FACTS

_Estimated prostitution revenue - $186 billion per year worldwide (186,000,000,000€) !!!

_ According to a report published in 2012 by Fondation Scelles, prostitution has a global dimension, involving around 40-42 million people worldwide (42,000,000)

_Of those 40/42 million, 90% are dependent on a procurer.

_75% of them are between 13 and 25 years old.

_'The most conservative official statistics suggest that 1 in 7 prostitutes in Europe are victims of trafficking, while some Member States estimate that between 60% and 90% of those in their respective national prostitution markets have been trafficked.'

_"M. Farley’s study carried out across nine countries in 2003 showed that a majority of prostitutes had experienced severe forms of violence, including sexual assault and rape. In most of the cases, they experienced various types of repeated violence. A large proportion (68%) had suffered from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with a level of severity comparable to that experienced by Vietnam War veterans, as well as psychological dissociation"

_ In addition to the violence experienced in the context of prostitution, 43% to 69% of women selling sex have suffered sexual abuse in childhood.

_"Men buying sex were more likely to commit sexually coercive acts against women and other acts of violence against women and often present misogynist attitudes. More than a fifth of them reported enjoying the feeling of power over the prostitute and believed that once the customer had paid, he could do whatever he wanted with the women he bought (22%) They also used pornography to a greater extent than non-buyers and reported that even their sexual preferences changed because of the continuous use of pornography and prostitution.

_ The average age of first exposure to Internet pornography is 11 years old

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CONSENT

_' The question whether prostitution is delivered as a sex service or under conditions of coercion or force is qualified as the criterion to distinguish between prostitution and sexual exploitation. While some argue that the number of those entering the prostitution business deliberately is higher than assumed, it is mostly supposed that women would avoid the abuse of their bodies if they had a valid alternative. In this sense, poverty and bad economic and employment situations are seen as strong push-factors forcing women into prostitution, and which call into question whether their consent can be assumed to have been voluntarily given.'

M. Farley’s interviews with 785 people in prostitution in nine countries showed that 89% of them wanted to escape prostitution but had no other options for survival

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PROSTITUTION AND LEGALIZATION/REGULATION

_Legalization/Regulation of Prostitution will reduce Sex Trafficking - FALSE

Since the late 1990s, some Member States, like the Netherlands and Germany, introduced new legislation to legalise prostitution and to enable prostitutes to work as service providers (known as the regulatory approach). The access of prostitutes to social security systems and their registration as tax payers should enhance the social recognition of “sex workers” and reduce the vulnerability of prostitutes to exploitation. Several studies made in recent years suggest, indeed, that the legislation on prostitution increases the flow of trafficking for sexual exploitation, while the working conditions of prostitutes and the level of violence have not improved – according to government reports.

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_Criminalisation of men buying sex reduces demand - TRUE

On the other hand, the abolitionist approach, which is based on the criminalization of all activities related to prostitution, has been adopted in Spain and Sweden but with a different focus. It seems that the Swedish legislation, which targets the buyer (mostly men) and thus criminalises the demand side instead of the prostitutes themselves, is the only one which successfully criminalises men buying women. According to official evaluations, this seems to have effectively reduced demand and deterred traffickers.

Experts have found a relation between the liberalisation of prostitution and increasing numbers of trafficking in human beings.

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_Reducing the demand will reduce trafficking - TRUE

In the other three Member States examined, the limited evidence suggests prostitution is increasing both on the supply and demand sides. This being the case, trafficking for sexual exploitation in order to satisfy the demand seems unavoidable, certainly when considering the high profit rates for legal pimps and brothel owners, which have to be considered being even higher for those acting illegally.

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_Legalization of Prostitution increases murder of Prostitutes - TRUE

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Number of known murders of prostituted women in four European countries

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PROSTITUTION AND GENDER EQUALITY

_"Several studies prove that prostitutes are at a heightened risk of violence, escalating to lethal violence. Therefore some women’s rights groups take the view that all prostitution should be regarded as a form of gender-based violence"

_"Prostitution and sexual exploitation are highly gendered issues with in most cases women and girls selling their body, either by coercion or consent, to men or boys who pay for this service. Accordingly, the majority of those trafficked for sexual exploitation are women and girls."

_"While there is consensus that sexual exploitation should be eradicated, the concept is gaining ground that prostitution cannot be supported as a legitimate business because it is contrary to the principles enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, among which is gender equality. This concept was also at the basis of the Swedish law which criminalized the purchase of sexual services."

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InCeLs NeEd PrOsTiTuTeS

Regarding men buying women overall, the evidence base is equally scarce. The estimations on the number of men using sexual services compared with the male population range from “few” to “one third” but agree, however, that it is a minority of men which disqualifies in a way the assumption that prostitution was needed to satisfy an irresistible sexual desire inherent to men.

Prostitution is therefore not only perceived as reinforcing gender stereotypes but also as an expression of the idea of men’s unlimited access to women’s bodies and sexuality in accordance with their economic power. It also entails the assumption that sexual needs are a kind of right that every (male) individual is entitled to

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SOURCES

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/493040/IPOL-FEMM_ET(2014)493040_EN.pdf493040_EN.pdf)

https://www.government.se/articles/2011/03/evaluation-of-the-prohibition-of-the-purchase-of-sexual-services/

https://nordicmodelnow.org/