Governmental Approaches Towards Sex Work

How do governments approach sex work and what does it mean for sex workers?

6 Mar, 20245 min read

Sex work can be defined as the selling of sexual services in exchange for money or goods, regularly or occasionally. A sex worker can be male, female, or transgender. Much as sex work is an umbrella term, that includes dancers, strippers along people who work as sex workers, the emphasis will be on those who sell sexual services.

Today we'll be looking into how governments across the world approach sex work and regulate their laws and policies regarding it. These are criminalization, the Nordic model, legalization, and decriminalization.

Criminalization means applying criminal law to sex work or aspects of it. Often criminal law prohibits several activities related to sex work, such as selling or purchasing sexual services, living off the earnings of sex work, brothel-keeping, procuring sexual services, also called pimping, and facilitating the act of prostitution by providing information and assistance. Those found guilty of these activities can be charged with long prison sentences as well as huge fines, and having a criminal record can cause the person to be marginalized. Some of the countries where selling, purchasing, and organizing sex work is illegal are North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, most US states, and Puerto Rico, whereas in Brazil, for instance, selling and purchasing sexual services are legal, but brothel-keeping, pimping and living off the earnings are illegal.

Another approach that is rather new and progressive to some is the Nordic model, where selling sexual services is legal and purchasing and pimping are not. The aim here is to end the demand for sex work, and thus relieve sex workers. It's believed to be effective in that by some, however, some data shows a correlation between laws that criminalize clients and an increase in violence, STDs, and exploitation in the sex trade. To criminalize only one side of the transaction does not end demands, but increases the risk of violence towards the workers, and also disregards those who say that sex work is their work. Countries with this approach are France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland, England and Iceland.

Legalization is another approach to sex work where it's made legal under strict conditions, brought under a regulatory regime. The jurisdictions often use licensing and regular inspections in brothels or entertainment venues to control the transaction of sex work. The regulations regarding sex work sometimes include medical checks for sex workers. Legalization is a common approach toward sex work in prohibitionist countries, and Turkey belongs in this category. Pimping, and using a different place than the licensed brothel for sex is illegal. Purchasing sexual services is not. Selling is only legal if the sex worker is registered in a licensed brothel, and is a woman, a Turkish citizen, and unmarried. These restrictions completely disregard male and transsexual sex workers and many others who do not possess citizenship, leading to illegal underground activities that further exploitation. Many of them state they face harassment, abuse, and extortion from officials. Meanwhile, registered sex workers suffer from terrible working conditions in brothels. The women registered in a brothel have to undergo a genital exam every two weeks and an HIV/STI test every two months.

According to a piece by Duvar. English, in 2020 there were 40 legal brothels in Turkey, one of which is in İstanbul. Another piece states that there are almost 100 times more sex workers working unregistered than those with official status. Other examples of this approach are in practice in the state of Nevada, Senegal.

Decriminalization of sex work means removing criminal penalties that apply to sex work or aspects of sex work. It's not the same as legalization, which is, in most cases, restrictive and does not recognize sex work as work. Decriminalization is an expression of a government’s or a society’s view that sex work should not be punished by the harshest penalties and that sex workers should not be cast as criminals.

A good example of this is New Zealand's Prostitution Reform Act of 2003. The intent was to decriminalize sex work undertaken by persons over the age of 18 “to safeguard the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation,” as well as to pursue public health goals. The law requires that all efforts be made to ensure the use of condoms in sex work, whether in brothels or otherwise, but infractions of those rules are not criminal offenses. The law explicitly states that sex workers are covered under the government’s 1992 law on health and safety in the workplace. Five years later, a report on how this act affected sex work in the country, the findings are as follows:

The number of people in sex work did not increase after the passage of the law, as some had feared.

In addition, some sex workers surveyed by the committee reported that they could for the first time turn to the police if they experienced problems with clients.

More than 60 percent of sex workers surveyed said that following the passage of the law, they felt more empowered to refuse a difficult or potentially difficult client.

Many sex workers and pro-sex work feminists believe that only through recognizing sex work and allowing them a safe space to do their jobs, sex trafficking and other illegalities be pointed out, while anti-sex work feminists believe that sex workers who choose the profession are a minority, and though they deserve rights and recognition, a law cannot be enacted merely for the benefit of a minority, and that other solutions must be sought to tackle the issue.