Sex

Sex workers say that shaming johns makes it tougher to pay the rent

by Charlie Smith on June 13th, 2016 at 9:32 AM
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      The Triple-X Workers' Solidarity Association of B.C. has launched an online survey to draw attention to the impact that the sex trade has on people's incomes.

      It's also designed to highlight the pernicious impact of the former Conservative government's Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which criminalized the purchase of sex.

      "When buying sex is a crime sex workers suffer from having no money for family expenses, personal essentials or those little luxuries in life," the association states on its website.

      Parliament passed the law after the Supreme Court of Canada had struck down three prostition-related laws, concluding that they violated constitutional rights to security of the person and freedom of expression.

      The Triple-X Workers' Solidarity Association of B.C. was among several groups that participated in a Saturday (June 11) march through downtown Vancouver to draw attention to the new law, which they say is unconstitutional.

      In a commentary posted on Straight.com last week, Pivot Legal Society lawyer Brenda Belak wrote that so-called shame the Johns campaigns and arresting clients elevate the risk to sex workers.

      "One immediate consequence of arrests is that street-based sex workers face longer hours, thanks to a temporary decline in clients," Belak wrote. "A second is that under these circumstances, sex workers may be more willing to take clients they would otherwise screen out, particularly when they are under greater pressure to avoid police detection."

      Meanwhile, opponents of the sex trade will hold a protest on Tuesday (June 14) outside Vancouver City Hall to call for a "John-free Vancouver". They issued a statement saying they want Mayor Gregor Robertson (who chairs the police board) to "allow Vancouver police to arrest pimps, brothel-keepers, and sex-buyers".

      In 2005, SFU professor John Lowman told a parliamentary subcommittee that stricter laws against the sex trade coincided with a sharp increase in the number who were killed in B.C. over a five-year period in the late 1990s.

      He made the point that legal prohibitions, such as the ban on communicating in public for the purpose of selling sex, lead sex workers to rush negotiations, elevating their personal danger.

      Vancouver police released this video to explain its sex-work enforcement guidelines.

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