Criminalising The Client

Investigates the change in criminal law for prostitution in Sweden.

This book examines how feminist movements have contested the dominant discourses and state politics that have impeded women's autonomy over their bodies since the late 1960s. It deals with two important facets of this struggle, prostitution and the right to abortion, as they relate to the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

The Nordic countries have long been seen as pioneers in promoting gender equality. This book brings together scholars from the global South and post-socialist economies to explore, from a comparative perspective, the vision, values, policies, mechanisms and political processes that help to explain Nordic achievements on gender equality.

In an attempt to abolish prostitution, Sweden criminalised the purchase of sex in 1999, while simultaneously decriminalising its sale. In so doing, it set itself apart from other European states, promoting itself as the pioneer of a radical approach to prostitution. What has come to be referred to as ‘the Swedish model’ has been enormously influential, and has since been adopted and proposed by other countries. This book establishes the outcomes of this law – and the law’s justifying narratives – for the dynamics of Swedish sex work, and upon the lives of sex workers. Drawing on recent fieldwork undertaken in Sweden over several years, including qualitative interviewing and participant observation, Jay Levy argues that far from being a law to be emulated, the Swedish model has had many detrimental impacts, and has failed to demonstrably decrease levels of prostitution. Criminalising the Purchase of Sex: Lessons from Sweden utilises a wealth of respondent testimony and secondary research to redress the current lack of primary academic research and to contribute to academic discussion on this politically-charged and internationally relevant topic. This original and timely work will be of interest to sex worker rights organisations, policy makers and politicians, as well as researchers, academics and students across a number of related disciplines, including law, sociology, criminology, human geography and gender studies.

First published in 2004. Major changes have taken place in the sex industry in Europe. Over the past decade we have seen increasing migration and diversification, along with major shifts in policy towards the industry. There is very little published on sex work in Europe, but the demand is growing for information and analyses of the situation today from people working on health, policy, gender and employment. The authors of this book examine sex work in terms of economic and social restructuring, concerns about infection and recent policy developments on prostitution.

The most effective way to deal with prostitution has always been hotly debated by governments and women s movements alike. Feminists want it abolished or regulated as sex work; governments have to safeguard public health and order. This book shows how women s movements in Western Europe, North America and Australia have affected politics on prostitution and trafficking of women since the 1970s, asking what made them successful in some countries but a failure in others. It also assesses whether government institutions to advance the status of women - so-called women s policy agencies - have played a key role in achieving policy outcomes favourable to movement demands. Written by an international team of experts and based on original sources, all chapters follow the same framework to ensure comparability. The final chapter offers an overall comparison identifying what makes women s movements successful and women s agencies effective, presenting the case for state feminism .

In what circumstances and on what basis, should those who transmit serious diseases to their sexual partners be criminalised? In this new book Matthew Weait uses English case law as the basis of a more general and critical analysis of the response of the criminal courts to those who have been convicted of transmitting HIV during sex. Examining cases and engaging with the socio-cultural dimensions of HIV/AIDS and sexuality, he provides readers with an important insight into the way in which the criminal courts construct the concepts of harm, risk, causation, blame and responsibility. Taking into account the socio-cultural issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and their interaction with the law, Weait has written an excellent book for postgraduate and undergraduate law and criminology students studying criminal law theory, the trial process, offences against the person, and the politics of criminalisation. The book will also be of interest to health professionals working in the field of HIV/AIDS genito-urinary medicine who want to understand the issues that may face their clients and patients.

This book provides comprehensive information about various types of gender-based violence (GBV) and abuse. GBV is a major public health and social problem that affects people, mostly women and girls, in every community, culture, and country. GBV refers to the violence or a pattern of abusive behaviours including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours resulting in physical, sexual or psychological harm. It is associated with severe physical and psychological consequences, and can result in death. . GBV can take many forms including female foeticide, infanticide, female genital mutilation, child marriage, grooming, trafficking, forced marriage, dowry- related abuse, honour-based violence, rape, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, street violence, abuse against older people, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence. It can take place in public, private and virtual settings, and within the context of intimate, familial, community and institutional relationships. While all these forms affect girls and women more, boys and men can also be exposed of various forms of violence including child abuse, sexual abuse, wartime violence, corporal punishment to name a few. This book takes a unique approach and presents an overview of ​gender-based violence and related practices throughout the world. The book is written in a user friendly manner in order to be accessible as an introductory text to a wide range of readers including students, practitioners and researchers. Edited by a public health academic and a social worker, with contributions representing a wide range of disciplines, the book will appeal to many professions including nurses, midwives, social care and social work practitioners, police, teachers, psychologists, and sociologists.