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

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PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETYme without a condom. I said no. And then he trying to grab me. Starting to grab mereally hard, trying to forcing [sic] me to do it. Like he want to rape me . . . so, I wasscreaming. And my friend, that is my friend was just passing by and she knocked onthe door. Like, knock, knock, go, go. That’s why I was lucky. That’s why I was away.And . . .Q. So she rattled on the door and he got scared?A. Yeah, and then he stopped. I went out and I said, I do not want to do him. Cause Iam . . . This is the difference when you are Canadian; you have a choice to say I donot want to do this guy. In all those massage parlours if you are not, like you cannotsay no. And that’s what I want to talk about. It’s so unfair.Q. Did you talk to the owner? What did the owner do?A. The owner trying to offer him a different girl, that’s all.- female off-street in-call sex workerDifferential treatment of employees on the basis of race, ethnicity or place of origin is prohibited bythe B.C. Human Rights Code. 20 Accordingly, these workers could file a complaint with the HumanRights Tribunal. In the event it sustained a complaint, the Tribunal could order the employer to ceasethe discriminatory treatment, and could award the worker compensation for any lost income, anddamages for the injury to their dignity and self-respect.Some sex workers described losing control over the services they provide because of their vulnerabilityto violence in the workplace, and because there is no protection from “bad dates.” The abovepassage, which describes an employer who continued to offer services to a client he knew was violent,exemplifies the lack of protection in some workplaces.One project participant, a foreign national, described her lack of control over her work and theviolence that she endures in the workplace:A. . . . there is something I have to say. This is makes very disappointed. It’s not too, toobad in the Kingsway one, but I have been in one before that one. I have been in onemassage place and actually, Kingsway is not much different than that one, a littlebit better. What happens is that they do not really care about your safe. This is makesme very disappointed. I am going to say about it. I am going to talk about it. Onetime at the older one, like the one before Kingsway. In that massage parlour. Onetime, I get in and it’s so dark. The customer, they can control the light. If they wantto put it darker and I got raped. Two times and it was a big guy . . . He is so big. Ihave no way to run away and I was screaming. I just screaming. I am pretty sure Iam screaming, and actually, I remember there was a lady passing by. She backed thatway, but nobody coming for me.Q. Was the door open or closed?A. It’s closed.Q. But there was like a window or something?A. Yeah, a window, usually there is a window.Q. So, she could see you.A. Yeah, but she did not do anything. I mean like, I was so like . . . I was crying; I wasso disappointed. And when coming out, I getting so mad and I talk to the owner.And you know what he said. Hey girl, well, ahh you have to know that when you getin the room you are on your own. You have to take responsibility for your own safe.Well, we cannot do anything. The customer is gone and we cannot do anything. And20 Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 210 [HRC].94
BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law ReformI do not want to call cops. They won’t do anything.- female off-street in-call sex workerViolence in the workplace is a serious issue that is dealt with at length in the section on OccupationalHealth and Safety (see page 121). Reducing violence in the workplace is central to protecting the basichuman rights of sex workers and increasing the degree to which they control the services they offer.Since each sex worker has the legal right to control what services she or he provides, employersin the sex industry are not entitled to control this fundamental aspect of their business. This issueis unique to the sex industry and creates challenges for employers who want to define their business.Sex workers were clear that, ultimately, they should maintain the right to decide what servicesthey provide. However, some workers suggested that the employer should have a role in determiningthe overall nature of their business, and this may mean enabling them to be specific about the typesof sexual services that are offered. These workers felt that once the worker is aware of the nature ofthe services that the establishment purports to offer, he or she can determine whether they want towork there. Nevertheless, for the reasons set out above, even if the worker is aware of the types ofservices that are supposed to be on offer, the establishment cannot guarantee that each staff personwill provide every service on the “menu.” A sex worker maintains the legal right to withdraw consentto perform a particular service in the context of an individual transaction. Neither sex workers norowners demonstrated an awareness of the worker’s rights in this respect.Q. So let’s talk about provision of services. Who should decide which services are availableto clients?A. Oh the women, the working women.A. The working women, yeah.Q. So if it was a situation where there is an employer, should the employer have any rolein deciding what services are available?A. Yeah, what they are comfortable . . . with too.A. The employer will be saying, I am going to be have a house that is doing bondage anddiscipline. And that’s all I am doing . . . that’s all. And non-sexual. That’s fetish, onlyfetishes. And then another house would say I am doing everything.A. Yeah, yeah. And I think that then you – the bosses and the girls – everybody couldwork where they feel comfortable.- female escort agency owner, former sex workerA number of escorts discussed the issue of control over services and illustrated the complexity of thisissue for both workers and employers.Q. If you do work for an employer who should decide what services you provide?A. Well, that again I think if the industry were right open then an establishment wouldbe known for what it provides and not all establishments would provide that service.A. It would be that sort of, simple.Q. So who should be the one to decide what services are provided?A. The employer. The employer could say that. If it was all on the up and up they couldsay if you don’t do that well then you can’t work here. I don’t think that’s any discriminationor anything.A. I think it has to be between both because certain girls do certain things and also itactually kind of depends with me, if he’s willing to pay the outrageous price, sure I’llgo for it, I’ll do it. So I think it’s up to both parties actually and also . . .A. But if you are the business person you have to have a consistent standard. You can’thave you know, just . . .95
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