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

BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reformmean. They always put . . . already now they put drug dealers in this book where they,you know, know the local drug dealers that do the local you know acts and stuff. Withrelations like that they can also keep track of prostitutes and that might help . . . .A. It’s a thing with privacy I think, y’know, like not everybody wants to be know asa hooker, you know . . . it’s, like, confidential, and that’s the thing about having alicense, it’s not, you don’t have that confidentiality to . . . y’know.- female off-street out-call sex workerOne escort agency owner-operator operates without a license to protect her privacy and privacy of thewomen who work for her:A. I’ve never gone for one of those [a license], and one of the strong reasons, I guess themain, maybe one of the main reasons is that a client once told me, he said, well youknow people can walk into the government office up at City Hall that is and seeeverything about who’s applied for business licenses. So they can find out your phonenumber, and your address, and everything about you. It’s public record and it’s open,and so I thought well, who’d want to do that and what the heck do you get in returnfor it. You don’t get anything, you’re just being watched or controlled if somebodyknows where you are, so I wasn’t gonna go for that. I have had business licenses indifferent years, but I didn’t see any point to that either cause then you’re also justbeing regulated in terms of you know who can come to your home and how often andso on and so forth and so as far as my involvement with other levels of governmentlike the income tax people, I don’t need to fall into line with the city by-laws particularly,so I just leave that alone.One sex industry business owner/worker described how privacy is vital to her business. For example,many clients will only frequent sex work businesses if their privacy is protected:A. The fact that we have the veneer of being a “spa”, I think, really helps . . . . Yeah Imean, if it came up as, y’know, the ABC Fuck’n’Suck on their Visa statement, that isa lot more, blatant than, y’know, such’n’such management services charge. Even if itgot traced to the ABC Men’s Spa, a guy always has an out. It was Johnny’s bachelorparty, I just, y’know, had to stay anyway. I had a massage and, y’know, he couldgiggle and chuckle, and say he was offered extras and he did not take them up on it.There is still always that out. If you are busted, or, y’know, if someone sees you goingin. You can just say that you were going in on a lark. There is still always an out. Andhalf our clients do pay by credit card.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerSex workers stated that they valued privacy in order to preserve their anonymity, to avoid the stigmatizationthat would occur if other people became aware of their occupation, and to ensure that theirclients would be comfortable utilizing their services. Even if the criminal laws relating to prostitutionwere to be repealed, the stigma associated with sex work will likely remain. Consequently, sex workersfear becoming more visible in a social climate where prostitution is not socially acceptable. Based onthe opinions of sex workers, we recommend that increased privacy protections be put in place for allforms of licensed sex work.Business hoursIn all Canadian municipalities there are restrictions on the hours of business operation. The mostrestrictive hours are imposed on businesses engaging in prostitution, and those that serve alcohol. Thelicensing provisions for many sex industry businesses contain specific restrictions on hours of opera-57