January 15, 2003

News

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The Daily debunks the myths surrounding the sex

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trade, finding more than simple victimization and

domination

Kirsten Weld and Rob Salerno
The McGill Daily

MONTREAL (CUP)—The sex trade is a
social problem. It’s a societal ill. It's making
the streets unsafe for our children. It’s sucking
in troubled teens who have nowhere else to
turn. It’s the last refuge for those who can't, or
wont, get themselves a real job. Or so, at least,
the stereotypes would have you believe.

Sex work ranks among the most stigmatised
professions in Canada. Prostitutes, strippers,
erotic masseuses, porn actors and escorts are
constantly tagged with a variety of labels—
junkie, victim, whore. Sex workers have been
typecast as young, naive females, runaways
from broken homes whose lives are controlled
by domineering pimps. The sex trade is tradi-
tionally discussed as a “social problem,” as an
obstacle to maintaining safe communities—
that is, when it is discussed at all. Nobody
wants prostitutes in their backyard, and so
community organizations often collaborate
with neighbourhood police in order to “clean
up the streets.” But what, workers and their
allies ask, does this really accomplish?

“There will always be prostitution and there
will always be sex workers and there will
always be clients,” says Juliette St. Pierre, the
coordinator of ASTT(e)Q (Action Sante:
Travesti(e)s et Transsexuel(le)s du Quebec), a
group that serves transsexuals and transgen-
dered individuals, some of whom are sex
workers. “So what are we going to do about
it? Are we going to address it, at least, or are
we just going to sweep it under the carpet?”
MYTHS ABOUT THE SEX TRADE

The popular stereotypes about sex workers
is almost cartoonish in nature: they are

© page 20

strung-out, poverty-stricken wastrels, people
who are too stubborn to get a real job, trou-
bled women afflicted with a host of STDs and
just waiting for someone to help them get out
of the business.

For starters, sex trade workers aren't exclusive-
ly female. ASTT(e)Q provides support and
distributes dozens of condoms to transsexual
prostitutes, masseuses, and dancers every
week. Montreal’s Village is home to no fewer
than three clubs specifically targeted toward
transsexuals, whose branch of the sex trade,
St. Pierre says, “is a specialty of its own.”

Male sex workers, also, are marginalized by
the nymphet stereotype. Though you never
hear about them, they serve both men and
women in a variety of fashions and locales.

“It’s going to take a long time for popular
attitudes about sex workers to change,” says
Darlene Palmer, an intervention worker with
CACTUS, a Montreal harm-reduction group
that runs a needle exchange and provides sup-
port for sex workers. For example, Palmer
points out that because sex workers usually
use condoms and are so educated about sexu-
ally transmitted diseases—including HIV and
AIDS—they are far from being society's main
spreaders of STDs.

The drug-addict myth is another unfair
prejudice, says Natasha, a member of
Montreal’s Coalition for the Rights of Sex
Workers. “Research that’s been done on
street-level sex work says that 40 percent of
workers have addiction problems, and that’s
fairly low considering that sex work and drug
abuse are supposed to be synonymous,” she

says. “They’re not. Not all street-level
sex workers are junkies and certainly,
beyond a shadow of a doubt, not all
junkies are sex workers.”

Which isn’t to say that there aren't
sex workers who do drugs. “I don't
do drugs, but so many do,” says
Gavin, a 20-year-old ex-stripper. He
started dancing at the gay strip club
Taboo when he was 17. “So many
strippers just do drugs to get them
through their next night’s work, and
also strip to support their habits. It’s
a vicious circle,” he says.

But advocates of sex workers argue
that saying drug use and sex work go
hand in hand is not only irresponsi-
ble, but wrong. The stereotype of the
exploited, victimized sex worker also
fails to stand up under scrutiny.
Many sex workers view their job as
empowering, enjoyable and also
highly lucrative.

“Tt really depends on who you are,
whether you're exploited or not,”
says Gavin. “If youre shy or meek,
and you wont tell clients or bosses
when enough is enough, then yeah,
you'll be exploited. But if you're real-
ly forceful, actually, you can take
advantage of the clients. You're tak-
ing their money.”

Natasha, who has been active in
the fight for sex workers’ rights,
agrees. “Sex work can be a very viable
and liberating option. Let’s face it—
in our culture, your personal power
over your life is largely determined
by your ability to pay for it,” she
says.

Nonetheless, strippers and other
“legit” sex workers are quick to draw
a line between their profession and
prostitution—many dancers stigma-
tize prostitutes just as much as those
outside the industry.

“Tm a good Catholic girl. I don’t
fuck,” says Dayanara, a 21-year-old
stripper who works at Chateau du
Sexe. “It’s disrespectful when guys
come in here and assume that I will
fuck them.”

Gavin agrees, despite the fact that
he has sold sexual favours in the past.
“Prostitution is when you stand on a
street corner,” he says. “What I did
was all in the club. Sometimes I'd sell
sex to clients, but I don’t consider
that prostitution.” Sex workers are
far from united as a community, and
the stigma surrounding prostitution
has further divided them.

Palmer points out that people elect
to enter the sex trade for a variety of
personal reasons. “Some, and a lot,
of women do it because they're going
to school and they need to pay for

their university studies. A lot c
mothers in single-parent situation
will do it at the end of the mont
just to round out the financial situs
tion, to get food and groceries for th
kids when the money runs oui
Others do it because they like it, an
maybe that’s not the greatest major:
ty, but it’s their reality nonetheless,
she says.

One reality that institutions lik

McGill and Concordia would likel
rather keep quiet is the fact the
many students pay their way throug,
school by stripping or prostituti
themselves. Lily, a university stude
and sex worker, notes that the ph
nomenon is much more widesprea|
than most administrators would ev
admit.
“My type of situation is more com
mon than youre led to believe. It
more common now that youn
women are using sex work as
springboard to realizing the
dreams. I think that they're afraid 1
be open about their professiog
they're afraid of whatever judgmer]
they might be subjected to—particy
larly in the academic world. It’s n
big surprise that this is kept quiet
Lily believes that stories like hers ai
rarely heard because they're less sex}
or sensational, to mainstream medi
It seems that sex workers’ voices—
when they fail to conform to th
familiar stereotypes and expectd
tions—are silenced, or simp
ignored.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Lily, who is in her late twenties, hg
been working in the sex trade sing
her teens and has dabbled in evey
possible aspect of sex work. After 4
extremely negative experience worl
ing on the street at a young age, sh
decided to quit. Later, she elected t
try again, having had “different shi
ty jobs as a waitress, a housecleane
jobs I found particularly insulting {
my intelligence.” She came from
working-class background and didr
have a degree, so returning to the s¢
trade seemed the best—and mo
profitable—option.

She moved into escorting and ma!
sage, which were “mostly run by me
and a real drag,” she says. Now, Li!
works independently as a domin;
trix, and finds the job personal
empowering and rewarding.

“I’m very selective about my cliet
tele and I can say, in all honesty, th;
almost everybody I see I find pled
ant company,” she says. “I get
meet a lot of people from all over th