Sex Workers Solidarity

The Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly hosted a panel on Sex Workers Solidarity on March 4^th. The speakers on the panel were members of Maggie’s: TheToronto Sex Worker’s Action Project, run by and for local sex workers.

Kathryn Payne started the talk by reading a recent motion passed by the GTWA in solidarity with sex workers. Part of the motion states:

Increased services for the health and safety of sex workers, including services that provide assistance for those who want to exit the trade.

Kathryn pointed out that the GTWA would not have a statement on assistance to exit other types of work that could also be dangerous and exploitative, like in the manufacturing sector.

All the speakers stress the importance of looking at sex work as work and that there are different experiences in the trade. The focus should be on improving working conditions through a union and the decriminalization of sex work rather than trying to end the work. Kathryn says sex work is a way for unskilled women to make a lot of money. However, there is a different level of privilege within the industry with street-based workers being the most vulnerable to poor working conditions.

The GTWA motion highlights the ongoing stigmatization sex workers  face. The discourse around human trafficking further adds to this stigmatization. On a separate occasion, I spoke to Keisha Scott who says that human trafficking gets conflated with sex work and as a result sex work becomes further criminalized.

Anti-human trafficking advocates want to further laws that end sex work or make it more difficult to do. For example, there has been a campaign in the states to pressure newspapers such as the Village Voice from allowing ads for exotic services in their back pages. A previous campaign had forced Craiglist from accepting ads for sex.  But there have been numerous horror stories of mistreatment and violence towards domestic workers or farm workers, yet no calls are made to end these types of work. Instead the focus is on increasing the rights of these workers and ensuring employers face criminal charges.   

Keisha says liberal feminists get behind anti-trafficking campaigns and advocate for anti-trafficking under the rubric of violence against women. Further criminalization of sex work does not end violence against women. Nor do anti-trafficking laws actually help women.

Victoria Love likened anti-trafficking laws to anti-terrorism laws where there is increase policing, surveillance, and tougher border security. She feels anti-trafficking legislation restricts the mobility of female migrants.

Trafficking legislation passed by the Liberals under Paul Martin in 2005 amended the Criminal Code to criminalize the facilitation of movement of people across borders. The Criminal Code had already covered kidnapping, assault and forced labour, but this legislation is meant to tighten borders. The Conservatives claim Bill C-4 is meant to clamp down on human smuggling and trafficking, but it will automatically detain refugees, including children, for up to a year before their case is heard and they may face deportation afterwards.         

These laws do nothing further to assist those who may be victims of violence, instead making it more difficult and dangerous for migrants. Bill S-222, which amended the Immigration and Refugee Act , gave victims of trafficking a temporary visa for up to 120 days and the possibility of extending their visa for another three years if they agree to assist in the prosecution of their trafficker. There is no guarantee that they will receive permanent status. Canada’s immigration laws makes it virtually impossible for low-skilled workers to enter Canada through the points system. Anti-trafficking laws do not improve working conditions for workers; they are another means to criminalize migrants. It is the precarious status of migrants that makes them vulnerable.

Decriminalization is one way to make working conditions safer for sex workers. The problem with the trafficking discourse is that it creates a dichotomy between those who are seen by the public as victims of violence and those where violence is seen as inevitable part of engaging in a dangerous activity. Anti-trafficking advocates feel they are saving women from violence and in the media the police portray themselves as saving women from traffickers. But yet little is done for the 500 missing or murdered aboriginal women, some of whom are sex workers such as the women murdered by Robert Pickton.

Is a woman only worthy of support  if she is a victim of trafficking, whereas women who chose to do sex work not worthy of this if she faces violence?  The criminalization of sex workers makes it difficult to report violence and the stigmatization and shame placed on sex workers by some feminists, by anti-trafficking advocates, and by the public in a way validates the violence of sex workers.

Solidarity with sex workers means listening to the voices of sex workers and having them take the lead. Through Maggie’s three year Aboriginal Sex Workers and Education Project, Aboriginal sex workers, including trans and two-spirited peoples, women and youth, were able to connect, share their stories and work around issues such as safe sex, decriminalization, and fighting against the legacy of colonization. Here is an excerpt from their statement:

There is no better time to work around decriminalization, but it is only a step towards (de)colonizing. This will push forward Aborginal sex workers out of the darkness, oppressions, and bring more empowerment. It will bring more support to our choices of work and the lives we chose to lead. Aboriginal sex work is an act of self-determination and an act of empowerment – a valid act of supporting ones basic necessities of life. We are aware of the choices we make, and we are tired of people controlling our ideas, bodies and voices. The ‘we need saving process’ repeats a historical narrative of saving in the history of Aboriginal peoples. Feminism is playing out in a way that does not support our choices of self-determination over our bodies as Aboriginal Peoples.


For further reading on how anti-trafficking laws are not beneficial to women or sex workers, check out this post from The Naked Anthropologist:
Thai sex workers: Anti-trafficking Rescues are Our Biggest Problem.

Update: On March 26th, the Ontario Court of Appeals decided to partially uphold a ruling made by Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel in 2010. The decision permitted the running of brothels and hiring body guards. It also struck down laws around living off the avails of prostitution with an amendment  prohibiting such acts under circumstances of exploitation. The decision did not include laws around communicating for the purposes of prostitution. This is a disappointment for Maggie's whose members are mostly street-based workers. They are more vulnerable to violence  because of laws against communicating.