Demand Change! Challenging the Demand for Prostitution
The UK’s first ever campaign challenging the demand for prostitution was launched this week at a high profile event in Portcullis House, Westminster.
The Demand Change! Campaign, a joint initiative between feminist charity Eaves and the human rights organisation OBJECT aims to promote an increased understanding of myths and realitites surrounding prostitution whilst calling for it to be seen as a form of violence against women.
Historically, the UK has failed to deal with the human rights implications for women involved in prostitution (WIP). However, the realitites of prostitution evidence that women involved are chronically vulnerable. 75% of women become involved in prostitution under the age of 18, 70% of WIP have spent time in care as children, 80% are involved to fund drug addiction and 68 % of WIP meet the criteria for suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Failure to explore the widely held contention that prostitution is the oldest ‘profession’ has served to prevent investigations into its exact nature. This has occured because of notions of choice, that is that men have a right to buy sex, and that the women who are involved in prostitution do it out of ‘choice’. However, most WIP do not ‘choose’ to become involved in a life of addiction and abuse, routes into prostitution are awash with sexual and physical violence and it is the very lack of choice which results in women selling sex.
Moreover, it is the demand by the buyer which fuels prostitution. At the launch, award winning Canadian journalist, Victor Malarek, spoke about his research for his recently published book, ‘The Johns, Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It’. ‘Demand is fuelling the trafficking of women and girls, and payment is, for the Johns, the ultimate conscience-pacifier’, he said.
Roger Mathews, professor of criminology at London’s South Bank University said: ‘Punters often feel ambivalent and guilty about their use of women. We need to understand and build on that ambivalence. We need a major campaign, like the smoking ban. Attitudes towards smoking have been changed very effectively- we need to do the same regarding prostitution’.
For more information: www.demandchange.org.uk, www.eaves4women.co.uk, and www.object.org.uk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/29/women.ukcrime
[...] was talking to writer Claire Colley, who elsewhere offers a few numbers. Historically, the UK has failed to deal with the human rights implications [...]
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