ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses the political change in relation to the purchasing of sexual services, which has gone from being a contested arena to one of consensus among the political parties in Sweden. Arguably this consensus has been achieved because during the years since the legislation on sexual services was passed, prostitution has been subsumed under the issue of trafficking. The chapter traces the evolution of the Swedish sex purchase ban of 2000. The politicisation of male demand in prostitution seemed new at the time, but needs to be placed in a longer historical context to illustrate the roots of turning towards the demand side of prostitution. In contrast to earlier versions of abolitionism and neo-abolitionism up until the 1990s, where male power structures and prostitution were interconnected, the post-legislative debate had less of this. Although a gender equality perspective was present, it was less outspoken and prostitution was subsumed in the larger question of trafficking and human rights.