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four - Prostitution in Sweden: debates and policies 1980-2004
- Edited by Geetanjali Gangoli, Nicole Westmarland
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- Book:
- International Approaches to Prostitution
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 15 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 31 May 2006, pp 67-90
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Summary
Introduction
Discussion around whether prostitution should be regulated, legalised or criminalised has had a long history in Sweden (Svanström, 2000 and 2005). In 1999 a new and unique law was introduced that criminalised only the ‘buyers’ of prostitution (1999 Act Prohibiting the Purchase of Sexual Services). Challenging the traditional view that those (generally women) who ‘sell’ sex are the greatest problem, the new law also hoped to see a reduction in the level of prostitution:
The Swedish government has explicitly noted that the female body cannot be looked upon as merchandise which can be bought or sold…. All trade is based on the fact that there are customers and demand. If there were no customers looking upon women's bodies as objects, there would be no market where the victims for this trade could be offered and exploited … (Ministry of Gender Equality, Margaretha Winberg, Riksdagsprotokoll 2000/01:67, 15 February, section 1)
The law was promoted as a ‘feminist law’ where prostitution is seen as a form of violence against women (Proposition 1997/98: 55); this chapter outlines the discussions that led to this unique policy change and the impact that it has had.
The national context
Since the 1960s the Swedish state has partly integrated what has been called a ‘Swedish gender equality discourse’ in its politics. This has led to a number of changes, including: the development of a Ministry of Equal Status in 1976; a parliamentary commission on equal status in the same year; and the creation of an Equal Opportunities Ombudsman in 1980 (Florin and Nilsson, 1999). The gender equality policy has mainly focused on women's right to work and to equal pay however, work life is still organised traditionally. Women work mostly in the care and education professions or in offices, and a large majority work part time (Florin and Nilsson, 1999). In spite of its ‘gender equal’ image, there are still substantial income differences between women and men in equivalent occupations in Sweden (Nyberg, 2005).
Comparatively, Sweden is financially well off. In indexes measuring welfare such as the UN Human Poverty Index (HPI-2), or the ZUMA welfare index for EU countries (rather than a crude GDP index), Sweden is situated at the top (Vogel and Wolf, 2004, pp 10-11). However, the retrenchment of the welfare state has seen a new polarisation between classes, although the gender gap seems to have decreased.
12 - Criminalising the john – a Swedish gender model?
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- By Yvonne Svanström, Assistant Professor Department of Economic History, University of Stockholm
- Edited by Joyce Outshoorn, Universiteit Leiden
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- Book:
- The Politics of Prostitution
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 08 January 2004, pp 225-244
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Summary
Introduction
A state with ‘feminism without feminists’ is how Sweden at times has been pictured (Gelb 1989, in Florin and Nilsson 1999: 64–5). In a country as organised as Sweden, extra-parliamentary groups and other protest groups seem to be absorbed by the state and there is no place for militant feminism. Since the 1960s the Swedish state has partly integrated what has been called a ‘Swedish gender equality discourse’. This led to a number of changes in laws, a Ministry of Equal Status in 1976, a Parliamentary Commission on Equal Status in the same year, and the creation of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman in 1980. It has been argued that a number of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ and feminist agents were necessary to spread ideas on gender equality and to politicise the issue (Florin and Nilsson 1999: 65, 73). However, this gender equality policy mainly focused on women's right to work and equal pay; issues of sexuality were less debated.
This chapter will show that there was more or less unanimous support among the feminists in the established political parties for seeing prostitution as patriarchal oppression of women. Opinions have diverged on how to deal with this question, whether non-criminalisation, criminalisation of both parties or just criminalising the john was the right way to proceed. To legalise prostitution has never been an issue among feminists in parliament during the past thirty years.