London, June 19, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – Buying a cappuccino is not the same as “ordering a woman online” for sex, a Labour member of parliament (MP) has
said in her call for a crackdown on “online megabrothels.”
Tonia Antoniazzi urged legislators to “confront the adult sexual exploitation being perpetrated on an industrial scale, by pimping websites and men who
pay for sex, both of whom currently enjoy near-total legal impunity.”
Her proposed new clause two to the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, would ban a third party from helping an individual engage in sexual activity
with another person, in exchange for a payment.
She also called on MPs to ban people from paying for sex, either for themselves or others, through proposed new clause three.
New clause four would repeal parts of the 66-year-old Street Offences Act, so that “loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution” would no
longer be a crime.
“Pimping websites which function as massive online brothels, operate openly and freely, supercharging the sex trafficking trade by making it easier and
quicker for exploiters to advertise their victims,” Antoniazzi told the Commons.
Antoniazzi continued: “These online megabrothels make millions of pounds every year by advertising thousands of vulnerable women across the world for
prostitution in the UK, and sadly, our legislation allows this.
“The idea that paying someone to perform sex acts is an ordinary consumer activity, that ordering a woman online to perform a blow job is the equivalent
of ordering a cappuccino, is a pernicious and harmful myth.
“Prostitution is violence against women. Let’s legislate to put pimps and traffickers out of business.”
Antoniazzi described another “myth,” that a ban would drive “pimping” on to the dark web, and told MPs that accessing dark web platforms would “require
significant technical expertise to post, as well as locate and access prostitution adverts.”
Turning to her bid to decriminalize soliciting, the backbencher warned the existing offence was “counter-productive and a barrier to seeking help and
exiting this ruthless trade.”
She said: “For most of these women, their record of convictions is a record of their exploitation and abuse, and they live in fear of having to disclose
this history when applying for jobs or volunteering.”
Antoniazzi has already amended the Bill after she pressed new clause one to a vote on Tuesday.
MPs backed her proposal by 379 votes to 137, majority 242, to decriminalize abortion for women acting in relation to their own pregnancies.
Commons Home Affairs Committee chairwoman Karen Bradley said she backed a plan to ban images and videos depicting non-fatal strangulation, by expanding
the definition of “extreme pornographic images” which are illegal to possess.
On proposed new clause 121, the Conservative former culture secretary said: “This is not impacting on what people may wish to do in their private lives,
but it does mean that those images would not then be available to be seen in pornographic films.
“And it means that there’s protection for children who may be looking at this pornography. We don’t want them to look at it, but we’re realists, we
recognise this happens, and it would mean that this doesn’t normalise something which is a really dangerous act and really should not be being promoted
in any way.”
Bradley said website operators “won’t remove” this content “if it’s not” illegal.
Caroline Dinenage, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman who proposed the images ban, said: “We need to send a signal that strangling your
partner in bed is not safe. It can be a precursor to coercive, abusive behaviour.”
The Conservative MP added: “The UK, as we know, is a large porn consumer. In any given month, over 10 million adults in the UK will access online porn,
and the vast majority of them will be chaps.
“That’s up to them. We don’t judge. But we also know from research that online porn is so widespread that one in 10 children have seen it by the age of
nine.
“Unfortunately, it is the guide that many young people use to learn about sex, and that is why I’m extremely worried that non-fatal strangulation has
been found to be rife on porn sites.
“Evidence has shown that it’s directly influencing the sexual behaviour of young men, who are non-consensually strangling young women during consensual
sex. Recent polling has suggested that 17% of 16 to 34-year-olds have been strangled without giving consent during consensual sex.
“We aren’t being prudes in calling for this misogynistic act to be banned in online porn.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells Mike Martin called on politicians to back his new clause 43, which would commence provisions passed
in the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023.
This law, which criminalises the harassment of people in public based on their sex, was passed 21 months ago, but the government has not yet introduced
regulations to bring it into force.
Martin said he was “disappointed and confused” by his communications with the government about the delay, saying each time they get “a little more
vague, a little bit less definitive about commencement.”
GNA