babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
The Game in Canada, beaten, branded, bought and sold
December 15, 2015 - 10:09pm
TBC
http://projects.thestar.com/human-sex-trafficking-ontario-canada/
The cops, pimps and victims all call it "The Game." It's no game. Young Canadian girls are being beaten, branded, bought and sold in hotels and motels, and along highways across the GTA and Ontario...
Detectives say the crime is growing because trafficking is so lucrative — a pimp can earn $280,000 a year from one sex-trade worker, according to the RCMP. The Internet has also changed The Game by taking these girls off the streets and hiding them behind closed doors. The girls are typically sold on the website Backpage.com which police say is notorious for running sex trafficking advertisements across North America....
Their stories have similar traits — what lured the girls into The Game was the illusion of love and a secure future.
What made them stay was the fear of being beaten, burnt, “outed as whores” or left for dead, and sometimes threats to their families.
Some of these girls are runaways, abandoned by their parents, or foster kids lured straight out of group homes; others grew up in middle-income households and are recruited from high schools or house parties.
The six victims the Star interviewed said those buying sex were from all walks of life, including businessmen, doctors, lawyers, police officers, labourers, drug dealers, college students, teachers, judges, accountants and soldiers. Occasionally they were women.....
Backpage.com: The traffickers' domain
Of the 359 sex trafficking cases Toronto police have investigated since 2013, every single girl was advertised on Backpage.com
A thread was started recently that references this article without mentioning that Canada's law has already fully decriminalized sex workers with the exception of doing business near schools and daycares. It's a silly exception but not terribly limiting.
http://mic.com/articles/142879/4-feminist-reasons-why-we-need-to-support...
i call bs on the 4 reasons across the board.
Yes, but the problem is that feminists who think the commercial sex trade is far from liberating are not allowed to intervene at that forum.
I do support a "safe place" forum for sex workers at babble, but find it unfortunate that it is being used as an echo chamber where people who think the "game" is the antithesis of sexual liberation cannot speak and are maligned.
It's unfortunate that the proponents and opponents of sex work cannot respectfully disagree on babble, so we could have these discussions in a single place.
It would also allow folks who are neither supporters of the decrim model of sex work, or opponents of sex work, to intervene without pressure to self-censor themselves.
Some of us do try to respectfully disagree and argue on the merits. However, that's been neither welcome nor encouraged - capitulation of position is the only acceptable stance in the SW threads.
I hope you don't self-censor. I'll disagree with you, potentially, and will probably argue with you, but will do so without malice.
In the feminist forum we can. It's in the "Sex Worker" forum that we can't because it is a "safe space" for sex workers.
Back to the topic of the lastest article:
http://mic.com/articles/142879/4-feminist-reasons-why-we-need-to-support...
I hope the US adopts the Canadian approach as in Canada "sex workers" aren't arrested for prostitution unless they are near a school or daycare which I think is likely very rare anyway. I see no reason why a sex worker would choose to hang out near a daycare.
It isn't criminalization that promotes victim-blaming or slut-shaming it is the nature of prostitution that does that. As people begin to see that sex workers are victims not criminals that attitude changes. Of course some sex workers see themselves as professionals not victims but under Canadian law the professionals have the right to hire receptionists, cleaners and guards if they so choose.
Fortunately sex workers in Canada need not fear arrest (unless they are near a daycare/school) so can call police without fear. They don't even have to prove anything as the john is automatically breaking the law.
There is some confusion in the above. Making choices about one's body means you can have sex with anyone you please as long as everyone is a consenting adult. That is at the heart of emancipation. It doesn't mean you are free to sell any service or product you please.