Written submission from the Fawcett Society (PTN0094)

About Us

The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home, and in public life. Our vision is a society in which women and girls in all their diversity are equal and truly free to fulfil their potential creating a stronger, happier, better future for us all. We publish authoritative research to educate, inform and lead the debate; we bring together politicians, academics, grassroots activists and wider civil society to develop innovative, practical policy solutions and we campaign with women and men to make change happen.

Summary

Fawcett welcomes the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s Inquiry on Prostitution as an important vehicle for capturing the prevalence and impact of the harms experienced by women in prostitution across the UK. The daily lives and experiences of women in an industry that is a form of violence against women and girls[1] have often been overlooked in favour of theoretical and ideological arguments on the complex political and moral intricacies of prostitution. We therefore fully support the inquiry’s solutions-focused approach to tackling the harmful and violent outcomes of buying and selling sex.

The terminology we have used throughout our evidence refers to ‘women in prostitution’ or ‘prostitution’, in line with the name of the inquiry. We recognise that the language used in the debate on prostitution is varied, with an individual’s choice of words often signalling where they are situated within the polarised debate. We believe it is important to use words that respect both the agency and humanity of the individuals we are referring to, which is why we have chosen to use ‘women in prostitution’ over the stigmatised and pejorative ‘prostitute’ label. 

Fawcett is a member of the End Demand Coalition, supporting the introduction of the Sex Buyer Law, meaning we support the full decriminalisation of the sale of sex and the criminalisation of the purchase of sex, combined with extensive service provision to help women leave the sex industry. Our response is therefore concerned with ensuring that the Government takes responsibility for improving the lives of some of the most marginalised women in our society, by focusing on decriminalising all aspects of selling sex, criminalising the purchase of sex and prioritising support services over enforcement. The priority must be to invest in both targeted and wider social and welfare reform. This is to tackle the disproportionately detrimental consequences of austerity on the lives of women in the UK, reduce the number of women making the constrained choice to go into prostitution as a livelihood strategy and provide genuine options for all women that fulfil their economic and social needs. Furthermore, it is to dismantle the misogyny writ large in British society and advance towards true gender equality for all.

Key Recommendations

We call for the Government to -

1. Remove all criminal sanctions, convictions and cautions for those selling sex and criminalise the purchase of sex.
2. Invest in a long-term, flexible national exit programme that is designed with and for women in prostitution’s needs in mind.
3. Invest in social infrastructure and a reformed welfare system that reverses the damage caused by austerity, and reduces the systemic economic inequality faced by women in the UK.
4. Prioritise improvements in gender equality policies to tackle deeply limiting misogynistic stereotypes and give women genuine options for participating equally in society.
5. Ensure that any new legislation on prostitution decriminalises all aspects of the selling of sex and prioritises support services over enforcement. It must be centred on robust data, thorough evaluation processes and support and exit services, to reduce the number of women in an industry that is a form of violence against women and girls.

Inquiry Response

1. What, if any, harms associated with buying and selling sex? Who is affected? How? 

Intersecting harms and inequalities. Women working in prostitution experience unique, intersecting harms and inequalities, as a result of varying degrees of vulnerability.

Most women in prostitution in the UK are from marginalised groups in society, with poverty being a key driver of prostitution. They tend to be in positions of vulnerability that lead to chronic exclusion from society. The majority have experienced multiple processes of harm that lead to them working in prostitution, with these vulnerabilities then deepened and exacerbated once they are selling sex in various settings.

The harms experienced by those working in prostitution include:

Widespread poverty and destitution. For the majority of women selling sex, the decision to do so is made under constrained conditions, primarily driven by the need to earn money.[2] Since 2010, 86% of public spending cuts have come from money that previously went to women, who are most often the recipients of the main benefits which saw reductions in spending.[3] As a result, women have lost more than men from reforms at every income level: around £940 per year on average, more than double the losses of around £460 for men.[4] The result is that a quarter of single women, and 45% of single parents (90% of which are women) are living in poverty in the UK.[5]

Against this backdrop of austerity, the link between poverty as a driver of prostitution is significant. The structural and systemic irregularities of the ‘one size fits all’ welfare system often render it deeply insufficient in addressing the complex financial needs of women who do not find it easy to connect with mainstream services. This both drives them into and keeps them in prostitution, which is a livelihood strategy for the majority.[6] These women tend to be economically marginalised, socially excluded and unable to secure other forms of work or income that would fulfil their material needs and offer better conditions.

The multi-layered harm resulting from poverty, such as precarious housing arrangements, living in destitution and mental health issues, is having an overwhelming and pernicious impact on women in prostitution. In turn, this harm creates additional barriers for these women in successfully accessing and navigating the complexities of a welfare system that is arguably not designed with them in mind.

Homelessness. Homelessness has been identified as a significant factor that both prompts engagement in on-street sex work and acts as a harmful barrier to stabilising the lives of women in prostitution. St Mungo’s reported to the 2016 Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on Prostitution that a quarter of women living in their supported housing services had current or past involvement in prostitution, with this figure rising to a third of female residents who had a history of sleeping rough.[7]  

Mental and physical illness. Many women in prostitution already suffer from physical and mental health issues, making maintaining formal forms of employment difficult or impossible.[8] Health in this instance is a driving factor into prostitution. Women in prostitution also suffer from a range of physical and mental health issues as a result of their trade. A multitude of studies have found high rates of depression, anxiety, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder in those working in prostitution.[9] Similarly, due to the nature of the work and levels of violence experienced, the harm done to the physical health of women in prostitution is severe.

Finally, the combination of harms experienced by women working in prostitution, such as poverty and homelessness, interact to detrimentally impact their physical and mental health in a way that is more severe than if they were afflicted by a single social problem.

Addiction. Related to poor physical health, there are strong links between prostitution and problematic substance use (drug and alcohol), which causes serious damage to the health of these women.[10] For some, this usage is a coping mechanism for their involvement in prostitution and ensnares them in a cycle of harm. For others, it is an addiction that creates a material need for entering prostitution in the first place.

To emphasise the interconnected harm created by the social factors outlined so far, St Mungo’s found that 78% of women living in their supported housing services need support for their mental health, 52% have a substance use problem and 43% have a significant physical health condition.[11]

Stigmatisation, discrimination and violence. Prostitution is associated with high levels of social stigma. Women working in prostitution suffer from the harm of stigmatisation, which often occurs in all aspects of their life: ranging from clients and the general public, to healthcare and other service providers and the police.

This stigmatisation results in discrimination and violence. This ranges from hate crime, harassment and stalking from members of the public, clients and abusive or former partners, to public shaming, blackmail and coercion, including outing these women to family, friends and future employers.

Violence is a prominent feature for women working across all forms of prostitution, with offenders deliberately targeting them because they believe they will not report the crime to the police.[12]  CARE described prostitution as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, with many workers experiencing violence from sex buyers,[13] and the APPG report on prostitution referred to near pandemic levels of violence experienced by women in prostitution.[14] In particular, women working in prostitution are vulnerable to violent robbery and sexual violence, with the vast majority of cases going unreported.[15]

Criminalisation and barriers to justice. In the UK, legislation has criminalised many aspects of prostitution, such as brothel-keeping and soliciting. Women in prostitution are often arrested and receive criminal records, for example if they are working in a brothel, which leads to harmful outcomes for these women and contributes to the difficulties experienced when trying to find pathways out of prostitution. The criminalisation of prostitution ultimately forces women in prostitution into more marginalised and vulnerable positions. This further subjects them to an increased chance of violence, poor health, poverty and the inability to leave their situation.[16] Similarly, when women in prostitution are victims of crime, those who do report to the police have experiences of being treated dismissively or threatened with prosecution themselves. This has led to a distrust of the police and fear of being criminalised themselves, which discourages women in prostitution from accessing the criminal justice system. 

Deportation. The harm caused by criminalisation is particularly acute for migrant women in prostitution, who often risk being detained or forcibly deported as a result of brothel raids or reporting a crime to the police. 

Poor experiences of accessing services. The combined harmful outcomes of the factors listed above often results in reduced contact with physical, sexual and mental health and support services. The social stigmatisation of those working in prostitution creates a barrier that prevents these women from accessing the support they need. Similarly, there is a widespread fear that service providers will report women in prostitution to other authorities, such as social services (for those who are parents), the police and immigration services.[17] This lack of support in turn further amplifies the harms these women face, exacerbating the vulnerability of their positions.  

Different types of prostitution result in varied and unique harmful outcomes for different vulnerable groups. The exact number of those working in prostitution in the UK is unknown and difficult to calculate, because prostitution is mostly hidden and the population is transient. Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, who has analysed the economic contribution of prostitution to UK GDP for the Office of National Statistics, reported to the Home Affairs Select Committee that the total number of those working in prostitution in the UK is estimated to be around 72,800, with approximately 32,000 of those working in London.[18]

When determining types of prostitution, the Sex Work Research Hub reports that a quarter of those in prostitution are street-based, with the remainder working in diverse indoor settings, particularly in independent work.[19] Dr Mary Laing conducted a survey of individuals in prostitution, and found that 87% of the 218 respondents worked independently, 4% in a brothel, sauna or parlour, 4% escorted though an agency, 3% were street-based and the remainder worked in another part of the sex industry.[20]

The majority of people working in prostitution are women and girls, and the majority of those who pay for sex are men, with approximately 95% of sex workers being women.[21] These women tend to be economically marginalised, with poverty being the main driver of prostitution.[22] Over-represented groups including single mothers, migrant women, disabled women and women with long-term health conditions, women who have experienced poverty, homelessness and addiction and LGBT people. Migrant individuals in prostitution were estimated to comprise more than 65% of the sex industry population in Western Europe, according to the last available estimate from 2008.[23]

The harms outlined above take root in distinct ways, with varying degrees of impact, in different women working across all types of prostitution. These intersectional, harmful experiences result in varying states of vulnerability that create complex challenges unique to each woman. For example, a female migrant working in on-street prostitution faces additional layers of harm through threat of deportation and a fear of accessing support services due to insecure immigration status. Similarly, a disabled single mother working independently may not be getting the physical health support needed for fear of social services taking her children if her profession is known.

Finally, the sex trafficking of individuals into prostitution is the most severe and exploitative form of prostitution. It is a serious violation of human rights and at its worst is a form of slavery. The UK is one of many destinations for trafficked people, with the trade in the human trafficking of foreign women to be sexually exploited in the UK worth at least £130m.[24]

Key Recommendation: We call for the Government to invest in social infrastructure and a reformed welfare system that reverses the damage caused by austerity, and reduces the systemic economic inequality faced by women in the UK.

Women in prostitution require employment and income opportunities that are flexible in line with their complicated lives, as well as an agile and accommodating welfare system that is designed with their needs in mind. This will ultimately reduce the constrained choices that make women vulnerable to, and trapped in, prostitution as a livelihood and survival strategy.  

Key Recommendation: There is an urgent need for comprehensive and robust research on prostitution in the UK.

Accurate research is essential for truly understanding the extent, scale and diversity of what is an inherently covert and transient industry. The current knowledge base for forming evidence-based policy that takes the intersectional needs of all women in prostitution into account is weak. We welcome the Home Office’s commissioning of the University of Bristol to develop a typology of prostitution as it operates currently in England and Wales, and identify robust sources for capturing data on the prevalence of those involved. In particular, the rise of technology and its impact on the way the sex industry operates necessitates comprehensive and up-to-date research.

2. How does buying and selling sex affect attitudes towards women more widely? 

Gender equality. Buying and selling sex affects wider attitudes towards women in society and is detrimental to the achievement of gender equality, because prostitution is a form of violence against women and girls.

Prostitution is a highly gendered issue with, in most cases, women and girls selling their body, either by consent or coercion, to men who pay for this service. The existence of the sex industry therefore solidifies and normalises misogynistic perceptions of women as commodities in society, whose bodies are objectified and  used for male sexual desires when they feel the need to do so.[25] Many studies recognise that prostitution exists within a society in which men possess greater economic and political power than women, both reflecting and reinforcing structural power imbalances.[26] Therefore the existence of an industry that fuels discrimination and violence against women, situated in an unequal society, has a cumulative impact on equality, both reinforcing existing inequalities and creating new ones.

The wider sex industry. It is also important to highlight both the detrimental impact on attitudes towards women that other parts of the sex industry create, as well as the barriers to gender equality they pose. Services such as lap dancing and strip clubs incubate and validate misogyny. As with prostitution, they reinforce the idea that women’s bodies are commodities that can be objectified for male pleasure. These services perpetuate huge imbalances of power between men and women, providing spaces for men to act out their power over women. They foster the damaging illusion that all women are sexually available, in a culture in which 20% of women have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16 and a third of people believe women who flirt are partially responsible for being raped.[27] Misogynistic societal stigma. Finally, as outlined in our response to question one, women in prostitution are especially vulnerable to harmful, intersectional outcomes. Both a harm itself, and one that fuels additional harmful outcomes for these women, societal stigmatisation against women who sell sex is a deeply misogynistic widespread attitude with destructive consequences. These attitudes form a dehumanising culture that has an ‘othering’ effect on these women. It reinforces their economic marginalisation and further excludes them from society, tarnished as individuals who are less deserving of respect, support and integration.  

Key Recommendation: We call for the Government to prioritise improvements in gender equality policies to tackle deeply limiting misogynistic stereotypes, and give women genuine options for participating equally in society.

To truly allow women to fully contribute to, and participate in, a society that values them as politically and economically equal to men, wider gender equality measures are essential. These include flexible working in line with women’s care and other responsibilities, consistent and high quality childcare provision and higher pay for women. Investing in these policies will both tackle deeply limiting misogynistic stereotypes and reduce the number of women making a constrained choice to enter prostitution, for lack of genuine livelihood options.

3. What local initiatives are you aware of that address these harms? Are they effective? Why?

Invest in evidenced-based support programmes. While frontline support work is not Fawcett’s area of expertise, there are only a few studies which monitor and evaluate outreach and intervention programmes in the UK. There is subsequently a need for the Government to invest in more research to fill this gap and test what really works to tackle the harms experienced by those in prostitution. Providing more financial support for existing programmes is essential, in order to find evidence-based, sustainable solutions for both reducing the harm experienced by those working in prostitution and supporting individuals to leave the sex industry.

Similarly, the development of support services must include the experiences and voices of both women who are currently in and have already left prostitution. This is to ensure that the needs of women in prostitution, and the unique learnings and perspectives of women who have successfully left the industry, are designed into support and exit programmes, so that they are successful in mitigating the harms and reducing the number of women in prostitution.

Basis Yorkshire: Basis Yorkshire is a charity which delivers frontline services - offering non-judgmental support to women selling sex in Leeds.[28] An example of the kind of holistic support that needs to be offered on a much wider scale is their evaluated Housing First pilot project.  

Housing First is based on the principle that stable and suitable housing should be provided without restrictions based on personal circumstances or life choices. Intensive personalised support from a dedicated caseworker and housing management are provided to the women alongside each other, without one being dependent on the other.  

The evaluation report conducted by the University of Leeds has shown positive improvements in areas such as offending, substance use, physical and mental health and engagement with other support services. Some women who have received the support are no longer sex working, and some still are but in improved conditions.[29]  

This initiative is an exemplary example, predicated on an empowering approach that provides genuine, long-term options to women in prostitution. By targeting and dismantling the social factors that comprise the ecosystem of harm and entrapment for women in prostitution, measurable gains were made in improving their lives. We call on the Government to urgently invest in initiatives like this at the national level. 

4. What, if any, are the challenges for those facing harm in accessing services (for example, healthcare; support services; advice; exit services)? What needs to change?

Lack of specialist and holistic support services. Bespoke support and exit services for women working in prostitution have been historically scarce and under-funded, and have fallen victim to the sweeping austerity measures rolled out across the UK over the past decade. Similarly, austerity cuts have devastated wider publicly funded local services, gutting out the amount of holistic support services provided to women in need and leaving stark and life-threatening gaps in provision. The disjointed nature of those services that are still operating mean that women in prostitution, whose complex needs are inexorably linked, are not getting the wider holistic support required. Other problems include a lack of national guidance and strategy for supporting women to exit prostitution, as well as a lack of awareness of the intricacies of prostitution among mainstream providers, such as the NHS. This means that mainstream practitioners may lack the confidence and knowledge to support these women effectively.[30]

The harms experienced by women in prostitution are blocking their access to services. As highlighted in our answer to question one, the vulnerabilities that women in prostitution experience operate as key barriers that often render it difficult to access the needed healthcare and support services – especially for migrant women. For example, insecure immigration status often means that migrant women in prostitution will be reticent to seek out NHS support, for fear of putting their details on the system and being deported or criminalised. Similarly, a single mother may fear accessing services in case her children are taken away by social services. Many women in prostitution have also reported that social stigma, often resulting in judgement from practitioners and a refusal to treat a woman unless she commits to stopping selling sex, has impeded their access to the services they need. This is through both through failing to understand and treat their specific needs, as well as stopping them from accessing the services in the first instance.[31]  

Full removal of criminal sanctions and records. Having a criminal record is the main barrier to women leaving prostitution, as it makes it more difficult for them to transition into work in the formal economy and can often render them ineligible for certain jobs. Kairos Women Working Together, a support project for women in prostitution, were one of many witnesses who reported to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s Inquiry on Prostitution that criminal records for these women ‘can serve to trap and entrench them in a cycle of exploitation, offending and limited life chances’.[32] Enforcing criminal sanctions for those selling sex is creating insurmountable barriers that are damaging their access to support and exit services, and further limiting the few options available to them to improve their lives. We support part of the Home Affairs Select Committee’s conclusion that it is wrong that women in prostitution should be criminalised, stigmatised and penalised in this way. As such, we support their recommendation for the full removal of criminal sanctions, convictions and cautions for those selling sex, and in addition call for the Government to criminalise the purchase of sex.[33]

Criteria for support services. We support the Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement’s evidence that effective support services for women in prostitution must include the following components:

-          Women who want to leave prostitution need material support to do so: a liveable alternative income, affordable housing, adequate benefits, or access to other suitable and accessible well-paid work. Services that seek to persuade women to leave prostitution without being able to offer them viable alternative sources of income have been evidenced to fail.

-          Services must be prepared to support both women who are planning to leave prostitution and want support with this, and those who do not currently wish to leave – or are unable to do so - and need help instead with improving their health, conditions and quality of life while they continue to sell sex. Programmes to support exit from prostitution have been shown to be ineffective if they make it a mandatory requirement for women to leave immediately.

-          Services must be non-coercive (i.e. not use the threat of criminal justice sanctions as a punishment for lack of engagement) and operate with a ‘firewall’ so that women can access them without fear of being reported to police or immigration authorities. Good practice from similar approaches taken by drug rehabilitation programmes is important to draw on here.

-          Services must be accessible to specific marginalised groups who are over-represented in prostitution: for example, welcoming to trans and LGBT people and sensitive to their needs; providing translation and language support for migrants; accessible to those with disabilities, substance users and people with complex needs.

Key Recommendation: There must be substantial long-term investment in a flexible, national exit programme that is designed with and for women in prostitution’s needs.

To break the cycle of harmful outcomes that prevent women in prostitution from leaving the industry, the Government must invest in a fully resourced, nationwide exit programme. This programme must provide financial stability and genuine, flexible employment options for these women. This is to ensure they earn the necessary income for participating and flourishing in society, in line with their caring responsibilities, disabilities and other needs. National guidance and training must be a key component of the programme, equipping practitioners with the knowledge and confidence needed to effectively support these women.

5. What relevance does the Public Sector Equality Duty have for the way that public authorities address prostitution in their area?

Local authority criminalisation of women in prostitution. The APPG on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade has emphasised that policing and enforcement of prostitution is unevenly prioritised and resourced throughout the country, with a lack of a centralised political strategy resulting in disparate local enforcement.[34] Evidence shows that this enforcement is unfairly targeted at women selling sex rather than male sex buyers. For example, End Demand reported to the Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry that, in 2014/15, there were 456 prosecutions for loitering and soliciting, yet only 227 prosecutions for kerb-crawling.[35]

In addition to these criminal charges relating to prostitution, local authorities and police are using other criminal sanctions to criminalise women in prostitution, largely through anti-social behaviour orders. Again, local authorities basing their approach to prostitution around tackling antisocial behaviour is disproportionately punishing women in prostitution. As a result, local authorities are falling well short of their Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Their prioritisation of the harm done to the local community through prostitution, rather than the harm experienced by women in prostitution, is criminalising and stigmatising some of the most vulnerable women in these communities. This is a clear failure of their duty to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity for those most vulnerable in society.

Key Recommendation: All local authorities should consistently treat women in prostitution as a disadvantaged group under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Local authorities across the UK must acknowledge that women in prostitution are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and protect them accordingly. This group is over-represented by individuals with identities comprised of multiple, intersecting protected characteristics. These identities are compounded by the work these women are involved in, increasing their precarity and vulnerability to multiple forms of stigmatisation and discrimination, with devastating harmful outcomes. Similarly, as the PSED is just centred on protected characteristics, this means it does not take into account the many other identifying factors that signal major disadvantage for women in prostitution, such as drug addiction and experience of the care system. Local authorities must therefore recognise their duty to go beyond the requirements of the PSED and offer equal treatment and services to these vulnerable and disadvantaged women, particularly exit programmes.

6. How does the law currently treat paying for sex? How could law and policy be improved to address harm?

Key Recommendation: Prioritise support services and welfare reform over enforcement. To date, Government policies to address prostitution and its consequences have tended to focus on the criminal justice system and punitive measures to tackle and reduce prostitution activities.[36] This focus on enforcement has been distracting and comes at the severe expense of the health, safety and other needs of women in prostitution.[37] Investment in fully resourced support and exit services that adequately and effectively address the needs of women working in prostitution must be prioritised over criminalisation. This investment will be a far more effective and sustainable use of time and resources, with the potential to reduce the numbers of women having to make the constrained choice to engage in prostitution through the improvement of genuine and realistic life options.

In addition to prioritising investment in specialist and holistic support services, reforming the welfare system and prioritising key social policies that enable the economic empowerment of women is critical. To fundamentally tackle the pernicious harmful outcomes suffered by women in prostitution, British society must work towards becoming ‘free of the economic desperation that forces women into this business.’[38] The high prevalence of marginalised women in prostitution first and foremost demonstrates the normalised, systemic failures of a British mainstream society broken by austerity. Wide welfare policy reform, including flexible working and housing policies, affordable childcare, a welfare system designed with and for the complexities of the most vulnerable, including migrants and asylum-seekers, well-funded women’s services and the right to work for migrants are essential for providing viable routes out and reducing the numbers of women who feel pressured to go into prostitution to survive.

Sex Buyer Law. The UK’s current piecemeal legislative approach to prostitution is failing women who sell sex. It has traditionally focused on removing prostitution from public places and addressing those who organise or control prostitution. Neither paying for sexual services nor providing sexual services for payment are illegal. However, many of the activities around prostitution are prohibited including brothel-keeping, controlling prostitution (pimping) and soliciting in a public place to buy (often called “kerb-crawling”) or to sell sexual services.

As previously outlined in Fawcett’s written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s Inquiry on Prostitution in 2016, the current state of the law is inadequate in tackling the harm women continue to experience in prostitution, and unnecessarily penalises some of the most vulnerable women in our society.[39] It creates a semi-criminalised grey area that breeds harmful outcomes for women in prostitution. The EU’s Anti-Trafficking Unit working with the Finnish Government attempted to evaluate British policy and concluded that it was “not easy to establish how the system actually works in the UK or draw conclusions[40].” Application of the law varies across local authorities, with Liverpool introducing an informal red-light district in contrast to Ipswich’s zero-tolerance policy. This confusion also contributes to low prosecution rates – whereas there are roughly 2,000 brothels in Greater London, only 50-100 charges are brought forwards every year[41].

This is why Fawcett supports the principle and spirit of the Sex Buyer Law, in rightfully putting the emphasis on criminalising the buyer and de-criminalising all aspects of prostitution for women. Whilst Fawcett supports the decriminalisation of the sale of sex, we also oppose the decriminalisation of the purchase of sex. This is on the grounds that it is incompatible with the gendered and exploitative nature of prostitution, an industry that is sexist, misogynistic and violent towards women.[42] The experience of the majority of women involved in prostitution is indicative of the harm it leads to: over half of women involved in street prostitution in the UK have been raped and/or sexually assaulted, and nine out of ten report wanting to exit but feeling unable to do so.[43] As a result, this industry is irreconcilable with the realisation of full gender equality.

The Sex Buyer Law has been successful in its implementation in Sweden. Since its introduction in Sweden, the number of women in street prostitution halved between 1999 and 2008 without any corresponding increase in indoor prostitution,[44] and during this period the number of women in street prostitution tripled in Denmark and Norway where purchasing sex was legal at the time.[45] It is the model adopted by all the top three countries for gender equality worldwide – Iceland is first, Norway is second (having introduced it since 2008) and Sweden is third.[46] In 1996, 13.6% of men in Sweden reported buying sex. By 2008 this figure had dropped to 7.9%.[47] The Government of Sweden has identified no increase in abuse or sexual assault, or lower standards of living for women in prostitution as a result of the Sex Buyer’s Law.[48]

It must be reinforced here that prostitution is a social issue with huge variation in the legislative models created in different countries to tackle the issue. It is a highly complex and contentious area, with legislation borne out of a range of deeply divided views on the acceptability of prostitution. The evidence on the effectiveness of international models is inconsistent across the board, with arguments for and against the efficacy of the approaches taken in different country contexts. Caution must therefore be taken when considering the transferability of a sex buyer law into a unique UK context.

Furthermore, despite fundamental disagreement over legislative models from those arguing prostitution is commercial sexual exploitation of women, and those in favour of decriminalisation because they view prostitution between consenting adults as a legitimate occupation, there is significant commonality in the desire to decriminalise those selling sex. This is why we are calling for the Government to fully remove criminal sanctions and records for women in prostitution, as part of our End Demand position.

Finally, the contentious debate on legislative models has often served as a distraction from the state’s inadequate economic response to the material needs of women in prostitution. Prostitution is a social issue and form of violence against women and girls that is borne out of, and situated within, an ecosystem of economic inequality. As emphasised throughout this evidence, considering and implementing specific policies that would improve harmful outcomes for women in prostitution, such as investment in support services and welfare reform, should be the priority.   

7. How effective are different international approaches at addressing any harms associated with buying and selling sex?

Key principles to guide policy decisions. As outlined in our answer to question six, there is a real challenge in evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of the range of international models that currently exist. This is due to the fact that each country context is different, with a range of inexorably related social and economic factors influencing the effectiveness of the model in achieving its stated aim. Similarly, the lack of robust data on prostitution, due to the industry being hidden and transient, increases the difficulty in reaching conclusions that can be applied to the entire country, let alone provide promising indications of transferability to other country contexts. 

There is no silver bullet or perfect model for tackling the complex and inevitable harms associated with an industry that is a form of violence against women and girls.  Each international model has had unintended consequences that have had harmful impacts on women in prostitution. One example would be that under the French Sex Buyer Law, a 2018 quantitative and qualitative evaluation of over 500 women in prostitution found a marked shift in the power relationship between  these women and clients, with clients feeling more entitled to impose their conditions (such as unprotected sex), seeing themselves as the ones taking the risk with regards to the law, and these women suffering as a result.[49] Similarly, under the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act (decriminalisation), the Government’s 2008 evaluation found there were some managed individuals selling sex who were being required by brothel operators to provide commercial sexual services against their will.[50]

Key Recommendation: In light of this, a more constructive approach could be to consider the key principles needed to guide policy decisions on prostitution, with the ultimate aim of reducing harmful outcomes for these women.

These principles could include the following:

Typologies of harm and understanding of impact. Starting with the evidence base which clearly demonstrates that position is a form of violence against women and girls, the Government should outline a clear typology of the harms experienced by women in prostitution, and establish a clear consensus on the multiple pernicious outcomes of these harms. This should be informed by women who are in and who have exited prostitution and should form the basis of all policymaking on prostitution.

Robust data. As emphasised in our answer to question one, a comprehensive knowledge base is a prerequisite for forming intersectional, evidence-based policy that mitigates the harm on all women in prostitution.

Good governance and evaluation. Any new legislation would need to be carefully monitored and continually evaluated to measure all intended impacts and capture the effects of any unintended consequences on women in prostitution. Policy must be flexible in line with evidence of impact, operating under full accountability and transparency, and again, be informed by the experiences of women who are in or who have exited prostitution.

Genuine options and long-term, sustainable support services. Any legislation on prostitution must enshrine a commitment to investing in a national, specialist exit programme to help women leave an industry that is acknowledged as form of violence against women and girls. It must also commit to reforming wider social policies to tackle the economic desperation faced by the majority of women in prostitution, in order to reduce the number of women involved in the industry.

October 2019