There may well be a back-lash of sexual violence against women in Sweden as a result of the change in the laws, but that doesn’t justify an acceptance of prostitution. If the prostituted woman your putative ‘drunk on a night out’ would have gone to before was trafficked, or controlled by a pimp, that would have been rape as well.

Also, 30% of the victims are under 15, the only under 15’s your drunk is going to come into contact with after a night out are likely to be prostituted children, so your whole ‘drunk who just couldn’t control him self, but would have gone to a prostitute before’ scenario doesn’t really add up. That men rape because they ‘can’t control themselves’ is one of many rape myths perpetuated to let men who rape off the hook.

And isn’t one of the criticisms of the ‘Swedish model’ coming from you people that it doesn’t actually work, that there are just as many street workers now as there were before the law? So your drunk, then, must have just as many opportunities to pay for sex on the street now as before the change in the law.

Your use of examples of male prostitution and ‘high class’ dominatrix sex work is entirely a red herring, and proves nothing about the conditions or the subjective experience of the women who are used in ‘regular’ prostitution, especially those involved in street work, which I think we all can agree is the most dangerous form of prostitution; you may as well try to use the experiences of a Paris fashion designer to discuss the experiences of the workers in a third world sweat shop.

Interestingly, the BRA has another report up on its site, “Sex-linked human trafficking in Sweden mapped”

http://www.bra.se/extra/news/?module_instance=22&id=6

The summery on the web site includes the following paragraphs:

“One problem with sex-linked human trafficking is that many have a skewed picture of what it looks like, and therefore do not recognize the problem. Many think of visible violence, or of women locked up in flats. The reality is different, and the coercion is much more subtle. The sellers are keen to make the women appear as self-confident, independent businesswomen to the sex buyers, as the sellers know that the sex buyers would not like to participate in trafficking.

“The abuse is expressed in a different way. The women do not know the language, and cannot make themselves understood, they have no contact with Swedish society and they cannot find their way about, as they do not know where they are, they become indebted to the organizers and thus completely dependent on them”

To be honest, I think they’re being overly generous about the johns.

The full report is available on pdf:

http://www.bra.se/extra/faq/?module_instance=2&action=question_show&id=480&category_id=9

Are we expected to view the tanning of Max Mosley’s behind as as an instance of violence against women?

Is
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article2999703.ece
an instance of violence against women?

What of all the prostitution not involving women at all, some say as much as a fifth, is that violence against women?

Is it at least possible that some men in Sweden, having had too many lagers or whatever in an evening, who would otherwise have hired a street sex worker and had concensual sex for Kroner, turned to rape of a non-sex worker instead?

I would suggest this is at least possible, and may go some way to explaining the Swedish increase in reported rapes. No doubt other factors were at work too, but I think their sex industry law is at least a factor.

And that goes for “British red-blooded male” too.

Those who buy into the stock prediction that prostitution will be “driven underground” by laws targeting users should consider what life is like above ground for women in legal prostitution by looking at the Victoria (Aus) website that offers “Safety Tips For Escort Workers” http://www.sexworker.org.au/safetyinfo

Sweden’s experience is simply telling the truth reflected in its humane law – that prostitution is violence against women.

Gregory Carlin