Open letter against promotion of prostitution at Brighton University

[naivetyisthenewblack]

Nordic Model Now say:

"Please sign our open letter to Brighton University.

A couple of weeks ago the Sex Workers’ Outreach Project (SWOP) ran a stall aimed at new students during their Freshers’ Week at Brighton University. Nordic Model Now! has written an open letter to the university Vice Chancellor and Student Union officials expressing our dismay, explaining why it is a terrible idea, and requesting that they never allow this to happen again.

We are now looking for signatures – of both individuals, and groups and organisations. Please consider adding yours and asking your friends to also. The deadline for adding your name is next Tuesday (23 October).

Here is the letter. Scroll down to add your name.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCF2JsaloHUosBJUkx3qlV0PHWrcbyCpaR8g-EGWrTya-Hag/viewform

Thanks for sharing. As the letter questions how was a Student Freshers Fair an appropriate place for prostitution support. Good on the NMN letter writers. The young women's pov was especially sobering and in line with reports that came out of the grooming gangs in Rotherham/Rochdale...

Excerpt from letter:
"This is how one young woman described her recent experience in prostitution:

“People think prostitution is about having consensual sex for money. It’s not. Those men don’t want to pay for that. They paid me and then used me however they wanted. I was beaten with objects until I bled; spat at; anally raped; gang raped; passed around at sex parties like a toy, men slipping off their condoms; I was shouted at, threatened, choked, told to look like I enjoyed it or he’d take the money back. I was scared every single second.”

How is it ethical to suggest, even obliquely, that this is a reasonable option for a young woman to whom you have a duty of care? Or the corollary – that buying sex – is an acceptable option for a young man?"

I can't get it to accept my name and sign it.

I like the way you reminded the University of its public sector duty under the Equality Act:

" to consider the impact of its measures on the need to eliminate sexist discrimination and harassment, to advance women’s equality of opportunity, and to foster good relations between male and female students and staff.

How is allowing a stall that implicitly (if not explicitly) condones and trivialises an institution that feeds male entitlement and entrenches the second-class status of women compatible with that?"

Well said.

Any MNs who may want to support a project that specialises in getting prostituted women off the streets, housed, drug free, abuser free, cared for by volunteer women, and back in touch with their families, might consider one like this:

One25 one25.org.uk/

There may be a similar project near you.

Thank you. I have signed it. Did find it a bit odd, though, that the makers of the petition want to know if you are a survivor of assult as if survivors' opinions are more worth than the opinion of those of us who have thankfully managed to go through life without such horrendous experiences. Also it is a pervy, nosey question.

I can't see any relevance to that question. Quite the opposite. It should be self-evident to any decent human being that prostitution is wrong regardless of whether they have suffered personally and/ or are even women.

How did you manage to sign it? The link opened but it wouldn't let me add my name.

Bump

Signed.

Just to add that I haven't signed it - I'm too careful for my own good - but I applaud the gesture.

SWOP is a perfectly good organisation that seeks to have support for female and male sex workers, it does not encourage sex work but is there to support and advocate for those who do. They were there at the freshers fair so that any students who are/become sex workers know that there is an organisation there to support them, but not try and "save" them from their individual choice and not try and undermine their personal bodily autonomy.

Trying to undermine women and men who work in the sex industry, and prevent them from having all the support and help that they wish to have is downright disgusting and certainly isn't feminist.

Signed.

I wanted to sign but haven't because of the qualifications/ lived experience question - eg are you a survivor of the sex trade? This put me right off. No I'm not, but none of your business.

Signed

Signed. Thanks for sharing this.

Yeah I think this is misguided, I definitely won't be signing. I've never thought of SWOP as promoting sex work. Fair enough I didn't see there stall, but targetting support organisations seems really shitty.

I’ve signed it. As pointed out, no new student at a Freshers’ Fair is going to publicly approach a stall promoting prostitution- the only effect its presence will have is “normalising” a vile misogynistic trade in women’s bodies.
Nobody suggests male students should fund their studies by allowing paying punters to anally rape them - how the hell did Brighton think this was a valid option for young women?
And yes, I know the stall was supposedly offering support to already existing prostitutes. But dear God, the percentage of those among university freshers should be vanishingly small. And their needs better adddressed confidentially via the student counselling service.

I prefer to email Nordic Model directly, but thanks for the heads up.