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

BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reformbecause of all the crime that is going on around.- female street-level sex workerThere is a wealth of evidence that working in isolated areas – industrial parks, cars and wooded areas– adds to the harm that sex workers experience on the job. 134 The current conditions of much of thestreet sex work that occurs in Canadian cities provide ample evidence of just how dangerous workingin isolated and dimly lit areas can be. From this deadly experience – somewhere between 200 and300 street sex workers have been murdered over the past 25 years in Canada – a very clear lesson canbe drawn with respect to zoning of prostitution: certain kinds of zoning will likely perpetuate thispattern if prostitution is restricted to dimly lit industrial areas.There was general consensus amongst all participants that working in isolated locations madeworking conditions unsafe:A. [S]o it’s very difficult to impose any kind of, I would think, safety measures when youknow people don’t know who they’re going with and where, whether they’re going to dothe transaction in the car, or in the woods, or what. So, yeah, I don’t think it’s a safeenvironment, the street situation, and I would like to see it all go indoors.A. So it really is, the most violent way to work would be street where it is entirely anonymous,you have no back-up and you’re by yourself one-on-one with somebody in acar. There really is no recourse for you if you have a problem.A. Further, the fact that working indoors allows for increased safety suggests that allowancefor indoor sex work must be incorporated in any zoning by-law applicable to sexwork. An independent sex worker and an escort stressed the safety of indoor sex work:A. I think you’re safest indoors, you’re safest when they come in to see you. But like I say,you need to have like a buddy you can work with or someone you can work alongsidewith and you’re safe.A. So, yeah, I don’t think it’s a safe environment, the street situation, and I would like tosee it all go indoors.- female off-street out-call sex workerThe sex workers we interviewed made it clear that any zoning by-law must allow sex workers to workin populated, well-lit, secure and central locations. Protecting the safety of sex workers must be givenpriority in any decision about where to locate prostitution.AutonomyWhile some sex workers believed that sex industry businesses should be zoned, others thoughtthat the decision about where to work should be left entirely to the sex worker. While their greatestemphasis was placed on empowering sex workers, others suggested that clients should be able to choosewhere they go to receive sexual services. The following excerpts illustrate the different perspectives.A. It’s okay to have a zone but let it come from the workers. Don’t like say you have to gohere.- female street-level sex worker134 John Lowman, “Violence and the Outlaw Status of (Street) Prostitution” (2000) 6(9) Violence Against Women 987; John Lowman& Laura Fraser, “Violence Against Persons Who Prostitute: The Experience in B.C.”, Technical Report No. TR1996-14e. (Ottawa:Department of Justice Canada, 1996); Cecilia Benoit & Alison Millar, “Dispelling myths and understanding realities: Workingconditions, health status and exiting experiences of sex workers” (Victoria: PEERS, 2001), online: University of Victoria website ; S, Currie, N. Laliberte, S. Bird, N. Rosa & S. Sprung, Assessing the ViolenceAgainst Street-Involved Women in the Downtown Eastside/Strathcona Community (Vancouver: Mimeo, 1995); Leonard Cler-Cunningham& Christine Christensen, “Violence against women in Vancouver’s street-level sex trade and the police response” (Vancouver:Pace Society, 2003).75