The Politics of Prostitution: Women's Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce

Military Review, March-April, 2008 by Karen M. Thoms

THE POLITICS OF PROSTITUTION: Women's Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce, Ed. Joyce Outshoorn, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2004, 329 pages. $29.99.

While The Politics of Prostitution might seem an odd choice for review in a military journal, its selection reflects a growing awareness of the military's recent actions to combat prostitution, an initiative that is part of a larger fight against the dangerous international scourge of human trafficking. The Department of Defense has mandated education about human trafficking, and commanders have made establishments suspected of human trafficking activities off-limits to military personnel. Also, recognizing that service members--especially those stationed or deployed overseas--are an obvious market for sex traffickers, President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2005 to clarify that "patronizing a prostitute" is a violation of Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, in the Manual for Courts-Martial.

These new policies have been largely influenced by an understanding that prostitution has direct links to human trafficking. Along with arms and drug trafficking, human trafficking finances criminal organizations that support terrorism, the killing of Soldiers, and regional instability. So, to say nothing of social justice considerations, fighting human trafficking activities such as prostitution is a national security issue, one that is directly tied to the military's mission of fighting and winning our country's wars.

While The Politics of Prostitution does not discuss the U.S. military in particular, it does address human trafficking and its links to prostitution and prostitution policy. The book is a collection of studies by the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State (RNGS) that examine prostitution policy debates in a dozen Western democratic nations: Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Israel, Italy. the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

The RNGS characterizes approaches to prostitution policies as abolitionist (punish the johns but not the prostitutes), prohibitionist (punish everyone involved), or regulatory (subject prostitution services to state control). These competing approaches appear both within countries and across borders. Each of the book's chapters covers a different country: the authors give a clear and concise description of the main debates over prostitution policy in each country, and they identify the groups that helped craft the policy. The chapter on prostitution policy in Italy, for example, outlines the continued debates over the 1958 Merlin Law--debates generated largely by Catholic and feminist concerns (which are often at odds) and brought into public view because of increasing human trafficking activities in that country resulting from the breakup of the Soviet Union.

I recommend The Politics of Prostitution with two caveats. First, the book's social-scientific approach gives it not just an impartial tone, but a sterile one. You won't find any personal accounts or stories of those whom the prostitution policies affect most--that is, the prostitutes themselves. The stories of such women, when they become public, sometimes cause a public outcry resulting in changes to policy. Public awareness of the plight of trafficked Vv-omen in bars outside U.S. military bases in Korea, for example, forced people to examine prostitution more closely and recognize its connection to human trafficking and terrorism--and these discoveries led to policy action.

Second, the volume claims to examine the success or failure of women's movements at influencing prostitution policy. However, the researchers narrow their focus to such a degree that the hypotheses they seek to prove seem fairly obvious. "Women's movements in democratic states," the argument goes, "have tended to be more successful where women's policy agencies have acted as insiders in the policymaking process." But surely, most people would already accept that in order to influence policy, you must have a seat at the table.

What the book does, it does well, but--as an academic work of social science--its arguments are limited. Although The Politics of Prostitution provides a good foundation for examining prostitution policy, the topic certainly merits further discussion well outside small academic circles. Here's hoping the book inspires further thought about the philosophical ideas, religious beliefs, and practical considerations that underlie prostitution policies, additional evaluation of the consequences and effectiveness of particular policies, and more research about prostitution policies in nondemocratic states, not just democratic ones.

Overall, The Politics of Prostitution is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the prostitution debate or policy-making in general. It provides the reader with the basic policy positions. moreover, it explains who holds these positions, how policies differ in democratic states, and which groups have had an influence on creating those policies.