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In recent years, more and more people in Europe have been calling for a Swedish-style ban on buying sex. This approach, known as the Nordic Model, makes it illegal to buy sex but not to sell it. The goal is to punish the buyers while offering support to sex workers. But how has this experiment worked out in Sweden after 25 years?
How Sweden tracks down clients
Mathias Lööw, a police officer in Helsingborg, works on all kinds of serious crimes, like organized crime and drug trafficking. He also works on catching people who buy sex.
Lööw and his team track online ads, watch apartments where sex is being sold, and even pose as buyers to catch people in the act.
He says, that people buy sex all the time, adding that the busiest times are during lunch breaks and after work.
The people getting caught aren’t dangerous criminals. Instead, they’re often regular people—fathers, retirees, or students. For many of them, getting caught is very embarrassing.
Most sex workers in Sweden come from poor backgrounds in Eastern Europe, South America, or Africa. Simon Häggström, another police officer, says that these women usually aren’t in control of their lives, and most of them are often victims of human trafficking.
Unlike countries where prostitution is legal, Sweden has no brothels or visible street prostitution. Since the Nordic Model started, there hasn’t been a single murder of a sex worker in Sweden.
However, some Swedish men now travel to countries like Germany or Thailand, where buying sex is legal.
This raises the question of whether the problem is simply being moved elsewhere rather than solved.
After hours of watching and waiting, the police often face setbacks—sometimes they don’t make a single arrest. When they do catch a client, the person may deny buying sex, but they still have to come in for questioning. Inside the apartments, the police often see grim conditions—small rooms with just a bed and a couple of chairs. In one case, a client paid 130 euros to a 50-year-old Swedish woman who said she was doing it because of financial problems after her divorce.
Is the Nordic Model Working?
Critics say that the Nordic Model has many downsides for sex workers, clients, and society. For sex workers, the model pushes their work into hiding, making it more dangerous. They face a higher risk of violence, exploitation, and mental health issues.
A study by the London School of Economics says that while the model was meant to protect sex workers, it often leaves them with fewer options and makes their lives more difficult. Without being able to seek help openly, they often end up in dangerous situations.
The Global Network of Sex Work Projects also argues that the Nordic Model adds to the stigma and marginalization of sex workers.
By making their clients criminals, sex workers lose stable incomes and can’t access support systems, which leads to a lot of stress and anxiety.
In countries like Austria, where sex work is legal, sex workers have more stability and safety, but in Sweden, they face more uncertainty and danger.
Read the reasons why this model is bad for the women:
For clients, the Nordic Model makes consensual activities into crimes. Many clients aren’t bad people—they are often looking for companionship or intimacy that they can’t find elsewhere. Criminalizing buying sex creates a culture of fear, which means clients are too scared to ask for help for sexual health issues or report violence. This drives the entire industry underground, where nobody is protected.
On a larger scale, the Nordic Model has caused some unintended problems. Banning legal sexual services hasn’t stopped people from wanting them. Instead, it has created a black market where criminals can take advantage of both sex workers and clients. These criminal networks become stronger as they fill the gap left by legal sex work. The extra work needed by the police to track down illegal sex workers and their clients also takes away time and resources from more serious crimes. Closing down legal brothels and sex clubs has led to job losses and less tax revenue, which puts more pressure on public resources.
Read the most important reasons why this model bad for the clients:
There is also evidence that the Nordic Model might lead to more sexual violence. Sweden, where the model started, has some of the highest rates of reported sexual violence in Europe.
Some people think that when there are no legal ways for people to pay for sex, it leads to frustration, which can turn into aggression.
Sweden’s high rate of reported rapes has raised concerns about whether criminalizing sex work might actually be making things worse.
While the Nordic Model aims to reduce exploitation and help sex workers, critics argue that it often has the opposite effect.
It pushes the sex trade underground, leaves sex workers more vulnerable, and makes exploitation and violence more likely.
For countries like Germany that are thinking about adopting the Nordic Model, these problems should serve as a reminder that even well-meaning policies can have harmful, unintended consequences.
We also have an article which shows the reasons, why this model is bad for the whole society. Click on the button below to read it: