When men buy sex from women is society’s reaction is strong. Women receive support and the men, cod, sentenced to imprisonment or fines. However, the extensive trade in which men selling sex is surrounded with a strong tystnadskultur. Anyway, there are more young men than women prostitution, according to several studies.
the Researcher Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda has for more than ten years immersed themselves around the male sex trade. She has, among examined how the perception among politicians and the authorities shifted during the greater part of the 1900s to the present day.
– Those who talk about prostitution in the day, the aim is almost always on the female victims abused by men. All other forms of prostitution neglected in the debate, ” says Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda.
the phd thesis ”Crime or passion?”, Gothenburg university, she discovered a distinct tystnadskultur about the male sex trade. Interviews with police officers and social workers strengthened the image.
Read more: ”All who sell sex need more support and help”
– In the 1970s was the perception of prostitution is an important symbolfråga in the fight for women’s emancipation and greater gender equality. The men were seen as the perpetrators, while the women were exploited victims.
– this approach meant that the male sex trade, that is to say that men, too, can sell six, ended up sidelined and not seen as a problem at all.
When the men buying and selling sex among themselves are portrayed often as a part of the gaykulturen. Male sex trade are considered to belong to the male form of homosexuality and is free from conflict.
Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda says that if we continue to argue that the sex trade is just about the oppression of women, we run the risk of excluding groups that may also be in need of information, support and help.
– When the men buying and selling sex among themselves are portrayed often as a part of the gaykulturen. Male sex trade are considered to belong to the male form of homosexuality and is free from conflict. Heterosexual sex trade, where men buy sexual services of women, is seen as a serious social problem.
selling and buying sex among themselves causes problems in the debate for many, underlines the Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda. She points out that so-called radical feminists happy that men use their superior position of power when they take advantage of prostituted women.
” But it will be difficult to use such an analysis in the male sex trade. Then it’s a deal between the two men which, according to the definition both of which are in a senior position. At the same time, missed the other models when the sex trade and its causes are discussed, such as ethnicity, class and religion.
In his doctoral thesis, Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda reviewed the state investigations and other publications from the authorities to get a picture of if, and how, the perception of the male sex trade changed. She has also studied the media in opinion-forming magazines. Her thesis ranging from 1944, when homosexual activity was decriminalized, up to 2016.
” A remarkable observation is that it seems to be quieter in the day if the male of the sex trade than in the 1930s and 1940s. It evokes no particular feelings of outrage or concern. The difference in the perception of women’s sex trade is obvious, ” says Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda.
with the thesis, the interviewed social workers and police officers linked to the together the male prostitution of sexuality. They saw it as a part of the to come out as gay and exploring their sexual identity.
– The connection is not when it comes to the female sex trade. I would like to chip in that it may have happened quite a lot during the most recent time in the perception of male sex trade. Attitudes may have changed somewhat, but there is nothing that I studied.
When the government as late as 2010, it assessed the sex trade mentioned male sex trafficking, and prostitution in which transgender persons are involved in more than twenty rows in the nearly 300 pages thick report.
– Since the sex purchase law was introduced in 1999, has barely a thousand men been convicted – of which very few, after having bought six of the men. It is a clear sign of how we look at the male sex trade.
Annelie de Cabo Y Moredas thesis is that the perception of the male sex trade before the second world war had a clear klassprägel, ” she says.
– the Focus was directed mainly against the young, the poor and the heterosexual men who sold sexual services to other men. It was a group that was considered asocial, unlike the buyers that were ”true” homosexuals, and came from the middle class. The latter were treated with less repressive means, said Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s affected the spread of hiv and aids society’s values. The disease was scary and was linked to an abnormal and immoral behavior.
– The smittrisk and the spread of infection, which was associated with heterosexual was represented in the essence of the young prostitute heroin addict. In comparison to the attention the male sex trade in the far less extent.
male homosexual relations in general and the places that men had sex in. It is shown, for example, in the preparatory work to the so-called bastulagen, which involved a ban on so-called bastuklubbar and similar gatherings.
the purpose of the Act was to prevent an hiv epidemic among men who have sexual intercourse with men. It entered into force on 1 July 1987 and repealed July 1, 2004, in connection with an audit of the communicable diseases act.
Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda, the picture to the left, and the Madeleine Söderberg. Photo: Private
Utvecklingsledaren Madeleine Söderberg has worked at the county administrative board in Jönköping county. There she was, among other things, to identify the regional sex trade. The survey showed among other things a great lack of knowledge among police officers, social workers and health professionals around the men who sell sexual services.
” We have the picture of it is just about ”women in heels” who sell sex. The norm regarding who sells sexual services is so strong that the male sex trade will be nonetheless rendered partially invisible or not seen as a problem, ” says Madeleine Söderberg.
men of sex in a different way than women, and in other places. Police looking for not actively seeking men who are involved in the sex trade in the same way as in the case of women.
the Young boys, men and transgender people often sell sex in different open forums, often with the encoded message, such as ”young man seeking contact with the older man for coffee and conversation”. It is because the servers are Swedish, and thus subject to sex trade, which means that it is forbidden to pay for sexual services.
– the Actual purchase is then carried out often in public places, unlike the female sex trade. It can be about the parks, picnic areas, restrooms, etc. But on such places is also sex that is voluntary from both parties.
– It is often lgbtq people, but also heterosexual guys selling sex. Many, although it applies to far from all, have a self-destructive behaviour. Several that I have met have been the victim of sexual abuse or violence in the family, they have also been victims of bullying in the school.
If an unaccompanied young guy suddenly getting a lot of money linked it immediately to the he become a criminal, no one thinks that he may have sold six.
An important difference between the male and female sex trafficking is that young men are often openly offer unprotected sex, it can also be about sex with more or less violent elements.
Madeleine Söderberg tells us that men who sell sex have been difficult to get support and help. She and her colleague at the county administrative board in Jönköping, sweden therefore took up a training program to increase the knowledge of those who in their profession come into contact with this group.
– It is about norms around sex, sexuality and prostitution. There is often misinterpretation. A small example: If an unaccompanied young guy suddenly getting a lot of money linked it immediately to the he become a criminal, no one thinks that he may have sold six.
– For a young woman in the same situation, it is easy to draw the conclusion that she should sell sexual services.
Annelie de Cabo Y Moreda works as a teacher in social work at the university of Gothenburg. Her dissertation is titled ”Crime or passion?”. Madeleine Söderberg is currently working on Authority for youth and civilsamhällesfrågor.
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