Why SNP ministers must back Bill to end the appalling slave trade that is prostitution
Make no mistake, sex slavery is thriving across our beautiful country, writes Dr Jacci Stoyle
Ex-prince Andrew never seems to be out of the news these days, and his cloak of shame appears to become more transparent each time a revelation hits the headlines. Public opinion considers that what he is alleged to have done was wrong and that justice demands he loses his privileges.
Whilst the men who used financier Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficked women absolutely need to be brought to account – Andrew continues to deny he was one of them – nonetheless, the rich and famous are only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the water-line lie millions of ordinary men in Scotland, the UK and across the globe who are enjoying the same free-wheeling spending spree, buying young women’s bodies for their sexual gratification.
It is not only powerful men who enjoy practical anonymity, freedom and protection from the consequences of committing this crime. In reality, the existence of prostitution enables a huge market of young, vulnerable women to be bought and sold for men’s consequence-free use.
The myth of ‘consent’
The fact that the legality of prostitution is predicated on consent of both parties blows the concept right out of the water. Women don’t consent to unwanted sex; if they agree to it, it is because they need the money or are being coerced in some way.
Our out-dated laws compound this, so those who manipulate this market, the traffickers and pimps, can, and do, turbo charge this slave trade with impunity.
In 2021, the Cross-Party Group for Commercial Sexual Exploitation in the Scottish Parliament published the results of their inquiry into pimping websites. Such sites are legally permitted to advertise women for sale “like a menu” (in one punter’s words, not mine).
READ MORE: Prostitution Scotland: Just 25 men a year to be prosecuted under £2.6m Ash Regan proposals
Ostensibly, the scantily clad, often foreign, young women are pictured, with a claim that they are ‘independent’ in a short blurb below, together with a checklist of acronyms that denote what sexual services they provide.
Police have found the same telephone number is often used for groups of these young women, and the same idiosyncratic spelling mistakes are found in their little intros – clear indicators that they are about as far from independent as you could possibly be.
PTSD rates as high as combat soldiers
The people of Scotland have the opportunity, right now, to significantly impact this market in human despair. Make no mistake, slavery is thriving across our beautiful Caledonian landscape. If you think I’m being overly dramatic, please consider that 70 per cent of women in prostitution suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is the same percentage as combat veterans.
Currently, MSP Ash Regan has a private member’s Bill going through the Scottish Parliament that will make it a criminal offence to buy sexual services, whilst those who sell sex will be decriminalised.
Critically, they will have support to exit. Ironically, women in prostitution are often barred by red tape from accessing services that cater for other forms of violence against women – because they are seen as “needing clean needles, condoms and a cup of tea” – before being sent back to face the dangers of their trade.
Scottish Government to become a pimp?
One of the reasons that MSPs are wary of voting for this Bill is not because they think it will not work, but ironically, because they fear it will work very well and that Scotland can’t afford the cost of enabling women to exit.
Such reasoning would make the government a statutory pimp, sending women out to sell sex, because it can’t afford to give them the support and help that they are entitled to. Yet, the Scottish Government has rightly acknowledged that prostitution is a form of violence against women in its strategy document Equally Safe and has also signed up to several United Nations’ policies that directly seek to end prostitution, such as Cedaw and the Palermo Protocol.
With the appalling mental and physical damage that prostitution does to women and children, and the promises the Scottish Government has made to the people of this country through signing up to these agreements, why has it prevaricated on putting their promises into action? Why has it taken a private members Bill, rather than a government one, for this vital issue to come before MSPs?
Public back criminalising those who buy sex
Frustrated by the pro-decriminalisation lobby’s assertion that the Scottish people are against this Bill, Ash Regan commissioned her own poll to see for herself. The findings of this survey were unequivocal. Scottish people of all ages, both sexes, in all geographical areas of Scotland, and across a range of political parties, consistently supported the aims of this Bill and believed vehemently that buying sexual services should be criminalised.
Overwhelmingly, the Scottish public have had enough of young women and girls being fed like cannon fodder into this ever-increasing demand to abuse their bodies. They don’t accept the lie that decriminalising abuse somehow makes it go away.
New Zealand’s decriminalisation model has been a disaster for the prostituted women caught up in it – how can you find help to exit a job that is legal, above board, and which you chose?
What sort of country do we, the Scottish people, want Scotland to be? Do we want one that is equally safe for both women and men, and which complies with the most basic human rights as laid down by the United Nations?
This is a chance for Scotland to make a vital difference. If you want the law to change, you need to make your views known to your MSPs.
Dr Jacci Stoyle is secretary of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group for Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.