Nordic Prostitution Policy Reform

When debates regarding the possible criminalization of the purchase of sexual services started in Finland in the late 1990s and early 2000s, one of the confusing factors lay in how to define a sex worker: Who is a prostitute? Actors partaking in the debate seemed unable to settle on a shared definition. Rather, various players with different policy agendas argued that the category of sex worker should be characterized in very different ways. Despite this, two images seemed to arise in the portrayal of sex workers. The sex worker in Finland was either a “happy whore” or a victim of international human trafficking.

Depicting sex workers as victims of human trafficking, and thus implying that sex workers in Finland are mainly of a foreign nationality and involved in sex work unwillingly, is no new way to describe those offering sexual services for a fee. In the broad social debate going on in Finland in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, which raised prostitution and questions of chastity as topics, one can find several reports of young Swedish women, who were convinced to travel from Stockholm mainly to Helsinki and Turku, promised work in cafes or restaurants, and, yet, actually lured and trapped into prostitution.[1] Today , Sweden is known as the first country in the world to have passed a general criminalization of the purchase of sexual services, and as a country, which also tries to influence the policy of other countries towards a criminalization of the purchase of sexual services.

A short study in Finnish newspapers from the last two decades reveals that a major part of the Finnish debate on sex work still revolves around the concept of foreigners. A clear shift has of course happened: the sex workers are depicted entering Finnish borders from countries east and south rather than west.  The dissolution of the Soviet Union and an increased possibility for travel from the eastern European countries to Finland created possibilities for sex workers, especially from Russia and Estonia, to travel to Finland for shorter periods.

The change of origin country of sex workers is also connected to the ideas of what is thought to be the main reason for people to enter the sex work industry: poverty. With poverty seen as the background factor for “ending up” in sex work, people, generally women, originating from the poorest countries are the ones who are most visible in debates on sex work.[2] The focus on severe poverty and limited career-, and perhaps, life-choices has focused the prostitution debate on victims of international human trafficking. Sex workers who entered Finland with false perception of the type of work they were to perform in the country, possibly with limited foreign language skills and their freedom of movement restricted or finances controlled by the employer/trafficker constituted one of the most distinct pictures of a prostitute in Finland. Still, not all foreign women involved in sex work in Finland are considered to be victims or having entered the sex work business unwillingly.[3] Statements pointing out how Eastern European women with short stays in Finland can collect earnings equivalent to several months salary in their home country imply that short periods of sex work in Finland actually is a smart business move.

Debating sex work without stepping into a discourse on morals has been largely impossible . The acceptable types of sexuality and the correct or allowed ways to perform that sexuality are almost always included in debates on sex work. Outsiders have deemed promiscuity as being prevalent in descriptions of sex workers and their choices in entering the business, alongside with mental disorders, low self-esteem, a lazy wish for easy cash and a lack of alternative career choices. Whereas the victims of human trafficking can largely be perceived as forced into prostitution, the “happy whore” stands for her own decision for her involvement in sex work, both in good and bad. In societies with strict sexual morals the “happy whores” might face rather judgmental attitudes when being public with their field of profession. Suggestions to criminalize selling sexual services can also stem from ideas of sex work as a profession entered willingly, and wrongly, one might add.

Still, it is not only people condemning women involved in sex work who argue that it is the quest for pleasure that has driven some women into prostitution . Self-employed sex workers who claim to be happy in their self-chosen profession distance themselves from statements that the selling and purchasing of sexual services would be an act of violence against women or a question of gender inequality.[4] Even though many sex workers state the salary as the best part of their work, or admit that sex work never was the profession they aimed for, several sex workers stress that they greatly enjoy sex and the possibilities to explore their sexuality in their work. Still, the statement that the bargaining of sex would be a mutual contract between two equal adults has been criticized for making a very elitist perspective both on sex work and the negotiating possibilities of sex workers.

Thus, while almost apparent, it is clear that the contemporary debate about sex work in Finland is heavily permeated both by ideas about nationality and agency for women, as well as differing views on sexuality.

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[1] For further reading on prostitution in Helsinki in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, read Häkkinen, Antti, Rahasta – vaan ei rakkaudesta. Prostituutio Helsingissä 1867-1939 (Helsinki 1995).

[2] Poverty has been connected to sex work in several newspaper articles, parliamentary debates on sex work as well as in the reports on human trafficking and prostitution written by the working group appointed by the Ministry of Justice.

[3] See for instance Lehti, Martti, ’Naiskauppa ja Suomi’, Haaste 2/2002.

[4] Amongst other, members of SALLI, the United Sex Professionals of Finland, have argued for the positive aspects of sex work.

Related posts:

1. Legitimate and illegitimate sex work – the role of identities in the Swedish pornography debate
2. The impact of Finnish parliamentary election results on prostitution policy
3. Pia Levin joins NPPR staff