As the discussion around ‘toxic masculinity’ continues, a recent report was released which looked at ‘sex work’ legislation in Ireland and called for less regulation. The review of the Sexual Offences Act 2017 has assessed the impact of the law on sex workers in Ireland after three years. The law decriminalised the sale of sex and criminalised the purchase of sex, but there have been just 15 convictions from prosecutions under the measure, up to July last year.
But doesn’t that figure simply show that the State isn’t particularly interested in enforcing its own laws?
The idea of the law is essentially to go after the blokes; if you pay for sex, we will prosecute you publicly, with the idea being that such action will shame and deter people. Buyers of sex, who are predominantly male, can be fined €500 for buying sex under the legislation,
The Department of Justice, which conducted the report, notes that the objective of the legislation was to “reduce the demand for the purchase of sex by criminalising the act of purchasing,” having taken inspiration from the “Nordic model” which originated in Sweden. Also known as the Swedish model, the Nordic Model situates prostitution on a continuum of male violence against women – decriminalising prostituted individuals, but criminalising the purchase of sex and pimping.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told the Irish Independent that the Government’s position is that “prostitution is inherently exploitative of vulnerable people, mainly women and girls, and that many people are forced into prostitution through trafficking, drug addiction, homelessness and poverty”.
Why, then, has demand for prostitution in Ireland not fallen? Why have there only been a handful of convictions under the law – which was supposed to drive down demand? Surely the first question to be asked is why the prosecutions against buyers of sex weren’t brought in the first place?
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said: “Regrettably, the Review highlights that despite the criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services, demand has not decreased. The Review points to recommendations to address this around awareness raising; these are mirrored in the Programme for Government and the Zero Tolerance Strategy.”
I find it interesting that at a time when the concept of toxic masculinity has become so prevalent – a term used in media discussions to refer to aspects of masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny and violent domination – very little attention is given to the men in our society who buy sex. And that despite laws such as this one, there seems to be very, very little appetite to actually use the law to prosecute these sorts of men — who, in my view, probably should qualify as being “toxic.”
The department also said that there is a “small but active advocacy lobby for the full decriminalisation of sex work in Ireland”. The Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland (SWAI) – the most prominent campaigners on this issue, given copious media support in addition to taxpayer funding – have pointed to Belgium, where a new law was passed at the end of 2024 to fully decriminalise sex work, granting sex workers the same employment rights as other workers. Is the law wonderfully progressive, or is it, in effect, pulling dangerous pimps from the shadows, endowing them with the status of a legitimate employer? I would argue the latter.
Essentially, a law like Belgium sanitises prostitution, through giving contracts to those who sell sex in brothels, granting the entitlement to things like pensions, maternity pay, and sick leave. This is what the SWAI mean when they talk about “protections” and “safety” for sex workers here, but there is grave danger in granting such legitimacy to a form of blatant exploitation.
Ireland has more than enough problems, and more than enough violence – look at the statistics which point to a significant rise in things like domestic violence and sexual offences – without opening the door to a legal sex industry generating billions in other countries. The Government must resist calls from well-funded lobby groups who wish to establish an industry like the one seen in Germany, for instance, where prostitution is fully legalised.
Over a million men visit German brothels every day – with the country having more prostitutes per capita than anywhere else in Europe. There are even ‘Mega-brothels’ in some German cities. Do we want this in Ireland? Would this be good for an Ireland which is currently falling apart at the seams? I don’t hear the national broadcaster talking about the kind of “toxic masculinity” which would be unleashed onto our streets and given the green light if pro-sex work campaigners get their way.
It’s also interesting to look at the cohort of men who are likely to pay for sex. While there is little research on the issue here in Ireland, a 2019 study commissioned by the Home Office in the UK found that in Britain, more than one in ten men had used prostitutes. Most buyers of sex were middle class men in their 30s to 50s, the Government-commissioned report noted.
Researchers from the University of Bristol questioned some 529 current or former prostitutes for the study, who reported that men tended to be married and with “high-status,” while some were “high-profile.” They also said that middle class and upper class men were more likely to use brothels, and more likely to have sexual interests similar to those in the Fifty Shades of Grey film. What’s also significant is that in the UK, the proportion of men admitting to paying for sex has shot up from two per cent in 1990, to four per cent in 2000, and 11 per cent as per one of the only national studies to ask the question, the Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles.
Why, then, is the conversation about being a toxic male so centred on teenage boys? Why is it focused solely on ‘incels’ locked in their rooms on the internet – and not on real men, often middle aged, having sex with women who sell their bodies to make a living? And no, before the feminists come for me, this is not what female empowerment looks like.
Paying for sex isn’t cheap. It’s almost exclusively an activity of the middle classes. But where’s the outcry? Instead, we’ve chosen to hyper-focus on working-class teenage boys and push more online regulation. It’s easier to talk about young, anxious, self-conscious teenagers, and it’s easy to preach to them. But what is far harder is confront the uncomfortable truth about some of the grown men who should know better.
While we hear many buzzwords in the report and from the Minister of Justice about awareness and zero tolerance and law enforcement, the reality is that Escort-Ireland, the largest sexual services website in this country, remains a booming business attracting thousands of such clients.
Most sex purchases are made through the site, which contains explicit reviews of women selling sexual services and allows clients to rate them from one star to five. The site describes women, who look mainly foreign, as “top class” – and users can search over 1,000 escorts and dominatrix providers to find “their perfect type.” Five-star reviews pour in hourly on the site, some coming from the leafy suburbs of Rathmines, Ballsbridge and Clondalkin. There are reviews from those who have used sex workers all over the country, rating the women on physical appearance, satisfaction, and value for money. The site is as creepy as it is revealing, with clients reporting paying high sums.
“Looking forward to seeing her again,” men write of their experiences, while reporting rates in the region of €150 for 30 minutes with an ‘escort.’ One man, in a review from just a couple of days ago, laments the fact that there are “very few Irish ladies on the site.”
“I’ll definitely go back again,” many of the men write, and most speak of looking forward to seeing their favourite prostitutes again.
An investigation into the site last year by The Times newspaper highlighted the lack of regulation around the site – finding that you can create an account on the site without even providing identification to prove you are over 18. While you have to provide ID to advertise yourself as an escort of the site, you can still receive messages from users as well as promotional emails.
A survey of Escort-Ireland found 869 female escorts available for hire and no men. Only 30 of the women were Irish. Sixteen per cent were under the age of 25, including some aged just 18, The Times notes.
The newspaper also previously reported how several top Irish tourist destinations were being promoted on the site as locations for “sexual services” and “massages,” and how three Irish universities have been targeted by the website, claiming that student escorts are available for hire on their campuses.
Despite the change in the law, Google searches for the site have remained consistently high, with the highest number of searches for the site having come from Clonmel, Thurles, Tullamore, Ballina and Monaghan.
Ruth Breslin, a lead researcher at the sexual exploitation research programme at UCD, told The Times last year that she had found evidence of migrant women being advertised who had been trafficked into Ireland and were unaware that they were being advertised on the site.
“The women being advertised as very young at 18 or 19, for possibly low prices, are actually a red flag for trafficking or exploitation,” she said.
“So women who are available for a very short time for €50 would be considered a very low price in the trade. This trade is always rife with exploitation, so while there are absolutely people on that site who are advertising entirely of their own free will and keeping all their own money, there are many women where that is not the situation. Someone else is organising them and benefiting and profiting as well.”
Breslin also reiterated that people buying sex were “ordinary men” who were often married with children and had good jobs.
“These are guys who work in nice offices and make escort appointments at lunchtime or after work. All he has to say to his partner is ‘oh, I’ve been called into a late work meeting’ and no questions asked,” she said.
“I think sometimes people look at this as a seedy red light district that’s tucked away somewhere, but it’s in nice business districts, above a pub or next to a dentist — it’s in plain sight and you can find it in two clicks. Women are often only maybe four or five days at the one location which is colloquially called in the trade ‘being on tour’ — sex buyers are always looking for novelty and for new faces.”
The sites which facilitate such clear exploitation could be shut down if there really was the will to do it – what about the garda national protective services bureau blocking a number of sites that were found to host child abuse material just a number of years ago, or when we blocked Russian media channels? There are very clear indicators of trafficking and exploitation on the site, and swift action that could be taken for legitimate reasons, but nobody seems to care.
If we want to target real toxic masculinity, prostitution is the last thing the State should endorse.