More extreme pornography making prostitution more physically demanding

Prostitution is often referred to as ‘the world’s oldest profession.’ Nowadays, society finds itself in a dilemma as we try to find the balance between allowing body autonomy and helping the helpless. Jeremy Micallef speaks with DR ANNA BORG, the director

More extreme pornography is leading to prostitution becoming more demanding in terms of how much the body can take physically, according to two experts in the field.

In today’s edition The Malta Independent interviews Dr Anna Borg, the director of the University of Malta’s Centre for Labour Studies and the chairperson of Association 4 Equality, and Dr Anna Vella, a sexual health expert with Dar Hosea – a centre that helps women involved in prostitution.

They say that many people who go to prostitutes also consume a lot of pornography, and would then want to act out what they would have seen on video, which is becoming more extreme.

In the interview they also state that women do not go into prostitution willingly, even in cases where they would have made the choice to sell their bodies. Vella and Borg argue that this is often the result of a lack of better options. “If they had another choice, would they have gone into prostitution? Or is it always a conditional choice?” they ask.

The interviewees also suggest that the progressive Nordic Model would be the right way forward, as it works on the premise that prostitution is a form of violence on the prostitute because it is a form of unwanted sex.

What are the links between trafficking and prostitution?

We primarily look at two things. Firstly, we look at the foreign women who are promised a good job with a better pay in Malta, but then when they arrive they realise that it is a completely different story.

We have reports, which are not universally believed, that all women that are trafficked along with drugs, are always passed through the same route - Malta. We know that Malta has a large number of women being trafficked through it.

When they get stuck or blocked in the country, the women and children that would be passing through Malta as immigrants are promised by, for example, the Mafia, that they would have a good job if they agreed to go with them. Through this, they end up in prostitution.

Secondly, there is another reality - when we ask Maltese women whether they ever really chose to go down that road, they always tell us that that is not the case. They would have been forced into it by necessity, or by force.

Apart from the usual definition, we also consider trafficking to be the forcing of prostitution on the streets, and not only individuals that were taken abroad.

When we say ‘trafficking’ we don’t only refer to cross- border trafficking, it’s about an individual who is selling another individual for a profit, and in our experience, we know that the majority of prostitutes work through a pimp.

Using the massage parlour case that was dropped recently - it was said in court that none of the individuals involved had been forced into prostitution. So is that not a case of people making a free choice?

If you have someone who lives in a country where conditions are less than favourable, meaning, for example, that it is hard to find work, then it may seem enticing for one to come to Malta and work in a massage parlour and earn €3,000 a month.

When they arrive in Malta, the first thing they do is take your passport; that you work from morning till evening; that they send messages to ex-clients to encourage them to visit again. What you are advertising is more prostitution.

Just because the women from the massage parlours came and left the island on multiple occasions, or showed willingness to come in the first place does not mean that they actually wanted to come - this is simply because they had no better option.

So we must ask ourselves - was it really a free choice? If you had another choice would you have gone into prostitution? Or is it always a conditional choice?

Does this also apply in the case of pornography?

Of course, prostitution and pornography are very much linked. It is good money, but that money costs you a lot. At the end of the day you pay much more to earn that money.

One of the stories we always mention is one of a woman who was a prostitute for 30 years, and she did and saw everything associated with the trade. When she managed to find a job where she would make in a month what she would have previously made in a day she was much happier to do the former.

Why? Because the dignity you get from work is not only what you are being paid, but also what you are giving to earn that wage.

We also know that a lot of them have Post Traumatic Stress Dis-

order (PTSD) because of the fact that somebody is actually using their body, especially with prostitution becoming rougher and more dangerous because of pornography.

Pornography has gone to an extreme now because nothing will satisfy sufficiently anymore. A lot of people who go to prostitutes would also consume a lot of pornography, and they would then want to act out what they have seen on video. This has led to it becoming more demanding in terms how much a body can take physically, particularly because they’re being used repeatedly.

One suggestion for reform has been to implement the Nordic Model. How does it work exactly?

In the Netherlands, what is seen as the ‘Mecca’ of openness, there are estimations by the EU that between 60-70% of the female prostitutes were coerced by gangs. In spite of the system in place, the majority of women did not go willingly but were somehow groomed, deceived, coerced, or trafficked.

Guess estimates of Europol show that for every woman they traffic the earnings are about €110,000 a year in profit, so it is a very lucrative business.

Theoretically yes, it sounds really as though making it open will make situation better, or safer. But, the moment you make prostitution open, you are allowing pimps to become businessmen.

It’s not working in Australia, it’s not working in New Zealand or in Germany and it’s not working in Netherlands. In the case of the latter they actually decided that they need to change the system because of research they did to look into the current situation.

The Nordic Model works on the premise that prostitution is a form of violence on women because it is a form of unwanted sex. If my colleague agreed to let me punch her for €5, then it is still a form of violence.

The vast majority of these women have been homeless, have addiction problems, dysfunctional families, abuse - they are victims of circumstances. We want to protect these people not increase their number.

The Nordic Model decriminalizes the act of prostitution, however, taking advantage of their services, like the pimp would, is to be considered to be a crime act. Even the message that would be given to society - we don’t want our children to be prostitutes. So why are we allowing that a subset of children coming from the most deprived background are put in this situation?

What have the effects been where this model has been implemented?

If you had to compare Sweden with Netherlands, two countries that chose two different models, you will find that in Sweden human trafficking has decreased, whilst in Netherlands it has increased.

The minute you regularize prostitution the supply and demand will rise. It is incorrect to say that because it is legal then women will receive better protections.

Conference

The conference titled ‘Combating Human Trafficking Today’ is to be held at the University of Malta in Lecture Theatre 2 (LT2) on Friday, 28th September, and as stated by the interviewees –

“Human trafficking leaves no land untouched and is also happening around us. This conference seeks to provide answers to some of the most difficult questions relating to the trafficking of children and adults for commercial sexual exploitation.”

Apart from going more indepth with regards to the links between trafficking and prostitution, they also hope to answer some difficult questions about the current situation in Malta.

What do we know about sexually exploited women in Malta? Who are they? What led to their exploitation? In the context of existing legal models, what model should Malta adopt?