Women's Views on News |
- Time for change in prostitution laws
- Stop writing sex when you mean rape
- New heights in women’s climbing
| Time for change in prostitution laws Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:02 AM PST
By Heather Harvey. On 4 December, the Lower House of the French Parliament adopted a bill under which paying for sex would become an offence. The legislation includes measures to support women exiting prostitution, and addressing internet advertisements. The policy response to prostitution is the subject of polarised debate. While some believe prostitution is a form of violence against women, incompatible with women’s dignity and inequality, others believe prostitution is a commercial, consensual sexual activity and should not be regulated. It is also widely believed that prostitution is work, like any other form of work, and should be treated as such. Government interventions, policing and investment in prostitution will depend on their stance in the debate. They might seek to prevent entry into prostitution, provide exiting and criminalise some aspects of prostitution. They might turn a blind eye. They might develop official structures and processes. A government’s stance shapes norms and attitudes. Take seat-belts, the smoking ban and stiff penalties for drink-driving – all top-down government impositions, once unthinkable. So the passing of this bill could have far-reaching effects on French attitudes to prostitution. In one UK study, examining the buying behaviours of men who buy sex, 49 per cent of 103 men interviewed bought sex outside the UK, most commonly in the Netherlands. This may reflect Netherlands’ relative proximity but several men explained a preference for more legalised regimes because it reduced their sense of guilt or ambivalence. One respondent to the study, entitled Men who Buy Sex, said: “When I got back, my whole perception of prostitution changed. I felt no guilt. Before I saw it as something illegal and wrong – not morally wrong, but I didn’t want to pay for sex.” Governments sometimes adopt legalised regimes believing that this might reduce related crime like human trafficking, reduce stigma and increase safety for women in prostitution. After all, women in prostitution are 12 times more likely to be murdered than women in the general population and some 75 per cent of women in prostitution enter under the age 18, often fleeing abuse, neglect or destitution. A 2012 study of a cross-section of 150 countries, however, found that legalised prostitution increased prostitution and human trafficking. It is notable too that some legalised regimes are backtracking, including the Netherlands, which closed nearly half its red light windows. In fact, in legalised regimes it has been found that women do not want to come out of the shadows and go on a register. The beneficiaries of such measures are the men who feel legitimised in their purchase of women’s bodies and the pimps, managers and governments who share the profits. Indeed some women describe this as the government becoming their “pimp”. Those who take the view that prostitution is work still maintain that criminalising the buyer makes women less safe, destroys the only livelihood some women have and merely displaces the industry. These are genuine concerns so an approach, as here, which invests in supporting women to exit as well as criminalising buyers is important. While more research would be welcome, initial findings suggest that this Nordic approach has seen a reduction in visible prostitution and trafficking with such countries being less palatable to traffickers. While there has been a rise in online advertising for prostitution, this was found to be in line with general trends. However it is inevitable that where policy varies from borough to county to country there is a risk of displacement. This is why the European Women’s Lobby argues for a Europe-wide approach. Business, banking, finance, communications, tourism and taxation have a complex relationship with the sex industry. Havoscope estimates conservatively that prostitution accounts for revenue of USD186bn. Rachel Moran cites Berlin brothel-keeper Tatiana Ulyanova as saying: “Why shouldn’t I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?” Indeed UK Government departments have had to repeal adverts and issue clarifications that women on unemployment benefit will not be forced to enter the sex industry. So far, however, the current government has fought shy of taking a position. Their publication describes a range of often contradictory approaches to prostitution as equally viable options. There is no vision, mission, strategy or objective on policy for the future of women in, or at risk of, entering prostitution or for the direction they wish to see prostitution take. This is a total abdication of responsibility to some of the most marginalised, women and girls in our society. It breaches the obligation to monitor and understand what is happening and why, to be accountable for the lives of some of the most vulnerable or to invest resources to address the issue. In the meantime the buyers of prostitution keep themselves up to date with developments, having as they do, a vested interest in policy direction and are resolutely thankful for our government’s inertia. Heather Harvey is a spokeswoman for Eaves for Women, which strives to support women who are victims of violence. She has also given evidence to the Leveson inquiry on the representation of violence against women and girls. A version of this article first appeared in the International Business Times (IBT) in December.  |
| Stop writing sex when you mean rape Posted: 14 Jan 2014 04:27 AM PST
A recent letter to The Sun’s editor from the No More Page 3 campaign team has drawn attention to a couple of issues that have been needing addressing again for some time: Dear David Dinsmore, We applaud you for your current campaign highlighting the issues of slavery and violence against women. However, there were some issues with how you reported a recent story, that we would very much like you to explain. 1) You wrote a front-page story, 'I was sex slave in Fred West's old house' about a 24-year-old woman called Nikola who, when aged 18, was lured to Britain by the promise of a better life. But she had been tricked by a gang, four members of which were later jailed for trafficking for sexual exploitation. And yet, in the middle of this story, you chose to show a picture of a topless 21-year-old woman. Why did you think that was a sensible placement for this image? We understand that it was on Page 3, but you have a history of moving the Page 3 image for a variety of editorial reasons and even of omitting it entirely from the paper. Why was the story of trafficking and rape against a young woman not one of those times? 2) The two huge headlines 'I was sex slave in Fred West's old house' and 'Slave gang forced me to have sex with 5 men at a time' use the personal pronoun and therefore appear to have been said by the survivor, however these are not quotes from the article. Did you fabricate these headlines? And if so do you think it sensible to ascribe words to a survivor of such a devastating crime? 3) You used the word 'sex' in both the headlines: 'I was sex slave in Fred West's Old House' and 'Slave gang forced me to have sex with 5 men at a time'. The term 'sex' inadequately represents the violent situation that the women in the article experienced. And as you are a family newspaper and this front page was displayed in petrol stations, supermarkets, shops etc across the country, is this not a misrepresentative and dangerous misuse of the word 'sex'? Please could you explain your reasoning behind this. This request is not fueled by a zealous dislike of The Sun as you recently commented. As you know, the majority of the No More Page 3 team grew up with The Sun in their households: we acknowledge The Sun's place in British society, but would simply like to see you represent women, and report stories of violence against them, with respect. We would very much appreciate a response. Signed: No More Page 3. The campaign group Child Eyes, commenting on the No More Page 3 campaign page in support of this letter said: 'Child Eyes has followed media reporting of rape for over a year. We are horrified by the way that many tabloid newspapers use the word sex to describe this serious crime. 'Sex slave', 'Sex scandal' and other such sensational words devalue the seriousness of the crime and turn it into a titillating story. Sex is a wonderful act that is shared by two adults, whereas rape is a serious crime where one party does not consent. There is a huge difference and we believe that the way that rape is reported is affecting children and young people's perception of the nature of rape. We condemn the reckless reporting of rape and slavery alongside soft porn in The Sun on 7 January 2014. We expect a full apology for using sexually arousing images in the middle of inappropriate reporting of rape. While we salute any attempt to prevent slavery and rape, we believe that this is not the intention of The Sun's campaign. If it were, they would have followed the guidelines set out by the National Union of Journalists on violence against women.' And as Child Eyes and the No More Page 3 team point out, there are clear guidelines on reporting sexual violence, supported by the National Union of Journalists, and we here at WVoN and the No More Page 3 team believe The Sun editor, and his reporting team, should refer to these report guidelines in order to ensure they are reporting responsibly.  |
| New heights in women’s climbing Posted: 14 Jan 2014 01:09 AM PST
A relatively young yet very experienced group of female climbers in the UK are leading the way in changing the make-up of the sport of climbing. Many pin the increase in numbers of women climbing on the growth in popularity of indoor climbing walls. Stephanie Meysner, a climber and activist, told The Guardian that she noticed the change about five years ago. Climbing walls and bouldering, where you need minimal equipment, she explained, have made the sport more accessible. Bringing women together to share experiences and learn from one another has also been important in the sport's development. And the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), the annual Women's Climbing Symposium and the Pinnacle Club are providing essential support to the growing numbers of female climbers. The all-women Pinnacle Club, set up in 1921, aims to ‘encourage the development of rock climbing and mountaineering amongst women and bring together those who are interested in these pursuits’. The annual Women's Climbing Symposium is organised by Meysner, and is the only all-female climbing event dedicated to connecting, developing and inspiring women in climbing in the UK. The symposium provides coaching by elite female climbers, workshops on training, nutrition and injury prevention as well the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers on a variety of subjects – from the trials and tribulations of competition climbing to representation of women in the climbing media. Speaking about the growth of the sport, Meysner said, “The change has been organic. “We are seeing a wider change in attitudes towards risk-taking. In the past, women have tended to be villainised by the media for taking risks.” The overall growth in popularity of the sport, and its higher public profile, is due in large part to the current leaders' success in all areas of climbing – indoor competitions, sport climbing, bouldering and traditional climbing. Sport climbing involves clipping a rope onto bolts already set into the surface of the climb. Bouldering is short, ropeless climbing, above mats. Traditional climbing requires climbers to carry and place wedges that they can then clip ropes on to. Often considered the most dangerous type of climbing, traditional climbing is where women are making the biggest headlines as they continue to surpass expectations of both their physical and mental ability. Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, one of Britain's leading young climbers, began her career in bouldering, and as she built up her confidence, kept climbing higher and higher. She said she 'realised I could do hard moves high off the ground and [that] I was comfortable with my head game.' UK climbs are graded adjectively and technically, with the most difficult climbing category, Extremely Severe, broken down into sub-grades E1 to E10. Some of the women currently climbing Extremely Severe grades include Emma Twyford, Katy Whittaker, Hazel Findlay, Leslie-Wujastyk, Shauna Coxsey, Leah Crane and Ali Garrigan. Twyford climbed an E9 in Wales in September 2013, becoming only the second British woman to do so. Findlay was the first. Whittaker and Leslie-Wujastyk both recently climbed E8s, and Findlay free-climbed California's El Capitan for the third time in late 2013. Other headline climbs include the all-female team that scaled London's Shard building in July 2013, on a Greenpeace protest against Shell's oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. The climb took the six-member team, of which Garrigan was a part, 15 hours to reach the top of the building, and required a mix of techniques, including the traditional mountain climbing method of free-climbing by the leader of the group. Other events, such as December 2013′s Italian Cogne Ice Opening, continue to raise the profile of the sport, in all its various disciplines, as more and more women get involved – and achieve ever higher levels of success.  |
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