
Iceland: the world's most feminist country - faramarz
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/25/iceland-most-feminist-country
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devinj
Agh. I have mixed feelings about this. On the face of it, sure, you're getting
rid of an exploitative industry. This is good, right?

On the other hand, I don't think you really are. I'm not sure I can agree that
this brand of feminism is really good for women, it seems that it can't be.

In Canada, there is a major, major court struggle involving prostitution.
Here, prostitution is technically legal-- you can sell sex. You cannot,
however, communicate about it beforehand, live off of the profits, etc.. It is
only technically legal, in practice it is totally illegal. What is happening
is that prostitutes don't like this very much (and neither, of course, do the
clients). They are challenging the ban on all sex-trade related things as
unconstitutional. And, you know, they're almost certainly going to win. In
maybe 2012 or so, for at least a brief moment, it will be completely legal to
buy and sell sex.

But the key here is that it's the prostitutes and supporting feminist groups
that are challenging this ban. It does not protect women. If anything, it
makes life worse for women involved in the sex trade-- they are pushed to the
margins. This court challenge is the consequence of a string of serial murders
of prostitutes working the streets. It is illegal for them to really market
their trade, so they market it illegally, in as low-key a way as possible.
This probably means walking the streets. Walking the streets is... not a good
way to be a prostitute. You still run the risk of being arrested, and in
addition lose much of the safety something like a brothel or indirect
marketing would offer. There are a lot of prostitutes that are absolutely
against its criminalization, because it makes the world so unsafe for them.

And that's the thing-- they don't go away because it's illegal. They get
shoved into the dark corners of society, along with all the rest of the
criminal elements. It's not good for women in any way, not really. Maybe you
can claim some ephemeral benefit wrought by a society that looks at women in a
different light, but as far as real, noticeable, observable effects go, the
criminalization has done nothing but hurt women in Canada. And that's why they
want it to change.

I don't see how it would be any different in Iceland. Sure, 57% of men say
strip clubs should be illegal. That's not 100%, that's not even close. I'm
sure many of the 43% opposing criminalization would in fact use such a
facility. Maybe not too many, maybe a few. But now Iceland is pushing yet
another group of women into an area of life run only by criminals. How is this
good?

~~~
mr_eel
I largely agree with what you say. I don't want to see anyone exploited in the
sex-industry, but nor do I believe that making it illegal is a solution.

Making it illegal increases the risks, creates opportunities for criminal
concerns -- pimps and gangs -- and ultimately does _not_ stop women from
entering into prostitution.

Prohibition is treating the symptoms, but it doesn't directly and pro-actively
deal with the problems currently inherent in much of the sex-industry. The
solution in my opinion is legalisation, transparency and regulation.

It's magical thinking to think that a simple law can suddenly quash the desire
to buy sex and remove the impulse to sell it.

Really though, this law doesn't at all seem concerned with the practical
issues of safety, instead this is a moral judgement of the trade and the
people involved, something I am extremely suspicious of. The act of buying and
selling sex is not immoral. There is no harm involved and assuming all
participants are willing, it is not a government's place to judge.

What a terribly, prissy and judgemental point of view!

