HOF THREAD.

[KitSileya]

9. I don't have any statistics on this,

but in other news, I read in today's newspaper that in Norway, prostitution has been reduced by 20-25% after buying sex was made illegal. This is the conclusion to a report commissioned by Parliament to evaluate the consequences of the law. It also has made Norway less attractive to prostitution-based trafficking. They also report of changed attitudes towards buying sex, but of course whether that change is permanent remains to be seen.

On the other hand, the prostitutes report that they feel unsafer now, even though the incidents of violence have not increased. The 'customers' are more stressed, they use less time, and are more concerned with secrecy. It wouldn't surprise me that the reduction in the number of men (let's face it, like with rapists, it is mainly men we're talking about here) skims the benign johns and leave the ones more prone to violence, the 'rougher' sort. The law makes it easier to report such johns, though.

Unfortunately, since Norway has a conservative coalition government, the laws may be repealed - they have the same viewpoints as so many of the pro-porn, pro-rape, pro-trafficking posters here on DU, that it is supposedly consensual and 'just a job.' However, most prostitutes in Norway are either paperless immigrants, usually from countries like Nigeria, drug addicts, or run-away teens who are on their way to become drug addicts. That isn't very consensual in my eyes.