Prostitution in Sweden
Encyclopedia
The laws on prostitution in Sweden
make it illegal to buy sexual services, but not to sell them. Pimping, procuring
and operating a brothel
are also illegal. The criminalisation of the purchase, but not selling, of sex was unique when first enacted in 1999, but since then Norway
and Iceland
have adopted similar legislation, both in 2009.
, however sex work is called sexarbete, and a sex worker
is sexarbetare. sexual services are sexuella tjänster, purchasing sex is sexköp, and the law banning the purchase of sex is referred to as Sexköpslagen.
Amongst third party activities, pandering
or procuring is koppleri. A pimp
is a Hallick or sutenör, although pimp is now used in Swedish slang. A brothel is a bordell, and a madam is bordellmamma.
An attempt was made to ban prostitution in 1836, but within a year a state run brothel was established,
which was not a success, nor were private licenced brothels. From 1847
most prostitution was illegal but tolerated and regulated, including medical examinations and lock hospitals for venereal diseases. Brothels were also illegal but persisted under police surveillance. Other regulations controlled areas frequented by prostitutes and the clothes that they could wear. This policy was both gendered and intrusive,
typifying the ‘necessary evil’
framing of prostitution typical of Western European discourse. An abolitionist office was established in Sweden in 1878,
and eventually protests, including women’s movements in the 1880s
led to the commissioning of an inquiry in 1903, reporting in 1910.
The resulting proposals met vigorous dissent from feminists and liberals
who succeeded in removing gendered prostitution clauses from the proposed legislation dealing with contagious disease.
and the Vagrancy law (1885), dealing with disease and unemployment respectfully, since money earned through sex work was considered illegal.
These were now gender neutral in language, but as elsewhere, not in practice,
and the new vagrancy provisions were condemned as even more coercive by women.
This was the Scandinavian Sonderweg (Special Way).
Six official commissions considered the issues between 1923-1964 . In practice women charged under the vagrancy provisions were apprehended for prostitution in what was still coercive care as social control.
The three commissions of the 1920s (1923, 1926, 1929) depicted prostitution as a dangerous predisposition requiring correction, as opposed to mere detention, a moral analogue to the danger of spreading disease. The 1929 report presaged contemporary legislative developments by referring to public education and the role of demand. Women were divided, some calling for abolition of the law pointing out it was gendered in practice, and others supporting the then popular social hygiene concept of sterilisation of the unfit. These discussions raised the idea that men who sought out sex workers were a danger to all women. Health professionals shifted from arguing about contagion to arguing morality.
This pathologised theory became the dominant discourse from the 1930s onwards for dealing with uncontrolled sexuality in a period which was characterised by social medicalisation.
This was also an era associated with an attempt to eradicate venereal disease by mandatory tracing, treatment and consent to behavioural change (Lex Veneris).
This formed part of a package of legislation that defined citizenship in terms of desired normative behaviour, including ‘honest labour’,
a social welfare state based on the priority of the State over individual freedoms
to promote the goals of folkhygien (public hygiene). Citizenship became a hierarchical attribute depending on adherence to these norms.
Throughout these discourses, care was taken to distinguish attitude, which required correction, from acts, which were punishable. A parallel discourse was the concern about population and the 1935-8 Population Commission commented on the need to control demand. It also raised the idea of prostitution as antisocial. The 1939 prostitution commission proposed criminalising prostitution related activities as part of the fight against such a social evil, including the actions of clients, although for law and order reasons rather than moral. However examining the language of this and a contemporary commission on homosexuality, it is clear that the construction remained heteronormative and patriarchal. The 1940s saw continued pressure for abolition of the increasingly obsolete vagrancy law, which was now being enforced in a more restrained manner. The 1960s brought the widespread questioning of sexual mores to Sweden, and for the first time the notion of prostitution as normative, together with proposals for re-establishing state brothels.
Debates in the Riksdag in 1950 saw women state that the primary cause of prostitution was male demand, echoing discourse outside of government in the 1880s and 1920s. By 1958 women parliamentarians were stating that prostitution was the most important social problem of all time,
demanding a further commission (1958–1962). By now there was yet another reconceptualisation of prostitution, from psychopathology to sociopathology, and the resulting legislation replaced the vagrancy law with the antisocial behaviour law in 1964. Regulation of prostitution passed to this Act, but retained the concept of normative social citizenship
based on honest labour. In practice the law was used less and less, was successfully challenged in court in 1967 and was replaced in 1969 by the Social Services Act of 1980, till the Prohibition of Purchase of Sexual Services Act
of 1999 (amended 2005).
since the 1960s, and this has resulted in a number of institutional structures such as the Ministry of Equal Status (1976) and the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman(1980).
A gendered recommendation on rape by a state commission on sexual offences in 1976 evoked a remarkable consensus within both the women’s movement and the parliamentary women’s groups that eventually led to the demand for further inquiries including yet another prostitution commission. The resulting inquiry in 1981
was very controversial (internally and externally), concluding that prostitution was not a question of gender equality. Interestingly they found that prostitution was declining and recommended that criminalisation would merely drive it underground and worsen stigmatisation. Some attempt was made to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary sex work. Amongst those opposing criminalisation were the police, judiciary and Ombudsman, gay rights groups and the Swedish Association for Sex Education (RSFU).
Most of the women’s political groups except the conservatives, and the battered women’s shelter supported criminalising the client. The resultant bill (1982) only dealt with pornography but provided some funding for research on sex work. However the rhetoric was clear, prostitution was still a social evil, and incompatible with equality, and should be fought.
Between 1983 and 1993 (particularly 1984-7 and 1990-2) some 50 bills were presented dealing with prostitution, many of which included the criminalisation of purchase, and there was a major lobby within and without the Riksdag from women’s movements and calls for more commissions. A further commission was instigated in 1993 under a former Ombudsman.
One bill from women parliamentarians at the time demanded immediate criminalisation of clients, believing there was sufficient ‘evidence’ and that a further commission was not required.
1995 saw both the reports of this commission (SOU 1995: 15) and also one on violence against women and rape (SOU 1995: 60). The latter
met the women’s objectives, the former
however proposed criminalising both parties to an exchange in prostitution, including both hetero and homosexual prostitution. In the ensuing public debate there was talk of a historic reversal of patriarchy and of the need to avoid further victimising the victims (women).
There was virtually no support for the commission’s recommendations in the ensuing consultation process, most commentators opposing any criminalisation. Bills from women parliamentarians criminalising clients continued to be presented and the Government was criticised for inaction.
including criminalisation of purchase in the prostitution provisions
and measures to combat sexual harassment
in the workplace. It was sponsored by both the Prime Minister, Göran Persson
and the Minister of Gender Equality,
Ulrika Messing. The Justice Committee was not convinced that criminalisation would reduce prostitution, but still recommended the bill.
Yvonne Svanström
(Department of Economic History, Stockholm University) describes
the debates as being heavily gendered. Men tended to argue that this was a social, not criminal, matter and that the bill intruded on self determination, while the women argued that prostitution was incompatible with a social order embracing gender equity. They saw prostitution as patriarchal oppression, and therefore not a free will choice, although there was less unanimity over what should be done. The uniqueness of the proposal was emphasised, all of which took place at an ideological level with no appeal to empiricism, which was explicitly rejected.
Eventually the bill passed on June 4, 1998
by 181 to 92 in a 349-member chamber, becoming law on January 1, 1999.
On 1 April 2005 this provision was transferred to the Penal Code
as section 11 of a new sexual crimes chapter (6).
dominated Swedish Politics for most of the last century but formed a minority left of center
government during this time with support from the Centre Party
.
In the final vote the Social Democratic Party
, the Left Party
and the Greens
supported the Bill, while opposition to the proposals in the Riksdag
was only moderate, the opposition parties believing that the bill would be passed anyway. The Moderate (conservative) Party
and Liberals
opposed the policy, while the Christian Democrats
abstained. The Liberals argued that prostitution would be merely pushed underground, while the Christian Democrats wanted both the sale and purchase of sex criminalized.
and women’s movements had carried out considerable lobbying for criminalising purchase, but in the end it was the women’s groups within the parliamentary parties that were responsible for the success of the legislation, crossing and even defying their own party lines.
However this was not as homogeneous as is sometimes perceived. Moderate women never joined the movement, and both Moderate, and a number of Liberal women opposed the bill.
Most of the parliamentary debate was undertaken by women, which Ulrika Lorentzi, former editor of the feminist magazine Bang
, referred to as the ‘Sex Wars’.
Women held 41% of the seats in parliament which although the highest proportion in Europe
still meant they had to lobby for male support within their parties in order to get this passed. The women’s movement had prostitution high on its agenda, criminalisation of purchase had been on that agenda for a hundred years, and there was little opposition to this. However ensuing public debates revealed that even Swedish feminists were divided on the approach that had been taken.
For the women, this was a test case of their ability to come together as a caucus and push through a women’s agenda over the wishes of male colleagues. Messing’s agenda was expansive: “I believe that in 20 years today’s decision will be described as the big leap forward to fight violence against women and to reach Kvinnofrid”.
The sex as work discourse appeared late in the debate and only outside of parliament. Notably absent from the debate were sex workers and sex workers’ organisations. Despite appeals to equality there was scant attention to any other forms of sexual exchange than women selling sex to men, framed as predatory men purchasing sex from vulnerable women.
A term that appeared in the debates and has since become popularised is ‘Swedish Model’
or "Den Svenska Modellen", a term long used to describe foreigner’s perception of the Swedish way of doing things, and in particular the paternalist welfare state that arose in the 1930s.
Out of context, this has become the most commonly used term to describe criminalising purchase in subsequent debates around the world.
The law is in accordance with Sweden's gender equality
programme.
Theoretically the gender of the seller and buyer are immaterial under the law, that is it is gender neutral. However, the law is politically constructed, discussed and enforced in the context of women selling sex to men. The Swedish Government believes that women selling sexual services to men constitutes a form of violence against women
which should be eliminated by reducing demand. Demand for women's sexual services is constructed as a form of male dominance over women, and as a practice which maintains patriarchal
hegemony.
(see feminist arguments against prostitution). This legal and social approach to prostitution, which has become known as the "Swedish Model" or more recently the "Nordic Model", needs to be understood—at least partly—in the context of radical feminism
(a philosophy which focuses on the theory of the patriarchal roots of inequality between men and women), which is very prominent in Sweden.
Today, the law is largely uncontroversial across the whole political spectrum. The view of prostitution as a legacy of a societal order that subordinates women to men being officially accepted. Consequently it has become a taboo subject to question the legitimacy and effectiveness of the law. and those who have criticised the law have faced considerable opposition. Nevertheless there is a body of criticism, within and without parliament but this has had no measurable effect on the official position and party policy (see below).
, a PhD candidate and writer on sexuality, was a noted opponent, as were sex work activists such as Lillian Andersson.
.
Criticisms were made of women politicians on the grounds of class and for causing divisions between women (although they have framed the debate as being about men, not women). There was also interest in the fact that Sweden was quite unique in this regard. Some former sex workers supported the law.
Parliamentary activity continued, including the introduction of bills to criminalise the selling of sex, and to promote the Swedish approach and oppose liberalisation of laws on sex work worldwide. In April 2005 the law was amended as part of a reform of sexual crimes to add the clause “That which is stated in the first section also applies if the payment has been promised or made by someone else” to include procurement by a third party which was acknowledged as a loophole. Sexual acts with children were also added (section 9) and the Sex Purchase Law was moved to the Penal Code.
Following the passage of the law, the Government provided 7 million crowns ($1 million US) to the National Police Board
for enforcement.
Extra police were hired and vehicles in known areas of street work placed under surveillance. Ninety one reports were filed in 1999, and a reduction in visible prostitution was noted while acknowledging that estimating the actual activity of prostitution was extremely difficult, and that it was quite possible it had merely gone underground. The difficulties of enforcement were immediately noted by the police who had opposed the law, and the difficulty in getting a conviction was even harder under Swedish judicial procedure and the rights of citizens. Few of the reports in 1999 were concluded. Six convictions were obtained, and fines imposed. Difficulties in even understanding the law were noted, and understandably sex workers were reluctant to inform or testify against their clients. The Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare) noted that estimating the extent of sex work was almost impossible. A number of reports suggest that prostitution was at a low level in Sweden, and was on the decline, but may have experienced a slight increase in the 1990s.
As expected there was an immediate decrease in the visible spectrum, as seen in other countries introducing repressive legislation (e.g. Street Offences Act 1959, U.K.) followed fairly rapidly by displacement to the less visible spectrum.
The historian Yvonne Svanström describes two similar cases, in which the outcome is very different for the man and the woman (a male judge and a woman police cadet), as exemplifying the fact that the law as a symbolic tool has done little if anything to achieve its intent of reversing patriarchal hegemony and reversing centuries of controlling women’s sexuality to controlling that of men.
She saw this as indicative of Eva Lundgren
’s thesis
of the divide between regulative systems and constitutive systems, and the relative stability of the latter.
went on to promote internationally the ‘Swedish Model’. The Government hosted conferences on trafficking, sexual violence and prostitution as a comprehensive entity
and issued Fact Sheets outlining official Swedish policy in a variety of languages.
These made it very clear that prostitution and trafficking were manifestations of the same male criminal predisposition, ‘male violence against women and children’, who are described as victims. A severe threat to society as a whole and indeed the world at large is described. Alliances were formed with prohibitionist antitrafficking groups such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
,
and representations made at higher levels such as the European Union, Council of Europe and the United Nations.
An approach of public anti-prostitution education was taken, through advertising and education, including schools programmes.
Subsequently the Swedish approach has found support amongst prohibitionist groups around the world who lobbied for similar legislation.
Several European countries have discussed or are currently discussing adopting a similar legal system.
After a long debate, in 2009 similar laws were adopted by Norway
and Iceland
.
This has created pressure on other nordic countries
such as Denmark
.
This approach has met with mixed results. For instance there has been intense lobbying in Western Australia
over the last two government's attempts to reform the law there. In 2010 the Attorney-General criticised leading Swedish activist Gunilla Ekberg
's credibility.
(Stockholm). Some research into the law comes from outside of Sweden as well.
In 2008 data appeared on a study of prostitution across the Nordic region by the Nordic Gender Institute
(NIKK), including work done by several authors from the different Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden).
The most visible effect of the Swedish law according to the data presented seemed to be that since the law came into effect less men reported purchasing sex and sex workers were less visible. Social workers reported a gradual decline in involvement over a ten year period and more use of technology. It was unclear how much of this change could be attributed to the law itself. The 1995 Swedish government commission (SOU 1995:15)
had estimated that there were 2500-3000 women working in prostitution in Sweden, among whom 650 were on the streets.
In contrast, in the 2008 NIKK report estimates show there are approximately 300 women in street prostitution, and 300 women and 50 men who used the internet (indoor prostitution).
Similar data from Denmark, where prostitution appeared much more acceptable, obtained by comparable methods, show there are at least 5567 persons visibly in prostitution among whom 1415 were on the streets.
Compared to Denmark
where purchase of sex is legal, Sweden’s prostitution population then seems to be only a tenth even though Denmark only has a population of 5.5 million
while Sweden has 9.3.
In Norway
with 4.9 million people
it was estimated that there were 2654 women of whom 1157 where on the street in 2007 (among those not on the street in Norway, the numbers were based on those who sought support from social agencies, or who’s advertisements where found on the internet or in a paper) which is over 4 times compared to Sweden's numbers and over 8 times more per capita. Furthermore, the number of men reporting the experience of purchasing sex in the national Swedish population samples seems to have dropped from 12.7% to 7.6% from 1996
to 2008.
No respondents in the latest survey published in 2008 reported they increased, or that they started purchasing sex outside of Sweden, nor changed into purchasing sex in “non-physical” forms.
This 2008 survey, which obtained responses from 2500 men and women between 18 and 74, is now also published in English.
Supporters of the law maintain that it has had the effect of decreasing trafficking and pimping.
Critics claim that there has been an increase in hidden prostitution, especially internet prostitution.
However, the research published by NIKK (see above) does not suggest that hidden- or internet prostitution is a comparably larger proportion in Sweden than in Denmark or Norway
Monitoring and evaluation of the law was delegated to the Socialstyrelsen, which has produced three reports (2000, 2004, 2007). These acknowledged the difficulties in evaluating the situation and provided no hard evidence that the law had in any way achieved its objectives. The 2007 report states that street prostitution is on the increase after an initial decline and that customers and sex workers now use the internet and mobile phone to communicate.
The issue of unintended consequences was raised by critics of the proposed legislation in Sweden in 1996 three years before it took place,
namely that it would drive sex workers underground, increase the risk of violence, harm the most vulnerable, and be almost impossible to enforce, which some claim has happened.
However the 2003 report stated that one "cannot state with certainty whether there has been an increase of violence [in prostitution]. . . . Some informants speak of greater risks . . . few have observed an actual increase . . . . Police who have studied the occurrence of violence have not found any evidence of an increase. . . . The interview data and other research indicate that violence and prostitution are closely linked, whatever sort of legislation may be in effect.".
This assessment was not modified in the later follow-up report by the Board in 2007.
A 2001 police report contradicted this (see below).
Some observers have noted that practitioners have left Sweden in order to ply there trade elsewhere, Africa being one destination.
In 2001 the Malmo
police reported that there was no evidence that the law had reduced violence, rather there was evidence it had increased,
In 2007 Der Spiegel
, a German news magazine, stated that according to the Swedish police, 400 to 600 foreign women are brought to Sweden each year to be prostitutes. In Finland, which is only half the size of Sweden, that number is between 10,000 and 15,000 women. Jonas Trolle, an inspector with a unit of the Stockholm
police dedicated to combating the sex trade, was quoted as saying "We only have between 105 and 130 women, both on the Internet and on the street, active (in prostitution) in Stockholm today."
In 2008 Kajsa Wahlberg,
of the human trafficking unit at Sweden's national police board, conceded that accurate statistics are hard to obtain, but estimated that the number of prostitutes in Sweden dropped 40% from 2,500 in 1998 to 1,500 in 2003.
However by 2010 she had conceded that the policy had failed, and that issues around prostitution were increasing
as noted in the media which carried out surveys on the street.
In Stockholm
police sources reported increased activity on Malmskillnadsgatan
in the city centre (which with Artillerigatan
in the Östermalm district was a traditional site for street prostitution in Stockholm
).
Judges
and senior police officials have been caught purchasing sex,
while most recently Sven Otto Littorin, the Minister of Labour Sven Otto Littorin was also accused of purchasing sex (Littoringate).
Amongst other concerns about the law, taxing the proceeds of sex work (recognised since 1982) is raising questions as to the rationality of a law prohibiting purchase.
On July 10, 2008 the Government announced a new Action Plan
on prostitution including the investment of another 200 million kroner,
action at an international level and further educational measures to ‘help them [people] rethink their attitudes’. Stories about sex work appear almost daily in the media, often with commentary from Gender Equality officials. The increasing emphasis on the symbolic nature of the law, ‘sending a message’, by the authorities also sends a message that the instrumental value is in doubt.
In the 2008 survey conducted by NIKK (see above), 71% of Swedes said they supported the ban on paying for sex, although only 20% of respondents believed that the number of people who pay for sex had been reduced. 79% of women and 60% of men favored the law. The young adult population (18-38), particularly women, were most in favor of the law.
A 2005 sex survey conducted online by Durex has shown that out of the 34 countries surveyed, Sweden had the lowest percentage of respondents who had paid for sex (3% of those who answered the question. Respondents included both men and women). The methodology has been criticised.
A 2010 survey by Järfälla tjejjour
found that 25% of Swedish men were in favour of repealing the law, compared with 7% of women.
This evaluation attracted great interest internationally. But Susanne Dodillet
, an academic at Gothenburg University
and author of Är sex arbete? (Is Sex Work?),
was sceptical that the review would add much to what we know.
She criticized the fact that the report, regardless of its results, would not be allowed to suggest repeal of the law.
One group of scholars, politicians, and NGOs made a submission to the Commission on March 17, 2008, arguing that the Government should provide a civil rights remedy to people in prostitution in order to support their exiting the trade.
Their submission stated that the judiciary were misinterpreting the law, and that this should be recognized and corrected. In support of this they cited a 2001 case
in which it was held that the law did not provide a woman with a civil right to damage awards from a purchaser in a sexual transaction. Among this group of thirteen petitioners, were the Swedish Association of Women's Shelters and Young Women's Empowerment Centers
(one of the two national umbrella shelter-organizations), the Social Democrat’s Women’s Federation (S-Kvinnor), and the immigrant-oriented women's shelter Terrafem.
The final report of the commission was submitted to Justice Minister
Beatrice Ask
in July 2010.
The report stated that the law worked, and had achieved its objectives but suggested that the sentence for purchasing sex be doubled. It stated that since the introduction of the ban on buying sex, street prostitution had been halved and that: "This reduction may be considered to be a direct result of the criminalisation of sex purchases." It was also found that there had been no overall increase in prostitution in Sweden. "People working in the field do not consider that there has been an increase in prostitution since the ban was introduced". It also stated that the law has had a positive effect on human trafficking. "According to the National Criminal Police, it is clear that the ban on the purchase of sexual services acts as a barrier to human traffickers and procurers considering establishing themselves in Sweden".
The report also acknowledged Internet (indoor) prostitution as an expanding market, which is more difficult to study and verify than street prostitution, and which, in the last five years has increased in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, however it stated, concurring with the NIKK report (above), that "the scale of this form of prostitution is more extensive in our neighbouring countries, and there is nothing to indicate that a greater increase in prostitution over the Internet has occurred in Sweden than in these comparable countries. This indicates that the ban has not led to street prostitution in Sweden shifting arenas to the Internet". It also stated that there was no evidence of an increase of abuse towards the prostitutes and of worse living conditions for prostitutes. "As far as we can judge from the written material and the contacts we have had with public officials and people involved in prostitution, these fears have not been realised", concurring with the Board of Welfare assessment (above) that persons in prostitution are not worse off as an effect of the law. It was also noted that there were many limitations to evaluating the situation of prostitution in Sweden, due to the nature of prostitution and trafficking which are "complex and multifaceted social phenomena which partly occur in secret" and the fact that many empirical surveys had limited scope, and different methodologies and purposes.
Sweden's position on prostitution was reaffirmed: "Those who defend prostitution argue that it is possible to differentiate between voluntary and non-voluntary prostitution, that adults should have the right to freely sell and freely purchase sex (...) However, based on a gender equality and human rights perspective, (...) the distinction between voluntary and nonvoluntary prostitution is not relevant." The report also addressed the suggestion of civil remedy, stating that the "person exploited in prostitution may normally be considered the injured party" implying a civil right to damages under the law.
The report was sent to the consultation process, where interested groups were provided with the opportunity to comment on it (see below). Release of the report attracted many initial commentaries in both English
and Swedish.
The Swedish media originally reported this in a largely factual manner, with two exceptions, one positive,
and one critical.
Commentaries have largely focussed on the ideological and political background. The law's supporters see the report as affirmation, while critics complain it adds nothing since it is not based on empirical research. They have commented on the lack of methodology and evidence and the failure to adequately consult with sex workers themselves and
have questioned the scientific validity. They have also raised the question as to whether it should be translated into English (only a summary is available) to allow a wider examination.
At the time of the release of the report the Littoringate affair (see above) was occupying the media, leading people to question the law's purpose and underlying rationale when even government ministers were ignoring it. For instance lawyer Alice Teodorescu, wrote in Aftonbladet
that Sweden has double standards in morality,
while Isabelle Ståhl, in Sveriges Television
questioned the underlying victimisation theory,
and Elisabet Höglund in Aftonbladet suggested the law be scrapped, calling it one of the weirdest laws in Swedish history and legally implausible because of its asymmetry.
Such open challenging of the law has been unusual in the last 10 years since it was passed. However the debate continues to be very divisive.
Other criticism came from Paulina Neuding, editor of Neo.
Some of the debate raised the broader question of state paternalism versus individual choice, and whether there should even be moral laws (Morallagar),
given the pending Swedish elections on September 19, 2010
.
One of the conclusions rests on comparisons between Sweden and surrounding Nordic countries (see NIKK study above). Some have considered the numbers on street prostitution in Denmark to be over reported, based on a report from the Danish sex workers' organization Sexarbejdernes Interesse Organisation (SIO).
SIO stated that street prostitution in Copenhagen was overestimated by 1000 persons, attributing over reporting to an NGO, Reden that works with women in prostitution, and the numbers of women that they had seen. Other data suggests that any over reporting would not be as large and even if so the amount of persons in prostitution in total is many times larger in Denmark than in Sweden and Danish numbers on indoor prostitution were estimated at 3278. These numbers were mainly based on advertising not Reden. Assuming 1415 is the number for outdoor prostitution in Denmark, that only amounts to a fourth of prostitution in Denmark. Therefore, it seems unlikely that street prostitution could be so significantly lower as SIO claims. However whatever the numbers, the scientific question is whether this has anything to do with the sex purchase law or rather reflects historical patterns and cultural attitudes.
Two researchers stated that they had evidence, based on cross-national data, that the Swedish ban was an effective counter-trafficking tool,
but this was criticised on methodological grounds by commentators.
The debate moved to the political arena when a government member of parliament, Camilla Lindberg
(Liberal
) (Dalarna
)
and Opposition member Marianne Berg
(Left
) (Malmö
) published a bi-partisan article in Expressen
, stating that the law did not protect women but rather hurt them, by reinforcing patriarchal attitudes towards women's control of their sexuality.
Berg was criticised within her own party by Karin Rågsjö in a party newsletter.
Criticism also came from Gudrun Schyman
of Feministiskt initiativ.
and in an editorial in Linberg's own constituency.
This was then followed by a joint manifesto from parliamentary candidates of five political parties, including Helena von Schantz (Liberal) and Hanna Wagenius (Centre
), attacking the evaluation process and report as immoral.
The Pirate Party had no official position on the law, but stands for basic freedoms and party members have unofficially opposed it
and the party published a very liberal manifesto for the 2010 election.
A Christian Democrat
feminist, Sofie Jakobsson, has also supported re-opening brothels, but as with other critics of the Swedish approach, did not find much support within her party.
In the United Kingdom, one supporter of the Swedish approach, Julie Bindel
stated that she hoped that the evaluation would put an end to the claims that the sex-purchase law had been detrimental, she also wrote that "No doubt critics of this law will soon be arguing that the research that formed the basis of this evaluation is flawed and biased".
In Australia, the government body responsible for regulating prostitution, the PLA, issued its own critique of the Skarhed Report, describing it as rhetoric that was not substantiated by evidence.
52 remissvar (responses) were received. While many were favourable, those from academic sources, such as the Department of Criminology
at Stockholm University
were very critical.
Two Swedish researchers, Petra Östergren
and Susanne Dodillet
, analysed the responses and compared them to the official report and found major contradictions. Their study concluded that there was no evidence to support the official claims.
The Swedish Government announced that it intended to increase the penalty for purchasing sex from six months to one year's imprisonment, effective July 1, 2011.
The proposal was debated on and passed May 12, 2011: For 282 Against 1.
The sole opponent was Federley
, however he claimed that attempts were made to prevent him from speaking against the proposal by the Centre Party
On 3 May 2009 Hanna Wagenius
of the Centre Party Youth introduced a motion to repeal the sex purchase law, arguing that it did not help women involved in prostitution and that trafficking had actuially increased since the law came into effect. The motion was passed 56: 39.
In October 2009, Centre Party MP Fredrick Federley
introduced a motion for repeal of the law.
He also wrote a commentary in the October 9 Aftonbladet, explaining this - Avskaffa sexköpslagen! (Abolish the Sex Purchase Law!).
In May 2010 the law was criticised by Swedish MP Camilla Lindberg
(Dalarnas, Liberal)
in an interview
with Dalarnas Tidningar
, who favoured a regulated system.
,
Helena von Schantz challenged the Liberal party leadership as to why it supported the lengthening of sentences for buying sex.
These penalties are due to come into force on July 1, 2011.
Sex Purchase Act , enacted in 1999, makes it illegal to purchase sexual services (sexuell tjänst) but not to sell them. The rationale for criminalising the purchaser but not the seller was stated in the 1997 government proposition, namely that "...it is unreasonable to also criminalize the one who, at least in most cases, is the weaker party who is exploited by others who want to satisfy their own sexual desires".
The Act (amended to be part of the Criminal Code, or Brottsbalk in 2005) states:
To date nobody has been imprisoned, according to Swedish Public Radio
.
A number of sources suggest that the law is not being enforced very strictly.
Figures released in July 2010, suggest a large increase in the number of men reported for paying sex, which was attributed to increased police activity. The number of convictions was not reported.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
make it illegal to buy sexual services, but not to sell them. Pimping, procuring
Procuring
Procuring may refer to:* Procurement, a business process to acquire goods or services* Procuring , the act of aiding a prostitute in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer...
and operating a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
are also illegal. The criminalisation of the purchase, but not selling, of sex was unique when first enacted in 1999, but since then Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
have adopted similar legislation, both in 2009.
Prostitution in Swedish
Prostitution is also called prostitution in SwedishSwedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, however sex work is called sexarbete, and a sex worker
Sex worker
A sex worker is a person who works in the sex industry. The term is usually used in reference to those in the sex industry that actually provide such sexual services, as opposed to management and staff of such industries...
is sexarbetare. sexual services are sexuella tjänster, purchasing sex is sexköp, and the law banning the purchase of sex is referred to as Sexköpslagen.
Amongst third party activities, pandering
Procuring (prostitution)
Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. Examples of procuring include:*trafficking a prostitute into a country for the purpose of soliciting sex...
or procuring is koppleri. A pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
is a Hallick or sutenör, although pimp is now used in Swedish slang. A brothel is a bordell, and a madam is bordellmamma.
Eighteenth century
The earliest law on prostitution appears to be in 1734 which outlawed sexual relations outside marriage. The rationale was partly religious and partly hygiene.Nineteenth century
Like many European countries Sweden delegated prostitution control to local municipalities from 1833 onwards.An attempt was made to ban prostitution in 1836, but within a year a state run brothel was established,
which was not a success, nor were private licenced brothels. From 1847
most prostitution was illegal but tolerated and regulated, including medical examinations and lock hospitals for venereal diseases. Brothels were also illegal but persisted under police surveillance. Other regulations controlled areas frequented by prostitutes and the clothes that they could wear. This policy was both gendered and intrusive,
typifying the ‘necessary evil’
framing of prostitution typical of Western European discourse. An abolitionist office was established in Sweden in 1878,
and eventually protests, including women’s movements in the 1880s
led to the commissioning of an inquiry in 1903, reporting in 1910.
The resulting proposals met vigorous dissent from feminists and liberals
who succeeded in removing gendered prostitution clauses from the proposed legislation dealing with contagious disease.
Twentieth century
After 1918 control of prostitution was a national responsibility, under two laws, the Lex Veneris (1918),and the Vagrancy law (1885), dealing with disease and unemployment respectfully, since money earned through sex work was considered illegal.
These were now gender neutral in language, but as elsewhere, not in practice,
and the new vagrancy provisions were condemned as even more coercive by women.
This was the Scandinavian Sonderweg (Special Way).
Six official commissions considered the issues between 1923-1964 . In practice women charged under the vagrancy provisions were apprehended for prostitution in what was still coercive care as social control.
The three commissions of the 1920s (1923, 1926, 1929) depicted prostitution as a dangerous predisposition requiring correction, as opposed to mere detention, a moral analogue to the danger of spreading disease. The 1929 report presaged contemporary legislative developments by referring to public education and the role of demand. Women were divided, some calling for abolition of the law pointing out it was gendered in practice, and others supporting the then popular social hygiene concept of sterilisation of the unfit. These discussions raised the idea that men who sought out sex workers were a danger to all women. Health professionals shifted from arguing about contagion to arguing morality.
This pathologised theory became the dominant discourse from the 1930s onwards for dealing with uncontrolled sexuality in a period which was characterised by social medicalisation.
This was also an era associated with an attempt to eradicate venereal disease by mandatory tracing, treatment and consent to behavioural change (Lex Veneris).
This formed part of a package of legislation that defined citizenship in terms of desired normative behaviour, including ‘honest labour’,
a social welfare state based on the priority of the State over individual freedoms
to promote the goals of folkhygien (public hygiene). Citizenship became a hierarchical attribute depending on adherence to these norms.
Throughout these discourses, care was taken to distinguish attitude, which required correction, from acts, which were punishable. A parallel discourse was the concern about population and the 1935-8 Population Commission commented on the need to control demand. It also raised the idea of prostitution as antisocial. The 1939 prostitution commission proposed criminalising prostitution related activities as part of the fight against such a social evil, including the actions of clients, although for law and order reasons rather than moral. However examining the language of this and a contemporary commission on homosexuality, it is clear that the construction remained heteronormative and patriarchal. The 1940s saw continued pressure for abolition of the increasingly obsolete vagrancy law, which was now being enforced in a more restrained manner. The 1960s brought the widespread questioning of sexual mores to Sweden, and for the first time the notion of prostitution as normative, together with proposals for re-establishing state brothels.
Debates in the Riksdag in 1950 saw women state that the primary cause of prostitution was male demand, echoing discourse outside of government in the 1880s and 1920s. By 1958 women parliamentarians were stating that prostitution was the most important social problem of all time,
demanding a further commission (1958–1962). By now there was yet another reconceptualisation of prostitution, from psychopathology to sociopathology, and the resulting legislation replaced the vagrancy law with the antisocial behaviour law in 1964. Regulation of prostitution passed to this Act, but retained the concept of normative social citizenship
Social citizenship
Social citizenship was a term first coined by T.H. Marshall, who argued that the ideal citizenship experience entails access to political, civil and social rights in a state...
based on honest labour. In practice the law was used less and less, was successfully challenged in court in 1967 and was replaced in 1969 by the Social Services Act of 1980, till the Prohibition of Purchase of Sexual Services Act
of 1999 (amended 2005).
The gender equality debate and the Kvinnofrid law (1960- )
Sweden has had an active debate on gender equalityGender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
since the 1960s, and this has resulted in a number of institutional structures such as the Ministry of Equal Status (1976) and the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman(1980).
A gendered recommendation on rape by a state commission on sexual offences in 1976 evoked a remarkable consensus within both the women’s movement and the parliamentary women’s groups that eventually led to the demand for further inquiries including yet another prostitution commission. The resulting inquiry in 1981
was very controversial (internally and externally), concluding that prostitution was not a question of gender equality. Interestingly they found that prostitution was declining and recommended that criminalisation would merely drive it underground and worsen stigmatisation. Some attempt was made to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary sex work. Amongst those opposing criminalisation were the police, judiciary and Ombudsman, gay rights groups and the Swedish Association for Sex Education (RSFU).
Most of the women’s political groups except the conservatives, and the battered women’s shelter supported criminalising the client. The resultant bill (1982) only dealt with pornography but provided some funding for research on sex work. However the rhetoric was clear, prostitution was still a social evil, and incompatible with equality, and should be fought.
Between 1983 and 1993 (particularly 1984-7 and 1990-2) some 50 bills were presented dealing with prostitution, many of which included the criminalisation of purchase, and there was a major lobby within and without the Riksdag from women’s movements and calls for more commissions. A further commission was instigated in 1993 under a former Ombudsman.
One bill from women parliamentarians at the time demanded immediate criminalisation of clients, believing there was sufficient ‘evidence’ and that a further commission was not required.
1995 saw both the reports of this commission (SOU 1995: 15) and also one on violence against women and rape (SOU 1995: 60). The latter
met the women’s objectives, the former
however proposed criminalising both parties to an exchange in prostitution, including both hetero and homosexual prostitution. In the ensuing public debate there was talk of a historic reversal of patriarchy and of the need to avoid further victimising the victims (women).
There was virtually no support for the commission’s recommendations in the ensuing consultation process, most commentators opposing any criminalisation. Bills from women parliamentarians criminalising clients continued to be presented and the Government was criticised for inaction.
The Kvinnofrid law (1999)
The resulting government bill (February 5, 1998) packaged both commission reports together as a Violence Against Women Act (Kvinnofrid)including criminalisation of purchase in the prostitution provisions
and measures to combat sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
in the workplace. It was sponsored by both the Prime Minister, Göran Persson
Göran Persson
Hans Göran Persson was the Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Conceding defeat in the September 2006 general election, he announced that he would resign as party leader, and Mona Sahlin was elected to succeed him as...
and the Minister of Gender Equality,
Ulrika Messing. The Justice Committee was not convinced that criminalisation would reduce prostitution, but still recommended the bill.
Yvonne Svanström
Yvonne Svanström
Yvonne Svanström, , is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm University.- Career :She earned her PhD in 2000, with a dissertation Yvonne Svanström, (born 1965), is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm...
(Department of Economic History, Stockholm University) describes
the debates as being heavily gendered. Men tended to argue that this was a social, not criminal, matter and that the bill intruded on self determination, while the women argued that prostitution was incompatible with a social order embracing gender equity. They saw prostitution as patriarchal oppression, and therefore not a free will choice, although there was less unanimity over what should be done. The uniqueness of the proposal was emphasised, all of which took place at an ideological level with no appeal to empiricism, which was explicitly rejected.
Eventually the bill passed on June 4, 1998
by 181 to 92 in a 349-member chamber, becoming law on January 1, 1999.
On 1 April 2005 this provision was transferred to the Penal Code
as section 11 of a new sexual crimes chapter (6).
Political parties
Sweden has proportional representation and a multiparty system. Social Democratsdominated Swedish Politics for most of the last century but formed a minority left of center
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
government during this time with support from the Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
.
In the final vote the Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
, the Left Party
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
and the Greens
Green Party (Sweden)
-External links:**...
supported the Bill, while opposition to the proposals in the Riksdag
Riksdag
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
was only moderate, the opposition parties believing that the bill would be passed anyway. The Moderate (conservative) Party
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
and Liberals
Liberal People's Party
There are several political parties named Liberal People's Party in English:*Liberaalinen Kansanpuolue in Finland*Det Liberale Folkeparti in Norway*Folkpartiet Liberalerna in SwedenSee also the list of liberal parties....
opposed the policy, while the Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
abstained. The Liberals argued that prostitution would be merely pushed underground, while the Christian Democrats wanted both the sale and purchase of sex criminalized.
Gendering the debate
While maintaining that this was not about women’s sexuality, the supporters of the bill claimed that women should control their own bodies, and that this was about men’s access to women’s bodies. FeministsFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and women’s movements had carried out considerable lobbying for criminalising purchase, but in the end it was the women’s groups within the parliamentary parties that were responsible for the success of the legislation, crossing and even defying their own party lines.
However this was not as homogeneous as is sometimes perceived. Moderate women never joined the movement, and both Moderate, and a number of Liberal women opposed the bill.
Most of the parliamentary debate was undertaken by women, which Ulrika Lorentzi, former editor of the feminist magazine Bang
Bang (magazine)
Bang is a Swedish feminist culture magazine. It was started in 1991 by students at Stockholm University. The current editors in chief are Trifa Shakely and Johanna Palmström. The magazine is named after Barbro Alving, whose signature was "Bang". There are four issues per year with a circulation of...
, referred to as the ‘Sex Wars’.
Women held 41% of the seats in parliament which although the highest proportion in Europe
still meant they had to lobby for male support within their parties in order to get this passed. The women’s movement had prostitution high on its agenda, criminalisation of purchase had been on that agenda for a hundred years, and there was little opposition to this. However ensuing public debates revealed that even Swedish feminists were divided on the approach that had been taken.
For the women, this was a test case of their ability to come together as a caucus and push through a women’s agenda over the wishes of male colleagues. Messing’s agenda was expansive: “I believe that in 20 years today’s decision will be described as the big leap forward to fight violence against women and to reach Kvinnofrid”.
Role of equality
In addition to the Ministry and Ombudsman, equality issues lay with the parliamentary Gender Equality Committee (1976), and a unit was created at the Department of Labour. Legislation was created in 1980. In this case the women’s agencies were seen as not being supportive of the women’s movement which had become increasingly coalesced around the demand for criminalising the client, but rather pursuing equality in a more impartial mode. The Minister, however, essentially championed the proposal both inside and outside of the Riksdag, and therefore it may be argued that that women’s political agencies played an indirect role through the profile of the office and minister.Major discourses
Arguments as to action varied across a spectrum from no action, criminalising both partners, to criminalising the client. Opponents expressed concern that criminalisation would drive prostitution underground, and was symbolic rather than realistic. Other concerns were expressed about the state of legislation and practice in the rest of the EU, including a fear of contamination of Sweden, and that this would send a message to Europe against liberalisation. Other aspects of this included concerns about trafficking.The sex as work discourse appeared late in the debate and only outside of parliament. Notably absent from the debate were sex workers and sex workers’ organisations. Despite appeals to equality there was scant attention to any other forms of sexual exchange than women selling sex to men, framed as predatory men purchasing sex from vulnerable women.
A term that appeared in the debates and has since become popularised is ‘Swedish Model’
or "Den Svenska Modellen", a term long used to describe foreigner’s perception of the Swedish way of doing things, and in particular the paternalist welfare state that arose in the 1930s.
Out of context, this has become the most commonly used term to describe criminalising purchase in subsequent debates around the world.
Official position
The Swedish Government states that the reason behind this legislation is the importance to society of fighting prostitution.Prostitution is considered to cause serious harm both to individuals and to society as a whole. Large-scale crime, including human trafficking for sexual purposes, assault, procuring and drug-dealing, is also commonly associated with prostitution. (...)The vast majority of those in prostitution also have very difficult social circumstances.
The law is in accordance with Sweden's gender equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
programme.
Theoretically the gender of the seller and buyer are immaterial under the law, that is it is gender neutral. However, the law is politically constructed, discussed and enforced in the context of women selling sex to men. The Swedish Government believes that women selling sexual services to men constitutes a form of violence against women
Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...
which should be eliminated by reducing demand. Demand for women's sexual services is constructed as a form of male dominance over women, and as a practice which maintains patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
hegemony.
(see feminist arguments against prostitution). This legal and social approach to prostitution, which has become known as the "Swedish Model" or more recently the "Nordic Model", needs to be understood—at least partly—in the context of radical feminism
Radical feminism
Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...
(a philosophy which focuses on the theory of the patriarchal roots of inequality between men and women), which is very prominent in Sweden.
Today, the law is largely uncontroversial across the whole political spectrum. The view of prostitution as a legacy of a societal order that subordinates women to men being officially accepted. Consequently it has become a taboo subject to question the legitimacy and effectiveness of the law. and those who have criticised the law have faced considerable opposition. Nevertheless there is a body of criticism, within and without parliament but this has had no measurable effect on the official position and party policy (see below).
Aftermath of Kvinnofrid law
Most of the debate, other than the lobbying from women’s groups, took place within the parliament. Only after the law was passed did significant debate take place in public. 'Sex as work' had been discussed during the 1990s but was not part of the parliamentary debates, but started to be heard more in the public debates that followed. Petra ÖstergrenPetra Östergren
Anna Cecilia Petra Östergren is a Swedish feminist writer, debater, social commentator and an instructor in self defense. She has an MA in Social Anthropology , and is a doctoral student at Lund University...
, a PhD candidate and writer on sexuality, was a noted opponent, as were sex work activists such as Lillian Andersson.
.
Criticisms were made of women politicians on the grounds of class and for causing divisions between women (although they have framed the debate as being about men, not women). There was also interest in the fact that Sweden was quite unique in this regard. Some former sex workers supported the law.
Parliamentary activity continued, including the introduction of bills to criminalise the selling of sex, and to promote the Swedish approach and oppose liberalisation of laws on sex work worldwide. In April 2005 the law was amended as part of a reform of sexual crimes to add the clause “That which is stated in the first section also applies if the payment has been promised or made by someone else” to include procurement by a third party which was acknowledged as a loophole. Sexual acts with children were also added (section 9) and the Sex Purchase Law was moved to the Penal Code.
Following the passage of the law, the Government provided 7 million crowns ($1 million US) to the National Police Board
for enforcement.
Extra police were hired and vehicles in known areas of street work placed under surveillance. Ninety one reports were filed in 1999, and a reduction in visible prostitution was noted while acknowledging that estimating the actual activity of prostitution was extremely difficult, and that it was quite possible it had merely gone underground. The difficulties of enforcement were immediately noted by the police who had opposed the law, and the difficulty in getting a conviction was even harder under Swedish judicial procedure and the rights of citizens. Few of the reports in 1999 were concluded. Six convictions were obtained, and fines imposed. Difficulties in even understanding the law were noted, and understandably sex workers were reluctant to inform or testify against their clients. The Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare) noted that estimating the extent of sex work was almost impossible. A number of reports suggest that prostitution was at a low level in Sweden, and was on the decline, but may have experienced a slight increase in the 1990s.
As expected there was an immediate decrease in the visible spectrum, as seen in other countries introducing repressive legislation (e.g. Street Offences Act 1959, U.K.) followed fairly rapidly by displacement to the less visible spectrum.
The historian Yvonne Svanström describes two similar cases, in which the outcome is very different for the man and the woman (a male judge and a woman police cadet), as exemplifying the fact that the law as a symbolic tool has done little if anything to achieve its intent of reversing patriarchal hegemony and reversing centuries of controlling women’s sexuality to controlling that of men.
She saw this as indicative of Eva Lundgren
Eva Lundgren
Eva Lundgren is a Norwegian-born Swedish feminist scholar and sociologist, focusing on violence against women and religiously motivated violence. She is known for developing the theory of the process of normalization of violence, according to which, abused women gradually adopt the perspective of...
’s thesis
of the divide between regulative systems and constitutive systems, and the relative stability of the latter.
Exporting the model
Swedish authorities and activistswent on to promote internationally the ‘Swedish Model’. The Government hosted conferences on trafficking, sexual violence and prostitution as a comprehensive entity
and issued Fact Sheets outlining official Swedish policy in a variety of languages.
These made it very clear that prostitution and trafficking were manifestations of the same male criminal predisposition, ‘male violence against women and children’, who are described as victims. A severe threat to society as a whole and indeed the world at large is described. Alliances were formed with prohibitionist antitrafficking groups such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women is an international non-governmental organization opposing human trafficking, prostitution, and other forms of commercial sex.-Views:...
,
and representations made at higher levels such as the European Union, Council of Europe and the United Nations.
An approach of public anti-prostitution education was taken, through advertising and education, including schools programmes.
Subsequently the Swedish approach has found support amongst prohibitionist groups around the world who lobbied for similar legislation.
Several European countries have discussed or are currently discussing adopting a similar legal system.
After a long debate, in 2009 similar laws were adopted by Norway
Prostitution in Norway
Prostitution in Norway is only illegal in that paying for sex is a crime...
and Iceland
Prostitution in Iceland
Paying for sex is illegal in Iceland. In April 2009, the Icelandic Parliament passed new legislation that makes paying for sex illegal ....
.
This has created pressure on other nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
such as Denmark
Prostitution in Denmark
Prostitution in Denmark is legal, but third party activities such as operating brothels and other forms of procuring are illegal activities.-Legal status:...
.
This approach has met with mixed results. For instance there has been intense lobbying in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
over the last two government's attempts to reform the law there. In 2010 the Attorney-General criticised leading Swedish activist Gunilla Ekberg
Gunilla Ekberg
Gunilla Ekberg is a Swedish lawyer. From 2002 to 2006, she was employed at the Ministry of Industry as the Swedish Government's expert on prostitution and trafficking in human beings....
's credibility.
Research on prostitution in Sweden
One often cited Swedish historian on the subject of the Swedish law on prostitution is Yvonne SvanströmYvonne Svanström
Yvonne Svanström, , is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm University.- Career :She earned her PhD in 2000, with a dissertation Yvonne Svanström, (born 1965), is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm...
(Stockholm). Some research into the law comes from outside of Sweden as well.
In 2008 data appeared on a study of prostitution across the Nordic region by the Nordic Gender Institute
Nordic Gender Institute
The Nordic Gender Institute , previously Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research, is a transnational resource- and information centre on gender research and gender equality in the Nordic countries. NIKK was established in 1995 by the Nordic Council of Ministers.NIKK aims at...
(NIKK), including work done by several authors from the different Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden).
The most visible effect of the Swedish law according to the data presented seemed to be that since the law came into effect less men reported purchasing sex and sex workers were less visible. Social workers reported a gradual decline in involvement over a ten year period and more use of technology. It was unclear how much of this change could be attributed to the law itself. The 1995 Swedish government commission (SOU 1995:15)
had estimated that there were 2500-3000 women working in prostitution in Sweden, among whom 650 were on the streets.
In contrast, in the 2008 NIKK report estimates show there are approximately 300 women in street prostitution, and 300 women and 50 men who used the internet (indoor prostitution).
Similar data from Denmark, where prostitution appeared much more acceptable, obtained by comparable methods, show there are at least 5567 persons visibly in prostitution among whom 1415 were on the streets.
Compared to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
where purchase of sex is legal, Sweden’s prostitution population then seems to be only a tenth even though Denmark only has a population of 5.5 million
while Sweden has 9.3.
In Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
with 4.9 million people
it was estimated that there were 2654 women of whom 1157 where on the street in 2007 (among those not on the street in Norway, the numbers were based on those who sought support from social agencies, or who’s advertisements where found on the internet or in a paper) which is over 4 times compared to Sweden's numbers and over 8 times more per capita. Furthermore, the number of men reporting the experience of purchasing sex in the national Swedish population samples seems to have dropped from 12.7% to 7.6% from 1996
to 2008.
No respondents in the latest survey published in 2008 reported they increased, or that they started purchasing sex outside of Sweden, nor changed into purchasing sex in “non-physical” forms.
This 2008 survey, which obtained responses from 2500 men and women between 18 and 74, is now also published in English.
Initial efforts
Evaluation of the law creates considerable conceptual burdens, especially given the expansionist claims of the rationale and objectives, which include not only the eradication of prostitution but also of violence against women, and a cultural shift in sexuality values. It is important to note that, even before the introduction of this law, Sweden had less prostitution than other European countries.Supporters of the law maintain that it has had the effect of decreasing trafficking and pimping.
Critics claim that there has been an increase in hidden prostitution, especially internet prostitution.
However, the research published by NIKK (see above) does not suggest that hidden- or internet prostitution is a comparably larger proportion in Sweden than in Denmark or Norway
Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare)
Monitoring and evaluation of the law was delegated to the Socialstyrelsen, which has produced three reports (2000, 2004, 2007). These acknowledged the difficulties in evaluating the situation and provided no hard evidence that the law had in any way achieved its objectives. The 2007 report states that street prostitution is on the increase after an initial decline and that customers and sex workers now use the internet and mobile phone to communicate.
The issue of unintended consequences was raised by critics of the proposed legislation in Sweden in 1996 three years before it took place,
namely that it would drive sex workers underground, increase the risk of violence, harm the most vulnerable, and be almost impossible to enforce, which some claim has happened.
However the 2003 report stated that one "cannot state with certainty whether there has been an increase of violence [in prostitution]. . . . Some informants speak of greater risks . . . few have observed an actual increase . . . . Police who have studied the occurrence of violence have not found any evidence of an increase. . . . The interview data and other research indicate that violence and prostitution are closely linked, whatever sort of legislation may be in effect.".
This assessment was not modified in the later follow-up report by the Board in 2007.
A 2001 police report contradicted this (see below).
Some observers have noted that practitioners have left Sweden in order to ply there trade elsewhere, Africa being one destination.
Police and media reports
In 2001 the Malmo
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
police reported that there was no evidence that the law had reduced violence, rather there was evidence it had increased,
In 2007 Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, a German news magazine, stated that according to the Swedish police, 400 to 600 foreign women are brought to Sweden each year to be prostitutes. In Finland, which is only half the size of Sweden, that number is between 10,000 and 15,000 women. Jonas Trolle, an inspector with a unit of the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
police dedicated to combating the sex trade, was quoted as saying "We only have between 105 and 130 women, both on the Internet and on the street, active (in prostitution) in Stockholm today."
In 2008 Kajsa Wahlberg,
of the human trafficking unit at Sweden's national police board, conceded that accurate statistics are hard to obtain, but estimated that the number of prostitutes in Sweden dropped 40% from 2,500 in 1998 to 1,500 in 2003.
However by 2010 she had conceded that the policy had failed, and that issues around prostitution were increasing
as noted in the media which carried out surveys on the street.
In Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
police sources reported increased activity on Malmskillnadsgatan
Malmskillnadsgatan
Malmskillnadsgatan is a 650 metres long street in central Stockholm, Sweden. It stretches northward from the Brunkebergstorg square over Hamngatan; crosses Mäster Samuelsgatan and Oxtorgsgatan; passes over the bridge Malmskillnadsbron passing over Kungsgatan; crosses Brunnsgatan and David Bagares...
in the city centre (which with Artillerigatan
Artillerigatan
Artillerigatan is a street in the district of Östermalm in Stockholm, Sweden.- History :Artillerigatan was previously divided into three street sections; Löjtnantsgatan in the southern part , Artillerigatan and Kvarngatan to the north...
in the Östermalm district was a traditional site for street prostitution in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
).
Judges
and senior police officials have been caught purchasing sex,
while most recently Sven Otto Littorin, the Minister of Labour Sven Otto Littorin was also accused of purchasing sex (Littoringate).
Government action
Amongst other concerns about the law, taxing the proceeds of sex work (recognised since 1982) is raising questions as to the rationality of a law prohibiting purchase.
On July 10, 2008 the Government announced a new Action Plan
on prostitution including the investment of another 200 million kroner,
action at an international level and further educational measures to ‘help them [people] rethink their attitudes’. Stories about sex work appear almost daily in the media, often with commentary from Gender Equality officials. The increasing emphasis on the symbolic nature of the law, ‘sending a message’, by the authorities also sends a message that the instrumental value is in doubt.
Public opinion
Opinion polls have shown high public support: polls conducted by the opinion and social research consultancy, SIFO, in 1999, and again two years later, showed a rise – from 76% to 81% – in the number of people who favoured this law. The percentage of respondents who wanted the law to be repealed was 15% in 1999 and 14% two years later. The rest "didn't know".In the 2008 survey conducted by NIKK (see above), 71% of Swedes said they supported the ban on paying for sex, although only 20% of respondents believed that the number of people who pay for sex had been reduced. 79% of women and 60% of men favored the law. The young adult population (18-38), particularly women, were most in favor of the law.
A 2005 sex survey conducted online by Durex has shown that out of the 34 countries surveyed, Sweden had the lowest percentage of respondents who had paid for sex (3% of those who answered the question. Respondents included both men and women). The methodology has been criticised.
A 2010 survey by Järfälla tjejjour
found that 25% of Swedish men were in favour of repealing the law, compared with 7% of women.
Skarhed commission and report (Ban on purchase of sexual services: An evaluation 1999-2008) 2010
In 2008, the Swedish government appointed Supreme Court Justice and later Justice Chancellor (Justitiekanslern), Anna Skarhed, to lead an official inquiry into the effects that the purchase law has had on prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden.This evaluation attracted great interest internationally. But Susanne Dodillet
Susanne Dodillet
- Education :Dodillet earned a master's degree in cultural education from the University of Hildesheim in Germany and a PhD in the history of ideas from the University of Gothenburg in 2009.Her doctoral thesis Är sex arbete?...
, an academic at Gothenburg University
Gothenburg University
The University of Gothenburg is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.- Character :The University of Gothenburg is the third-oldest Swedish university, and with 24,900 full-time students it is also among the largest universities in the Nordic countries...
and author of Är sex arbete? (Is Sex Work?),
was sceptical that the review would add much to what we know.
She criticized the fact that the report, regardless of its results, would not be allowed to suggest repeal of the law.
One group of scholars, politicians, and NGOs made a submission to the Commission on March 17, 2008, arguing that the Government should provide a civil rights remedy to people in prostitution in order to support their exiting the trade.
Their submission stated that the judiciary were misinterpreting the law, and that this should be recognized and corrected. In support of this they cited a 2001 case
in which it was held that the law did not provide a woman with a civil right to damage awards from a purchaser in a sexual transaction. Among this group of thirteen petitioners, were the Swedish Association of Women's Shelters and Young Women's Empowerment Centers
(one of the two national umbrella shelter-organizations), the Social Democrat’s Women’s Federation (S-Kvinnor), and the immigrant-oriented women's shelter Terrafem.
Report
The final report of the commission was submitted to Justice Minister
Minister for Justice (Sweden)
The Minister for Justice is the justice minister of Sweden and head of the Ministry of Justice. The current Minister for Justice is Beatrice Ask of the Moderate Party....
Beatrice Ask
Beatrice Ask
Eva Carin Beatrice Ask is a Swedish Moderate Party politician currently serving as Minister for Justice in the Swedish government.- Biography :...
in July 2010.
The report stated that the law worked, and had achieved its objectives but suggested that the sentence for purchasing sex be doubled. It stated that since the introduction of the ban on buying sex, street prostitution had been halved and that: "This reduction may be considered to be a direct result of the criminalisation of sex purchases." It was also found that there had been no overall increase in prostitution in Sweden. "People working in the field do not consider that there has been an increase in prostitution since the ban was introduced". It also stated that the law has had a positive effect on human trafficking. "According to the National Criminal Police, it is clear that the ban on the purchase of sexual services acts as a barrier to human traffickers and procurers considering establishing themselves in Sweden".
The report also acknowledged Internet (indoor) prostitution as an expanding market, which is more difficult to study and verify than street prostitution, and which, in the last five years has increased in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, however it stated, concurring with the NIKK report (above), that "the scale of this form of prostitution is more extensive in our neighbouring countries, and there is nothing to indicate that a greater increase in prostitution over the Internet has occurred in Sweden than in these comparable countries. This indicates that the ban has not led to street prostitution in Sweden shifting arenas to the Internet". It also stated that there was no evidence of an increase of abuse towards the prostitutes and of worse living conditions for prostitutes. "As far as we can judge from the written material and the contacts we have had with public officials and people involved in prostitution, these fears have not been realised", concurring with the Board of Welfare assessment (above) that persons in prostitution are not worse off as an effect of the law. It was also noted that there were many limitations to evaluating the situation of prostitution in Sweden, due to the nature of prostitution and trafficking which are "complex and multifaceted social phenomena which partly occur in secret" and the fact that many empirical surveys had limited scope, and different methodologies and purposes.
Sweden's position on prostitution was reaffirmed: "Those who defend prostitution argue that it is possible to differentiate between voluntary and non-voluntary prostitution, that adults should have the right to freely sell and freely purchase sex (...) However, based on a gender equality and human rights perspective, (...) the distinction between voluntary and nonvoluntary prostitution is not relevant." The report also addressed the suggestion of civil remedy, stating that the "person exploited in prostitution may normally be considered the injured party" implying a civil right to damages under the law.
Initial responses to report
The report was sent to the consultation process, where interested groups were provided with the opportunity to comment on it (see below). Release of the report attracted many initial commentaries in both English
and Swedish.
The Swedish media originally reported this in a largely factual manner, with two exceptions, one positive,
and one critical.
Commentaries have largely focussed on the ideological and political background. The law's supporters see the report as affirmation, while critics complain it adds nothing since it is not based on empirical research. They have commented on the lack of methodology and evidence and the failure to adequately consult with sex workers themselves and
have questioned the scientific validity. They have also raised the question as to whether it should be translated into English (only a summary is available) to allow a wider examination.
At the time of the release of the report the Littoringate affair (see above) was occupying the media, leading people to question the law's purpose and underlying rationale when even government ministers were ignoring it. For instance lawyer Alice Teodorescu, wrote in Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
that Sweden has double standards in morality,
while Isabelle Ståhl, in Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
questioned the underlying victimisation theory,
and Elisabet Höglund in Aftonbladet suggested the law be scrapped, calling it one of the weirdest laws in Swedish history and legally implausible because of its asymmetry.
Such open challenging of the law has been unusual in the last 10 years since it was passed. However the debate continues to be very divisive.
Other criticism came from Paulina Neuding, editor of Neo.
Some of the debate raised the broader question of state paternalism versus individual choice, and whether there should even be moral laws (Morallagar),
given the pending Swedish elections on September 19, 2010
Swedish general election, 2010
A general election to the Riksdag, parliament of Sweden, was held on . The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance and the oppositional centre-left Red-Greens coalition A general election to the Riksdag, parliament of Sweden, was held on . The main...
.
One of the conclusions rests on comparisons between Sweden and surrounding Nordic countries (see NIKK study above). Some have considered the numbers on street prostitution in Denmark to be over reported, based on a report from the Danish sex workers' organization Sexarbejdernes Interesse Organisation (SIO).
SIO stated that street prostitution in Copenhagen was overestimated by 1000 persons, attributing over reporting to an NGO, Reden that works with women in prostitution, and the numbers of women that they had seen. Other data suggests that any over reporting would not be as large and even if so the amount of persons in prostitution in total is many times larger in Denmark than in Sweden and Danish numbers on indoor prostitution were estimated at 3278. These numbers were mainly based on advertising not Reden. Assuming 1415 is the number for outdoor prostitution in Denmark, that only amounts to a fourth of prostitution in Denmark. Therefore, it seems unlikely that street prostitution could be so significantly lower as SIO claims. However whatever the numbers, the scientific question is whether this has anything to do with the sex purchase law or rather reflects historical patterns and cultural attitudes.
Two researchers stated that they had evidence, based on cross-national data, that the Swedish ban was an effective counter-trafficking tool,
but this was criticised on methodological grounds by commentators.
The debate moved to the political arena when a government member of parliament, Camilla Lindberg
Camilla Lindberg
Camilla Lindberg was a Swedish Liberal People's Party politician .She was not re-elected in the 2010 election.She was a member of the Riksdag from the district of Dalarna County since 2006...
(Liberal
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
) (Dalarna
Dalarna County
Dalarna County is a county or län in middle Sweden. It borders the counties of Jämtland, Gävleborg, Västmanland, Örebro and Värmland. It is also bordered by the Norwegian counties of Hedmark and Sør-Trøndelag in the west...
)
and Opposition member Marianne Berg
Marianne Berg
Marianne Berg is a Swedish Left Party politician. She has been a member of the Riksdag since 2006. She is openly lesbian.-External links:* at the Riksdag website...
(Left
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
) (Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
) published a bi-partisan article in Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
, stating that the law did not protect women but rather hurt them, by reinforcing patriarchal attitudes towards women's control of their sexuality.
Berg was criticised within her own party by Karin Rågsjö in a party newsletter.
Criticism also came from Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party from 1993 until January 2003. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus entirely on her feminist political work...
of Feministiskt initiativ.
and in an editorial in Linberg's own constituency.
This was then followed by a joint manifesto from parliamentary candidates of five political parties, including Helena von Schantz (Liberal) and Hanna Wagenius (Centre
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
), attacking the evaluation process and report as immoral.
The Pirate Party had no official position on the law, but stands for basic freedoms and party members have unofficially opposed it
and the party published a very liberal manifesto for the 2010 election.
A Christian Democrat
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
feminist, Sofie Jakobsson, has also supported re-opening brothels, but as with other critics of the Swedish approach, did not find much support within her party.
International commentary
In the United Kingdom, one supporter of the Swedish approach, Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel is an English writer, feminist and co-founder of the group Justice For Women, which opposes violence against women from a feminist viewpoint....
stated that she hoped that the evaluation would put an end to the claims that the sex-purchase law had been detrimental, she also wrote that "No doubt critics of this law will soon be arguing that the research that formed the basis of this evaluation is flawed and biased".
In Australia, the government body responsible for regulating prostitution, the PLA, issued its own critique of the Skarhed Report, describing it as rhetoric that was not substantiated by evidence.
Consultation process
52 remissvar (responses) were received. While many were favourable, those from academic sources, such as the Department of Criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
at Stockholm University
Stockholm University
Stockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...
were very critical.
Two Swedish researchers, Petra Östergren
Petra Östergren
Anna Cecilia Petra Östergren is a Swedish feminist writer, debater, social commentator and an instructor in self defense. She has an MA in Social Anthropology , and is a doctoral student at Lund University...
and Susanne Dodillet
Susanne Dodillet
- Education :Dodillet earned a master's degree in cultural education from the University of Hildesheim in Germany and a PhD in the history of ideas from the University of Gothenburg in 2009.Her doctoral thesis Är sex arbete?...
, analysed the responses and compared them to the official report and found major contradictions. Their study concluded that there was no evidence to support the official claims.
Legislative response
The Swedish Government announced that it intended to increase the penalty for purchasing sex from six months to one year's imprisonment, effective July 1, 2011.
The proposal was debated on and passed May 12, 2011: For 282 Against 1.
The sole opponent was Federley
Fredrick Federley
Bengt Fredrick Federley is a Swedish Centre Party politician, member of the Parliament of Sweden since 2006.- Youth and education :...
, however he claimed that attempts were made to prevent him from speaking against the proposal by the Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
After passage of purchase law (1998)
Although the political scene had changed by 2005, the parties that had voted against the sex purchase law in 1998, and were now in power, no longeer opposed it, and it became a non-partisan issue, although individual politicians still questioned the wisdom of the policy.On 3 May 2009 Hanna Wagenius
of the Centre Party Youth introduced a motion to repeal the sex purchase law, arguing that it did not help women involved in prostitution and that trafficking had actuially increased since the law came into effect. The motion was passed 56: 39.
In October 2009, Centre Party MP Fredrick Federley
Fredrick Federley
Bengt Fredrick Federley is a Swedish Centre Party politician, member of the Parliament of Sweden since 2006.- Youth and education :...
introduced a motion for repeal of the law.
He also wrote a commentary in the October 9 Aftonbladet, explaining this - Avskaffa sexköpslagen! (Abolish the Sex Purchase Law!).
In May 2010 the law was criticised by Swedish MP Camilla Lindberg
Camilla Lindberg
Camilla Lindberg was a Swedish Liberal People's Party politician .She was not re-elected in the 2010 election.She was a member of the Riksdag from the district of Dalarna County since 2006...
(Dalarnas, Liberal)
in an interview
with Dalarnas Tidningar
Dalarnas Tidningar
Dalarnas Tidningar is a Swedish media company founded in 1987 by the merger of two companies, Falu-Kuriren AB with the newspaper Falu Kuriren and Dalarnes Tidnings- och Boktryckeri AB with newspapers Borlänge Tidning, Nya Ludvika Tidning, Mora Tidning and Södra Dalarnes Tidning. These local...
, who favoured a regulated system.
After publication of the evaluation (2010)
The law continues to remain controversial in Sweden, with regular debates in the media. On January 30, 2011, writing in NewsmillNewsmill
Newsmill is a Swedish website for "news commentary and debate".Debate was opened to the public on September 3, 2008.. It was operated at that time by Peter Magnus Nilsson , Leo Lagercrantz and Karen Eder Ekman, who had previously worked at Expressen and Aftonbladet.Currently Ekman has been...
,
Helena von Schantz challenged the Liberal party leadership as to why it supported the lengthening of sentences for buying sex.
These penalties are due to come into force on July 1, 2011.
Purchasing sex (Brottsbalk 6.11)
Sweden'sSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Sex Purchase Act , enacted in 1999, makes it illegal to purchase sexual services (sexuell tjänst) but not to sell them. The rationale for criminalising the purchaser but not the seller was stated in the 1997 government proposition, namely that "...it is unreasonable to also criminalize the one who, at least in most cases, is the weaker party who is exploited by others who want to satisfy their own sexual desires".
The Act (amended to be part of the Criminal Code, or Brottsbalk in 2005) states:
6.11 Den som, i annat fall än som avses förut i detta kapitel, skaffar sig en tillfällig sexuell förbindelse mot ersättning, döms för köp av sexuell tjänst till böter eller fängelse i högst sex månader.
Vad som sägs i första stycket gäller även om ersättningen har utlovats eller getts av någon annan. Lag (2005:90).
6.11 A person who, otherwise than as previously provided in this Chapter [on Sexual Crimes], obtains a casual sexual relation in return for payment, shall be sentenced for purchase of a sexual service to a fine or imprisonment for at most six months.
The provision of the first paragraph also applies if the payment was promised or given by another person.
Enforcement of law
In 2008 the number of police reports was 1,500 with 86 convictions in 2006. A Supreme court ruling has prevented the optional jail term being applied, and some parliamentarians have called for a minimum one year jail term.To date nobody has been imprisoned, according to Swedish Public Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
.
A number of sources suggest that the law is not being enforced very strictly.
Figures released in July 2010, suggest a large increase in the number of men reported for paying sex, which was attributed to increased police activity. The number of convictions was not reported.
Third party activities (Brottsbalk 6.12)
Prior to the sex purchase law, third party activities were already criminalised under the Criminal Code, as 6.12, so that the 1999 law increased the sanctions directed against sexual exchange.6.12 Den som främjar eller på ett otillbörligt sätt ekonomiskt utnyttjar att en person har tillfälliga sexuella förbindelser mot ersättning, döms för koppleri till fängelse i högst fyra år.
Om en person som med nyttjanderätt har upplåtit en lägenhet får veta att lägenheten helt eller till väsentlig del används för tillfälliga sexuella förbindelser mot ersättning och inte gör vad som skäligen kan begäras för att få upplåtelsen att upphöra, skall han eller hon, om verksamheten fortsätter eller återupptas i lägenheten, anses ha främjat verksamheten och dömas till ansvar enligt första stycket.
Är brott som avses i första eller andra stycket att anse som grovt, döms för grovt koppleri till fängelse i lägst två och högst åtta år. Vid bedömande av om brottet är grovt skall särskilt beaktas om brottet avsett en verksamhet som bedrivits i större omfattning, medfört betydande vinning eller inneburit ett hänsynslöst utnyttjande av annan. Lag (2005:90).
6.12 A person who promotes or improperly financially exploits a person’s engagement in casual sexual relations in return for payment shall be sentenced for procuring to imprisonment for at most four years.
If a person who, holding the right to the use of premises, has granted the right to use them to another, subsequently learns that the premises are wholly or to a substantial extent used for casual sexual relations in return for payment and omits to do what can reasonably be requested to terminate the granted right, he or she shall, if the activity continues or is resumed at the premises, be considered to have promoted the activity and shall be held criminally responsible in accordance with the first paragraph.
If a crime provided for in the first or second paragraph is considered gross, imprisonment for at least two and at most eight years shall be imposed for gross procuring. In assessing whether the crime is gross, special consideration shall be given to whether the crime has concerned a large-scale activity, brought significant financial gain or involved ruthless exploitation of another person.
See also
- Susanne DodilletSusanne Dodillet- Education :Dodillet earned a master's degree in cultural education from the University of Hildesheim in Germany and a PhD in the history of ideas from the University of Gothenburg in 2009.Her doctoral thesis Är sex arbete?...
- Petra ÖstergrenPetra ÖstergrenAnna Cecilia Petra Östergren is a Swedish feminist writer, debater, social commentator and an instructor in self defense. She has an MA in Social Anthropology , and is a doctoral student at Lund University...
- Yvonne SvanströmYvonne SvanströmYvonne Svanström, , is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm University.- Career :She earned her PhD in 2000, with a dissertation Yvonne Svanström, (born 1965), is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economic History at Stockholm...
- History of SwedenHistory of SwedenModern Sweden started out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. In the 17th century Sweden expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of these conquered territories had to be given up during the 18th century...
- Crime in Sweden: Prostitution
External links
- Susanne Dodillet. Cultural clash on prostitution: Debates on prostitution in Germany and Sweden in the 1990s, in: Margaret Breen and Fiona Peters (eds.) Genealogies of Identity: Interdisciplinary readings on sex and sexuality, Rodophi, Amsterdam 2005
- (Pdf version)
- Is sex work? Swedish and German prostitution policy since the 1970s. by Susanne Dodillet, Gothenburg University, 2009.
- How Sweden tackles prostitution, BBC 8 February 2007.
- The oldest conundrum, The Economist, October 30, 2008.
- The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of A Sexual Service: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings by Gunilla S. Ekberg, 2004.
- "A Swedish sexworker on the criminalization of clients", interview with Pye Jacbsson, film by HCLU-SWAN, at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Sweden revisits prostitution law: Its tough stance is upheld as a model. But does it work?, Christian Science Monitor, June 28, 2009.
- Marie De Santis. Sweden Treating Prostitution as Violence Against Women. Sisyphe Dec 20 2004
- Swedish Prostitution Ban An Apparent Enormous Success. Life Site News November 15 2007
- Emma Dahlin. Prostitution in Germany and Sweden: What is right and what is wrong, 2008
- Janice Raymond, "Sex for sale: Why Sweden punishes buyers" September 7, 2010
- Brottsbalk 1962 (Penal Code) The sex purchase law is 6.11
Other sources
- Yvonne Svanström. Prostitution in Sweden: Debates and policies 1980-2004, in Gangoli G, Westmarland N. International Approaches to Prostitution. The Policy Press, London 2006, pp. 67ff
- Yvonne Svanström. Criminalising the john - a Swedish gender model?, in pp. Outshoorn J (ed.) The Politics of Prostitution: Women's movements, democratic states, and the globalisation of sex commerce. Cambridge 2004, 225ff