Prostitution in the Nordic Countries

In-house publication IFHR, 2018

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2018

The so-called Nordic model to respond to prostitution has been considered in legislative debates across Europe and internationally, and hailed by some as best practice to tackle sex trafficking and is believed to support gender equality. Yet, when we interrogate the utilisation of the Nordic countries laws by law enforcers, it is not being implemented as per the law. We argue that 'all that is occurring is the transfer of rhetoric and ideology' in these countries ((Stone Politics, 19 (1): 51-59, 1999) at 56). In this article, we expose the cracks in the so-called Nordic model, thereby discrediting the 'persuasive' nature of a unified Nordic approach to prostitution. We draw on policy transfer and comparative law literature to illuminate the problems and challenges of naïve adoption of this socalled model, arguing that this can lead to uninformed, inappropriate and incomplete transfer of the Nordic model, which then becomes a policy irritant, further exacerbating the very problems it seeks to address.

Michigan Journal of International Law, 2011

The Swedish prostitution law from 1999, now followed by Norway and Iceland, criminalized the purchaser and decriminalized the prostituted person. This is analyzed as a cogent state response under international trafficking law, particularly to the obligations set forth in the United Nation’s Trafficking Protocol from 2000. The Protocol states that a person is regarded a trafficking victim when, e.g., a third party abuses her “position of vulnerability” in order to exploit her. International jurisprudence and social evidence strongly suggest that prostitution, as practiced in the world, usually satisfies this definition. Further, the Protocol urges states to reduce the demand for prostitution and to protect and assist victims, for instance by adopting laws deterring purchasers of sex, and by supporting those exploited in prostitution. Policy makers, such as the U.S. Department of State, are criticized for taking an inadequate position in face of the growing evidence from the Swedish law's impact. The article shows that Sweden has significantly reduced the occurrence of trafficking in Sweden compared to neighboring countries. It also scrutinizes some misinformation of the law's impact, showing for instance that claims alleging a more dangerous situation for those still in prostitution after 1999 were unfounded. In addition, the article addresses remaining obstacles to the law's effective implementation, arguing that in order to realize the law's full potential to support escape from trafficking, the civil rights of prostituted persons under current law should be strengthened to enable them to claim damages directly from the purchasers for the harm to which they have contributed, and for the violation of the prostituted persons' equality and dignity - a position now recognized by the government to some extent by clarifying amendments made in 2011.

Violence Against Women, 2004

After several years of public debate initiated by the Swedish women's movement, the Law that Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services came into force on January 1, 1999. The Law is the first attempt by a country to address the root cause of prostitution and trafficking in beings: the demand, the men who assume the right to purchase persons for prostitution purposes. This groundbreaking law is a cornerstone of Swedish efforts to create a contemporary, democratic society where women and girls can live lives free of all forms of male violence. In combination with public education, awareness-raising campaigns, and victim support, the Law and other legislation establish a zero tolerance policy for prostitution and trafficking in human beings. When the buyers risk punishment, the number of men who buy prostituted persons decreases, and the local prostitution markets become less lucrative. Traffickers will then choose other and more profitable destinations. ___________________________________________________________________

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 2018

In this review of recent books on public policy and prostitution, Julie Bindel's The Pimping of Prostitution is sympathetically reviewed. Her thesis, that the libertarian movement seeking to remove prostitution from legal and public policy spheres has done grave harm to the lives of boys, girls and women, is elaborated by quotations from her chapters. This book is an important resource for those who campaign for the rights of women and children to be free of commercial sexual exploitation. The reviewer offers a critical realist perspective on Bindel's work, in advocating that future scholars should use her extensive research for a theoretical elaboration of why the libertarian movement has, in some spheres been successful.

2021

Written Abstract NSfK Research Seminar, 2021: Sexual Violence in the Nordic Countries that summarizes the findings of my dissertation research.

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 2017

This article analyses the history and rationale behind "the Swedish model" of regulating prostitution. The most controversial and debated part of this model is the 1999 ban on purchases of sexual services. To be fully understood the ban and the comprehensive policy regime of which it is a part, the new model has to be placed within a broader framework of policy areas such as gender, sexuality, and social welfare. Thus, the contemporary policy regime will be traced back to the mid-1970s when gender norms and sexual mores were renegotiated in Sweden, which in turn led to a radical reconsideration of men's role and responsibility in heterosexual prostitution. Also, the outcomes, critiques, and controversies of "the Swedish model" will be discussed. A reduction of demand for prostitution implies changes on many levels, both societal and individual. From a normative point of view, it has been women who have played a leading role when it comes to working for such a change. A radical change would presuppose men's participation in the process. If so, the crucial question is: Is there reason to believe that men are prepared to engage in anti-sexist politics that can challenge existing beliefs about gender difference and the idea of men's rights to use women in prostitution for their sexual purposes?

Sweden claims that through the Sex Purchase Act of 1999, they have reduced prostitution by 50% and human trafficking has decreased substantially. This article reviews the findings of the Swedish Report of 2010 and finds that these claims may not be so.

2014

"A group of academics has written an open letter supporting the Nordic Model of prostitution, which criminalises the client instead of the prostitute, ahead of a vote at the European Parliament regarding the law. We do this on the basis of deep and systematic expertise in researching the dynamics of prostitution and the sex industry, trafficking and violence against women. Our research draws on contemporary evidence, on historical and philosophical inquiry, and importantly on the testimony of survivors of the prostitution system. Many of us have worked directly with prostituted women. We have individual and collective links with a wide variety of organisations working for the abolition of prostitution as an institution of gender inequality and exploitation."