Working towards a just and equal society: 5 Reasons You Should Support the Equality Model

*Disclaimer from Rollerskate to Liberate’s President/Founder, Sarah Virgil: To those who identify as an independent sex worker, please know I hear and see you, want to support you, and I still fully believe and encourage us all to work together in the fight against trafficking. While we may not agree on policy, I know how important independent sex workers are to identifying and helping those they find in trafficking situations. I believe there are solutions we can work on together to help eliminate trafficking and make the commercial sex trade industry safer for everyone. I am always open to have discussions on how to identify solutions and work together, while still remaining true to our own core beliefs and opinion of policy.*

The following video clips are excerpts from the World Without Exploitation Now & Next Speaker series. A free online series featuring movement leaders and opinion shapers sharing best practices, presenting new research, and exploring innovative ways to make the movement to end sexual exploitation more effective and inclusive. Click here to learn more.

The world deserves equality and justice for all. Survivors of human trafficking deserve safe places to heal and services that help them recover. Predators, traffickers, and those who harm deserve to be held accountable for their actions and crimes. This is why the Equality Model was created. Developed by listening and learning from sex trade survivors and those with lived experience. 

Before diving into the specifics, It’s important to understand the difference between legalization, full decriminalization (meaning it is no longer treated as illegal or criminal offense), and the Equality Model.

Equality Model: (Also known and Nordic Model or Partial Decriminalization) Decriminalize people in prostitution while continuing to prosecute pimps, brothel and illicit massage parlor owners and managers, sex tourism operators, and sex buyers

Full decriminalization: Decriminalize the sex trade, including prostitution, patronizing prostitution (sex buying), promoting prostitution (pimping), and sex tourism operations

Legalization: The government controls and regulates the sex trade, including prostitution, patronizing prostitution (sex buying), promoting prostitution (pimping), and sex tourism operations

In 1999, Sweden introduced the Equality Model (also called the Nordic Model or partial decriminalization) to combat commercial sexual exploitation while promoting gender equality. On January 25, 2021, the Equality Model was proposed as the Justice and Equality Act by sex trade survivors to New York state legislators. Read more about the proposal here.

With one state senate proposal underway, the Equality Model is vital in this movement to end exploitation. 

Here are 5 reasons why: 

1. Addresses and fights oppression within the commercial sex trade

The commercial sex trade is based and rooted in oppression. With those who are most privileged at the top. A study from, Rights 4 Girls found white men is the largest demographic of sex buyers, while BIPOC women is the largest demographic of prostituted peoples. 

Vednita Carter, founder of Breaking Free, provides historical context of how black women were viewed in slavery. 

She also speaks on how we still see those same racial attitudes today.

According to the U.S. Office of Justice Programs, studies have shown that LGBTQ individuals are more likely to be bullied by their peers, ostracized by their communities, or be vulnerable to human trafficking. Cristian Eduardo, of Sanctuary for Families, discusses the romanticization of the sex trade within the LGBTQ community.

It’s no secret that the United States currently has an imbalance of power between men and women. The equality model helps to create a more balanced approach and seeks to change social norms that further push equality among genders and remove gender-based bias. Ane Mathieson of Sanctuary for Families, and a subject matter expert and researcher on legislation regarding prostitution, says this about gender equality within the countries who have adopted the Equality Model.

2. Holds those who exploit prostituted people accountable

Listen to Marian Hatcher, with SPACE International, discuss who the buyers of the sex trade are and the harms they cause.

In the commercial sex trade, it is impossible to create an equal balance between the people in prostitution and those who are exploiting and causing harm. Esperanza Fonseca with AF3IRM explains why the Equality Model is the true progressive and feminist approach to the sex trade.

It’s time to hold pimps (aka traffickers) and buyers accountable for the harms they cause, and furthermore remove the ability for the crimes and offenses to be pushed onto the prostituted peoples. 

3. Decriminalizes prostituted peoples and provides safe and proper exit strategies for those who want to leave

Prostituted peoples need to be decriminalized. This means people cannot be criminally charged for selling sex. However, decriminalizing the buyers, sellers, and pimps would eliminate the need and proper implementation for necessary services that prostituted peoples need in order to leave if they decide to. Nikki Bell, of Living in Freedom Together (LIFT), explains further. 

In our current governing structure, in many situations these people are held accountable for their traffickers' crimes. 

Vacatur laws create an opportunity for certain trafficking survivors to correct past injustices. However, right now there are no vacature reliefs at a federal level for survivors who occurred federal felonies. Learn from Bekah Charleston, of The Jensen Project about the importance of vacature at a federal level. 

So how would these services work? How would they be funded? Learn about this third “pong” of the Equality Model from Alisa Bernard with the Organization for Prostitution Survivors.

4. Reduces human trafficking

In a study conducted by Demand Abolition, on the patterns of sex buyers it was concluded that on average 6.2% of men buy sex. However, if the “circumstances were rightt” that number jumps from 6.2% to a potential 25% of men who envision themselves purchasing sex. Demand jumps, supply jumps. In this industry, that means more sex trafficking.

A real life example can be shown through a study conducted by Ane Mathieson, Easton Branam, and Anya Noble and published in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice. This study argues that legalization and full decriminalization laws and policies grant legitimacy to the abusers (Pimps, buyer, brothel owners) and those same laws have not stopped the violence women face from these abusers each day. In Germany, recent estimates indicate roughly 400,000 women service 1.2 million men each day. This is only one example, but the same harms can be found in other countries that have legalized or fully decriminalized prostitution. If 1.2 million men are demanding work of 400,000 women, in any industry, it’s clear there needs to be more “supply” to “fill the demand,” and therefore, sex trafficking significantly increases.

Ane Mathieson, who has studied and researched the Equality Model in Sweden, provides concrete results about the proven success of this model.

5. Helps to prevent and eliminate violence in the commercial sex trade

The commercial sex trade sees more sexual assault and violence against women than any other industry. Rebecca Bender, CEO and founder of the Rebecca Bender Initiative explains.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to legalize or regulate the violence out of the industry. This is why the Equality Model is key to ending it.

In conclusion, the commercial sex industry is a demand-driven market. It’s an industry that exploits the most vulnerable and oppressed of our society and allows those with privilege who exploit to get away with the harms they cause. It’s time for a shift in society, and that means a shift in policy. It’s time for the Equality Model! 

Want to get more involved? Follow World Without Exploitation to keep up with Equality Model Legislation and how you can help. If you’re in high school, college, or a young professional, consider joining the World Without Exploitation Youth Coalition working to create a better future without exploitation. 

Sources:

• World Without Exploitation. “WorldWE Speakers_Equal Not Exploited: A Survivor-Driven Agenda for Ending Commercial Sexual Exploitation.” Vimeo, 10 Dec. 2020, vimeo.com/489767750. 

• Policy Analyst, Victim Advocate, et al. Equality Model US, 31 July 2020, www.equalitymodelus.org/. 

• Demand Abolition, 2018, Who Buys Sex? Understanding and Disrupting Illicit Market Demand. 

• rights4girls, 2017, Racial & Gender Disparities in the Sex Trade. 

• “Human Trafficking Task Force e-Guide.” Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center, www.ovcttac.gov/taskforceguide/eguide/4-supporting-victims/45-victim-populations/lgbtq-victims/. 

• Mathieson, Ane; Branam, Easton; and Noble, Anya (2016) "Prostitution Policy: Legalization, Decriminalization and the Nordic Model," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 14 : Iss. 2 , Article 10. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol14/iss2/10