In Scotland it is currently legal to pay for sex, although related activities like running a brothel and loitering in public are in fact illegal. The Nordic model, as enacted in countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, aims to criminalize the purchasing of sex and decriminalizing the selling of it. A member of the Scottish Parliament who believes that all sex work equates to violence against women by men is set to introduce a bill that would move Scotland towards the Nordic model with regards to its legal handling of sex work. While decriminalizing the selling of sex can have obvious benefits for sex workers, some believe that the downside of the Nordic model, which criminalizes the purchase of sex, will have serious detrimental effects in their industry, such as the loss of good and respectful clients.
The “Nordic Model” is spreading to Scotland and sex workers are concerned
