FAIR GAME

A survey of the violence experienced by

women working as prostitutes

By Ulla Bjrndahl and Bjrg Norli

Oslo, 2008

OSLO KOMMUNE

You are not human until you feel someone elses pain
The Buddha
The publication of this report in English is sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of
Justice and the Police
English translation: Sprkverkstaden AS

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Contents
Foreword new survey on violence
Summary

p. 4
p. 5

1. Introduction
1.1. Different forms of violence
1.2. Cultural understandings of violence
1.3. How does it feel to be the victim of violence?
1.4. Background to the survey: the current prostitution market
1.5. An increasing focus on prostitution and human trafficking
1.6. Criminalising the purchase of sex
1.7. Reports on the prevalence of violence against prostitutes
1.8. Reports on the prevalence of violence in society
1.9. Main findings of Pro Sentrets 2008 survey of violence
2. Methodology
2.1. Choice of approach
2.2. Sample and representativeness
2.3. Implementation
2.4. Important terms
2.5. Challenges associated with interpreting the questionnaires
2.6. Under-reporting
2.7. Ethical considerations
2.8. Analysis
3. Because unfortunately a lot of men consider us fair game
3.1. What the women are most afraid of
3.2. Prostitution-related violence experienced by the women
3.3. Prostitution-related violence over the past year
3.4. Which factors make prostitutes particularly vulnerable to violence?
3.5. The womens experiences of non-prostitution-related violence
3.6. Which factors make women who have worked as prostitutes
particularly vulnerable to non-prostitution-related violence?
4. Living a normal life in Estonia can be more dangerous than
selling sex in Oslo
4.1. Do women who have worked as prostitutes suffer more violence
than women who have not worked as prostitutes?
4.2. Prevalence of violence against women who have and have not
worked as prostitutes
4.3. Violence part of the job?
4.4. Attitudes versus experiences
5. Consequences of criminalisation
5.1. The risk of violence will change
5.2. The risk of violence will not change
5.3. What does Pro Sentret believe?
6. Conclusion

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p. 34

Appendix Questionnaire
References

p. 55
p. 63
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New survey on violence

Yes, women working as prostitutes are more likely to be the victims of violence than
women in general. 72% of the women who responded to this survey reported having
suffered violence, threats or harassment, both within and outside prostitution. This is
over twice as high as the figure for women in Oslo in general.
Over the past few years, the Norwegian prostitution market has undergone some
radical changes: ever increasing numbers of migrant prostitutes have arrived,
particularly from Africa and Eastern Europe; prostitution has spread into new regions;
organised criminals have expanded their influence; competition has grown; and
mobility has increased. This changing and rapidly adapting market means that we
have to constantly update our knowledge, so that we can provide effective and
adequate help to the women selling sex.
This survey on violence is an attempt to obtain more accurate information about the
prevalence of violence against women involved in prostitution, so that suitable
preventive measures can be implemented now, but also to prevent the situation from
deteriorating from 2009 onwards, when Norway will introduce a new law criminalising
the purchase of sexual services.
The purpose of the new law is naturally to limit or eliminate the market. Although
some women will take this opportunity to leave prostitution behind, we must be alert
to the risk of life getting worse for the ones who, for whatever reason, cannot, or do
not want to, leave prostitution. Our task is to assist and help these women,
regardless of what the laws and regulations are. In order to do so, we must mobilise
all of the good, compassionate forces in society in a joint effort to include rather than
marginalise them. We must do our bit to ensure that the women who remain in
prostitution do not become FAIR GAME.

Liv Jessen
Director

Special thanks go to all of the women who shared their experiences with
us.

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Summary
This is a report on the violence, threats and harassment faced by women working as
prostitutes. The respondents to the survey were women who were in touch with one
or more of the welfare service providers for women who have worked as prostitutes
in Oslo.
The main findings of the survey show that many of the respondents have
experienced violence. Two thirds of the women stated that they had experienced
violence, threats and harassment within or outside prostitution.
Half of the respondents reported suffering prostitution-related violence, whilst half
also stated that they had experienced non-prostitution-related violence. Over a third
of respondents had experienced prostitution-related violence in the past year.
One important finding is that the women had experienced more non-prostitutionrelated than prostitution-related violence.
The violence suffered by the women can be described as serious, and in many cases
very serious. Where the violence was prostitution-related, the perpetrator was
generally a new client or another stranger. In the case of respondents who had
suffered non-prostitution-related violence, the perpetrator was generally their partner,
but in some cases an acquaintance or stranger.
The women who reported most violence were the ones who stated that they were
addicted to drugs or alcohol.
It is important to note that this survey shows the prevalence of violence against
women who have worked as prostitutes. These women experience significantly more
violent episodes than the general population. However, violent episodes are not part
of their everyday experience as prostitutes. If you look at the number of client
contacts (e.g. five a day, five days a week) relative to the number of violent episodes
(between one and three over the time that they have worked as a prostitute), violence
is very much the exception and not the rule when selling sex. Nevertheless, many
women working as prostitutes are probably constantly in fear of violence.
This report only presents some of the findings of the survey. In the long run, Pro
Sentret would like to publish further reports based on the remaining material, which is
both comprehensive and wide-ranging. Areas to look at would include the national
and cultural variations in the responses.

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Introduction

There is no universal definition of violence. The way in which the term is used has
changed over time. Many of the things that are considered violence today, were
described in other terms only a few decades ago. From originally referring almost
entirely to aggressive acts, violence has increasingly become defined in terms of its
impacts (Hjemdal, Pape and Stefansen 2004:10).
In modern society, violence is a frequently used term. Most people have an opinion
on what they consider to be violence. It is usually associated with physical acts such
as hitting and kicking. Isdal (2000:36) argues that our concept of violence must be
extended beyond the purely physical, and defines violence as follows: Violence is
any action which involves hurting, injuring, frightening or humiliating another person
into doing something against his or her will, or into stopping doing something that he
or she wants to do.
Subjectively experienced humiliations will not always be considered violence by
society. Hjemdal, Pape and Stefansen (2004:11) argue that violence should be
defined as illegitimate interference with another persons self. This takes into
account both a subjective definition and external, normative assessments of the
illegitimacy of the violence.
In our survey we chose to specify what we counted as violence, threats and
harassment, by listing a number of specific actions:
Threats/ coercion
Held down
Punched
Pinched
Slapped
Hair pulled
Threatened with a weapon Strangled/ choked
Robbed/ attempted robbed Burnt
Threatened/ forced into having sex

Pushed
Thrown out of a car
Bitten
Raped
Sexually assaulted

Locked up
Kicked
Scratched
Spat on
Called names

Respondents were able to state whether there were any other things not on the list
that they considered to be violence, as well as if there were any things listed that they
did not consider to be violence1.

1.1 Different forms of violence

Isdal (200:43-67) splits the various kinds of violence that he mentions in his definition
of violence into five sub-groups:

For a more detailed description of what the respondents defined, and did no define, as violence, see Chapter 2
Methodology.

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Physical violence, which involves exercising physical power in such a way as

to hurt, injure, frighten or humiliate another person into doing something
against his or her will, or into stopping doing something that he or she wants to
do. He argues that physical violence must be considered the most
fundamental form of violence, as it is something that affects our physical
existence in the sense that we may genuinely fear our own destruction and
death. Physical violence will often support other forms of violence, and help to
amplify their impact.

Sexual violence, which is any action directed at another persons sexuality,

and involves hurting, injuring, frightening or humiliating another person into
doing something against his or her will, or into stopping doing something that
he or she wants to do. He claims that sexual violence can be the most
psychologically destructive form of violence, because it impacts our most
private and vulnerable side.

Material violence, which is any action directed at a thing or object that

frightens or humiliates another person into doing something against his or her
will, or into stopping doing something that he or she wants to do. He points out
that material violence can be very frightening and humiliating, particularly in
cases where the person has previously exercised physical violence.

Psychological violence, which includes all ways of hurting, frightening or

humiliating that are not directly physical in nature, or ways of controlling or
dominating someone else using implicit power or threats. He splits
psychological violence into seven sub-groups: direct threats, indirect threats,
degrading and humiliating behaviour, control, threatening jealousy, isolation
and emotional violence.

Latent violence is violence that works simply through its possibility. He uses
the following example to explain what he means: latent violence is what
prevents thousands of women in Oslo from going out at night, simply because
there have been a large number of rapes recently.

Violence unfolds in a range of situations. In Isdals therapeutic treatment of violent

behaviour, he chooses to split problems with violent behaviour into four categories
(Isdal 2000:199-208):

Situational violence, which takes place when the perpetrator feels powerless
in a situation, and is closely linked to an experience of not being in control, or
feeling threatened or ignored. The main problem in the case of situational
violence is that the perpetrator cannot cope with not controlling a situation
without having to do something about it. The main purpose of situational
violence is to regain control over the situation, or to find a way out of a
situation in which the perpetrator feels trapped. This type of violent reaction
can occur in all types of situations.

Relationship violence, which takes place in close relationships or systems of

power. In general it is exercised by someone who is stronger or more powerful
against someone who is weaker or less powerful (e.g. domestic abuse and
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child abuse). The perpetrators of this type of violence do not normally show
any signs of violent behaviour in other aspects of their life. The purpose of this
type of violence may be to control someone within a relationship, to maintain
and reinforce power over them and to affirm self-worth.

Functional violence, which is used to obtain benefits or to avoid punishment.

This kind of violence may be used to gain recognition, interdependence,
position, respect, money or status, or to avoid humiliation, loss of face or loss
of position. Perpetrators of functional violence feel inadequate at a personal,
financial or social level, or feel that their situation in life prevents them from
realising themselves. By exercising violence they gain respect, a sense of
identity and a purpose in life, and violence gets used to obtain them what they
need and make them feel that they belong.

Post-traumatic violence, which is directly related to serious past traumas,

and arises when something activates past traumatic experiences. Fear of
death and panic may be amongst the feelings felt prior to the violent act being
committed. In comparison with other types of violence, post-traumatic violence
is much less controlled by the perpetrator.

1.2 Cultural understandings of violence

There are large variations in attitudes towards the use of violence between different
cultures. Whether an action is considered legitimate or not varies between different
groups of the population. Some communities are clearly more violence-tolerant than
others, and there is probably a strong gender element to peoples normative views on
violence (Hjemdal, Pape and Stefansen 2004:11). Isdal (2000:79) argues that power
imbalances and major differences between the rights and opportunities of men and
women promote violence, whilst equal opportunities, fairness and gender equality
reduce violence.
The exact balance of power between sellers and buyers has always varied slightly
between different prostitution markets, but it is nevertheless fair to say that
prostitution involves the kind of relationships that according to Isdal promote violence:
power imbalances and big differences between the rights and opportunities of men
and women. It is primarily men who buy sex and women who sell it. Women who
work as prostitutes are highly stigmatised and marginalised by society. Some of the
Norwegian women who sell sexual services are addicted to drugs or alcohol, have
low educational levels, little work experience and are dependent on a high income.
Most of the foreign women come from poor countries, have few or no rights in
Norway, are in debt to facilitators and are providing for families in their home
countries. The men who buy sex are mainly completely normal men who are quite
well off (in comparison to the women they buy sex from), and who live in the world's
richest country with a very extensive welfare system. They are the invisible party to
prostitution, and are therefore not as marginalised as the women.
Our survey reflects the fact that there are different cultural understandings of
violence. When the answers were collated, they were translated from Russian, Thai

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and Bulgarian by cultural mediators/ employees from Nadheim2, PION3 and Pro
Sentret. When we got to the part of the survey dealing with non-prostitution-related
violence, we asked them whether they thought there was an element of
underreporting. There was agreement that many of the things that we in Norway
define as violence in the family, nursery school or school are considered a natural
part of upbringing in the home countries of many of the women. Many have no doubt
been slapped or smacked during their childhood, but dont consider it violence. Our
Nigerian cultural mediator confirmed that this would be normal in Nigeria. The figures
also reveal that few of the respondents from Eastern Europe, Thailand and Nigeria
reported non-prostitution-related violence in comparison to the Norwegian/ Danish
ones. We cannot be sure whether this reflects underreporting by some of the foreign
women. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that most of them have not reported
violent incidents (such as the options held down or slapped) in their childhood,
even if in our (Norwegian) interpretation they have suffered them.

1.3 How does it feel to be the victim of violence?

Being the victim of violence is inherently a disempowering experience, as you are
subjected to something that you do not wish to be subjected to (Isdal 2000). It is
normal for the victim of the violence to consider it worse, e.g. more violent or
frightening, than the perpetrator does. This is firstly because the victim actually feels
the impact of the violence, and secondly because he or she experiences fear. The
perpetrator, on the other hand, does not feel pain and alarm to the same extent as
the victim; he or she is more likely to feel aggression than fear. If you are frightened,
you feel small, and your experience is coloured by that fact (Isdal 2000:145). When
you exercise anger through violence, on the other hand, you feel big and strong.
Furthermore, the victim of the violence will often experience an emotional reaction
after the violent incident, whereas the perpetrator achieves emotional release
through the act of violence itself. This means that the violence has a different
timeframe and reach for the victim than it has for the perpetrator (Isdal 2000).
In principle, violence has the potential to be a traumatic experience. A trauma is an
overwhelming sense of loss of control over a situation, and in the most extreme
sense a fear of losing ones life (Isdal 2000:146). Serious violence will almost always
be traumatic, but it is important to remember that the violence does not need to be
brutal for it to have a traumatic impact. The key is how threatened, frightened or
vulnerable you feel.
Being the victim of violence can have serious consequences. The link between
violence and PTSD4 is well documented. Experiencing traumatic violence may also
cause chronic physical and psychological tension, leaving the body in a constant
state of stress. In the long-term this is very destructive, and people who live with
violence, or who have done so in the past, often suffer permanent physical and
psychological damage (Isdal 200:147). When someone perpetrates or is the victim of
violence, they will often attempt to understand the violence.

Nadheim is run by the Church City Mission in Oslo. It is a place where Norwegian and foreign women who
have worked as prostitutes can meet
3
The organisation that represents the interests of prostitutes in Norway
4
Post traumatic stress disorder

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Isdal (2000) points out that there are many ways of interpreting/ explaining violence,
and mentions belief in fate, repression, normalisation, a sense of rights, oversimplification, externalisation, denial, trivialisation, minimisation and fragmentation.

1.4 Background to the survey: the current prostitution market

The table below shows the total prostitution market in Norway5 in 2006 and 2007
The figures represent numbers of prostitutes.

Street prostitution in Oslo

Street prostitution in Stavanger
Street prostitution in Bergen
Street prostitution in Norway

2006
850
49
137
1036

2007
967
68
122
1157

Indoor prostitution in Norway

1500

1497

Total prostitution in Norway

2536

2654

The prostitution market in Norway has changed considerably in recent years, in that
the proportion of Norwegian prostitutes has declined, whereas the proportion of
foreign women has increased. In parallel with the increase in foreign prostitutes in
Norway, there has also been a slight increase in street prostitution, as shown by the
table below.

2000
1500

2005
2006
2007

1000
500
0
Indoor market

Street market

As the following table shows, foreign women dominate street prostitution in Oslo,
Bergen and Stavanger.
City
Oslo
Stavanger
Bergen

2007
967
68
122

Norwegian
21 %
25 %
43 %

Foreign
79 %
75 %
57 %

We should add a cautionary note to these statistics, which is that the increase in street prostitution in Oslo may
be due to Pro Sentret being much more active in 2007 than in 2006, and therefore meeting a higher proportion of
the prostitutes. The table only records women we have met. It is also not improbable that there are street
prostitutes in other cities in Norway. As there are no specific figures and/ or reports from anywhere other than
the three cities mentioned, any estimates would be pure guesswork. We have therefore only included the specific
prostitutes who we know by name. Each year we map the situation in the indoor market using the same
methodology. Our numbers are based on a count of individual prostitutes, although we do not necessarily know
their identities.

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In 2007 Pro Sentret had 1276 users from 42 countries, only 321 of whom were from
Norway (Pro Sentret 2008). As the following table shows, the 386 Nigerian women
were the single largest group, whilst there were 114 women from Thailand and 113
from Bulgaria.
Asia

Africa

Thailand 114
Uzbekistan 2
South
1
Korea

Nigeria
Ghana
Liberia
Gabon
Cameroon
Somalia
Niger
Kenya

Total

117

386
3
1
1
2
2
2
2

South America
and the
Caribbean

Eastern
Europe

Dominican
Republic
Brazil
Venezuela
Argentina
Columbia
Ecuador
Peru

Bulgaria
113 Spain
Estonia
39 Sweden
Lithuania
39 Finland
Romania
48 Greece
Albania
26 Portugal
Poland
18 France
Czech
7 Italy
Republic
Denmark
9 Norway
Russia
Latvia
6 Unknown
Moldova
2
Belarus
1
Ukraine
4
Bosnia
1
Azerbaijan
1
Unknown
7

399

22
19
3
1
1
2
1

49

Western
Europe

321

11
7
6
8
2
1
4
10
321
20

390

When the prostitution market changes, it is necessary to obtain new information

about the women working in it. Up until 2000, our knowledge about women working
as prostitutes was mainly focused on the link between addiction and prostitution
(such as the 1986 book Backstreets by Cecilie Higrd and Liv Finstad) or on the link
between prostitution and social inequality (such as the 1998 book Nr sex er arbeid
[When sex is work] by May-Len Skilbrei).
In recent years we have gained a better understanding of foreign prostitution, through
books such as Sterke hovud og sterke hjarte [Strong hearts and strong minds] by
Ellen Kristvik (2005), Pro Sentrets report Foreign prostitution in Oslo by Bjrg Norli
(2006), the Masters thesis Unge jenter tilbys jobb i utlandet [Young girls offered
work abroad] by Irina Polyakova (2007) and the Fafo reports Afrikanske drmmer p
europeiske gater [African dreams on European streets] by May-Len Skilbrei,
Marianne Tveit and Anette Brunovskis (2006) and Facing Return by May-Len Skilbrei
and Marianne Tveit (2007). These reports show that the situations of the foreign
prostitutes often throw up different challenges from those faced by the Norwegian
women. The foreign women rarely have addiction problems, but they are often
vulnerable and marginalised by Norwegian society, as they have limited knowledge
of the Norwegian culture, language and laws/ regulations, and because they have
few rights in Norway. Many of them also have families to provide for in their home
countries, and have big debts to their facilitators.

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Since so many foreign women have come to work as prostitutes in Norway, Pro
Sentret thinks that it is important to find out about their past experiences of violence.
This will help us to provide a deeper insight into the problems facing the foreign
women in their lives as prostitutes, and may help us to understand what kinds of help
the women need.

1.5 An increasing focus on prostitution and human trafficking

The prostitution market is under pressure, and the arrival of foreign women has led to
street prostitution becoming more visible, as well as generating a sense of unease
and causing friction between women from the different countries. The increase in the
number of foreign prostitutes in Norway has also increased the focus on human
trafficking.
In parallel with the changes in the prostitution market, there has been growing public
debate, with the medias slant moving from a perception of prostitution as a social
problem to focusing on prostitution as a law and order issue (Norli 2006b, Pro Sentret
2008). The prostitutes, meanwhile, have reported increasing harassment in public
spaces. They say that they are spat on, and called names. In Bergen, sixth-form
students have thrown stones and eggs at street prostitutes, as well as shooting at
them with water pistols loaded with urine. Pro Sentret assumes that the increasing
focus on prostitution and human trafficking, and the negative portrayal of the foreign
women involved in prostitution, may have led to more violence and harassment.
This is the reason that Pro Sentret considers it very important to document the
violence experienced by the women working as prostitutes in Norway. There is a
need to document this throughout the country, but this survey will only be able to
shed light on the experiences of the women who were working as prostitutes in Oslo
during the period August 2007 to January 20086.

1.6 Criminalising the purchase of sex

In April 2007 the government coalition decided that buying sex should be made a
criminal offence in Norway. During the consultation process, Pro Sentret and other
institutions such as the Church City Mission, Directorate for Health and Social Affairs
and PION stated their serious concern that the introduction of the new law would
increase violence against women working as prostitutes.
There is little systematic documentation of the extent to which violence against
women working as prostitutes has increased since the buying of sex was criminalised
in Sweden in 1999. In Norway, the Ministry of Justice and the Police gave a working
group responsibility for looking into the efforts of the Netherlands and Sweden to
regulate the buying of sex, and it found that in Sweden there were no systematic
records of violence against prostitutes, neither for before nor for after the introduction
of the new law (Stridbeck, Kristiansen and Schei 2004). The report concluded that
although there was insufficient evidence to say whether violence against prostitutes
had increased and become more serious after the introduction of the law, most of the
people interviewed, including prostitutes, police and welfare workers, thought that it
had (Stridbeck, Kristiansen and Schei 2004). They also note that the women working

See Chapter 2 Methodology for further details.

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as prostitutes expressed greater concern and fear for their life and health after the
new law came into force.
Pro Sentret considers it important to perform this survey prior to the introduction of
the new law in Norway. Documenting the womens experiences of violence now will
allow us to perform an equivalent survey in a few years to see if there have been any
changes, at which point it will be possible to assess whether they are attributable to
changes in the law.

1.7 Reports on the prevalence of violence against prostitutes

Internationally
Internationally there are a number of reports that document the prevalence of
violence against women working as prostitutes. In comparison to Norwegian studies,
the samples are broader in terms of nationality, prostitution markets and drug and
alcohol dependence. We will look briefly at a couple of these studies.
The report (NOU 2008:4, page 38) by the Norwegian governments commission on
rape refers to a 2003 report by Melissa Farley et al. This was a survey of 854
prostitutes from 9 countries (Canada, Turkey, Colombia, Germany, South Africa,
Thailand, Mexico, the United States and Zambia). 63% of the respondents had been
the victims of prostitution-related violence. Farley has been criticised for using an
unrepresentative sample (Weitzer 2005).
Vanwesenbeeck (1994) studied the living conditions of women working in various
prostitution markets in the Netherlands, and concluded that there were large
differences regarding how in control of their own situations the women felt and levels
of victimisation. In general, women working as street prostitutes were in a worse
position and experienced more violence than indoor sex workers.
In 1999, a Scottish study surveyed 240 women working as prostitutes (Church,
Henderson, Barnard and Hart 2001). 115 worked on the streets and 125 worked
indoors. The survey revealed that the ones selling sex on the streets were younger,
had started working as prostitutes at a younger age, had more drug and alcohol
problems and suffered considerably more violence than the indoor sex workers. Of
the women working on the streets, 81% reported violence by clients, whilst 50% had
experienced violence by clients during the past six months. Of indoor sex workers,
48% had experienced violence by clients, with 26% experiencing it during the past
half year. On the streets, the most common forms of violence were being hit, pushed
or kicked (47%), whilst the most common form of violence experienced in the indoor
market was attempted rape (17%).
Of the women working on the streets, 28% had been the victims of attempted rape,
whilst 22% had been raped vaginally, 5% had been raped anally and 17% had been
forced to perform oral sex on a client. Of the indoor sex workers, 2% had been raped
vaginally, 6% had been raped anally and 3% had been forced to perform oral sex on
a client. In this survey, 44% of the women working on the streets and 18% of the
indoor sex workers had reported violence to the police once or more.
Norway
In Norway, various surveys have documented the prevalence of violence against
prostitutes. The respondents to these studies have mainly been street prostitutes

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who have, or have had, addiction problems. There follows a brief description of these
studies.
Mothers and Angels. An evaluation of two welfare organisations for prostitutes in
Oslo
In 1993 a book was published that assessed the work of Pro Sentret and Nadheim.
In conjunction with it, 38 women were interviewed about their experiences of violence
in and outside of prostitution. 58% had experienced violence linked to their
prostitution. 37% had experienced violence by clients, 13% had experienced violence
by pimps and clients, whilst 3% had experienced violence by another sex worker.
66% had experienced violence at home or in their local community (Karlsen 1993).
A warm home in a cold life
This study by the shelter Natthjemmet7, which was performed by Thomas Haaland in
1997, recorded reported violence against the women who visited Natthjemmet during
the period 1 October to 21 November 1996. A total of 29 violent incidents were
reported by 17 of the 46 women who visited during that period. Only 1 of the 29
incidents was reported to the police.
Of the 46 women who visited Natthjemmet during the period in which these violent
incidents were recorded, 11 also reported that they had been the victims of incest, 3
had experienced physical violence during their childhoods, 11 had experienced
violence by their husband or boyfriend and 32 had been the victims of violence or
rape by clients at least once (Haaland 1997:24-25).
Survey of violence in Oslo 1999
In 1999 another survey was performed in collaboration with Grnland police station,
the Oslo Emergency Medical Agency, Pro Sentret and Natthjemmet. In April, May
and June, Pro Sentret and Natthjemmet recorded the violent incidents experienced
by the women who visited them (Natthjemmet 2000). During this three month period,
46 violent incidents were reported. The types of violence recorded were: 10 rapes, 16
incidents involving threats or coercion, 11 assaults (some of which resulted in bodily
injury), 3 assaults resulting in grievous bodily harm and 6 robberies.
Over the same period, the accident and emergency centre received four women
working as prostitutes, and two women who had previously worked as prostitutes.
Again over the same period, five incidents were reported to the Oslo police district by
women working as prostitutes. Neither the ones who visited the accident and
emergency centre nor the ones who filed a police report had been recorded as
victims of violence by Pro Sentret or Natthjemmet over the same period.
Walk on the wild side. Report on violence against street prostitutes in Bergen
In 2002 a report was published on the violent incidents recorded by the outreach
services drop-in centre in Bergen over a five month period. 56 people visited the
drop-in centre, and 24 prostitution-related violent incidents were recorded. In 17% of
those incidents the perpetrator was a drug addict that the woman knew, in 4%
another sex worker and in 79% a new client, a stranger in a car or a random passerby. The violence suffered by the women was as follows: 17 held down, 7 threatened/
7

Natthjemmet is a shelter for women with addiction problems and women who have worked as prostitutes,
which is run by the Church City Mission in Oslo.

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forced into having sex, 7 threatened or coerced, 6 strangled/ choked, 5 robbed/

attempted robbed, 5 slapped, 5 kicked, 4 locked up, 3 raped, 3 punched and 3 had
their hair pulled. Two of the 24 incidents were reported to the police, whilst three
women gave an anonymous tip-off to the police. Twelve of the women were also
interviewed. Eleven of them had suffered violence by clients, with a total of forty
violent incidents and forty-four different acts of violence being reported: 11 cases of
serious physical violence, 8 rapes, 6 attempted rapes, 3 people going beyond what
had been agreed, 4 robberies, 4 clients who refused to pay, 3 locked up, 3 weapons
used and 2 death threats.
The international reports consistently show that women working as prostitutes are the
victims of a lot of violence, and that street prostitutes are more likely to face violence,
threats and harassment than indoor sex workers. The Norwegian reports have
focused on Norwegian street prostitutes with addiction problems, and conclude that
these women experience a great deal of violence and have a high threshold for
reporting incidents.

1.8 Reports on the prevalence of violence in society

In 2004 the book Den skjulte volden? En underskelse av Oslobefolkningens
utsatthet for trusler, vold og seksuelle overgrep [The hidden violence? A study of the
Oslo populations risk of suffering threats, violence and sexual abuse] was
published, edited by Hilde Pape and Kari Stefansen. This study looked at the
responses of over four thousand men and women to a questionnaire. The
respondents were in the age range 24-55. The purpose of the study was to uncover
the prevalence of violent and abusive incidents, and to find out whether the victims
tended to stand out in terms of their socio-demographic profile and various lifestyle
indicators (Pape and Stefansen 2004:7). As this study looked at Oslo, and our study
was also performed in Oslo, they are comparable. Pape and Stefansen also looked
at violence in general, not just in close relationships, which is what we did too in our
survey. We will therefore compare their findings with ours, although not all of them
are comparable. The findings of Pape and Stefansen (2004:7-9) were that:

56% of the men, and 38% of the women, had received serious threats of
violence and/ or been the victims of serious physical violence once or more
after reaching the age of 16. 9% of the men, and 8% of the women, had been
the victims of this during the past year.

The violence victimisation rates varied between different parts of Oslo, being
highest in the city centre and lowest in the outlying areas in the west of Oslo.
Relatively speaking, there were far more victims from disadvantaged groups
than from the remainder of the sample. The victimisation rate was significantly
higher amongst people who often got drunk.

In the vast majority of cases, men were the perpetrators of violence against
both women and men.

Women were far more likely to have been the victims of violence by a partner
or ex-partner. A significantly higher proportion of men than women had been
threatened or been the victims of violence by a stranger. The proportion of

- 15 -

victims of violence by strangers was significantly higher amongst

disadvantaged groups than the remainder of the sample.

12% of the women, and 3% of the men, had suffered serious violence by their
partner on at least one occasion. For both sexes, partner violence victimisation
was closely correlated with low educational achievement, poverty, job
insecurity and dependency on benefits.

16% of the women, and 2% of the men, stated that they had been threatened/
forced into having sex, been raped or attempted raped at least once after
reaching the age of 16. Over the past year, 2% of the women had experienced
this, whilst hardly any of the men had. The perpetrators in these cases were
strangers, acquaintances and partners. The ones who had been the victims of
sexual violence were also more likely to have suffered other forms of violence,
both as children and as adults.

Approx. 17% of the men and women stated that they had contacted the police,
relevant professionals or welfare services on at least one occasion as a victim.
They were most likely to go to the police or an accident and emergency
centre. Victims who did not seek help were not distinguishable from the ones
who did in terms of age, education, economic indicators or perception of their
own social networks.

Figures on the prevalence of rape in Norway vary significantly (NOU 2008:4, page
35). This makes it difficult to estimate the number of people who are raped each year
in Norway. The commission on rapes estimate in Fra ord til handling. Bekjempelse
av voldtekt krever handling [From words to deeds. Combatting rape requires action]
(NOU 2008:4) is that between 8000 and 16000 people are raped or attempted raped
each year. The commission notes that some groups are more likely to be raped than
others, particularly those involved in prostitution.

1.9 Main findings of Pro Sentrets 2008 survey of violence

72% of respondents stated that they had experienced violence, threats

and/ or harassment within or outside prostitution.

52% of respondents stated that they had experienced prostitution-related

violence.

35% of respondents stated that they had experienced prostitution-related

violence over the past year.

Of the eleven women with addiction problems who participated in the

survey, ten had been the victims of violence.

51 % of respondents stated that they had experienced non-prostitutionrelated violence.

- 16 -

The women had experienced more violent incidents that were nonprostitution-related than prostitution-related.

The violence is serious, and often very serious.

In the case of prostitution-related violence, the perpetrator is generally a

client who is a stranger to the prostitute or another stranger in the street
or in a car.

In the case of non-prostitution-related violence, the perpetrator is

generally the womans partner, but many of the women also reported
violence by acquaintances and strangers.

This survey looks at the prevalence of violence against women who have
worked as prostitutes. These women experience significantly more violent
episodes some of which are very serious than the general population.
Violent incidents are not part of their day-to-day lives as prostitutes.
Nevertheless, the fear of violence is probably constantly there for many women
working as prostitutes.

- 17 -

Methodology

This report contains the main findings of our survey of the experiences of women
working as prostitutes in terms of violence, threats and harassment. It does not
contain a deeper analysis of the responses, and is not a scientific report. What the
report does contain is a systematic presentation of various findings, with brief
discussions of the results. We have collected so much material that we are only
presenting some of the findings of our survey in this report.

2.1 Choice of approach

The way in which you choose to implement a project is highly dependent on the aims
of the project and the kind of information you are looking for. The purpose of this
study was to map the violence, threats and harassment experienced by women
working as prostitutes. We wanted to find out about the violence they had
experienced through prostitution, as well as the violence they had experienced that
was unrelated to prostitution. In order to get a kind of snapshot of the violence
against prostitutes, we wanted to know what violence the women had faced through
their work over the past year. We also wanted to know the womens own thoughts on
violence, and what measures they would like to see introduced. With that in mind, we
split the survey into five sections:
1. Personal details
2. Prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment experienced over the
past year
3. Prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment experienced over their
whole careers
4. Non-prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment
5. Thoughts and assessments of women working as prostitutes on the risks they
face of violence, threats and harassment
The project neither had the time nor the resources to carry out in-depth interviews of
the women in order to get a better understanding of their thoughts on, and
experiences of, violence, threats and harassment. We therefore chose to design a
questionnaire, basing it on the one used for the survey A walk on the wildside,
which was created by the outreach service in Bergen in 2002. All of Pro Sentrets
employees were able to give their feedback on the questionnaire. So were Elisabeth
Hesselberg, a criminology student who did an internship here in the autumn of 2007,
her supervisor Liv Finstad from the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law
at the University of Oslo and May-Len Skilbrei, the coordinator for human trafficking
research at Fafo. We also asked several of Pro Sentrets clients to look at a draft,
and to suggest changes.

- 18 -

We wanted the questionnaire to have as many as possible closed questions8, where

respondents simply had to tick one of the possible answers. This was because
closed questions are quick to answer, and because they standardise the survey, in
that everyone has the same categories of answers to choose between (Ringdal
2000: 264-265).
In sections 2, 3 and 4 we mainly used closed questions, but we included the option
other, which allowed respondents to formulate their own answers. In section 5 we
used a combination of open9 and closed questions. Several of the questions allowed
respondents to tick an answer, and also justify their answer. Some of the questions in
this section were completely open.

2.2 Sample and representativeness

The projects study population consisted of people who had worked as prostitutes
and were currently resident in Norway. Pro Sentret believes that over the course of
any given year, somewhere between 2500 and 3000 people sell sexual services in
Norway. In addition to these people, the study population includes women who have
worked as prostitutes in the past, but who no longer sell sex. There are no figures on
how big that group is.
With a study population of this size, it is necessary to select a sample. We therefore
decided to contact all of the welfare services that work with prostitutes in Norway to
ask them whether they wanted to participate. We also offered to collate the answers
for them if they wanted us to, but suggested that they wrote their own reports, which
would allow us to compare responses at a later date. Only Nadheim and
Natthjemmet in Oslo expressed an interest in participating. The scope of the survey
was therefore limited to women who have worked as prostitutes and who are in
contact with welfare services for prostitutes in Oslo. Pro Sentret has estimated that in
2007 there were approx. 1800 people selling sexual services in Oslo. The number of
people who have worked as prostitutes, but who no longer sell sex, is not known.
Looking at the women who are actively involved in prostitution in Oslo, Nadheim and
Pro Sentret are in contact with 51% and 72% of them respectively. However, many
women make use of both organisations, and are registered as clients in both places.
95 women responded to the survey: 57 from Pro Sentret, 20 from PION, 17 from
Nadheim and 1 from Natthjemmet. All of the respondents were therefore recruited by
organisations that work with prostitutes in Oslo, or by people affiliated to them,
through employees actively asking women to participate in the survey. The women
came from fourteen different countries: Norway, Thailand, Nigeria, Estonia, Bulgaria,
Denmark, Latvia, Romania, the Dominican Republic, Russia, Lithuania, Brazil,
Albania and Poland. Three only stated that they came from Europe, South America
and Eastern Europe. These nationalities reflect Pro Sentrets main user groups in
2007, which were Nigeria (30%), Norway (25%), the Balkans/ Eastern Europe (25%)
and Asia/ South America/ the Caribbean (13%). These were also the main
nationalities/ regions of Nadheims user groups in 2007.
8

In surveys, closed questions are questions with a limited number of listed answers, which allow the respondent
to choose the relevant one (Ringdal 2000). Normally the questions should be asked in such a way that only one
option can be chosen.
9
Open questions allow respondents to formulate the answer themselves. This avoids the rigidity of closed
questions, and open questions often result in rich and nuanced information (Ringdal 2000: 265).

- 19 -

The relationship between the number of respondents and number of women using
Pro Sentrets services shows that respondents from Asia/ South America/ the
Caribbean (25%) were clearly overrepresented, whilst the Nigerian respondents
(16%) were clearly underrepresented. Norwegian/ Danish respondents (34%) were
slightly overrepresented, whilst the number of respondents from the Balkans/ Eastern
Europe (25%) was in line with the number of Pro Sentrets clients who are from that
region.
We believe that the distribution of the respondents between the arenas reflects the
distribution of the Norwegian prostitution market, with approx. 60% working indoors
and 40% working on the streets10. However, in recent years we have seen a trend
towards greater overlap between the street and indoor markets. 11 Of the 95
respondents who participated in our survey, 37% answered that they were or had
been indoor sex workers12, 25% said that they worked on the streets and 34% said
that they worked both on the streets and indoors. Furthermore, 64% of the
respondents said that they were working as prostitutes at the time of the survey, 24%
said that they were not currently active and 12% did not answer the question. 12%
said that they used drugs or alcohol. The age of the respondents was relatively high,
with the average age being thirty-six. The youngest participant was eighteen and a
half, whilst the oldest was sixty-three. The women from Nigerian and Eastern Europe,
whose average ages are twenty-nine and thirty respectively, are on the whole
younger than the women from Norway and Thailand/ Latin America, whose average
ages are thirty-eight and forty-four respectively.
One potential problem with the sample may be that people who were asked to
participate chose not to because they thought that the survey was only aimed at
women who had experienced violence, threats or harassment. We cannot be sure
whether this meant that some women who had not experienced violence chose not to
participate.
The abovementioned issues mean that the sample is slightly biased. It is therefore
not a representative sample in the statistical sense. The findings of this project
should therefore not be generalised. It nevertheless gives a good picture of the
experiences of women who work as prostitutes, or who have done in the past, in
terms of violence, threats and harassment. With respect to the reliability13 of the
survey, we see no reason to think that the answers are unreliable, as they are based
on the womens subjective perception of violence, threats and harassment, and their
experiences in those areas. That will not necessarily provide a full picture of the
objective truth.

2.3 Implementation
In August 2007 the Norwegian version of the questionnaire was completed. The
questionnaire had a cover page14 with information about its purpose, what questions
it contained, stating that participants would remain anonymous and setting out what
10

Pro Sentrets 2006 and 2007 annual reports

Pro Sentrets 2007 annual report
12
By the indoor market we mean prostitution where the seller and buyer make contact through an
advertisement.
13
Reliability refers to how trustworthy the results are (Kvale 2001:47).
14
See Appendix 1
11

- 20 -

we meant by the terms violence, threats and harassment. To allow as many as

possible of our clients to respond to the survey, we chose to translate it to English,
Bulgarian, Russian and Thai.
At Pro Sentret we soon discovered that it was difficult to get the women to participate
in the survey, as the questionnaire was long (a total of ten pages) and dealt with a
difficult topic. Employees, students and volunteers all made the women aware of the
survey, and everyone who participated was given the chance of completing the
questionnaire themselves or of being helped. Culture mediators played an important
role in getting the foreign women to take part in the survey. For the indoor market, the
questionnaires were handed out by staff at Pro Sentret or PION when visiting
prostitutes, and were collected at the next visit.
At the turn of the year 2007-08 we stopped collecting questionnaires. Staff at Pro
Sentret, Nadheim and PION translated the responses from English, Bulgarian,
Russian and Thai into Norwegian. The spring of 2008 was used to collate and
analyse the responses, as well as to write this report.

2.4 Important terms

Violence, threats and harassment are not unambiguous terms. We therefore chose to
list what we included under those terms in the information that accompanied the
survey15. Respondents were given the chance to say if they thought that any of our
definitions were not really violence or threats. Most of the women agreed with our
definitions, although some felt that being called names was stretching the definition a
bit too far. One thing that we did not ask about, but that many respondents
commented on, was acts that were not included in our definition of violence, but that
they felt should have been included. These included psychological harassment/
meeting psychopaths and attempted murder/ murder. We agree that these should
have been included in our list of what was covered by the terms, as well as in our
response options.
For a discussion of the key terms, see Chapter 1.

2.5 Challenges associated with interpreting the questionnaires

In the information provided on the cover page of the survey 16 we wrote the following
about how to complete the questionnaire: For questions with different response
options, you should circle your answer. For questions with a dotted line after them,
you should write your answer on the dotted line. If you have any questions about the
survey, or need help completing it, please ask a member of staff for help.
In some cases respondents didnt complete the questionnaire in line with the
instructions. For questions where respondents were asked to circle five options,
some of them nevertheless circled more than that. In those cases we chose to record
all of the responses, as it was impossible for us to know which of the options they felt
were most serious. In other cases the respondents had crossed out the options that
they disagreed with. In those cases, and other similar ones, we soon understood the
logic behind the answers.
15
16

See Appendix 1
See Appendix 1

- 21 -

In some questionnaires there were contradictions between answers. For example,

some women answered no when asked whether they had experienced prostitutionrelated violence, threats or harassment over the past year (in section 2), but ticked
the number of violent incidents they had experienced, what they had experienced,
who had helped them and so on. In those cases, and similar ones, we chose yes as
the answer to the question of whether they had experienced violence, threats or
harassment when putting the answers into a database.
Some of the participants chose not to answer certain questions. We do not, therefore,
have answers to all of the questions from all of the 95 women who took part in the
survey. The fact that the response percentages for some of the questions was low,
means that for those questions the results do not reflect the views of the participants
as a whole; instead, they should be seen as a snapshot of what individual
respondents had experienced.
When the respondents were asked whether they sold sex indoors, on the streets or
both indoors and on the streets, we noticed that they had different interpretations of
these terms. At Pro Sentret we defined indoors and on the streets based on where
the buyer and seller make contact. Indoors means that contact is made through an
advertisement, whilst "on the streets" means that contact between the buyer and
seller is made face-to-face in a public space. With hindsight we realise that we should
have made this clear in the survey, although they are widely used terms in the world
of prostitution.
Based on Pro Sentrets definition, our experience is that many of the women who
responded that they worked both indoors and on the streets, really only work on
the streets. This is because these women do not advertise. Nevertheless, they say
that they work indoors because they accompany the customer to a hotel or
apartment after meeting him on the streets, or they meet customers they know in
other places than public spaces.
We are aware of some women who both sell sex on the streets and advertise. As we
had not specified what we meant by on the streets and indoors when we asked
the question in the survey, we have chosen to let the answers stand as they were
given.

2.6 Under-reporting
In principle we attempted to prevent under-reporting by specifying what counted as
violence, threats and harassment in the questionnaire. It is nevertheless likely that
there has been some under-reporting, but it is impossible to estimate the extent.
Below we set out some of the issues that may have led to under-reporting.
Although we specified clearly what we meant by the terms violence, threats and
harassment, most of the women appear to have answered the questions based on
their own interpretations of the terms. For this survey, we have used quite a broad
definition for violence, threats and harassment. Some of the respondents may have
had experiences that they did not report, as they based their answers on a more
narrow definition.

- 22 -

Some of the respondents were uncomfortable answering some of the questions. We

saw that some of Pro Sentrets clients answered that they hadnt experienced
violence, in spite of the fact that we knew that they had. In those cases we chose not
to remind them of the incidents. We did this for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was
important not to decide for the women what they wanted to report. Secondly, it is
possible that the woman did not give a positive response because she had forgotten,
or wanted to forget, the incident. We felt that it would be wrong for us to interfere with
what the person wanted to tell us about at that point in time.
It is also possible to imagine that for some of the women, violence is such a
commonplace thing that it would not cross their minds to report incidents such as
pushing or being called names in a survey like this. Some of the women would
consider them to be trivial, and would only report the more serious cases of
violence.
It is important to note that we cannot be sure that there wasnt also a degree of overreporting, due to women who had not experienced violence choosing not to
participate in the survey.

2.7 Ethical considerations

Carrying out a survey on violence, threats and harassment involves asking people
about difficult and unpleasant experiences. Doing this with a group of people who are
already marginalised by society, and who often have to deal with great difficulties in
their everyday lives, creates ethical challenges. It was therefore important to find a
good balance between how to document the womens experiences of violence, whilst
protecting them against re-living painful experiences from their past.
We did this by designing the questionnaire in such a way as to allow respondents to
simply tick response options as much as possible, so that they wouldnt have to write
long descriptions of painful experiences. It was also important for the questionnaire to
have a gentle start, consisting of entering personal details, and a conclusion, where
respondents did not have to talk about their own experiences, but which allowed
them to share their thoughts and coping strategies, and to make suggestions and
proposals.
Feedback on the survey was varied. Many women said that they appreciated us
focusing on this important topic, which society in general should know more about.
We tried not to pressurise anyone into participating, and we respected women who
said no. However, some women may have felt that they owed it to us to participate,
as they need our help in their day-to-day lives. Some respondents told us that they
"re-lived" some painful experiences, but that they also felt that participating in the
survey had a therapeutic effect. Others were unhappy that they had re-lived painful
experiences, and felt that participating in the survey was like being the victim of
another assault. From the very beginning, and precisely because of the risk of
retraumatisation through participation in the survey, we offered all respondents the
chance to talk to someone after completing the questionnaire. They could come and
talk to a member of staff at one of the welfare services for prostitutes or, if they
preferred, another professional in the field.

- 23 -

2.8 Analysis
All of the data in this project has been processed manually. All of the responses to
the questionnaires were entered in a database, where tables show the frequency
distributions for the various questions. The answers to the questions were then
sorted and quantified. The responses to the open questions in the survey were
copied and categorised.

- 24 -

Because unfortunately a lot of men

consider us fair game

It is a well-known assumption that women who sell sexual services experience a lot
of violence in prostitution because they are a vulnerable and marginalised group.
Another well-known assumption is that it is the womens early experiences of sexual
assault, violence and/ or rape that for various reasons have led them into prostitution.
This survey is not an attempt to either confirm or disprove those assumptions. What
we wanted to do was to find out about the violence experienced by women who have
worked as prostitutes, and to learn what they themselves think about violence,
threats and harassment both within and outside prostitution. Below we will present
and briefly discuss some of the results of the survey.

3.1 What the women are most afraid of

Women who sell sexual services are an exposed and vulnerable group. Working as a
prostitute means being in a situation where there is great uncertainty about what the
next meeting will involve. Women who work as prostitutes are often good at judging
whether or not the client is someone they will risk accompanying. In spite of that,
each new customer represents a potentially difficult, unpleasant or even dangerous
situation. We therefore asked the women what they are most afraid of, and what
types of violence, threats and harassment they considered most serious.
86% of respondents answered this question. 74% said that they were most afraid of
rape, 72% were afraid of being threatened with a weapon, and the same percentage
were afraid of being locked up. 56% of the respondents were afraid of being
threatened/ forced into having sex whilst 57% were afraid of general threats and
coercion. Not surprisingly, with the exception of being threatened with a weapon,
these are acts of violence that are closely linked to entering into a commercial sexual
relationship.
The types of violence that women considered most serious, and were therefore most
afraid of, did not vary greatly with the market in which the women worked. Indoor sex
workers were most afraid of the following five kinds of violence: rape, being
threatened with a weapon, being threatened/ forced into having sex, threats/ coercion
and being locked up. This corresponds to the overall results for women in all
prostitution markets. Women working as street prostitutes are most afraid of being
raped, followed by being threatened with a weapon, being threatened/ coerced, being
strangled/ choked and being held down. The women who said that they worked both
indoors and on the streets were most afraid of being locked up, followed by being
threatened with a weapon, being burnt, being strangled/ choked and being
threatened into having sex. As the variations are so small, there is little reason to
believe that the types of violence that the women are most afraid of are related to the

- 25 -

markets in which they work. Nor are the types of violence that the women are least
afraid of particularly linked to the market in which they work, with the exception of
being thrown out of a car, which the indoor sex workers are naturally least afraid of.
Only 3% of the respondents from the indoor market stated that they were afraid of
that, whilst 22% of the respondents from the street market and 43% of the women
working in both markets were afraid of being thrown out of a car. The respondents
were least afraid of being scratched, pinched, kicked and called names. These were
also the types of violence that they considered least serious, regardless of the market
in which they worked.
If we split respondents into national groups, there is greater variation between the
types of violence that the women considered most serious and were most afraid of.
If we start by looking at the five types of violence that the respondents are overall
most afraid of, the national variations can be shown in the table below. However,
these types of violence do not represent the top five types for all nationalities if we
look at the groups individually. For example, the Nigerian women were more afraid of
being strangled/ choked than of being locked up, being threatened/ coerced and
being threatened/ forced into having sex. The Norwegian and Danish respondents
were more afraid of being burnt than of facing threats and coercion, whilst women
from Eastern Europe were considerably more afraid of being burnt, strangled/ choked
and thrown out of a car than of being threatened/ forced into having sex.

100
90

There
80 is also a relatively strong correlation between the types of violence that the
women are afraid of and the ones that they have themselves experienced.
70
60
% 50

Nigeria
Thailand/Latin-America

40

Norway/Denmark

30

Eastern Europe

20
10
0
Force/
coercion

Threatened
with a
weapon

Forced/
threatened
into having
sex

Raped

Locked up

Women from Thailand and Latin America are consistently more afraid of being the
victims of the abovementioned five types of violence than other respondents.
Between 90 and 100% of the respondents from these areas answered that it was
precisely these types of violence that they considered most serious, whilst for other
nationalities the proportions ranged from 29 to 78%.

- 26 -

All of the respondents from Thailand and Latin America stated that they were most
afraid of threats and coercion in general, whilst only a third of the Norwegian and
Danish respondents considered that type of violence particularly serious. Amongst
the Norwegian and Danish women, being raped was the biggest fear. Naturally
enough, rape is something that women from all of the national groups were very
afraid of, although the respondents from Eastern Europe actually expressed greater
fear of being locked up or being threatened with a weapon than of rape.
The Nigerian women, meanwhile, considered being locked up and subjected to
threats/ coercion least serious, whilst they were most afraid of rape and of being
threatened with weapons. It is hard to be sure what the reasons are for these
national differences, but it is reasonable to assume that a combination of cultural
interpretations of violence and personal experiences of violence within and outside
prostitution help to form the women's views.

3.2 Prostitution-related violence experienced by the women

In our survey, we asked respondents whether they had ever been the victims of
violence, threats and/ or harassment through their involvement in prostitution. 52% of
respondents answered yes, 45% answered no and 3% did not answer the question.
Above we saw how the market in which the women sell sexual services is not
strongly correlated with the types of violence they consider most serious or are most
afraid of. This is not the case with the prostitution-related violence experienced by the
women. It appears that the womens vulnerability to violence may be linked to the
arena in which they work. Only 33% of the women who stated that they worked on
the indoor market had experienced prostitution-related violence, threats and/ or
harassment. This number rose to 58% for the women who work on the streets, and to
68% for the respondents who stated that they worked both indoors and on the
streets.
Prostitution market
Indoor
Street
Both indoor and street

Victimisation rate
33 %
58 %
68 %

Violence victimisation rate by market

Our results also show that Norwegian, Danish and East European women are
considerably more likely to be the victims of prostitution-related violence than their
counterparts from Nigeria, Thailand and Latin America. 72% of the Norwegian and
Danish respondents and 67% of the Eastern European ones, stated that they had
been the victims of prostitution-related violence, threats and/ or harassment, whilst
the figures for the Nigerian and Thai/ Latin American respondents were 33% and
21% respectively.
Nationality
Norway/ Denmark
Eastern Europe
Nigeria
Thailand/ Latin America

Victimisation rate
72 %
67 %
33 %
21 %

Violence victimisation rate by nationality

- 27 -

This distribution of victimisation by nationality is only slightly reflected in the number

of violent incidents experienced. The majority of the women have experienced
between one and three incidents of violence, threats and/ or harassment, regardless
of nationality. Of the women who said that they had been the victims of violence,
threats and harassment, 54% said that they had experienced one to three incidents
over the period that they had sold sexual services. Only 14% had experienced more
than ten incidents. The frequency with which the women are the victims of violence
also varies depending on the market in which they work. Two thirds of the indoor sex
workers who had experienced violence had suffered between one and three violent
incidents over their careers as prostitutes. This was true of half of the women in
street prostitution, and just over 40% of the respondents who worked in both markets.
On the other hand, none of the respondents from the indoor market reported more
than ten prostitution-related violent incidents, whereas 21% of the women who
worked on the streets and 19% of the ones who worked in both markets had suffered
more than ten violent incidents during their careers as prostitutes.
Based on the results of our survey, it is hard to say anything definite about the causal
links that exist between nationality and violence victimisation rates. However, there is
reason to believe that the fact that the Thai and Latin American women are almost all
indoor sex workers is a contributing factor towards them suffering less violence than
other national groups. The Nigerian women, meanwhile, almost all operate on the
streets, but reported far fewer violent incidents than the other women who said that
they worked on the streets. This is probably linked to the Nigerian women having
worked as prostitutes for a relatively short period of time, in comparison to many of
the Norwegian and Eastern European women working on the streets. They have
therefore not suffered as much violence as the other women, who have much longer
careers in prostitution behind them. The victimisation rate of our respondents for
prostitution-related violence was therefore probably more strongly linked to the
market in which they operated and the length of time they had been selling sexual
services than their nationality.
At the beginning of this chapter we gave an outline of the types of violence, threats
and harassment the 95 respondents to our survey considered worst and were most
afraid of. The types of violence that they reported being most afraid of were rape,
being threatened with a weapon, being locked up, facing threats/ coercion and being
threatened/ forced into having sex. In the questionnaire we also asked about the
types of prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment that the women had
experienced.

Held down
Called names
Sexually assaulted
Threats/ coercion
Threatened/ forced into
having sex
Pushed
Robbed/ attempted robbed
Raped

All
49 %
41 %
39 %
35 %
35 %

Threatened with a
weapon
Thrown out of a car
Strangled/ choked
Kicked
Hair pulled

33 %
31 %
29 %

Spat on
Pinched
Other

- 28 -

All
22 %
18 %
18 %
12 %
12 %
12 %
10 %
10 %

Punched
Slapped
Locked up

29 %
27 %
27 %

Bitten
Burnt
Scratched

6%
4%
2%

Types of prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment experienced by the women.

The above table shows the percentage of respondents who had experienced the
various types of violence described. Looking at the answers as a whole, regardless of
the womens nationality and the market in which they work, there are five types of
violence that are most common: being held down, being called names, being sexually
assaulted, facing threats/ coercion and being threatened/ forced into having sex.
Other types of violence that are frequently experienced include robberies and
attempted robberies, rape, being threatened with a weapon, being locked up and
being punched. Not surprisingly, there seems to be a fairly strong correlation
between the types of violence that the women report being most afraid of and the
types of violence that they have experienced through prostitution.
The types of violence that prostitutes experience appear to depend on the market in
which they operate. A third of the respondents from the indoor market reported that
they had been held down and sexually assaulted, whilst a quarter said that they had
been called names and faced threats and coercion. None said that they had been
raped, and 8% said that they had been forced into having sex. For the respondents
who work both on the streets and indoors, the situation is very different. Half of the
women involved in street prostitution reported having been punched. Over 40% of
respondents had faced threats/ coercion, been held down and sexually assaulted,
whilst over a third had been raped and/ or forced into having sex. For the
respondents who reported working in both markets, two thirds stated that they had
been held down, and over half had been forced into having sex. Well over a third had
been raped, and even more had been sexually assaulted. Women who had worked
as street prostitutes, or who had worked both indoors and on the streets, had
experienced more violent incidents than indoor sex workers. The violence that they
had suffered was also more serious.
If the respondents confirmed that they had ever experienced violence, threats and/ or
harassment, they were also asked to state who the perpetrator was. In general,
prostitutes are subjected to violence by strangers. The majority of the respondents
stated that the perpetrator was a new customer, with the next most common
responses being that the perpetrator was a stranger in a car and a random passerby. Only 20% of the women had been subjected to violence by a regular client, in
other words someone they know, and even fewer reported being the victims of
violence by a drug addict they knew or a pimp. This trend does not change
significantly with the prostitution market. However, women who worked on the streets
or both indoors and on the streets were more likely to report violence by new clients
than indoor sex workers. The latter, meanwhile, more frequently reported violence by
a pimp.

New client
Stranger in a car
Random passer-by
Regular client

All
69 %
27 %
22 %
20 %

Indoor
50 %
8%
17 %

- 29 -

Street
64 %
21 %
36 %
7%

Indoor and street

81 %
48 %
24 %
33 %

Boss/ pimp
Drug addict known to the
woman
Other
Other sex worker

14 %
12 %

17 %
-

7%
14 %

14 %
19 %

10 %
8%

33 %
-

7%
7%

14 %

Perpetrator of prostitution-related violence.

The nationality of the women does not affect this pattern either. It is new clients who
perpetrate violence regardless of the womens nationality. The small differences that
do exist are probably much more closely linked to the fact that different nationalities
dominate the different prostitution markets, rather than to the womens nationality.
Unsurprisingly, the women mainly suffer prostitution-related violence on the streets,
in cars or in flats. These are the places that the women meet their customers.
In the survey, we also asked what the consequences of the violence, threats and/ or
harassment were for the women, and who helped them after the incident. If we look
at the respondents as a whole, just over two thirds reported that they were frightened,
whilst well over half reported anxiety and psychological scars as a consequence of
the violence they had experienced. A third also reported visible injuries. The
consequences of the violence for the individual varied depending on the market in
which the woman operated. As many as 33% of the indoor sex workers stated that
the violence did not have any consequences for them, whereas virtually none of the
women in the other two categories said that. Furthermore, the indoor sex workers
consistently reported fewer consequences of the violence than women who sold
sexual services on the streets or in both markets. Amongst the latter two groups, a
third of the women reported visible injuries as a result of the violence, and well over a
third reported both short-term and lasting pain as a result of the violence. Only 8% of
the respondents from the indoor market reported that.
The fact that the consequences of the violence, threats and/ or harassment depend
on the market in which the women operate is probably due to the fact that the indoor
sex workers suffer much less violence, threats and/ or harassment than the other
respondents, and when they do, the violence is less serious than is the case for the
other two groups.
It is a regrettable fact that women who have worked as prostitutes are unlikely to
seek help when they are the victims of violence. For the group as a whole, 12% felt
they didnt need help, whilst 18% reported not receiving/ requesting help after they
had been the victim of violence, threats and/ or harassment. Of the ones who had
sought help, almost half had received help from their friends, and a third had received
help from Pro Sentret. Just under a third received help from the police, and only 14%
used an accident and emergency centre. In view of the number of violent incidents
suffered by the women, and the relatively serious nature of the violence, it is
depressing that so few seek or receive help after their experiences.

Friends
Pro Sentret
Police
None

All
45 %
33 %
27 %
18 %

- 30 -

Nadheim
Hospital
Shelter
Partner

All
10 %
10 %
6%
6%

Accident and
emergency centre
Other
Didnt need help

14 %

Natthjemmet

6%

14 %
12 %

Family
Client

4%
4%

Where the women received help after suffering prostitution-related violence.

Our results do not shed any light on why so few of the respondents sought or
received help after being the victims of prostitution-related violence. This is because
we did not ask respondents what made them seek/ not seek help, or why they went
where they went for help. However, we do know that women who have worked in
prostitution have a high threshold for approaching welfare services, on account of the
stigma that is often attached to selling sexual services, and all of the prejudices that
exist against women working in prostitution. Pro Sentret has experienced that women
who have worked as prostitutes often have little credibility when they approach the
authorities. Furthermore, many women who sell sexual services do not want to admit
that they work in prostitution. Many women probably therefore choose not to seek
help from the authorities after being the victims of violence, threats and/ or
harassment, unless their injuries are so serious that it is absolutely necessary.

3.3 Prostitution-related violence experienced by the women over the past

year
To improve our understanding of what the situation is currently like, in terms of
violence victimisation rates in prostitution, we included a section in the questionnaire
dealing with violence, threats and harassment suffered by the women over the past
year. 35% of respondents answered that they had experienced prostitution-related
violence, threats and/ or harassment over the past year. This means that over half of
the women who stated that they were currently working as prostitutes at the time of
the survey (64%) had experienced violence, threats and/ or harassment over the past
year. That is a high figure.
Again there were big differences depending on the markets in which the women
operated, with indoor sex workers experiencing least violence. 19% of the indoor sex
workers had experienced violence over the past year, whilst this applied to 32% of
the women who worked indoors and on the streets and 63% of the women who
worked on the streets.
Prostitution market
Indoor
Street
Both indoor and street

Victimisation rate
19 %
63 %
32 %

Prostitution-related violence over the past year.

This is slightly different from what the women answered to the question of whether
they ever had been the victims of prostitution-related violence. In response to that
question, it was the women who worked both indoors and on the streets who had
experienced most violence. Apart from that, the results show that the number of
violent incidents, the location of the violence and the perpetrator are similar for the
past year as for prostitution in general. The majority of the women had suffered one
to three violent incidents over the past year, irrespective of prostitution market and
- 31 -

nationality. The violence experienced by the women over the past year had taken
place where they sell and/ or perform the sexual service, i.e. on the streets, in cars, in
flats or at massage parlours. The perpetrator was still in most cases a stranger,
whether a client or a random passer-by.
The below table compares the types of violence that the respondents reported
suffering during the careers in prostitution with the types of violence that they
reported suffering over the past year.
Ever
Past
Ever
Past
year
year
Held down
49 %
33 % Threatened with a 22 % 33 %
weapon
Called names
41 %
49 % Thrown out of a
18 % 12 %
car
Sexually assaulted
39 %
39 % Strangled/ choked 18 % 15 %
Threats/ coercion
35 %
46 % Kicked
12 % 18 %
Threatened/ forced into
12 % 12 %
35 %
27 % Hair pulled
having sex
Pushed
33 %
33 % Spat on
12 % 15 %
Robbed/ attempted robbed 31 %
30 % Pinched
10 % 12 %
Raped
29 %
24 % Other
10 %
9%
Punched
29 %
24 % Bitten
6%
15 %
Slapped
27 %
15 % Burnt
4%
9%
Locked up
27 %
24 % Scratched
2%
6%
Types of prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment experienced by the women ever and in the past
year.

The table shows that in general the respondents had suffered the same types of
violence over the past year as in their whole career in prostitution. However, it is
worth noting a couple of things. Over the past year, considerably more women have
been the victims of violence and threats in general, been threatened with a weapon
and called names. There were also more women who reported being spat on, kicked,
pinched, bitten, burnt and scratched. The material from our survey does not say
anything about what may be the reason for these changes. The fact that the women
reported a higher number of incidents that perhaps are closer to being threats and
harassment than violence (name-calling, spitting, threats, pinching and scratching)
may suggest that there is a lower threshold for harassing what is already a
marginalised and stigmatised group. It is not improbable that these changes may be
related to the changes that have occurred in the prostitution market, societys
attitudes towards prostitution and the medias negative portrayal of women who sell
sexual services, especially on the streets.
The majority of the women who had been the victims of violence, threats and
harassment over the past year said that, as a result of this, they had been frightened
and/ or developed anxiety and psychological scars. Slightly less than a third reported
visible injuries. Over the past year it was mainly friends who had helped the women
after they had been subjected to violence. A third stated that they received help from
Pro Sentret, and around 20% received help from the police or an accident and
emergency centre. These figures, with a few small variations, roughly coincide with
the figures we got when we asked who had helped the women when they had

- 32 -

suffered violence during the careers in prostitution. In other words, the women do not
receive/ seek help any more frequently now than they did in the past. This is a
challenge for the welfare services for prostitutes, police and health service.

3.4 Which factors make prostitutes particularly vulnerable to violence?

Just over half of our respondents had been the victims of prostitution-related
violence, threats and/ or harassment. Below we will discuss some of the factors that
make women working in prostitution particularly vulnerable to violence.
Selling sexual services is morally condemned in our society. So is buying sexual
services. There are serious stigmas attached to both buyers and sellers, there are
many myths and even more prejudices. The women who work in prostitution are a
marginalised group, living at the edges of society, and the prostitution itself generally
takes place in secret. This makes the women who have worked as prostitutes more
vulnerable than other people, and means that they are more likely to be the victims of
violence, threats and/ or harassment.
The violence is not random. Surveys (Pape 2004) show that people who score low on
socio-economic factors such as upbringing, education, work, housing and finances
are more likely to be the victims of violence than other people. The use of alcohol and
drugs also plays a key role. This applies to both women and men. Women who sell
sexual services often score low on precisely these kinds of measures, which means
that they are already more likely to suffer violence than other people. On top of that,
there is an increased risk from being in prostitution. If a woman is drug or alcohol
dependent, this increases her likelihood of being the victim of violence. The violence
victimisation rates for women who have worked in prostitution are also related to how
long they have been working in prostitution. The longer they have, the more violent
incidents they will have experienced.
As we have seen, the market in which the women operate affects the likelihood of
them suffering violence, and how serious that violence will be. Women who worked
both indoors and on the streets, and women who only worked on the streets, had
experienced significantly more violence, threats and/ or harassment than women who
only operated as indoor sex workers. It is probably the nature of the markets, and the
way in which prostitution takes place there, which cause the women to have such
different experiences of violence, threats and harassment. Women who work on the
streets have little time to judge the people who approach them, and often they
accompany them alone in a car. This makes them particularly vulnerable. On the
streets the women are also significantly more likely to suffer violence, threats and
harassment by random passers-by, precisely because they are in a public space. In
the indoor market, the woman has longer to judge the potential customer through a
conversation over the phone, the women often dont work alone, and they do not face
the anger of random passers-by. Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to assume that
the violence victimisation rates of the women in the various prostitution markets are
also related to the kind of customers who buy sexual services there. Street
prostitution is considerably rougher and cheaper than indoor prostitution, and
therefore attracts a different kind of client.

- 33 -

Amongst our respondents, it appears that certain nationalities are more likely to
experience violence than others. However, Pro Sentret believes that it is hard to
interpret our results to mean that the nationality of the woman determines how likely
she is to suffer violence. Although it is not impossible that certain acts of violence
may have racist undertones, we incline more towards the view that the variations we
found between nationalities in terms of violence victimisation rates are more linked to
where they work than to their ethnicity.
Drug and alcohol abuse in general is a factor that considerably increases the risk of
suffering violence (Pape 2004). Prostitutes who abuse drugs and alcohol are
therefore a particularly vulnerable group, who suffer a lot of violence, threats and
harassment. Of the prostitutes in our survey, almost all of the women who abuse
drugs and alcohol to such an extent that it constitutes a serious problem are
Norwegian.
Women working in prostitution are a marginalised and vulnerable group, operating in
the shadows of society, who on account of their actions are almost considered
second-class citizens. This makes prostitutes particularly vulnerable, and more likely
to suffer violence than other people. In addition there are factors relating to the
woman herself, to the customer and to how the prostitution is organised.

3.5 The womens experiences of non-prostitution-related violence

In order to find out whether women who have worked as prostitutes are particularly
likely to suffer non-prostitution-related violence, we included a question in the survey
about whether the woman had experienced violence, threats and/ or harassment that
was not prostitution-related. 51% of our 95 respondents reported that they had, 42%
said no and 7% did not answer the question. Just over a third of the ones who had
experienced violence reported suffering more than ten such incidents. The remainder
were evenly distributed between 1-3, 4-6 and 7-10 incidents involving violence,
threats and/ or harassment.
Victimisation
rate
Yes
51 %
No
42 %
Did not answer
7%
1-3
4-6
7-10
More than 10
Dont
remember
Did not answer

Number of violent
incidents

17 %
17 %
13 %
35 %
10 %
8%

Non-prostitution-related violence, number of incidents.

It makes very little difference whether the women work on the streets, indoors or in
both markets in terms of how likely they are to have experienced non-prostitutionrelated violence. However there is greater variation if we split the respondents by
nationality. Of the Nigerian respondents, only 27% reported having experienced non- 34 -

prostitution-related violence, 27% did not answer the question and 47% said they had
not experienced it. For the Thai, Latin American and East European respondents, the
situation was slightly different. Just over 40% of them reported that they had been the
victims of non-prostitution-related violence. However, it was the Norwegian and
Danish women who had most frequently experienced non-prostitution-related
violence. As many as 75% of them had experienced this kind of violence.
Experienced
violence
Yes
No
Did not
answer

Norway/
Denmark
75 %
19 %
16 %

Eastern
Europe
42 %
54 %
5%

Thailand/ Latin
America
42 %
58 %
-

Nigeria
27 %
47 %
26 %

Violence victimisation rate by nationality

We also asked the respondents17 to state roughly how old they were the first time
that they could remember suffering violence, threats and/ or harassment. 41 of the 49
respondents who answered that they had experienced non-prostitution-related
violence answered the question about their age when they first experienced violence.
The youngest was 4 years old, and the oldest was 39. The mean age at which the
respondents had first experienced violence was 14, whilst the median was 16. As
many as 25 of the respondents reported having been younger than 18 years old
when they first remembered being the victims of violence for the first time. In other
words, many of them first experienced violence as children.
The table below shows how many of the women reported having suffered the various
types of violence, for the group as a whole. The respondents were allowed to select
one of more options. As the table shows, almost two thirds had been the victims of
threats and coercion. Well over half had been held down, somewhat fewer had been
called names and just under half had been punched. 44% had been kicked, 40% had
been locked up and just under 30% had been raped. Based on that, we can say that
the respondents had suffered many, relatively serious non-prostitution-related violent
incidents, and that there is a similarity with the prostitution-related violence suffered
by the prostitutes. However, it is striking that the women had experienced more nonprostitution-related violence than prostitution-related violence.

Threats/ coercion
Called names
Held down
Punched
Kicked

All
63 %
58 %
52 %
46 %
44 %

Slapped
Locked up
Pushed

40 %
40 %
38 %

17

Sexually assaulted
Other
Spat on
Strangled/ choked
Threatened with a
weapon
Pinched
Bitten
Robbed/ attempted
robbed

All
27 %
27 %
19 %
19 %
17 %
10 %
10 %
8%

Unless otherwise specified, respondents will hereafter refer to the selection of the sample who answered that
they had suffered non-prostitution-related violence.

- 35 -

Hair pulled
Threatened/ forced into
having sex
Raped

35 %
33 %

Burnt
Scratched

6%
6%

29 %

Thrown out of a car

4%

Types of non-prostitution-related violence, threats and harassment experienced by the women.

The respondents who said that they had experienced non-prostitution-related

violence were also asked to say who the perpetrator was. If we look at the results for
the respondents as a whole, it is clear that the women know the perpetrators of nonprostitution-related violence against them. Over half reported being the victims of
violence, threats and/ or harassment by their partners, just over a third reported that
the perpetrator was an acquaintance, whilst 17% of the respondents said that the
violence was perpetrated by their parents and friends. If we split the group by
nationality, the picture is slightly different. As we said at the beginning of this section,
75% of the Norwegian and Danish respondents reported that they had been the
victims of non-prostitution-related violence, threats and/ or harassment. For well over
half of them, the perpetrator was an acquaintance. 70% and 80% respectively of the
Thai/ Latin American and East European respondents stated that their partners were
the perpetrator, whilst for the Nigerian and Danish/ Norwegian respondents the
corresponding figures are 10% and 42% respectively. Looking at the group as a
whole, 27% of the respondents had been the victims of non-prostitution-related
violence perpetrated by a stranger.
However, it was mainly the Nigerian and Norwegian/ Danish women who had
experienced non-prostitution-related violence at the hands of a stranger. Around 40%
of the respondents in these groups stated that the perpetrator was a stranger,
whereas that was only the case for 10% of the Thai/ Latin American and East
European women.
All
Partner
54 %
Acquaintances 35 %
Stranger
27 %
Other
25 %
Parents
17 %
Friends
17 %
Other family
13 %
Siblings
4%
Perpetrator of non-prostitution-related violence.

In general, the respondents stated that the consequences of the violent incidents had
been relatively serious. Looking at the group as a whole, around two thirds of them
reported being frightened and/ or experiencing anxiety and psychological scars. Just
over a quarter had visible injuries, and well over 40% stated that the violence resulted
in lasting pain. As many as 19% of the women perceived the violence as being a
serious threat to their lives. In spite of the many, and in some cases very serious,
violent incidents experienced by women who have worked as prostitutes, they again
appear reluctant to seek help after being the victims of non-prostitution-related
violence, threats and/ or harassment. Almost none of the respondents said that they
did not need help after being the victims of this kind of violence. Nevertheless, a third

- 36 -

of them said that they did not seek help or did not receive help from anyone after one
of these incidents. If they did receive help, it was mainly provided by friends. Just
under 15% reported seeking and/ or receiving help from the authorities after being
the victims of non-prostitution-related violence, threats and/ or harassment.

None

All
33 %

Friends
Police
Shelter

33 %
19 %
15 %

Pro Sentret
Hospital
Family
Doctor/ health
service
Other

13 %
13 %
13 %
10 %

Accident and
emergency centre
Social services
Partner
Child protection
unit
Nadheim
Natthjemmet
Client
Didnt need help

10 %

Schools

All
8%
8%
6%
4%
2%
2%
2%
2%
-

Where the women received help after suffering non-prostitution-related violence.

3.6 Which factors make women who have worked as prostitutes

particularly vulnerable to non-prostitution-related violence?
The results of our survey cannot answer this question. There is not evidence to say
that it is the fact that the women have worked as prostitutes that makes them more
vulnerable to non-prostitution-related violence, threats and/ or harassment. Nor is
there evidence to say that it is the womens early experiences of violence that in
different ways have helped to make prostitution an option for them.
What the survey does show, however, is that very many of the respondents have
experienced a lot of non-prostitution-related violence, and that this violence is
sometimes serious. It is also the case that many of them first experienced violence at
a young age, even as children.
The extent to which women who have worked as prostitutes suffer non-prostitutionrelated violence, threats and/ or harassment is therefore more related to the factors
that make women in general more likely to be the victims of violence. Key factors
include nationality, local community, age, education, finances and drug and alcohol
addiction.
In the next chapter we will compare some of the results of our survey with the
findings of a survey of violence based on the general population of Oslo. This will
help to shed light on the extent of the violence, threats and harassment faced by
women who have worked as prostitutes both within and outside prostitution, as well
as any differences that exist between them and the general population.

- 37 -

Living a normal life in Estonia can be

more dangerous than selling sex in Oslo

How serious an act of violence is, depends to a large extent on a subjective

assessment. It is not a given that violence that results in physical injuries is more
serious than other forms of violence. Even mild forms of violence may feel serious,
depending on the situation and how humiliated or unsafe the victim feels afterwards
(Pape 2004). Nevertheless, it is reasonable to distinguish between serious and less
serious violence. Isdal (2000:45) defines serious violence as all acts of violence that
are serious enough to entail a high risk of physical injury.
In the introduction chapter we briefly discussed the importance of cultural
backgrounds to interpretations of violence. Attitudes towards the use of violence vary
from community to community. Which acts are considered acceptable and which
ones are not vary between different groups of the population. There is often a gender
dimension to peoples normative views of violence, and some communities have a
more liberal attitude towards the use of violence than others (Hjemdal, Pape and
Stefansen 2004:11). Isdal (2000:79) has pointed out that power imbalances and
major differences between the rights and opportunities of men and women promote
violence, whilst the reverse prevents violence. People who come from regions where
women are considered second-class citizens, and where womens rights are not a
priority, will therefore have a different interpretation of violence than people who
come from regions where there is gender equality, fairness and equal opportunity.

4.1 Do women who have worked as prostitutes suffer more violence than
women who have not worked as prostitutes?
In the previous chapter we saw that many women who work as prostitutes suffer
prostitution-related violence (52%), and that the violence they face is serious. The
survey also revealed that over half of the respondents (51%) had also been the
victims of non-prostitution-related violence. The majority of these women were
children the first time they suffered violence. In order to get an insight into how
women who have worked as prostitutes view the violence that they face both within
and outside prostitution, we asked whether they thought that prostitutes suffered
more violence than other women. Looking at the group as a whole, 40% answered
yes to this question. Half answered no, and 10% did not know or did not answer the
question.
We must assume that the respondents based their answers on their subjective
interpretations of what constitutes violence, threats and harassment. This will in turn
have been influenced both by the mainstream cultural interpretation of violence in the
community in which they grew up, and by the communities in which they have lived
later in life. It is also reasonable to assume that the respondents based their answers
on their own experiences of violence both within and outside prostitution.

- 38 -

In this section of the questionnaire we gave the respondents the chance to comment
on the question and justify their answers, if they wanted to. We wanted a better
insight into how the respondents reached their assessments of the risk of facing
violence as a woman in general and as a prostitute specifically.
A third of the Nigerian respondents did not answer whether they thought that
prostitutes faced more violence than women in general. Of the ones who did, 60%
said that they thought that women who had worked as prostitutes faced more
violence, whilst 7% answered no. The respondents who felt that prostitutes face more
violence than other women said that it was because prostitution is a dirty, risky and
dangerous activity, where you meet a lot of different people. The ones who did not
think so, emphasised the fact that women in general face violence. at home, at work
and when out at night.

Yes
No
Dont know
Did not answer

Nigeria
60 %
7%
33 %

The vast majority of the Thai/ Latin American respondents do not think that women
working as prostitutes suffer more violence than other women. A resounding 87%
answered no to this question, whilst 13% answered yes. Respondents from these
regions highlight their own qualities and the nature of their work when explaining why
they do not suffer more violence than women who are not involved in prostitution. As
previously mentioned, this group of women are almost exclusively indoor sex
workers. They therefore suffer some of the lowest violence victimisation rates of the
prostitutes. The respondents do in fact emphasise that indoor sex workers dont meet
nasty men, and that customers want to buy sexual services, not violence. They also
point out that they have long experience of dealing with men, are clever enough to
avoid problems and are able to turn down potential customers. On the other hand,
they say that all women experience violence, but purely due to the fact that they are
women. The respondents who answered yes to the question, mainly relate this to
street prostitution, and point out that there are many dangerous and aggressive
people on the streets.

Yes
No
Dont know
Did not answer

Thailand/ Latin America

13 %
87 %
-

Of the East European respondents, 54% believe that women who work as prostitutes
suffer more violence than other women. They mainly explain this in terms of how
society in general views and treats women who have worked as prostitutes. Women
involved in prostitution are not viewed as people, and are not given any respect. Noone protects the prostitutes, and the prostitutes dont ask for help. They stand

- 39 -

unprotected on the streets selling sexual services, and are more likely to meet violent
people than women who are not prostitutes. They also say that the pimps are only
interested in money, and not in the womens personal situation. 38% of the
respondents felt that women who had worked as prostitutes did not suffer more
violence than other women, and 8% did not know. The ones who explained their
answers mainly did so in terms of violence against women in general, and their own
experiences of non-prostitution-related violence. The respondents said that they
suffered just as much from violence, threats and harassment before they started
working as prostitutes, and that their personal situations in their home countries
made them more likely to suffer violence there than working as prostitutes in Oslo.
Another argument was that if a man is violent towards prostitutes, he will also be
violent towards other women, for example in his family. Furthermore, the prostitutes
can choose whether or not they want to have sex with him, which his spouse cannot
do.

Yes
No
Dont know
Did not answer

Eastern Europe
54 %
38 %
8%
-

The Norwegian/ Danish respondents were roughly split down the middle on this
question. 44% answered yes, 47% answered no, and the remainder did not know or
did not answer. The respondents who answered yes mainly explained this in terms of
the nature of prostitution both at the level of society and the individual, and in terms
of their views of clients. Women who work as prostitutes have a low social status, are
vulnerable and are not respected. Women who have previously suffered violence
may end up in prostitution, where they expose themselves to risks by accompanying
customers they do not know. They also pointed out that their need for money impairs
the womens intuition, making them more likely to end up in risky situations. Some of
the respondents pointed out that some customers are attracted by their vulnerability.
They view the prostitutes as fair game and easy prey. The respondents who did not
think that prostitutes suffer more violence than other women mainly thought so
because of womens position in society in general and the specific nature of
prostitution. Violence is widespread everywhere, and women who do not work in the
sex industry are just as vulnerable. Men who beat women, beat any woman. There is
a lot of domestic violence, and women and children are poorly protected. Women
who work as prostitutes, meanwhile, are better at judging people than other women,
and more aware of the risks. It also helps men to visit women who sell sexual
services.
Yes
No
Dont know
Did not answer

Norway/ Denmark
44 %
47 %
6%
3%

- 40 -

Most of the respondents shared the view that women in general occupy a weaker
position in society, and are therefore more likely to suffer violence. Just under half
believed that they were particularly vulnerable because they worked as prostitutes.
Most of them associated this with the stigma of prostitution, which makes them
second-class citizens. It is mainly the European women who think that customers are
more likely to be violent than men in general.
Of the half who thought that they were not more likely to suffer violence than other
women, some emphasise the fact that they have developed strategies for identifying
potential violent situations and avoiding them. There is a certain degree of pragmatic
cynicism involved in this: women are vulnerable to violence, and we act accordingly.

4.2 Prevalence of violence against women who have and have not
worked as prostitutes
The answers of our respondents suggest that women involved in prostitution not only
suffer violence, but also suffer extremely serious violence. This can be clearly seen if
we compare their answers to surveys done on the general population. In 2004,
NOVA published a report on the Oslo populations risk of suffering threats, violence
and sexual assaults (Pape & Stefansen 2004). The report emphasised that there was
a considerable degree of uncertainty surrounding the results, due to low response
rates, and that the real figures are probably considerably higher than the findings.
However, we think that it is useful to compare the results of that survey to our
findings, in order to highlight how vulnerable to violence women who work as
prostitutes are. We will only look at the results for the women in the survey, since all
of our respondents were women.

80
70
60
50
40

Women who have worked

as prostitutes

30

Women from the Oslo

survey

20
10
0
Ever suffered
violence

Suffered violence over

the past year

In NOVAs survey, 38% of the women reported ever suffering threats and/ or physical
violence, and 8% of them had been threatened and/ or physically assaulted over the
- 41 -

past 12 months. In comparison, 72% of the women in our survey answered that they
had ever experienced violence, threats and/ or harassment within prostitution,
outside prostitution or both, whilst 35% 18 stated that they had experienced
prostitution-related violence over the past year. So, almost twice as many of our
respondents had ever been the victims of violence, threats and/ or harassment as the
women in the Oslo survey, and more than four times as many had experienced
violence over the past year.
Are the differences just as great in terms of the kinds of violence experienced by the
different women?
In order to get an insight into how serious the violence is, that the respondents face,
the Oslo survey asked them to ask whether they had ever been the victims of
violence that resulted in visible marks/ physical injuries, violence that resulted in pain
the following day, if they had been beaten up and if they had suffered violence that
required medical attention. Although we did not use identical categories in our
survey, we believe that it is possible to get an idea of the situation by comparing
certain categories19
40
35
30
25
Women who have worked
as prostitutes

% 20
15

Women from the Oslo

survey

10
5
0
Visible
marks

Pain the
following
day

Beaten
up

Needed
medical
attention

In comparison to the women in the Oslo survey, our respondents had faced
considerably more serious violence. As many as 37% of our respondents had been
beaten up, in the sense of being punched and/ or kicked, whilst only 9% of the
women in the Oslo survey reported being beaten up. 5% of the women in the Oslo
18

This figure does not include any non-prostitution-related violence over the past year. The true figure is probably somewhat
higher.
19
One of the response options was visible injury, which we will compare to the visible marks/ physical injury category from
the Oslo survey, whilst our category lasting pain will be compared to violence that caused pain the following day. We will
base our assessment of how many of our respondents had been beaten up compared to the Oslo survey on the number of
respondents who reported having been punched and/ or kicked, which are the kinds of violence that typically accompany being
beaten up. Finally, we compare violence that required medical attention with the number of our respondents who reported
seeking help from a doctor, accident and emergency centre and/ or hospital after being the victims of violence.

- 42 -

had had to seek medical attention at some point in their lives after being the victims
of violence, threats and/ or harassment, whereas 25% of our respondents had
received help from a doctor/ the health service, an accident and emergency centre or
a hospital after a violent incident. Although the figures are not entirely comparable,
they give a strong impression that when women who have worked as prostitutes face
violence, it is often more serious than the violence faced by other women. Our results
do not provide an unambiguous answer as to why this is the case. It is reasonable to
assume that the womens upbringings and personal situations in general, combined
with their experiences of violence before, during and after their involvement in
prostitution, makes them particularly vulnerable to violence and considerably more
likely to suffer violence than other women.
We have seen that women who have worked as prostitutes are likely to suffer
violence, threats and harassment by strangers. It is not particularly surprising that this
is above all the case when the women are the victims of prostitution-related violence.
Selling sexual services generally involves meeting men who are strangers. The
question remains whether the violence, threats and harassment faced by prostitutes
is perpetrated by different people than violence against other women, even in the
case of non-prostitution-related violence. In our survey we asked the women who
answered that they had experienced non-prostitution-related violence to identify the
perpetrator. The Oslo survey asked the same question. The below table shows the
relationship between the women and perpetrators of physical violence20.

60
50
40
% 30
Women who have
worked as prostitutes
Women from the Oslo survey

20
10
0

Stranger Acquaintance Friends

20

Relative/
Partner/
ex-partner family
member

Other

Note that the figures for our respondents only cover non-prostitution-related violence.

- 43 -

As the table clearly shows, regardless of whether women have worked as prostitutes,
they often suffer violence by their partners/ ex-partners. Relatives and family
members are responsible for a significant proportion of the violence experienced by
the women, and acquaintances even more so. Less frequently they are the victims of
violence by friends. In other words, regardless of whether they have worked as
prostitutes, women are often the victims of violence by someone they know who is.
However, it is worth noting that women who have worked as prostitutes also face
violence by strangers. Few other women face this kind of violence. This survey does
not explain why that is the case. However, it is reasonable to assume that it is in part
due to the communities to which prostitutes often belong, which make them
particularly vulnerable to violence, even when it is unrelated to selling sex.

4.3 Violence part of the job?

The women who participated in our survey objected to the suggestion that violence is
something that prostitutes have to accept as part of the job. A resounding 82%
answered no, whilst only 11% answered yes. 5% of the participants did not answer
the question, and 2% were not sure. The following quotes are some of the reasons
given by the women for not accepting violence as part of the job.
I am a human being, and need to be respected.
Violence is not a natural part of sex.
I can decide what I want to do, and can say no.
People pay for intimacy, and violence is not included in the ticket.
Nevertheless, many of them point out that prostitution brings with it high risks of
violence. One woman explained it as follows: But, youre still taking a risk. Youre
working with strangers, and never know if the person who picks you up is violent or
aggressive, whilst another woman wrote that violence is not something we should
accept, but we have to recognise that its there.
The respondents who said that they accepted violence as part of being a prostitute,
argued that violence is normal if you work on the streets at night. The women put
themselves into a vulnerable position by working as prostitutes, and violence is one
of the consequences. The women also stated that the pimps on the streets are
violent, that there are lots of crazy men out there and that they were willing to accept
a great deal for the sake of helping their families. One of the women put it like this:
You deal with all sorts of people, and as if that werent enough, you have a pimp
who makes sure that you get a big helping of violence a day. Every day.
Some variations are apparent between the different nationalities. The Nigerian
women were most likely to accept the violence (20%) as part of the job.
Their acceptance was based on the fact that there are many dangerous/ crazy
clients, and that you put up with it to help your family. It is important to note that many
of the women in this group did not answer the question (27%), and 53% answered
that they did not accept violence. Of the respondents from Thailand/ Latin America
and Norway/ Denmark, 92% and 88% respectively did not accept violence, whilst 8%
and 3% respectively did accept violence.
- 44 -

In the East European group, 83% did not accept violence, whilst 17% accepted it.
They accepted it because pimps and clients are violent, and they are dependent on
those people for them to be able to work in prostitution.
The degree to which the women accept violence as an inherent part of prostitution
depends on the market in which they operate21.

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Yes
No
Dont know
Did not answer

All

Indoor

Street Both indoor

and street

The majority of the women in all of the categories responded that they did not accept
violence as part of the job. Of the indoor sex workers, an overwhelming 94% said
that violence was unacceptable. The women who had experienced least violence
were therefore the group where the highest proportion of women said that they did
not accept violence. You can wonder whether their attitude affects how likely they are
to suffer violence. It would make an interesting discussion, but the material in this
survey can neither justify nor confirm any such conclusion. 88% of the women who
work both indoors and on the streets said that they did not accept violence, whilst this
was only true for 58% of the ones who work on the streets. The women who only
worked on the streets were also most likely (21%) to say that violence had to be
accepted as part of the job. Our material does not explain why acceptance was
higher on the streets. Perhaps this is related to the fact that the highest acceptance
of violence (20%) existed amongst the Nigerian women who worked on the streets. It
is also fair to assume that the women who work on the streets witness more violence
than the ones who work indoors or in both markets. Perhaps acceptance increases
with more frequent exposure to violence?

4.4 Attitudes versus experiences

In spite of the fact that many of the women had experienced prostitution-related
violence, the vast majority of them believed that violence against prostitutes was
unacceptable. Pro Sentret considers this to be a healthy sign. Violence is never
acceptable. It is important to send this message to society, and it is important for the
women to make people aware of it.

21

The categories dont know and did not answer are not included in the table.

- 45 -

It is likely that attitudes to violence in Norwegian society in general influence the

attitudes of the women in this survey. Norway is a country with a strong focus on
womens rights and equal opportunity. In 2008, violence against women is a topic
that is high up the social agenda. The message from politicians and from the man on
the street is that violence against women is unacceptable. One of the natural
consequences is that women working as prostitutes also internalise that attitude.
Some people might think that the womens recognition of the risks of prostitution, and
the fact that many of them have experienced prostitution-related violence, would
make them more accepting of violence. The argument being that the more you
experience and see violence, the more you accept it. If you agree with that argument,
the reason for the lack of acceptance may be that although many of the women have
experienced prostitution-related violence, it is not something that forms part of their
everyday experience. Most of the women who had experienced prostitution-related
violence only reported 1-3 incidents, which means that violence is not what we would
generally consider normal. If you look at the number of customer contacts (e.g. five
a day, five days a week) relative to the number of violent incidents (between one and
three over the time that they have worked as a prostitute), violence is very much the
exception and not the rule when selling sex.

- 46 -

Consequences of criminalisation

One of the questions we asked in our survey was whether the women thought that
the risk of violence would change with the criminalisation of the buying of sex. 74%
answered that they thought it would, whilst 12% thought that it wouldnt. 7% did not
know, and 7% did not answer the question.
Indoor sex workers were most likely (89%) to say that the risk would change. Of the
ones who worked both indoors and on the streets many (75%) also answered that
they thought that the risks would change, whilst just over half (54%) of the ones who
worked on the streets thought that there would be a change.
The bar chart below shows how many of the women think that the risk will change,
and how many do not, split into the various national groups. A clear majority of the
women in all of the national groups think that the risks will change whey the buying of
sex is criminalised.22

90
80
70
60

50
40
Yes

30

No

20
10
0
Nigeria

22

Thailand/ Latin
America

Eastern
Europe

Norway/
Denmark

Those who did not answer the question or were not sure are not shown in the table.

- 47 -

5.1 The risk of violence will change

Of the 74% who thought that the risk of violence would change with the introduction
of criminalisation, 90% thought that they would be more at risk than they currently
were. Many based their reply on the fact that prostitution would become less visible,
that it would become more organised by criminal groups with pimps, facilitators and
human traffickers, that the police would not know what was happening, that the
women would be afraid of reporting violence, that welfare services would be cut back
and that the decent customers would disappear, and the nasty ones would
remain. In the following quotes, the women express a great deal of concern about the
future.
The welfare services will be cut back on, and the women will be left at the mercy of
the customers and facilitators, and no-one else, because street prostitution will
disappear.
No-one will dare to report assaults, and no-one will be protected.
The decent customers will be scared away from the red-light district, and we will be
left with the arseholes.
Violence takes place in the customers home, which is where we will have to work
when buying sex is criminalised.
There will be lots of secret groups, and they will be controlled by pimps the women
will work free of charge and face violence.
Men will steal free sex, and wont be caught.
Another consequence that was repeatedly pointed out, was the belief that women
outside prostitution would also face more violence with the advent of criminalisation.
Several of them thought that young girls would be particularly vulnerable. They
argued that prostitutes act as a kind of buffer against violence and rape against
other women in society, because they provide men with a release for their sexual
preferences or frustrations. One woman explained it as follows: Many lonely,
psychologically ill or mentally unstable men will turn to violence when it becomes
more difficult to buy sex.
7% of the women who said that they thought that the risk would change answered
that there would be less violence against prostitutes when buying sex was
criminalised. Few of these women gave a reason for their answer, but one said that
she thought that customers would stop buying sex because of the fear of being
punished, whilst another one said that the women would face less violence from
facilitators because the facilitators would lose the control over the streets that they
currently enjoy.

5.2 The risk of violence will not change

Of the women who participated in the survey, 12% said that they thought that the risk
of violence would not change with the advent of criminalisation. Their reasons for
thinking so were that prostitution and violence would continue to exist regardless of
the law.
- 48 -

Another reason given was that the law would lead to less prostitution in Norway and
more in other countries, with the amount of violence remaining constant. One of the
respondents had little belief in any kind of change because as long as there are
people in the world, there will always be prostitution and violence.
Some said that they did not believe that the risk for women working as prostitutes
would change, but that other women in society would become more vulnerable if
prostitution declined. Their reason for saying so was that prostitution prevents rape.

5.3 What does Pro Sentret believe?

It is hard to be sure what will happen to the prostitution market when it becomes a
criminal offence to buy sex. Nevertheless, we will set out some of the things that we
think might happen.
Prostitution will become less visible
When the buying of sex was criminalised in Sweden in 1999, street prostitution
declined significantly (Stridbeck, Kristiansen and Schei 2004). Pro Sentret believes
that this will also be one of the consequences of criminalisation in Norway. We
assume that some of the women who currently work as street prostitutes will leave
prostitution behind, that some of them will travel to other countries to sell sexual
services and that some will start working in the indoor market and/ or build up a circle
of regular clients (Pro Sentret 2008).
This survey has shown that indoor sex workers were less likely to experience
violence (33%) than the ones who worked on the streets (58%) or in both markets.
The indoor sex workers also experienced less serious violence than the ones who
operated on the streets. Surveys from other countries also confirm that women who
only work indoors suffer less violence, and less serious violence, than women who
work as street prostitutes (Vanwesenbeeck 1994, Church, Henderson, Barnard and
Hart 2001).
In Pro Sentrets experience, most of the indoor sex workers are from Norway, the rest
of Europe and Asia. We believe that most of the women who currently sell sex in the
indoor/ advertisement market in Oslo are in the country legally, and know Norway
relatively well. Some of them live permanently in Norway, whilst others travel
between different countries, returning to Norway at regular intervals. Few of the
indoor sex workers have a serious drug or alcohol problem.
Street prostitution is where we find the most marginalised women working as
prostitutes. Of the Norwegian women, most of them have drug or alcohol problems,
weak educational backgrounds and financial problems. The foreign women generally
know little about Norway, are unaware of their rights, do not speak good Norwegian,
have problems finding somewhere to stay, are looking after their families in their
home countries and are/ have been the victims of human trafficking.
Pro Sentret believes that without help from others the women who currently dominate
street prostitution in Oslo will have big problems establishing themselves in the
indoor market when criminalisation comes into force. The vast majority will therefore
travel to other countries to try their luck there, whilst a few will attempt to enter the
indoor market. In 2007 (Pro Sentret 2008), Pro Sentret noticed that a few of the
foreign women working as street prostitutes attempted to establish themselves in the

- 49 -

indoor market. Pro Sentret believes that those who choose to stay in Norway after
the advent of criminalisation will be very vulnerable to organised criminal groups if
they wish to enter the advertisement market.
It is also probable that a few women will continue to work as street prostitutes after
the new law comes in. These are likely to be the ones who feel that they do not have
any alternatives, or who have mental health and addiction problems, and their
activities will probably become less visible than they currently are. In a 2005 opinion
piece for the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Ulf Strindbeck, the head of the
Working group on the legal regulation of the purchase of sexual services, wrote that
the customers who will continue to buy sex on the streets after criminalisation will be
the less pleasant customers, and not the averagely friendly ones. It is therefore likely
that the situation of the women who remain in street prostitution after the new law
comes into force will worsen.
Will fewer women ask for help?
The below table shows who the women go to for help after being the victims of
prostitution-related violence.

70
60
50
40

All
Indoor market
Street market
Both indoor and
street markets

%
30
20
10
0
Friends Hospital A&E centre Police

Pro
Sentret

Indoor sex workers experience less violence than the women who work on the
streets. Nor is the violence that they face as serious as the violence experienced by
the women on the streets. When looking at the number of women seeking help, and
where they seek help, it is obviously important to look at the type of violence that they
have experienced. They are more likely to ask for help from the police or hospital if
they have been seriously physically abused than if they have been pushed. This may
help to explain why significantly more of the women who work on the streets or both
indoors and on the streets have asked for help from various sources. It is, however,
important to note that none of the women who only worked indoors had sought help
from a hospital, an accident and emergency centre or the police after experiencing
- 50 -

violence. Is that because they had not experienced much serious violence, or is it
because the indoor market is more hidden and remote from the welfare service
providers?
Most of the women currently involved in street prostitution have more day-to-day
contact with the welfare service providers than the women who only sell sex indoors.
The police are visible on the streets, and the women also meet welfare service
providers such as Pro Sentret and Nadheim on the streets on a weekly basis. Many
of them also visit the welfare service providers regularly for health checks, condoms,
food and other things. Being in regular contact with a welfare service provider will
probably make you more likely to go there for help, in addition to which the women
are more likely to seek help, the more serious the violence is that they have suffered.
If street prostitution declines with the introduction of the ban on purchasing sex, the
women who move from street prostitution into the indoor market will probably have
less contact with the welfare service providers, because the police and welfare
services will not be visible in their everyday lives. This may also be one of the
consequences for the women who continue to work as street prostitutes, as they will
also be operating more discretely. If the welfare service providers become more
remote, the threshold for contacting them will probably rise. We believe that there is
reason to be concerned that even fewer of the women will ask for help when they
have to operate in greater secrecy.
More violence against women working as prostitutes?
Many of the women who work as street prostitutes reported receiving threats and
harassment from strangers who come walking or driving past them. If criminalisation
leads to a reduction in street prostitution, the amount of this type of violence and
harassment might fall. On the other hand, there is a risk that greater marginalisation
will help to legitimise precisely that kind of violence against the women who continue
working on the streets.
Indoor sex workers encounter few random passers-by, and it is unlikely that this
type of violence and harassment will move to the indoor market. As on the streets,
the perpetrators of violence against indoor sex workers are generally new clients.
There is no reason to believe that this will change with criminalisation. It is not clear
whether indoor sex workers will be more at risk of client violence when the ban on
buying sex comes into force. In so far as prostitution will become less visible, and the
women will therefore become more vulnerable, there is a possibility that this will be
the case. If clients know that the women have little contact with welfare service
providers, and have a higher threshold for seeking help, this may lower the threshold
for perpetrating violence against them. Some of the violent customers who mainly
buy sex on the streets are likely to buy sex on the indoor market if street prostitution
declines. It is naive to believe that criminalisation will stop these men from buying sex
and from being violent.
In his 2005 opinion piece for Aftenposten, Stridbeck points out that the ones who
continued working as street prostitutes in Sweden after criminalisation experienced
greater fear of violence, more demands for unprotected sex, a higher risk of
contracting sexually transmitted diseases, more pimps and problems with getting

- 51 -

support from the social welfare and health authorities. He therefore claims that
criminalisation has made the situation of the street prostitutes worse.
In terms of the indoor market, Pro Sentret knows that many of the women who
currently work there are concerned that the police will spy on the women to reach the
clients. One of the consequences of this concern may be that the women will attempt
to hide their activities more than they currently do, which will make the market less
transparent. This may lead to more women choosing to work alone in flats, rather
than with other women, in order to hide what they are doing. Pro Sentret is
concerned that a less transparent market with more women working alone will lead to
greater vulnerability to violence in the indoor market.
Pro Sentret assumes that prostitution will become more hidden, which may lead to
organised criminals getting more involved in the indoor market. We have also seen
that Stredbeck (2005) reported that there was more organised crime on the streets in
Sweden after criminalisation.
Pro Sentret believes that the involvement of more organised criminal groups and
pimps in street prostitution and the indoor market may lead to the women becoming
more likely to suffer violence both at the hands of the people organising the
prostitution for them and of customers. This is because their activities will be less
visible, and because they are likely to become more dependent on the help of
facilitators. We are also concerned about reports of more serious violence against the
women working as prostitutes after the ban on buying sex in Sweden (Stridbeck,
Kristiansen and Schei 2004).
More violence against women in general?
As mentioned previously, many of the women who participated in the survey believed
that the rest of the women in society would suffer more violence and rape when the
buying of sex was criminalised. Their argument was that prostitutes act as a kind of
buffer against violence and rape against other women in society, because they
provide men with a release for their sexual preferences, desires or frustrations.
The claim that the sale of sexual services prevents rape is often used in the debate
on prostitution. Like the women in our survey, some people claim that prostitution has
a social function, because it allows some men to vent sexual frustrations, sexual
desires and sexual preferences that they would otherwise have no outlet for. Many
other people would call this claim a myth.
As far as Pro Sentret knows, there is no evidence that women suffer more violence
and rape in societies where there is little prostitution than in ones where there is a lot
of prostitution. Nor do we believe that there is any evidence that men, if they are
unable to find release for their sexual desire through purchasing sex, force and
threaten other people into having sex. We know that people can live without sex for
short or long periods without turning to violence.

- 52 -

Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to document the violence, threats and harassment
currently experienced by women working as prostitutes. The reason for this was that
existing surveys describe the violence in a prostitution market that has changed
significantly in recent years. In view of the imminent criminalisation of the buying of
sex, it was also important to document the situation today, in order to allow us to
monitor how the prostitution market develops.
The main findings show that women who have worked as prostitutes experience a
great deal of violence both within and outside prostitution. They suffer considerably
higher violence victimisation rates than other women, and the violence they face is
often very serious. When the violence is prostitution-related, the perpetrator is almost
always a stranger. When the women suffer non-prostitution-related violence, the
perpetrator is often their partner or another person they know. In general the results
of this survey coincide with the findings of other Norwegian and international studies.
The results are depressing, and it is very worrying that the women believe that the
future may be even worse. Like our respondents, Pro Sentret fears that the imminent
ban on buying sex may further marginalise women working as prostitutes, which in
turn may make them more vulnerable to violence. We hope that both the women and
us are wrong with respect to that. However, it was pleasing to see that the majority of
our respondents believed that violence cannot be accepted as part of the job. They
are sending a clear message that violence is never acceptable.
This survey has demonstrated that our respondents have a very high threshold for
seeking help after they have been the victims of violence. In that regard they are not
different from other women who suffer violence. It is therefore particularly important
at the moment to monitor changes in the market, to work actively to prevent
prostitutes from suffering violence and to improve the existing welfare services.
Pro Sentret will increase its focus on violence against prostitutes in the coming years.
We want to reduce violence victimisation rates by teaching the women the best ways
of avoiding potentially dangerous situations when selling sexual services. Safety at
work is also important for our clients. We also want to improve the cooperation
between us and other relevant welfare services, such as the police, an accident and
emergency centre, emergency clinics for rape victims and legal aid lawyers. It is
important for a marginalised and stigmatised group of people like our clients to feel
confident that they will be treated with respect when they approach public welfare
services after having suffered prostitution-related violence.

- 53 -

For a number of years we have provided health care services to our clients, with a
focus on sexual and reproductive health. It will probably be sensible to broaden the
range of health care services that we provide to our clients to include violence
prevention.
Pro Sentret must work to ensure that politicians and the authorities responsible for
funding services also focus on the violence, threats and harassment faced by women
working as prostitutes. As a marginalised group in society, they are particularly
vulnerable to violence, and on account of their residency status, many of them have
limited access to health care services in Norway. Pro Sentret believes that the
Norwegian authorities must take responsibility for all women who suffer violence by
providing adequate support.
It is our hope that by documenting the womens lives in general, and their
vulnerability to violence in particular, we can help to improve peoples understanding
of who these women are, what their lives are like and what rights and needs they
have. We hope that greater understanding will help to improve the women's lives,
prevent further marginalisation, improve the welfare services and thereby somewhat
reduce the violence, threats and harassment they face both within and outside
prostitution.

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Appendix
INFORMATION ABOUT THE QUESTIONNAIRE
EXPERIENCES REGARDING VIOLENCE, HARASSMENT
AND THREATS.
During the fall of 2007, Pro Sentret will examine what experiences women in
prostitution have on violence, harassment and threats. The questionnaire is, of course,
anonymous and cannot be traced back to you!
The questionnaire consists of five sections:
PART 1: Personal information
PART 2: Last years experiences with violence, harassment and threats related to prostitution.
PART 3: All experiences with violence, harassment and threats related to prostitution.
PART 4: Experiences with violence, harassment and threats not related to prostitution.
PART 5: Thoughts on violence, harassment and threats.

In the questionnaire we have chosen to use the following terms for violence, harassment
and threats:
Threatened/forced

Held down

Pushed

Locked up

Punched with fist

Hit with flat hand

Pinched

Thrown out of car

Kicked

Pulled hair

Bit

Scratched

Burned

Strangled/choked

Raped

Robbed/tried to rob

Spit at

Called names

Unwanted touching of private parts

Threatened/forced to having sex not agreed upon

Threatened with a weapon

You can also add other actions, which you would define as violence, threats and harassment.

How do you answer the questionnaire?

On the questions with many answers too choose from, you circle your answer. On the
questions that have a dotted line (.), you write your own answer on the line. If you
have any questions regarding the questionnaire or need help to fill it out, please ask somebody
who works here.

We greatly appreciate that youll take the time to answer the questionnaire! It is
important to focus on violence towards women in prostitution, and learn more about it.

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Questionnaire on experiences on violence, harassment and threats

PART 1: Personal information

1. How old are you? .
2. Which country are you from?
3. How long have you been selling sex? ..
4. Are you dependant upon any drugs?
5. Do you sell sex now?
Yes
No
6. Where do/did you work? In the streets
Indoors
Both in the streets and indoors.
7. Have you sold sex in other countries than Norway?
No
Yes If yes, where?

PART 2: Violence, harassment and threats related to prostitution the last

year
1. Have you experienced violence, harassment and/or threats related to prostitution the
last year?
Yes
No
(If your answer is yes, go to the next question. If you answered no go to part 3.)
2. How many times have you experienced violence, harassment and/or threats?
Dont remember
1-3
4-6
7-10
More than 10 times
3. Who did this to you?
a) Man/men

Woman/women

Both

b) Was the person/violator:

Regular client
New client
Unknown, in a car
Pimp/boss/souteneur/madam
Unknown, walking by
Another sex worker
A drug addict that you know
Other: .
4. Where did it happen?
a)
On the street
In a car
At a hotel
In your apartment
In the violators apartment At a massage parlour
In a work apartment
Other:
b)
In Norway
In another country/other countries
Both in Norway and in another country/other countries
If another country, where?
5. What type of violence/threat/harassment was it?
a) Threatened/forced
Held down
Pushed
Locked up
Punched with fist
Hit with flat hand
Pinched
Thrown out of car
Kicked
Pulled hair
Bit
Scratched
Burned
Strangled/choked
Raped
Robbed/tried to rob
Spit at
Called names
Unwanted touching of private parts

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Threatened/forced to have sex not agreed upon

Threatened with a weapon
Other:
b) Have you ever experienced different types of violence/harassment/threats at the same
time? (for example raped, pinched and kicked at the same time)
No
Yes
If yes, which types at the same time? ...
If yes, how many persons did this to you? ...
If yes, who were there person(s)? ...
6. Weapons used
Were any objects/weapons used?
Yes
No
If yes, which? ...
7. Consequences of violence/harassment/threats both physical and emotional
None
Scared
Pain that went away quickly after
Visible injury (sore, bruise etc)
Serious threat on your life Anxiety/emotional harm
Pain that lasted more than 1 hour
Other:
8. Who helped you after this?
Nobody
Legevakt(emergency room)
Police
Friends
Hospital
Partner
Family
Client
Didnt need help
Pro Sentret
|
Nadheim
Natthjemmet
Women shelter (krisesenteret)
Other:

PART 3: Experiences on violence, harassment and threats related to

prostitution
1. Have you ever experienced violence, harassment and/or threats related to
prostitution?
Yes
No
(If your answer is yes here, go to the next question. If you answered no here, go to part 4)
2. How many times have you ever experienced violence/harassment/threats?
Dont remember
1-3
4-6
7-10 More than 10 times
3. Who did this to you?
a) Man/men

Woman/women

Both

b) Was the person/violator:

Regular client
New client
Unknown, in a car
Pimp/boss/souteneur/madam
Unknown, walking by
Another sex worker
A drug addict that you know
Other: .

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4. Where did it happen?

a)
On the street
In a car
At a hotel
In your apartment
In the violators apartment At a massage parlour
In a work apartment
Other:
b)
In Norway
In another country/other countries Both Norway and other country/countries
If another country, where?
5. What type of violence/threat/harassment was it?
a) Threatened/forced
Held down
Pushed
Locked up
Punched with fist
Hit with flat hand
Pinched
Thrown out of car
Kicked
Pulled hair
Bit
Scratched
Burned
Strangled/choked
Raped
Robbed/tried to rob
Spit at
Called names
Unwanted touching of private parts
Threatened/forced to have sex not agreed upon
Threatened with a weapon
Other:
b) Have you experienced different types of violence/harassment/threats at the same
time? (for example raped, pinched and kicked at the same time)
No
Yes
If yes, which types at the same time? ...
If yes, how many persons did this to you? ...
If yes, who were there person(s)? ...
6. Weapons used
Were any objects/weapons used?
Yes
No
If yes, which? ...
7. Consequences of violence/harassment/threats both physical and mental
None
Scared
Pain that went away quickly after
Visible injury (sore, bruise etc)
Serious threat on your life Anxiety/ emotional harm
Pain that lasted more than 1 hour
Other:
8. Who helped you after this?
Nobody
Legevakt(emergency room) Police
Friends
Hospital
Partner
Family
Client
Didnt need help
Pro Sentret
Nadheim
Natthjemmet
Women shelter (krisesenteret)
Other:

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PART 4: Violence, harassment and threat not related to prostitution

1. Have you ever experienced violence, harassment and/or threats that were not related
to prostitution?
Yes
No
(If your answer is yes, go to the next question. If you answered no, go to part 5)
2. How many times have you experienced this?
Dont remember
1-3
4-6
7-10

More than 10 times

3. About how old were you the first time you remember that you experienced violence,
harassment and/or threats?
.
4. Who did this to you?
a)
Man/men

Woman/women

Both

b)
Was the person/violator:
Parent
Sister/brother
Other family member
Partner
Friend
Someone you know just a little
Someone you dont know
Other: .
5. Have you experienced violence, harassment and/or threats more than one time from
the same person/persons?
Yes
Who? .
No
6. What type of violence/harassment/threats was it?
a)
Threatened/forced
Held down
Pushed
Locked up
Punched with fist
Hit with flat hand
Pinched
Thrown out of car
Kicked
Pulled hair
Bit
Scratched
Burned
Strangled/choked
Raped
Robbed/tried to rob
Spit at
Called names
Unwanted touching of private parts
Threatened/forced to have sex not agreed upon
Threatened with a weapon
Other:
b) Have you experienced different types of violence/harassment/threats at the same
time?
No
Yes
If yes, which types at the same time? ...
If yes, how many persons did this to you? ...
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If yes, who were there person(s)? ...

7. Weapons used
Were any objects/weapons used?
Yes
No
If yes, which? ...
8. Consequences of violence/harassment/threats both physical and mental
None
Scared
Pain that went away quickly after
Visible damage (sore, bruise etc)
Serious threat on your life Anxiety/ emotional harm
Pain that lasted more than 1 hour
Other:
9. Who helped you after this?
Nobody
Didnt need help
Police
Friends
Legevakt(emergency room)
Hospital
Partner
Family
Client
Doctor/health service Pro Sentret
Nadheim
Natthjemmet
Women shelter (krisesenteret)
School
Childrens welfare system Social service
Other:

PART 5: Thoughts on violence, harassment and threats

1. Do you believe that women in prostitution experience more violence than women who
do not work as prostitutes?
Yes
No
Reason:

2. Is violence something that you have to accept as part of the job when you work as a
prostitute?
Yes
No
Reason:

3. What type of violence, harassment and threat are you most scared of? (Circle
maximum five answers)
Threatened/forced
Held down
Pushed
Locked up
Punched with fist
Hit with flat hand
Pinched
Thrown out of car
Kicked
Pulled hair
Bit
Scratched
Burned
Strangled/choked
Raped
Robbed/tried to rob
Spit at
Called names
Unwanted touching of private parts
Threatened/forced to have sex not agreed upon
Threatened with a weapon

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4. Would you say that some of these actions are not violence, harassment and threats?
Threatened/forced
Held down
Pushed
Locked up
Punched with fist
Hit with flat hand
Pinched
Thrown out of car
Kicked
Pulled hair
Bit
Scratched
Burned
Strangled/choked
Raped
Robbed/tried to rob
Spit at
Called names
Unwanted touching of private parts
Threatened/forced to have sex not agreed upon
5. If you have experienced violence/harassment/threats, what did you do afterwards to
deal with it?
..
..
..
..
6. Do you worry that you might be exposed to violence/harassment/threats?
Yes
No
If yes, what to you do to handle the fear?
..
..
..
..
7. What do you do to protect yourself against violence/harassment/threats?
..
..
..
8. How do you think you can improve your own protection against
violence/harassment/threats?
..
..
..
..

9. What can Pro Sentret do to help you to protect yourself more from
violence/harassment and threats?
..
..
..
..
10. What can politicians and social services do to improve the safety for women in
prostitution?
..
..

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..
..
11. When it comes to violence, do you think that the situation will change for women in
prostitution, when it becomes criminal to buy sex?
Yes
More risk of violence
Less risk of violence
No
Reason:

12. Some feminist groups say that prostitution is violence against women. On one
feminist groups website, they write, Prostitution does not only harm the women who
work as prostitutes. It is a harm to all women. Accepting prostitution contributes to, and
maintains suppression of women, and makes us [women] second-rate people. Do you
agree?
Yes
No
Reason:

Thank you for taking time to answer the questionnaire

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References
Church, Stephaine, Marion Henderson, Marina Bernard and Graham Hart (2001):
Violence by clients towards female prostitutes in different work settings:
questionnaire survey, I British Medical Journal March 2001. London: British
Medical Journal
Haaland, Thomas (1997): Et varmt hjem i en kald hverdag. En evaluering av
Natthjemmet for prostituerte. [A warm home in a cold life. An evaluation of the
night shelter for prostitutes.] Oslo: NIBR
Hjemdal, Ole Kristian, Hilde Pape and Kari Stefansen (2004): Introduction to Den
skjulte volden? En underskelse om Oslobefolkningens utsatthet for trusler,
vold og seksuelle overgrep. [The hidden violence? A study of the Oslo
populations risk of suffering threats, violence and sexual abuse.] Kari
Stefansen and Hilde Pape (ed.) Oslo: NKVTS/NOVA, NKVTS report
no.1/2004.
Higrd, Cecilie and Liv Finstad (1986): Bakgater. Om prostitusjon, penger og
kjrlighet. [On prostitution, money and love.] Oslo: Pax Forlag AS.
Isdal, Per (2000): Meningen med volden. [The meaning of the violence.] Oslo:
Kommuneforlaget.
Karlsen, Cecilie (1993): Mdre og engler. En evaluering av to tiltak for prostituerte i
Oslo. [Mothers and Angels. An evaluation of two welfare organisations for
prostitutes in Oslo.] Oslo: Diakonhjemmet University College
Kilian, Jannicke, Marte degrd Lund and the Kaia team at the outreach service in
Bergen (2002): Walk on the wild side. Om kvinner i gateprostitusjonen i
Bergen og vold. [Report on violence against street prostitutes in Bergen.]
Bergen: City of Bergen, Health and Social Services Department.
Natthjemmet (2000): Begrunnelse for ndvendige srtiltak mot vold. [Justification
for the special measures needed against violence.] Letter from Natthjemmet
and Pro Sentret. Oslo
Kristvik, Ellen (2005): Sterke hovud og sterke hjarte. Thailandske kvinner p den
norske sexmarknaden. [Strong minds and strong hearts Thai women in the
Norwegian sex market.] Oslo: Department of Medical Anthropology, Institute
for General Practice and Community Medicine.
Norli, Bjrg (2006): Utenlandsk prostitusjon i Oslo. [Foreign prostitution in Norway]
Oslo: Pro Sentret, City of Oslo.
Norli, Bjrg (2007): Prostitusjon et ordensproblem? [Prostitution: a law and order
issue?] in Pro Sentrets 2006 annual report. Oslo: Pro Sentret, City of Oslo.

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NOU 2008:4: Fra ord til handling. Bekjempelse av voldtekt krever handling. [From
words to deeds. Combating violence requires action.] Oslo, 2008
Pape, Hilde (2004): Gjerningsmannens kjnn og relasjon til offeret [The perpetrators
sex and relationship to the victim] in Den skjulte volden? En underskelse om
Oslobefolkningens utsatthet for trusler, vold og seksuelle overgrep. [The
hidden violence? A study of the Oslo populations risk of suffering threats,
violence and sexual abuse.] Kari Stefansen and Hilde Pape (ed.) Oslo:
NKVTS/NOVA, NKVTS report no.1/2004.
Pape, Hilde (2004): Ofre for vold og trusler et oversiktsbilde [Victims of violence
and threats an overview] in Den skjulte volden? En underskelse om
Oslobefolkningens utsatthet for trusler, vold og seksuelle overgrep. [The
hidden violence? A study of the Oslo populations risk of suffering threats,
violence and sexual abuse.] Kari Stefansen and Hilde Pape (ed.) Oslo:
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om Oslobefolkningens utsatthet for trusler, vold og seksuelle overgrep. [The
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violence and sexual abuse.] Kari Stefansen and Hilde Pape (ed.) Oslo:
NKVTS/NOVA, NKVTS report no.1/2004.
Pro Sentret (2007): Hringsuttalelse om forslag om kriminalisering av sex-kjp.
[Consultation statement on the proposal to criminalise the purchase of sex.]
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PION (2007): Hringsuttalelse om forslag om kriminalisering av sex-kjp.
[Consultation statement on the proposal to criminalise the purchase of sex.]
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abroad] a qualitative study of transnational prostitution to Norway from
Eastern Europe. Masters thesis in sociology at the Department of Sociology
and Human Geography at the University of Oslo.
Skilbrei, May-Len (1998): Nr sex er arbeid [When sex is work]. Oslo: Pax Forlag
A/S.
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drmmer p europeiske gater. Nigerianske kvinner i prostitusjon i Norge.
[African dreams on European streets. Nigerian women working as prostitutes in
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repatriation among Nigerian women in prostitution in Norway. Oslo: Fafo.
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prostitusjonen. [The sexual slave class? A report on the clients of prostitutes.]
Oslo: Pro Sentret, City of Oslo.

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Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs (2007): Hringsuttalelse om

forslag om kriminalisering av sex-kjp. [Consultation statement on the proposal
to criminalise the purchase of sex.]
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kriminalisering av sex-kjp. [Consultation statement on the proposal to
criminalise the purchase of sex.]
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Aftenposten, 5 January 2005
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Nederland. Reguleringer og erfaringer. [Buying sex in Sweden and the
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Pro Sentret is:

a national centre of expertise on prostitution. We are also the City of Oslos welfare
service for women and men who have been involved in prostitution. We receive central
government and municipal funding. We have 16 employees and several volunteers.
AS A CENTRE OF EXPERTISE, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE THROUGHOUT NORWAY FOR
PROVIDING ADVICE AND SPREADING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT:
female and male prostitution, and child prostitution
the reasons for and harmful effects of prostitution
good approaches for social work with people who are prostituting themselves
Our task is to look at prevention strategies, have an equal opportunity perspective and
keep up-to-date with trends in Norway and internationally.
We shall provide advice in response to requests from employees in the welfare services
respond to enquiries from prostitutes throughout Norway
assist universities, colleges and other further education establishments with materials
and training, and initiate research
receive students and interns
prepare documentation and create a library
provide public information and work to change attitudes.
SOCIAL WELFARE MEASURES:
WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS: Work with individuals is at the heart of what we do. We
always start from the individual users need for advice and guidance, whether about
financial, legal or social and health issues. We also help people to change and develop at
a personal level. We have a duty of confidentiality.
DROP-IN CENTRE: The drop-in centre is a low threshold service which aims to provide
welfare and motivation. We encourage users to take part in running it. We organise
community projects and focus on improving personal health. Harm reduction and
rehabilitation are two of the methodologies that we use.
OUTREACH WORK AIMED AT PROSTITUTES: The main aim of this work is to spread
information about health issues and to provide preventive care. It is important to focus
particularly on young people involved in prostitution.
PROJECTS/ GROUP ACTIVITIES: Since Pro Sentret was founded in 1983, we have always
considered it important to be open to projects and group activities, both in order to
investigate/ map particular areas and to try out new methods.

Pro Sentret believes that:

All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one other in a
spirit of brotherhood. (From the UN Declaration of Human Rights)
Pro Sentret aims to base its work on our societys finest humanist traditions. Prostitution
is an act, not a human characteristic.
We aim to view individuals in a holistic light. Society needs to show solidarity towards
women and men who well sex. We must recognise them as subjects in their own lives,
and respect their choices. We aim to destroy myths and prejudices using insight and
information, and try to ensure that society does not stigmatise the people involved in
prostitution. Prostitution takes place when at least two parties buy or sell sexual services.
Society should invest heavily in preventing prostitution and in providing good welfare
services to people who want to escape from it. Our work must be based on a nonjudgemental attitude.

OSLO KOMMUNE

Tollbugaten 24 / N-0157 Oslo / Norway

Tel. +47 23 10 02 00 / Fax: +47 22 41 05 44 / E-mail:
prosentret@sby.oslo.kommune.no
www.prosentret.no
- 66 -