Nordic Model Now!
Movement for the Abolition of Prostitution
On Tuesday 11 July, I was fortunate to attend the launch of Nia’s “I’m No Criminal” report, which examines the impact of prostitution-specific criminal records on women seeking to exit prostitution, and their campaign for such criminal records to be erased. The room was electric with passion at the injustice that women who are (or have been) involved in prostitution face and the warped system that makes disadvantaged women pay for the damage that men cause. Read More
This article looks at legal and policy approaches to prostitution and why the Nordic Model is the human rights and equality-based approach. Read More
This article takes a hard look at prostitution, and how it affects people, taking in its intrinsic links with porn, sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation, its inherent racism, and why we should hold those who drive it accountable. Read More
In January, we posted about a motion being brought to the Amnesty UK AGM in April 2017. The motion called for Amnesty’s current policy of lobbying for the full decriminalisation of the sex trade (including pimps and brothel owners) to be reviewed. This article explains what happened at the AGM and afterwards. Read More
We talk with Dr Kathleen Richardson, Senior Research Fellow in the Ethics of Robotics at De Montford University, about what the idea of “sex robots” can tell us about prostitution.
The artwork is by Suzzan Blac, a survivor of child abuse, prostitution and sex trafficking, who through her art sheds light on the violence, objectification and dehumanisation that is intrinsic to the commercial sexual exploitation industry. Read More
Rae Story reflects on how when male artists create works that dehumanise women it is taken to be a comment on society as a whole, while women’s resulting brutalisation, isolation and objectification is seen as little more than a sideshow. She compares this with the powerful art of Suzzan Blac who mines her own traumatic memories of abuse and prostitution to create a blistering commentary on pornographic, female objectification and paedophile culture. Read More
Not even that hot night when I was 19 and slept with the door to my stuffy windowless room open to catch the breeze caused the blinkers to fall from my eyes. The blinkers that blamed my recklessness in leaving the door open and not the man who walked by and saw my smooth body lying there in all its youthful sweetness. He knew he was the only one in the building still awake and so there was a high chance he could get away with it. As indeed he did. Read More
There is much that Britain can learn from Ireland’s adoption of the Nordic Model and commitment to tackling male demand for prostitution. Read More
All brothels are illegal in the UK. Many people argue that legalising them would make the women safer and prevent the involvement of criminal gangs. However, experience where the sex trade has been legalised tells a different story. Here Jacqueline Gwynne reports on the illegal brothels in Melbourne in the State of Victoria in Australia where the sex trade is legalised. Read More
Anna Fisher draws attention to the apparent confluence of the vested interests of the men in Amnesty International with those of the multibillion-dollar sexual exploitation industry. Read More
Frankie Green argues that by not taking a stand against prostitution, the Labour party leadership, leftwing parties and organisations have alienated and angered people. By condoning prostitution, they send out the message that it is acceptable to purchase women’s bodies, licensing a sexist, predatory masculinity. She argues that the Labour Movement must recognise prostitution as abuse and support the Nordic Model approach. Read More
Heather Brunskell-Evans examines options for prostitution law reform in the UK. She argues that full decriminalisation is predicated on outdated notions of the inevitability of men’s ‘need’ for sex and their concomitant ‘right’ to pay for the sexual use of women (or other men) as if they were a commodity, and that full decriminalisation’s vocal proponents make several erroneous claims. Instead she concludes that the Sex Buyer Law (aka the Nordic Model) is in line with 21st century ideals of equity and social justice. Read More
Janice Williams draws comparisons between Pokemon Go and prostitution. Is it just that they are both called ‘The Game’ or do the similarities go deeper? Read More
Janice Williams reports from the 29 September 2016 event on prostitution policy organised by the Public Policy Exchange. “We were overwhelmingly outnumbered by those working in the so-called Harm Reduction sector which perpetuates prostitution while purporting to ameliorate some of its worst harms (a bit).” Read More
Review of Ken Loach’s 2016 film ‘I, Daniel Blake’, focusing on the role that prostitution plays in the life of Katie, a young single mum. We meet her as she moves with her two young children into a council house in Newcastle, far away from her supportive mum and auntie. Read More
Nordic Model Now! member, Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans, responds to Peter Tatchell’s recent political interventions. Read More
Nordic Model Now! recently shared a meme on Facebook and Twitter saying, “Since full decriminalisation of the sex trade in 2003, New Zealand has seen a huge increase in domestic violence and rape. This is related to the normalisation and acceptance of women as objects for use, abuse and discard.” This post explains evidence that backs this up. Read More
A young woman called Tellie contacted us to ask if we had stickers to put over the adverts for prostituted women that get put up on all the lamp posts and phone boxes in her area of east London. She said she spends hours pulling them off but within a few days they’re back again. Read More
What should be done about prostitution? Robert Skidelsky, an economist, member of the House of Lords, and contributor to Project Syndicate, has answered that question unequivocally. Read More
Nordic Model Now! member Janice Williams reports from NAWO’s talk on the topic of “Europe Free of Prostitution”. Read More
