Targeting men, doing the trick?
Updated on 17 September 2007
Sweden is prosecuting men who pay for sex rather than the women who provide it, but does it work?
Prostitutes used to work openly on the streets of Stockholm - a sight that's becoming less and less common in Sweden.
It was the first country to make it illegal to buy, but not illegal to sell, sexual services - an approach based on the premise that those who sell their bodies are exploited by their customers and should always be regarded as victims.
The intention is to reduce prostitution but there are mixed views on whether that's been achieved.
'So good luck girls - you think you're safe? Forget it - the law is going to screw you.''Maria' - Swedish prostitute
We spoke to one woman, 'Maria', who started working the streets when she was 15. She's now 41. In her opinion targeting those who buy sex has only driven prostitution underground.
"The women have to take a lot of abuse, lot of murder because they can disappear. Here on the street is not good, I hate the fucking street. But you know it's a safe place in a way, because I can take a number or a card and everything. But if I go somewhere they can do anything to me. I can disappear..." - Maria
Several women working Stockholm's red light district said to me that the change in the law means prostitutes still working on the streets are now more at risk because they're increasingly forced to work in less visible, more dangerous locations.
Others said most of the women who've abandoned the streets altogether haven't left prostitution but have simply switched to other means of finding clients - via the internet.
Official estimates suggest there's 80 per cent less street prostitution in Sweden now compared to 1998. But that's coincided with a huge increase in prostitution on the internet.
Key points
- Fine of 40 days' salary
- Six months in prison
- 1300 men reported
- 3 per cent convicted
- Nobody jailed
Many here argue that with growing access to the net that would have happened anyway and isn't a result of the change in the law. And - they point to a comparatively low sex trafficking rate.
"When you talk to the migration board, prosecutors, police and social workers, in Sweden we come up with about 400 women is trafficked to Sweden on an annual basis. And when you look at our Nordic countries, neighbours, it's between 6,000 and 15,000 - and that's also in countries with a smaller population than Sweden. So we do think that this law makes it more difficult." - Agneta Borg, Head of Stockholm Prostitution Unit.
Sweden's decision to target the demand side of prostitution grew out of a national debate on equality in the 1990's. At around the same laws on domestic violence and rape were also reformed as a way of strengthening women's rights.
When buying sex became a crime in Sweden it was highly controversial and unpopular. But eight years on Swedish politicians are hailing it a success. And public opinion has shifted dramatically - national polls suggest 80 per cent of Swedes now approve of the law.
'But if I go somewhere they can do anything to me. I can disappear...''Maria' - Swedish prostitute
But there are questions about enforcement. The penalties for buying sex range from a fine of 40 days' salary to six months in prison. Of the 1300 men reported for the offence so far,
only 3 per cent have been convicted - and nobody has gone to jail.
The police told us that's disappointing and sends the wrong signal. Despite the law's popularity there still some scepticism.
Swedish ministers are confident their approach has changed both attitudes and behaviour, and when asked if they thought other countries like Britain should introduce it, Beatrice Ask, Swedish Minister of Justice, said:
"It's not my duty to recommend anything for the British parliament but I think it's important to stop trafficking for sexual purposes. I think it's an important women's question to decrease prostitution and we can see that we have had a positive effects by this law. But of course there are things that could be done better. If Britain would do that, fine..."
But while Norway plans to follow Sweden's example next year, the official position of the British government is that existing laws are sufficient, so introducing a specific offence of paying for sex has been ruled out. And yet ministers are talking about it - one even visiting Sweden in June last year to see how it works.
'Maria' believes that should Britain adopt the Swedish model, that can only be bad news:
"You have only in London what we have in all Sweden. So good luck girls - you think you're safe? Forget it - the law is going to screw you..."
