Rishi Sunak, Leader of the Conservative party
Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour party
Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Rhun ap Iorwerth, Leader of Plaid Cymru
Colum Eastwood, Leader of the SDLP
John Swinney, Leader of the Scottish National Party
Alex Salmond, Leader of the Alba party
Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, Leaders of the Green party
Naomi Long, Leader of the Alliance party
George Galloway, Leader of the Workers’ Party
Nigel Farage, Leader of Reform UK
Kellie-Jay Keen, Leader of the Party of Women
Mandu Reid, Leaser of the Women’s Equality Party
William Clouston, Leader of the Social Democratic Party
20 June 2024
Dear Madam or Sir
We are writing to you as leader of one of the major UK political parties to ask that your party will prioritise women’s rights and tackle the sex industry, which is causing a catastrophic erosion in women’s status and well-being.
In the approach to the one hundredth anniversary of women gaining the vote on the same terms as men, women still do not have equality with men. Every budget for the past 14 years has systematically favoured men at women’s expense and the explosion of pornography, prostitution, commercial sex websites, and other sex industry outlets, positions women as commodities and sexual servants to men. These forces have contributed to an epidemic of male violence against women and children and to boys learning to be sexual predators from an early age. This must change.
To illustrate the reality of prostitution, we would like to share this quote from Harriet, a member of Nordic Model Now! who has lived experience of prostitution:
“People think prostitution is about having consensual sex for money. It’s not. Those men don’t want to pay for that. They paid me and then used me however they wanted. I was beaten with objects until I bled; spat at; anally raped; gang raped; passed around at sex parties like a toy, men slipping off their condoms; I was shouted at, threatened, choked, told to look like I enjoyed it or he’d take the money back. I was scared every single second.”
If you gain power in the election, we call on you to use that power to strive to:
1. Implement in full the recommendations of the CEDAW Committee after its last examination of the UK’s progress on women’s rights.
2. Incorporate the CEDAW convention into national legislation.
3. Ensure that the police rigorously enforce the existing legislation against pimping, brothel keeping, kerb crawling, and paying for sex from someone who has been coerced or forced. Currently, the police in England and Wales do not enforce these laws. This has led to a free-for-all for pimps, traffickers and brothel-keepers, and large numbers of women and girls being drawn into and often trapped in intolerable situations. This must change.
4. Repeal the legislation against loitering and soliciting to sell sex in public places. The vast majority of women selling sex on the street have either been coerced by pimps and traffickers or driven to it by extreme poverty and drug addictions. No one should be criminalised for the exploitation and misfortune they endure.
5. Invest in long-term funding for specialist holistic trauma-informed services for all women and others involved in prostitution, regardless whether or not they have been pimped or trafficked. As well as support, these services must provide genuine routes out of the industry, and include women-only addiction services, housing, training, psycho-social support, child care, and employment, benefit and legal advice.
6. Urgently implement robust age-verification on all online pornography. We are not convinced that the Online Safety Act 2023 will cover all eventualities, platforms and sites.
7. Ensure schools implement a critical approach to prostitution and pornography in sex education. Children should not be told that “sex work” is a normal job or that it can be a rewarding career. This is a form of grooming and can lead to girls and young people being drawn into the industry, which is likely to decimate their life chances and cause them great harm. At the same time, it normalises men buying sex and suggests it is not much different from paying for a haircut. Telling children that the violent misogynistic porn that is now the norm on popular online porn sites is useful for exploring their sexuality, or that it is not real but a fantasy, are equally irresponsible.
8. Invest in high-quality youth services that include work with marginalised children and young people with a view to preventing them being drawn into the sex industry or becoming involved in pimping and buying sex. This should also include help for problematic porn users to kick their habit.
9. Update the Modern Slavery Act 2015 so that it implements the Palermo Protocol definition of human trafficking in full as we explained in our submission to the House of Lords committee’s inquiry.
10. Introduce legislation to make paying, or attempting to pay, for sex a criminal offence. The key aim of this would be to change men’s attitudes and behaviour and to send out a clear message that this country will not tolerate women and girls being bought and sold for sex and men’s gratification.
11. Introduce legislation that can be used to close down commercial sex websites, as we explain in our petition.
12. Introduce holistic measures to ensure the success of the above, including training for the police, the CPS and judiciary, a public information campaign about the change in the law, and genuine strategies to address women’s and single mothers’ poverty and inequality.
While these measures would require considerable investment, there is evidence that they would create a more sustainable and equitable society and would save money in the medium to long term.
Yours sincerely,
Nordic Model Now!
And the following organisations:
- Build a Girl UK CIC
- FiLiA
- FONDATION SCELLES
- Glasgow Tactical Feminists
- GM4Women2028 Safety group
- Infusion Physical Theatre
- Justice for Women
- Kairos Women Working Together
- Make a Difference
- Male Allies Challenging Sexism
- Manchester Feminist Network
- Men At Work CIC
- Mighty Impulse Movement
- Not Buying It
- Older Feminist Network
- Rooms of our Own
- Safe Schools Alliance
- Scary Little Girls CIC
- SISTERS – für den Ausstieg aus der Prostitution! e.V.
- Stopp Leihmutterschaft
- The Judith Trust
- Traffick Refuge
- Trauma and Prostitution
- Women at The Well (Kings Cross, London)
- Women’s Declaration International UK
- Women’s Support project
- You My Sister
And 426 individuals. For the full list of organisations and signatures, please see the PDF version of the letter.
As we approach the centenary of women achieving the vote on equal terms with men in the UK, we must recognise that true equality remains elusive. The unchecked growth of the sex industry is eroding women’s rights, reducing them to commodities, and fuelling an epidemic of male violence. We call on you to prioritise women’s rights by enacting policies that protect vulnerable individuals, hold exploiters accountable, and invest in supportive, trauma-informed services. Together, let us affirm that our society will not tolerate the buying and selling of women and girls, ensuring a safer, more equitable future for all.