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| Should the UK make buying sex illegal? | Should the UK make buying sex illegal? |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Joan Smith: Address the imbalance at the heart of prostitution | Joan Smith: Address the imbalance at the heart of prostitution |
| Caroline Spelman is brave. The Conservative MP and former cabinet minister has called on the UK to consider adopting the Nordic model of dealing with prostitution, which criminalises the purchase of sex while removing penalties from those who sell it. Spelman is right to call for a debate in this country: the British government cannot sit out on the crucially important discussion about this new approach to prostitution. | Caroline Spelman is brave. The Conservative MP and former cabinet minister has called on the UK to consider adopting the Nordic model of dealing with prostitution, which criminalises the purchase of sex while removing penalties from those who sell it. Spelman is right to call for a debate in this country: the British government cannot sit out on the crucially important discussion about this new approach to prostitution. |
| Sweden led the way a decade and a half ago, and Norway and Iceland followed suit. France is in the process of changing its legislation and the law is under review in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada and Finland. Earlier this year, the European parliament voted by a large majority in favour of the Nordic model, following a report from the committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. The resolution is non-binding, but puts pressure on members to review their own laws. | Sweden led the way a decade and a half ago, and Norway and Iceland followed suit. France is in the process of changing its legislation and the law is under review in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada and Finland. Earlier this year, the European parliament voted by a large majority in favour of the Nordic model, following a report from the committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. The resolution is non-binding, but puts pressure on members to review their own laws. |
| Selling women is hugely profitable. As Spelman is no doubt finding out, supporters of the commercial sex industry hate advocates of the Nordic model a great deal more than punters who abuse women. In the end, it doesn't matter much because we are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime shift in the way people think about allowing men to pay to use women's bodies. | Selling women is hugely profitable. As Spelman is no doubt finding out, supporters of the commercial sex industry hate advocates of the Nordic model a great deal more than punters who abuse women. In the end, it doesn't matter much because we are in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime shift in the way people think about allowing men to pay to use women's bodies. |
| One of the reasons for this is a paradox. In western countries, it has never been easier to get sex outside marriage. If prostitution really were about nothing more than meeting the supposed needs of unmarried men, it would have died out years ago. The opposite has happened, especially in countries where legislators have decided to decriminalise prostitution. Germany has so many women working in the commercial sex trade that The Economist recently described it as a "giant Teutonic brothel". The magazine estimates that about 400,000 women in Germany are sex workers, providing sex to 1 million men every day. | One of the reasons for this is a paradox. In western countries, it has never been easier to get sex outside marriage. If prostitution really were about nothing more than meeting the supposed needs of unmarried men, it would have died out years ago. The opposite has happened, especially in countries where legislators have decided to decriminalise prostitution. Germany has so many women working in the commercial sex trade that The Economist recently described it as a "giant Teutonic brothel". The magazine estimates that about 400,000 women in Germany are sex workers, providing sex to 1 million men every day. |
| Even in 21st-century Europe, men have more economic and social power than women. The imbalance at the heart of prostitution makes a mockery of modern notions of gender equality, encouraging boys to grow up with the idea that women occupy a subordinate role. No one forces men to abuse prostituted women; if the trade is just about sex, it is hard to explain why studies consistently show such high levels of physical and verbal abuse. | Even in 21st-century Europe, men have more economic and social power than women. The imbalance at the heart of prostitution makes a mockery of modern notions of gender equality, encouraging boys to grow up with the idea that women occupy a subordinate role. No one forces men to abuse prostituted women; if the trade is just about sex, it is hard to explain why studies consistently show such high levels of physical and verbal abuse. |
| I suspect there is an inverse relationship between a vocal minority of women who wax lyrical about the joys of sex work, and the silent majority who hate every minute of it. We should listen more to survivors. Laws are meant to protect vulnerable people, not ensure that they are damaged in slightly more pleasant circumstances. | I suspect there is an inverse relationship between a vocal minority of women who wax lyrical about the joys of sex work, and the silent majority who hate every minute of it. We should listen more to survivors. Laws are meant to protect vulnerable people, not ensure that they are damaged in slightly more pleasant circumstances. |
| Joan Smith is a columnist, human rights activist and author of The Public Woman | Joan Smith is a columnist, human rights activist and author of The Public Woman |
| Melissa Gira Grant: Anti-sex work laws hurt the women they're meant to protect | Melissa Gira Grant: Anti-sex work laws hurt the women they're meant to protect |
| The vast majority of people who wish to prohibit prostitution through the rule of law have never sold sex, and the most vocal and informed majority of those who oppose anti-sex work laws are sex workers. In a society that truly valued the dignity and rights of sex workers, this would be enough, and such laws would be illegitimate. | |
| They know this, the anti-sex work campaigners who support the use of police surveillance, arrests, public shaming, fines and incarceration to bring about the end of the sex trade. Now they appeal to what they believe is a moral high ground: they don't revile sex work and sex workers; they only want to protect women, though it's not only women who sell sex. | They know this, the anti-sex work campaigners who support the use of police surveillance, arrests, public shaming, fines and incarceration to bring about the end of the sex trade. Now they appeal to what they believe is a moral high ground: they don't revile sex work and sex workers; they only want to protect women, though it's not only women who sell sex. |
| The European Women's Lobby, their MP allies, such as Spelman, and various anti-prostitution charities, have sensed correctly that criminalisation does not sound to most people like the kind of "protecting women" agenda they claim to support. So they have turned to a set of anti-prostitution laws adopted in Sweden and Norway, now termed "the Nordic model" and rebranded criminalisation as compassion. These laws, they say, will only apply to men who buy sex, and will help women out of the sex trade. But nowhere do these laws function as advertised. | The European Women's Lobby, their MP allies, such as Spelman, and various anti-prostitution charities, have sensed correctly that criminalisation does not sound to most people like the kind of "protecting women" agenda they claim to support. So they have turned to a set of anti-prostitution laws adopted in Sweden and Norway, now termed "the Nordic model" and rebranded criminalisation as compassion. These laws, they say, will only apply to men who buy sex, and will help women out of the sex trade. But nowhere do these laws function as advertised. |
| Though Sweden's anti-prostitution law is typically celebrated as a means of "ending demand" for commercial sex, it's proven to do no such thing. No meaningful data exists on the size and scope of Sweden's sex trade before their anti-prostitution law was adopted in 1999, and according to Swedish law enforcement, some sectors of the sex trade may even be expanding. | Though Sweden's anti-prostitution law is typically celebrated as a means of "ending demand" for commercial sex, it's proven to do no such thing. No meaningful data exists on the size and scope of Sweden's sex trade before their anti-prostitution law was adopted in 1999, and according to Swedish law enforcement, some sectors of the sex trade may even be expanding. |
| In Norway, also heralded as a success story by anti-sex work advocates, sex workers have faced evictions from their homes and working flats under Operation Homeless. This March, when three Nigerian sex workers in Norway were assaulted in their motel by men posing as customers, they sought help from the police – who then had the women deported. | In Norway, also heralded as a success story by anti-sex work advocates, sex workers have faced evictions from their homes and working flats under Operation Homeless. This March, when three Nigerian sex workers in Norway were assaulted in their motel by men posing as customers, they sought help from the police – who then had the women deported. |
| Criminal laws against commercial sex – like those in Sweden and Norway, as well as the United States – do not protect sex workers, and in reality, these laws expose them to violence. This is why they are opposed by Human Rights Watch, by the United Nation's Global Commission on HIV and the Law, and World Health Organisation. Amnesty International has proposed a policy supporting the full decriminalisation of sex work as a means of ensuring sex workers' human rights and, earlier this month, their UK membership voted to reject the Swedish-style criminalisation of sex work. | Criminal laws against commercial sex – like those in Sweden and Norway, as well as the United States – do not protect sex workers, and in reality, these laws expose them to violence. This is why they are opposed by Human Rights Watch, by the United Nation's Global Commission on HIV and the Law, and World Health Organisation. Amnesty International has proposed a policy supporting the full decriminalisation of sex work as a means of ensuring sex workers' human rights and, earlier this month, their UK membership voted to reject the Swedish-style criminalisation of sex work. |
| But most critically, it's the people most likely to face the consequences of these laws who oppose them: women who currently sell sex. Without their direction and expertise, not only will these debates over their own lives be meaningless, but they will also be very dangerous. | But most critically, it's the people most likely to face the consequences of these laws who oppose them: women who currently sell sex. Without their direction and expertise, not only will these debates over their own lives be meaningless, but they will also be very dangerous. |
| Melissa Gira Grant is the author of Playing the Whore: the Work of Sex Work | Melissa Gira Grant is the author of Playing the Whore: the Work of Sex Work |
| • This article was amended on 23 April 2014. The original version stated, "the overwhelming majority of those who oppose anti-sex work laws are sex workers". It now says, "the most vocal and informed majority of those who oppose anti-sex work laws are sex workers". |
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