Prostitution myths

ihateyourkink:

Read the full text by the European’s Women’s Lobby here

“Prostitution is the oldest
profession in the world.”

Let us change the perspective: pimping could indeed
be considered the oldest profession in the world. In
any case, just because something has existed for a
long time does not mean that it should or cannot be
changed. We do not say “murder has been around
forever: we cannot do anything about it”. Look at
death penalty or slavery for example.

“It is a job like any other.”

Do you know any other job where people face a
mortality rate 10 to 40 times above the average?
Where 60 to 80% of “workers” experience regular
physical and sexual abuse? If this is a job like any
other, how come so few women from Western Europe
take the opportunity? How come the overwhelming
majority are migrant women? Does this mean that
this so called “job” is only for the foreign women in
your country? For the sake of gender equality, should
we campaign to promote this job for men? There are
trade unions in Europe that do not see prostitution
as a job as it is incompatible with the safety and
the dignity, as well as the “career” progression,
associated with a profession.

“Prostitution brings women
economic independence,
especially to migrant women.”

In times of economic crisis, with high unemployment,
with thriving racist attitudes, it would be very easy
to say that prostitution is a solution for women in
general, and for migrant women in particular. It
would even help to reduce unemployment rates!
Real issues for migrant women are about: labour
market access, qualification recognition and family
reunification rights. Economic independence should
not come at the cost of harm and abuse. In the 21st
century, we have to do better.

“It is a choice.”

“If women had more economic choices in this society,
they would not choose to be abused in prostitution”,
says Fiona Broadfoot, survivor from the UK. Choice is
always related to a context. Today in Europe, gender
equality is not a reality: just look at the gender
pay gap (16%), the prevalence of violence against
women (1 in 5 women victim of domestic violence),
sexist stereotypes, underrepresentation of women
in business, academia and politics (24% of national
parliamentarians)… In a context where many women
face discrimination, poverty and violence, consent
can be bought with money. Extensive research
indicates that poverty, family loss, homelessness,
drug addiction and a history of physical and sexual
abuse combine to make young women vulnerable
to entering prostitution. Moreover, the majority of
women who enter prostitution first do so very young.
Would you want your daughter or sister to choose
prostitution? She could start tomorrow.

“Prostitution brings a lot of money.”

To whom? According to Interpol in Europe, a pimp
earns 110 000 euros per year and per woman in
prostitution. If prostitution were such a good job,
how come the majority of women in prostitution
do not own a car, an apartment or save money for
the future? The idea that prostitution brings a lot of
money is a myth. Moreover, debating on the amount
of money earned in prostitution is a dishonest
strategy: whatever the amount, prostitution is about
someone buying access to your body and sexuality.
Human beings are priceless.

“Prostitution is about sexual freedom,
abolition is anti-sex.”

Let us be more precise: whose sexual freedom
are we talking about? Everyone agrees that
sexual freedom consists of enjoying sexual health
and rights, based on equality and free from any
discrimination, coercion or violence (definition of
the World Health Organisation). Prostitution is not
about sex, it’s about power: the purchase of sex is
the denial of the other person’s desire. Paying for
sex is denying another person’s right to sexual
desire and consists of a profound disempowering
of sexual agency in another human being. In other
words, buying sex from someone can never be about
sexual freedom. Abolitionists are pro-sex: they
want genuine sexual freedom and equality between
women and men, and this cannot be achieved as long
as sexuality is placed within the scope of the market.

“Prostitution is part of women’s
historical struggle to control their
body.”

In the 1970s in Europe, women indeed struggled
for the recognition of their reproductive and sexual
rights, in particular the right to safe abortion. They
were denouncing structural gender inequality
and therefore any authority imposing its views on
women’s human rights: religion, tradition… and
the market. The commodification of sexuality and
women’s bodies cannot be considered part of a
collective struggle for women’s rights: prostitution is
about men entitling themselves to buy sex, it is not
about realising gender equality.

“Some women claim that it is their right
to prostitute themselves.” 

Some people freely accept to work for less than
the minimum wage (especially undocumented
migrants for example); some even agree to sell
one organ. In both cases, our society has decided
to protect the most vulnerable and guarantee
decent life for all; in such cases, the law therefore
condemns the employer, or the buyer of the organ.
Similarly, the law should criminalise the sex buyer,
not the person in prostitution. Some persons might
indeed claim that they choose to be in prostitution;
but a democratic society is not built on the basis of
individual claims that don’t reflect the situation of the
overwhelming majority. At stake is the future we are
creating, the society we want to live in. In this day and
age, we should be more concerned about women’s
and men’s right not to be in prostitution.

“Only “sex workers” should talk about
prostitution, because they know best.”

 Should only women who have been victim of
domestic violence be entitled to denounce intimate
partner violence? Domestic violence is recognised
as a structural form of violence against women, that
affects us all, women and men, because it is about
societal values. Prostitution also affects us all: it
conveys norms and representations to young people,
it is trivialised and even glamorised by the media and
the culture industry. No wonder the insult ‘whore’ is
so widespread! Moreover, for every mediatised “sex
worker”, there are many survivors of prostitution,
who very rarely speak out, because of the trauma
linked to their experience. And millions of persons
still in prostitution, who are invisible. It is time to
listen to them.

“Prostitution is useful for society,
especially for socially isolated and
lonely men.” 

Sex buyers do not fit this stereotype: international
research shows that the majority of sex buyers are
men married or in a relationship, and are more
likely to have a larger number of sexual partners
(not through prostitution) than the rest of the male
population. By justifying prostitution as a social
institution, one would imply that some women are to
be sacrificed for the “needs” of these men. Luckily,
you or your sister/wife/daughter/friend is not part of
the sacrificed ones. Women in prostitution are first
and foremost women; they should all enjoy the same
equal rights and human dignity

“Demand will never disappear.” 

What a sad vision of men…: according to this
assumption, men are driven by their so-called sexual
“irrepressible needs”, not by their brain. It is all the
more surprising to believe, as the majority of men
are not sex buyers. Demand is justified by a certain
vision of masculinity, related to virility or strength,
all stereotypes about men conveyed in our unequal
societies. Demand can be reduced by education,
prevention and legislation. It is as simple as that.
Fatalism is used by people who do not want to
change society.

“Abolishing prostitution would lead to
more rapes.” 

Actually, it is the other way round: studies have
shown that men buy sex simply because it is
possible. The normalisation of prostitution on the
contrary fosters acts of violence against women,
by sending the social signal that women are
commodities. Nevada, where pimping has been
decriminalised, sees the highest rate of rape
compared to the other American states. In a study on
men, 54% of prostitute-users recognised having had
aggressive sexual behaviour towards their partner(s).

“Legalising prostitution is the best
way to guarantee access to basic
rights for people in prostitution.” 

Being in prostitution is “legal” everywhere in Europe
(except Croatia where it is criminalised). The issue
of accessing rights is not linked to the legal status
of prostitution, it is linked to the migration status of
each person: if you are legally staying in a country,
you can have access to basic rights, including HIVtesting
and health care. If you are undocumented,
you will not have access to these rights, including in
countries that legalise or decriminalise prostitution;
it has nothing to do with being in prostitution or not.
In Germany, only 44 persons have registered as
“professional sex workers”, out of the estimated 400
000 persons in prostitution. Legalising prostitution
(or decriminalising “sex work” and therefore
pimping) does not change the stigma on persons in
prostitution.

“We must combat trafficking, but
prostitution has nothing to do with it.”

Such claims contradict the reality: if prostitution
has nothing to do with sex trafficking, what exactly
are women trafficked for? According to EU data,
62% of trafficking in the EU is for sexual exploitation.
Trafficking is profit-driven, and has a direct link with
the prostitution markets, where the demand fuels
the supply. It is estimated that the benefits from
trafficking for sexual exploitation amount to US$ 27.8
billion. And where does this money come from? From
the buyers, like in any other business. This is why
prostitution and trafficking are intrinsically linked. 

“With the Swedish model, persons in
prostitution face more violence as
prostitution goes underground.”

 If buyers can find and meet with women in
prostitution, so can the police and social workers! By
criminalising sex buyers, the Swedish model changes
the relationship between women and buyers: buyers
are the criminals. Women in prostitution, who have
been to Germany before joining Sweden, said to
the Stockholm police prostitution unit that there
is much more violence in legal brothels as sex
buyers are entitled to do what they want, as they
are the “clients”. Social workers in Sweden see that
persons in prostitution feel more confident to come
forward for assistance. On the contrary, in countries
were brothels are legal (like Australia or Germany),
service providers and law enforcement say that
they have limited access to women. Legalising
prostitution will not change the reality: prostitution
is a form of violence. 68% of women in prostitution
suffer from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder, like victims of torture or veterans of war.

“We should not criminalise sex buyers
because they can save women or
identify victims of trafficking.” 

Maybe you have watched “Pretty woman” too many
times. A sex buyer who “saves” a woman, or report a
case of trafficking, is still a sex buyer. The existence
of “nice sex buyers” does not reduce demand, it
just comforts a romantic vision of prostitution that
has nothing to do with reality. Moreover, the “nice
sex buyers” are a very tiny minority among sex
buyers: punters’ websites are very revealing in that
perspective. Here are some quotes:“Reasonable
blow job but just a bad attitude and making no effort
to look interested or even pretend to enjoy”; “it was
like fucking an attractive sack of spuds” (The invisible
men Tumblr).

“Abolitionists want to prohibit
prostitution.” 

There is a great difference between the prohibitionist
approach, which criminalises all actors in the system
of prostitution, including prostituted persons, and the
abolitionist approach that targets only the buyers,
pimps and traffickers, in other words those who hold
the power of choice. Simply penalising everybody
does not address the root causes and gendered
nature of prostitution. Abolition is about qualifying
the structural, economic, psychological and physical
violence inherent to prostitution, and therefore
protecting the persons affected, and criminalising
the perpetrators, i.e. the sex buyers. Abolition is
about proposing concrete alternatives to persons in
prostitution and changing mentalities. 

“The abolition of prostitution
is utopia.”

 Abolishing prostitution does not equal eradicating
it. Rapes, murders or paedophilia are prohibited,
but still exist. What is important is the social norm
conveyed by legislation: it anchors amongst human
rights the principle that the human body and
sexuality are not for sale. It creates the conditions for
a genuine equal society to be realised.