Canada prostitution laws pulverised: politicians apoplectic

[cgkanchi]

A Canadian Court has overturned a series of laws regulating sex work, furthering the debate as to whether to decriminalise or clamp down on prostitution.

The decision, handed down by the High Court in Ontario, effectively abolished laws banning street soliciting (communicating for the purposes of prostitution), working together from premises (bawdy house) and living off the avails of prostitution. The decision followed a legal challenge from three sex workers who argued that these laws directly endangered their health and forced them into unsafe working conditions.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/01 ... stitution/

Now, if only every other country in the world followed suit. Prostitution is going to exist, whether it's legal or not and by criminalising it, you are destroying the lives of people who are often already victims of society.

[Egaladeist]

As far as I know prostitution has never been looked at as a crime persay in Canada. Even the cops don't seem to treat it as a criminal act. And usually prefer to ignore it unless there are specific complaints or public outcry that forces them to make some kind of gesture toward it.

I know that there were decriminalized ( or ' don't tell ' ) prostitution parlors allowed to function as ' massage ' parlors ( wink wink nunge nunge ) just a few years back.

Technically prostitution is not illegal in Canada.

Although prostitution has never been illegal in Canada, many of the peripheral activities intimately related with it are so penalized. Communicating for the purposes of prostitution, soliciting, keeping a common bawdy house, procuring, and living off the avails of prostitution are some examples of the type of activities that are criminalized according to the legal system.

Places such as massage parlours escape being prosecuted under the bawdy-house laws because the customer pays for a massage; anything that happens after that is agreed upon between two consenting adults.

http://web.viu.ca/crim/Student/Sturdy.htm

Link may be a couple decades out of date

[Debs]

Until we stop basing laws on an outdated Christian code and begin to base them on logic and common sense, it's not going to be sensible. Prostitution, drugs, alcohol - all of these things are going to exist in any society. The most reasonable way to deal with it is to legalize it, regulate it, tax it and oversee it. That way you lose the violence and most of the danger surrounding it, you're able to help the victims - most of the time the sex workers and the drug addicts - and you're able to eliminate a good deal of the trade because you've taken away the illicit thrill.

[Panama Red]

The only reason this actually came about was due the unmitigated apathy of the BC police services...just refer to the Pickton fiasco...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton...the authorities like to throw this stuff under the carpet, so what, a hooker disappears from downtown, the business types are happy, the cops are happy...no one is complaining...

At least with "regulation", there will be services available to the women/men who solicit, whether they are health services or protection...bring it out of the shadows and into the light.........The Red Light district in Amsterdam is crammed with tourists, who are there to partake or just to take pictures or to marvel at the liberalness of the Dutch...me I just window shopped.... Oh and lots of cops to keep the idiots in line...

[|3lack|ce]

Now correct me if I'm wrong here - the laws there might have changed but somehow I doubt it.

When I visited Germany (Kiel to be specific) back in 1989, there was a nice little 'red light' district right in the middle of town where bordellos were located. The girls there waited outside their rooms, or in 'storefront windows' until a John came along and paid for their time and services.

Intrigued, I paid for a girl, not for the obvious trade - but instead for a little quiet conversation over a drink. I asked her how Germany regulated her industry.

She explained to me that it was quite a lucrative business, and that she was paid 90% of what she charged, giving over 5% to the 'house' and another 5% to the state for her permit. Every week a licensed doctor would come to the bordello and give checkups and blood tests, and any girl found unhealthy would have her license suspended until she was made well again.

The house rules there were VERY strict. Condoms must always be used, no exceptions, and the girl must put them on the John - and the John was not allowed to put his hands upon himself until after the services were rendered and he was removing it. Closed circuit tv cameras monitored every room to make sure these and other rules were being followed to the letter - and any girl found not following the rules didn't get a warning, she was simply fired and her license revoked immediately and forever. Any John found knowingly attempting to break the rules faced a very tough fine and jail sentence. They don't play around there, even with their play, and it's a damn good time for all involved I'd say.

Now all that to say this - why can't the world west of Europe lose its antideluvian values and handle the 'world's oldest profession' the way Germany does?

The girl I interviewed was actually in her 5th year of law school, working her way through and supporting one child on what she made at the bordello which was her only job. She even kept her school work on hand so she could work on it during her time not with Johns. Impressive I'd say - Germany had taken something we consider sleazy and made it into a perfectly acceptable profession. I hope that young lady became a very successful barrister indeed.

Now we can extend all this foofaraw a bit further by adding a bit of Heinleinesque wording in here:

When a government begins to tell you what is good for you, it is overstepping its bounds.

We, the citizenry of our respective countries need to take our governments to task over things like prostitution, marijuana laws, 'sin taxes', and other 'good for me' laws. This is one reason why I support Libertarianism whenever I find it viable (bet that shocked the shoes off a few of ya eh?). Other ways I've taken action are by: writing my congressmen and senators, both state and federal, and by contributing time and money to organizations like NORML (that's the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and other institutions which support the rights of the individual. I challenge each of you to do likewise.

[dinowuff]

ICE I was in Frankfurt for a few years. The red light district was almost 4 city blocks. What soon became one of my favorite pubs was an off beat place I found by accident. Many of the girls that hung out there were hookers. It was where they went to have a beer and relax after work or on their days off. The stories they told were GREAT.

One girl had a regular that she hated. The guy usually couldn't get it up and one of the rules is that the man has to finish. She would spend hours on this guy. The girls are paid by the act not the hour. Other stories were about how nice and quick the young American soldiers were.

Interestingly enough, none of the girls there would go home with someone. It was too risky as they were prostitutes and if anyone even suggested they were practicing their trade outside the whore house or on the street they would be fined and loose their license. And as you stated, loss of the license for a rule violation is for life.

The houses these girls worked in were 7 - 10 stories tall with 10 - 15 rooms on each floor. By the door and bed was a panic button. When pressed, Dog's and Turks with base ball bats came a running. There was a story about two drunk Germans that forced their way into one of the girls rooms and started having sex with them. Panic button was pressed. None of the Girls knew if the two guys ever left hospital.

There was one girl who had a regular. He'd come in every Tuesday at 1 p.m., pay her 50 marks, take off her foot ware and lick her toes for about 10 minutes and leave. Lots of funny stories. The worst was another girl had a regular that would come in every Friday night around midnight and perform oral sex on her. Now the kicker is with this girl Condoms were an option for her regulars and her regulars usually visited through out the evening on Fridays... YUK!