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<BR><BR>> To: joy_helbin@hotmail.com<BR>> Subject: Sex Workers Plan Cooperative Brothel in 2010 Olympics City<BR>> <BR>> - -------- Original Message --------<BR>> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:<BR>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo<BR>> <BR>> Sex Workers Plan Brothel in 2010 Olympics City<BR>> By Wency Leung<BR>> Women's eNews<BR>> October 13, 2007<BR>> http://www.alternet.org/story/65025/<BR>> <BR>> VANCOUVER, Canada -- Susan Davis considers herself one of the lucky ones.<BR>> <BR>> In her 21 years as a sex worker, Davis, 39, has known countless peers<BR>> who have died of suicide, murder, AIDS or drug overdose in Vancouver's<BR>> gritty Downtown Eastside.<BR>> <BR>> She herself has experienced four heart attacks from smoking crack<BR>> cocaine and survived several assaults by violent clients while working<BR>> on the streets.<BR>> <BR>> "I'm a one-percenter," Davis said, referring to the notion that the<BR>> other 99 percent fail to survive this impoverished, drug-infested<BR>> neighborhood. "It's nuts down here."<BR>> <BR>> Now, Davis and other local sex workers have banded together to establish<BR>> Canada's first cooperative brothel in an attempt to offer women a safe<BR>> place to work.<BR>> <BR>> The group, formed by a sex workers' alliance based here, called the<BR>> British Columbia Coalition of Experiential Women, will incorporate next<BR>> month and is already setting the groundwork to open the co-op brothel.<BR>> <BR>> Members have begun scouting for a location and are enlisting the backing<BR>> of local businesses, police and labor organizations.<BR>> <BR>> Faced with the task of cleaning up the city to host the 2010 Winter<BR>> Olympics, Vancouver authorities said they are open to the idea.<BR>> <BR>> "We would be willing to explore anything that . . . would be helping the<BR>> situation of sex trade workers, and make it safer for them and make it<BR>> better for the community," said Vancouver police spokesperson Howard<BR>> Chow. He noted one requirement: "It has to be something that is lawful."<BR>> <BR>> Aiming for Official Exemption<BR>> <BR>> Prostitution itself is legal in Canada. However, since most activities<BR>> associated with it are not -- such as soliciting sexual services in a<BR>> public place, operating a bawdy house and living off the avails of<BR>> prostitution -- the group is planning to appeal to the federal<BR>> government for an exemption.<BR>> <BR>> The government has already allowed the operation of a safe, supervised<BR>> injection site in the city, where authorities give amnesty to<BR>> intravenous drug users.<BR>> <BR>> "Vancouver truly is the testing ground for new ideas," Davis said,<BR>> citing the site as well as other initiatives, such as free needle<BR>> exchange programs and the testing of prescription heroin on addicts.<BR>> <BR>> "We can't do anything that would put police in a position to arrest us,"<BR>> she said. "So, what we're saying is, 'This is such a little place. Let<BR>> us try and demonstrate to you what we think will happen, which is it<BR>> will greatly diminish the complaints from the neighborhood and will<BR>> greatly increase the safety of the sex workers of the Downtown Eastside.'"<BR>> <BR>> The Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter objects to the idea of a<BR>> co-op brothel, as it views prostitution as a means of perpetuating<BR>> violence against women.<BR>> <BR>> An overwhelming majority of prostitutes would leave the sex trade if<BR>> given a choice, said shelter spokesperson Daisy Kler.<BR>> <BR>> "The idea that there are women who, given an autonomous decision, given<BR>> all other options, would stay is a fantasy," she said.<BR>> <BR>> She added that a co-op would not protect Vancouver's most vulnerable<BR>> women, as those who work the streets solely to survive would not likely<BR>> have the money to join.<BR>> <BR>> Cracking down on pimps and johns would more effectively improve the<BR>> safety of sex workers than offering a place where men could continue to<BR>> exploit women, Kler said. "We don't think men should be entitled to buy<BR>> and sell women to satiate themselves."<BR>> <BR>> Not Alone in Choosing Sex Work<BR>> <BR>> Davis acknowledged that, ideally, those women who wanted to leave the<BR>> sex trade could do so. But she maintained that she entered the trade on<BR>> her own accord and she is not alone in choosing sex work.<BR>> <BR>> "This is hard for feminists to swallow," Davis said. "Having your own<BR>> destiny is really appealing to everyone. There's a lot of people with no<BR>> lived experience trying to impose what they think is right on us."<BR>> <BR>> The proposed brothel is welcomed by some frontline workers in the area,<BR>> where more than 60 women, many of them sex workers, disappeared between<BR>> the late 1980s and 2001. Those disappearances led to an investigation<BR>> into Canada's worst suspected serial murder case.<BR>> <BR>> The suspect, Robert William Pickton, a local pig farmer, was arrested in<BR>> 2002 and was charged with 26 counts of murder. He is being tried for the<BR>> deaths of six women. A second trial is expected to follow.<BR>> <BR>> Kerry Porth and Sheri Kiselbach, coordinators of the Vancouver-based<BR>> nonprofit Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education Society,<BR>> said little has been done to ensure the safety of sex workers since the<BR>> high-profile investigation.<BR>> <BR>> Prostitutes who work out in the open continue to be preyed upon by<BR>> violent clients, they said. And while opponents of the co-op brothel<BR>> plan disagree, Porth and Kiselbach said that the incidence of violence<BR>> is greatly reduced -- though not eliminated -- when sex workers work<BR>> indoors, such as in massage parlors or through escort services.<BR>> <BR>> "Every time you go out there, you don't know what's going to happen,"<BR>> Porth said. "You don't know if it's your last night out there and that's<BR>> a ridiculous amount of stress for any individual to live with."<BR>> <BR>> The society has for years been fighting to decriminalize the sex trade,<BR>> which has been pushed underground and forced women to work in isolation<BR>> and in dangerous conditions, Porth said.<BR>> <BR>> Davis, who is spearheading the co-op brothel, said she envisions a space<BR>> that would bring back the "golden age of sex work," when bawdy houses<BR>> freely operated.<BR>> <BR>> Showgirls, Dinner and a Room<BR>> <BR>> The incorporated group would operate a museum and gallery to showcase<BR>> the artwork and history of showgirls and prostitutes, she said. It would<BR>> also run a dinner club with burlesque performances under the same roof<BR>> as the brothel.<BR>> <BR>> Any sex worker could join for a nominal fee and be able to rent clean<BR>> rooms cheaply, she said. Although they would share expenses, members<BR>> would set their own fees and keep their profits. The co-op would also<BR>> enforce labor standards.<BR>> <BR>> So far, some of the strongest opposition has come from escort agencies<BR>> threatened by the prospect of organized competition, Davis said.<BR>> Politicians and local businesses have largely been supportive. Davis<BR>> said the sex workers' group aims to have the co-op brothel and museum<BR>> fully operating in time for the influx of tourists expected during the<BR>> Olympics.<BR>> <BR>> Since part of the Olympic organizing committee's mandate is to support<BR>> local economic development, she said, the cooperative could fit that<BR>> description, providing a thriving business while keeping the sex trade<BR>> in check.<BR>> <BR>> Porth and Kiselbach noted that international sporting events, such as<BR>> the Olympics, customarily attract a massive inrush of sex workers.<BR>> <BR>> Ahead of this year's World Cup soccer matches in Germany, for instance,<BR>> politicians and women's rights groups there had predicted the<BR>> trafficking of up to 40,000 women into the country to serve in the sex<BR>> trade.<BR>> <BR>> Regardless of the debate on the rights and wrongs of the sex trade, a<BR>> proactive approach to sex workers' safety is desperately needed, Davis said.<BR>> <BR>> "We can continue the debate about morality. I don't think that should<BR>> stop . . . but we can't deny it exists," Davis said. "I mean how moral<BR>> is it to let people die?"<BR>> <BR>> Wency Leung is a freelance journalist based in Vancouver, Canada.<BR>> <BR>> - --<BR><br /><hr />Do you know a place like the back of your hand? Share local knowledge with <a href='http://www.backofmyhand.com' target='_new'>BackOfMyHand.com</a></body>
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