Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

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PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETYExperiences of discrimination in the provision of servicesAlthough the BCHRC prohibits discrimination in the provision of services on the basis of race,national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status,disability, or criminal record, it does not prohibit discrimination in the provision of services against aperson on the basis of their lawful source of income. This is problematic because, when attempting toaccess various kinds of services, many sex workers felt they had been discriminated against on the basisof their profession. For example, many sex workers thought that they had experienced discriminationwhen trying to access medical services.A. There’s lots of times we don’t go to the doctor because we don’t have the option of goinginto the clinic and they treat us like shit down there and we don’t want to tell themwhat we do. I made that mistake before, telling the doctor that I want to do tests foreverything, and I am a sex trade worker. And just the attitude you got, it’s not good.They just start freaking out and wanting to test you for everything under the sun. Weare probably cleaner than the typical girl that a guy meets in a bar over the weekend‘cause those girls get drunk and they don’t have even one condom in their purse.- female off-street in-call sex workerSeveral sex workers identified advertising services as another area where they experienced discriminationby virtue of their involvement in prostitution. Specifically, the rates for advertising servicesrelated to prostitution were identified as being much higher than the rates offered to the generalpublic for comparable classified ads.A. Unfortunately, the cost of doing business is not sort of on a level playing field as otherbusinesses. Advertising costs, you pick up the phone and find out this. You gotta calla major newspaper in Vancouver and ask for their classified rates for, for, you knowmaybe selling a fridge, and then ask them for their body care section rates, they’reabout three times higher, the cost of doing business is, is really quite high and whatyou find is a lot of women who can’t afford to keep the agency running or the massageparlour running unless they’re working at the same time.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerAlso, she described receiving inconsistent and discriminatory treatment regarding what and how shecould advertise:A. If I owned a magazine, I think, I guess I should have the right to say who can andcannot advertise in it. And if so, what I decide what has a level of taste and whatdoesn’t. And I guess, as a publisher, that should be my right. Do I have the right toapply that unequally? No. So can I charge some people more to do a more risqué adover others who can’t afford to pay more, so they just get to do just an average ad?I don’t agree with that . . . All of sudden, all of the advertisers have gotten reallyrestrictive with my ads. Why is that? I was used to do whatever I wanted in a lotof my ads. Or you will be told – say by a certain telephone book company – thatno, no we are not allowing any more body parts in the ads. You will have to do upsomething that does not have any body parts whatsoever. No faces, no hands, no feet.So you pay an artistic designer to do up something, and try and look sexy with nobody parts in it. Y’know, you have some wine glasses maybe, and a limousine, someroses – you try and do something up kind of sexy. I believe that if I am a publisherof a big thing, or a little thing, I guess I should have the right to say of what goes inand what doesn’t. But I guess there should be some sort-of discrimination type appeal,184
BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reformwhen the rules are not being equally applied to everybody. And I object hugely thatpeople in my industry pay two to ten times more than other businesses to put ourads somewhere. Just because they think that we can afford it. And you should countyourself fucking lucky that we even let you advertise in there, so shut up and don’tcomplain, or I won’t let you put your ad in there at all. Who do you complain to? Noone. There’s no one to complain to. And even if there was, do you want to attach yourname to that, and make that statement? Make that public outcry? No. So you arelike, constantly just swallowing your pride and writing a cheque here you go.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerWe examined the classified advertising rates for home appliances as compared to sex industry businessesin six periodicals and newspapers in the Vancouver area. The results provide support for theconcerns voiced by sex workers. Our review of advertising rates revealed that advertising in the adultclassified sections was more expensive than advertising for sale of a home appliance in all six publications.The paper with the smallest discrepancy between the two prices still had 20 percent higherprices for advertising sex work than for advertising home appliances, while the greatest discrepancywas nearly 300 percent higher for advertising sexual services as compared to home appliances.Two local newspapers justified the higher rates for advertising sexual services as a deterrent: themore expensive the ads for sexual services, the less likely people would be to run them. Another localnewspaper stated that sex ads are more expensive “because of the market,” but declined to elaborate.One paper stated that the ads were more expensive because there is more involved in placing an adultad, such as verifying phone numbers and checking identification.Participants reported that it is common for escorts to pay between $60 and $100 per week inadvertising costs. The costs of such discriminatory advertising rates are not merely monetary. Manysex workers indicated that advertising is the key to building an independent off-street client base.Given that independent escort work is one way for a sex worker to exit street prostitution discriminatoryadvertising rates appear to make working off-street that much more difficult.A different form of discrimination occurred in the way various financial and insurance companiesreact to prostitution. Sex workers stated that they face discrimination on the basis of their source ofincome when seeking loans, credit, or insurance.A. Well it’s rampant. It’s everywhere you look. I mean, all you can do about it is pretendthat you do something else. I mean you’re not going to go to the bank and say “I’dlike a mortgage and say I’m a madam” you know, you’re not going to a hotel and say“I have this kind of a business and I want to have a function in your ballroom . . .”You know, you’ve got to hide it or minimize it or whatever you can do at every turn.Absolutely. You have to use euphemisms or complete fabrications for what you do fora living, all over the place. Now, you know, I rebel against that having been in thisbusiness 25 years – I’m less apt to want to play that game any longer and so I’m moreand more interested if somebody chatting at the bar or whatever says what do you do,I tell them what I do. And if they’re okay with it, great, and if they’re a little shocked,that’s their problem kind of thing. You know, it means I probably tend to hang out atplaces I know I’m kind of understood and accepted. The discrimination is everywhere– it really is everywhere. You cannot today be completely open about what you do,how you earn your money, at all, and I think that’s criminal. I think you should beable to say this is what I do, this is how much I make, I don’t disparage any other, The six newspapers studied were: The Vancouver Sun; The Vancouver Province; Westender; Buy and Sell; The Georgia Straight; andXtra West.185
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