Following on from the thread about trolls, and some questions arising about 'choice feminism' I saw this e-mail which I'd received and thought it might be useful to post on a separate thread.
This e-mail was sent from the CEO of OBJECT:
Many of you are aware of Equals special guest blogger 'Belle de Jour', please find below OBJECT's response, which we have requested EQUALS post as a right to reply:
Why Hell de Jour' Should Never Be Legalised</strong><br /> <br /> Dr Magnanti is absolutely correct when she describes sex work as being closer to hell to jour' than the Belle de Jour image she herself helped popularise:
- 48% of women in indoor prostitution have experienced violence from buyers (British Medical Journal 2001)
- 68% of women in prostitution experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the same range as torture victims (Ramsey et al, 1993)
- Up to 95% of women in prostitution are problematic drug users, including around 78% heroin users and rising numbers of crack cocaine addicts.(Home Office, 2004)
- 75% of women in prostitution became involved when they were children (Women's Resource Centre); 70% spent time in care and 45% report experiencing sexual abuse during their childhoods. So much for freely choosing `the oldest oppression' (Home Office, 2006)
- 90% of women in prostitution in the UK want to exit but feel unable to do so (Farley et al, 2003)
The mortality rate for women in prostitution in London suffer is 12 times the national average (Home Office, 2004)
She is absolutely right when she says women (or girls, men or boys) who are assaulted in prostitution should be treated with respect by the police, as victims not as criminals.
She could not be more wrong, however, when she asserts that the only way to ensure the rights of women in prostitution is through legitimising the industry ? either via legalisation (state brothels) or total decriminalisation (ie decriminalising the users of prostitutes, rather than just the women who are being exploited).
Legitimisation of this industry in any shape or form does not remove the harm, it simply makes the harm legal.
Countries which have legalised or completely decriminalised prostitution have seen substantial increases in the demand for prostitution which has led to an increase in the number of children and other vulnerable people being exploited through prostitution, continuing high levels of violence , a failure to address street prostitution and an increase in trafficking. The only true beneficiaries of legalisation or decriminalisation are pimps, traffickers and organised criminals who live off the profits of this multi-billion dollar industry:
- The Netherlands, prostitution legalised, 2000: The government is now doing a complete U turn and closing large sections of the red light district. The majority of women in the window brothels are still subject to pimp control, and their "emotional well-being is now lower than in 2001 on all measured aspects." (Government-commissioned, Daalder Report, 2007)
- Mayor of Amsterdam: "legalisation hasn't had the desired effect ... it is impossible to create a safe and controllable zone for women that is not open to abuse by organised crime" (Bindel and Kelly, 2004).
- Dutch National Police, 2008 report: "The idea that a clean, normal business sector has emerged is an illusion?" The Dutch are now proposing an amendment that would penalise those who buy from `unlicensed persons' in prostitution.
- Victoria, Australia, brothels legalised: Even the Adult Entertainment Industry has acknowledged that the illegal sex industry is out of control, and the state of Victoria has the highest rates of child prostitution of all the states and territories in Australia.
- New Zealand, prostitution completely decriminalised, 2003 : "As the legal market has expanded, so has the illegal sector which now makes up 80% of the industry" (Instone and Margerison 2007).
- New Zealand: Increase in children in prostitution, with the age of young people in prostitution decreasing since decriminalisation (Instone and Margerison, 2007).
- Germany, prostitution legalised: Described as the destination of choice for traffickers. The sheer volume of foreign women in the German prostitution industry (up to 85%) suggests that these women were trafficked into Germany, a process euphemistically described as facilitated migration - it is almost impossible for poor women to facilitate their own migration, underwrite the costs of travel and travel documents, and set themselves up in "business" without intervention. (IOM Eye on Human Trafficking, Issue 13/7.)
Of course, it is logical that if demand is increased through legalisation or complete decriminalisation that women and children will be needed to meet that demand ? and that vulnerable people will be more likely to be coerced into the industry. This is precisely what has happened in countries which have legalised or completely decriminalised the prostitution industry.
The only model for addressing prostitution that works is to tackle the raison d'etre of prostitution ? demand. Pioneered in Sweden, the approach has been to totally decriminalise the women (or men) exploited in the industry in the industry but to fully criminalise the users, the punters. Ten years after implementation, the government of Sweden published an evaluation of the first 10 years of the law. The findings are overwhelmingly positive:
- Street prostitution: Cut by half, "a direct result of the criminalisation of sex purchases."
-There is no evidence that the decrease in street prostitution has led to an increase in prostitution elsewhere, whether indoors or on the Internet.
- Extensive services exist in the larger cities to assist those exploited by prostitution.
- Fewer men state that they purchase sexual services (13% down to 8%).
- There has been a decrease in demand.
- More than 70% of the Swedish public support the law
- Trafficking decreased
Swedish police confirm the law works well and deters organisers and promoters of prostitution, especially traffickers, who find Sweden an intolerant environment in which to sell women and children for sex. In fact, based on National Criminal Police reports, Sweden appears to be the only country in Europe where prostitution and sex trafficking have not increased during the past decade.
And in Norway, only one year after the purchase of women and children for sexual activities was outlawed, results are similarly positive.
It is clear - tackling demand works.
In a first step to towards addressing the demand for prostitution, we launched the DEMAND CHANGE! campaign with partner EAVES, with a long history of supporting women from the industry. Consequently, legislation was passed in the UK making it a criminal offence to buy sexual services from anyone pimped, trafficked or otherwise forced or coerced into prostitution. This marks the most significant step forward in seeing the criminal not as the person exploited in prostitution, but the person who buys women, men, girls or boys for sex.
DEMAND CHANGE! is now calling for the complete decriminalisation of all those in the industry, alongside the extensive support services necessary to ensure the 90% of women in prostitution who wish to leave, are finally able to do so.
To end with the poignant words of the parents of Marnie Frey who was murdered in prostitution:
"To think the best we can do for these women is giving them a safe place to sell their bodies is a joke. There is no such thing as a `clean safe place' to be abused in. For a man to think he can buy a woman's body is insane...Marnie did not choose prostitution; her addictions did, and any man who bought her body for their sexual pleasure should go to jail for exploiting her desperation." (Lynn & Rick Frey, 2008, parents of Marnie Frey murdered in prostitution).
You can find out more about the Demand Change! campaign, a coalition between OBJECT and EAVES, supported by dozens of women's groups, here:
www.demandchange.org.uk, including a powerful testimony of videos of women from the industry and a large volume of research-based information.
from me.