The Nordic Model Now! handbook for universities is now live! It’s called ‘Supporting students impacted by the sex industry: A handbook for universities’ and it sets out a holistic approach to supporting students caught up in the sex industry or impacted by it in other ways.
Peter Jenkins, who has been a student counsellor in Further and Higher Education for 40 years and who has written in detail about the university’s legal duty of care towards students, had this to say about the handbook:
“This is, unfortunately, a very timely, necessary and probably life-saving handbook. For any student thinking of getting involved in the so-called sex industry, read this handbook first. For any university staff thinking of encouraging their students to get involved in this form of coercive exploitation, read it twice.”
The handbook provides a realistic understanding of the sex industry, the short and long-term impact of involvement within it, what university policies and codes of behaviour need to cover, and how best to support those who are caught up in it.
It looks at the responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to work to prevent the discrimination and further disadvantaging of students who are young, female, LGBT+, disabled, or racialised, and to improve the relationships of those from all the protected characteristics, including between women and men generally. It argues that any efforts to bring about positive change on university campuses in respect to sexist attitudes and behaviour are doomed to failure unless programmes directly address the sex industry and porn consumption.
The handbook is available as a free download and printed copies are available to buy from the NMN website shop. There is a discount code for students.
If you are a student, parent of a student, or work in a university, do consider promoting the handbook in your university. You may want to get a copy and show it to the student welfare or Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) departments – or at least recommend that they download and read the PDF.
We are hosting a webinar at 2pm GMT on Sunday 21 November to launch the handbook. Speakers include Professor Kathleen Richardson from De Montfort University, Leicester; Lily who was herself involved in prostitution when she was a student and who co-wrote the handbook’s chapter on supporting students who are already involved in the sex industry; and Andrea Heinz who got involved in the sex industry as a heavily indebted young woman. The event is free and it’s not too late to register.
We hope to see you there and please keep on sharing the petition and encouraging your friends and contacts to sign. More than 12.5K of you have signed so far and this will not have escaped Leicester University’s attention.
Thank you for your continuing support.