Social Movements For The Workplace

The speaker, Toni Mac, introduces herself as a sex worker and closes her speech by sharing about her involvement in sex worker-led groups like the Sex Worker Open University and the English Collective of Prostitutes. Clearly, due to her close relationship with the issue, she is trying to persuade anyone with an interest in human rights issues to support decriminalization. She explains decriminalization as “the removal of laws that punitively target the sex industry, instead treating sex work much like any other kind of work.” By treating sex work like any other profession, it takes away many of the problems associated with it.

As part of McGill’s Community Engagement Day, I went on a walking tour of Montréal’s historical Red Light District presented by Karen Herland, professor and specialist in the history of prostitution. Her historical analysis (personal communication, October 2, 2015) of the neighbourhood gave great insights on morality and legislation issues regarding sex work, specifically about the relationship between authorities and prostitution as well as some of the impacts that these laws and other attitudes that regulate sex work have on women. Her astute reports lead us to the following proposition: the dynamics between authorities and sex work indicates that under the guise of “morality”, the laws in place and their application did not actually oppose sex work, they rather worked to limit women’s emancipation.

In Canadian law, buying or selling sexual services within Canada is considered legal. However, this controversial topic has raised discussions between people because of the possibilities of illegal activities inside the world of prostitution. From reading the newspapers to hearing it on the television, we know nothing good ever comes out of prostitution because of the exposure to the risky businesses and dangerous people. Prostitutes engages in a number of dangerous harmful activities such as taking drugs, rape, emotional and physical abuse, and the worst case scenario is death. In this thesis paper, I’ll be discussing the main points and arguments as to why prostitution should have been illegal to begin with and why Canada should

Our criminal justice system’s explicit bias against sex workers only compounds the problem” (Keena). Sex workers are given no respect and in cases have their livelihood used against them as a way to further abuse them. This comes from the belief that since sex is their job; their safety and consent do not matter as they are not seen to be doing anything for society. People see these women as products sold to them instead of

Sometimes, the term “sex work” is used, as well as “prostitution”. But whichever term we choose to say, it does not eliminate the stigma attached to it. Cases such as the Bedford V. Canada Case (144) indulges into the conspiracy of sex work and challenges certain sections of the Criminal Code that make business in relation to prostitution illegal. Ideally, a sex worker has a career just as a teacher or lawyer. For this reason, their human rights and dignity should be protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as are other professions. However, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Criminal Code do not seek to protect sex workers, yet, they seek to do otherwise using certain sections of the Criminal Code

The existing Canadian laws for sex work have recently undergone a change with the Conservative government’s new implementation of a bill to effectively decriminalize the existence of brothels and indoor prostitution while illegalizing the advertisement of said service and/or the purchase of said service.

The practice or work of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment is known as prostitution. Although some may frown upon it, it is an honest occupation and a source of income for numerous women in Canada. The woman’s perspective in this field should be emphasized and considered to be most important. There are various reasons women make the decision to be a part of such a line of work. It may not be an ideal path for some, but allows women to provide an income for their families and possibly overcome difficult financial circumstances. Sex work is a choice. One holds the freedom of deciding whether or not this lifestyle would be suitable for them. Contrary to popular belief of sex work being degrading to women, it can also empower women. Having the free will of engaging in sexual practices to earn a living is not degrading. If women are in control of their bodies and choose to be a part of this line of work it is not degrading. By decriminalizing prostitution, a lesser chance of violence, rapes, and human trafficking is enabled. Moreover, legalized prostitution decreases the need for pimps or middlemen, and increases the number of prostitutes earning an income solely for themselves and their families. Decriminalization also makes women safer due to the decrease in sexually transmitted diseases. Women can gain awareness of their own bodies without fear.

The sex industry is highly divided between those who call themselves “sex workers”, and former prostitutes who call themselves “survivors” (Glazer 340). Women should have the right to choose what they do for a living, including prostitution. The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.

It is often hard for the average person living in great conditions with all the luxuries this world offers like a nice car, big house, and a family to not stigmatize the profession of female sex workers. Themes of religion, addiction, and shame encompass the every day lives of the sex workers featured in the film Whores Glory1. Are the sex workers working in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico seen as feminists? Do the women featured have control over their bodies? Finally, are these women recognized by society as workers in the film? I will be analyzing the production of the film through it’s themes and support my argument that the film Whores Glory1 is not feminist due to it’s depiction of female sex workers.

Sexual favours in return for money, just the thought of this has people cringing, although laws have deemed to move forward with the idea of prostitution it seems although socially there has not been much progress. The idea of prostitution still scares, or one could even go as far to say it disgusts people. The lack of knowledge and awareness of the details of sex work create this ongoing hate towards sex work, which continues to stigmatize sex workers. Regardless of changing laws, regardless of changing policies, why is it that sex workers are still afraid to proudly announce that their job is in fact the job of a sex worker? Unfortunately, it seems as though the idea of sex work that seems to be such a terrible one is not what bothers sex workers the most, it is the social misconception of what sex work is like that leads these individuals to feel highly stigmatized (Van der Meulen and Redwood, 2013). The primary harm for of prostitution seems to be the stigma against prostitution, women involved in prostitution are considered socially invisible as full human beings (Farley, 2004). Why is it that our changing and progressing laws are still unable to remove this stigma from the lives of sex workers? This paper will argue that prostitution laws continue to produce stigma around sex work. It will argue this through revisiting the historical laws, examining present laws and ongoing laws at this time.

In ‘Shades of grey’: spaces in and beyond trafficking for Thai Women involved in commercial sexual labor in Sydney and Singapore, Sallie Yea introduces her article cleverly; sharing her opinion along with societal opinions about how sex workers are subjectively viewed. She opens the door to a very controversial topic while still remaining neutral. Yea explains, that most sex workers are viewed with sympathy by society when they are perceived as being forced into prostitution. However, when the perception is adverse, such as, the sex worker voluntarily chooses a profession in prostitution the ideology is hard to accept and are no longer viewed as victims but more as societies scum.

Firstly, it is important to know the history and background of prostitution in Canada. Before the Bedford challenge, sex work in Canada was actually legal. However, what seemed disconcerting and contradicting was the fact that most of these laws showed that any activity related to prostitution is illegal. The stigma shown here discriminates

As countries are considering legalizing and decriminalizing the sex industry, we urge you to consider the ways in which legitimating prostitution as work does not empower the women in prostitution but does

There is a huge debate on legislation for commercial sex workers; the ways in which other forms of law and practice contribute to shaping the working environments of sex workers in different places is less understood. The consequences of the lack of detection of the sex worker as a person before the law in this country are barely discussed. Due to the absence of recognized legal status always restricted to sex workers to get a birth certificate, identity card voter card which is also violation of human rights, or other means that societies create a different mindset to recognize individual legal personality, which make it possible to act that profession of sex work is against the norms and values of the society and make claims in society.

The term sex work gives a negative meaning by itself. Though being a part of the same society they are denied the right to vote and dignity. They are criticized and a considered a stigma and therefore are denied the fundamental right which they are guaranteed to all citizens of India, i.e. right to life, liberty and dignity. They are often the subject of abuse, violation and harassment. It is thought that the sex workers threatens the structure of the family life and are therefore most often ostracized by the society and further, the Society views sex workers as morally corrupt , and thus are considering them guilty and deserving of the abuse and violations.