It is impossible to understand prostitution other than as exploitation of vulnerable people for sex or profit. It is seen as causing great damage to prostituted persons and delivering no social benefit beyond the pleasure of those who buy sex.
It is mostly women and girls that are prostituted – many of whom have been weakened by poverty, drug addiction, sexual abuse, coercion, or slavery. The buyers of sex are overwhelmingly men. The sex industry in all its forms is therefore “both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality, continuing the idea that womens’ and girls’ bodies are for sale (1).
Prostitution is inherently harmful but there is a proven answer.
We believe the model of reform created in Sweden (also known as the Sex Buyer Law) is a revolutionary approach that targets the demand driving the prostitution industry without criminalizing prostituted women by outlawing the purchase of sex but not the sale. This model decriminalises those who are prostituted and makes the buying of people for sex a criminal offence.
Legislation following the ‘Nordic Model’ needs to contain these certain essential elements:
The Nordic Model effectively reduces the demand that drives sex trafficking, therefore making Australia a safer place for all women and girls.
The success of this approach has resulted in other countries such as Canada, Norway, Iceland, South Korea and now France taking on the approach in an effort to reduce the number of women exploited in this way.
If Australia is successful in reducing prostitution it will also lower the number of women being trafficked into cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Please join with the Centre for Human Dignity as, together, we work to make Australia a safer place for vulnerable women and children.
References:
https://nordicmodelnow.org/what-is-the-nordic-model/
1- EU Parliament.
2- Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia. "Demand Change: Understanding the Nordic approach to prostitution." 2017, 16.