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Swedish Model

To read a joint briefing paper on the Swedish Model by Rose Alliance (Sweden) and Scarlet Alliance (Australia) click here

To see Rose Alliance (Swedish sex worker organisation) report on the Swedish Model (2016) click here

Click here to view a short film on youtube about the Swedish Laws: 'We want to save you! And if you dont appreciate it you will be punished!"

Click here for the link to the Advocacy Kit on the Swedish Model from NSWP (Global Network of Sex Work Projects).
Entitled "The Real Impact of the Swedish Model on Sex Workers", this advocacy kit serves to highlight the harms associated with this approach of criminalisation, both in relation to the simplistic and crude understandings of sex work and of sex workers that are used to justify the law, and in relation to the direct outcomes of the resulting legal framework of criminalising the purchase of sex. "In contrast to claims that the Swedish model is a necessary and effective approach in protecting women from violence and exploitation, sex workers in Sweden note worrying consequences of the law in terms of their safety and wellbeing."

To read the academic paper "Sweden’s abolitionist discourse and law: Effects on the dynamics of Swedish sex work and on the lives of Sweden’s sex workers" (2014) by Jay Levy and Pye Jakobsson click here. See extract below:

"Drawing from authors’ research and that of others, this article discusses the sex purchase law (sexköpslagen), exploring some of its impacts on the lives of sex workers and the dynamics of Swedish prostitution. We argue that the law has failed in its abolitionist ambition to decrease levels of prostitution, since there are no reliable data demonstrating any overall decline in people selling sex. Furthermore, we argue that the law has resulted in increased dangers in some forms of sex work. Dangers are exacerbated by a lack of harm reduction services, which are seen to conflict with Swedish abolitionism. Moreover, discourses and social constructions informing the sexköpslagen have informed the attitudes of service providers. In addition to specific outcomes of the law, we note evictions of sex workers, problems with immigration authorities, child custody and the police, and briefly discuss these themes. Where Sweden continues to attempt to export the sexköpslagen to other parts of the world, these elements should be carefully considered."