Sex Workers, Clients and the Law: A FIRST Public Forum

One proposed "solution" to Canada's antiquated and oppressive prostitution laws is to make it illegal to purchase sex, but legal to sell it. However, this model is failing in Sweden, the country that pioneered it. Sweden's law was expected to reduce the number of sex workers in that country, but very few sex workers have stopped working. While many simply adjusted to the law by choosing to work indoors, some were forced to work underground in isolation, where they are far more vulnerable to violence and abuse.

As in Sweden, Canada’s current prostitution law robs sex workers of their livelihood, and deprives them of the right to control their work environment and create safe and empowering working conditions.
Moderated by Madam Scarlett Lake, the forum provided the public with an opportunity to learn about the men who buy sex, the experiences of sex workers with their clients, and why neither sex workers nor their clients should be criminalized.

Report by Joyce Arthur:

It was a great turnout - the room was already a quarter full before 6:30, the time advertised for the doors opening. I didn't do a count but estimated about 120 people there, a full room. As this was our 3rd public forum, I think we were more comfortable and familiar with doing it, and the whole thing seemed to come off in a relaxed and efficient manner - in spite of the fact that two of our speakers could not come because they were sick - Trina Ricketts and Katrina Pacey. But replacements were quite easily arranged so it hardly seemed like a glitch at all.

All the speakers were fantastic!  They really complemented each other and built on each other. We began forum by showing the interview with Swedish sex worker Pye Jacobssen, "A Swedish sexworker on the criminalization of clients". She really says it all, and you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D7nOh57-I8 

Next, Jody Salerno gave a compelling, heartfelt, and to-the-point talk about coming out of an abusive childhood and how all our "decriminalized" social support services failed her. She further highlighted her experiences as an adolescent sex worker to the men who paid her stating that, "If men who par for sex are CRIMINALIZED, sex workers are unsafe. Sex workers will no longer have the time it takes to negotiate quantity of time, place or actions, or to assess their risk. There will not be time for sex workers to listen to their bodies' messages of risk and evaluate their safety as they will be hurried by fear of arrest - for both themselves and their clients. 

Next up was Chris Atchison who delivered an amazing presentation on his "John's Voice" study. A large sample of almost 1000 clients (virtually all men) completed a detailed questionnaire and about 24 of those gave lengthy in-depth interviews. The overall message, nicely introduced by Jody and confirmed by Chris, was that the vast majority of clients are ordinary guys who care about the welfare of sex workers and are not violent or exploitive. Chris' research ably refutes the stereotypical negative views of "Johns" and reveals the human face of clients. (For more info see his webpage http://www.johnsvoice.ca/)

Susan Davis delivered Trina's presentation on "Trade Secrets", which is a brand-new guide for sex workers (as well as clients and business associates) on all aspects of their work. Check out the new website here: http://www.tradesecretsguide.blogspot.com/  The information is extensive and very useful!  Susan's talk focused mostly on the section dealing with clients.

Tamara O'Doherty rounded off the panel by talking about the reasons we need decriminalization and the problems with the Swedish law. 

We then had a busy Q&A session, with lots of mostly great questions and supportive comments from the audience. There did not appear to be any abolitionists in the audience, at least none spoke up, except for one elder woman who seemed offended by prostitution in general and by our panel in particular. Another questioner seemed to think our entire effort was invalidated because we didn't happen to have an Aboriginal woman or woman of colour on this panel. This issue was very well-addressed by the panelists. Many of the other questions elicited good discussions and lots of articulate and insightful points by the panelists. I can't remember them all, but a great question at the end was "What can we do to support sex workers"?

WorkingTV filmed the entire event and it should be up on their website within the next week to 10 days. The link will be sent out.

Thanks everyone for coming out to the forum and for your support, and thanks to the organizers who did a fabulous job, and of course our top-notch speakers!