In the absence of up-front legal protection and commercial legitimacy, sex workers are compelled to live shadowy existences. Many of these women are controlled by criminal gangs and pimps who rip them off. The lack of secure working conditions also makes them more susceptible to disease and assault.

In the Toronto area alone there have been many instances of sex workers who have been robbed and assaulted by clients who take advantage of their vulnerability. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that such people are trash and deserve whatever misfortune comes their way.

A high percentage of sex workers come from abusive family backgrounds. Many have a drug habit and are unable to hold down a straight job even if they wanted to. The more successful who operate out of secure facilities and offer additional therapies such as shiatsu, consider that the services they offer have a therapeutic potential. But for the most part such services are still viewed in the “red light” context. A major shift in our socio/sexual values has to occur for this stigma to be removed, beginning with a radical change in the political view of prostitution.

These women (and men) are entitled to the protection of law and the security of their person. They should be able to apply for the same securities the rest of us enjoy and contribute to the economy by way of taxes.

The criminal end of the sex trade should be vigorously prosecuted. Sex trafficking, pedophilia, and the treatment of women as virtual sex slaves. It is estimated that some 100,000 women are smuggled across international borders each year, often with bogus promises of employment. Many of these women, some only teens, are then virtually imprisoned in clubs and other such venues, where they are forced to service clients in order to generate cash for their handlers. For example there have been a few news reports dealing with East European teens who ended up in clubs in Israel where they were forced to work as prostitutes.

Legalized prostitution that combines legal securities with health provisions, and that provides women with a decent livelihood is a different matter altogether. Such provisions are long overdue. The recent horror story from Vancouver involving the serial murder of sex workers underlines how urgent this matter is.

Holland has a much more enlightened approach. The trade has been legal in the Netherlands since 1988, when it was defined as a “legal profession”. The work rendered by sex workers is considered to be of equal value and importance as that provided by any other legal worker. Many sex workers in the Netherlands pay taxes and are eligible for social security. They are free to advertise their services and operate businesses. In addition to regulating the industry, Dutch authorities crack down on the illegal aspects of the trade – such as underage trafficking and coercion of women into the trade.

The Dutch attitude is refreshingly realistic. They take the view that since “the world’s oldest profession” will never simply disappear, it is wiser to provide it with legitimacy so that the women working in the trade can be better protected. In addition Dutch society as a whole is the beneficiary via taxes and other forms of revenue that flow from the trade – for example tourism.

Progressive Dutch policies even resulted recently in a decision to erect a statue in the Amsterdam red light district in honor of the women who work in the trade. The statue was first proposed by a former sex-trade worker named Mariska Majoor who founded a center for prostitution in the Dutch capital. The work was created by the sculptress Els Rijerse, and shows a strong, self-possessed woman – standing with her hands on her hips, gazing at the sky.

Developments such as this show how far the Dutch have progressed in their humane inclusion of the sex trade as part of the life of a progressive modern culture. The N. American approach to prostitution is distinguished by neglect. Anyone who visits Vancouver and takes a bus ride through the Downtown Eastside cannot fail to notice the sex workers, a lot of them drug users, who have been relegated to society’s garbage heap. Any police and social services that attend their needs seem more like a band aid approach that doesn’t begin to address the deeper problem of systemic neglect and stigmatization.

Sex workers are citizens like any other, and deserve to be delivered from the shadows and given their rightful place within our societies.
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