Oldest profession 

In an article published by the BBC “Pompeii’s erotic past revealed” it describes the refurbishment of a two thousand year old brothel used in Roman times.  The article mentions that many of the women in the brothel were slaves. In the 21^st century in Britain it is estimated that four thousand women each year are brought into the UK and forced to work in brothels therefore effectively being treated as slaves.

The obvious parallels are startling. But why is prostitution described as a “profession” when a large proportion of the women involved are forced to be prostitutes against their will and for no monetary gain? Surely prostitution would be better described as the “oldest abuse of women in the world.”

Inevitable part of human life

Many arguments have suggested that prostitution will always exist, either openly or underground depending on the prevailing legality, due to the inherent nature of men and women. Whilst it may emerge that men will always be prepared to pay for sex, it does not appear that society has made any attempt to challenge this notion or that comprehensive research has been undertaken to assess what motivates the desire to pay for sex. 

Just because there is the desire to pay for sex, it does not necessarily mean we should pander to this desire, or that this desire is acceptable in today’s society.  

We seem afraid to challenge the basic notion that men have a right to sex on demand in return for the payment of money. Why are we scared to challenge this theory?  Over one hundred years ago Josephine Butler questioned the accepted norm with her pioneering work but rather than moving forward, society has instead retreated from tackling this fundamental issue.

UK current prostitution laws

Currently in the UK, prostitution is not illegal however the laws serve to make providing sex in exchange for money difficult and dangerous. Soliciting (advertising sexual services), streetwalking and brothels (where more than one woman sells sex in an apartment) are illegal. Kerb crawling is illegal in most of the UK but different laws apply in Scotland. These laws are currently under review and a draft bill is in the process of consultation.  In all of the UK, paying for sex with a woman is not illegal. These laws firmly place the criminality of prostitution on the women. Why does the law criminalise the supply of sexual services but not the demand? With other illegal activities such as drugs, both the supply and the demand are criminalised.

These laws firmly fail women who have been trafficked into the UK or any woman who has been coerced or forced to some extent into prostitution. If they are caught in a brothel they have committed an offence under the law and may be given a jail sentence, or more normally a trafficked woman is deported back to her country of origin where she is often met by traffickers. She may be trafficked to a new destination so that the nightmare continues.

Possible reforms

As explained above, the current laws tread an uneasy path between legality and illegality. Would it not be better in our enlightened society to decide once and for all “is there a place for prostitution in the 21st century”?  This would lead to two outcomes:

• We decide there is a place for prostitution in the 21st century and legalise all aspects of the “profession”. In addition we help prostitution to become an acceptable part of society by incorporating it into education, health and politics.

• We decide prostitution is largely an abuse of women (as was decided in Sweden). In order to protect women who have been forced into prostitution the law is changed to move the “blame” and illegality to the purchaser of sexual services.

Should we legalise?

Most laws are created to protect people, their assets, their welfare, their wellbeing and their body.  The current prostitution laws protect the purchaser of services (who is often considered to be in control of the situation). It does not protect the prostitute and in particular provides no protection for the trafficked victim. In fact, the law further penalises the trafficked victim by making her a criminal.

If the process is legalised the situation for the trafficked victim remains largely the same. It does not help to alleviate her suffering, as there is no law against men visiting prostitutes. There is also no reason to raid the brothel, such that a woman may be trapped in a violent and abusive situation for many years with no means of escape.  The main difference being, that if the trafficked victim manages to escape captivity, she has not committed a crime and should not be subject to criminal charges.

Downsides

There are also the following downsides to legalising prostitution which have arisen in countries where prostitution, is to some extent legal, for example in Germany, Australia and the Netherlands:

·        A dramatic increase in all facets of the sex industry

·        An explosion in the number of foreign women and girls trafficked into the region

·        An increase in the involvement of organised crime in prostitution

·        Women working in prostitution continue to feel threatened and unsafe

·        Women are at risk of losing unemployment benefits if they do not take a job as a prostitute.

The Swedish Approach

The introduction of Sweden’s groundbreaking legislation in 1999 has lead to a dramatic decrease in the numbers of women working in prostitution and the numbers of women being trafficked into Sweden (which now currently stands at nil).  The Swedish law introduced the notion that prostitutes were victims of male violence, making the purchaser of sex the criminal and the seller of sex the victim. The reasons why these laws work are simple – they criminalise the men that visit prostitutes.

If the UK government believes that slavery is an unacceptable violation of human rights why is it doing so little to help trafficked women who are in effect sex slaves?

Why does this approach work?

Recent newspaper articles in the BBC & Times discovered that men who visit prostitutes are surprisingly “normal” around thirty years of age, married, in full time employment with no criminal convictions. The current prostitution laws help him to stay that way. 

If however, the average punter knew that if he visited a prostitute (for which he could be given a six month jail sentence and/or a fine of up to £2000), he may emerge from the experience still around thirty years of age, however soon to be divorced, no longer in full time employment and with a brand new criminal conviction to his name, this would surely make him think twice.  It is this kind of deterrent which will stop men from visiting prostitutes.

How does this help the trafficked women?

The reason women are trafficked and forced into sexual slavery is not because the traffickers enjoy abusing women (although this might be a sideline for many pimps) but because traffickers get rich on the money they take from punters who pay to have sex with trafficked women. 

If the number of men in the UK visiting prostitutes is greatly reduced (as has been the case in Sweden) then there will not be sufficient profit for the traffickers and they will either have to use different locations for their “business” or find an alternative method of making money.  While no-one would wish for the problem of trafficking to be pushed onto other countries it is up to the UK to find a solution to the problem on their own soil, hopefully encouraging other countries to follow suit.

Online petition

To make a stand against the buying and selling of women's bodies in this country and place prostitution reform on the political agenda please sign the online petition. It will only take a minute but will make a fundamental difference to thousands of women’s lives.

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