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Author Topic: 67 Missing Women in BC / Sex-work
Candace
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Babbler # 3380

posted 03 December 2002 08:50 PM      Profile for Candace     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What a heart-wrencher. We should do something. At least bombard our MPs and newspapers with letters regarding the marginalization of sex-workers in society. Or something. Ideas?

The other day, I watched a mainstream news coverage of prostitution in the Maritimes. Their solution to the "rising problem" was to hit the schools -- educate kids on the "evils" lurking behind the occupation and make the young women pledge NOT to become a sex-worker.

I am of the belief that women can only be as strong as our weakest link. Until ALL women are guaranteed peace and security, we have won nothing. Until ALL women's work is valued in society, we are all nothing but "street trash."

What's a sexual harassment policy in the workplace when it's thought that "she's just doing her job"?

Aren't we all prostitutes, selling our labour, our lives away in increments for someone's else's gain?


From: Fredericton | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
rosebuds
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Babbler # 2399

posted 03 December 2002 09:02 PM      Profile for rosebuds     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
But what's the solution? Legalize prostitution? Perhaps, and I'm not entirely against that if only for the sake of the sex-workers...

I think the true "evil" lies in the attitudes of men (and women to a certain extent). There is a belief that sexualized women must be in some way marginalized. It's the old madonna/whore complex. My wife can't do this or she'd be a whore, so I'll go to a whore to get her to do it...

I don't know - I've been thinking a lot these days about society's way of marking women as either "good girls" or "bad girls". It makes my skin crawl and yet it's everywhere all around us and it influences me every single day. How do we recognize it and eliminate it? Is it even possible?

By the way, I've already written a letter to the Attorney General of BC. It's a good start, anyway...


From: Meanwhile, on the other side of the world... | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Scout
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Babbler # 1595

posted 03 December 2002 09:40 PM      Profile for Scout     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
make the young women pledge NOT to become a sex-worker.

Oh, that'll work. As it worked so well getting the same girl to make the virginity pledge. It turns out that the girls that followed along and made the pledge eneded having sex anyway, and kess safely than the girls that chose not to make the pledge. perhaps education regarding self-estemm would be a better direction.

I heard something scary yesterday, the US media is trying to get into the court room for the trial of this murder. This is something we have to lobby against. I am against further marginalizing these women for the titillation of the American viewing public.


From: Toronto, ON Canada | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
DingleBall
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Babbler # 3323

posted 04 December 2002 02:33 AM      Profile for DingleBall     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ditto, Scout. The American media is saying that Americans have a "right" to hear about issues that interest them. What that really means is that the American media thinks it has a right to sensationalize and further exploit these women in order to rake in ratings and therefore dollars. Fuckers.
From: Halifax, NS | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
kropotkin1951
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posted 04 December 2002 03:41 PM      Profile for kropotkin1951   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
For me prostitution is like abortion. I personally don't like either however it is not my choice it is only the women involved who get to chose.

We should enact laws that control prostitution so it is not in our faces as a "normal" option but at the same time protect the sex-trade workers from the violence. Does the Dutch model work for their sex trade?

Buying sex is to me proof that you are currently incapable of a real relationship with another human being. Selling sex is merely proof that your employment options for a wellpaid job are almost non-existant if you are a marginalized woman. It is one of those difficult paradigms, I believe men who buy sex are assholes so I don't really like prostitution but I think that women should have control over their own bodies to sell them to those assholes and therefore need protection from the assholes.


From: North of Manifest Destiny | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged

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