Dignity under duress. A comparative analysis of commercial sex policy and its human cost in Sweden and New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis explores how contrasting legal frameworks for regulating the commercial sex industry, abolitionism in Sweden and decriminalization in New Zealand, impact the human dignity of those who sell sex. Framed within feminist legal theory and grounded in Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach, this study critically analyses whether these models enhance or undermine the substantive freedoms of individuals involved in prostitution. Sweden’s abolitionist model, which criminalizes the buyer but not the seller, is evaluated for its symbolic commitment to gender equality and its practical consequences, including marginalization and limited access to services. Conversely, New Zealand’s decriminalization model treats commercial sex as legitimate labour, integrating it into general labour and health protections. Through a comparative dignity-based analysis of five central capabilities: bodily integrity, affiliation, practical reason, bodily health and control over one’s environment, this paper seeks to assess the extent to which each framework supports or restricts human flourishing. Whilst both models aim to promote dignity, they do so through fundamentally different logics and produce divergent outcomes in practice. This study contributes to the broader discourse on human rights, gender and law by offering a nuanced evaluation of prostitution regulation through the lived realities of those most impacted.