Read on Twitter
Shortly I’ll be live tweeting the speeches for and against the Nordic Model bill in the UK Parliament with a little bit of commentary 
My fingers are not very fast so make sure to check over at @ukdecrimnow shortly after for a summary of all the important bits! 
Some prep beforehand - when Diana Johnson mentions “decriminalising” prostitutes or sex workers, she does not actually mean that. She is appropriating the language of ACTUAL Decrim. Criminalising our incomes is not decriminalising us or our jobs in any real way.
Some further prep: there will be one speech for and one speech against, which can be up to 10 minutes each. If it passes, the bill will be accepted as having had its first reading and go on to a second reading in the future.
Welcome to anyone browsing the #BustTheBusinessModel hashtag. If you want to hear how this attempt at “rescuing” prostitutes will actually make us unsafe, take a look at the work of @SexWorkHive. Believe it or not, we have voices and Diana Johnson doesn’t speak for us.
As you might have guessed, Parliament runs on its own time so we are still waiting for this current discussion to end - please hold! We’ll get onto the attack on the basic human rights of sex workers very soon x
They just used the word “finally” so I get the sense that the NM Bill discussion is imminent!
IT’S BEGUN
This bill is NM and FOSTA/SESTA in one, aimed at attacking everything around sex work including advertising websites
The basis of this is that the UK has become a “trafficking” destination, yet there is no good research to support the idea that NM stops trafficking
I actually work in a brothel and AM being exploited. My workplace is already illegal. Criminalising clients will only turn my brothel into a far more underground business, endangering me
She is reading client reviews - ignoring the fact that men talk like this in private without cash involved. Patriarchy is the real problem here - criminalising our way of surviving under it is ridiculous and harmful
She is now discussing how websites enable sex traffickers, not mentioning the fact that banning websites in the US made it harder to find trafficking victims
Describing sex workers as “orders” as if we aren’t human beings
Dismantle the business model means making my income, which I am dependent on, does not help me in any way
The ban on access to sexual services in France actually led to more murder Diana but go off
Ending demand just means we need to take more risk to address the needs that saw us into prostitution in the first place. Why are we not tackling poverty? Why are we taking our survival methods instead of our poverty?
We don’t want more police intervention as is proposed. Being raided and “helped” by police is the single most traumatising point of my time in prostitution
LYN BROWN SPEAKS AGAINST BEGINNING NOW
Lyn wants to begin a debate that informs and sees the nuance in the situation. She acknowledges that sex work is a difficult issue and makes clear that we ALL oppose trafficking and exploitation, that we need an address to this
“We cannot allow the Nordic Model in the UK” - she says it will put people at greater risk. In France who have NM, murders of sex workers have increased significantly.
When all clients are risking arrest, they request meetings in darker places and women cannot refuse them
Lyn reads statements from sex workers. Jenny from Manchester speaks about how it is impossible to leave sex work once you have a criminal charge
Reports on the NM show sex workers are more likely to accept risky services and that interactions with police are not improved and are sometimes worsened
She says criminalisation is opposed by WHO And the Royal College of Nurses
Only 39% of France’s sex workers even knew that the exit programme exists
“It is poverty, inequality and unjust laws” that keep sex workers in the industry. “Sex work will exist as long as there is policy” GO ON @lynbrownmp
“We know that poverty levels are rising and these numbers include many sex workers and their children.”
She reads another statement - “criminalising our clients will take away our income”
Lyn poses the question of what happens when we ban websites. Shutting websites will push sex workers underground and to the dark web, making it harder for sex workers to discuss and negotiate w clients and harder to track bad clients via @NationalUglyMug
“We have to create policies so women have the power to create the lives they want”
She speaks of the Decrim model in NZ which has helped workers become safe, with increased reporting of offences, better safety, and an increased ability for sex workers to refuse clients
She makes it clear that we need to tackle trafficking and barriers to leaving sex work without attacking sex workers in the process.
They have moved to a vote. The Ayes have won. It has passed.
well, this is horrifying. We’re gonna need to organise against this for its second reading. Watch this space. Sorry to bring you all this news
