Dezbateri despre Prostitutie in Germania si Suedia in anii '90.
Susanne Dodilletl
In timp ce majoritatea germana au celebrat legea lor ca fiind o mare imbunatatire, a fost (si inca este) o teapa din punctul de vedere al multor politicieni suedezi: �Displac adanc ce se intampla in Germania. Este o lovitura impotriva egalitatii. Este o lovitura impotriva fratiei�, a fost modul in care ministrul Suedez pentru egalitatea dintre barbat si femeie, Margareta Winberg, a comentat legislatia germana. �Intreg parlamentul trebuie sa se duca si sa spuna faptul ca noi suntem puternic impotriva acestui tip de legiferare a prostitutiei pe care Germania il sustine�, a sugerat Ulla-Britt Hagstr�m de la Partidul Conservator.
Prostitutia incepe sa fie comparata cu sclavia si este descrisa ca fiind o capcana tragica, ca o ocupatie pe care nici un parinte nu ar dori-o pentru copiii lor si ca o varianta extrema a mercantilismului. �Prostitutia nu seveste deloc nici unei finalitati pozitive. Din contra mareste suferinta, degradarea, raspandirea bolilor cu transmitere sexuala, silirea si pericolul crimelor.� dupa cum Partidul Social Democrat a descris intr-un amendament din 1991. Gudrun Schyman, la vremea aceea liderul Partidului Stangii, a sustinut opinia ca �prostitutia este o varianta a violului si abuzului�, o opinie ce este impartasita de multi membri ai parlamentului Suedez.
Inger Segelstr�m de la Suedezii Social Democrati au precizat intr-o adresare catre Parlament: �Noi femeile social democrate din cel mai emancipat parlament al lumii nu putem permite ca barbatii sa cumpere femei pentru bani�.
Convingerea ca prostituatele sunt cumparate conduce, ca rezultat, la notiunea ca ele isi pierd dreptul de a hotari asupra propriilor lor trupuri.
Social Democratul suedez Ulla Pettersson declara: �Acceptand prostitutia societatea tolereaza o perceptie umilitoare despre femei. Perspectiva ca femeia poate fi cumparata pentru bani exprima o desconsiderare pentru femei ca fiinte umane.
Legislatia urmareste nu doar a ingradi criminalii iar efectivitatea legii nu poate fi judecata numarand cati delincventi au fost condamnati. Legislatia este de asemenea pentru standardele si valorile societatii. Cand a batea un copil a fost scos in afara legii au fost multi care au argumentat ca aceasta a fost o lege fara sens pentru ca era dificil sa controlezi ce va urma. Dar aceasta lege a avut efecte de etalon (standard) si in aceeasi masura o lege care incrimineaza cumpararea de servicii sexuale va imprima felul in care societatea trebuie sa priveasca distributia inegala a puterii dintre barbat si femeie.
Toate cele trei studii sunt scrise in afara unei perspective feministe si ajung la concluzia ca prostitutia reduce femeia la obiect sexual, ceea ce este opus notiunii de societate egala.
In februarie 1998 Prim Ministrul guvernului Social Democrat G�ran Persson a urmat linia incriminarii cumparatorilor de servicii sexuale. In proiectul de lege guvernul a declarat ca este �inacceptabil� intr-o societate egala �ca barbatii sa cumpere temporar relatii sexuale cu femeile pentru bani�.http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/sexuality/s1/Dodillet%20paper.pdf
Cultural Clash on Prostitution:
Debates on Prostitution in Germany and Sweden in the 1990s
Susanne Dodillet1
While the German majority celebrated its law as a big improvement, it was (and still is) a thorn in the side to many Swedish politicians: �I deeply dislike what�s going on in Germany. It is a strike against equality. It is a strike against brotherhood,� was how the Swedish minister for the equality between women and men, Margareta Winberg, commented on the German legislation.2 �The whole parliament should go out and tell that we are strongly against this type of legalisation on prostitution which Germany is advocating,� Ulla-Britt Hagstr�m from the Conservative Party suggested.
Prostitution is being compared to slavery and it is described as a tragic trap, as an occupation no parents would want for their children and as an extreme variant of commercialism. �Prostitution serves no positive purpose at all. On the contrary it gives rise to suffering, degradation, spreading of sexually transmitted diseases, compulsion and danger of outrage,� as the Social Democratic Party described it in a bill
from 1991. Gudrun Schyman, at that time the leader of the Left Party, held the opinion that �prostitution is a variant of rape and abuse�, an opinion that is shared by many members of the Swedish parliament.
Inger Segelstr�m from the Swedish Social Democrats expressed in a statement to the parliament: �We social democratic women in the world�s most emancipated parliament cannot allow that men buy women for money.�
The conviction that prostitutes are bought leads in the notion that they loose the right to rule over their own bodies as a result.
Swedish Social Democrat Ulla Pettersson puts it: �By accepting prostitution society tolerates a humiliating perception of women. The view that women can be bought for money expresses a disdain for women as human beings.
Legislation aims not only at getting hold of criminals and the affectivity of laws cannot only be judged by counting how many delinquents have been adjudged. Legislation is also about the norms and values of society. When beating children was outlawed there were many who argued that this was a meaningless law because it was difficult to control whether it was followed. But this law had standardizing effects and in the same way a law that criminalizes the purchase of sexual services will mark how the society shall look on unequal distribution of power between men and women.
All three studies are written out of a feminist perspective and come to the conclusion that prostitution reduces women to sex objects, which in turn opposes the pursuit of an equal society.
In February 1998 Prime Minister G�ran Persson�s Social Democratic government followed the line of criminalizing the buyers. In their proposal bill the government declared that it is �unacceptable� in an equal society �that men buy temporary sexual relations with women for money�.