Now we have said goodbye to the monarch and the President the Vincent Browne show retuned to more domestic issue's the panel four woman and one man discussed various matters in relation to sexual crime. The discussion on New York justice and the arrogance of some powerful males holding power to presume they could select sexual targets with impunity.
All very well till Vincent allowed his male panellist conclude 'that visiting a prostitute was akin to paying to rape somebody's daughter,' then we were informed that brilliant Ireland the very people who presided over the most corrupt and abusive prostitution system in the world, was about to adopt the Swedish system, which in effect decriminalises the sale of sex but criminalises the purchase of same. This system evidently has been a popular success in Sweden reducing the numbers of prostitutes and Pimps, and also reducing the number of violent crimes associated with this back street industry.
That is all fine and well indeed if not raising a few eyebrows, as Sweden has a long association with sexual liberalism and indeed the famous Swedish Pornography industry, I wonder if Ireland follows their lead on the prostitution front will we create a load of jobs with our new porno industry, Irish Porn now there is something we can be proud of.
I presume if I try to make a case for legalising prostitution I will be accused of supporting the paying to rape somebody's daughter school of thought, but I seriously don't agree with that point of view, because it presumes that all men and women seeking sexual comfort are of like mind and of one cast as it were. Nothing could be further from the truth, people seek sexual services for all sorts of reasons, and people provide them for multiple reasons as well. Yes many women are trafficked into what is slavery and a life of violence and drugs, many women are endangered by thugs and crime lords all this is true. Yet in countries like Germany for example where prostitution is legal they have strict controls over these operations and many sex workers are legalised.
In order to follow the Swedish model this is what we are proposing, we are in effect saying as a society that sexual relations should only be legal among consenting adults with no payment of any kind exchanged, this then confines sexual activity to those who are married, or in a relationship whether straight or gay, it discriminates against single people, the old and the infirm and also those who are disabled, if as in many cases they do not have a partner for sexual fulfilment.
Society has now placed the moral emphasis on one side of the argument and I can say with equal surety, 'tough luck Mr or Miss lonely no sexual engagements for you, why don't you go out and secure a girlfriend a wife, or husband or boyfriend etc.... be normal for God sake.'
I place some data from both Germany and Sweden for your perusal I am surprised Vincent didn't go for balance here but sometimes he looks tired so late at night.
Legislative reform (2002)
In 2002 a one page law sponsored by the Green Party was passed by the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens in the Bundestag. The law removed the general prohibition on furthering prostitution and allowed prostitutes to obtain regular work contracts. The law's rationale stated that prostitution should not be considered as immoral anymore.
The law has been criticized as having not effectively changed the situation of the prostitutes, often because the prostitutes themselves don't want to change their working conditions and contracts.[14] The German government issued a report on the law's impact in January 2007, concluding that few prostitutes had taken advantage of regular work contracts and that work conditions had improved only slightly, if at all.[15]
In addition to the two pronged legal strategy, a third and essential element of Sweden's prostitution legislation provides for ample and comprehensive social service funds aimed at helping any prostitute who wants to get out, and additional funds to educate the public. As such, Sweden's unique strategy treats prostitution as a form of violence against women in which the men who exploit by buying sex are criminalized, the mostly female prostitutes are treated as victims who need help, and the public is educated in order to counteract the historical male bias that has long stultified thinking on prostitution. To securely anchor their view in firm legal ground, Sweden's prostitution legislation was passed as part and parcel of the country's 1999 omnibus violence against women legislation.
Paul Kestell lives in Co. Cork and is author of the novel 'Viaréggio,' his new novel 'Wood Point,' will be published by Thorn Island books in September 2011.
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