Only Fans? It’s men who are reaping the profits

Saga, let’s start from here: will we be talking about ‘prostitution’ or is it ‘sex work’?

I do not call it ‘sex work’ because that implies it is ‘work’ when it is really not. It is violence. It is violence against women and children mostly. By defining it as ‘sex work’, you are implying that people in prostitution aren’t experiencing violence when they actually are doing so, every single day. It is an act of buying another human’s body. This is violence and we need to take a stand against this.

Why is this issue close to heart?

Well, from my own experience, I was groomed from a young age, so I found myself in prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation as far back as childhood. I think it is very important to highlight that I was groomed, and that this was not a free choice. Statistics always show that most people are in prostitution not by their free will or to “make easy money” but because many women and children are in fact groomed into it. They would probably have been experiencing rape or sexual assault in the past which eventually leads them into prostitution and it was the same for me.

 What changed?

Three years ago I got out of this life with help from organisations. I found my way into a better life and what really helped me most was getting access to trauma therapy. It is only then that I could really start to work through this experience. At one point, I didn’t realise that prostitution was affecting me badly but once you get out of it you realise that you were in fact exploited and were experiencing a lot of violence every single day.

Is it true that people get very rich as prostitutes?

No not at all, very few do so. The pimps, the traffickers, they take most of the money. The majority of women in prostitution are homeless, living in poverty, stuck in abuse like drug abuse and so on. It’s a misconception that in prostitution that you make easy money.

Sex Exploitation Survivor Saga Broderson

How did you manage to exit prostitution?

For starters, I got help from organisations that help women in prostitution. I managed to get a safe place to live in because until then I was living around in a lot of different men’s apartments. I received trauma therapy. The fact that in Sweden we have the Nordic model, which implies that sex buyers and pimps are criminalized – but that women in prostitution are not criminalized – was also very helpful.

Locally many speak about the Nordic model: what is it?

It is about criminalising sex buyers and decriminalising the people in prostitution, which means that the government is stating: ‘you were not in it by free choice, so you are not a so called sex-worker’. It is men’s violence against women and it’s a structural problem. We’ve had the Nordic Model since 1999, the same year I was born. It gives the police better tools to detect sex buyers and helps social services to support women who are in prostitution.

I value the fact that you not only talk about a story that happened to you, which created a lot of pain and trauma, but you’re also involved in advocacy. Why are you doing it? Didn’t you have enough on your plate already?

Thank you and I appreciate your question. I coordinate Scandinavia’s biggest survivor network and we cooperate with a lot of other international organisations that work with these people, on how to criminalise sex buyers, how to develop better guidelines on a European level and so on. I’ve also co-founded the international survivor organisation ‘Beyond Survivors’, an initiative by an organisation called Child X, that works with preventing trafficking of children. We have been down at the European Parliament to speak on this subject. There is a report written by German MEP Maria Noichl and got approved so that’s a very big win for us.

What needs to be done?

It’s a tough question to answer but an important one. I think for starters we need to just keep on fighting for the introduction of the Nordic Model in as many countries as possible and hopefully it gets accepted in the entire EU. We’ve had countries, after Sweden, adopting, following us and which have enacted even better laws, for example like France. I also think the Noichl report will help further. So, we just need to keep on working and pushing hard.

Can you tell me more about the distinction between prostitution and ‘sex work’?

For starters, I understand why women or others involved in prostitution want to look at it as it as ‘my body’ and that ‘it is my choice’. But overall, you’re still stuck in this very patriarchal system. For example, if you look at the Only Fans website, the ones making the most money out of it are the owners – the founders of the platform, which are the men – whilst the people involved in it, by comparison, get almost nothing for it. So, you are still stuck in their hands basically. I just wish that everyone could see the bigger picture that there are men hovering above, making most of the money out of it, and they are treating ‘your’ body as property or as an object.

Saga, what is wrong with men? Why do they behave in this way?

I have been thinking about this so many times and also because I often come across men who are capable of empathy, love and warmth. When some women say that men are animals I do not believe that, because I want to believe that you aren’t! I believe that we need to fight this problem together. But then we have to realise that statistics show that 98. 99 per cent of all the perpetrators are men. I think it is a mix of power, a history of men always being in power and always treating women like this, and it goes on and on, over a number of generations. But we can stop it. I just think we have to work together more, men and women, against this problem.

You are working in places where there are wars and conflicts because it is known that over there, abuse happens more systematically…

I am not involved directly but we are in contact with organisations that are on the ground working with these women. For example, when the war in Ukraine broke out, we were in contact with some people who were on the borders trying to detect human trafficking. It’s a huge tragedy and problem, and I am very worried that with all the conflicts around the world that are going on, that it will increase human trafficking.

Are there particular reasons why it is easier for people, especially women and girls, to end up in such situations in, for example, certain regions in the world, where there is poverty or a culture where people end up in prostitution?

Yes there are plenty. We call it ‘risk factors’, because for instance here in Sweden or countries that have it better financially, the biggest risk factors are sexual assault in childhood and. being brought up in abusive homes, or being groomed online. When we talk about migrants coming to Sweden, the majority of people in prostitution here in Stockholm, are actually migrants. So yes, certain social conditions make it riskier.

How come these women are unable to escape?

Most often it is the result of fake promises from the traffickers. They promise easy money and food and they mostly offer work so that you can pay off all your debts and can send money back home to your family.  For example, most of the migrants here in Sweden are from Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria – countries that are very poor – and other countries like Ukraine which have an ongoing war. So, they are very exposed to being trafficked because they feel they have no other choice.

Is there hope for these people?

Yes. You just need to get the right help and you need to get it right. You need to be in an environment where people really help you out with the traumas and all that you’ve been through. Because if you are given the support and you treat the traumas that you’ve been through it is very possible to live a happier life after.

Unity Gazzetta is a collaboration between MaltaToday and the Faculty for Social Wellbeing