If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have very little time for FG. They are hiding behind an ideology that even many within their ranks fail to understand. The have sucked the labour party into their lair. One such purveyor of ideological nonsense is Alan Shatter. I cringe when he appears on RTE news spouting government propaganda. Yet some of us have long memories. Whilst the rejuvenated FF, try to spin the working classes. I remember a time when they vehemently opposed divorce and sided with the now discredited Catholic Church on issues of morality. Paradoxically I now place hope in Alan Shatter, as in that moral silly season he was brave about divorce and personal morality. More recently he spoke in the daíl regarding abortion. He threw a pipe bomb into the bland and fearful stance taken by FG on the issue. I admire him for that.
Now he has to consider legislation in relation to the Irish sex industry. This is another hangover from the Catholic dictatorship, and we have failed to regulate for it. Worryingly some county and city councils have voted to petition the minister. They want to adopt the Swedish model which criminalises those who buy sex. This is all high and mighty but it is totally flawed. This model came to be through the endeavours of some ultra feminist members of the Swedish parliament. It has changed the industry I am not denying that. But it has also failed miserably in that it has driven the industry underground. What was once under control is no longer. The clear message from the Swedish experience is that prostitution will always be with us. The question is how do we as a society deal with it?
We have other choices. We can look at the German model. The sex industry in Germany is controlled by the state. Those that choose to work in the industry are treated like any worker. They pay taxes and have access to healthcare. There is no question of forced prostitution or human trafficking. The people who use the sex industry, i.e.- those who buy sex—are not criminalised. The system works very well. It provides a safe working environment for sex workers and for their clients.
In Ireland like in so many areas of personal morality we tend to leave the sex industry to the sleaze mongers. This inherited moral void is passed down through generations of moral cowardice. The Catholic Church set out our morality for us at the foundation of the state. We must always be outwardly pure—we export or abortion problem and hide our prostitution issue. This moral dictate came from an organisation that with government collusion systemically raped boys and girls and covered it up.
But let us not lay all of the blame for this at the door of the Catholic Church. We the citizens have failed to act on this also. It is akin to our attitude on drug abuse—let us criminalise all that we find objectionable and distasteful. Why do we choose to do this? Is it easier for us to face each other in the knowledge that we don’t have things like abortion and prostitution in Ireland? But we do—we send thousands of women abroad for abortions every year. Prostitution is rampant in every city and large town in Ireland. Yet it is in the hands of criminals. The people who work in the industry are unprotected against ruthless pimps. Young girls are trafficked from foreign countries to work in these seedy and dangerous back street brothels. It is an appalling system which only serves the criminal. TV 3 make silly documentaries and the Sunday World write patronising titillating muck about it.
The other aspect in all of this is the question of sexuality. Our attitudes to sex and what it means to us as individuals and as a society. Do we adopt the Catholic model and regard sex as a procreational device shamefully handed down by God. Or do we see sex and sexuality as a holistic gift? How does a society decide who should engage in sexual activity and who should not. Obviously we try to protect minors and quite rightly we associate active sexuality with maturity. But where does society’s intervention stop. Are we implicitly saying that sexual relations can only happen between two consenting adults? Does this not exclude people from enjoying sex like those without regular partners? Are people with disabilities not entitled to have sex? Let us remind ourselves that not a million years ago people were told to confine sexual activity to marriage. Even then they were denied contraception and vital information regarding reproduction—all in an effort to produce more Catholics.
Alan Shatter has a problem. We are still a conservative and closed society. Politicians are afraid of reactionary Ireland. The idea of legalising and controlling our sex industry is an appalling one to many. They would prefer it seems to leave it with the criminals. Then they can righteously refer to prostitution as dirty and unclean. TV3 can continue with their undercover sensationalism. The Sunday world can continue to titillate and patronise. The men and women who buy sex can continue to wander the dark alleys in search of gratification. Many of these people are isolated from the happy safe world most of us inhabit. Some are locked in loveless marriages others are single. Many have disabilities others suffer from mental illness. There are those also who just seek pleasure and comfort. How can a person in Hamburg legally go to a brothel? Pay for a sexual encounter with a person who is safe—well paid and is voluntarily doing their work? The government tax this encounter.
Yet in Ireland a person doing the same thing is taking their chances with their health. The person offering the sex may be forced into the situation. The profit goes to a sleazy pimp and who knows what goes on with drugs and violence associated with the whole process. I think people should have a basic human right to pay for sex if they need to. It is obvious that Alan Shatter will have his hands tied by the moral hacks.
Now they are proposing to criminalise those isolated people who buy sex—and in doing so will make an already dangerous business even worse.
