Dr Teela Sanders School of Sociology Social

Dr Teela Sanders School of Sociology & Social Policy University of Leeds t. l. m. sanders@leeds. ac. uk Men Who Buy Sex: Criminals, Abusers of Scapegoats? British Society of Criminology Conference, Glasgow, 5 th-7 th July 2006 1

Aims of the paper • To review the changes in the laws relating to men who buy sex in UK, using comparisons from other countries • Explore the understanding of men who buy sex presented by the Home Office • Looks at the consequences of criminalisation policy • Examine evidence that looks at the place of 2 prostitution in society

Strengthening the law, reframing the ‘problem’ • Clients originally ignored in legislation by Wolfenden 1957. Purchasing sex considered legitimate. • 1985 Sexual Offences Act - shift in who was the problem • 2001 Criminal Justice & Police Act - kerbcrawling an arrestable offence • 2003 Criminal Justice Act - conditional cautioning 3

Home Office Review: Paying the Price 2004 • Prostitution as a social problem because of it’s effects and not a case of morality (Phoenix & Oerton, 2005). • ‘the user’ - marginalises and stereotypes • ‘going to a prostitute can mean supporting the illegal drugs industry’ (Home Office, 2004: 12). • ‘The user’ = 30 year old male, married, full time employment, NO criminal record 4

Coordinated Prostitution Strategy 2006 • Tackling Demand: • Enforcement of existing laws for kerbcrawling • Concerns from communities • Crackdowns, zero tolerance decoys, supporting naming and shaming, media coverage, driving licenses revoked, fines, rehabilitation programmes 5

But…. . . • It is STILL legal to sell and buy sex and there has been no move by the government in the past 100 years to change this basic entitlement. • So……. . what are the issues and why have men been increasingly criminalised and demonised? 6

Consequences of criminalisation • No hard evidence that rehabilitation programmes work. No evaluation. Uncritically accepted when heavily criticised • Treated as sexual offenders when no evidence of harm or wrong doing • Temporal, spatial and tactical displacement • No awareness of impact of crackdowns / zero tolerance on sex workers or industry 7

Men as Abusers…contradictions between rhetoric and law • Coercion / under 16 clear case where there are laws to deal with this • Official concepts - buying sex is wrong on the street. Why no make illegal? • Indoors tolerated / attempts to decriminalise • Men on street considered sexual predators • Ignores the context of an adult consensual relationship - compliance, not always violent, without incident 8

Men as Scapegoats • Naming and Shaming - implications for families / households • Hypocrisy of sexualised culture - sex economy legitimated • Mixed messages about what is acceptable , confusion amongst men about what they can do legally • Hyper-masculinity criminalised • Majority of men are compliant and non 9 violent

Evidence & Reality ignored • No systematic review - Evidence not taken into account • Sexual scripts that men adopt • Etiquette and rules • Functions of sexual services • Profound misunderstanding of human sexuality, men’s relationships and motivations 10

Implications for sex workers • Social implications - ever more dangerous environment and more policing • Cultural implications - sex workers not tolerated, not worthy of protection, hate crime, victimisation • No change in communities - demand not cease • Social causes of prostitution not addressed…. . reactive not preventative 11