By keeping sex work underground and illicit, it increaes the risk of unsafe sex occurring, and drug users and desperate people exploiting or being exploited for money.