For example, Swedish sex workers are tormented by the threat of eviction, because, under current law, landlords are vulnerable to pimping charges if they collect money earned from selling sex. Pye Jakobsson, co-founder of the Rose Alliance, a Swedish sex workers organisation, says that of her groups nine board members, three have been thrown out of their homes. The issue here, however, is not Swedens main piece of prostitution legislation, the 1999 Sex Purchase Act, but a related law on pimping. Its entirely possible for that law to be amended so that it targets only those who are actually complicit in exploitation. A revised pimping law, says Jakobsson, wouldnt solve the broader problem of stigma, but it would make their day-to-day lives better.
Jakobsson, who also serves as president of the the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, says that one pernicious effect of stigma is the way its been used to strip sex workers of parental rights, since they are assumed to be incapable of making healthy decisions. In a notorious recent case, a Rose Alliance board member called Petite Jasmine lost custody of her two children to an ex-boyfriend with a history of violence. Then, last year, he murdered her during a supervised parental visit.
