Prostitution: a paradigm shift?

The F word advertised recently this post from Genderberg on a new paradigm for prostitution. I believe the author, S.M. Berg, misrepresents Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shift.

Berg is supportive of the Swedish model but argues that other solutions can be sought from this perspective. But lets examine the Swedish model of prostitution which was enacted in 1998.

I believe it is a mistake to believe that this law shifts the legal onus onto the male client. The Swedish law is a paradox and a contradiction. Women are still being criminalised. It doesn’t “protect” prostitutes.

“Official reports have concluded there has been no drop in street solicitation in Sweden. There has been an increase in internet advertising. Prostitutes interviewed in the media report that women with drug problems have been driven to desperation or even suicide by the new law; social workers state that it has been harder to reach prostitutes, and police reports state that it has been harder to prosecute pimps and traffickers because clients used to be willing to be witnesses but are now disinclined to co-operate.” (Belinda Brooks-Gordon – Clients and Commercial Sex)

The Swedish criminal justice system is quite punitive. Sweden may have a social democratic society but underneath there is social control and an expectation of social conformity. A legal system constructed out of agrarian Lutheranism with a 19th century attitude that social problems can be dealt with by punishment. Feminists who ally themselves with this attitude to dealing with social problems are firstly making things worse not better and secondly feeding an authoritarian monster that will not be content with locking up the clients.

“Paradigm Shift”… I thought that this was to do with changing your original way of looking at something when evidence comes in that conflicts with it. For example if criminalising the buying of sexual services leads not to a drop in the level of prostitution but to an increase in various problems associated with prostitution you change your attitude to the policy of criminalising the Johns.

I also think that to understand the nature of patriarchy and male dominance in terms of prostitution we have to understand the commodification of sex. And how the power relationships between men and women determine these inequalities and oppression. Patriarchy can’t be analysed in isolation as it becomes ahistorical and deterministic. Instead patriarchy and capitalism are intertwined. Male privilege is borne out of this interaction. Likewise the social construction of masculinity: these are complex social phenomena that involve a mix of class and gender among other issues.

I believe the only solution is decriminalisation and unionisation. Give the women in the sex trade the political space to work together to protect themselves. Anything else is patronising authoritarianism.

Btw: interesting post at Natalie Bennett’s blog regards to prostitution in New Zealand.

Mrs Robinson, bigotry and psychiatry

It has been widely reported on other blogs, here and here, for instance. But in case you missed it, DUP MP Iris Robinson, made these homophobic comments:

“I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals – trying to turn away from what they are engaged in,”

And see her comments over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology debate the other week regarding “need for a father”:”You are putting the rights of lesbians above all others in this country and you should hang your heads in shame,” 

The homophobic bilge she is spouting isn’t new especially regarding the “curing” of lesbians and gay men. Up until 1973 being gay was considered a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and after intensive campaigning by lesbian and gay activists it was finally removed.

Before that the “cure” involved aversion therapy, a clinical name given to torture and the criminalisation of gay men (until 1967 and equalised age of consent in 2001)

The desperate need by these shrinks to cling onto the belief that being gay can be cured is still alive and kicking. In 2001, there was the Spitzer study (Spitzer concluded that “some highly motivated gay people could change their sexual orientation through therapy or other means”)

Though, worryingly, there is a category of “sexual disorder not otherwise specified” kicking around in the DSM-IV that includes “persistent and marked distress about one’s sexual orientation” and “gender identity disorder”. The blog, Bird of Paradox, gives a thorough examination of the shenanigans of APA (American Psychiatric Association) with “kickbacks” from pharmaceutical companies, giving “advice” to interrogators at Guantanamo and the “debates” over Gender Identity Disorder for the DSM-V (May 2012).

And there we have it, homophobic god squaders and shrinks still believing that lesbians and gay men can be “cured”. Here’s a cure for homophobia: Mind your own business….!!