[Tietäjä]

Oh yes, and it occurs to me now, since you're in a position of expertise (you're Dutch if I remember correct, and obviously deeper into this stuff than I am). Prostitution.

As it stands, buying and selling sex is legal, but advertising in public spaces or pimping is illegal.

Right on the very spot of time, there is a feminist movement stretching to the parliament level - with ministers taking the initiative - working on a ban on buying sex (making buying sex illegal - not selling it, however, this is how it is apparently in Sweden). There seems to be a bunch of views to this:


1. Feminist #1: The trading money for body is wrong -view: Buying it should be made illegal, because it involves human trafficking (which is however already illegal through pimping being illegal) and it's discriminatory towards women's bodies. It's also perceived that this would be easier to enforce than a ban on pimping. However, selling sex should not be made illegal because it makes the position of those selling sex even more difficult than it is now. The law should be changed.

2. Feminist #2: The everyone should have a free choice -view: Buying it should not be made illegal. Pimping is already illegal, so nobody should be a victim to another person's coercion or violence. Women should have the choice to work as prostitutes if they so desire: instead of potentially making life harder for them, we should build security networks so that their work is safer and they'd be inside the regular labor market. The law should not be changed.

3. Non-feminist #1: The legal paradox view: if the purpose isn't to simply stigmatize customers, would it not be more effective to simply outlaw both selling and buying sex. Then all of it would be illegal, thus there would be less legal difficulties. If the law were to be changed, then both buying and selling should become illegal.

4. Non-feminist #2: The thin red line view: where does the line go, what constitutes as a transaction for sex. Does a rich man marrying a poor woman constitute as buying sex? How about a rich man importing a foreign wife? How about treating a dinner in a fancy restaurant, buying a nice piece of jewelry, and getting a one-night stand in return? The law should not be changed.



How does it go in Netherlands? I'm personally mostly a fan of the feminist view #2 (which incidentally, happens to also be the view of most "legal" sex workers - of course, it's difficult to accurately tell how much say illegal immigrants there are in the country currently being forced to sell their bodies). The non-feminist views are mostly critique to the "problems" related to the feminist view #1 (which is the one being poked towards the law by feminists).