Sex Workers Are the Experts of Their Own Experiences

Abstract: In this thesis, a participatory approach was used to privilege the opinions of sex workers regarding the effects of the Swedish prostitution policy. Since 1999, Sweden has criminalized only the purchase of sex, thus, this research studied the impact on sex workers, who are seen as victims by the law. The debate on the matter is extremely polarized, therefore, sex workers have been of fundamental help to unpack, examine and evaluate the feminist abolitionist discourse and the Swedish model. Their experiences and assessments were collected through interviews, informal talks, and participant observation and were then analyzed through a thematic analysis. This study highlighted the negative consequences that the Neo-Abolitionist approach has caused, by showing that sex workers are de facto criminalized. The law produces detrimental effects on their living and working conditions exacerbating harm. In short, Sweden fails to protect and support sex workers therefore new solutions are needed to guarantee the full realization of their human rights, including labor rights.