Prostitutes and same-sex couples are small minorities in the European society, requiring support from powerful agents in order to push through their interests. Large reforms in both policy fields and across several member states indicate that both minorities succeeded in persuading strong agents. This paper explores whether EU policies, the regulation of neighboring countries, female deputies or women’s movements took over this role.
In detail, through which channels do these gender-related minority interests slip into the policy outputs? Do they have their roots on the national, international or supranational level? By comparing prostitution and same-sex partnership policy, we are also capable to examine whether women are more likely to defend minority groups mainly reassembling (or being assumed to reassemble) individuals of their own sex (e.g., prostitutes) than those groups having an equal distribution between women and men.
For answering these research questions, we are drawing on new and detailed data on morality policy regulation throughout Europe. It enables us to assess the regulatory restrictiveness of prostitution policy and same-sex partnership rights in 19 Western European countries.
