How many things do people do on a daily basis that are the product of their upbringing? Some of these things might be harmless but some, such as bullying behaviour, can have serious consequences for others.
Hello folks and welcome to my blog.
The first thing I’m going to do in this blog is to put my cards on the table regarding the legal situation around sex work in Ireland. When you read the book you’ll get a fair idea of where I stand, but I can set it out in just a little more detail here.
In 2017 Ireland adopted the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act. Prior to that, Irish law criminalised the sale or offering for sale of sexual services. The new law, instead, criminalised the purchase of sexual services.
This is another example of what is known as the Nordic law, first adopted in Sweden. Central to the theory behind it was that no person, and especially no woman, could rationally and freely consent to sell sexual services, and that there must be an element of pressure involved; either violent coercion, drug addiction, economic pressures, or whatever. The proponents held that the fundamental driver of sex work was not the willingness of sex workers to offer their services, but the desire of men to avail of them.
I can’t pretend that I don’t understand the superficial appeal of this logic. Most purchasers (not all) of sex work are men, and most don’t seem to care about what has led the providers to offer it. And yes, most (again, not all) are cheating. But the logic is flawed, nevertheless.
When it comes to the question as to whether or not women offer sexual services freely, I can only speak for myself, and the answer is YES, even after what has happened to me. You might say that my perceptions have been warped by my upbringing (or lack of it) but that’s none of your business. How many things do people do on a daily basis that are the product of their upbringing? Some of these things might be harmless but some, such as bullying behaviour, can have serious consequences for others. Most of them are legal.
As for the human trafficking argument, I get it. But hotels, beauty parlors, and many other places are magnets for human trafficking and slave labour. Why should sex work be singled out?
Do all sex workers engage willingly? Well, like I said, I can’t speak for them. Among those that I know it’s really hard to say; there may or may have been economic or other pressures that pushed them in that direction in the first place, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they hate every minute of their work.
What is certain is that sex workers were not formally consulted on the Irish law. In the run-up to the adoption of the law, a number of sex workers spoke before the Irish Parliament, the Oireachtas, advising against adoption of the law. Their views were ignored.
Even though some feminist organisations, some anti-human trafficking NGOs and some conservative NGOs still support the law, lined up against them are organisations like the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS and the World Health Organisation. John Oliver ran a programme about sex work in the US that included criticism of the Nordic approach. I could rest my case there.
But there’s more. It’s clear, based on peer reviewed study, that the number of crimes, including violent crimes, against prostitutes rose after the adoption of the law. Sex workers could no longer share a house or apartment (they would be accused of operating a brothel) and the last thing they needed was to have their business undermined by having their clients chased by the police. So the reporting of said crimes has remained low.
So, am I in favour of legalising prostitution? Well, to be fair, I accept the argument that this can lead to the creation of brothels where sex workers risk exploitation, including being pressured into committing sex acts they aren’t comfortable with. So, in line with Amnesty International and many others, including John Oliver, I favour decriminalisation. Just remove the laws that make it a crime for any of the participants and leave it like that.
I wonder will anyone listen, though?