There's evidence, and then there's evidence. From a CiF article supporting a Swedish law that makes it illegal to pay for sex (but appears to make it legal to receive money for sex):
The evaluation concludes that, since the law came in to force in 1999, the number of women involved in street prostitution has halved, whereas neighbouring countries such as Denmark and Norway have seen a sharp rise; that there is no evidence of an increase in off-street prostitution; and that, despite a significant increase in prostitution in the neighbouring countries during the past 10 years, there is no evidence of a similar increase in Sweden*...
The law has strong public support among the public in Sweden, has led to a significant positive change in attitudes, and acts as a deterrent for potential buyers. A 2008 study found that only 8% of Swedish men had paid for sex, compared with 13.6% before the law came into force**.
* What is not stated is how many of the additional prostitutes working in neighbouring countries are actually from Sweden.
** It is not stated how the study arrived at this conclusion. Did they perhaps ask a sample of Swedish men?
Rejoice! Free Propaganda!
4 hours ago
5 comments:
"A 2008 study found that only 8% of Swedish men had paid for sex, compared with 13.6% before the law came into force"
Question: is that even possible?
Sweden has a population of 9.2m (or about 4.5m men, I guess). Which means that in 1998, 612,000 men had visited a prostitute.
Now, let's say that the male population is around 20 to 80 (roughly). So, those blokes who are 70 or over in 1998 would be dead in 2008. Therefore, in 10 years, 16% of the men originally surveyed would die, meaning that 98,000 of those who said they had visited a prostitute would be dead, or around 98,000. Which would leave 514,000 men of those originally surveyed still alive.
Even if none of the men that reached adulthood after 1998 visited a prostitute, you'd still have 514,000 men in Sweden who'd visited a prostitute, or about 11.4% of the male population.
MW - "What is not stated is how many of the additional prostitutes working in neighbouring countries are actually from Sweden."
I wonder if, from the survey, 8% of Swedish men just buy sex where they're not going to be criminalised? Thereby encouraging Swedish prostitutes to become economic migrants.
The rest of the men aren't really in a legal position to be forthcoming with any survey, are they?
JT, exactly, but to be fair, let's assume that the 8% means "had visited a prostitute after the ban came into force". PS, your maths is a bit laborious. Easier to say "out of 13.6%, one-sixth would have died, 13.6% x 5/6 = 11.33r %"
DP, double exactly. If you were to ask a Swedish woman who has to commute to Norway or Denmark to work if she has been inconvienced by all this...
Have the prices risen with this shortage of supply?
Lots of people work in Denmark but live in Sweden anyway as property prices are considerably less.
If you live in Malmö then it's not so bad as Denmark is only about 30 minutes away. Lots of young people from Malmö go to Copenhagen for nights out (and, of course, to screw prostitutes).
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