Meghan Murphy analyzes ten myths that people propagate about prostitution.
4. The Nordic Model denies sex workers’ agency
One of the things that critics seem to find so difficult to comprehend about the Nordic Model is that it is actually about restricting buyers, not about restricting those in prostitution. That is why it decriminalizes prostituted persons. The Model doesn’t discount the possibility of prostitution by “choice” but rather establishes that the buying of women in systems of prostitution is something that the state should actively discourage.
It’s pretty simple really. The Nordic Model acknowledges that less demand for prostitution and less demand for trafficking = less prostitution and less trafficking ∴ reducing the number of women exposed to these particular types of abuse and creating a better chance of achieving gender equality.
The Prime Directive 
It’s really about fucking time the Nordic model got implemented, or even a similar model. These johns aren’t deterred where prostitution is illegal, since it’s the sex workers who get arrested and have to live with a criminal record – not them! And so those same workers are likely to end up staying instead of leaving, with all the stigma surrounding them. They also don’t care if the women they are using are trafficked or not. If men like Jack Nicholson are a good indicator – and The Invisible Men on tumblr shows johns’ reviews – then they love targeting the most vulnerable women so they can act with impunity – that so happens to be women in the sex industry.
And none of their arguments make sense. I just want to point out one, which is that their wives/girlfriends don’t give them sex or don’t enjoy sex with them (because supposedly they’re all money-digging whores anyway). Aside from the fact that these “lonely men” (15% of all men are johns) actually are partnered (40% are married) or even have several sex partners, they go to a prostituted woman for the exact same thing – faking pleasure – and still complain about it! What’s up with that? I’d like some input from a non-punter male PoV :)
Uh… I’m not sure what input you want me to provide exactly? I have never had the inkling of an idea of using prostitutes for sex and my wife and I are doing just perfectly…
Fair enough, but I was hoping for you to tell me about this male socialization that has johns being utter hypocrites.
Well, they want the porn experience, I would think. They want it, but they can’t have it, because manufacturing it requires complete control by the man (porn director) over the conditions of the sexual act…
Is it true that almost all men use porn? Not that I’m arguing for popularity, but I would think it’s very very difficult to find a man who doesn’t. Literally, I only know if you and one other guy (a member of DGR).
No, I don’t think that’s true. About 20% of men don’t use porn, I understand. 33% don’t view it regularly. That’s tens of millions of men in the US, I’d think.
Unless they’re lying obviously, but 20% is a rather big error margin. Still, self-reporting is always dicey at best.