Movement for the Abolition of Prostitution

What is the Nordic Model?

The Nordic Model (sometimes known as the Sex Buyer Law, and the Swedish, Abolitionist, Survivor or Equality Model) is an approach to prostitution that has been adopted in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada, France, Ireland and Israel. It has several elements:

1. Decriminalisation of selling sex acts

Prostitution is inherently violent. Women should not be criminalised for the exploitation and abuse they endure.

2. Buying sex acts becomes a criminal offence

Buying human beings for sex is harmful, exploitative and can never be safe. We need to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking.

3. Support and exit services

High quality, non-judgemental services to support those in prostitution and help them build a new life outside it, including: access to safe affordable housing; training and further education; child care; legal, debt and benefit advice; emotional and psychological support.

A holistic approach

A public information campaign; training for police and CPS; tackling the inequality and poverty that drive people into prostitution; effective laws against pimping and sex trafficking, with penalties that reflect the enormous damage they cause. Read more >>

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Sex trade survivor, Amanda Quick, responds to Ash Regan’s Unbuyable Bill falling with a call for honest discussions about the harms of prostitution.

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FOI requests confirm the DWP considers self-employment on OnlyFans to be regular self-employment that comes under the same rules as hairdressers or plumbers

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Sex trade survivor, Venessa, calls on politicians to do something truly radical and hold men accountable for their actions by passing the Nordic Model.

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Jenna writes eloquently about the self-objectification that followed sexual abuse she suffered as a child and how this led her into prostitution.

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69 prostitution survivors from 15 countries call on Scottish ministers and MSPs to support Ash Regan’s Nordic Model style bill.

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In this moving poem, Jenna describes her struggle to rebuild a life away from prostitution.

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Prostitution Survivors’ Testimony

Prostitution Survivors’ Testimony

Beth

My name is Beth, I was a prostitute for five years. I never thought it would happen to me, but debt and almost becoming homeless can drive people to do things they usually wouldn’t do.

“Men defiling another human being for sexual self-gratification.”

My story begins in a suburb of Canberra as a fun-loving energetic happy child full of life and adventure. I remember having many friends, going on play dates and birthday parties – until the day my mum met a man in the adult section of our local newspaper.

“I was sold a complete lie. It’s not easy money.”

I grew up in an emotionally and physically abusive home – constantly walking on egg-shells, never knowing what little thing might make my father lose his temper. I was never allowed to have any boundaries; the answer to absolutely everything he asked had to be “yes”, or be prepared to face violent consequences. I remember counting down the days until I turned 18, so that I could go to university and escape.

WARNING: Prostitution destroys your soul

By Geneviève Gilbert

I was a shy young girl. My gymnastics training helped me beat the boys at sport. I loved drawing and everything creative. Raised Catholic, I was gregarious and a book lover. I didn’t ‘choose’ prostitution: a mixture of the culture I lived in during the 1990s, ‘sex-positive’ feminism, and a longing to be loved by my biological papa who had abandoned my siblings, mother and me, chose it for me.

Sick of all the ‘Happy Hooker’ myths?

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