The ugly face of Pretty Woman – 25 years on

Today, a partnership of State and NGOs in the Republic and Northern Ireland is launching “Prostitution – We Don’t Buy It”, the first all-island campaign asking men and boys to make a stand against prostitution and sex trafficking.

On any one day it is estimated that there are somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 women involved in prostitution on the island of Ireland. Many of these women are moved regularly at all hours of the day and night, across the Border, from brothel to brothel, apartment to apartment, from massage parlour to massage parlour. Some women don’t know where they are. They often don’t speak English. They are tightly controlled, by violence, by threats to their families or children, by debt bondage or sometimes through the use of traditional beliefs or voodoo.

But this campaign is about more than setting out the ugly, exploitative truth about prostitution and sex trafficking. It is the first Irish campaign to recognise strongly that most Irish men never buy sex. It is the first campaign to appeal to this quiet majority – to ask them to raise their voices, to say that we don’t buy sex and we don’t buy the lies that allow prostitution and sex trafficking to continue.

Tiny minority

For too long the voices of the tiny minority – the buyers and the extremely organised industry and criminal gangs who profit from women’s captivity – have commanded too much attention with their rationalisations that most women in prostitution are independent escorts, that it’s just a job like any other.

Even the word escort is a sanitisation – it's like women are just keeping men company whereas even a cursory look at the websites advertising prostitution leave one in no doubt that the reality is not so benign. There is perhaps an irony that this campaign is also being launched in the year that marks the 25th anniversary of Pretty Woman – the film that romanticised the image of prostitution.

Pretty Woman glamorises something that destroys lives. Prostitution is far from pretty. It is ugly. Prostitution is the context for most sex trafficking. They are two sides of the one coin. Sex trafficking is the use of deception, threats, force or other similar means to recruit, transport, hold or receive a person, with the intention of sexually exploiting them.

Trafficking is a horrible reality and Ruhama has supported hundreds of women and girls from all over the work who have found themselves isolated, afraid and violated here in Ireland. Given the often highly insidious tactic by which traffickers control their victims, it can be extremely difficult to know whether someone is trafficked in a brief encounter where they are being prostituted.

Most women and girls who become involved in prostitution did not choose it over some positive options that are available to them. They are drawn into it as a result of poverty, exploitation and huge adversities. They are victims of child abuse. They have grown up in state care. They have experienced domestic abuse, lived in extreme poverty, have insecure immigration status or poor health or may have substance abuse problems. These adversities make them easy prey for pimps and other controllers who are the ones making huge profits out of their vulnerabilities. Where’s the choice in that?

Real choice

The people who do exercise real choice, however, are the men who buy sex. The men who choose to buy sex fuel this exploitation, fuel this criminal enterprise and pour money into the hands of the pimps and traffickers who continue to prey upon young women.

The more men search online, browse websites, tell themselves that they are Richard Gere, that they have needs, that they are good punters, the more women the gangs will find, traffic and enslave.

In 1998 the sex trade went on line, which has made it even more controlled, more dangerous, more violent and much more accessible for buyers. This is why legislation across the island of Ireland to outlaw the purchase of sex while, critically, ensuring that the person in prostitution is not criminalised, is so important. Northern Ireland led the way with the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD, put forward the outline of new sexual offences legislation at the end of 2014, which also includes the provision to outlaw the purchase of sex entirely. With legislation on both sides of the Border either enacted or in development, now is the time to raise our voices, to say that we don’t buy sex and we don’t buy the lies. Because we all – men and women – need to speak up for those who are too controlled, too afraid, to speak for themselves.

Sarah Benson is chief executive of Ruhama, one of the all-island partners in The REACH Project. We Don’t Buy It is part of The REACH Project