Why you should sign and share our petition calling for a change in the sexist police culture by banning police from paying for sex. Read More
Sign the petition: Change the sexist police culture. Ban cops from paying for sex.
‘If Sweden didn’t have the Nordic Model, I would not be alive’
Cajsa talks about her experience of prostitution in Sweden under the Nordic Model and why she believes it is the best approach to prostitution law and policy. Read More
“As long as porn exists, we don’t stand a chance of creating a fair and equal world”
Thoughts on “He Chose Porn Over Me”: Women Harmed by Men Who Use Porn, edited by Melinda Tankard Reist Read More
The reality of New Zealand’s decriminalised sex trade
Chelsea Geddes draws on her more than 20 years in New Zealand’s legal brothels, to explain how the full decrim prostitution system works out in practice. Read More
FFS Unison, join the dots between the endless ways men make women’s lives a misery and the industry that commercialises such behaviour.
A heartfelt plea to Unison to not abandon its 12-year support for the Nordic Model at its National Delegate Conference in Brighton in June. Read More
‘Can there not be but one space remaining within society, one arena, that recognizes, hones, and champions women’s intellect?’
Andrea Heinz’s moving and powerful speech at the webinar to launch the Nordic Model Now! Handbook for Universities. Read More
An open memo to men
Subtitled, ‘A brief reflection on pornography leads to a reflective tirade in statistical mode,’ this article by Elizabeth Matz was first published in Women & Therapy in 1994 and is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Read More
Talking with men and boys about prostitution: the transcript
Must-read transcript of our ‘Talking with men and boys’ webinar that was held on 11 April 2021. Read More
An evening with Suzzan Blac
Audio and video recordings of our ‘An evening with Suzzan Blac’ webinar that was held on 14 July 2021. Read More
Obfuscation, denial and hubris: The government’s VAWG strategy
Statement from Nordic Model Now! on the UK government’s new strategy for tackling violence against women and girls. Read More
On male-pattern violence
Male-pattern violence is never merely an individual act. It sends out a message to those nearby: This is what happens to women and girls who do not submit. It therefore serves to uphold the power of other men and of men as a class… Read More
NMN Submission to the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy Consultation
This is the Nordic Model Now! response to the British government’s consultation on its Women’s Health Strategy. Read More
Statement on VAWG in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder
We need to ask, what is it in our culture that gives men and boys the entitlement and impunity to treat women and girls as second class, as less than human, as ‘other’? Read More
How living near the Holbeck red-light zone turned us into activists against the sex trade
This is an edited transcript of Paula and Claire’s talk at the Experience of Prostitution webinar on Sunday 27 September 2020.
Paula and Claire are campaigners against the decriminalised red-light zone in the Holbeck area of Leeds. They are part of the Save Our Eyes community group. Read More
The experience(s) of prostitution
This is an edited transcript of Linda Thompson’s talk at the Experience of Prostitution webinar on Sunday 27 September 2020.
“Hello everyone. My name is Linda Thompson and I am absolutely delighted to join the webinar today on the experience – no, the experiences – of prostitution.
I work for the Women’s Support Project. I am national coordinator on commercial sexual exploitation. I get funded by the Scottish Government to develop and deliver programmes of work to raise awareness of the harms and realities of commercial sexual exploitation as a form of violence against women… Read More
Another stitch-up for women in Leeds
Far from being a success, the decriminalised red-light zone in Holbeck is a misogynistic sticking plaster over a cancerous lesion of male violence, organised crime, exploitation and female suffering. Read More
Unmasking the sex industry in Scotland
This is an edited transcript of a powerful and informative podcast, in which Siobhan from Nordic Model Now! talks with Linda Thompson about her work with women who have lived experience of prostitution in Scotland and why Scotland must urgently address the desperate poverty and inequality that is the backdrop to women’s involvement in the sex trade and introduce the Nordic Model without delay. Read More
NMN Submission to the Women & Equalities Committee’s Coronavirus inquiry
This is the text of our submission to the Women & Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into the Unequal impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and the impact on people with protected characteristics. (Submitted 27 April 2020). Read More
The Colonisation of Intimate Life
The Mainstreaming of Sexual Violence and Hazard.
By Esther
This article is based on the second presentation at our recent webinar, Porn, Prostitution and Violence against Women.
“Expressions of fear and distress on the faces of porn performers are deliberately induced. The cruelty is the point. It associates sex as something painful for women in the eyes of the viewer…” Read More
Why I nearly turned my back on feminism
In this important post, Ally-Marie Diamond explains how she was introduced to a feminist analysis of prostitution as a form of violence against women, her first tentative steps into the feminist movement for the abolition of the sex trade, and her desire to share her own painful experiences as a way of helping others understand the reality. She then goes on to describe how she was silenced and ostracised within the movement and her determination to put aside division and work with other women to bring about real change for the most vulnerable women and children. Read More
“Murder Porn”
In this ground-breaking and harrowing article, Esther, who was herself involved in prostitution and the making of porn, shows how the eroticisation of cruelty in both the political and personal arenas is fed by the global sex industry’s violence and cruelty, and she reveals the hypocrisy of those who insist that ‘sex work’ is a private matter of no consequence to anyone else and who wilfully ignore its devastating consequences for both individuals and society. Read More
Full decriminalisation of prostitution colludes with the notion that a woman’s consent is negotiable
When HARRIET EVANS fell into difficulties with her housing, and universal credit was too little to live on, she turned to prostitution as a way of keeping a roof over her head. Here she explains how the Nordic Model could have helped her and others in the sex industry.
“‘Sex work’ as a valid form of income redefines ‘consent.’ Full decriminalisation colludes with the notion that a woman’s consent is negotiable; it can be bought; it can be ignored.” Read More
The cost of Western Europe’s rampant prostitution: the genocide of Romanian women
“I have decided to try this avenue and post here, not my story, not the story of a relative, not even the story of a friend, but the story of a whole country, my country – Romania. It is a gruesome story – in fact, ‘story’ is a misnomer. It is a gruesome reality. Of course, you are well aware of it, but I’ll tell it nonetheless.
“Here in Romania, we’re at the end of our wits and we, as common people, are doing everything we can on our part and I can only hope I can contribute by telling it here in the hopes of making a dent, at least…” Read More
Prostitution: What are the problems and how do we solve them?
Before we consider options for prostitution law and policy, we need a full understanding of how prostitution affects both the women and men involved, and the wider society. This article provides a brief summary of the impacts of prostitution and shows that prostitution is part of a wider systemic problem and that it therefore requires a systemic solution. The article goes on to show that the Nordic Model approach provides such a systemic solution – unlike full decriminalisation which would exacerbate the very problems that we need to solve. Read More
Which model is safest for women in prostitution: legalisation, full decrim, or partial decrim (Nordic Model)?
Drawing on her own lived experience, Jade looks at the ‘everyday reality’ of prostitution for women operating under three key models of prostitution law and policy – legalisation, full decriminalisation, and partial decriminalisation (aka the Nordic Model), and asks which model is safest for the women involved. Read More
Prostitution: Where’s the harm?
This is the text of our submission to the Women & Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into prostitution. Unfortunately the inquiry is now closed because parliament has been dissolved for a general election. However, the evidence collected will remain available for future consideration. Read More
Prostitution: How Do We Make All Women Safe?
How do we #MakeAllWomenSafe in prostitution? Is that even possible? Read More
The long road to abolition
A reflection on the transatlantic slave trade – what drove it, how it was justified, and the long road to its abolition – and the current battle between those who want to open up the sex trade to the free markets and those who want to abolish the sex trade and the entire system of prostitution.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela, 1995 Read More
What I Learnt at the UN Committee Against Torture’s Review of the UK
Last month I went to Geneva to attend the 66th session of the United Nations (UN) Committee Against Torture as it reviewed the UK’s progress in implementing the UN Convention Against Torture. This is what I learned. Read More
What nurses need to know about the RCN motion to decriminalise prostitution
There is a motion calling for the “decriminalisation of prostitution” on the agenda at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Congress in Liverpool on 19–23 May 2019. This article explains all you need to know before making a decision about how to vote on this motion or how you ask your branch representative to vote on your behalf. Read More