Sin City, Canada
A group of Canadian MPs are working to make the streets safer for sex workers:
OTTAWA — A group of MPs studying Canada’s dated prostitution laws wants to crack down on pimps and make streets safer for those who choose to sell sex.
The five-member justice subcommittee, which spent months hearing evidence from academics, social workers, police and prostitutes across the country, is now fine-tuning a draft report that will recommend legal reform to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.
Some MPs want to decriminalize the solicitation and bawdy house laws to better protect sex-trade workers.
But Conservative MP Art Hanger said the government must act to curb prostitution by helping unwilling or drug-addicted sex workers leave the trade, while imposing stronger enforcement and tougher sentences for those who exploit women.
Now isn’t that just like a Conservative to say that the Government should help sex workers leave the trade. I mean, obviously anyone who is unwilling to do something should have the right to leave, but it’s easy to overlook the statement without realizing that they are trying to push their anti-prostitution Conservative agenda.
When it comes to legalizing prostitution, there are so many sex workers and social workers involved in organizing conferences to validate and legislate their trade. Stella, for example, is an organization that does just that. Stella’s main goals are as follows:
If only prostitution could be as peaceful as in Sin City’s Old Town. But, alas, it is not.
After the shock of seeing Dave Angelo whore himself out to an old man on last week’s Webdreams wore off, I started realizing how easy and natural it is to get paid for sex. Just as there is constant hassle over whether pornography is considered a first amendment right or prostitution, there is also the reminder that prostitution is the oldest profession known to man. People even say that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute (you know Mary, she’s the chick that Jesus slept with…).
So, is prostitution wrong? Most people find it acceptable that porn stars have sex for money… so what’s so wrong with paying someone to give you pleasure? I think the problem is the fact that it is a seedy trade with greasy pimps. Cutting out the middle-man and making condom use obligatory will hopefully empower the women to a Sin City-like status.
Alright, time to go work on the Video-Podcast…
October 5th, 2005 at 10:21 am
Just a little clarification, most sex worker rights groups, including Stella, want to decriminalize sex work, not legalize it. In Canada that means repealling parts of the criminal code - living off the avails of prostitution (the supposed anti-pimping law is used against the sex workers themselves, their landlords, their drivers, their security, etc…), communicating in public - a cell phone is considered public, email is not), and the bawdy house laws. There are already laws on the books that are supposed to protect people from violence and exploitation.
Here is a link to a site that gives a quick comparison on the issues: http://www.spoc.ca/decrimvslegal.html
And I keep missing this Webdreams show! Bad porn gal! Hopefully, it will air again.
October 5th, 2005 at 10:53 am
Hey! Haven’t stopped in for a while… Isn’t it funny how conservatives are always trying to make things easier for people who think like they do? If it’s a persons choice to work in the sex trade then it’s their choice. Of course there are plenty of people in the world who have no choice about it, but doesn’t that stem from the criminalization of prostitution in the first place? Aren’t the conservatives then the ones truely forcing miserable conditions on these women? Shouldn’t that be a crime?
October 5th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
you have to wonder why the conservatives are so bothered- it’s the same old prohibiton issue- i can’t control myself so need a law so no one else can have what i want. legalisation would freak out the americans of course - and that’s such a bad thing? like marijuana lol.
October 5th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
Good point, Seska… you can tell I haven’t interviewed Stella yet! I’m hoping to coordinate an interview with them perhaps by the third or fourth installation of the new podcast.
Thanks for the link, it’s very informative.
October 5th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
I think legalized prostitution would be agreat thing. If nothing else it might curb STDs.
October 5th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
Prostitution vs. Porn
Marajuana vs. { Beer, Wine, Cigarettes }
Marajuana as principal focus of “war on drugs” vs. methamphetamine, heroin
Banning abortion vs. misoprostol (ulcer medicine that off-label causes chemical abortion)
Dr. Assisted death vs. do-it-yourself-death
Sex ed + contraception vs. learning it from your boy/girlfriend classmates
Evolution and “faith based organizations” vs. spin-science and distorted intelligence
“Gee, Wally - seems like every time we try to “legislate” behavior that’s a fundamental part of human condition - self destructive or no - we fail.”
“Well, Beav, it’s like this - when you’re in power, you make the rules, no matter how useless or stupid they are.”
“Well, gee, Wally…. what happens when you’re out of power?”
“Things get worse, then the next guy that comes along cleans it up… and it repeats again.”
“Well, gee, Wally… why can’t they just admit that people are people, and just try to keep them from hurting each other while they hurt themselves?”
“Well, Beav, that would make too much sense.”
“Thanks, Wally.”
“No problem, Beav.”
LEB
October 5th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
Actually, farming is the oldest profession in the world…i’m just saying…
And actually, it’s considered poor scholarship to say Jesus slept with anyone as there is no record, biblical or otherwise, of something like that.
October 5th, 2005 at 11:45 pm
Tawny- How can you be sure that hunting isn’t the oldest profession in the world… and perhaps the meat made from the hunters was bartered for sex (ie. prostitution). Hell, perhaps the meat was the currency and the sex was the product. I mean, what “came” first, the chicken or the egg?
The Mary Magdalene reference has to do with the Da Vinci Code (the self-proclaimed work of fiction that was recently banned by the Roman Catholic Church)… it was meant to be sarcastic. Something tells me you are an avid reader of the Holy Bible…
March 24th, 2006 at 8:01 am
Great post, couldn’t have said it better myself, lets just hope these dudes wake up and realized that decriminalization is the proper way to go.