Letter of Support

Support The Nordic Model – sign on The Letter of Support
We are sending out this letter to gather signatories from academics and researchers supporting
The Nordic Model. Many of you have already signed on a letter of support of The Honeyball report
before the vote in the European Parliament.
Academics and researchers opposing the Honeyball report and opposing The Nordic Model have
lately been very active and during the year 2014 they have published one letter with signatories
before the voting in the European Parliament, and this May, 75 academics and researchers in
Denmark sign on a letter that recognise prostitution as sex work and against The Nordic Model.
Roks, the National Organisation for Women´s and Young Women´s Shelters in Sweden, and
Kvinnefronten, the Women’s Front, in Norway, have therefore taken the initiative to express our
positive experience of the Nordic Model.
In Sweden the Nordic Model was introduced in 1999, as the first state ever. In Norway the law
was introduced in 2009, and the at the same time in Iceland. We are proud to have a law which
has reduced demand and at the same time recognizes the vulnerability of the woman in
prostitution.
The attached letter of support will be used in the coming discussions around the world, this
autumn Norway will have a important discussion about law that criminalize the buying of sex =
The Nordic Model, effective since 2009. But the conservative and liberal and populist parties that
won the election want to withdraw the law.
Later this year the French Senate and the French National Assembly will debate and vote over the
proposed law based on The Nordic Model. And important discussions will take place in other
countries, in Amnesty International, in UN and among NGOs in connection with the UN sessions
on Beijing + 20 until Marc 2015.
We need to let our voices and opinions be heard, it will make a great difference.
The receiving address for signatures is [email protected]
Letter of Support
We write as a global network of university researchers and academics from around the
world in support of ‘the Nordic Model,’ as the most effective way of insuring human rights
of women in prostitution.
We write on the basis of deep and systematic expertise in prostitution and the sex industry,
trafficking and violence against women. Our research draws on contemporary evidence, on
historical and philosophical inquiry, and importantly on the testimony of survivors of the
prostitution system. Many of us have worked directly with women in prostitution. We have
individual and collective links with a wide variety of organisations working for the abolition
of prostitution as an institution of gender inequality and exploitation. We draw on both our
practice-based evidence and our academic studies to strongly urge each state to adopt ‘the
Nordic model’, making it a global approach to end prostitution.
We believe it is important to signal that our position on prostitution is grounded in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its subsequent covenants and protocols. We
recognize from our research and our work with women in prostitution that the purchase of
a human being to use for sex, at whatever age, in every culture, held in place by a global sex
industry, results in deep harm, physical as well as emotional. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights was indeed codified to protect people of the world from it. Our position is
centrally with the human rights of women, as protecting the dignity of all women equally,
and with an end to all forms of the subordination and degradation of women. It comes
neither from considerations about ‘public order’ nor is it driven by moralistic piety.
Our endorsement of a global adoption, state by state, of ‘the Nordic Model,’ calls attention
to a number of key issues:

the gender asymmetry of the sex industry, that is, men are overwhelmingly the
majority of those who buy sex, and women and girls those whose bodies are bought;

countries where buying sex has been criminalised have seen an increase in women
exiting prostitution, sex markets shrink, and trafficking reduced. This is a success for
women, for these countries as nation states, and the European Parliament adoption
of the Nordic model offers the potential to replicate this progress throughout the
world;

attitudes shift where the purchase of sex is criminalised, with surveys in Sweden and
Norway for example consistently showing that a large majority, in Sweden now over
70% of the population, think the purchase of sex is unacceptable. Law is a powerful
tool in defining and changing what is harmful to human beings, and what is not
socially acceptable behaviour
Whilst we recognise that some women find selling sex to be personally and economically
empowering, these individual stories are not testament to the legitimacy of prostitution as a
social institution. We also find that placing emphasis on these stories intensifies the
invisibility of women who are and have been harmed by prostitution.
The prostitution system is a reminder of continuing inequalities between women and men:
the gender pay gap; the sexualisation of female bodies in popular culture; histories of
violence and abuse in both childhood and adulthood that underpin many women’s entry
into the sex industry. In every country (and globally) the persistence of these economic and
social inequalities is well documented in a wealth of academic research. Further, focusing on
the supposedly free choice of women to enter into prostitution draws attention away from
the buyers whose choice to buy human beings to use them for sex keeps the market in
place. At the same time, these layers of disadvantage experienced by women mean that socalled ‘free’ choices are actually decisions made in conditions of already existing inequality,
discrimination and under the dominance of sex industries. Women’s choices should not be
measured simply by where they end up (in prostitution), but by the circumstances in which
these choices must be made. Choices made in conditions of being unequal cannot be
considered ‘free’.
‘The Nordic Model’ places the responsibility for prostitution on the buyers and the pimps.
Systematic research from Finland 1 and the UK2 reveals that men who pay for sex do so
because they believe that biological urges lead them to ‘need’ sex from a variety of different
women. Some explicitly report that they buy sex because it is a context where they do not
have to think about women as equal human beings with their own feelings, wishes and
desires. Research on buyers of women in prostitution shows that they buy sex to humiliate
and degrade women. Men’s own experiences of prostitution, as reported on sites such as
Invisible Man, provide a chilling picture of the reality of prostitution for women: of
desperation, subordination and despair.
‘The Nordic Model’ stems from the recognition that the idea and the reality that women’s
bodies can be bought – and sold – by men, to men, both creates and perpetuates
hierarchical power relations between women and men, which subordinates women.
Prostitution is a form and a cause and a consequence of gender inequality. Achieving gender
equality means taking steps towards a world where progress goes beyond improving the
status of individual women in conditions of discrimination, but addresses those conditions.
Criminalising the purchase of sexual services, decriminalising those who sell, and providing
specialist support to women to enable them to leave prostitution, directly addresses gender
inequalities.
We have an historic opportunity to act as a global beacon to bring universal human rights
and gender equality to women by following the pioneering example set by the Nordic
countries. We urge you, your organizations and your party not to waste it, but instead to
demand that your state adopt ‘the Nordic Model.’
Sincerely
Karin Svensson, chairwoman
National organisation for women´s
and young women´s shelters in Sweden
Agnete Ström, International liaison,
Kvinnefronten/The Women´s Front
Norway
Please sign with your Name, Title, Institution, City and Country
1. Agnete Ström, international liaison of the Women’s Front, Oslo, Norway.
2. Karin Svensson, chairwoman of the National Organisation for Women´s and Young Women´s
Shelters in Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden.
3. Elisabet Näsman, professor of sociology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
4. Janice G. Raymond, Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies and Medical Ethics, University of
Massachusetts, USA
5. Michelle M. Dempsey, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law, Villanova, USA
6. H. Patricia Hynes, Retired Professor of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public
Health, Boston, USA
7. Ann Wilkens, Legitimerad psykoterapeut, privat praktik, Stockholm, Sverige
8. Carin Holmberg, Fil dr i sociologi, Stockholm, Sverige
9. Max Waltman, PhD Candidate (expected PhD, December 2014), Department of Political Science,
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
10. Bo Wagner Sørensen, forsker, ph.d., Voldsobservatoriet, København, Danmark
11. Eva Sundborg, distriktssköterska, leg. barnmorska, doktorand vid KI, Centrum för allmänmedicin,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
12. GullBritt Rahm, Ph.D senior Lecturer, Lic. Psychotherapist, Public Health Sciences, Karlstad
University, Sweden
13. Pia Olsson, Ass Professor, International sexual and reproductive health, IMCH, Dept of women’s
and children’s health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
14. Yvonne Hirdman, Professor emerita, Sweden
15. Gabriella Nilsson, PhD in Ethnology, Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University,
Sweden
16. Josefin Rahmqvist Linnarsson, Leg. sjuksköterska, fil.mag, doktorand, Ordförande i Svenskt
Nätverk för Forensisk Omvårdnad, Stockholm, Sverige
17. Denise Malmberg, PhD, ass.professor, Senior lecturer, Centre for Gender Studies, Uppsala
University, Sweden
18. Astrid Schlytter, associate professor, Stockholm University, Sweden
19. Gun Hedlund, Associate Professor in Political Science, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
20. Malin Jordal, PhD, International Maternal and Child Health/IMCH, Dept of Women’s and
Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
21. Eva Lundgren, Professor emerita of Sociology, especially men´s violence against women,
Uppsala university,Sweden
22. Lena Gunnarsson, dr. phil. in Gender Studies, Örebro University, Sweden
23. Monica Burman, Universitetslektor, docent i straffrätt, Umeå universitet, Umeå, Sverige
24. Hans Ekbrand, Fil Dr, Lektor i sociologi, Institutionen för sociologi och arbetsvetenskap
Göteborgs universitet, Göteborg, Sverige
25. Anders Broberg, professor i klinisk psykologi, Göteborgs universitet, Göteborg, Sverige
26. Vania Ceccato, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Royal
Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
27. Michael Karlsson, Professor of Political Science, Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden
28. Henrik Belfrage, Professor of Criminology, Mid Sweden University, Director of Research,
Vadstena Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, Sweden
29. Asifa Iqbal, PhD student at CFIN, School of architecture and built enviornment. KTH, Stockholm,
Sweden
30. Goldina Smithwaite, genusvetare, Smirthwaite Consulting, Stockholm, Sverige
31. Staffan Janson. Senior professor in Social Pediatrics, Karlstad and Örebro Universities, Sweden
32. Linnéa Bruno, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Uppsala University, Stockholm
33. Kjerstin Almqvist, Ph. D., Professor in Medical Psychology, Department for Social and
Psychological studies, Karlstad University, Sweden
34. Katharina Sass, member of Kvinnefronten and PhD-Candidate at Department of Sociology,
University of Bergen, Norway
35. Katrine Bjerke, PhD stipendiat, sosiologisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen, Norge
36. Kathleen Barry, PhD, Professor Emerita, Penn State University, USA
37. Kathleen Lynch, UCD Professor of Equality Studies, School of Social Justice, University College
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
38. Dr Monica O’Connor, Independent Researcher and Policy Analyst, Research Associate, University
College Dublin, Ireland
39. Andrea Matolcsi, PhD student, Centre for Gender and Violence Research, University of Bristol, UK
40. Melissa Farley, Ph.D., Executive Director, Prostitution Research & Education, San Francisco,
California, USA
41. Gail Dines, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, Chair, American Studies, Wheelock
College, Boston, USA
42. Keith Pringle, Professor in Sociology, Uppsala Universitet, Sverige, Honorary Professor, University
of Warwick, UK, Professor Emeritus, London Metropolitan University, UK
43. Donna M. Hughes, Professor & Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair, Gender &
Women’s Studies Program, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, USA
44. Jody Raphael, Senior Research Fellow, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, DePaul
University College of Law, USA
45. Heather Brunskell-Evans, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Medical Humanities, University of
Leicester, UK
46. Nicola Sharp, Research Fellow, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan
University, London, UK
47. Dianne Post, Attorney, Phoenix, USA
48. Michelle Miller, Executive Director, Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity (REED),
Vancouver, Canada
49. Caroline Norma, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Australia
50. Kristina Massey, Senior Lecturer in Criminal Psychology, Policing and Police Studies, Canterbury
Christ Church University, Canterbury, England
51. Dr Maddy Coy, Reader in Sexual Exploitation and Gender Inequality, Child and Woman Abuse
Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University, UK
52. Dr Helen Pringle, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales,
Australia
53. Dr Patricia Kelleher, Kelleher Associates and University of Limerick, County Cork, Ireland.
54. Joanna Lovett, Senior Research Fellow, London Metropolitan University, UK.
55. Dr Julia Long, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
56. Rebecca Whisnant, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Director of Women's and Gender Studies
University of Dayton, US. Co-founder and board member, Stop Porn Culture
57. Helen Easton, Senior Lecturer and PhD candidate in Criminology, London South Bank University
58. Jody Raphael, Visiting Professor of Law, Depaul University, US
59. Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans, Research Associate, University of Leicester, UK
60. Dr Melanie McCarry, Guild Senior Research Fellow, Connect Centre for International Research on
Gender and Harm, University of Central Lancashire.
61. Connect Centre for International Research on Gender and Harm, School of Social Work,
University of Central Lancashire
62. Professor Liz Kelly, Director, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan
University, UK
63. Dr Fiona Elvines, Operations Co-ordinator, Rape Crisis South London, UK
64. Trine Rogg Korsvik, postdoctoral researcher, Center for gender research, University of Oslo
65. Ruth Greenberg, Radfem UK
66. Ann E Hall BSc PGCE, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
67. Elisabet Rogg, lecturer, Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo, Norway
68. Sofie Danneskiold-Samsøe, Lecturer and Ph.D. in anthropology, Roskilde University, Roskilde,
Denmark.
69. Mikael Bellers Madsen, project manager and MA in geography, Copenhagen, Denmark.
70. Bente Danneskiold-Samsøe, professor MD., DMSc, The Parker Institute, Department of
Rheumatology the Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
71. Bodil Pedersen, associate professor emerita, University of Roskilde, Roskilde, Denmark.
72. Dr Jackie Turner, Research Fellow, London Metropolitan University, UK
73. Cecilie Høigård, prof.emer, University of Oslo, Norway
74. Evy Frantzsen Associate professor, Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway
75. Jane Dullum, post. doc., University of Oslo, Norway
76. Professor Liv Finstad, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo,
Norway
77. Kjersti Ericsson, Professor, University of Oslo, Norway
78. Rachel Moran, Founding Member of SPACE International (Survivors of Prostitution-Abuse Calling
for Enlightenment), Ireland
79. Dr. Anita Heiliger, network “stop sexbuying” from the women´s project KOFRA in munich,
Germany, organizer of the “International Congress to abolish Prostitution: Stop Sexbuying” in
Munich
80. Nusha Yonkova, Doctoral researcher at the School of Social Justice, University College Dublin and
anti-trafficking manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Ireland
81. Kai Part, gynaecologist and doctoral student, Taru University, University of Tartu Women's Clinic,
Estonian Sexual Health Association, Estonia
82. Made Laanpere, gynaecologist and doctoral student, Tartu University, University of Tartu
Women's Clinic, Estonian Sexual Health Association, Estonian Gynaecologists´ Society, Estonia
83. Gösta Zachrisson, Ordförande Män för Jämställdhet Göteborg (Men For Equality, Gothenburg),
Sweden
84. Gösta Zachrisson, medlem i styrgruppen, Nätverket mot Trafficking, Göteborg, Sweden
85. Nela Pamuković, coordinator of the Centre for Women War Victims-ROSA, Zagreb, Croatia
86. Stanimira Hadjimitova, Gender Project of Bulgaria Foundation, Bulgaria
87. Kadri Soo, Lecturer, Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia
88. Anna Zobnina, Chair of Board, European Network of Migrant Women
89. Borbala Juhasz, Hungarian Women's Lobby
90. Sara Vicente Collado, Comisión para la Investigación de Malos Tratos a Mujeres, Madrid, Spain
91. Malin Roux Johansson, Founder and Executive director of RealStars, Gothenburg, Sweden
92. Sarah Benson, CEO Ruhama, Dublin, Ireland
93. Durdica Kolarec, The PETRA Network for Prevention and Elimination of Trafficking, Zagreb,
Croatia
94. Pierrette Pape, Policy Officer and Project Coordinator, European Women's Lobby, Bruxelles,
Belgium
95. Guðrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman, Stígamót, Reykjavík, Iceland
96. Trine Porret Randahl Larsen, president of The Women’s Council in Denmark, Copenhagen,
Denmark
97. Nadine Bouteilly, president of Libres Mariannes, Paris, France
98. Laure Caille, general secretary of Libres Mariannes, Paris, France
99. Ole Johnny Olsen, Førsteamanuensis, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
100. Ruth Breslin, REACH Coordinator, Ruhama, Dublin, Ireland
101. Synnøve Fluge, PhD-Candidate Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Norway
102. Kari Wærness, professor em, Sosiologisk Institutt, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
103. Sonja Lokar, Executive Director, CEE Network for Gender Issues, Ljubljana Office, Slovenia
104. Biserka Momčinović, co-coordinator of the Women’s Network of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
105. Katerina Sidiropoulou, member, Research Centre of Women’s Affairs, Athens, Greece
106. Stamatina Kaloudaki, Responsible person, Non-Aligned Women’s Movement, Athens, Greece
107. Kirsten Grønbæk Hansen, Cand. Psych, associated professor, Institute of Psychology and
Educational Studies, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark
108. Eha Reitelmann, chair of the board of Estonian Women's Shelters Union, Estonia
109. Ruchira Gupta, Founder and President, Apne Aap Worldwide, New Dehli, India
110. Tinku Khanna, Project Coordinator, Apne Aap Worldwide, New Dehli, India
111. Hilde Jakobsen, Ph.D candidate, University of Bergen, Norway.
112. Thera Mjaaland, Gender and Development, University of Bergen, Norway
113. Emilie Deffoin, Master Student in gender Studies at Linköping University, Sweden.
114. Feminism in London, London, UK
115. Resist Porn Culture, London, UK
116. Marit Elisabeth Klemetsen, PhD student in Economics, University of Oslo/Research Department
of Statistics, Norway
117. Brigitte Lechner, Cheshire, UK
118. Therese Malkén, ordförande för Kvinnojouren Ellinor och Tjejjouren Beata i Linköping, Sverige
119. Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, Inst. of Sociology of Religion, University of the
West, Timisoara, Romania
120. Gunilla S. Ekberg, human rights lawyer and PhD candidate, University of Glasgow School of Law,
Scotland
121. Caroline Werner, Biologist, Saarland University, Germany
122. Esohe Aghatise - Trafficking Programmes Consultant Manager Equality Now,Visiting Lecture
UNICRI, Master of Laws in Int. Crime and Justice, Turin and Faculty of Law, University of Turin, Italy
123. Dr Emma Williamson, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Gender and Violence
Research, School for Policy Studies, Bristol, England
124. Glòria Casas Vila - PhD Candidate - Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne
(Lausanne, Switzerland).
125. Bill Stauffer, citizen, Portland, USA
126. Kathleen A. Lahey, Professor and Queen's National Scholar, Faculty of Law, Queen's University,
Canada, cross-appointed Dept. of Gender Studies, and Visiting Professor, Umea Forum for the Study
of Law and Society, Umea University (2013)
127. Carole Anne Soong, member of CFUW/IFUW. (Canadian Federation ofUniversity
Women/Interntional FederationofUniversity Women
128. Erin Graham, PhD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
129. Jo-Anne Dusel, Provincial Coordinator, PATHS - Provincial Association of Transition Houses and
Services of Saskatchewan, Canada
130. Rachel Goble, The SOLD Project, President, Pleasanton, USA
131. Caroline Denigan, Deakin University, Doctoral Candidate, Geelong, Australia.
132. Tanja Rahm, stud. BA in social education, Roskilde University, founder of and spokeswoman for
the Network group of Prostitution Survivors, Denmark
133. Kenneth Reinicke, associate professor in masculinity studies, Roskilde University, Denmark
134. Trine Baumbach, associate professor, Ph.D. in criminal law, Faculty of Law, University of
Copenhagen, Denmark
135. Hanne Helth, occupational therapist, founder of and spokesperson for 8. marts-initiativet
(March 8 Initiative), Denmark
136. Marianne Bruun, Master of Science in Education, senior advisor in gender studies, 3F, Denmark
Bente Holm Nielsen, MD, cand. med.
137. Pia Deleuran, cand. Jur. et Art., attorney and mediator, Law Firm Deleuran, Denmark
138. Birgit Søderberg, socionom, Roskilde University, chairwoman of LOKK – the National
organization of women’s shelters in Denmark
139. Nina Hedegaard Nielsen, psychologist, specialist in occupational health and safety, FOA,
Copenhagen
140. Kirsten Ketscher, Professor, dr. Jur., Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
141. Julie Lilith Hentze, Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, activist, Denmark
142. Stine Jørgensen, associate professor, PhD, Vice Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen,
Denmark
143. Sunniva Schultze-Florey, Master of law, specializing in comparative criminal law on prostitution,
University of Bergen, Norway
144. Kathy Miriam, Phd in History of Consciousness Program, University of California, Santa Cruz, US
145. Alexandra Weiss, Mag. phil, Dr. phil, / MA and Phd in Political Science, Project Assistant,
University of Innsbruck, Austria