Prostitution Laws Research Articles

Attitudes Toward Prostitution in Norway, Spain, and Germany: Association With the Legal Context and Susceptibility to Persuasion

ABSTRACTThe social and legal treatment of prostitution varies between countries. We examined attitudes toward prostitution (ATP) and their susceptibility to persuasion in three countries: Norway, where prostitution is illegal; Spain, where prostitution is not explicitly regulated in the law; and Germany, where prostitution is legal. Participants (total N = 579) read arguments in favor of either legalization or abolition of prostitution or no arguments. Then they reported their ATP, judged the consequences of abolishing prostitution and completed measures of feminism, political orientation and sociosexuality. Results showed that, as hypothesized, ATP scores (1) reflected the countries' legislation, being most positive in Germany and least positive in Norway; (2) were affected by arguments only in Spain, where the legal situation is ambiguous; and (3) were meaningfully correlated with other attitudes across countries. These findings highlight the association of legal frameworks with attitudes, suggesting that national legislation can shape social norms and perceptions of prostitution. Additionally, the varying susceptibility to persuasive messages across different legal contexts underscores the role of legal ambiguity in shaping openness to attitudinal change.

Sex workers’ confidence in the police in one Canadian city under the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act

ABSTRACT Confidence in the police, a significant concern of sex workers across the globe, is an important gauge of their views of the legitimacy of law enforcement and their likelihood to seek help when in harms’ way. The purpose of this study is to explore sex worker confidence in police in one Canadian city after the enactment of the dramatically revised prostitution law in 2014, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. In 2017–2018, a cross-section of active sex workers (N = 60) from Victoria, Canada, were interviewed about their personal and work lives under the criminal code law. Thematic analysis was carried out using the participants’ answers to these questions: (1) You said you have _____ confidence in the police. Please elaborate on why you feel this way about the police; (2) You said you had _____ interactions with police in the last 12 months? What happened, when, where, why, etc.? Have your interactions with the police changed in recent years? Our findings show the police’s treatment of sex workers is influenced by intersecting stigmas and structural factors that shape the confidence sex workers’ have in law enforcement. We provide greater contextualisation related to the confidence sex workers have in police, why lack of confidence may not always be synonymous with negative experiences, and why their distrust of the ‘institution of policing’ highlights the importance of having public policies that address the fundamental causes of sex worker victimisation and stigmatisation.

Das Glück der schönen Mädchen? Überlegungen zu einem spätantiken Kerkergraffito aus Korinth (IG IV2 3, 1274)

Abstract The article focuses on a graffito from Corinth, which was discovered in an ancient prison and very probably written by a prostitute: “νικᾷ ἡ τύχη το͂ν καλο͂ν κορασίον το͂ν φιλόντον τοὺς ἀγάμους”. On the one hand, the possible circumstances of the woman’s imprisonment are discussed in light of late antique prostitution laws. On the other hand, the Christian view of prostitution at the time is examined. Instead of assuming – as has been done so far – that the imprisoned prostitute shows remorse, the article looks for alternative interpretations and considers whether the lines could rather refer to the lack of alternatives to prostitution, suggesting a translation such as: “The happiness of the beautiful girls will prevail because they welcome the unmarried men!”

『기생 및 창기에 관한 서류철』의 원(原)자료 재구성에 관한 연구: 대한제국 말기 ‘전문 창기(매춘부)’에 대한 일제 통감부의 정책과 그 변화과정

This study targeted a total of 181 pages of prostitute-related documents, including all prostitute-related documents for [Records of Gisaeng and Prostitute] and 3 pages of [Agenda on Gisaeng and Prostitute Regulation Enforcement Instructions] that did not exist in the original copies and were newly discovered during the preliminary research. Then, this study examined each document and reorganized them based on the time sequence of documentation for a precise and detailed clarification on the details and process of changes in the policies that the Resident-General enforced on the prostitute, who was a professional prostitute during the late Korean Empire. First, the Resident-General ordered a head pimp to make a petition in June to July 1908 to establish the Gyeongseong Gisaeng and Prostitute Association as a preparation step to implant a licensed prostitution system to the Korean Peninsula. However, the “Petition on Foundation of Gyeongseong Gisaeng and Prostitute Association” ended as an agenda without official approval. Secondly, in September 1908, the Resident-General enacted a series of prostitute-related laws and regulations, including the “Prostitute Regulation Law” and “Terms of Compliance Regarding Prostitute Business,” to establish a legal and political system to control and manage the Korean prostitutes in a modern way. Third, in October 1908, the Metropolitan Police Department of the Resident-General reminded the laws and terms of compliance to the prostitutes and people related to the licensed prostitution system and reported to Resident-General Ito Hirobumi and Vice Resident-General. The Resident-General of Korea also enacted the guidelines and detailed guidelines to be aware of and conducted by the Japanese police officers of each local police station. It also arranged and confirmed the formats for reporting operation, closure, address change, etc., of prostitutes. Fourth, the Resident-General commenced the establishment of system for “Hanseong Prostitute Association” as the first legal prostitution organization of the Korean Peninsula from April 1909. In August and September 1909, it intensively invested legal and political intentions, including “Order and Approval on Hanseong Prostitute Association,” “Final Approval of Hanseong Prostitute Association Regulations,” “Composition of Hanseong Prostitute Association Directors and Its Approval,” and “Composition of Hanseong Prostitute Association Clinic’s Japanese Doctor, Nurse, Accountant, Clerk, and Interpreter and Its Approval,” to complete the system of “Hanseong Prostitute Association”as the beginning of the licensed prostitution system in the Korean Peninsula.

Women’s Daily Life in the Occupation: Sexual Violence in Documents and Soviet Propaganda

The problem of sexual violence in the occupied Soviet territories during the Great Patriotic War is an under-researched and taboo subject in the Russian public sphere. It is viewed either from the perspective of collaboration in prostitution and cohabitation, or from the perspective of gender discrimination and sexual violence. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to differentiate these features of women’s everyday life under the conditions of the “war of annihilation”. Based on the documents of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders, partisan reports, and other documents, as well as articles from the wartime periodical press, the author compares images of sexual violence with the practices of women’s everyday life under occupation. In the propaganda of the warring countries, the image of the abused female body was actively used to incite hatred of the enemy. Rape and the forcing of women under occupation to work in brothels were presented in this light. A comparison of propaganda images and specific facts of violence presented in official and ego-documents shows the existence of discrepancies between images and practices. While rape was fairly accurately portrayed in official texts, the problem of prostitution was less accurately reflected in reality. Individual women used their bodies as a means of survival and received various material benefits in return. The population did not perceive legal prostitution in the categories of propaganda and interpreted it as a betrayal. Although some decrees were passed during the war in both Germany and the USSR that treated violence against women as a crime, women were not recognised as victims in the Soviet public trials or at the Nuremberg Tribunal and did not receive compensation. During the transition to peace, the problem of sexual violence lost its pragmatic propaganda function and was excluded from the collective memory. Nevertheless, the increase in violence against women during the Second World War led to the adoption of the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Victims of War in 1949, which was ratified by the Soviet Union in 1954.

Как написать стихи о публичной женщине? ‘Когда из мрака заблужденья…’ Н. Некрасова на дискурсивной карте эпохи

N. Nekrasov’s poem ‘When out of the darkness of delusion ...’ (1845) lies at the origin of the trope of the salvation of the “public woman” (prostitute), widespread in Russian literature of the nineteenth century. However, until now, only N. Gogol’s ‘Nevsky Prospekt’ has been named as the source of this trope. Meanwhile, the trope is connected not so much to a specific source as to discourses about prostitution relevant to the epoch and presented both in bureaucratic documents and journalism, and in literature (J. Janin, E. Sue, O. Balzac). Reacting to the legalization of prostitution in the Russian Empire (1843), Nekrasov creates a poem at the intersection of psychological, social, and religious discourses. The text is especially poignant due to its connection with the ideology of utopian socialism, which was important for the intellectuals of the epoch. The polydiscursive nature of ‘When out of the darkness of delusion...’ made the poem a victor over other poems of the 1840s that were devoted to the theme of the “fallen woman”. The article analyzes in detail various discourses about prostitution and with their help explains the semantic contradictions in Nekrasov’s poem.

He's to blame, she is lying: Judgments of child sex trafficking survivors

AbstractUS Federal legislation mandates the treatment of underaged youth induced to sell themselves for commercial sex as victims and not criminal offenders of prostitution laws. Nonetheless, state prosecutors often take action in juvenile court against these youth. This study explored the impact of negative moral emotions, victim blame, and victim believability on public judgments of child sex trafficking victims under varying case facts. We presented an online scenario involving a trafficking case to 682 participants and manipulated youth sex, trafficker sex, vulnerability background, and prior arrest history to determine how emotions, victim blame, and believability mediate child sex trafficking decisions. Two different paths emerged depending on the youth's sex. Participants reported greater victim responsibility and greater negative moral emotions towards a male youth trafficked by a female when he had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. With the same facts, participants reported lower believability for a female youth when she had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the findings for practice and theory.

Determining Appropriate Policies for Prostitution Reform in Indonesia

In the context of the current efforts that Indonesia is making to alter its prostitution laws, it is of the utmost importance to determine the strategy that will be most effective. The two strategies implemented most are known as harm reduction and harm elimination. This study employs a juridical-normative research method to analyse various plans, weighing the pros and cons of each option and providing recommendations on the most suitable approach for Indonesia. The findings highlight the necessity for an all-encompassing and multi-disciplinary approach, intending to strike a balance between the protection of the rights of sex workers and the reduction of harm done to society. It has been found that a policy of harm reduction may be more appropriate for Indonesia as it recognises the existence of prostitution and works toward addressing the root causes of the problem while simultaneously attempting to lessen the adverse effects of the practice.
 Keywords: Prostitution Policy, Harm Elimination; Harm Reduction; Prostitution Law; Indonesia

PENEGAKAN HUKUM TERHADAP TINDAK PIDANA PROSTITUSI ONLINE MELALUI APLIKASI MICHAT

The enforcement of online prostitution laws against sexual service providers or prostitutes on the MiChat application which have not been strictly regulated in the laws and regulations in Indonesia and also criminal sanctions have not been able to create a deterrent effect for the perpetrators. This study aims to find out how law enforcement is carried out against online prostitution performed by PSK through the MiChat application. The research method used is normative legal research using statutory approaches, conceptual approaches, and case approaches. The research results show that online prostitution through the MiChat application is happening in various ways and its modus operandi, law enforcement against online prostitution through the MiChat application influenced by several factors including legal factors that have not explicitly regulated sex workers, law enforcement factors that have their respective roles in enforcing prostitution laws online less qualified in the field of information technology, inadequate facilities and infrastructure, and social and cultural factors that are still indifferent and do not care about this criminal act of prostitution.Keywords: Law Enforcement, Online Prostitution, PSK, MiChat Application

Regulate or Prohibit: a Review of Hidden Prostitution Law Enforcement Policies in Indonesia

Prostitution is an act that is contrary to the norms that exist in society because this act can cause unrest in the community and disrupt the order of life in the surrounding community. Prostitution deviates from the norms of decency where a woman or a man sells himself to get satisfaction from lust. Prostitution is spreading rapidly in Indonesia. Many prostitutions are committed under the guise of, among others, Reflexy Massage Parlors, Beauty Salons, and SPA. This study is motivated by the problem of the practice of hidden prostitution under the guise of these business premises in Indonesia, especially the Sleman Regency area, which are almost entirely unexposed and untouched by law enforcement officials but have the potential for negative impacts on society both socially, psychologically, religiously and culturally. This article aims to find out how law enforcement is against the hidden practice of prostitution under the guise of massage parlors, salons, and spas in Indonesia, especially in the district of Sleman. This study combined field and library research, using an empirical juridical approach with a descriptive-analytic method to explain the data. It also used legal system theory to analyze. This study showed no clear and specific regulations that regulate or prohibit prostitution firmly. So far, the Police and Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP) have enforced the law based on Regional Regulation No. 15 2012 concerning Tourism Business Registration in Sleman. However, the participation of every stakeholder in society with local wisdom that has existed so far is expected to create legal awareness about hidden prostitution.

Does criminalizing the purchase of sex reduce sex-buying? Evidence from a European survey on prostitution

AbstractWhether to criminalize or legalize the purchase of sex has given rise to heated discussions and different policy initiatives. Opponents of the criminalization of sex-buying argue that prohibition pushes the sector underground, increasing the harm for women in prostitution. Proponents instead view prostitution as violence against women, calling for prohibition. Despite these debates, few studies examine the effect of prostitution laws on the quantity of sex bought. By employing unique data on attitudes to, and experiences of sex-buying behaviour in different prostitution regimes in eight European countries, the paper examines the relationship between prostitution law and sex-buying. The results are robust to the inclusion of a list experiment, and the findings suggest that people living in countries where purchasing sex is criminalized buy less sex than people living in countries where sex-buying is legal.

How does public policy impact trafficking victimization?: An exact matching study in the EU

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is a widespread, transnational issue in the European Union (EU). Member states act as source, transit, and destination countries for intra-EU trafficking, in addition to being a major destination region for external THB victims. This study presents a new dataset of THB victims observed in each EU member state per year and by type of exploitation going back as far as 2001 and employs exact matching methods to test the link between different prostitution policies and Roma secondary education attainment rates on observed THB victimization. The paper also builds off previous literature to compare how different legal prostitution models and THB supply factors are expected to influence various types of THB. The results indicate that legalized prostitution and lower educational attainment among the Roma community increase observed THB victimization, especially THB for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The paper does not find that the Swedish model significantly increases or decreases observed THB victimization. In demonstrating how matching methods can be utilized to uncover policy patterns in THB outcomes, this study provides a blueprint for how other hidden phenomena, such as corruption or migration, can be robustly and empirically tested.

PENEGAKAN HUKUM TINDAK PIDANA PROSTITUSI ANAK SECARA ONLINE BERDASARKAN SISTEM HUKUM INDONESIA

The practice of child prostitution has caused various negative impacts, one of which is damaging the morale of the nation's next generation, so that it can threaten the survival of the nation and state in the future. Ironically, cases of child prostitution have soared by more than 50 percent since the Covid-19 pandemic hit Indonesia. This, of course, is of concern to the government and law enforcement officials, including the author as an academic. This research is legal research with a typology of normative legal research or doctrinal research that aims to produce arguments, theories or new concepts in solving the problems to be studied. The results of the study concluded that the arrangements for eradicating criminal acts of online child prostitution in Indonesia are scattered in several statutory provisions. Legal System Theory concluded that online child prostitution law enforcement in Indonesia is still considered not to be effective and optimal, so that in the future there is a need for system changes in online child prostitution law enforcement.

A sociological perspective on India’s journey of legalizing prostitution: An illicit to a lawful activity

Prostitution had a part of Indian civilization since its inception and marked as one of the oldest occupations in the world. In Indian society, prostitution is mostly regarded as taboo and often associated with violence, prejudice and exploitation. Hence the need of necessary attention has been given to its regulation. The issue of formalizing or legalizing this activity is coming up more and more as a result of the moral ambiguity that surrounds it. The post-independence and earlier governments have taken a number of measures regarding prostitution. This paper evaluates the technical flaws in India that are overlooked in the social discussion over the legalization of prostitution and lays forth a clear course for improved socio-economic growth. The article looks at that particular legislation and identifies that such steps are or aren't able to stop this threat. India has recently taken a position on the legality of prostitution. The issue about legalizing prostitution and the benefits and drawbacks of doing so are further discussed in the article. The conclusions are supported by statistical data from studies, publications and surveys from national registries.

Individualism and the Legal Status of Prostitution

Individualism and the Legal Status of Prostitution

『기생 및 창기에 관한 서류철』의 해제(解題)와 ‘일제 통감부의 공창제도 이식(移植)’에 관한 연구

This study analyzed and examined prostitute-related documents (from September to October 1908 and in March 1909) on the enactment preparation, issuance, enforcement, detailed regulation, report format, etc, of the second document type on 2) the Prostitute Regulation Law (Prostitution System) among four types of documents composing the records of Gisaeng and Changgi. Then, this study conducted a thorough analysis of the “prostitute-related documents” while maintaining academic objectivity and neutrality.
 First, the Prostitution System targeted the prostitutes involved in a prostitution business on the Korean Peninsula during the end of the Korean Empire Period. It was a Japanese-style prostitution system which was forcibly implemented by the Japanese colonial ruler. In fact, the Japanese Resident-General arranged all the related policies, enacted and announced related laws, laid down phased and detailed guidelines, and made the Japanese police officers manage and supervise the prostitutes.
 Second, the Korean Peninsula did not originally have a nationally authorized prostitution system. In September 25, 1908, right before the colonization of the Joseon Dynasty, the Japanese Resident-General implemented the firstever prostitution system for Korean prostitutes. In other words, the Records of Gisaeng and Prostitute are bitter records on process of how the Korean Peninsula, which strictly prohibited any prostitution involving money, was degraded into an immoral society in which people traded sex without any legal punishment.
 Third, the National Unified Prostitution Law was enacted in Japan on October 2nd, 1900. The Prostitution System, forcibly implemented on September 25, 1908 by the Japanese Resident-General, was the lighter edition of the National Unified Prostitution Law restructured based on the circumstances of the colonized countries, such as Taiwan.
 Finally, a correct understanding and new perception toward the Korean modern history of Gisaeng and prostitutes need to be formed by clearly distinguishing and understanding the concepts of Gisaeng Group as the artist group that inherited the tradition of female musicians and the prostitute group as a group who lived off of prostitution during The Korean Empire’s turning point of modernization.

Do Prostitution Laws Affect Rape Rates? Evidence from Europe

Do Prostitution Laws Affect Rape Rates? Evidence from Europe

The Case of the Reasonable Hypothetical Sex Worker

This article critically considers the expanded use of reasonable hypotheticals in challenging the constitutionality of criminal offences under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter). The author consolidates concerns raised by judges and scholars over use of the device and explains how these concerns are amplified in the first two constitutional challenges to three of Canada’s new criminal prostitution laws with potentially significant consequences for constitutional limitations on what can and cannot constitute a crime. The reasonable hypothetical is a device originally used by courts to evaluate the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences under section 12 of the Charter based on the circumstances of a reasonable hypothetical offender, rather than those of the actual offender before the court. Judges later expanded the use of the device to evaluate the constitutionality of criminal offences under section 7 based on the circumstances of a reasonable hypothetical accused, rather than those of the actual accused before the court. However, the process through which constitutionality is evaluated differs, raising distinct concerns about the use of hypotheticals in evaluating the constitutionality of criminal offences that have largely gone unexamined and unacknowledged. Concerns raised by judges and scholars about the use of reasonable hypotheticals fall into three categories: (1) the “air of unreality,” where the rights violation at issue does not arise on the facts of the case before the court; (2) the nature and scope of evidence that can, should, or must be before the court in cases where the device is used; and (3) the appropriate remedy where an impugned law applies in a constitutional manner to the offender or accused before the court, but in an unconstitutional manner in hypothetical circumstances. Each of these categories of concern is aggravated in the first two constitutional challenges to some of Canada’s new criminal commodification offences; the way hypotheticals are used in section 7 cases obscures the experiences of victims and complainants and allows courts to adjudicate constitutionality and remedy constitutional breaches based solely on hypotheticals and expert evidence. The author suggests that if courts continue to allow accused in criminal proceedings to use reasonable hypotheticals to challenge the constitutionality of offences under section 7 of the Charter, they undertake their evaluation of constitutionality with the benefit of adjudicative fact evidence about the circumstances of the case before them, to directly address how rights, interests, and values in tension with those of the hypothetical rights claimant may be relevant to a potential section 1 justification and tailor a remedy that meaningfully attends to the experiences of victims and complainants.

Tensions of abolitionism during the negotiation of the 1949 ‘Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others’

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the negotiations for the ‘Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others’ adopted by the General Assembly (GA) of the United Nations (UN) in 1949. This convention significantly shifted the international approach towards ‘traffic in persons’ by adopting a so-called ‘regulation-abolitionist’ approach and mandating the abolition of the then dominant national approach to prostitution: ‘state-regulated prostitution’. International anti-trafficking law, for the first time, explicitly addressed national prostitution laws and, therefore, prostitution itself. Regulation-abolitionism called for the abolition of ‘state-regulated prostitution’ as a way of both freeing prostitutes from the discriminatory treatment of the police and other state actors, but also as a strategy to combat human trafficking. Through careful analysis of the documentary record concerning some of the core articles of the Convention, the paper identifies multiple contradictions and ‘tensions of abolitionism’ during the negotiations for the Convention, as well as competing ideas about the social and legal status of prostitution and people selling sex after the abolition of state-regulated prostitution. Most importantly, the moral condemnation of prostitution persisted across the political spectrum and the nascent ideological fault lines of the Cold War. In terms of actors, the paper focuses on the contribution of civil society actors, UN administrative personnel and two states (France and the United Kingdom). This paper proposes the concept of tensions of abolitionism to capture the ways in which the regulation-abolitionist approach was caught between competing goals: the law-enforcement-centred repression (of exploitation), the deregulation of prostitution via the abolition of state regulation and the guarantee of the human rights of prostitutes vis-à-vis the state. The paper stresses the legacy of the 1949 Convention in re-structuring the practice of commercial sex to the detriment of sex workers and its failure in eliminating human trafficking.

Law Enforcement Against Online Prostitution Providers In Indonesia And Egypt

Purpose of the study :Describe the comparison of Online Prostitution Law in Indonesia and Egypt Methodology :Research methodology is qualilative approach with normative legal research. Therefore, in this study, it is preferable to secondary data collected by literature studies. Data that has been processed for further qualitative analysis Results:The results of this study found that the comparison of the two countries has similarities, namely the lack of legislation on online prostitution and the existence of a police specialty that investigates cases of prostitution in Egypt namely "Good Moral Police" while in Indonesia there is such police available. Novelty/ Originality of this study:The novelty value of this study is the comparison of the law with the specificity of the police who are in the case of prostitution in Egypt.