The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services

1188 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN / October 2004
services for money. “Working” as a “sex worker” 2 is seen as a
legitimate career path for women, and employment centers in the
Netherlands, where prostitution and brothels are legalized, suggest
brothel worker as an appropriate professional choice. What
previously was viewed as a severe form of sexual exploitation is
now a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body and a
way to sexual liberation and self-determination. This change is a
contemporary and pertinent example of the revival of a stagnant
repressive political agenda, which now permeates virtually all
current political, academic, and popular discourses on
prostitution and trafficking in human beings.
However, not every country in the world is equally enthusiastic
about the idea that prostitution should be seen as a form of
work, or that sexual exploitation of women by men should be
commercialized and legalized. In its proposal to prohibit the purchase
of sexual services, the Swedish government states,
By prohibiting the purchase of sexual services, prostitution and its
damaging effects can be counteracted more effectively than hitherto.
. . . The government considers, however, that it is not reasonable
to punish the person who sells a sexual service. In the majority
of cases at least, this person is a weaker partner who is exploited by
those who want only to satisfy their sexual drives. (Ministry of
Labour, 1998, p. 55)
PRINCIPLES BEHIND SWEDISH POLICIES AND
LEGISLATION AGAINST PROSTITUTION AND
TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
For a long time, the work against prostitution and trafficking in
human beings has been a political priority in Sweden, at the
national level as well as international level. The work is considered
an essential part of efforts to create a contemporary and democratic
society where full gender equality is the norm, and to recognize
the right to equal participation of women and men, girls
and boys, in all areas of society.
In Sweden, it is understood that any society that claims to
defend principles of legal, political, economic, and social equality
for women and girls must reject the idea that women and children,
mostly girls, are commodities that can be bought, sold, and