SA, I don't know where you get your information, but most paid companions work indoors and are not coerced by pimps. We are no more likely to have drug or alcohol addictions than women in "straight" professions. About 85% of us work indoors. Nearly all of the women who engage in street prostitution have multiple problems: most are addicted to illegal drugs; many also have significant mental health issues and the great majority are aboriginal women. Poverty, though, is the critical factor underlying everything else.
Canada has laws against human trafficking. Good laws with stiff penalties, they are, too. The problem is that there is little police or judicial will to enforce these laws. Most of the people who are caught up in genuine human trafficking are farm and industrial workers, not prostitutes. Some women are migrant sex workers. That is, they leave their home countries to come to places like Canada in order to engage in the sex trade. They hope to make a significant amount of money that they can send home to help support their families. Many of the Asian women in the micro-brothels in Vancouver are migrant sex workers who make genuine, deliberate choices to come here on visitor's visas to work for up to six months before returning home. They are not "trafficked."
We also have laws against the sexual exploitation of children. They, too, should be relentlessly enforced. There is no excuse whatever for sexually abusing children.
That said, if we were to document every person who was sexually abused by anyone before the age of 18 or 19, the number would be staggering!
It may be that a large number of women who work as paid companions have been sexually abused at some point in their lives. I do think that many of us have been abused in some way, at some point, usually by fathers, brothers, male relatives, boyfriends, partners, lovers or husbands. It maybe that survivors of violence are over-represented among sex trade workers, but that may not be true. Violence against women is endemic and also sanctioned in our culture. If you don't think so, have a look at debates about what really constitutes violence or how to define what is or is not genuinely abusive. Physical violence is only one kind of abuse. Emotional and psychological abuse are both more prevalent and far more destructive.
The Harper Conservatives may try to pass legislation that will make prostitution much more dangerous for many women. The women who are most at risk, however--women working on the streets--will not stop engaging in it. They work in the sex trade because they have no other legitimate alternatives; because of poverty; because of addictions; because of mental health problems. These workers will work in conditions that are much higher risk than they are, now. Pimps will thrive because they will offer to protect the women who work for them and because they will strive to guarantee male clients' safety from the police.
Some of the rest of us may decide that it's not worth the hassle to work around whatever new laws are created. These women will retire to other professions.
Make no mistake, though: many of us will simply carry on doing what we do. The demand for paid companionship will not go down, regardless of what legislative bodies do. Indeed, when men are under greater pressure to avoid arrest and prosecution, paid companions such as me will have a far easier time screening potential clients. That is, there will be fewer arguments about references, contact information, cell phones and the real identities of our clients. Not only that, but expect our rates to increase, considerably, too!
If the Harper government has any genuine interest in protecting women from the likes of Picton, they should outlaw poverty, put an end to the drug trade and make effective mental health resources available to everyone when needed, rather than forcing many to wait months or years to see a psychiatrist.
I don't think this will happen, though. Legislating a minimum, liveable income would be expensive. Ending the drug trade would have a profound impact on many economies. Vancouver alone would be directly harmed by such a step. And the government is doing its utmost to limit access to health care already because of the expense.
The government is not going to do anything that will actually benefit women, protect any of us from predation or violence, or end the sex trade.