Comments on: Race and prostitution in Norway

By: Sosialisten

Sosialisten — Sun, 29 May 2011 23:30:32 +0000

“While the anti-prostitution laws of the two countries may be similar in their design, they have come about under radically different circumstances.”

I have to dispute this conclusion. Criminalisation of sex buyers was an issue that had been pushed by feminists, leftists and others for many years. The issue was basically decided at the national conventions of the Socialist Left Party and the Labour Party in the spring of 2007, where majorities voted in favour of criminalisation, in both cases against the will of the party leaderships. The Centre Party and the Christian People’s Party were already supportive, and there was therefore a majority in the parliament for such a ban. This is not much different from Sweden, where the issue was also driven by the grassroots level in the Social Democratic Party, while the leadership was initially more sceptic. And according to Arthur Gould’s “The Criminalisation of Buying Sex: the Politics of Prostitution in Sweden”, Jnl Soc. Pol., 30, 3, 437–456, concerns about foreign prostitutes from Eastern Europe played a part in the Swedish debate in the 1990s as well. Seems to me that the similarities between the circumstances in Norway and Sweden, and probably Icelandic ban as well, are much more significant than the differences.

By: Prostitution policy change as a problem-driven process | Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:49:18 +0000

[...] For instance, while changes in the sex market, triggered by geopolitical, socio-economic and technological developments, have affected the Nordic countries fairly similarly, policy-makers have chosen different policy solutions to those problems. And even those solutions that seem similar in a technical sense are quite differently framed and justified in public discourse, and have different consequences once they are to be implemented. For instance, whereas the Swedish sex purchase ban was presented as a solution to the problem of violence against women and gender inequality, Norway’s similar ban was also suggested to be a solution to the problem of Nigerian women aggressively soliciting in the streets of Oslo. [...]

By: The rise and fall of the Joint Action in Norway | Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:48:29 +0000

[...] group rejected criminalisation as late as in 2004, but mass media’s sudden attention to Nigerian prostitutes in the streets of Oslo changed the terms of debate. While the anti-pornography law remained in place, the Norwegian [...]

By: Lars

Lars — Sat, 29 May 2010 10:33:26 +0000

The sex workers in Oslo are still a lot. You can’t pass through Karl Johans gate without being asked multiple times from sex workers if you want to buy sex. They are mostly African and some are from Bulgaria. I think Norway as a country is not very successful in terms of inviting work-force or attracting “productive” human beings from around the world like US, UK, Australia or Canada are trying to do at the moment. You can see dozens of black sex workers, drug traffikers and romanian beggers on Oslo Sentral Station almost 24/7. Swedish system has been great comparitively. I never experienced such things in Sweden and never been asked multiple times if I want to buy drugs on streets there.

By: Bonos mores and the sex purchase ban in Norway | Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:45:51 +0000

[...] how a law can take on a life of its own. While the Norwegian sex purchase act was passed for partly different reasons than Sweden’s similar law a decade earlier, feminist arguments played an important role in both [...]

By: Finland’s prostitution law and the hope of Nordic unity | Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:28:57 +0000

[...] legislative success only once it was grafted onto public discourses identifying prostitution with Nigerian women soliciting in the streets of Oslo. In that way, a similar ban became a solution to a problem quite different. (On the other hand, [...]

By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:24:37 +0000

Isioma is not a Kenya exile. She is a Nigerian.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:02:31 +0000

Although the article can be somewhat enlightening, you don’t have to read far beyond the heading to understand that the author of this article might be in need of updating his basic knowledge. It is hard to take this article seriously since the basis of the article implies that humans can be divided into races, which is scientifically wrong and out of date. I’m even tempted to claim that the author is racist, and is in a serious need of updating his knowledge of the human race. No single gene, trait or characteristic distinguishes one “race” from another. Human racial labels are socially constructed concepts. Most of the human genetic variation exists within any given population. Dividing humans by out-of-date racial labels doesn’t really serve any good at all.

By: trudy ann truesdale

trudy ann truesdale — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:30:17 +0000

I Think the ban placed does not get rid of the problem that most balck women in norway are seen as prostitutes the ban does not get rid of the underlying problem of prostitution it still exists in one form or the other i think it should be made illegal . I have had a hard time living in norway in the stavanger region as a black american woman to the point where i had to cut my hair as short as a boy in order not to be approached . The problem has been swept under a rug but negative views of black women still remain .

Thank You