- Scottish councils reject SNP bid to roll out regional “commercial sexual exploitation hubs”, citing concerns over plans to involve “dangerous” religious charity
- Leading sex worker safety charity says ministers should be ashamed of backing “hocus-pocus nonsense”
- National Violence Against Women Network warns ministers of “significant implementation gap” in SNP sex work
The Scottish Government has told councils to partner with a religious charity whose boss recommends carrying out exorcisms on sex workers who are “possessed by demons”, according to documents seen by National Ugly Mugs, the UK’s national sex worker safety charity.
Local authorities have complained to ministers about government proposals to involve Azalea, an English charity whose boss believes yoga is an “occult practice” and sex work leads to a “lesbian lifestyle”, as a key partner in a new national network of sex work support hubs.
Victims and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown announced the creation of the network of regional “commercial sexual exploitation hubs” in February, which the Government said would “support women to safely exit from prostitution and challenge men’s demand for prostitution”.
However, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Glasgow City Council, chosen by ministers to pilot the proposals, has refused to take part, citing “dangerous” plans to involve Azalea, and complaining that ministers have given “no detail or structure in relation to governance, accountability, outcomes, milestones, monitoring, evaluation, funding or timescales” for the strategy.
The National Violence Against Women Network, which represents staff at local agencies across the country, also wrote to ministers to warn of a “significant implementation gap” in the proposals, with local officials complaining of a lack of Government consultation and an “unrealistic and unworkable” timetable.
In a presentation to councils across the country, in June, Scottish Government officials proposed piloting support services offered by Azalea, a Christian charity based in Luton, as part of an approach to persuade men not to purchase sexual services.
Officials wrote that the project would be “similar to approaches within the Nordic Model”, a controversial legal approach under which the purchase of sex is outlawed, which is opposed by sex workers, as well as international NGOs such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch.
Azalea’s co-founder and CEO, Ruth Robb, has co-authored two guidebooks for Christian organisations undertaking outreach to sex workers, in which she writes that “most prostitutes have had some exposure to the occult” and sets out a checklist to establish whether a sex worker has fallen prey to “demonic possession”.
She says “signs of a demonic attack” include “flailing limbs” or a “sudden change of voice”, and provides a guide to carrying out “deliverance prayers” to ensure the “demon is expelled”.
Robb, writing alongside her co-author, fellow evangelical Marion Carson, says that “there is certainly demonic activity going on” among sex workers.
She writes:
· Examples of “occult practices” experienced by sex workers can include an “addiction to blood and human flesh”, yoga, and the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons. She says: “There is no doubt that occultic involvement opens the way to demonic activity in a person’s life”.
· When working with sex workers, it may become “clear that there is a demonic spirit in control of this person’s life. Such demonic possession may have been caused by deliberate invitation on the part of the individual, e.g. by subscribing to a satanic group or beliefs. Alternatively, it could be caused by others who have cursed the person or by mediums who have instructed the demon to go into a person.”
· There is a “high degree of lesbian promiscuity” within sex workers, with “strong loyalty” between women leading them into a “lesbian lifestyle” or “homosexual tendencies”. She writes: “Those involved in lesbian relationships may well feel a sense of frustration. They have a natural desire to be protected and provided for by a man”.
· Staff should see data confidentiality rules as “guidance” rather than as “strait-jackets”, and should not let them become “replacements for the unique guidance of the Holy Spirit”. She writes that staff thinking of breaching a sex worker’s confidentiality should consider whether doing so would be a means of “bringing glory to God”, telling them: “Don’t allow rules to stifle the Spirit”.
· Trans sex workers, “commonly known as ‘trannies’… can be easily identified as they tend to exaggerate their feminine qualities, for example, they may adopt a swaggering walk and feminine hand movements”. She warns that they “tend to be very violent towards one another because of the high level of frustration which they feel towards themselves and their lives”.
Nordic Model campaigners have praised Azalea’s work, with the Westminster All-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation inviting Robb to contribute to reports and speak at events.
Its Holyrood counterpart, the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, which campaigns for the Nordic Model in Scotland, counts representatives from the Evangelical Alliance amongst its membership.
Ash Regan, the Alba MSP who is seeking to pass a new law to implement the Nordic Model in Scotland, previously worked for Tearfund, a religious charity that has published policy documents claiming that demons “are real and affect the world we live in”.
Dr Raven Bowen, chief executive of National Ugly Mugs, said: “The fact that the Scottish Government is telling councils to procure the services of an organisation that believes in hocus-pocus nonsense such as sex workers being ‘possessed by demons’ instead of women and individuals in need of material support and resources, tells you everything you need to know about how the SNP’s sex work policy is informed.
“While evidence-informed and progressive organisations such Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN Aids advocate for sex worker rights and the decriminalisation of sex work, the SNP has instead chosen to side with religious crackpots and the regressive right in moving towards the de facto criminalisation of sex workers.
“Polling data shows the Scottish people are overwhelmingly opposed to the SNP’s approach to sex work, and instead want the Government to focus on supporting sex worker safety and wellbeing.
“Making their lives more dangerous by criminalising their sources of revenue while denying agency and offering no income replacement will push sex workers further into poverty, destitution and despair”.
