Exclusive:Prostitution survivor accuses government of siding with pimps and groomers
Diane Martin has condemned the Scottish Government’s decision not to back Ash Regan’s bill to overhaul prostitution law in Scotland
A prostitution survivor has accused the SNP government of backing pimps and groomers after voting down proposals to change the law.
The bill by Ash Regan MSP aimed to overhaul prostitution law in Scotland by introducing what is known as the Nordic model to Scotland. This would have decriminalised the selling of sex while criminalising the buying of sex.
The majority of the SNP, the Scottish Greens, the Scottish Lib Dems and one Conservative MSP voted against the bill after the government said it would not support it.
Diane Martin, chair of a Model for Scotland which campaigns in support of the Nordic model, has vowed not to give up the fight.
Ms Martin went to London as a teenager but was misled about what she was going to do and when she ran out of money was pressured into prostitution.
She was branded as a high-end prostitute but ended up being subjected to horrific sexual abuse including rape and suffered from daily panic attacks.
Ms Marin said she did not have the confidence to speak up about her abuse at the time because the people paying to have sex with her were “famous, in government, civil servants, members of other countries’ governments or had diplomatic immunity”.
Speaking to The Scotsman, she said: “I feel equal measures of heartbreak and rage.
“Scotland’s elected government has chosen to abandon justice for women and girls sexually exploited through prostitution, in open defiance of robust and compelling evidence and testimony from academics, institutions, frontline services, and survivors with lived experience of this vile and dehumanising trade in human bodies.
“They ignored their own policy commitments and instead aligned themselves with the sex trade - with groomers, pimps, punters, and organised crime groups who buy, sell and profit from women with near-total impunity.
“In doing so, they have actively protected sex buyers, preserving their anonymity and shielding them from accountability for the destruction they inflict on the bodies, minds, and souls of vulnerable women, consumed as casually as a takeaway.”
Ms Martin said government ministers and those who voted against the bill have chosen “cowardice” and are more interested in their careers than in improving women’s safety.
She added: “This was not ignorance, this was a choice. Cowardice dressed up as pragmatism. Careerism over conscience.
“They heard the truth - and deliberately turned away.
“But the fight is not over. I am fiercely proud of those who stood up and spoke the truth in support of the bill, refusing to be silenced or intimidated.
“We will rest, we will regroup, and we will return - louder, stronger, and more determined - until victims are no longer ignored and justice is no longer optional.”
Speaking before the debate, the government’s Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown said the government agreed with the principle of the bill “that prostitution is violence against women and girls” and that men should not be able to buy sex.
She added: “However, we are very aware that there are women in prostitution who have said the bill as drafted will lead to them being at a higher risk of violence.
"With only weeks left in this parliamentary term, we do not think there is sufficient time left to amend the bill to properly mitigate that risk as well as make other very necessary changes and consult on their impact.
“Consequently, we are regretfully unable to support the bill at stage one.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.