Swedish law on prostitution informed by radical feminism

Dear Editor, In her article on Amnesty International’s stance on prostitution (IC 05/05/2016) Breda O’Brien mentions the Swedish prostitution law of 1999 which has been copied in certain other jurisdictions including our own.

The key features of the Swedish law are, first, that it criminalises the purchase of sex but, second, it effectively liberalises its sale by, among other things, decriminalising on-street soliciting – which means that a prostitute can freely encourage a man to break the law, secure in the knowledge there will be no legal consequences for herself, whatever happens.

Whatever may be said about Amnesty’s views, or the position in international law, the above-mentioned Swedish law is, surely, perverse, and seems to be informed more by radical feminist ideology than common sense.

As for the alleged success of the Swedish law, this is disputed, including in Sweden itself where it has been in operation for over 16 years.

Yours, etc.,

Hugh Gibney,

Athboy, 

Co. Meath.