Attempt to Criminalize Sex Worker Clients in UK Fails

UNITED KINGDOM—An attempt by Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart to amend the U.K.'s modern slavery bill in order to criminalize clients of sex workers failed Tuesday night, beaten back by fellow MPs who complained that its provisions were, in the words of one, "authoritarian, moralistic and un-evidenced," and that Mactaggart had failed to listen to the opinions of the very sex workers the legislation was intended to help.

On that final point, MP Crispin Blunt scolded, "It is a pity, given the trouble the Hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) took to draw attention to this group of people, that the Hon. Lady did not take the trouble to listen to them. Had she done so, I cannot believe that she would have come to this view because the unintended consequence of her proposal would be to put the people whom she is trying to help in peril. That is a serious mistake."

In the end, Mactaggart's proposed "new clauses 6 and 7 and amendment 1" went down to defeat by a vote of 234-292.

The proposals put forward by Mactaggart were more or less copied from Sweden, which, according to The Mirror, in 1998 "voted to introduce the Kvinnofrid law—or Violence Against Women Act—which criminalises individuals purchasing sex."

As noted by Mirror reporter Marie Le Conte in addition to several MPs during Tuesday night's debate, the "Swedish Model," as it is called, has not quite worked out the way its proponents said it would.

"Reports published by the National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) in 2000, 2004 and 2007 failed to bring up any concrete evidence that the law was working as hoped," reported Le Conte. "In fact, the 2007 report claimed that street-based sex work, which had decreased at first, was going back up, and that sex workers and their clients were now communicating with each other by phone, or online."

Even worse, she adds, "Other criticisms raised by sex workers organisations include the fact that clients are now less likely to give their identities, which makes it considerably harder to track them down if they end up being assaulted or raped by them. Increased stigma was also mentioned several times."

In fact, Le Conte suggested that a less repressive model used in New Zealand might be worth consideration by UK lawmakers, especially considering its relative success. Per Le Conte, "The country decriminalised brothels, escort agencies and soliciting in 2003. The first report on effects of the new law was published in 2006, and found that the number of sex workers had largely remained the same, and even decreased massively in some areas like Auckland. Overall, workers who were still in the industry were reported to feel empowered, and doing it out of their own choice."

More to the point, organized opposition to Mactaggart's proposed punitive solution, which, according to The Guardian, was comprised of "hundreds of individuals and organisations, including the Hampshire Women’s Institute, Women Against Rape, the Royal College of Nursing, church groups, trade unionists, academics, lawyers and anti-racist and anti-poverty campaigners," all seemed to be of one mind that what was egregiously missing from the proposals was any interest in hearing from the sex workers themselves.

As far as The Guardian's Niki Adams is concerned, that very dereliction presents its own dangers to the very people intended to be helped. "Without taking sex workers’ experience into account there can be no protection, only repression," she argues. "The raids on Soho flats last year, done in the name of freeing victims of trafficking, are one example. Two hundred and fifty police broke down doors and dragged handcuffed immigrant women in their underwear onto the streets. Women describe daily humiliation, bullying and threats: 'The police wait outside my house to catch me when I leave … they jeer at me, and make sexually explicit jokes. I’m strip-searched and they sometimes leave the door open so the male officers can see in.' Is it feminist to ignore the views and experiences of the women most affected by any legislation you propose?"

Perhaps not coincidentally, Hunter also points to the New Zealand model as one the United Kingdom should instead be considering, but perhaps that suggestion is one lawmakers in the United States should be considering as well.

Or as Belle Knox put it in her opinion piece published yesterday by Rolling Stone, "Prostitutes are people, not criminals," and "deserve rights, not handcuffs." We have to think she believes the same for their clients, as well.

A complete transcript of Tuesday night's debate by the House of Commons, available here, is certainly worth the read.