Helen Mirren's vice plan

Apr 3, 2008, 10:20 GMT

British actress Helen Mirren arrives at the 80th annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA, 24 February 2008. The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Dame Helen Mirren thinks prostitution should be legalized.

'The Queen' actress - who recently finished filming new movie 'Love Ranch', which tells the story of the first brothel - says sex trafficking would be reduced if women were allowed to charge for sex.

She said: "I definitely think legal prostitution is the way to go, given the awful, horrendous trafficking of women and the danger of girls being out on the street, so vulnerable to pimps and 'johns'.

"In a legal brothel, they're licensed, they're protected, and the men who use them are protected because they know the girls have to be medically checked every week."

Helen - who is widely considered to be one of Hollywood's sexiest older women - also doesn't think she has lost any of her sex appeal as she has aged.

The 62-year-old star added to Time magazine: "I don't think women do lose their so-called sex appeal. It just shifts into a different arena. "There's no question, you know - full on sex appeal is for the young - it is. That's nature. And so it should be. But older men and older women, when they say sex appeal I don't think they really mean sex.

"I think they're talking about some indefinable thing that has to do with appreciation of life, wisdom, and all kinds of things. There should be a special word for it."

(C) BANG Media International