Sex work in Ukraine: Public attitudes and legal frameworks

Roman Groza

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

This work aims to inquire into the topic of sex work in the southern city of Ukraine – Odessa. The primary goal is to find out about the public's attitude to the phenomenon of sex work. Odessa is a place where sex work is prominent due to it having a seaport and being a city of seasonal tourism. Sex work has been a controversial topic for a long time and is not often addressed. Simultaneously, the law that makes it illegal is a legacy of the Soviet Union that is 33 years old. Literature Review is mainly situated around the legal frameworks and ethical concepts that concern sex work. Legal frameworks are described, and cases of their application are reviewed with brief outlooks on results. Also, this part includes a brief discussion on the issues of exploitation, harmfulness of sex work, impacts on society, and whether sex work can be recognized as a valid form of employment. The Practical Part is situated mainly around the opinions derived from the semi-structured interviews and statistical data. The interviews were conducted with inhabitants of Odessa with the goal to learn about their attitudes to sex work and their preferred way of treatment of sex work in terms of a legal model. The 11 respondents range from 53 to 17 years old and represent different parts of society. The current state of sex work and the problem of human trafficking, in particular, are reviewed. Including a description of the current attitudes and a brief description of the possible roots of those attitudes. The Results and Discussion part briefly discusses the possibility of adopting either one of the approaches with respect to the opinions expressed in the interviews and the academic papers written specifically on this topic. And why the application of either of the most successful models – would still be a very challenging task. In Conclusion, the attitudes of the interviewees are summarized around the key points and contrasted with what was expected. The change is presented as a shift in the attitudes that evolved with respect to the profession's modern-day view. The legal model preferred by the interviewees is presented.

Keywords

Sex Work, Exploitation, Ukraine, Ethics

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 13. 3. 2021

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Daniel Rosenhaft Swain, Ph.D. MA

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Bachelor programme / field:
Economics and Management / Economics and Management