Köpa samtycke? - Köp av sexuell tjänst och våldtäkt ur ett gemensamt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The debate regarding sexual violations and the right to sexual integrity and self-determination is a topic that engages both researchers and the public. Alongside this debate, there is a widespread commercial market that provides sexual services where the legislator and the judicature have been passive. This reluctance to change primarily refers to the crime's penal value, but also to the protective interests. In 2019, a man was convicted of negligent rape after buying sexual services from a woman who was a victim of human trafficking. The case was much discussed, and the issue of prostitutes' rights became relevant in the criminal debate. In this paper, I investigate the crime of purchase of sexual services and the crime of rape from a common perspective. This is made through an investigating of the underlying protective interests of these crimes, the requirement of consent in sexual crimes related to agreed sexual acts, and aggravating circumstances in prostitution. This thesis briefly examines how Sweden has chosen to criminalize purchases of sex. The focus in this part is on the crime of purchase of sexual services and the underlying protective interests. A similar investigation is carried out in relation to the crime of rape and the 2018th sexual crime reform, which entailed a strong marking for everyone’s right to sexual integrity and self-determination. This investigation is done with the aim of examining the common perspective of the purchase of sexual services and rape throughout the course of the essay. Regarding this part, I conclude that the crime of buying sexual services would provide a stronger protection for women's rights if it had been designed as a crime against individuals. Relevant to this part of the essay is also the feminist research and the empirical material that has contributed to the discussion about whether prostitutes are to be seen as victims or not. I present positions for both views and conclude that prostitutes are to be seen as victims for several reasons. To give concrete examples of how Swedish legislation and law enforcement on several levels can be considered to fail prostituted women, a few legal cases are presented. In this part, it is concluded that the application of the law regarding the purchase of sex should consider, to a greater extent, whether there was consent or not. If consent cannot be determined to have existed, I believe that the incident initially should be handled as rape. In summary, it is established that consent is a missing requisite in cases of sex purchases where the circumstance is assumed rather than investigated. In the thesis, a normative argument based on the presented material is made. The analysis leads to the conclusion that consent and sexual integrity should have greater importance for the application of the crime of purchase of sexual services.