Many people in the UK have never heard of the Nordic Model approach to prostitution and how effective it can be (when it is implemented well) in changing social norms and reducing the number of vulnerable people who are drawn into the sex industry.

If they don’t realise there’s an effective alternative, people are more likely to support the full decriminalisation of the sex trade when lobbyists insist (against all the evidence) that it makes the women safer. We need to do all we can to raise awareness of the Nordic Model, how it is the human rights-based approach, and of the harms of prostitution and how it makes men more prone to violence against women and children.

In this post we explain some of the ways you can work with Nordic Model Now! to spread the word.

The Nordic Model Now! slideshow

Nordic Model Now! has created a slideshow that covers the reality of prostitution, how it harms those who are prostituted, the connections with colonialism, human trafficking and child sexual abuse and exploitation, how it makes punters more likely to rape, harass and assault women, and how the sex industry lobby misrepresents the arguments. It also looks at why the “harm reduction” approach that is in vogue in the UK serves to maintain the status quo, how legalisation of the sex trade has worked out in Germany, full decriminalisation in New Zealand, and the Nordic Model in Sweden. The slideshow has a full script and takes about one hour to present.

Please consider arranging a presentation of the slideshow to your community, union, student, political party, church or women’s group or branch.

You can download and present the slideshow yourself or get in touch if you would like us to provide a presenter and someone to do a Q&A afterwards.

Download the slideshow, script and presenter notes.

Interactive workshops

We can also run interactive, participatory workshops which give participants an opportunity to explore and discuss ideas that people commonly hold about prostitution, asking do we agree with these statements, and if not, why not? Are some of them myths and if so, what would be a good response? How would you deal with prostitution if you were in charge of prostitution policy in your city? Typically we would go on to consider common legislative options and how they tend to work out in practice, and whose voices are important in the prostitution debate and who tends to be heard the loudest and why. How could we redress the balance?

Do get in touch if you would like us to run a workshop at your event.

Speakers

We can also provide speakers for events, panels and debates.

We ask for a fee of £50 per hour (or part thereof) plus expenses for speakers and workshop leaders at events run by well-funded organisations, such as universities and large NGOs.

For unfunded organisations and grassroots groups we only ask for a contribution to expenses if possible. Similarly we do not ask for a fee for presenting the slideshow, but do ask for a contribution to expenses if possible.

Submit a motion to your union, organisation or political party branch

We have a model motion calling for support for the Nordic Model that you can download and adapt for use in your branch of a union or political party or other organisation. Do get in touch if you would like advice about how to go about this.

Download the model motion and backing paper.

Social media

While nothing can beat talking to people in person, social media is another way of spreading the message. Do please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and “like” or share our posts.

Our website has a mass of information, articles, papers and survivor testimony. Consider sharing them on your own social media pages.