Edmonton - More Sex Workers Using Internet

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Pamela Roth reports for the[I] Edmonton Sun[/I], 3 Mar 2012:

[url]http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/03/03/more-sex-trader-workers-using-the-internet[/url]

[INDENT][B]More sex trader workers using the Internet[/B]

For Monica, the days of trolling city streets as a sex trade worker are a thing of the past.

And itâ??s the same story for many other women in Edmontonâ??s sex trade industry, who are now choosing a different avenue to sell sex â?? the world wide web.

Kate Quinn with the Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) began seeing the shift to the Internet about four years ago. She estimates there are now up to 2,000 unlicensed escorts and massages parlours in the city â?? a trend she views as concerning.

â??Those who are unlicenced are putting themselves at really high risk by advertising on the Internet,â? said Quinn, who would like to see more bylaw and police officers investigating whatâ??s happening on the Internet highway.

â??They are harder to reach. When sheâ??s on the Internet highway, who can find her unless she calls for help? Itâ??s made our outreach and policing much more difficult and labour intensive.â?

Edmontonâ??s sex trade industry has transformed considerably throughout the past two decades.

Monica, a city escort who does not use a last name, said things for women working in the sex trade in Edmonton have certainly improved since the 1990s and 2000s when women started vanishing at an alarming rate, their bodies turning up on the outskirts of the city.

The 44-year-old started working the streets in the 1980s at the age of 19. It wasnâ??t to support a drug habit or for the money, she claims, but rather because she was curious and â??fascinatedâ? by the whole industry, even reading books about it.

Monica worked the city streets for about two years until she turned to the Internet and became an escort due to a change in laws.

Back then, she said the scene was much different than it is today.

â??Most of the girls were more concerned that the police were in their face than they were about any bad things,â? said Monica. â??It was definitely bad there for about a 10-year period. It seemed like every three or four months, somebody was dead. I donâ??t think the girls are half as worried anymore.â?

Monica claims most of the time she feels safe, but admits women in the industry are susceptible to random acts of violence.

Sheâ??s heard a few instances where escorts have been attacked, but she said they usually have a back up plan to get out of bad situation. Fortunately, Monica has never had a bad experience of her own.

â??I am far more worried about walking a block and a half downtown because I canâ??t find parking. Sometimes I get the creeps walking around at 2 a.m. on a quiet street,â? said Monica, who notes many women working in the industry have done it for years.

â??There is lots of interesting people you meet, you do spend time with them. I have clients that date back a long time. There is some very amusing moments.â?

The number of sex trade workers trolling city streets has fluctuated throughout the years.

In 1992, there were more than 950 sex trade workers â?? 250 of which were under age. In 2002, there were about 250 sex trade workers â?? 50 of which were under age.

The decrease, said Quinn, was likely due to intensive safe houses and outreach programs. Thereâ??s also been much community and police action focused on the street, which has resulted in success stories of women leaving the industry and improving their lives.

But the number of sex trade workers crept back up years later when some of the resources began to dwindle.

Now, Quinn estimates thereâ??s less than 500 women working city streets, but itâ??s not because many of them have left the industry â?? theyâ??ve simply began working off the Internet, which has become an easy place to find sex for sale.

Const. Russ Hewson with the Edmonton Police Service interacts with sex trade workers on city streets on a weekly basis.

Reports of a bad date or a bad john arenâ??t uncommon, but many girls donâ??t report a lot of the stuff that goes on.

Hewson has also noticed more women turning to the Internet to sell sex, which has created a whole different problem for police.

He said some women think itâ??s better to be out of sight out of mind, but the street is almost safer than the web.

â??On the street, the girls will keep track of each other and on the Internet itâ??s hard to keep track of where they were,â? said Hewson. â??Thereâ??s a misconception that it might be safer. We would argue that it isnâ??t any safer.â?

One of the biggest concerns Quinn has is with the number of youth in the community selling themselves for sex.

In the last three years, Quinn said there has been a big drop in youth on the street, but in turn, thereâ??s been a considerable increase in the amount of youth working on the Internet.

â??Itâ??s totally disturbing. We know that the demand is for young, and these men are posing as young men when maybe itâ??s a 50-year-old man,â? said Quinn. â??This is where we need to focus our outreach â?? on the men who are cruising both our city streets and the Internet looking for young people and vulnerable women to exploit for their own selfish purposes.â?[/INDENT]

[Butterfly Kisses 2301]

[quote=WrinkledinTime;322886]
[INDENT]â??Itâ??s totally disturbing. We know that the demand is for young, and these men are posing as young men when maybe itâ??s a 50-year-old man,â? said Quinn. â??This is where we need to focus our outreach â?? on the men who are cruising both our city streets and the Internet looking for young people and vulnerable women to exploit for their own selfish purposes.â?
[/INDENT][/quote]

This last paragraph pisses me off. The rest is reasonable information. But the last paragraph is a concern to me.

If the ladies young or not are advertising and there is a transaction of dollars for time spent together, then why do police have a need to focus on men 50 or older. Exploiting vulnerable women for my own selfish purposes? Give me a break!!!

While I do have my own needs being taken care of, I don't see why they catagorize 50 year old men as a group who are only exploiting vulnerable women.

If I am to read this right, I hope they are tracking the 50 year olds who are telling the girls they are 25 so they can get an appointment. Being well over 50, I have never had any problem revealing my age in order to set up any appointments. In fact the opposite is taking place as lots of the women have told me they prefer older clients.

So maybe the cops should be looking at young guys who are telling the escorts they are much older so they can exploit these vulnerable women for their own selfish purposes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!