Yay for Canada

Canada's prostitution laws struck down

"A Toronto judge has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws, saying provisions meant to protect women and residential neighbourhoods are endangering sex workers’ lives.

If Justice Susan Himel’s decision stands, prostitutes will be able to communicate freely with customers on the street, conduct business in their homes or brothels and hire bodyguards and accountants without exposing them to the risk of criminal sanctions.

“How am I going to celebrate? I’m going to spank some ass,” Bedford, cracking a riding whip, told reporters.

Scott said the decision means sex workers no longer have to “worry about being raped, robbed or murdered.”

Federal lawyers maintained that prostitution is inherently risky whether it is practised indoors or outdoors and that decriminalizing it would be out of sync with the moral values of most Canadians.
Scott said sex workers want to work with municipalities and be responsible business owners and neighbours.
Citizens shouldn’t worry about a brothel opening up next door, she added.
“There is no reason to be afraid. Lightening bolts won’t hit the sidewalk,” said Scott. “There won’t be frogs all over.'"

Good news abounds this morning. While this bill has been given a 30 day suspension while rich, white, upper class, male congressmen hem and haw over protecting the safety of ALL their citizens, the fact that it even got signed into existence gives me great hope.
Sex workers have been around forever - even the bible, that ineffable tome which so many rich, white, upper class, male congressmen seem to be enamored with, features prostitutes and 'sinful women' who help the Lord along his ineffable plan (Joshua 6:17–25, Luke 7:36–50). I just proved that the bible can be used to prove anything, but that's really not what I'm trying to prove at the moment. Sex workers have been around a long time, and it's unlikely they will ever not be around. After all, sex is an integral part of almost all life forms (barring of course asexual reproducers and hermaphroditic reproducers, but most of those live in the sea) and humans have made it into rather an art. Thus, denouncing sex workers as immoral or unworthy of legal protection is not a practical political stance; really, it's just an externalization of white, upper class, male congressman guilt.
Prostitutes exist. They will and they have. They are citizens (we're not going to get into human trafficking and immigration business right now, I have to go to class too soon for that) and deserve all the protections therein. Why is prostitution such a dangerous job? Because they are not getting the full protection they deserve and, frankly, that they need. Why is so much violence perpetrated against sex workers? Because of that lack of protection. Why is no one protecting these women AND men? Rich, white, upper class, male congressmen (and, to be fair, rich, white, upper class, females) with their collective heads in collectively unsavory locations.
Have I ranted enough for this morning? Maybe. I'll be keeping tabs on this. More to come, surely.
(also, come talk to me if you think I'm totally insane, I don't bite particularly hard and I'd love to discuss it)

(p.s. yay for canada)

Turkey: A look inside Istanbul's transsexual brothels

Another cross-post. Have at it folks.



http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/turkey/100829/istanbul-transgender-rights-brothels

"In Turkey, transgender and transsexuals are often discriminated against, and for them, stable work is hard to find.
The women who work in this series of brothels are the lucky ones. They stand in sharp contrast to the thousands of transgendered and transsexual sex workers who are forced to walk the streets of Istanbul. Outside brothels, all prostitutes are vulnerable to police harassment, sexually-transmitted infections and violence.
For prostitutes working in the brothels, the houses provide not only a level of protection, but also a place to reconnect."

Turkey is a place of so many contradictions, this short piece brings to light an interesting community as well as featuring some spectacular photographs. A place that American culture views as dirty and immoral can be a safe haven, not only in Turkey but around the world. The view of sex, and sex workers, as somehow unworthy and unsafe is one I feel transcends gender identity, religious beliefs, and geography. In the same way persecuting homosexuals does nothing eradicate the phenomenon (it only serves to place the individuals who identify as LGBTQ in dangerous societal margins), persecuting sexual aspect of humans does nothing but endanger a large portion of society. Please come talk to me about the sex trade, it's a discussion I'd love to have.