Sweden banned the purchase, not the sale, of sex in 1999. The model has been taken up by countries across the West
, a Swedish retailer. If not, the “Karma Sutra” has the solution: loft beds for those who “are not afraid to be on top”; lustrous duvet covers to bring “feelings of ecstasy”. Swedes have a reputation for being pro-sex. Yet Sweden’s prostitution laws are surprisingly illiberal—and increasingly being copied elsewhere. The Netherlands is the latest country to flirt with the Swedish model.
Nationwide, the number of licensed sex businesses has fallen from 1,100 in 2006 to fewer than 700 in 2014. Many prostitutes work illegally, for various reasons. Some are coerced. Some are immigrants without work visas, or who cannot meet certain licensing rules, including one requiring the ability to speak Dutch. Some do not want to be taxed. Some want to work from home, though this is harder than it could be, since advertising for home-based services online is illegal.
Despite the ban, many men are still keen to pay for sex. When Astrid, a Swedish prostitute who works throughout Europe, returned to Stockholm for a couple of days, she says she received 67 inquiries from potential clients. She accepted just two. The others were unwilling to disclose their names or telephone numbers, perhaps because they feared arrest.
Yet the number of sex workers in Ireland who tell the police about such crimes has fallen. France has seen similar shifts. Sex workers are wary of contacting the cops for fear of being prosecuted for other things, such as immigration violations or brothel-keeping. Swedish-style laws are often used as a pretext to crack down on migrants, says Niina Vuolajarvi, a sociologist at Rutgers University.
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