Scroll down for the Scottish Government Consultation on Prostitution, and Nordic Model Now! Free Event
As passionate feminists and advocates for women, the Caucus is proud of many of WEP’s policies. Policies that are bold, progressive, women-centered, and seek to actuate real change in women’s daily lives .
The Nordic Model is one of these key VAWG policies.
The Nordic Model, (also known as the Sex Buyer Law, the Swedish Model, or Equality Model) is a holistic, system wide Governmental response to the monetisation of sexual exploitation and sex-trafficking. It rightly understands prostitution through a VAWG lense, and understands its particular and increased impacts on women and girls in poverty, with insecure immigration status, from BAME communities and those with previous (often childhood) sexual trauma.
The Nordic Model offers a meaningful structural response for women who wish to exit prostitution, whilst driving down demand, through public education and the criminalisation of men who exploit (punters).
The WEP Sex-Based Rights Caucus is proud to be supporting and working alongside Nordic Model Now! to raise awareness and campaign to bring UK policy in line with our obligations under CEDAW.
What they are calling for:
The introduction and effective implementation of the Nordic Model approach to prostitution.
The clearing of criminal records for soliciting to sell sex.
The legislation against procuring, pimping and sex trafficking to be strengthened and brought into line with our obligations under CEDAW and the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (known as the Palermo Protocol).
The eradication of all the factors that push people into prostitution, including the entrenched inequality between the sexes, the impoverishment of mothers, the inadequate support for “looked after” children, student fees, low pay, zero-hour contracts, benefit cuts and sanctions, and so on.
The UK government to ratify the 1949 UN Convention on the Suppression of the Trafficking in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.
ACTION
The Scottish Government is running a Consultation on policy entitled Equally Safe: A consultation on challenging men's demand for prostitution, working to reduce the harms associated with prostitution and helping women to exit, which is open for submissions to individuals (YOU) and organisations. The consultation closes on Thursday, 10th December 2020.
For help, please see the consultation guidance notes from Nordic Model Now!
To read the WEP Sex-Based Rights Caucus consultation submission, please see here.
For downloadable flyers on the Nordic Model, please follow this link.
EVENT
To learn more, register for this free event 'Prostitution: work?....or Exploitation?' brought to you by Nordic Model Now!
A presentation and discussion, with contributors Jade, Luba Fein, Megan King, Rebecca Mott, and Siobhan from Nordic Model Now!
FAQS
But isn't sex work a choice, and an empowering choice, for many?
We can not speak for all women, and many women do talk about choice. However, as feminists we advocate for the most vulnerable women and girls. Although a few may experience the sex-industry as a choice, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The overwhelming majority of women (and girls) engaged in the sex industry have little or no choice, they are coerced and trafficked. Punters do not differentiate.
But sex-work is work?
Sexual exploitation is not work. The term 'sex work' has emerged in recent years, via lobbyists seeking to fully monetise a growing demand. The phrase 'sex work' is a PR job. Language intentionally designed to sanitise the reality of monetised sexual exploitation.
Prostitution is not work. A woman's body is not a work place. The evidenced harms of sexual exploitation are not, and can not be mitigated to be reasonable work place hazards.
Punters are lonely men who simply need comfort?
Another myth that sanitises the reality of men who buy sex. To understand more about the men who buy sex, you only need to spend moments on websites such as Bare Net (men who refuse to use condoms) and Punters Net. Websites built for punters to review their 'experiences'. We do not provide the direct links here due to its content, Nordic Model Now! explores it further here. The comments contain violence, sexual violence, a predisposition for teens and unprotected sex. The Invisible Men is as new German website detailing & uploading quotes from sex buyers. We urge you all to read.
This is a harrowing video made by a campaign group that collated the genuine voicemail messages left on the phone of a woman who stated she being trafficked:
The Nordic Model sounds expensive
Suffolk police implemented a Nordic Model style prostitution strategy after a punter, called Steve Wright, murdered five prostituted women in Ipswich.
A subsequent evaluation found that every £1 spent on the strategy saved £2 of public money, because of savings to the criminal justice and social support systems. Nordic Model Now! explains more here.
Other Resources
Founded in March 2016, Nordic Model Now! is a secular, feminist, grassroots women’s group based in the UK that is campaigning for the abolition of prostitution and related practices (such as lap-dancing, pornography and surrogacy). While abortion is not the focus of our campaign, as feminists we recognise women’s human right to safe, legal abortion services.
A cross-partisan human rights charity whose mission is to expose and dismantle the cultural and commercial forces driving all forms of sexual exploitation in Britain.
Helping parents and other adults build kid's resilience to hypersexualised media and porn.
Not Buying It challenges the porn and sex trade because of the incredible harm associated with them. Working closely with women who have survived these industries, we raise awareness and campaign for change. We are bold and forthright (always in the nicest possible way) because sometimes that is the only way to expose the truth and say no to abuse.
We aim to raise awareness about the harms of pornography, to share our learning with legislators and build a movement against pornography in the UK.
Click Off draws from the research and experience of feminists. We are non-partisan and our opposition to pornography is not faith-based.
Report: The limits of consent
Ruhama
Ruhama is an Irish NGO and registered charity that offers nationwide support to women affected by prostitution, sex trafficking and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation.
For more links, please see our Consultation Submission here.
@WEPwomen @nordicmodelnow