As mentioned in a previous update, the University of Leicester has withdrawn its ‘student sex worker toolkit’ and the training based on it. We have not, however, declared outright victory because the “sex work is real work” and “sex work is empowering” ideology still dominates in most UK universities and mainstream culture. We are therefore considering new ways to challenge this narrative.

You may have seen the endless revelations about the institutional misogyny and sexism in the London Metropolitan Police Force and most other police forces up and down the UK.

For example, an HMICFRS report published in November 2022 looked at eight separate police forces and concluded that “a culture of misogyny, sexism, predatory behaviour towards female police officers and staff and members of the public” was prevalent in all the forces inspected.

The inspectors found that police officers staged unwarranted stops of women in public places, that crimes such as sexual assault were covered up and ignored, and that the harassment of female officers and members of the public was widespread. Every single female police officer and staff member that the inspectors spoke to reported being harassed and sometimes also assaulted by their male police colleagues.

These attitudes and behaviours do not exist within a vacuum but rather are part of the wider culture that is becoming increasingly misogynistic and sexist through easy access to pornography, the seepage of porn into mainstream culture, and the trivialisation, normalisation and increase in size of the sexual exploitation industry in all its forms – from pornography, through lap dancing and webcamming, right up to prostitution, escorting and ‘sugar dating’.

Pornography invariably presents women and girls as sexual objects to be abused and degraded and it normalises and eroticises the kind of misogynistic, racist and sexist behaviour that now dominates the culture at the Met and other UK police forces. Sex buying also positions women as sexual objects – to be bought and sold by men for men’s sexual use and abuse.

History has shown that dehumanising, degrading and objectifying human beings is always the first step in committing violence against them. When a human being is dehumanised and objectified, treating them with contempt becomes second nature. When the dehumanisation and objectification of a group of human beings is actively or passively accepted by authorities, violence against that group becomes inevitable.

There is now unequivocal evidence that porn consumption and buying sex are associated with a decrease in empathy and an increase in attitudes that underlie men’s verbal and physical aggression towards women, including rape and sexual harassment.

We believe that it is simply inconceivable that the misogynistic and sexist culture within the police will change while police officers are free to watch porn at work, to engage in porn-style banter, and to pay to sexually use and abuse women in prostitution, webcamming and similar.

We have therefore started a new petition calling for the introduction of a total ban on all police personnel watching porn at work or paying for sexual activity. We hope that the petition will initiate a conversation about the harms of the sexual exploitation industry and its links with the epidemic of male violence against women and children that we are currently witnessing.

Do please consider signing and sharing this new petition. 

With very best wishes for 2023 and thank you for your continuing support.

The Nordic Model Now! team.