Copenhagen: 16 June 2008

Years ago, when Dorit Otzen asked Danish politicians about the problem of prostitution, their answer was:

”Not in our country!” Her response:

”You are dreaming!”

Dorit Otzen is the Director of ”Reden,” (”the nest”) a refuge for prostitutes in Vesterbro, the red light district of Copenhagen. We made a visit to their shelter, which provides refuge, food, counseling, medical care, and other services to hundreds of prostitutes in the area. According to Otzen, there are at least 5,500 prostitutes in Denmark although this number is probably much higher. Only 8 to 10 percent of these women are on the street; the rest are call girls or working out of a brothel.

A survey five years ago reported that 14% of Danish males had paid for sex, but Otzen suspects it is a larger phenomenon. Otzen made a very strong case against prostitution; her main argument was that power differentials across gender and socioeconomic status made prostitution, contrary to popular belife, not a free choice for the women involved. Despite the image of the ”happy hooker”, from her experience this is largely a myth. A third of these prostitutes are trafficked across the border from Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and other developing countries. Many prostitutes, foreign and Danish, are caught in a cycle of drug abuse, and debt, and find it difficult to transition to other professions.

Asked what can be done about this, she suggested two things:

First, there should be a public debate about the problems regarding prostitution. But most importantly, she argues for the criminalization of the customer. Since 1999 prostitution has been decriminalized in Denmark but throughout Scandinavia, there has been a movement to criminalize the customer. She believes that Denmark should follow suit. A change in law would lead to a change in social norms, diminishing demand for prostitution.

We left the presentation largely convinced by her arguments, but also in a bit of a dilemma. We were aware of the arguments opposing criminalization, including the opinion that this would lead to pushing prostitution underground, where women might be at higher risk of violence. Over lunch, we split up into groups and discussed all of these hot button issues raised by the presentation, including the so-called ”right” to sex, especially among the disabled.

In the afternoon, we paid a visit to the Women´s Council of Denmark and spoke with Randi Theil Nielsen, Head of Secretariat, and Kurda Yar-Ahmad, a social worker with their hotline for Ethnic minority women. Topics up for discussion were women in the labor market (equal pay for equal work and equal maternity/paternity leave for the men and women), violence against women, prostitution and trafficking, and the integration of women with minority background. The issue of maternity/paternity leave struck an especially strong chord with us. In the U.S. this topic has been raised in a minnor way, but in Denmark, it is on the forefront of the gender equality agenda. We were surprised to learn that this is the first time HIA DK has had women’s rights on the programme. But the topic seems to have sparked some of the most intense debates among the fellows thus far. We hope this topic continues to stimulate the interest of HiA fellows.