EDINBURGH, Scotland — A leading sex worker advocacy group in the U.K. reports that the Scottish government has instructed local authorities to partner with controversial Christian charity Azalea, led by a religious anti-porn activist who has stated that sex workers are “possessed by demons.”
According to a report by the North Edinburgh Press, sex worker safety charity National Ugly Mugs (NUM) received tips from individuals in local councils in Scotland that the ruling Scottish National Party has recommended those councils work with Azalea, whose founder and head, Ruth Robb, has in the past recommended performing exorcisms on sex workers
Robb also believes yoga is an “occult practice” and that sex work leads to a “lesbian lifestyle.” She told her local newspaper that watching pornography is an “unhealthy habit” similar to “buying sex.”
Azalea has been drafted by the Scottish government as part of an initiative by Victims and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown, a Nordic Model proponent who created a network of regional “commercial sexual exploitation hubs” in February. According to Brown, this network will “support women to safely exit from prostitution and challenge men’s demand for prostitution.”
In June, government officials made presentations throughout Scotland promoting collaborations with Azalea, “as part of an approach to persuade men not to purchase sexual services,” and praising the group’s initiatives as “similar to approaches within the Nordic Model.”
The Nordic Model technically decriminalizes the selling of sexual services but ramps up penalties and enforcement for buyers of sexual services and third parties profiting off of sex workers. Its goal is to end sex work in all forms and “rescue” sex workers, whom it categorizes as invariably exploited.
According to the North Edinburgh Press report, NUM also reviewed documents released under the U.K.’s Freedom of Information Act, showing that the Glasgow City Council has refused to take part in Brown’s scheme, 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 it.”
Robb has written guidebooks for Christian organizations doing sex worker outreach. According to Robb and co-writer Marion Carson, “Most prostitutes have had some exposure to the occult,” and her guides offer a checklist to determine if a sex worker is undergoing “demonic possession.” Supposed symptoms include “flailing limbs” or a “sudden change of voice.”