Straight Vanilla looking for a GFE with a slight PSE and some DFK : Reflections of heterosexual male clients of sex workers in the Netherlands and Sweden

The prostitution regimes of Sweden and the Netherlands are often perceived as two opposites. In both countries the laws and legislations changed in 1999. When the Netherlands took the stance to legalize i.e. regulate sex work, Sweden criminalized the purchase of sexual services. Yet in both countries the purchase is morally condemned and ‘what’ is actually bought and sold is taken for granted. Although several studies have been carried out on men that purchase sexual services in both countries they often-replicate well known typologies without further elaboration. Based on interviews with clients in both countries, this presentation will challenge these assumptions and disseminate preliminary findings of my Ph.D. dissertation ‘Consumerism, Moralism and the Law: Intersections between international prostitution policies and the endeavor for gender equality’. In this study clients are reflexive about their purchase behavior, desires, motivations and reflect critically on the prostitution legislations in their own and other countries. I will describe how the participants in this study are ambivalent about the legislations, sexual disciplining norms and their relationships with sex workers. With insights generated from narrative and in- depth interviews I will elaborate on how their descriptions fit and do not fit the typologies of the sex buyer as deviant. Furthermore I will claim that hetero normative heterosexuality cannot be perceived as the opposite of deviant sexual behavior nor can the two different prostitution regimes be described as counterparts when the commonalities and sexual scripts of Dutch and Swedish sex buyers are taking into account.