Originally Posted by
Smarty
In Fridays papers there was a call by the Immigrant Council of Ireland to crimiliase the paying of sex as is the case in sweeden.
It is imperative that these loons don't get their wish as you will see from the following that it is not a good solution to anything. Furthermore the Sweedish law was brought in mainly by the lobbying of a ball breaking man hating Sweedish MEP.
Don't forget Sweeden has the highest sucide rate in the world.
It also only allows alcohol to be purchased at restricted times from state run off licences. This law has been so sucessful that most drinkers drive or take the ferry to Denmark to stock up.
So now we are to follow this screwed up country.
However I much prefer the Belgian or Dutch model where there are certain areas for sexworkers and they can get regular health checks etc, they also pay taxes etc.
The Sweedesh law is often touted as the way forward.
However if you examine the case in Sweeden you will find that this is a far from perfect law, and since it's introduction in 1999 human traffiking in Sweeden is estimated to have increased by 100%.
All the law does is punish normal punters with excessive fines based on income and break up marraiges.
If it was brought into Ireland all that would happen is the sex industry would be pushed further underground making Girls and Clients more vunurable.
There is many a web site telling how unsucessful this law has been the following are the main points.
Some negative points of the Sweedish law
- Some customers are afraid to get caught for buying sex and that makes the clients more nervous and stressed. On the streets the negotiations must happen a lot faster than before since the police can be around the corner. If you market your services thru the internet a customer can suggest the meeting should take place in a remote location where no one can see you or demand an arrangement where he/she cannot get discovered at all.
- During the negotiations with the client it is therefore hard to do a correct risk assessment.
-Is the client stressed, anxious and nervousness due to the fact that he/she is afraid to get caught by the police or is it a customer that wants to hurt you?
- A lot of customers are also scared to state their real names or contact sexsellers thru registered telephone numbers. Few sexsellers save the contact information about their customers because they are keen to protect their integrity.
- The risk of infection have gone up because if a sexseller gets infected with a sexually transmitted disease, and the authorities advise customers to the sexworker to contact them, many are afraid to do so.
- If a client meets a sexworker that he/she suspects is in need of help the client is scared to contact for example the social services. Anf if a customer meets a sexworker that he/she suspects is the victim of sexual trafficking that person is today scared of going to the police. Before you could obtain evidence against traffickers and pimps based on customer’s testimony. These days they aren't likely to participate in trials and if they are forced to testify as the same time they are prosecuted for buying sex their testimony are not credible in the same way.
- The customer is also without legal rights as a result of the sex-purchase law. It happens that criminals lure customers with a fake sexworker to rob them. The client is exposed to threats about being reported for sexcrimes if they go to the police.
- A lot of sexsellers on the street report being robbed and feel it's harder for them to contact clients outdoors. They therefore have to rely on other channels for communication. Everybody doesn't have the possibility to market themselves thru the Internet, and the likelihood of ending up in the hands of profiteers and pimps for those who need help increases.
- Sexworkers feel more pressure from the police. The police must sometimes wait until the sexworker and the customer have started the sexual act before they can arrest the client. This is naturally deeply offensive to the sexworker.
- Police have also sometimes been reported to become heavy handed or brutal in these situations.
- Sexworkers also report that the networks between sexworkers that existed before on certain known streets for prostitution have disappeared or weakened as a result of the sex-purchase law. Earlier you could warn each other for dangerous customers, fake cars, etc, but due to the more stressful situations on the streets and a reduced number of sexworkers they find this harder to do. Street prostitutes used to help new sexworkers and if they met a person they thought was too young, they could alarm the social services.
- When the prostitution market disappears underground it is harder for the authorities to intercept the persons that really need help. In Gothenburg many young women seek help to detoxify because of their addiction to heroin and almost all of them have sold sexual services. But the city’s prostitution group (social workers) seldom comes in contact with these women because they don't show up on the streets today. The same goes for the young drug addicts in Malmo.
- The "normal" clients have almost disappeared from the streets. Those who remain are the ones with a twisted mindset and street prostitutes today are more exposed to robbery, assault and rape than before. Certain sexworkers follows sexbuyers scared of the police to hidden locations, where they can't call for help if they need to. The new situation on the street also means that the prices have dropped and it happens that women in desperate need of money forego the requirement for a condom.
Beware this drive to crimiliase paying for it
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