Swedish Punters 09

Photo: José Figueroa

Dramalabbet, Stockholm 2009

Concept: Arena Baubo
Art works by: Katja Seitajoki, Maria Magdolna Beky Winnerstam, Maria Stiernborg, Moa Karlberg,
Efwa-Wiktoria Rodell and Kajsa Wadhia

Other participants: Tomas Björkdal, Ludvig Uhlbors, Björn Nilsson, Hilda Ohlsson, Maria Selander, David Winnerstam, Magnus Björklund de Oliveira, Anette Sallmander, Karin Hauptmann, Timo Nieminen and Marcus Doverud

Punters are everywhere, but are seen nowhere.
Accordning to the study ”Sex i Sverige” by Folkhälsoinstitutet, one in eight men in Sweden will at some point, or do regularly buy sex. So who is the sex customer?

Sex buyers, who come from all classes and professions, are so many more than the prostitutes, but much less visible. The stigma of the punter usually sums up the buyer as a sexist, dirty old man, power-craving or emotionally blocked, whereas the female sex seller is stigmatised with dirt, drug addiction, victim position and presumptions of sexual abuse during childhood. Sex trade is blossoming, but few people admit being active, be it as sellers or buyers of sex.

Most people have opinions about prostitution. The debate is often aggressive and based on emotional arguments. There is rarely space for more open, multilayered and deep dialogues. Perhaps we need to complicate our perspectives to increase our knowledge about sex trade in order to find solutions to its inherent problems.

Arena Baubo are neither pro nor con, neither radical feminists nor ultra liberalists, but rather a heterogenous group of experienced artists who believe in the importance of bringing up topics that for different reasons are hard to approach or filled with taboos.

The project Swedish Punters 09 is based on interviews with sex buyers combined with thorough research. In the interviews, the sex buyers discuss right and wrong, gender roles and power games, sex addiction and sexual fear or insecurity, inhibiting sexual morals and liberalism, loyalty, money, sexual arousal and free will.

Supported by Swedish Art Council, Stockholms Kulturförvaltning and Stockholm Läns landsting