street prostitution in Denmark

The reason why I have devoted a whole page to street prostitution in Denmark is because a claim was made in the official Swedish review of the Nordic model. The claim is that although street prostitution decreased in Sweden by about half, in Denmark and Norway there was a big increase in street prostitution. There would probably have been the same big increase in Sweden were it not for the Nordic model. They believe that the Nordic model stopped Sweden from having a big increase in street prostitution.

The Nordic model began in Sweden in 1999. It punishes men who pay for sex. The intention is to reduce demand. Denmark has not introduced similar laws. Norway introduced a similar law in 2009. In 2010 there was the review of the Nordic model in Sweden by Anna Skarhed. It is called The Ban against the Purchase of Sexual Services. An Evaluation 1999–2008 [Förbud mot köp av sexuell tjänst. En utvärdering 1999–2008 (SOU 2010:49)].

This review makes no claim that there has been a reduction in demand*. Most of the claims made in it are quite weak. The strongest claim is that street prostitution increased in Denmark and Norway while decreasing in Sweden.

This is what Julie Bindel wrote in the Guardian in 2010.

"However, today's report, a comprehensive evaluation of the Swedish law, conducted by an independent commission appointed by the government, and led by the chancellor of justice (the highest legal officer in Sweden) shows that legislation criminalising demand has been a resounding success. The evaluation concludes that, since the law came in to force in 1999, the number of women involved in street prostitution has halved, whereas neighbouring countries such as Denmark and Norway have seen a sharp rise; that there is no evidence of an increase in off-street prostitution; and that, despite a significant increase in prostitution in the neighbouring countries during the past 10 years, there is no evidence of a similar increase in Sweden."

I can answer each of these points but let's start with the claim that 'Denmark and Norway have seen a sharp rise'. This is definitely false for Denmark. I don't know what has been happening in Norway, but even if there was an increase in Norway but not in Denmark that would still discredit the claim. The claim that the Nordic model is necessary to stop an increase in street prostitution. Also, we have to know what happened in that other neighbour, Finland.

This page by Laura Agustín explains where they went wrong.

"Swedish report based on wrong numbers for Denmark: Now Reden (Danish NGO) must tell the truth

It is on the basis of wrong numbers that the Swedish report concludes that there has been a high increase in the number of sexworkers in the streets in Denmark. The wrong numbers come from Reden in Copenhagen, who now must come forward and correct their misinformation, which they over a number of years have reported to the public.

In the official statistics the number of visitors to Reden has been made equal with the number of sexworkers working on the street. But Reden has misreported how many visitors they have in order to create a picture of Denmark as ‘The Brothel of The Nordic countries’ – next to the Swedish paradise. Reden’s misinformation is documented in a number of answers to Parliament from former Social Minister Karen Ellemann, and this is the background for, why SFI (a national social research institution) has now been asked to start over with a completely new counting.

Reden has claimed that there are more than 1200 sexworkers in the streets of Copenhagen. Estimates from the police and Reden International suggest that the number is only around 200. In Århus og Odense (2nd- and 3rd-largest cities in Denmark) there has been a continuous fall in the number of sexworkers in the streets over the latest decades and the same is most likely the case in Copenhagen (where Reden reports from).

Thus the Swedes cannot conclude their law has had any effect in limiting the number of sexworkers."

So it looks as if there was a fall in the number of street sex workers. There is a Swedish government report from 1995 (SOU 1995:15) that says that street prostitution had been decreasing in Sweden too. So they cannot claim that it is the Nordic model that caused a decrease after 1999.

"These figures mean that the sex trade in Sweden after a decline in the 1980s and early 1990s, it is now increasing again. The number of women in street prostitution has decreased, but instead indoor prostitution, where buyers and sellers are usually contacted via advertisement, can be assumed to be more extensive than before, especially in the case of massage parlors and similar businesses." SOU 1995:15

Bo Jensen is a Danish researcher and has this to say on this page.

"Sex work is not rapidly growing in Denmark; there was dramatic growth in the industry from 1970 to 2000, but after 2000 there was stagnation, then a drop after 2007 due to the financial crisis."

It looks as if there are few street sex workers in Denmark today. Maybe fewer than in Sweden. A 2021 report from Sweden said 'Stockholm has seen an increase in the number of people who have been identified in street prostitution'. Stockholm seems to be different from the two other main cities in Sweden, Gothenburg and Malmö. In a 2007 report it stated that two thirds of street prostitution had returned since the beginning of the ban in 1999.

"Local authorities estimate that there are probably around 3200 to 5500 prostitutes in Denmark. The vast majority of these are found in Copenhagen. In recent years, it is less common too to find prostitutes on the streets of the city. That’s because the vast majority advertise their services now online to secure business." from here

If there are so few now, that shows we don't need the Nordic model, even if you are foolish enough to believe that there was an increase in the first decade of the 21st century.

What happened in Finland? The report does have something to say about Finland. In 2003 Finland banned street prostitution. It had already disappeared by that time though. Seems like the Finns had more success with their laws than the Swedes. And without criminalising men who pay for sex.

It's actually quite easy to get rid of street prostitution. Or at least the sort of red light district where women seek clients on the street or in a park. In London there used to be RLDs. Argyle Square in the 1980s. Tooting Bec Common in the 2000s. Soho had street prostitutes up till 1959. They no longer exist, although women might still be going there at 2 am instead of 2 pm like they used to. Also street prostitution can continue even without a RLD, in a more dispersed form. If Stockholm still has a RLD, that does not compare well with London, and there is nothing for them to be proud about. Helsinki has achieved it.

The proponents of the Nordic model cannot claim that street prostitution reduced in Sweden because of the Nordic model. It was already decreasing before 1999, as the 1995 report shows. They cannot claim that it would have increased in Sweden were it not for the Nordic model. It did not increase in Denmark (or Finland). I don't know what was happening in Norway.

What about the other claims? There is no evidence of an increase in off-street prostitution? The fact is that they don't know what the hell is going on in Sweden. Just because they can't find evidence doesn't mean that it's not happening. Actually, the Skarhed report does contain evidence:-

"There are data from the prostitution groups and other sources that people involved in street prostitution have turned to the Internet as a new or alternative method of contact. However, it is unknown how many previous street prostitutes this may apply to; at the same time, some information suggests that the criminalization of sex purchases led many street prostitutes to abandon those activities [which activities?] for one reason or another." page 21

Julie Bindel also claims that there has been 'a significant increase in prostitution in the neighbouring countries during the past 10 years'. On page 49 of the Skarhed report (section 5.4.6) it begins by saying that it is difficult to compare Nordic countries in terms of overall prostitution. It goes on to say that in Norway the estimate increased between 2001 and 2008, but not significantly (it actually goes up and down: in 2007 it was lower than in 2001). It says that in Denmark between 2003 and 2008 there was a big increase. However, this is contradicted by Bo Jensen (see above). It says nothing about Finland.

Right at the end of this section it says this:-

"In Sweden, the total number of persons in prostitution in the 1980s and 1990s was presumed to be between 2,000 and 3,000 per year. Subsequently, more precise studies of prostitution’s overall scope have not been carried out (see section 4.3.11). Even if arriving at an estimate of the scope of all forms of prostitution in Sweden seems very problematic, there is no support for the hypothesis that prostitution has increased to the same degree as it has in Norway and Denmark."

So it is not claiming there has been a reduction in Sweden, just that it can't have risen as much as in Norway and Denmark. Yet we see the evidence for the rise in Norway and Denmark is poor. And there is nothing about the enormous increase in Sweden of Thai massage establishments, where sex is available.

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*In a roundabout way the review does claim that prostitution overall has decreased in Sweden. The thinking goes like this. We know that street prostitution has decreased in Sweden. We know that there is more Internet advertising for prostitution in Sweden. It seems that there has been an even bigger increase in Internet advertising in Denmark and Norway. Therefore not all the street prostitutes who are no longer street prostitutes are now working indoors and advertising online. That indicates that there has been a drop in the total number of prostitutes in Sweden.

"In the last five years, Internet prostitution has increased in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. However, the scale of this form of prostitution is more extensive in our neighboring countries [what about Finland?], and there is nothing to indicate that a greater increase in prostitution over the Internet has occurred in Sweden than in these comparable countries. This indicates that the ban has not led to street prostitution in Sweden shifting arenas to the Internet. In light of this it should be possible to conclude that the halving of street prostitution that took place in Sweden represents a real reduction in prostitution here, and that this reduction is also mainly a result of the criminalisation of sex purchases [no, street prostitution was already reducing even before 1995]." page 8

"There is nothing to indicate that Internet-based prostitution has increased more in Sweden than in these comparable countries. This contradicts the idea that street prostitution has simply changed arenas to the Internet. With this in mind, it seems reasonable to conclude that the 50 percent decrease in street prostitution that has occurred is a real reduction of prostitution in Sweden, and that this reduction is probably primarily an effect of the criminalization of sex purchases." page 27 and 28

I think we can see that there is a flaw in this argument. The fact (if it is a fact) that online advertising has increased more in Denmark and Norway is irrelevant to the argument. You could say that the increase in Sweden is low and therefore unable to make up for the decrease in street prostitution: there isn't enough indoor work to occupy all of the former street sex workers. You don't know that though, it's just guessing. It might be lower than Denmark or Norway (or it might not) but that doesn't mean it is negligible.

Also we know they are not very good at quantifying the number of street prostitutes. We saw that in Denmark. In a country where prostitution attracts the attention of the police, it makes sense to make do with fewer adverts. A prostitute in Sweden might have one advert and a prostitute in Denmark might have ten. They are again ignoring what has happened in Finland.

And there is nothing about the proportion of Swedish sex workers who are or were street based sex workers. If street based sex workers were only 15% of all sex workers then the reduction in street sex work only decreases the total amount of sex work by a small amount, even if all of that half stop sex work.

The main thing though is that they have not taken into account the statistics that show an increase. The increase in the proportion of Swedish men who pay for sex, from 1.3% in 1996 to 1.8% in 2008. The increase in the proportion of Swedish women who have been paid for sex at some time in their life from 0.3% in 1996 to 1.1% in 2008. see here

It is possible that Anna Skarhed didn't have this information at the time of the review, but she is sticking with the old statistics and distorting them. see here