Transcript Demand Prevention Interventions

DEMAND REDUCTION
INTERVENTIONS
LESLIE CYRANOWSKI | UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
CONFERENCE | APRIL 11, 2014
END DEMAND
Sexual exploitation “would not exist without the
demand for commercial sex flourishing around
the world…. Prostitution and related activities
encourage the growth of modern-day slavery by
providing a façade behind which traffickers for
sexual exploitation operate.”
United States Department of State, "Trafficking in Persons Report June 2007,” 27.
• How does a focus on combating the demand for
prostitution reduce the prevalence of commercial
sexual exploitation?
• Does the legalization of prostitution have an effect
on sex trafficking?
1. Substitution Effect: away from trafficking
2. Scale Effect: increasing trafficking
REGULATION V. ABOLITION
Regulation
Abolition
• Normalize prostitution
• Recreation-orientated
service industry
• Reform program
“Prostitution
and…traffic in
persons are
incompatible with
the dignity and worth
of the human
person.”
Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action,” 1993
CASE 1: THE UNITED STATES
• Nevada: only state that sanctions legal prostitution
• Statutes or ordinances at the state, county, or city
levels define the legal context
• Most of the voters that live in Nevada favor
legalization; less that 10% don’t (Symanski)
1. Control
2. History
3. Image
THE UNITED STATES | RESULTS
Positive
Negative
• Testing policies
• No streetwalkers or call
girls
“Nevada policy represents the
worst of the European system in
isolating and restricting the rights
of women workers. Brothels
render women an ‘untouchable
caste kept apart from the
institutions and daily life of the
permanent residents and
confine them to certain sections
of town.’”
Barbara Brents, and Kathryn Hausbeck, “StateSanctioned Sex” 311
CASE 2: THE NETHERLANDS
• Normalization through decriminalization of workers
and businesses
• Two main aims (Kilvington)
1. Legalize the organization of voluntary prostitution
2. Increase penalties against those involved in the
organization of involuntary prostitution (through violence,
force or coercion, and fraud), particularly those involved
in the exploitation of minor
THE NETHERLANDS | RESULTS
Positive
• Improved working
conditions
• Abuses can be
prosecuted on both
large and small scales
Negative
• Exclusion
• “Legal approval promotes
a model of male sexuality
that is based on the sexual
exploitation of women.
This model endorses a
double standard for
women and men.”
Janice Raymond, "Prostitution on Demand” 1183.
CASE 3: SWEDEN
• Decriminalize sale, penalize purchase
• Without demand, the global prostitution industry
would not be able to flourish and expand
“Ending prostitution by ending the demand for it is
what sex equality under law would look like”
Max Waltman, "Prohibiting Sex Purchasing and Ending Trafficking” 137
SWEDEN | RESULTS
• Very successful in reducing trafficking
• Decline in the recruitment of young workers
• No empirical evidence that invisible prostitution
increased
• Little evidence of an impact on supply or demand
• Visible prostitution decreased drastically
The United States
(Nevada)
The Netherlands
Sweden
The Law
Regulated in
certain areas in
Nevada
Decriminalize
workers and
businesses
Decriminalize
sale, penalize
purchase
Basic Principles
-Control, History,
Image
-Tolerance
Normalization of
commercial sex
market
Eradication of
commercial sex
industry, social
issue
Positive Effects
Decrease seen
in HIV
contraction
Improved
working
conditions, less
underage
prostitutes
Reduced
trafficking,
better treatment
of workers
Negative Effects
Basic
constitutional
rights restricted
People
excluded from
system
Prostituted
women still face
economic
hardships
Policy control
Local
National
National
CONCLUSION
• Addressing demand is important
• There needs to be unification in prostitution policies
within the United States
• Social change before legal change
• “The history of prostitution control shows that major reform is
episodic and related to wider social transformations, to shifts
in economy, culture, and nation states.” (Scoular 14)