Old men most likely to favour legal prostitution

[Guest Ou**or**n]

From today's online Sun...

 

Click to view article on Sun's website

 

OTTAWA ? Nearly half of Canadians support an Ontario court's decision to strike down parts of Canada?s prohibitions on prostitution, but older men are far more likely to support the idea than young people or women.

 

When asked if they supported the ruling, approximately 48% of those polled said yes, while another 52% were unsure or didn't know.

 

Support was highest in Quebec, at 54%, and lowest in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, at 23%.

 

The difference in opinion between men and women was striking.

 

When asked how prostitution should be dealt with, respondents were given three options: banning the exchange of money for sex, keeping the laws as they were, and decriminalizing some parts of prostitution.

 

Up to 60% of men support decriminalizing prostitution, compared to just 38% of women. Only 30% of women also chose to ban the exchange of money for sex, an option selected by just 18% of men. Mario Canseco, vice-president at Angus Reid, told QMI Agency that he wasn?t surprised by the gender gap.

 

?The fascinating issue when you look at prostitution,? said Caseco, ?is that women see it as an exploitation issue because they feel like its an exploitation of women. For men, they see it as, if no one is harmed then it should be decriminalized.?

 

The survey also found a split between age groups. Support for decriminalizing prostitution was at 39% among those 18-34-year-olds, but jumped to over 50% for people over 35.

 

?We didn?t expect that,? said Canseco. ?We expected a gender gap but we never expected younger people to be so disenchanted with legalized prostitution.?

 

The Conservative government has announced it will appeal the Ontario court ruling, but that decision is supported by only 39% of Canadians and opposed by 43%. Support for the appeal is highest in the prairie provinces where Harper?s support is strongest.

 

The online poll of 1,001 adult Canadians was taken between October 14 and 15, 2010 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1% , 19 times out of 20.

[Megan'sTouch 23875]

My best guess is that women feel threatened by sex workers, that we are competition for their boyfriends or husbands!

[Guest Ou**or**n]

I think that is an extremely insightful comment and I agree completely. I feel the young men that are against it are still in their idealistic phase. The idea of people becoming more 'liberal' in their view of a social issue as they get older runs counter to all conventional wisdom.

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Following are the actual poll questions and responses (1001 participants). It is interesting to note that there has been virtually zero change in public opinion since the Angus-Reid poll of October 2009 (http://www.cerb.ca/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19551), despite the publicized developments in the constitutional appeal (The year-over-year opinions on decriminalization and punishment are identical; the support for brothels shows a slight decrease).

 

The questions of October 2010 were:

 

Prostitution

As you may know, the Ontario Superior Court judge has struck down three Criminal Code provisions related to prostitution: Making money off of the prostitution of others; Publicly communicating for the purposes of prostitution; and Owning, running, occupying or transporting anyone to a bawdy house (or brothel). Overall, do you agree or disagree with the Ontario Superior Court judge's decision?

48%

Agree

34%

Disagree

18%

Not Sure

Prostitution

The federal government says it will appeal the Ontario Superior Court judge?s decision on prostitution. Do you agree or disagree with the federal government's course of action on this matter?　

39%

Agree

43%

Disagree

18%

Not Sure

Prostitution

In some countries, existing regulations make it a criminal offence to buy services from prostitutes, and contemplate both fines and sentences to "clients" of prostitutes. Thinking about this, which of these options do you think would be best for Canada when it comes to prostitution?

45%

Nobody should be punished -- adults should be allowed to engage in consensual prostitution (men 59%, Women 32%)

36%

Punishing both prostitutes and "clients"(men 26%, Women 45%)

10%

Only punishing the "clients"(men 6%, Women 13%)

1%

Only punishing the prostitutes (men 1%, Women 1%)

8%

Not sure (men 8%, Women 9%)

Prostitution

Some people support allowing prostitutes to work indoors or in brothels because they believe this will make them safer, and stop them from working on the streets. Other people oppose allowing prostitutes to work indoors or in brothels because they believe it would lead to a legitimization of prostitution, which could turn Canada into a safe haven for sex tourism. Thinking about the views of both sides, do you support or oppose allowing prostitutes to work indoors or in brothels?

54%

Support (men 65%, Women 44%)

34%

Oppose (men 25%, women 42%)

12%

Not sure (men 10%, women 14%)

Prostitution

Generally speaking, which of these policy options would you personally prefer to deal with the issue of prostitution in Canada?

49%

Decriminalizing some of the actions surrounding prostitution that are currently illegal and allowing adults to engage in consensual prostitution (men 60%, Women 38%)

24%

Prohibiting prostitution entirely, and making it illegal to exchange sex for money (men 18%, Women 30%)

15%

Keeping the status quo, which criminalizes some of the activities surrounding prostitution (men 14%, Women 16%)

12%

Not sure (men 7%, Women 16%)

Detailed breakdown of responses by age and region can be viewed at:

 

http://www.angus-reid.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2010.10.19_Prost_CAN.pdf

　

　

　

　

[fortunateone 156618]

I am not sure why people who are not sure about anything involve themselves in polls lol.

 

re: the younger men, I think the stats are skewed cuz in general the younger man does not want limited access to sexually attractive females but full access. Knowing that the only chance they have with some women is pay for play is not appealing lol.

 

I do find it revealing that the # 1 style promoted by the loudest anti-prostitution element is the one that got such low approval (charging the clients only, and not the sps). As an example of what should be used (i.e. the Swedish model) hopefully it will be obvious that it is the least likely to be approved by the general public.

 

It looks like the only thing that would be approved is to decrim. Even when asked should the govt appeal, it is pretty obvious the majority think they should not go thru an appeal process.

 

Interesting.

 

I do find some of the "explanations" in the poll questions a bit leading and misleading. For example, to say profiting off of prostitution always leads to thoughts of pimping, when the realistic angle would be to ask if the polled think an sp should be able to pay people to assist her in her work, should she be able to support her adult children etc.

[Capital Hunter 18263]

Very interesting Statistics WIT, Thanks a bunch. Unable to give you any more rep points.

 

It appears a majority of Canadians are in favor of decriminalizing or at least relaxing existing prostitution laws in Canada by a factor of 2 (49% support decriminalization versus 24% who voted for banning outright).

 

Only 10% are supporting a Swedish style prostitution law (punishing only the clients).

 

I agree that a majority of women voted for the ban because they see it as competition and NOT because they see as there is something wrong with it. Otherwise the fraction would have been much higher than 2, if people had voted on it as a moral issue only.

 

Conservatives politicians - Wake up!!!. You are so far apart from the voters lol. Time to re-think your strategy on this issue lol?

[big AL 350]

I know as a disabled male in a wheelchair, I would be in favor of Legalized prrostition!

 

Additional Comments:

I know in some Europian countries were prostuition is legal, the government pays for disabled people to have someone come visit them and have relations with them, once a month. It would be nice if the Cannadian government would follow suite.

 

Especally if you are disabled and, are on a fixed income..............

 

Additional Comments:

just my opinion.............

[Megan'sTouch 23875]

I know as a disabled male in a wheelchair, I would be in favor of Legalized prrostition!

Decriminalization is what most providers would prefer (at least from my experience). Decriminalization involves removing the laws that criminalize us. Legalization would be making it legal, under certain conditions which may include licensing, zoning of places where prostitution is legal, mandatory STD testing, etc. NO THANKS!!!

 

This is not sex-work positive or woman-positive, in my view. If you look at places where it's legalized, like certain jurisdictions in Nevada, the only legal way to work is in a brothel where you are kept like a prisoner, you can't leave, and they take 50% of your money. Can we say, state as pimp??

Additional Comments:

I know in some Europian countries were prostuition is legal, the government pays for disabled people to have someone come visit them and have relations with them, once a month. It would be nice if the Cannadian government would follow suite.

 

Especally if you are disabled and, are on a fixed income..............

 

Additional Comments:

just my opinion.............

I agree with this. Human needs don't just including food and shelter. We all have a basic needs for human contact and touch. But I don't see the government going that route any time soon, unfortunately.

[Guest S***e]

When I was younger, which was many years ago, I was all for decriminalized prostitution. Now that I am older, in my 60's, I still support it being decriminalized so long as sex trade workers are protected from being victimized, coerced and have full freedom of choice. My wife who is in her late 50's supports decriminalized prostitution in a safe environment...as well, she knows that I hobby. More women should be as open-minded as she is.

[fortunateone 156618]

. Legalization would be making it legal' date=' under certain conditions which may include licensing, zoning of places where prostitution is legal, mandatory STD testing, etc. NO THANKS!!!

 

This is not sex-work positive or woman-positive, in my view. If you look at places where it's legalized, like certain jurisdictions in Nevada, the only legal way to work is in a brothel where you are kept like a prisoner, you can't leave, and they take 50% of your money. Can we say, state as pimp??

 

I agree with this. Human needs don't just including food and shelter. We all have a basic needs for human contact and touch. But I don't see the government going that route any time soon, unfortunately.[/quote']

 

I kind of see where you are going with this, but the reality is that prostitution is already fully legal. I think what you are objecting to is the possible "regulation" of prostitution. That is, coming up with some rules for prostitution, like licensing and so on. Trouble is, the only thing regulating it right now are those laws which actually restrict safe working conditions and freedom. If prostitution was treated like any other legal biz, it will have rules just like any other. Most every other biz requires a license, and a biz place may get inspected, and there would be conditions of employment or zoning to work from home, and exceptions to the rules that apply to massage parlours vs independents and so on.

 

I think the last thing they will do is try to regulate anything that will infringe on basic righs like it would not include mandatory std testing (not that that std testing is a bad thing, just not mandatory). However if we want a legitimate profession with proper respect like any other worker, there are (or should be) conditions on that to ensure an even handed approach.

 

I would really encourage anyone with any concerns about what regulations might entail or worry about what decrim might mean, to look at www.nzpc.org.nz and see what they did in New Zealand, I can't think that any sp would object to the conditions set up there. It even allows for indy sps to work without a license if they choose, if they are working from home alone or with another, there is very little interference. The main thing is to regulate the employers and have safe workng conditions, and protocols that forbid employers to force services and clients on workers.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7927461.stm

[Guest S****an]

Very interesting thread/discussion. I have been in favour of complete legalisation followed some sort of regulation, but I am no longer so sure. I certainly can see an argument that regulation is an easily exploitable back-door route to more control measures, not fewer, which on reflection seems very likely, particularly if that power is passed to municipalities. The concern that what is now very private will become much more public also needs to be considered (why licensing may be problematic).

Have no idea what the right answer is, but the views of sex-workers themselves is probably the best guide to what is the right path. Don't have much confidence they will be heard seriously by this particular government though.

The poll results are interesting but it would be more interesting if we knew if people how people differentiated between various types of sex-work, or what their understanding of the industry really is. I have been surprised by many of my friends whom I though were quite liberal, and who seem to believe that prostitution is purely a response to drug addiction, and hence it is exploitative in their view.