Swedish model will fail UK sex workers
The government is considering proposals to prosecute men for buying sex; in this they are following the model of “vice control” used in Sweden.
Government statistics suggest that 85% of women in brothels are from outside the UK and whilst the people that bring these women into Britain are often prosecuted for trafficking, the men who pay for their services escape without charge. Eight years ago in Sweden legislation was passed so that the men who paid for sex would face criminal charges instead of the women selling it.
Other proposals being debated are the “naming and shaming” of men who buy sex through kerbcrawling, something which is already illegal in Britain.
But such reactions are not going to help the vulnerable women within the sex industry; in fact, they can actively endanger them. The Guardian on 10 September quoted Cari Mitchell, of the English Collection of Prostitutes, denying the theory that the Swedish model improves the conditions of women in the sex industry: “Criminalising clients forces prostitution further underground. Women have even less time to check out men fearful of arrest. Instead, women are pushed into more isolated, less well-lit areas where they are more vulnerable to attack. Whatever anyone thinks about men paying for sex, safety should be the priority.”
There are also reports of migrant sex workers in Sweden being arrested and simply deported. Alongside these concerns, the increased pressure on sex workers in terms of time per client and ability to be selective about clients decreases their agency in terms of negotiating safe sex and communicating about problematic clients. The measures increase the risks of sex work in these and many other areas. Safe, secure, legal and unionised environments are surely the only circumstances where sex workers can truly be safe and consider all these aspects of their work.
The criminalisation of clients is not a solution to the dangers of trafficking and prostitution and shouldn’t be considered as the only alternative to prosecuting the women who sell sex. Cari Mitchell goes on to highlight what should be addressed in the debates surrounding this issue: “poverty, debt, rape and domestic violence, lack of housing, cuts in benefits, and low wages in other occupations which force women into prostitution and which the government itself found in its review of the prostitution laws”.
By Heather Shaw
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Why would the government
Why would the government prosecute men for paying for sex when if you don't pay for sex and get it free it's not a crime. How is the man or women at fault for breaking any law what if a man buys a girl a gift after having sex and they are boyfriend/girlfriend isn't that the same thing as paying for sex? I've called london escorts many times and think it's no different then ordering out for food. Pay for delivery give them a tip and they are on their way.
In the vast majority of
In the vast majority of cases it clearly is very different from ordering out for food as sex workers often have to work in brutal conditions- made worse of course by illegality- and in a sexist society and culture that berates women for being sexually avialable and continually demands that they are at the same time. It's part of sexist opression- as perhaps evidenced by the previous poster's contrasting use of 'man' to 'girl'.
There is of course exploitation in any industry and takeaway staff are cruelly exploited-though not made illegal (except in the case of 'illegal' workers but ditto to a greater the sex industry).
Nor should this site be used to advertise any particular agency in my opinion. This link should I think be disabled by the administrators of this site as any indeed other commercial link should. [Edit: Ok done now- thanks.]
Permanent Revolution have undertaken some interesting work on prostitution and sex work where we support the organisation, including unionisation, of sex workers, decriminalisation- of both workers and users- and for workers' control of the industry.