Ottawa Cops Say They Are Leaving Sex Workers Alone

[fortunateone 156618]

but targeting johns

Feb 22, 2014

[url]http://m.ottawasun.com/2014/02/22/ottawa-cops-say-they-are-leaving-sex-workers-alone-targeting-johns[/url]

excerpt

[QUOTE]Sociologist Chris Atchison argues that the question isnâ??t how to help people in street prostitution, itâ??s how to help people in poverty because prostitution is one of the things they do to survive.

And criminalization â?? even just of buyers â?? puts those who likely canâ??t walk into an upscale escort agency and get a job, at greater risk.

â??Weâ??ve seen almost 30 years of legal prohibitions that have made it practically, technically impossible for people selling sex on the street to do so in a legal way and it resulted in putting them in harmâ??s way and in the worst case scenario being murdered,â? said Atchison, who has spent two decades talking to sex workers and their customers, who are also robbed and assaulted on the street.

â??Criminalization creates a shroud of stigma and secrecy. It forces people to do things in unsafe spaces. People will always sell it and moving the focus from the seller and the buyer to just the buyer is not going to get rid of the demand or the supply.â?

Instead of trying to drive street workers out, communities, police and outreach groups could talk to them, find safe places where they can work, put up lights and make sure law enforcement will protect them.

â??Itâ??s treating people like humans as opposed to dogs,â? Atchison said. â??I donâ??t know how long itâ??s going to take before the rest of society realizes that we all have the blood of dead sex workers on our hands.â?


[/QUOTE]