prostitution

“Beyond Client Criminalization: Analyzing Collaborative Governance Arrangements for Combatting Prostitution and Trafficking in Sweden.” by Josefina Erikson and Oscar L. Larsson

Isabel Dela Cruz

Erikson, Josefina, and Oscar L. Larsson. “Beyond Client Criminalization: Analyzing Collaborative Governance Arrangements for Combatting

Prostitution and Trafficking in Sweden.” Regulation & Governance, vol. 16, no. 3, 2022, pp. 818–835., https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12259.

With Sweden being one of the first countries to criminalize clients in the sex work sector, this article studies the governance arrangements that have since been implemented to abolish prostitution and points out the problems they introduce. Erikson and Larsson make the point that national policy and legal framework are prioritized over the implementation and evaluation of prostitution policies that are in practice. It also goes into detail on the role of collaborative governance and both its benefits to solving issues in the field of sex work policy as well as its problematic claims with respect to the role of civil society. Though this article focuses on collaborative governance and how effective it is, I will only use the portions of the article that detail Swedish law on client criminalization as opposed to the liberation on behalf of women in sex work. Josefina Erikson has a PhD in political science and her research focuses on prostitution policy and feminist constitutionalism while the other author, Oscar L. Larsson, also maintains a PhD in political science and has done research articles on network governance and collaboration between public and private partners in dealing with trafficking victims. The pair make an intelligent collaboration that is informative and thoughtful regarding the Swedish government’s attempts at combatting prostitution.

  1. “Prostitution is now considered intrinsically linked to trafficking, and there has been a shift from government to governance in the general political debate.”
  2. “On the positive side, our study finds that the inclusion of civil society actors in collaborative networks has succeeded in taking into consideration the victim’s perspective and developing, for instance, programs with their actual needs in mind, such as the NSP.”

“State Policies and Institutional Procedures and Practices Addressing Prostitution and Sex Trafficking of Children in Hungary.” by Zsuzsanna Vidra et al.

Isabel Dela Cruz

Vidra, Zsuzsanna, et al. “State Policies and Institutional Procedures and Practices Addressing Prostitution and Sex Trafficking of Children in

Hungary.” Critical Social Policy, vol. 38, no. 4, 2018, pp. 645–666., https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018317748318

The author, Zsuzsanna Vidra has a Ph.D. in sociology and an MA in Nationalism studies; with her research focusing on racism, migration, and minorities, she provides accurate insight into institutional laws that fail to fulfill the needs of trafficked children and how racism/prejudice also play an important role. This research article examines sex-trafficked children, the lack of state support, laws that properly protect the children, and prosecuting the traffickers. Hungary, specifically, is lawfully required to see children in sex work as victims who need to be protected by their state. However, Hungary and many other countries fail to comply with these requirements, and the legal/policy gaps contribute to trafficked children going without protection from the government. The child protection system often leaves sex-trafficked children without any aid; though most children aren’t saved until it’s too late, the ones that are aren’t provided with trauma-informed care and professionals that can properly support them. In fact, the lack of treatment victimization can cause relapses into the trafficking cycle, and most institutions that re-home the children fail to protect them from “pimps” that continue to exploit them sexually. On top of lacking support and proper care, police corruption and racism play a big role in the ever-growing gap between a high number of CST cases and a low number of registered cases. For example, police use the Act on Petty Offences to criminalize children between 14 and 18 as offenders of sexual services rather than victims. Social workers victim blaming due to their attitudes and perspectives of ethnic and cultural traits. I will use this article to prove how passing a Child Protection Act simply isn’t enough; this points out the gaps in the legal system and the insufficient support and protection of impoverished and vulnerable children that are sexually exploited. 

  1. “Our analysis confirmed that the lack of relevant and effective policies leads to structural challenges for the child protection system and the law enforcement and judiciary with regard to how children in prostitution and trafficking are handled”
  2. “The Child Protection Act does not mention prostitution of children, while the police and the judiciary criminalise child victims. In the meantime, the anti-trafficking policy leaves the duty of prevention, protection and assistance of child victims to an unprepared child protection system.”

“The National and Moral Borders of the 2016 French Law on Sex Work: An Analysis of the ‘Prostitution Exit Programme.’” by Giametta, Calogero, and HÉLÈNE Le Bail

Isabel Dela Cruz

Giametta, Calogero, and HÉLÈNE Le Bail. “The National and Moral Borders of the 2016 French Law on Sex Work: An Analysis of the

‘Prostitution Exit Programme.’” Critical Social Policy, 2022, p. 26101832211011., https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183221101167. 

This article analyzes what France’s prostitution exit programme fails to do for women in the industry and points out the flaws and damage these laws create. Following Sweden’s approach to regulating prostitution, France’s ultimate goal is to abolish sex work by punishing clients rather than the workers and utilizing an exit programme to encourage and support women only if they leave sex work entirely. This article includes interviews with sex workers between 2016 and 2018 where they discuss their thoughts on the exit programme. They believe that it connects back to the conventional idea that women in sex work are victims that need help from the law in order to stop prostituting themselves. It also fails to properly protect and support the rights of working women; it encourages the thought of sex work being immoral and disregards the autonomy and rights of these women as long as they choose to stay in sex work. This programme also has evidently refused immigrant and Nigerian women’s applications due to restrictive immigrant policy and racism. I can use this article to prove that simply legalizing sex work isn’t enough and emphasize the flaws that France specifically creates in their attempt to abolish prostitution. Aside from the racist and misogynistic issues rooted in France’s exit programme, I will also point out the true usefulness of it and if it really does benefit sex workers and those who are trafficked. Calogero Giametta, a professor in criminology, utilizes his Ph.D. in Sociology to specifically research anti-human trafficking policies and how they affect sex workers. Hélène Le Bail has a doctorate in political science and focuses her research on female routes of migration (marriage, sex work, etc.). Both authors are well-educated in sociology and political science and their research focusing on sex work make their article reliable.

  1. “By analysing the exit programme through the prism of sexual humanitarianism reveals how such mechanism can contribute to crystallise gendered narratives of sexual predation and victimisation and deny sex workers’ diversity and agency.”
  2. “By instituting a distinction between the deserving and non-deserving sex workers, the government’s plan to eliminate sex work strengthens the stigma around those who have decided to do this work.”

“Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?” by Cho, Seo-Young, et al.

Isabel Dela Cruz

Cho, Seo-Young, et al. “Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?” World Development, vol. 41, 2013, pp. 67–82.,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.05.023. 

As a senior researcher for quantitative cultural policy studies and empirical economist that focuses on migration, gender, culture, and institutions, Seo-Young Cho’s article analyzes the correlation between legalized prostitution and human trafficking inflows. Seo-Young Cho, as a woman with a doctorate in economics, has created a “3P Anti-Trafficking Policy Index” to evaluate governmental anti-sex trafficking efforts for each country and each year. In her article she discusses two theories: the scale effect, where legalized prostitution causes an increase in human trafficking, and the substitution effect, which reduces trafficking since legal sex workers would be in higher demand than illegal trafficked ones. Since research isn’t well-developed enough and data collection on human trafficking remains inadequate, cogent causal inference has yet to be an easy feat, so the two effects based on economic theory are used instead. The study’s quantitative empirical evidence leads us to believe that legalized sex work increases human trafficking, but Cho also points out how the furtivity of both the sex work and trafficking industries needs to be accounted for. This article utilizes cross-section data, robustness tests, and case studies and is constructive considering the research and data collection on such a taboo and polarizing subject falls short. The results won’t be used as fact, but they can help develop the idea that simply legalizing sex work isn’t enough when it can and has shown, in Germany, for instance, a rise in trafficking as a result. 

  1. “Our quantitative empirical analysis for a cross-section of up to 150 countries shows that the scale effect dominates the substitution effect…[however] the problem here lies in the clandestine nature of both the prostitution and trafficking markets”
  2. “On average, countries with legalized prostitution experience a larger degree of reported human trafficking inflows. We have corroborated this quantitative evidence with three brief case studies of Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.”