Download pdf - RFSU

PREFACE
Prostitution, and the people it involves, has always been
a widely debated subject. Throughout the centuries it has
been the women who sell sex that have been the focus
for society’s legislative actions. A positive aspect of the
Swedish Prostitution Act is that role of the men involved
in prostitution have been brought into focus. A thorough
and scientific evaluation of the actual effects of the law
is required. Is prostitution practised as extensively as in
the past? We simply don’t know yet. It is also important
to know if legislation has had positive effects for women
involved in prostitution, and if the law has discouraged
men from buying sex. Such knowledge can help us design
and implement better supportive and preventive strategies.
Prostitution has been analysed and defined from theoretical,
political, feminist, and social perspectives. These are
not mutually exclusive, but rather perspectives that can
complement each other. One’s choice of measures to combat
prostitution is largely dependent on one’s initial point
of view. It is important to conduct an ideological debate
in relation to different aspects of society. Prostitution deals
with both gender and powerlessness.
Questions about sexuality are, or should be, an important
part of the sexual education. It is important to
provide young people with educational programmes that
do not condemn, but instead invite them to discuss ethical
standards and values in relation to gender roles. This
can also be seen as a way of combating prostitution in the
long-term. The struggle against trafficking, both nationally
and internationally, is equally important.
We must not forget that prostitution involves individual
people and their lives. That the men and women
who buy or sell sex should be helped to find alternative
ways of living is obvious. This can happen through
psychotherapeutic treatment and psychological social
support. However, the possibilities of receiving such help
are minimal. Reaching the children and adolescents who
are at risk for developing destructive behaviour patterns
is another important aspect of prevention that requires
allocation of resources. Over many decades RFSU has
worked clinically with questions relating to sexuality. An
important starting point has been that the work with
both women and men has privided a dual perspective,
and thereby a greater understanding, of the process as a
whole. This report suggests that the psychological driving
forces behind prostitution can be comprised of complicated
patterns.
The report is based on our experiences of clinical work
and by no means excludes other ways of approaching or
understanding prostitution. As such, the report attempts
to provide a foundation for generating hypotheses about
prostitution that can be used in research, as well as providing
a means of stimulating the development of better
methods of helping these men and women.
Katarina Lindahl
Secretary General, RFSU
1