Support amendment criminalising buying sex

8 Mar 2010

The Justice Committee at the Scottish Parliament is currently considering amendments to the Criminal Justice and Licensing BIll. They have issued a call for evidence in relation to the amendment submitted by Trish Godman. This proposes criminalising buying sex, in any setting, and will also criminalise activities which facilitate prostitution, such as providing transport and accommodation.

The closing date for written submissions is Wednesday 17 March (to enable all submissions to be circulated in advance of the 23 March meeting). See here for details www.scottish.parliament.uk/S3/committees/justice/inquiries/criminaljusticeandlicensing/Stage2CallforEvidence.htm  

Submissions should not normally exceed four sides of A4. The Committee prefers to receive written submissions electronically in MS Word format. These should be sent to:

cjlb@scottish.parliament.uk  

You may also make hard copy written submissions to:

Justice Committee

Room T3.60
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

The Women`s Support Project believes that prostitution is inherently harmful:

Although women in prostitution are agreeing to sexual activity, this is unwanted sex. In order to repeatedly endure this unwanted sex women have to dissociate, and many use alcohol or drugs to do so. This is the case irrespective of whether theprostitution happens on the street, in a brothel, or in a fancy hotel.

The vast majjority of women in prostution have suffered childhood neglect, violence and abuse. Most are poor and many are homeless and drug addicted. The vast majority of women come out of prostitution as poor as when they went in.

Prostitution undermines gender equality. Why should we be prepared to accept that women who are poor, vulnerable and homeless should be "made available" for sexual exploitation.

Most men do not buy sex - studies have shown that somewhere between 10 and 15% of men in the UK have done so.

A significant number of men who buy sex later regret it. 25% of men interviewed in Scotland said that they felt "significant shame and regret" at having bought sex. See www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/content/publications/183,182,216/ChallengingMensDemandforProstitutioninScotland2008.html  

What we need is a change in attitude, so that buying sex is seen as unacceptable. New legislation is needed to send out this message, and so reduce the long term demand.

This leaflet outlines some of the main `facts and fictions` around prostitution. www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/content/publications/183,182,220/ProstitutionFactorFiction2008.html