MSP: ‘Scotland must end the rape of women in so-called sex work’

Former SNP minister Ash Regan is seeking to better protect vulnerable women and girls by overhauling Scotland’s prostitution laws.

Regan, now the Alba MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, is seeking colleagues’ support for her proposed Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, which would criminalise the purchase of sex and provide support to help women exit prostitution.

Commonly known as the ‘Nordic Model’, after first being adopted by Sweden, the approach aims to reduce the demand for prostitution, but it has been criticised for encouraging sex trafficking by decriminalising the ‘supply’ side.

Prevalence

Under Scotland’s current laws, it is legal to buy and sell sex. However, several associated acts are a criminal offence, including brothel-keeping, human trafficking and soliciting for the purpose of prostitution.

Although recorded crimes of such acts have decreased over the past decade, a Scottish Government 2016 report noted that the “police commonly acknowledged that intelligence shows a much wider scale in terms of prostitution activity than is captured in recorded crime data”.

Just last year, a survey in Glasgow found 418 men buying sexual acts between April and December.

‘Inherently unsafe’

Regan stated: “Prostitution is inherently unsafe. There is no way to make being raped as a job safe and then put a veneer on it by calling it sex work.”

“Commercial sexual exploitation disproportionately affects women and girls. Many of those caught up in prostitution are survivors of trauma, including childhood sexual abuse, which makes them especially vulnerable to exploitation.”

She added: “For far too long, society has normalised the buying and selling of sex, overlooking the exploitation that lies behind it.”

‘Eradication’

The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert thanked the MSP for tackling “this dark form of exploitation” and helping women to “leave prostitution for good”.

But he called for “a rethink of the proposal to make it legal to solicit for sex: our ambition should be as complete an eradication of the harm and moral ill of prostitution as is within the Scottish Parliament’s power”.

Mr Calvert also told The Mail on Sunday: “We shouldn’t listen to groups that describe this abusive system as a form of work. The so-called ‘sex worker’ organisations often include those who profit from this exploitation.”