Do you have questions about how sex work is criminalised in the UK? Are you confused between the difference between ‘Decriminalisation’’ (whoo) and ‘Legalisation’ (boo)? Do you want to know why sex workers and human rights organisations are against the ‘Nordic Model’ of sex work criminalisation, even though it claims to decriminalise the sex worker? THEN YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE BEFORE THE 13th MAY!
Hello and welcome to this very important EMERGENCY episode of Really Good Exposure.
As you may or may not know, there is currently a government consultation on the UK Police and Crime Bill. Some of the proposed amendments to this bill would mean the introduction of something called the ‘Nordic Model’ of criminalising sex work. On the surface this model (sometimes called the ‘End Demand’ model) is pitched as a ‘feminist’ way to criminalise sex work, because it claims to decriminalise the sex seller and criminalise the sex buyers. However, the Nordic Model has been proven to increase violence against workers every where it has been introduced. This law being implemented in the UK would be incredibly dangerous for sex workers, and would make it easier for perpetrators of violence to harm this already-marginalised group of workers.
I invited writer, performer, activist and ex-stripper Stacey Clare to do this emergency episode of RGE so that listeners could not only learn about the Nordic Model, and why it is so dangerous, but also so that they could find information on how to write to the government opposing these proposed amendments to the Police and Crime Bill before the deadline of the 13th May. If you are a feminist, you will inherently believe that women have a right to bodily autonomy, safety at work, and the same human rights as anyone else. Please make your voices heard before 13th May!
Find out how to oppose the Nordic model here:
https://www.nationaluglymugs.org/safety_content/how-to-respond-to-the-uk-police-and-crime-bill
Read why the Nordic Model is so harmful here:
https://decrimnow.org.uk/open-letter-on-the-nordic-model
Read example written evidence from a national sex worker safety charity on why they oppose the introduction of the Nordic Model here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmpublic/CrimePolicing/memo/CPB05.htm
More about Stacey:
Stacey Clare is a British writer, activist, and former stripper. She is the co-founder of the East London Strippers Collective (ELSC) to advocate for labor rights, fair treatment, and the destigmatisation of sex work. Stacey is the author of the book ‘The Ethical Stripper: Sex, Work and Labour Rights in the Night-time Economy’, which examines the the sex industry. Stacey has also performed at events like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and given a TEDx talk challenging societal perceptions of sex workers. Stacey runs creative projects like life-drawing classes with strippers as models and is currently preparing to take her show ‘Ask a Stripper’ to Brighton Fringe Festival this month (get tickets here: https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/ask-a-stripper-pulling-back-the-g-string ) and back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August (tickets here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/ask-a-stripper-pulling-back-the-g-string )
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethicalstripper
