Prostitution, the oldest profession, or the oldest oppression? (by Tianyu Zhang)

Should the UK adopt the "Nordic Model" on prostitution?

 

I am very lucky to be awarded with £1,000 from the Travel and Research Award in order to finding out the truth of prostitution in Europe. It later turned out to be part of my final project for my master's degree. News stories often tell of individuals that have been forced into prostitution by traffickers or pimps, or by drug addiction or desperate poverty. But there are also stories of people like Dr. Brooke Magnanti, the research scientist who blogged positively about her experience as a London call girl under the pen name Belle de Jour. Her story was even turned into a TV series- The secret Diary of a Call Girl. However, critics argues that such experience is 'not representative' enough and most sex workers have been exploited in different ways.

Many people find it impossible to imagine how anyone could actively choose to sell their bodies, such is the deep-lying stigma attached to the 'oldest profession'. Some feminists believe that prostitution is a form of exploitation and gender-based issue given the fact that there are more female sex workers than male sex workers. Some others believe that prostitution can be a valid choice for women and men who choose to engage in it.

So, is prostitution a practice of patriarchal societal order that is closely related to drug-addiction, human trafficking, illegal migration or is prostitution simply a choice of profession?

The idea that human beings could be for sale is ethically controversial. However, sex workers often say they don't sell their bodies but, like other workers, simply put a price on their talents and skills. They argue that, if sex work was decriminalised and destigmatised, the associated problems would mostly disappear. But there's more to consider when debating the rights and wrongs of prostitution.

I travelled to different European countries hoping to find out the truth about the 'Nordic model'.

Museum of Prostitution, Amsterdam

In the UK, it is legal to buy and sell sex but soliciting in a public place, kerb-crawling, owning or running a brothel, pimping and pandering, are crimes. However, in 2014, the Northern Ireland has adopted the 'Nordic Model' of prostitution-criminalising sex purchasers but decriminalising sex workers. The discussion on whether the rest of the United Kingdom should adopt this model has been going on and only recently on 1st July 2016, the Commons Home Affairs Select committee said that soliciting by sex workers should no longer be a crime. Previously, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn personally called for decriminalisation on 'sex industry' and he was criticised by MP Harriet Harman who is in support of the 'Nordic Model'.

Amsterdam

The 'Nordic model' has been adopted in 1999 in Sweden and it has since been copied by a host of other countries including Iceland, Canada, Norway. Contrastingly, in January 2016, Leeds has opened its first 'managed area' of 'red light district' and sex workers can legally work from 7pm to 7 am on the street and the police will not interrupt them. I wrote to Benn Hilary, the Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds Central and Shadow Foreign Secretary and he gave me a different answer: "the trial scheme has resulted in greater safety for the women concerned as it has enabled police officers to build up trust with the sex workers."

It all becomes a bit confusing when different regions in the United Kingdom has different legislations on prostitution. Law-makers also have very different opinions on whether the rest of the UK should adopt the 'Nordic model' or not.

National Library of Sweden, Sweden

The European Parliament wants more member countries to adopt the model. Some MPs at Westminster also believe it should replace the confusing patchwork of laws in England and Wales. Harriet Harman, Jess Phillips are the representatives for supporting the 'Nordic model' whilst MP Jeremy Corbyn is 'personally' in favour of decriminalising the whole sex industry. Only recently, on 6th April 2016, France adopted the 'Nordic model'.

The women's groups and anti-trafficking campaigners hold the notion that victims who sell sex simply to survive. They argue that human trafficking and prostitution are inextricably linked. They think the best approach to prostitution is the 'Nordic model'. This is where the police go after the purchasers of sex by handing out tough fines or prison sentences to punters, and leave the sex workers in peace. In other words, the aim is to stifle demand.

As is known to the world, prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. However, in the last few years, a significant number of brothels and 'windows' have been closed because of suspected criminal activity. Human trafficking, sex trafficking and illegal immigration are some major problems related to prostitutions. It is said that many sex workers are also drug addicts, meaning the pimps can easily control them.

Sweden

I wrote a letter to Philip Hammond and he replied to me saying that the Government tries to help women who wish to exit the sex industry. I also wrote to the Minister of Education and Women and got a similar reply.

I interviewed two sex workers from the English Collective of Prostitutes and they think the 'Nordic model' is claimed to decriminalise sex workers but it doesn't in reality.

Later on Monday 30th May, I held a small seminar with students from the Feminist Society in Bedford Library and have the one-hour's meeting filmed and well-recorded. They gave me a new perspective to view the whole situation.

I visited Professor Max Waltman in Stockholm University. His PhD thesis is about prostitution in Europe and he is in favour of the Swedish law.

I also went to De Wallen, the largest and best-known red-light district in Amsterdam by interviewing Ms. Mariska Majoor, a former sex worker and the chairwoman of Prostitution Information Centre (PIC) in Amsterdam.

When I come back from Europe, I interviewed Laura Lee, a sex worker and well-known activist who works in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Later on, I interviewed Jan Melia, the Chief Executive Office from Women's Aid Federation in Northern Ireland.

My last interview was with the Head of International Gender Studies Centre (IGS), Maria Jaschok at Lady Margaret Hall in University of Oxford.