The phenomenon of prostitution in Sweden

The phenomenon of prostitution in Sweden
In 1999, when Sweden decided to ban prostitution, Lise Tamm can not help but feel a slight perplexity. "I thought prostitution would survive in hiding, said the deputy head of the prosecutor in Stockholm. Situation could get worse for girls." Twelve years later, Lise Tamm became a fervent spokesman for the Swedish model. "Prostitution has declined significantly and this is a good thing. Gender, it must be mutual. If your wife does not want you, divorce or expect. You do not buy the body of a Russian girl who living in poverty. "


Sweden was the first country to sanction the purchase of sexual services. Since 1999, customers face a fine and a prison sentence was extended to one year in July 2011. According Kajsa Wahlberg, the rapporteur national prostitution and human trafficking, nearly 4000 people were arrested in Sweden since the entry into force of the text. Fines are common, but no prison has not yet been issued.
If the Swedes embarked on this crusade against prostitution, it is not, they say, in the name of morality but in the name of equality "gender": sexual exploitation, according to them, the One of the most odious forms of male domination. "It is not a coincidence that this law was passed at a time when women entered the Swedish Government and Parliament, said Anthony Jay, one of the leaders of the State Council of the Baltic Sea. It is In those years there that also passed laws on violence against women and sexual harassment. "
This text did he disappear prostitution? "Fifteen years ago, there were about fifty girls in the streets of Stockholm, says Jonas Trolle, the head of the police surveillance of Stockholm. Nowadays, they are barely a dozen. We a brigade patrolling the streets every week to verbalize customers, and two teams working undercover, 24 hours on 24, 7 days out of 7, to constitute court records. they follow the girls filming traffickers are tapping phone and locate the hidden places of prostitution - apartments or hotels. "
During these operations, police, prostitutes are never verbalized or continued: as victims, they are supported by associations. "Prostitution is not a choice, says Miki Nagata, social counselor unit Prostitution in Stockholm, with ten people. These women are trafficked or act due to internal injury: they have suffered trauma in their childhood, they feel that they are worthless, their bodies do not belong to them really. "
Prostitution obviously has not completely gone away: the police can not track all the ads that appear on the Internet or invest all clubs massage Stockholm. The Swedes, however, believe that the law has a deterrent effect. "The pimps avoid Sweden because they know that prostitutes can not work quietly said Kajsa Wahlberg. Wiretapping In means traffickers discuss the distribution of their daughters: they speak of Denmark or the Netherlands, but rarely Sweden because they know that the "market" is dangerous.