Kvinnors rättigheter eller exploatering av kvinnor? Den polariserade prostitutionsdebatten

Abstract

This study elaborates on Swedish ideas on prostitution, in contemporary debates as well as throughout history. The aim of this study is to explore current views on prostitution in the public Swedish debate by relating them to their historical contexts. Accordingly, the research questions are seeking to identify ideas and concepts which are present in various perspectives on prostitution, and exploring how its ideas and concepts relate to earlier debates, research and juridicial regulations on prostitution. In order to answer these questions, texts from the two Swedish public debaters, Petra Östergren and Kajsa Ekis Ekman, are examined by the use of a framing analys, as well as analyses of historical sources, including juridicial material from Swedish archives. A liberal approach to prostitution, relying on the concept of individual freedom of choice, is implicated in the argumentations of Östergren. Ekman presents a structural approach to prostitution, building on the ideas of historically prominent feminist critique on prostitution in Sweden. The opposite framings of the reality of prostitution are furthermore linked to contrasting conclusions regarding the juridicial regulations on prostitution. Moreover, the debate also reflects different ideas of concepts like labour, integrity and sexuality, and how these concepts relate to one another. The study concludes that these polarities and ideas in the debate on prostitution are not novel. Even if they have been addressed in other terms, they have been present in various instances throughout the Swedish history.