Sex Work in Sweden

Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, says he wants to increase the sentences under the country's nasty law on prostitution, which criminalises the buyer.

Currently, people buying sex can be fined or jailed for up to a year, but Reinfeldt said no one has been sentenced to prison in 4,782 cases so far.

Men who are prosecuted for paying prostitutes in Sweden need help to prevent them re-offending, according to a government-commissioned report.

Anti-prostitution work needs to focus even more on men's role, according to the report entitled Men and Equality .

Tthe authors of the report claim that more needs to be done to target men who continue to pay for sex. Their recommendation to do more to prevent men going to prostitutes contrasts with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's call for a tougher approach, including the enforcement of prison sentences.

The European Sex Worker Alliance (ESWA) is circulating a petition in solidarity with Swedish sex worker activists fighting a politically motivated attempt to require mandatory jail time for their clients.

In a letter to the Swedish Parliament published in English and Sweden, the ESWA addressed the upcoming May 31 vote on a proposal to increase the minimum punishment for the purchase of sexual services from a fine to a prison sentence.

The group urged Swedish politicians who are threatening the livelihoods of the country's sex workers to listen to sex workers, to consider current, as well as upcoming, research on the matter and to take into account the countless recommendations from organizations, including the sex worker-led organization Red Umbrella Sweden, to start committing to supporting a legal framework for people working in the sex trade, that protects and affirms those individuals' human rights.

The letter reads:

It has come to our attention that there will be a vote on the 31st of May on a proposal to increase the minimum punishment for the purchase of sexual services from a fine to a prison sentence.

Sex workers in Sweden, as in many countries in Europe and globally, are amongst the most marginalised and discriminated against members of society, and experience high levels of violence and human rights violations.

We urge you to listen to sex workers, to consider current, as well as upcoming, research on the matter, and to take into account the countless recommendations from organisations, including the sex worker-led organisation Red Umbrella Sweden, to start committing to supporting a legal framework for people working in the sex trade, that protects and affirms those individuals’ human rights.

We are deeply concerned that research indicates that the current Swedish government’s "pursuit of sex buyers and combatting sex trafficking functions as punitive and racialised policing, targeting people in the sex trade and resulting in forced evictions, deportations, and police harassment. This increases their vulnerability for violence and experiences of stigma".

It is also very alarming to hear that the Swedish government is positioning themselves to support this, when there are many recommendations that Sweden should be adapting the approach and policy making regarding sex work and people in the sex trade. From WHO, Amnesty International, UNAIDS, ILGA Europe, ESWA, NSWP, La Strada International, the Global Alliance Against Traffic In Women, TGEU and independent researchers, there is a clear recommendation to decriminalise sex work, because of the negative effects of any form of criminalisation of sex workers and their environments. The European Convention on Human Rights recognises, under Article 11, the fundamental right to form and to join trade unions, making unionisation an established right that applies across the member states of the Council of Europe.

Repressive  Swedish law currently criminalizes purchasing or procuring in-person sexual services but does not criminalize sex workers who provide such services. This approach is commonly referred to as the Nordic model. Under the new proposal, anyone who pays someone to perform a sexual act online, without actual physical contact, would be subject to the same criminal liability as those who hire in-person sex workers.

The proposal also includes liability for procuring such services, which could lead to enforcement against fan and webcam platforms, or conceivably even against creators who collaborate together.

Swedish creators have expressed concern that, under the proposed law, OnlyFans' terms of service could preclude Swedish creators from using the site -- and could even criminalize their personal lives, since living with a partner or receiving support could now be considered pimping.

The ESWA, a sex worker-led network representing more than 100 organizations in 30 countries across Europe and Central Asia, told XBIZ that it has launched a public petition urging the Swedish government to reject this proposal. The group writes:

This proposal represents a regressive and dangerous step that threatens the human rights, privacy, safety and livelihoods of sex workers and digital creators in Sweden and beyond. Websites and platforms hosting or facilitating consensual digital sex work could be prosecuted for 'digital pimping' creating a chilling effect that may lead to mass deplatforming of sex workers.

The ESWA is urging anyone who supports Swedish sex workers to add their name to the open letter. See petition from eswalliance.org

Adult content creators in Sweden are pushing back against new legislation that makes it illegal to buy online adult content.

A repressive new law in Sweden that makes it illegal to buy custom adult content will take effect on July 1.

The nasty new law makes it so anyone who purchases online sexual content (sexual acts performed remotely with no physical contact) or operates a website that makes it easier to get in touch with adult content creators could be imprisoned for up to one year.

Sweden's Injustice Minister,  Gunnar Strommer threatened:

The idea is that anyone who buys sexual acts performed remotely should be penalised in the same way as those who buy sexual acts involving physical contact.

Swedish adult content creators told Euronews Next that the government should reconsider the new law because it could push some of them to more unsafe types of content creation. The main concern is if OnlyFans starts blocking Swedish creators because they're afraid of being sued or accused of pimping.

The European Sex Workers Rights Alliance said there are risks that the police could be empowered to search phones, computers, and online accounts that are linked to the creation of online adult content.