Nordic model approach to prostitution

The Nordic Model approach to sex work, also known as the end demand, equality model, neo-abolitionism, Nordic and Swedish model, is an approach to prostitution that criminalises clients, third parties and many of the ways sex workers operate.

This approach to criminalising sex work was developed in Sweden in 1998 mainly by the adoption of the parliamentary "Women's Peace" bill (Swedish: Kvinnofridslagen) which "situated prostitution in the context of sex inequality—rather than, as has been common, among crimes against morality, decency, or public order". It was argued, notably by legal scholar Catharine A. MacKinnon and radical feminist Andrea Dworkin who had been invited by a Swedish women's rights organization, that a law which assumed gender equality by criminalizing both buyer and seller would not be effective at tackling the inequality and exploitation of women.

The main objective of the model is to abolish the sex industry by punishing the purchase of sexual services. The model has been criticised for making working in the sex industry more difficult.

The model was first instituted in Sweden in 1999 and then into effect in Norway in 2009 as part of the Sex Buyer Law. As of 2023, eight countries and one US state have adopted the model in full or in part.

Organizations for the rights of sex workers, such as the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, as well as global human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, do not support the Nordic model, and have called for the decriminalization of sex work.