'There won’t be equality until women can’t be bought or sold' - calls to criminalise paying for sex in Scotland

Ruth Maguire MSP wants to see the criminality of prostitution shifted away from the women selling sex and onto the men paying for it

MSPs are to debate calls to shift the criminality of prostitution from the women selling sex and onto the men paying for it.

Should men in Scotland be criminalised for paying for sex?

That’s the question that will be put to MSPs on Thursday, amid calls for the criminality of prostitution to be shifted from the women selling sex, to the men paying for sex.

Currently soliciting and brothel-keeping are illegal in Scotland, but paying for sex or running a pimping website is not.

Ruth Maguire MSP says this should be changed, as Scotland cannot tackle violence against women and girls or hope to have true gender equality unless the laws on prostitution are reformed.

She is due to lead a debate on this in Holyrood, where she will say Scotland must join the growing number of countries worldwide who are taking action to combat commercial sexual exploitation by criminalising those paying for it.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Ms Maguire said: “All of the burden is on the women for selling sex.

“We have a situation in Scotland where our laws are out-of-step with policy - we recognise prostitution is a form of violence against women and girls, but there are no sanctions.

“I am not naive, changing the law will not eradicate it, but it will change behaviour.

“Most men who purchase sex are not doing it out in the open, it is something that is done under cover, so the threat of criminal sanctions will change behaviour.

“There won’t be equality until women can’t be bought or sold.”

She says the Scottish Government could learn from how other countries are tackling this issue, such as Sweden, France and some parts of the US.

One of the biggest problems the government needs to get on top of is pimping websites, which has led to prostitution being readily available on demand in all parts of Scotland.

Ms Maguire said: “You can go on, pop in your postcode, and you will see women for sale pretty much everywhere because the technology has made it possible for exploiters to easily advertise and move women from place to place.

“These women are offering all services with no contraception, and are available in different cities - this all points to the fact they are not doing this freely.”

The SNP backbencher added prostitution can be an easy subject to ignore, because it is “uncomfortable”.

She said: “I take the position that prostitution should be illegal, and others will say it should be legalised.

“But we all come from the same position that prostitution is not a safe profession.

“If we sit back and turn our face away from it, we could become a country that doesn’t tackle it properly.

“That could have an impact on the trafficking of women and we don’t want Scotland to become a safe haven for trafficking.”