Swedish Liberal MP Supports Ending Sex Purchase Ban, Backing Brothels
In an interview with the regional newspaper Borlänge Tidning, Swedish Liberal MP Camilla Lindberg has sharply criticized the Swedish ban on the purchase of sexual services as ineffective, and has proposed that a system of legalized brothels be introduced in its place.
According to Lindberg, the current ban has failed to reduce prostitution, as well as having had little impact on the psychological well-being of women involved in sex work. She suggests that the ban be scrapped and replaced by a number of measures, including brothels with doormen, doctor-issued certificates of health for sex workers, and economic measures to facilitate the integration of sex workers into Swedish society, such as access to unemployment insurance and the ability to accrue pension funds.
So, what makes this story of interest? After all, isn’t this simply the case of a single MP in rural Sweden speaking to a small newspaper about a proposal that is likely to be ignored?
Well, yes and no.
While the comments are simply those of one MP, it should be recalled that Lindberg held the top place on Dalarna’s Liberal Party election ballot in 2006 and will do so again in 2010. This is not to argue that her views represent those of Liberals throughout Dalarna, or that she has any significant backing among Liberal MPs elsewhere in Sweden. However, it will be interesting to see — given her prominent placement on the ballot — whether national Liberal spokespeople feel compelled to distance the party from her remarks. Indeed, her stance appears to be sharply at odds with one of the most prominent Liberal Party figures, Cecilia Malmström, the current European Commissioner for Home Affairs, who has championed the Swedish legislation as a crucial instrument for targeting trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes. Moreover, the story has now been picked up by the national media, with an account being published in the tabloid Aftonbladet.
In a debate where prostitution has generally been framed as men’s violence against women, Lindberg maintains that the most common form of prostitution involves “men selling sex to men”, and pointedly calls into question the “story of the tragic woman who is exploited” as one that is not entirely true. To that end, Lindberg is challenging what is sometimes considered to be a hegemonic discourse that has underpinned the popular Swedish understanding of prostitution by highlighting the comparatively under-analyzed phenomenon of gay male prostitution. Similarly, Lindberg calls into question the aim of the Swedish legislation, suggesting that it is not prostitution more narrowly that is the ultimate target, but rather combating trafficking. While key proponents of the legislation would certainly disagree, Lindberg’s argument implicitly rests on making a distinction between the voluntary sale of sexual services (that she terms as prostitution) and trafficking (exemplified by kidnapping). Claiming that this distinction can be made, even implicitly, raises questions as the degree to which those who sell sexual services can be regarded as having exercised choice, or whether they have been forced to do so, either by specific individuals or by broader structural circumstances.
Whether Lindberg’s comments generate sustained debate remains to be seen. Yet, there remains little question that the impact of the legislation will be a hot topic in the Swedish media this June, when Chancellor of Justice Anna Skarhed will publish her evaluation of the ban on the purchase of sexual services. Recall, though, that proposals such as Lindberg’s will not be considered, as the instructions from the Swedish Department of Justice have specified that the evaluation may not propose repealing the legislation.
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I have been a sex worker for 8 years and I am happy to read that finally one Swedish MP considers the repeal of this law that harms so much sex workers in this country. Hopefully, people will at last support sex workers’ human and labour rights.
We need more courageous politicians to challenge the prohibitionists agenda that never relies on evidence and has always excluded sex workers’ voices from the political debate.
Sex workers don’t want “legalized brothels”, we want independence and freedom to work in any way we like.
If you really want to stamp out prostitution then you make it an offence to both sell and buy sex. There is no incentive for prostitutes to give up prostitution if the law can not punish them. All this talk about trafficked women is just a load of rubbish. Sure there might be a few, but for all the reports I’ve ever heard about thousands of trafficked women in such and such a country……..well maybe in some backward third world country……but it just would not be possible in any western country. Think rationally about this…..these women who are forced into sex work……would have to be hidden from society…..kept prisoners……how much security personal would it take to keep them from escaping…..or informing someone….they would never be able to make enough money to be worth the effort. The fact is that trafficing sex workers is largely a myth……or at least the sex workers that are trafficked are willing prostitutes who are looking for overseas jobs…….as prostitutes…….and that is exactly what they want to do in the countries they go to. Anyone who thinks not……just show me any big bust that has happened in say…….Briton……..a country which has spent mega millions to combat so called sex trafficking……for all the police resources…..sting operations……intellegence gathering……and most funds going to various radical feminist groups……for more research….and surveys…….which always find that trafficking is rempart……..but never do the authorities manage to find any of these trafficked women…….or operators……..how is that when these women are everywhere by the thousands……and they are having sex with dozens of men every day…..amazing……..lets face it……it is all just a man hating feminist myth which exists to further the man hating agenda of insane femnists and to gain yet more funds from governments to waste away supporting jobs for the girls in bullshit victim industries.
Prostitution is one thing……..it is easy money for women. Two people have sex…….one of them walks away with more money then they had before……one walks away with less………..the person selling the sex gets to decide who they will service……..what services they will do……..how much they will charge……and the average low cost whore of the lowest standing chargiung say $50 AU per hour…….and that is as cheap as they get……..can work a few hours per day and take home more money then I get working 50 hours per week slaving my guts out in a warehouse. Does anybody care why I choose to work in a warehouse breaking my back and freezing my arse off in a huge tin shed on nightshift in the middle of winter…….am I really choosing to be this slave…….or is it circumstances that dictate what I must do to survive and support my family…….I’ll tell you what…….I wish I had another option as easy as laying on my back for a few hours a day.
And what about the customer who buys sex……..do you think he is choosing to be in that situation……I’m sure he’d love for an attractive women to enjoy giving him sex for the simple pleasure of his company…….but what if he is ugly……old and widowed……unfortunate enough to be born with a really little dick……what if they are divorced and payinug heaps in child support and alimony and no woman will stay with them because they cant leach money off of them because another leach already has first pickings……..so the poor guy has no sex life except to save and scrap together enough dollars to go visit a protitute for an hour once a month……..these guys are such dangerous criminals and should be locked up right..
The whole debate about prostitution is being dictated by man hating feminazis who want men to haother option but to pay a man hating women for dating…….crawl up to her in every way…..grovel for a few sex crumbs…..marry her…….then down the road at some point…..get booted out……divorced…..and pay pay pay……child support……alimony…….blah blah blah…….these man haters don’t want man to have any other option……they make the laws concerning cohabitation the same as marriage…..all the while condeming the so called forced marriages in Islamic societies……the fact is that they are actually heavily involved in the legal practices that will ensure that men have to pay for sex…….they even make the laws concerning gay relationships……they want every sexual outlet a man can have to lead to the same place……..danger……and payments……..they want no man to be able to have sex without selling his soal to the feminist devil……we must be at risk of losing all our assetts and incomes……….in order to have sex life…….prostitutes provide a pay as you go alternative…….where you only sacrifice the money you are prepared to spend at the time……not accrue an unspecified debt that you don’t know how much it is until some court tells you…. years later.
Feminists even want to make laws to stop men using sex dolls…….make them illegal…….but I have never known a guy that owned one……but every lover I’ve ever had……has owned a dildo or vibrater……..it is women who get off on plastic lovers……not men……….but that could change as it becomes more and more dangerous…….more and more expensive…….to have any kind of sex with a real women….marriage can cost you everything you have….and everything your ever going to have……..prostitutes can cost you the money you pay them………..plus being branded a criminal and sex offender…….as well as maybe getting stds………so future lifelike robot sex dolls start to look good…….thats why the feminists and moving to enact laws in advance to ban them……….becore men get another option that doesnt involve a flow of money to women.
Before we know it……..it will be illegal for a guy to jerk off.