By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer
There are sex workers who engage in the consensual exchange of sexual services of their own volition; some out of the prospect of financial freedom and bodily agency, others in a journey to explore their own sexuality, among other motivations. While sex work is very much a legitimate form of labour, it’s also an industry that’s exploitative. A wide body of research suggests that vulnerable demographics, including women, racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples, and people with disabilities, are unduly overrepresented in the sex industry. A 2021 sex worker survey conducted by local advocacy organizations had 73% of respondents reported having a disability, while 45% of street-level sex workers in Vancouver identified as Indigenous women. A product of colonial violence — some Indigenous women engage in sex work as means of survival because of racism and limited economic opportunities. Therefore, narratives that frame sex work as empowering and a form of bodily autonomy, while ignoring the harmful side of the sex work industry, can be problematic. This framing doesn’t fully depict the range of the realities of economic coercion, migrant precarity, racism, and/or gendered violence that pushed these disproportionately represented minority groups into this industry.
Recognizing the nuance of sex work is the first step to attaining justice and equity for these vulnerable groups, and must be followed by supporting their health and well-being. This requires going beyond sex-positive narratives, which champion personal choice and eliminating judgment from sexual pleasure. Instead, we should advocate for amended legislation, increased social support funding, and efforts to address the root causes of sexual exploitation while addressing the needs of those who are willingly participating in sex work.
General public perceptions surrounding sex work have been shaped by overly simplified end-demand narratives that promote criminalization as the only solution to eliminating sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. However, research shows that criminalization has only contributed to further stigma, marginalization, and violence against sex workers. This especially affects those working in street-based environments who are exposed to excessive policing and possible prostitution offences. Combatting exploitation requires changing existing legislation, such as Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. This bill outlaws the purchase of sexual services and limits certain conditions of the transactional process (such as the procurement of services in public spaces) from both buyer and seller, to the effect of making it more difficult for workers to screen potential clients to ensure their own safety.
Criminalization is plainly an ineffective solution to exploitation of sex workers. But decriminalization on its own is not enough either. The Canadian Public Health Association has called on local governments to invest in stronger and long-term social services to safeguard against the associated risks of sex work. Moreover, organizations such as PACE Society, WISH Drop-In Centre Society, and the Health Initiative for Men provide and advocate for more accessible avenues of reporting harmful experiences, expanded peer-based programs, sex-worker-specific healthcare programs, provision of legal aid, provision of public washrooms, and more. This demand couldn’t come at a more urgent time when numerous sex-worker-serving organizations in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside have been forced to suspend operations because of uncertain future funding.
In an interview with The Tyee, Susan Davis, the executive director for the BC Coalition of Experiential Communities and sex worker of 38 years, told the publication that, “the government should provide stable, ongoing funding for organizations supporting sex workers, rather than less predictable annual grant-based funding.”
Social supports aside, concrete actions to address structural inequalities underlying coercion into sex work are the key to promoting the rights and safety of unwilling sex workers. Some researchers have promoted structural interventions over legal reform to secure social justice for precarious individuals who enter into the industry out of financial hardships, limited educational attainment, improper housing, and lack of mental and physical health supports, to name a few.
While different people have different experiences with sex work, ranging from empowerment, perhaps a discovery of enjoyment, to dislike — sex workers need better rights and legal protections. Empowerment is one aspect but exploitation is another looming aspect that lives within the industry and shapes the work. As we learn more from the horrific release of the Epstein files where women and children were sex trafficked, it’s abundantly clear how much exploitation is enmeshed within the industry and better structures are needed to protect marginalized folks who are most affected. It is so systematically engrained that conversations about autonomy are beyond empowerment, and should be about financial and personal safety. The industry does not support and protect our most vulnerable, and we must do better for them at a systemic level.
We should be providing an environment that’s safe for those who want to stay and a pathway for those who want to leave.
