Strong response needed to end exploitation

[Old Dog 179138]

Great article Samantha! She seems to have a grasp on many of the issues, unlike many of the vocal critics of the industry...

[fortunateone 156618]

I find it very hard to believe that the city of Vancouver has anywhere near 1000, let alone up to 2000 outdoor sex workers.

 

For me, the tone of the article is "save the hos", not balanced, and no understanding of the reality of pursuing a legal way to earn a living. No differentiation between what would drive a street worker vs a massage parlour worker vs an agency worker vs an indoor worker (assuming independent), all in need of saving from exploitation, housing, given a good job (because none of us could possibly have left good jobs to do this), and, of course, drug rehab.

 

I am not sure what the article writer has in mind, but I am pretty sure her idea of a suitable "affordable" housing is quite different from what I am perfectly able to afford right now, by working in a way that I have chosen to work.

[SamanthaEvans 166766]

fortunateone, I agree with you about the numbers. I also find it hard to believe that there are even 1,000 outdoor sex workers in Vancouver; 2,000 seems like a fantasy figure to me. I spend a lot of time in the Downtown Eastside, at different times of day; I also go through the other downtown areas where SWs work fairly regularly. I just can't imagine the numbers are this large.

 

The city report is relying on a survey done in 2009 called Structural and Environmental Barriers to Condom Use Negotiation With Clients Among Female Sex Workers: Implications for HIV-Prevention Strategies and Policy which, in turn, cited a 2006 study, called the Maka Project, Community-based HIV prevention research among substance-using women in survival sex work in which 205 SWs were recruited to answer questions about their potential exposure to HIV. The city report also relies on a 2008 study, Drug sharing with clients as a risk marker for increased violence and sexual and drug-related harms among survival sex workers which seems to have found that 100% of outdoor sex workers were also injectable drug users who reported sharing needles with clients 59% of the time and that the shared drug use led to inconsistent condom usage by the client 95% of the time.

 

I think it's important to know that the Maka Project noted that it was impossible to know how many street-based sex workers there are in Vancouver. The current Vancouver report has used a complicated series of calculations to project the numbers cited. I don't think this is valid or realistic.

 

However, it is useful for the purposes of the report, which is to recommend that the city make provision for reducing the harm experienced by SWs.

[fortunateone 156618]

I am all for finding ways to reduce harm to SWs, for sure. (being of the opinion that sex work of itself is not what is harming SWs, but it is helping to enable them to continue in harmful behaviour by making drugs affordable? And once affordable, no incentive to not use them).

[SamanthaEvans 166766]

Reducing harm for SWs is important, for sure. I'm very interested in it. The relationship between SWs and drugs, I think, is a chicken-and-egg kind of thing. Ultimately, though, however they started, working in the sex trade becomes linked to their addiction. In downtown Vancouver, addiction determines much of the way they conduct their business and the fees they charge. Rates are keyed to the price of heroin or crack, much of the time, for example. As of this past weekend, heroin was selling for $5 a hit on the steps of the Carnegie Centre; the price tends to fluctuate between $5 and $15.. There are SWs performing blowjobs downtown for $3, which is the price of two cigarettes on the street.