Mariana organized this panel on striking down prostitution laws. It was taped by the CBC and is available as a podcast on The Sunday Edition.
Read on...
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Showing posts with label prostitution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prostitution. Show all posts
New exhibit to showcase photos of Montreal prostitutes who worked in North America’s Sin City in the 1940’s
Their eyes convey a mix of emotions — dismay at being busted,
surprise, sheepishness, smugness. Some even betray a glimmer of
recognition, one that suggests they’ve crossed paths before with the
policeman doing the booking.Next month, Montrealers will get a rare glimpse of the mug shots of prostitutes and madams entered as exhibits in the 1954 Caron inquiry to crack down on corruption, gambling, brothels and boozing in the place known as North America’s Sin City during the Second World War.
The spread of disease among troops waiting in Montreal before they were dispatched to fight in Europe was notorious.
Read on...
Caught on Film: The Dark World of Truck Stop Sex Workers
Filmmaker Alexander Perlman documents the bleakness of truck stop prostitution—but it's more complex than you might think.
Monica prepares to work the lot.
"The truth is, making the movie was a really traumatic experience. I
suspect I may have developed some mild PTSD." This is how filmmaker
Alexander Perlman describes shooting Lot Lizard, his hypnotic
new documentary about truck stop prostitution. While his claim might
sound hyperbolic—or like a canny bit of marketing—it rings true: He
logged thousands of miles and hundreds of hours to make the film,
braving roach motels, crack highs, and homicidal pimps. Indeed, what
Perlman captures in Lot Lizard is visceral and harrowing.
The film's three protagonists—Betty, Monica, and Jennifer—work on the fringes of the trucking industry. America's Independent Truckers' Association estimates there are nearly 5,000 truck stops across the country, and although many offer nondescript places to sleep, eat, or shower, many others host a bustling shadow economy of sex and drugs. Lurk on truckers' online message boards long enough and you'll likely come across what amounts to a guide to interstate sex, replete with lurid tall tales (see here, here, and here).
Read on..
The film's three protagonists—Betty, Monica, and Jennifer—work on the fringes of the trucking industry. America's Independent Truckers' Association estimates there are nearly 5,000 truck stops across the country, and although many offer nondescript places to sleep, eat, or shower, many others host a bustling shadow economy of sex and drugs. Lurk on truckers' online message boards long enough and you'll likely come across what amounts to a guide to interstate sex, replete with lurid tall tales (see here, here, and here).
Read on..
When Prostitution Wasn't a Crime: The Fascinating History of Sex Work in America
From the Louisiana colony to the California Gold Rush, prostitutes were some of the first women in early American settlements.
You've heard this before: “What two consenting adults do behind closed doors is their own business.” In the United States, it's even almost true – arguments guarding sexual rights and privacy won out in the landmark Supreme Court ruling Lawrence v. Texas, in which state sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional. But that does not apply to people who wish to exchange sex for money. Sex workers' rights are largely unprotected, and remain a political battleground; meanwhile, people who buy and sell sexual services are arrested, shamed, compelled into “rehabilitation” programs, and branded with criminal records.
But there was a time in American history when it wasn't quite so. Laws against selling sex are fairly new – just about 100 years old – and came onto the books long after the sex trade took root in American cities. Does that mean there was a time when selling sex was more tolerated? Or did the law simply take some time to catch up to the new American people's prejudices?
Read on....
You've heard this before: “What two consenting adults do behind closed doors is their own business.” In the United States, it's even almost true – arguments guarding sexual rights and privacy won out in the landmark Supreme Court ruling Lawrence v. Texas, in which state sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional. But that does not apply to people who wish to exchange sex for money. Sex workers' rights are largely unprotected, and remain a political battleground; meanwhile, people who buy and sell sexual services are arrested, shamed, compelled into “rehabilitation” programs, and branded with criminal records.
But there was a time in American history when it wasn't quite so. Laws against selling sex are fairly new – just about 100 years old – and came onto the books long after the sex trade took root in American cities. Does that mean there was a time when selling sex was more tolerated? Or did the law simply take some time to catch up to the new American people's prejudices?
Read on....
Vancouver sex workers can proceed with prostitution law challenge: top court
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Vancouver sex workers can
proceed with a legal challenge of the country’s prostitution laws.
The 9-0 ruling dismisses a federal government appeal against the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society and former sex worker Sheryl Kiselbach.
The government argued that since no prostitution charges had been laid, the society and Ms. Kiselbach lacked the legal standing to pursue the case.
A British Columbia judge agreed with the government, but the provincial court of appeal said the group has public-interest standing and could proceed.
The high court justices today agreed with the appeal court.
The case may be moot, however, since an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling struck down some of the same laws under challenge in the Vancouver case.
The federal government is appealing the Ontario ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Breaking News.....
The 9-0 ruling dismisses a federal government appeal against the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society and former sex worker Sheryl Kiselbach.
The government argued that since no prostitution charges had been laid, the society and Ms. Kiselbach lacked the legal standing to pursue the case.
A British Columbia judge agreed with the government, but the provincial court of appeal said the group has public-interest standing and could proceed.
The high court justices today agreed with the appeal court.
The case may be moot, however, since an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling struck down some of the same laws under challenge in the Vancouver case.
The federal government is appealing the Ontario ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Breaking News.....
Lawyers fiddle while prostitution laws burn
A prostitute walks with an unidentified male down Toronto's Carlton St. near Jarvis.
If some current or former sex workers tell us that prostitution as they have lived it is abusive, does that mean the current laws should be upheld?
This week a high-powered five-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal is hearing the government’s defence of the prostitution laws. The three main laws ban “communication” in any public place for the purpose of prostitution, “living on the avails” (which criminalizes getting security or other help) and “bawdy houses.” These laws were struck down as unconstitutional by Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel in October.
To counter Himel’s tightly reasoned judgment, the federal government’s lawyer, Michael Morris, introduced affidavits from former sex workers who have been victimized. Upholding the Himel decision would legalize this violence, he claimed.
Mariana Valverde, the author of this piece, is the Director of The Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. Tom
Why legalization might be a mixed bag for prostitutes
For a long time, I thought there was an open-and-shut case for legalizing prostitution. Even setting aside the matter of the state telling women what they can do with their bodies, how could governments possibly defend a law that forced some of society's most vulnerable people underground, into needlessly dangerous situations?
Adam Radwanski
Some of the criticisms of Tuesday's Ontario Superior Court ruling have so inane as to reinforce that view. But I have to admit that my feelings on this subject have been a little more mixed since my ride-along this summer with Lorna Bruce, the London police officer who does outreach work with street prostitutes.
Adam Radwanski
Some of the criticisms of Tuesday's Ontario Superior Court ruling have so inane as to reinforce that view. But I have to admit that my feelings on this subject have been a little more mixed since my ride-along this summer with Lorna Bruce, the London police officer who does outreach work with street prostitutes.
For starters, rest assured that the ban on bawdy houses – one of the laws struck down in Ontario – has very little to do with these women being on the street. They're in rough, rough shape – working to support drug addictions most of them developed before they started selling themselves. The reason they're not working in-house somewhere is that nobody would have them.
Sweden's fix: Jail the johns
The controversial decision of Madam Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court to gut federal prostitution laws with the stroke of a pen this week is a striking example of judicial activism run amok. While the ruling will undoubtedly be appealed, it has ignited a national debate on how our laws should deal with prostitution.
The greatest flaw in Judge Himel’s reasoning is that she places the blame for the risks involved in prostitution on criminal offences against solicitation, bawdy houses and living off the avails of prostitution, rather than on the violent johns and traffickers who are the real cause of physical violence, rape and murder in Canada’s sex trade.
Countries that have legalized prostitution have not succeeded in using elaborate regulations to address these problems. In the Netherlands, officials shut down vast sections of Amsterdam’s red-light district due to infiltration by organized crime. A 2005 report commissioned by the European Parliament found that legalized prostitution generally results in higher levels of violence against prostituted women. In New Zealand, regulation of the sex trade has not improved conditions in brothels with a history of problems, and exploitative contracts continue to be used. But the status quo in Canada that criminalizes those being sold for sex is equally unpalatable to many.
Prostitution ruling: Let Parliament debate the issue
Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel laboured for a year over her landmark decision quashing Canada’s prostitution laws. Still, her verdict this week is but a lone voice that will not be the last word on the issue. Nor should it be.
The federal government indicated Wednesday that it will appeal. A legal appeal was the appropriate response the morning after. But even the Supreme Court should not have the last word on this issue.
The social and public policy arguments for and against decriminalization are far too complex to be off-loaded onto the courts (which get relatively little public input or publicity). Doing so would deprive ordinary Canadians and their elected representatives of the right to be heard on an issue affecting people and neighbourhoods.
Ottawa appeals prostitution ruling
The federal and Ontario governments say they will appeal a controversial court judgment that struck down Canada's prostitution laws.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told the House of Commons on Wednesday that prostitution “harms individuals and communities.”
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told the House of Commons on Wednesday that prostitution “harms individuals and communities.”
“That is why I am pleased to indicate to the House that the government will appeal and will seek a stay of that decision.”
Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley quickly followed suit, saying the province will join in the appeal to the province's top court.
Mr. Bentley said the laws “protect people from being lured or coerced into prostitution, they protect people from being under domination of those who would prey, and they protect communities from the adverse effects of prostitution-related activities.”
Police, communities struggle to grasp prostitution ruling
Kirk Makin
The ruling also left police confused and neighbourhoods fortifying to fend off a possible deluge of sex-trade workers.When the dust settles around the prostitution decision, experts predict that municipalities across the country will pass bylaws and licensing systems based on their own local community standards and political realities.
“We could end up with a bizarre patchwork of regulation across the country,” said Simon Fraser University criminology professor John Lowman. “Nor, is there any guarantee that municipalities are going to do any better at this than the feds. It depends upon the attitude they take to a highly divisive issue in Canadian society.”
The Bawdy Politic
A Toronto judge has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws, effectively decriminalizing 
activities associated with the world’s oldest trade.
“These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Justice Susan Himel of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice said in Tuesday’s landmark decision.
The long-awaited judgment had been on reserve for nearly a year.
The decision is effective immediately.
Read on...
“These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Justice Susan Himel of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice said in Tuesday’s landmark decision.
The long-awaited judgment had been on reserve for nearly a year.
The decision is effective immediately.
Read on...
MPs need to tackle the prostitution issue
An Ontario judge had no business striking down three major anti-prostitution laws in the Criminal Code on Tuesday. “There has been a long-standing debate in this country and elsewhere about the subject of prostitution,” writes Madam Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court, but it is, apparently, over. Who is she to weigh all the potential harms at stake and decide matters, on either side? Who says she can do a better job than Parliament?
Canada should be prepared to liberalize its laws on prostitution, and to take into account the safety of the women (and some men) involved. But that is a job for elected legislators, not a judge.
Read on...
This is a Globe and Mail editorial. Tom
Canada should be prepared to liberalize its laws on prostitution, and to take into account the safety of the women (and some men) involved. But that is a job for elected legislators, not a judge.
Read on...
This is a Globe and Mail editorial. Tom
Judge decriminalizes prostitution in Ontario, but Ottawa mulls appeal
A Superior Court justice gutted the federal prostitution law in Ontario on Tuesday, allowing sex-trade workers to solicit customers openly and paving the way for judges in other provinces to follow suit.
Justice Susan Himel struck down all three Criminal Code provisions that had been challenged – communicating for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and operating a common bawdy house.
The decision will take effect in 30 days unless Crown lawyers return with arguments that are strong enough to persuade her to grant a further delay, Judge Himel said.
Her landmark ruling drew immediate fire in Ottawa, which has little time to regroup and battle the judgment. A domino effect of judicial decisions could quickly topple prostitution laws across Canada, as happened several years ago with prohibitions against gay marriage.
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