Background: Norwegian prostitution law: In the footsteps of Sweden

Norway will follow in Sweden’s footsteps in two weeks when buying sex will become illegal. 10 years after the implementation of Sweden’s prostitution law, politicians and experts are still discussing whether the changes have been for the better or worse.

“Sweden’s efforts to help women involved in prostitution have been pushed aside after they made buying sex illegal a decade ago, May-Len Skilbrei, Nordic Gender Institute researcher, said in Dagsavisen.

To avoid falling into the same trap as Sweden, Skilbrei argues that is important for Norway to look to its neighbour to learn from their experiences.

She presented the findings of Nordic Gender Institute in their newly published study on Nordic prostitution.

One of the most profound findings was that growing trafficking and an increase in foreign prostitutes the last ten years have forced the law changes we now witness.

Norway, Finland and Denmark have seen large groups of foreign women on the visible prostitution market, while that has not been the case in Sweden, Skilbrei said.

Reduced street prostitution and blurred indoor market

Being the first country in Europe to make buying sex illegal, Sweden’s law was implemented in 1999 as part of the Violence Against Women Act, where prostitution was defined as a serious form of male violence against women.

Ten years on Swedish police report on increased difficulties in trafficking investigations and a blurring of the prostitution market.

According to Nordic Gender Institute’s study prostitutes are experiencing more violence and they have become more dependent on pimps to get work .

The reduction in Sweden’s street prostitustion is drastic, but it’s important to remember that most of the prostitution in Scandinavia goes on indoors, from mobile escort services to brothels and apartments, Skilbrei said.

According to Nordic Gender Institute’s research, looking at numbers is not sufficient to understand the effects of Sweden’s law.

“The Swedish government might have felt that they had “solved” the prostitution problem by getting the prostitutes off the streets, but making a new law cannot be the final step”, Skilbrei warns.

She is curious to see whether “giving out condoms to prostitutes while arresting the buyers” will prove to be a sufficient method for Norway too deal with the world’s oldest profession”.

Click here to go to main article: Norwegian prostitution law will ‘hit the weakest’

Extra: Click here for comment piece on Norwegian prostitution debate: Save a punter

Norwegian prostitution law will ‘hit the weakest’

Street prostitutes will suffer the most from Norway’s ban on buying sex, Fafo Insitute for Labour and Social Service says.

According to the new report published by Fafo, an estimated 40 percent of prostitution in Norway is conducted on the street, with the rest taking place indoors.

Norwegian and Nigerian street prostitutes are the two weakest groups of the country’s 3ooo prostitutes and will be hardest hit by the new ban, Fafo told Aftenposten.

From 1 January 2009 it will be illegal for Norwegian citizens in Norway and abroad to purchase services from prostitutes, while selling will remain legal.

Procuring and human trafficking are already illegal and the new ban is modelled on legislation passed ten years ago in Sweden, with clients facing fine or jail for up to six months.

The law was sanctioned by the Norwegian council of state on 12 December.

In the government’s statement that followed, Justice Minister Knut Storberget declared that “people are not merchandise and criminalising the purchase of sexual services will make it less attractive for human traffickers to look to Norway.”

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Out of sight out of mind

While proponents say the law will reduce prostitution without punishing the prostitutes, opponents argue it will only force the prostitutes to go underground and make them even more vulnerable.

Prostitutes’ support groups claim the law will be ineffective and question how realistic it is that the law will be enforced, particuarily abroad:

“This is a renovation law that will clean up the streets but move the prostitution indoors”, Liv Jessen, director of the Pro Centre, a support group for prostitutes, told Aftenposten.

“The ban will reduce street prostitution but it won’t stop women from working indoors. The girls will just have to rely more on pimps than before to get clients”, she said.

Jessen argues the law will only pass on the problem to other countries when the Nigerian and other foreign prostitutes leave Norway to find more work.

“That is another reason why I have been against this law”, she said.

Jessen is insecure about the future of the Pro Centre itself:

“Prostitution will not disappear, but it will be organised in other forms. We intend to change accordingly”, she said.

Click here for background article

Background: The anti-brand

It is supposed to ‘give you wings’ and the cool kids call it ‘speed in a can’. Wise grandmothers say it is extracted from bulls’ testicles and wise grandfathers say it decreases your penis. No wonder Red Bull is banned in Norway.

Businessworld offers the bedtime story: On a trip to Asia, Dietrich Mateschitz comes across Krating Daeng (‘Red Bull’ in Thai), a cheap tonic favoured by blue-collar workers to keep alert.

The Austrian businessman takes a sample back home, launces an adapted version of Krating Daeng in 1987 and calls it Red Bull.

Instead of traditional advertising, Bized explains how Red Bull’s anti-branding strategy got under the skin of the Generation Y, the ‘millennials’ born after 1981 who were believed to be cynical of traditional marketing strategies.

Scouting for hot spots in universities, bars and clubs, the initial ideal market was mapped out and the ‘viral’ marketing strategy were implemented: Find a university, recruit cash- strapped students and let them work their word-of-mouth magic in their own environment.

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Sporters, clubbers and worried mums

Hanging out with boundary- pushing extreme sporters was another trick of Red Bull’s trade in the 90s.

Red Bull's two crimson bulls Photograph: Karoline Hjorth

Like a man in his middle aged crisis Red Bull hooked on to the Cliff-divers, kiteboarders, snowboarders, motocrossers, mountain bikers, paragliders, street lugers, ice cross downhillers, skateboarders and surfers.

‘Millenial’ clubbers, hip sporters and students pulling all- nighters soon discovered the effects of the drink and the infamous vodka-Red Bull combination was born.

Playing on associations with danger, edginess and youth culture, Red Bull carefully cultivated its mystique.

But as Bized mentions in its analysis of Red Bull’s market strategies; the long approval times  in many countries and boycotts by concerned mothers stirred rumours of the dangers of Red Bull.

The softdrink is banned in Norway, Uruguay and Denmark because of health risks listed on its cans.

One can of Red Bull contains 80 mg of caffeine, around the same as a normal cup of brewed coffee, according to Reuters.

It seems to take a more than worried mums before alcoholic mixers go out of fashion: Red Bull sold 3.5 billion cans in 143 countries last year, Reuters says.

Click here to go back to the main story: Charleston and Red Bull- It’s a Christmas party!

Charleston and Red Bull- It’s a Christmas party!

Ass grabbing, photocopying genitals, lampshade on heads, gravy- covered beer guts, flashing ties and illuminated reindeer earrings- those are well- known signs of Christmas as thousands of offices around the country get their Christmas parties into full swing.

Bury The Lead got invited to Red Bull’s staff Christmas bash in Shoreditch this weekend- only to find those treasured Christmas rituals to be out of fashion.

Slick doorman welcomes slick guest. Photograph: Karoline Hjorth

Hidden in the epicentre of East London’s Hipstertown, Village Underground is far from paper- clothed buffets and Christmas carol karaoke bliss.

Popping out from their ping pong- tabled meeting rooms and playground built office spaces, staff from all over the country have come to celebrate another hard working year for the pushers of nonalcoholic caffeinated liquid.

Catwalk- strutting waiters welcome the 300 guests with their brightest colgate smiles, trays of finger food and cocktails that “give you wings“.

“Mince pie? Sorry darling, but have a canapé and get yourself a champbull“.

Hundreds of twenty- and thirty-somethings get their smiles fixed with Champagne and Red Bull coktails as they enter the 1920s- style dancehall, designed to escape a glooming economical horizon.

Drink up and dance

Just like any other Christmas party the inhouse entertainment have a clear party boosting strategy:

“We’ll give those dancing shoes a few rounds in the open bar…”

Just as the mind wanders off to images of  MDs revealing their inner moonwalk passion, Leila MacMillan’s dance ensemble pull us back to Red Bull reality:  “…and  then we’ll get the Charleston going”.

Ella Robson demonstrates how charleston is the new moon walk. Photograph: Karoline Hjorth.

Ella Robson is one of the six dancers hired to get the crowd moving, and after hours of rehearsing it is too tempting to ask what keeps her going:

“No, I don’t drink Red Bull but I am on a constant diet of coffe, cigarettes, apples and vodka”, she explains.

Make- up artist Malika Causier paints her lips red and sends her out to tease the minglers.

Blondes, Madonna and the roaring twenties

The credit crunch might ravage the nation, but penny- pinching is not an issue when Red Bull goes festive.

Where other companies trust their loyal staff to book  tables at the local pub, Red Bull trust Blonde Productions to do their party planning.

Blonde Productions sisters Lora and Alex Lutostanska get a final touch from the make- up artist. Photograph: Karoline Hjorth.

Managing director Lora Lutostanska and her sister Alex are used to throwing parties and have organised events for Madonna, BBC and MTV.

“This is our second Red Bull event and the 1920s theme goes really well with some of Red Bulls 2008 campaigns, says Lora.

“It’s been fun”, she confirms before sliding into the crowd.

Despite eager observation Bury The Lead could not spot a single air guitar performer nor hear ”Last Christmas”  being played once.

A trustworthy source has it DJ Curly Perm, in love with himself and his impeccable cream suit, has been made redundant and replaced by wild-and-woolly 1920s jazz and The Correspondents.

On the hunt for fake mistletoes, snogging employees and general misbehavior, Bury the Lead ends up at a table where the hip crowd is playing blackjack.

One of the women is sipping a yellow-colored drink, and the question  is unevitable: “Is it eggnog?”

A moment of innocent Christmas party spirit lights up the room until the sipping red lips reply: “Honey, it’s bellini. Do you want some?”

Click here to go to the background story: Background: The anti- brand

Web critique: VG and the magic of chaos

A visit to VG online, Norway’s most read news site, is like exploring a fun fair with a hangover and a kaleidoscope.

With 2,7 million users each week the online version of Norway’s biggest- selling tabloid newspaper is by far the most visited news site in the country (Norway’s total population is just under 4,8 million).

It has been crowned as “the ugliest website in the world’, even by its editor-in-chief, and one innocent glance at vg.no should be enough to make web design guru Jakob Nielsen cry himself to sleep.

Torry Pedersen on champagne and frozen pizza. Photograph: Karoline Hjorth.

“VG has the world’s ugliest website, but the great thing about it is that it lets you discover things you did not know you were interested in.

Other news sites divide their content in neatly defined sections, but we believe that people will drink champagne with frozen pizza if given the choice,” previous editor-in-chief Torry Pedersen told journalism.co.uk.

Chaos is the new order

VG (short for Verdens Gang) went online as early as 1995 and when scrolling down the incredibly long front page it seems like the interface designers never left the 90s.

Every colour of the rainbow fights for your attention as you enter the chaotic left- centered front page.

In contrast to other award- winning news cites like The New York Times or Guardian, vg.no leaves white space little mercy.

Jack-in-the-boxes adverts hide behind every pixel in a super tight grid- based layout with a wall of aggressive animations jumping out to get you as you aim for the screaming headlines.

Who said Scandinavian minimalism? Simplicity? User friendliness?

Browsing- not searching

Strategic prioritising and weighting of news are crucial traits of the site’s interface and provide clues to its incredibly lengthy front page.

Vg.no is designed for browsing – not searching, as only 10% of the users come through search engines, Pedersen told Forum4editors.

You are firmly directed to the most important stories as you enter the front door: Image- heavy multimedia pieces are supported by gigantic unclickable headlines in Times New Roman, with a font size that varies from word to word.

Unlike Jakob Nielsen’s consistency theory VG headlines do not link into stories, instead you have to follow the bright red links below.

Screenshot of vg.no: Eye strain seem to be VG's main design feature

Vg.no’s choice of navigation seems to be yet another feature to defy the dominating norm of web site design.

Instead of placing the primary navigation menu just below the header and above the content, vg.no uses the left sidebar for content category links.

Sharing the banner with two adverts, the header is so modest itself could be taken for an ad.

The navigation colour scheme is confusing and without any logic structure.

Crammed- in adverts in the navigation menu contain their own navigation, which adds to the confusion.

Several links lead to pages with a different structure and design from the front page, making the overall site inconsistent and hard to navigate.

S for success and Social media integration

It is debatable whether Vg.no’s success is achieved through, not despite of its aesthetic appearance.

It hosts some of the best tabloid online journalists in the country and serves immaculately crafted headlines for tabloid lovers 24/7.

Once you isolate the noise from the visual clutter, each story’s body text is highly scannable with clearly marked headlines, sub headers and paragraphs.

Internal page links with background material is spread throughout, with possibilities for reader involvement through debates, discussions and blogs.

And here lies the magic: VG Online has developed Norway’s second biggest social network and actively fronts  web 2.0 features such as blogging platforms, social networks, dating services and diet clubs.

With a staggering number of unique users, vg.no maintains its position as the most read and most profitable news site in Norway.

Calls for urgent change after Baby P report

The body responsible for monitoring children’s services, Ofsted, has called for an urgent review of how abuse cases are handled in the wake of Monday’s “damning” Baby P report, Reuters says.

“This report and the latest figures available clearly show that many children’s services are failing to learn fast enough from the most serious cases of abuse and neglect,” Ofsted’s Chief Inspector of Education Christine Gilbert said.

The independent report by Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and chief inspector of constabulary was commissioned at the end of the trial into the death of Baby P and looked into the roles of health service, social workers and the police.

According to NSPCC one child dies from cruelty every week in the UK. Illustration by the journalist's little brother. Reproduced by kind permission of the artist.

The 17-month-old boy died in August 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries despite being on an “at risk” register and having had 60 visits from Haringey Council care workers.

His mother, her boyfriend and the couple’s lodger have been convicted of “causing or allowing” his death and are to be sentenced next year.

‘Devastating’ failures

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls, who received the findings yesterday, said in a press conference that the report painted a “devastating and damning” picture of the failings in the north London local authority.

Mr Balls reported on a “a catalogue of failures” which continue to put children in danger. He ordered a new “serious case review” into Baby P’s death to be published by March next year after the inspectors found the one prepared by the authority was inadequate, the Guardian reported.

Sharon Shoesmith, head of Children’s Services at Haringey Council, was removed from her post with immediate effect, and Haringey Council leader George Meehan and Liz Santry, the cabinet member for children and young people, both resigned within hours of Mr Balls’ announcement.

NSPCC urges government investment

Wes Cuell, the director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, NSPCC, welcomed the Government’s prompt action and supported Ofsted’s plans of carrying out annual unannounced inspections in England.

“Public services should be held accountable when the children they are protecting die or are seriously injured. It is vital that the public are confident that local reviews into serious cases are carried out properly. This must lead to real and lasting positive change for children”, he said in an NSPCC press release.

Anemone Sengkouvanh, a digital fundraiser at the NSPCC headquarters in London told Bury The Lead today that the organisation is “experiencing an unprecedented public interest in the Baby P case.”

“People are emailing and calling us all the time demanding to know what went wrong. It only shows we need more public awareness and to provide more educational material to people”, she said.

She urges the government to invest more in increasing the skills and set high standards for professionals working with children at risk in order to raise levels of competence and make sure they have got the means to be fully accountable.

“Sadly we cannot forget that this is not an isolated case. Each week at least one child dies from cruelty”, she said.