ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Reducing sex work by targeting ‘vulnerable’ sex workers: A post-structural analysis of policies regulating Danish exit programmes directed at people involved in sex work

Henrik Karlsson

Corresponding Author

Henrik Karlsson

Department for Social Work, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Correspondence

Henrik Karlsson, Department for Social Work, Uppsala University, Box 624, SE-75126 Uppsala, Sweden.

Email: henrik.daniel.karlsson@uu.se

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First published: 10 May 2023

The data for this study is either publicly available on the Internet or available after request from the Danish National Board of Social Services.

This study has been performed as part of a dissertation project at the Department for Social Work at Uppsala University in Sweden. The Swedish Ethical Review Authority has ethically vetted and approved the project (dnr. 2021-00857).

Abstract

Despite the increased popularity of exit programmes targeting people involved in sex work, the research community has yet not critically scrutinised policies that regulate these programmes. This study aimed to start filling this research gap by studying the example of Denmark, a country that has implemented exit programmes although sex work remains partly decriminalised since 1999. In specific, this study has analysed policy documents that were formulated by the government and four Danish municipalities in relation to the government's latest grant called ‘Exit Package for People in Prostitution’, which was issued in 2019 to finance municipal exit programmes running between 2020 and 2023. The key finding indicates that the ‘problem’ of sex work is the sex work of the ‘vulnerable’ sex workers. Their sex work must be reduced because they risk being seriously harmed by their sex work activities. Implications from the findings of the study are discussed.

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