Janice Raymond
Violence Against Women, Vol. 10, No. 10, 1156-1186 (2004)
Research, programs, and legislation related to sex trafficking are often premised on the invisibility of the male buyer and the failure to address men’s role in buying and abusing women in prostitution. Governments, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and others act as if the male demand for sexual exploitation is insignificant, or that prostitution is so entrenched because, after all, “men will be men.” Little research on trafficking has focused on the so-called customer as a root cause of trafficking and sexual exploitation. And even less legislation has penalized the male customer whose right to buy women and children for prostitution activities remains unquestioned. This article looks at the demand—its meaning, the myths that rationalize why men buy women in prostitution, qualitative information on the buyers in two studies conducted by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)—as well as best practices that address the gender of demand.
What does legalization of prostitution or decriminalization of the sex industry mean? In the Netherlands, as well as in other countries where prostitution has been normalized, legalization amounts to sanctioning most aspects of the sex industry, including pimps who are reconstructed as prostitution businessmen and legitimate sexual entrepreneurs. Legalization/decriminalization of the sex industry converts brothels, sex clubs, massage parlors, and other sites of prostitution activities into above-board venues where commercial sexual acts are allowed to flourish legally with few restraints. Under the regime of legalization, “prostitute users,” or the men who buy women for the sex of prostitution, are also empowered as sexual consumers.
In calling for legalization or decriminalization of prostitution, some people believe that they dignify the women in prostitution. However, validating prostitution as work dignifies the sex industry and the male consumers, not the women in it. People often do not realize that decriminalization means decriminalization of most of the major participants in the sex industry, not just the women. In addition, they have not thought through the consequences of legalizing pimps as legitimate prostitution entrepreneurs, or the fact that menwhobuywomenfor prostitution activities are now accepted as normal consumers of a sexual service.
There is a persistent research, program, and legislative silence about the role of men who abuse and buy women in prostitution. Governments, UN agencies and reports, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) send the message that the male demand for sexual exploitation is not a large part of the problem, or that prostitution is so entrenched because, after all, “men will be men.” Little research on trafficking and prostitution has focused on the men who buy women for prostitution—the so-called customer—as a root cause of trafficking and sexual exploitation. In addition, there is meager legislation that penalizes the male customer whose right to buy women and children for prostitution activities remains unquestioned.
This article looks at the demand—its meaning, the myths that rationalize why men buy women in prostitution, and qualitative information on the buyers contained in two studies conducted by the Coalition Against Trafficking inWomen (CATW)—as well as best practices that address the gender of demand. I do not contend in this article that it is only male demand for the sex of prostitution that promotes trafficking, prostitution, and the sex industry. I do contend that male demand is a primary factor in the expansion of the sex industry worldwide and sustains commercial sexual exploitation, and that the buyer has largely escaped examination, analysis, censure, and penalty for his actions.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF DEMAND?
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (United Nations, 2000) is the first UN instrument to address demand. It does so in the context of prevention of trafficking, generally calling on countries to take or strengthen legislative or other measures to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of women and children (Art. 9.5).
The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services (Ekberg, 2004) is a more exact elucidation of the demand. The Swedish Law clearly articulates that demand has a gender and this gender is male—not as in male biology but as in male behavior. The Law goes further than the UN Protocol on trafficking and states that prostitution is men’s violence against women (Swedish Government Offices, 1998); and, as such, the Law prohibits the purchase of sexual services within the larger framework of a Violence Against Women Government Bill (Kvinnofrid). The Swedish Law is a model in targeting the demand for prostitution and in delineating the demand, naming the demand as the men who use and abuse women in prostitution.
Instead of abandoning women in the sex industry to state-sponsored prostitution, the Swedish Law addresses the predatory actions of men who buy women for the sex of prostitution. Recognizing the inseparability of prostitution and trafficking, the Law states, “Prostitution and trafficking in women are seen as harmful practices that cannot, and should not be separated; in order to effectively eliminate trafficking in women, concrete measures against prostitution must be put in place” (Ekberg, 2003, p. 69).
Legislators often advance legalization proposals because they think nothing else is successful in legally addressing prostitution. However, there is a legal alternative. Rather than sanctioning prostitution, states could address the demand by penalizing the men who buy women for the sex of prostitution. Sweden has drafted legislation recognizing that without male demand, there would be a much-decreased female supply. Thinking outside the repressive box of legalization, Sweden has acknowledged that prostitution is a form of male violence against women and children, and the purchase of sexual services is criminalized.
The dictionary can be helpful in defining and describing demand. One definition is, “To claim as just or due.” Another definition taken from economics, without being economically reductionistic, is, “The desire to possess something with the ability to purchase it.” In the context of prostitution and trafficking, these definitions accurately describe the demand aspect of prostitution.
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