Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
Women for sale – but at what cost?
From prostitution to surrogacy, access to women’s bodies can be bought for a fee. LYNNE WALSH reports from a conference exploring the mounting crisis in which women are increasingly seen as products to be consumed

HARROWING personal testimony from survivors of prostitution and surrogacy underpinned a significant conference held in London earlier this month.

Its overwhelming message was unassailable — that capitalism has won a grim monopoly on women’s bodies, and shows no evidence of destroying itself. Quite the opposite, these pernicious industries are destroying lives and preying on the vulnerable, while rewarding the moneygrubbing and selfish.

For the British grassroots women’s group Nordic Model Now!, this was the latest in a series of highly successful events, aimed at the abolition of prostitution and related practices such as lapdancing, pornography and surrogacy.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Features / 13 September 2024
13 September 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports from the recent ‘Chartism Day’ conference at Reading University, where sisters of the 19th century Chartist struggle emerged from the pages of history
Features / 3 August 2024
3 August 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports from a recent conference in London organised by the Women’s Declaration International
Features / 17 July 2024
17 July 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports on discussions among feminist campaigners and a recent Swansea University event
Features / 7 July 2024
7 July 2024
This year’s International Brigade Memorial Trust commemoration took on an urgent tone, with warnings of ‘terrifying wave of fascism’ in Europe drawing parallels between 1930s Spain and today, reports LYNNE WALSH
Similar stories
Features / 3 August 2024
3 August 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports from a recent conference in London organised by the Women’s Declaration International
Features / 17 July 2024
17 July 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports on discussions among feminist campaigners and a recent Swansea University event
Features / 19 June 2024
19 June 2024
Is the United Nations finally recognising that the sex trade is a form of exploitation and a breach of human rights? LUBA FEIN welcomes a new report which suggests that might be the case
Report / 30 March 2024
30 March 2024
ROS SITWELL reports from a conference held in light of the closure of the Gender Identity and Development Service for children and young people, which explored what went wrong at the service and the evidence base for care