Where were you on October 1, 2000? Kicking butt in the office like the successful businesswoman you are? Designing a fashion line for your very first show? Whether October first was an amazing or average day for you, it made history in the Netherlands. On that day, Netherlands became the first European country to legalize prostitution as a profession. However, this wasn’t without qualifiers. The law only applied to Dutch citizens, as the government wanted to exclude illegal immigrants and therefore prevent human trafficking.
Why should you care now? Because, ten years later, Dina Siegel conducted a research study about prostitution in the Netherlands and found that many minors and illegal immigrants were still working as prostitutes. In addition, they hadn’t experienced any increase in occupational respect.
Her report raises several questions: Are sex workers pressured into the job? Is legalizing prostitution the safest way to handle human trafficking? ENTITY is here to give you all the facts, stats and figures you need to decide for yourself.
In the Netherlands, more women than you might expect choose this profession. According to Siegel, many women from foreign countries (mostly Eastern Europeans) who become sex workers decide to come to the Netherlands to work. Since prostitution is legal – although technically not for immigrants– it’s safer than it would be in their home countries. How? Because the women are “legal workers,” they can report crimes or violence against them to the police without fearing arrest.
Legalization can improve prostitutes’ health and safety in other ways, too. As Indian filmmaker and activist Bishakha Datta explains, legalization allows prostitutes to access health services like any other citizen. Also, since men aren’t afraid of being arrested for solicitation, prostitutes can have more clients to choose from. As a result, women may feel more comfortable declining unprotected sex (rather than not being able to afford rejecting a paying customer).
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It’s also important to recognize that if a woman wants to get paid for sex, it’s her choice. In fact, “To deny that prostitution is work not only infringes on women’s right to choose their work, but also … on other rights, such as their access to legal aid and recourse,” according to Gillian Abel, an associate professor and head of the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
The value and acceptance of sex work has also changed with time. For example, in Greece, prostitution was not only legal, but also morally acceptable. Greek courtesans held very high social positions and some academics even consider them a type of “independent business woman engaged to entertain men for a fee.” Maybe legalizing prostitution today could help prostitutes earn the same respect given to courtesans centuries ago.
As many benefits as legalizing prostitution seems to offer, there are also plenty of criticisms to consider.
First, do women actually have a choice when entering prostitution? Some argue that sex work emerges due to patriarchal societies with limited opportunities for women. Instead of prostitution being one of many career options, women must sell their bodies to survive. Perhaps then, the “answer to poor jobs, low pay and harsh working conditions for women is not to consign them to a lifetime of abuse, but to fight for all women to have adequate education for decent jobs,” as human rights lawyer Dianne Post argues.
Post also stresses the dangers of prostitution – legal or illegal – to women. Studies show:
Besides harming the prostitutes themselves, research also finds that legalized prostitution promotes sex trafficking. Despite Netherlands’ attempts, increases in sex trafficking have been reported by eight Dutch victim support organizations. Other organizations have reported that the victims from other countries have not decreased either.
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Netherlands’ legalization has also not stopped the more dangerous practice of “street prostitution.” For example: Do you prefer being monitored while you work or do you prefer being an independent businesswoman? When it comes to legalized prostitution, many women have decided that the latter option – free of brothel managers or health checks – sounds more appealing. Working illegally underground may also help women avoid the prostitute stigma, which legalization hasn’t removed.
All of these facts raise the question: Would legalizing prostitution endanger women even more than before?
When it comes to legalizing prostitution, there isn’t a clear answer of whether this is the right or wrong approach to help women. On the one hand, legalization means that prostitutes can work with the police, access health care and have the right to choose their occupation. On the other hand, prostitution often results from lack of alternative opportunities, harms women’s health and doesn’t improve the overall state of human trafficking or prostitution.
As a result, perhaps being one of the #WomenThatDo isn’t about with which side you agree. Instead, it’s seeking the truth, forming an informed opinion and taking action for what you believe in.
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