The challenges of Belgian prostitution markets as legal informal economies: an empirical look behind the scenes at the oldest profession in the world

An extensive body of literature exists on sex work and prostitution, covering a variety of topics. The relation between prostitution and the informal economy, however, has not been widely studied. This article aims to contribute to this under-researched domain. Furthermore, it empirically contributes to the current topical policy debate on prostitution by offering insights into the perceptions of prostitutes and other stakeholders in the prostitution business and policy towards it in Ghent, Belgium. The empirical results draw on a qualitative research design, using a combination of semi-structured interviews with prostitutes, policymakers and social workers, document analyses and dossier analyses. These methods indicate that although sexual exploitation exists, prostitution can certainly not, by definition, be equated with exploitation, coercion or male domination. Furthermore, in contradiction to the current mainstream European point of view, no support was offered by the respondents for the criminalisation of clients. However, no full consensus was found regarding legalisation and regularisation of prostitution and its related activities. As different stakeholders have varying interests and preferences, more broad empirical research is needed to identify all their needs

The nuances in policing Brussels' informal street trade

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Prostitutie en georganiseerde criminaliteit? De aanpak van wantoestanden binnen de sector

Los van morele opvattingen rond prostitutie, toont wetenschappelijk onderzoek aan dat prostitutie soms verweven is met criminaliteit. In het geval van uitbuiting en mensenhandel wordt vaak de link gelegd met georganiseerde criminaliteit: criminele organisaties, groepen of netwerken worden verondersteld de handel in vrouwen te organiseren. In deze bijdrage vragen we ons aan de hand van een casestudie te Gent af welke niet-legale activiteiten aanwezig zijn in de prostitutiesector, in welke mate er sprake zou kunnen zijn van georganiseerde criminaliteit en hoe de lokale overheden deze fenomenen aanpakken. Zonder een exhaustief overzicht te willen bieden, identificeren we op basis van analyse van gerechtelijke dossiers en interviews met prostituees en sleutelfiguren sociale fraude en uitbuiting als belangrijke niet-legale activiteiten in de prostitutiesector. Een aantal zaken bemoeilijken de formulering van duidelijke uitspraken over de relatie tussen deze fenomenen en georganiseerde criminaliteit. De aanpak van wantoestanden in de sector blijkt hoofdzakelijk gericht op repressie en in mindere mate op preventie. Verder merken we dat de aanwezige lokale hulpverlening aan sekswerkers voornamelijk om medische redenen wordt gebruikt, en minder om wantoestanden aan te pakken

Sensitivity analysis in a scoping review on police accountability : assessing the feasibility of reporting criteria in mixed studies reviews

In this paper, we report on the findings of a sensitivity analysis that was carried out within a previously conducted scoping review, hoping to contribute to the ongoing debate about how to assess the quality of research in mixed methods reviews. Previous sensitivity analyses mainly concluded that the exclusion of inadequately reported or lower quality studies did not have a significant effect on the results of the synthesis. In this study, we conducted a sensitivity analysis on the basis of reporting criteria with the aims of analysing its impact on the synthesis results and assessing its feasibility. Contrary to some previous studies, our analysis showed that the exclusion of inadequately reported studies had an impact on the results of the thematic synthesis. Initially, we also sought to propose a refinement of reporting criteria based on the literature and our own experiences. In this way, we aimed to facilitate the assessment of reporting criteria and enhance its consistency. However, based on the results of our sensitivity analysis, we opted not to make such a refinement since many publications included in this analysis did not sufficiently report on the methodology. As such, a refinement would not be useful considering that researchers would be unable to assess these (sub-)criteria