Handel eller vandel? En diskursanalytisk problematisering av den svenska människohandelsregleringen

Sammanfattning: The Swedish legislature has decided that sex trafficking is a cynical and lucrative enterprise where vulnerable women and children from poorer countries are ruthlessly exploited. Sex trafficking strips the individual of the chance to enjoy even the most fundamental rights, such as freedom and the right to life. While under the influence of the perpetrator, the victims of sex trafficking are transformed from a subject to an object by being denied the opportunity to make autonomous choices. Sex trafficking is an offense by Swedish legal standards. The Swedish criminal code stipulates that for it to be classified as sex trafficking by Swedish law, the victim must be exposed to an illegal measure as a means to being exploited. The requirement of an illegal measure has been interpreted by the courts with a high standard, putting of emphasis on the perpetrator’s actual control over the victim. The victim should, according to the courts assessments, not have had any other acceptable choice but to obey. Buying the right to a woman’s body has been declared by the Swedish government as an expression for a structural inequality that should be opposed on a societal level and the purchase of sexual services was prohibited in 1999. The thought of prostitution as an expression of gender oppression is based on radical feminist arguments, with the opinion that no woman would ever sell sex voluntarily, and that the purchase of sexual services constitutes a form of assault. The ban on purchasing sexual services has not been uncontroversial— the subject of prostitution is still under discussion between different major feminist theorists. Whether one is for or against prostitution depends on whether one regards the prostitute as a victim or an autonomous subject. The various controversies create a diverse understanding of prostitution as a phenomenon and in accordance with social constructivist theories, these ideas will affect the public’s perception of the prostitute. The manner in which a certain subject is discussed is, according to social constructivist theories, essential for the way the subject is regarded by the general opinion. Discourses are created through the common language and are considered to be constructed as well as reconstructive. The constructive function is a base for this thesis analysis of the way different texts construct the victims of sex trafficking. The main focus rests upon the relation between the victim discourse as constructed in official documents and case law, where the victim more often is described as a prostitute rather than someone being exploited. The question of how the existing prostitution discourses influence the court’s understanding of the victims of sex trafficking is also a part of this thesis analysis. The outset for this thesis is that sex trafficking isn’t about selling sex, as is implied by the concept of prostitution, but rather how one person gives himself the right to sell another person to a third party. There is no agreement between the victim and the buyer, which makes the usage of language in a manner that presupposes some kind of agreement between two autonomous parties inappropriate for describing the practice of sex trafficking. This thesis reaches the conclusion that the official documents create an image of the victim as objectified and without choice while the courts, by focusing on the woman's choices, construct the victim as an independent subject with the power often making decisions and undertaking actions. There is a clear discrepancy between the victim in official documents and in practice where the courts often come to the conclusion that the perpetrator’s power over the victim has not been of such magnitude that the practice constitutes sex trafficking, and pass judgment for procuring instead.