Sweden: How They Handle Prostitution Laws

Sweden's prostitution laws seek to punish the john, not the worker

SWEDEN -- In 1999, the Swedish government brought in legislation to criminalise the buying of sex, while decriminalising its sale.

The idea behind the move was that prostitution should be regarded as an aspect of male violence against women and children and therefore tackled.

BBC correspondent Claire Marshall travelled to Sweden with former prostitute Alison Marie Fenton, 35.

Ms Fenton stopped working the streets after the birth of her third child and wants to improve the lives of English prostitutes.

Here in her diary, Ms Fenton (photo below) assesses whether the Swedish approach has worked.

When we arrived in Stockholm, we talked to a taxi driver about prostitution in Sweden.

He said he believed that all men who visited prostitutes were guilty of abuse. I wondered whether this man knew enough about the country and its policies.

We went on to meet a lady called Marianne Eriksson. She had helped to bring about the legalisation of prostitution and the criminalisation of paying for sex.

She was a lovely woman who had obviously fought a long battle to stop sex trafficking in Sweden through parlours and brothels. We saw no sign of either while walking around, unlike most European countries.

That night, we went to the only remaining street in the red light area where we were told that we would find working women.

We met five women working as prostitutes. All were Swedish. Two of them had drug habits.

But they said they had not been offered any help getting off the game. One was still waiting after six months for a drug prescription.

She said that because there wasn't supposed to be prostitution, there were no drop-in centres for health checks, and no-one handing out condoms or needles.

Only one of the five had anything positive to say about the legislation.

Eve, 60, who has been working as a prostitute for 40 years, said that the men think twice before they rob or try to beat the women they have paid for, as they are aware that they can be reported to the police.

But, according to another woman, Pia, who had worked the streets since 1979, nothing had really changed.

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