[ql06] CRIMINAL: Hookers deserve safe working environment
- From: "K.K. Campbell" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 06:56:39 -0500
Relates directly to the very lively discussions we had on the Supreme
Court prostitution reference -- and Dickson's "saved under s.1" holding.
(That is, the good is greater than the individual loss of rights.)
Dawn and I have both mentioned Prof. Alan Young of Osgoode before. Now I
really remember why I called Alan so often in my investigative reporting
days... pot and hookers, pot and hookers. And a controversial stand on
each.
Ken.
--
How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some
principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others and
render their happiness necessary to him though he derives nothing from
it except the pleasure of seeing it.
-- Adam Smith, 1759
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
--- cut here ---
Hookers deserve safe working environment
ALAN YOUNG
REASONABLE DOUBT
TORONTO STAR
Oct. 26, 2003
Here's an easy recipe for a public policy nightmare. Take one powerful,
instinctive drive. Add a pinch of hysteria, a sprinkling of fear and a
whole lot of misinformation. Pour it into the pre-shaped mold of state
control called criminal justice. Let it stew for centuries and never
check on the simmering concoction to see if it is tastes good. This is
precisely the formula adopted in Canada to deal with the problem of
prostitution, and it tastes horrible.
This past week, Toronto police have been meeting with local prostitutes
to recruit their assistance in tracking down a potential serial killer
who may be terrorizing sex trade workers. While police continue to look
for the bodies of prostitutes on the West Coast, the body count in
Toronto stands at two for the time being. No one will ever really know
how many prostitutes are killed every year because they often just go
missing and no one really cares to look for them. Sex-trade workers have
had an enormous fall from grace in the past millennium going from being
sacred temple harlots to marginalized outcasts exposed to all manner of
abuse.
We will continue to dig up bodies of prostitutes on pig farms and in
secluded urban alleys while we maintain imbecilic criminal prohibitions
on commercial sex. You do not have to read Freud to know that our
species is always on the lookout for sexual outlets, and when the
pleasure does not present itself, some will go to the marketplace to buy
it. There is nothing the state can do about this. Every time a
prostitute is arrested, two take her place. This is a bottomless market.
I'm sure cops, lawyers and judges sometimes enter this market, but to
admit it would undercut their authority to prosecute and punish those
who gave them release the day before.
Prostitution is called the world's oldest profession for good reason. It
flourished in biblical times. When Jesus reprimanded the priestly caste
for wanting to stone a prostitute, this should have signalled the end of
the punitive approach to this social dilemma. Jesus said only those
without sin should cast the first stone. Somehow over the ages this has
been transformed into a licence for a multitude of petty sinners to cast
many stones in the direction of the hookers. We have been casting about
10,000 criminal charges a year, but the business continues to thrive.
To dodge the stones, prostitutes are compelled to work in an environment
full of risks and dangers. Pushing sex for hire into a black market
opens a Pandora's box of horror. Hookers cannot rely upon state
officials to protect them from evil johns. Many are compelled to work
with pimps to secure protection and territorial exclusivity. The pimp is
a pure manifestation of the worst excess of patriarchy, but he is also a
creation of the criminal law. If we remove the blunt instrument of
criminal law, and take a proper regulatory approach, hookers could oust
their pimps in exchange for a safe working environment. The pimp of
today may become the union steward of tomorrow. Between 1991 and 1995,
63 prostitutes were murdered in Canada. And 96 per cent of these victims
were female. Surprisingly, only three were murdered by pimps; they
prefer to terrorize the living. Fifty were killed by clients. Hookers
have always been a prime target of serial killers and this is our proud
legacy of prohibition.
As more prostitutes disappear we must question the value of a law that
allows a prostitute to work but denies the worker all the protections
relating to occupational health and safety. We are clearly not
protecting women with the criminal law when these very laws have exposed
them to daily violence. I can understand the concerns of property owners
and community members who don't want their street corners turned into
drive-through sex shops. But this is a matter of proper regulation and
the creation of red-light districts.
It's unclear what we hope to accomplish with prohibitions on commercial
sex. For many, it is not a matter of rational discourse but a visceral
reaction to the commodification of sex. Many people consider sex sacred
and believe making love shouldn't be commodified and commercialized.
This Hallmark approach is fine, but why should a sanitized and idealized
vision of sex dominate our field of vision. Many people see nothing
degrading about paying for sex considering we have pretty much
commodified everything else considered sacred in times past.
Although human sexuality is complex, I see no reason to confine adult
sexuality within a set of complex legal rules. I see only one legal rule
of any real importance: For sex to be lawful there only needs to be
consent and it should not matter whether the consent is secured by
direct payment or weeks of expensive courtship with fine dining and
false promises. The idealization of sex within the criminal law has
never stopped anyone from paying for fellatio but it has led to lots of
funerals for the professional fellatrices of this world.
--------------------------------------------------
Alan Young is a law professor and criminal lawyer.
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