baeddel:

Ireland adopted the Nordic model in 2017, making the purchase of sex illegal and criminalizing “brothels” (defined to include two or more sex workers sharing an apartment). Sex Workers Alliance Ireland conducted a survey in 2020 to monitor the effects of the law on sex workers. The findings were, unsurprisingly, that it made sex work more dangerous, screening clients more difficult, and so on.

In response to one question, “What have been the major impacts of the change in the law on your work?”, the answers:

83.33% said “I cannot live/work with another sex worker for fear of arrest for brothel keeping”
75% said “I worry that the police will arrest my clients”
70.83% said “I worry that the police might arrest me”
62.50% said “I am now more worried about violence and abuse”
54.17% said “It is now more difficult to screen clients”
33.33% said “It is now too difficult to keep regular clients that I trust”
29.17% said “I feel pressured into performing unsafe sexual practices”
20.83% said “I have had to drop my prices to get clients”
12.50% said “I don’t have time to negotiate with clients”

Only 8.33% (2 respondents) said “I am more likely to go to the Gardaí [police] if a crime has been committed against me”, and 0% selected the (humorously sarcastic) options “I now have too many clients to deal with” or “I feel more empowered.”

To explain why the law makes screening more difficult, SWAI write that it “may be because it is now the client who is breaking the law, not the worker, so clients are more reluctant to submit to screening processes as they are the ones taking criminal risks.”

In response to the question “Do you think sex work is now more dangerous or less dangerous since the law was introduced?”, 70.83% of responders gave the maximum option, “It is a lot more dangerous now.” On pg. 19-20 they review crimes against sex workers and find that all categories of crime have increased since the law was introduced, some quite drastically.

(via aporetic)