Like almost everyone who lauds Swedish prostitution policy, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente ignores an obvious and critical factor in judging the effects of that policy: geographic displacement. Denmark took a more liberal approach than Sweden and in sharp contrast to its neighbour it is now awash in prostitution. Ergo, the Swedish policy of criminalizing customers works. I question whether the contrast is really so stark as Ms.
Wente makes it out to be. Wente portrays it. And as portrayed, it sounds convincing. But remember that bridge Ms. Wente mentioned? It connects the Swedish city of Malmo with the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Of course there are no border controls. To travel from Malmo to Copenhagen you simply hop on a little train that zips over the cold Baltic waters.
It takes 35 minutes city to city and costs 9 Euros. Stockholm lies far away to the north-east. Amsterdam is. A flight from Stockholm to Amsterdam takes two hours. Swedish customers will go elsewhere. And they do.
In large numbers. In Amsterdam researching Dutch social policy, I once asked a Dutch prostitute what she thought of the Swedish policy. She was all for it, she said. For Ms. Wente and others of like mind, the goal of prostitution policy is not simply to push prostitution from one neighbourhood or city to another.
Law enforcement has always been able to do that quite easily. No, the goal is to diminish prostitution to the greatest extent possible. Republish this article. Originally published on Policy Options March 17, He was a national affairs columnist and an investigative features writer at the Ottawa Citizen, where his work won or was nominated for every major Canadian newspaper journalism prize.
