December 6 Marks the Endorsement of Violence Against Sex Workers

[Sweet Emily J 172062]

[B][U]December 6 Marks the Endorsement of Violence Against Sex Workers[/U][/B]

BY JOYCE ARTHUR | DECEMBER 5, 2014

[URL="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/12/december-6-marks-endorsement-violence-against-sex-workers?utm_content=buffer3d460&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer"]http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/12/december-6-marks-endorsement-violence-against-sex-workers?utm_content=buffer3d460&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer[/URL]

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In an act of [URL="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/prostitution-law-comes-into-force-on-day-of-action-on-violence-against-women-1.2131581"]"sick and twisted"[/URL] irony, Canada's new prostitution law takes effect on December 6, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre and a day now set aside to mourn violence against women. Sadly, the law will lead to violence against sex workers, most of whom are women.

Sex workers commemorate December 6 too -- to mourn their colleagues brutally cut down by serial killers, or assaulted and raped by police, or beaten by predators posing as clients. This happens not because prostitution itself is "inherently violent" (it's not), but because [I]criminal laws kill women.[/I]

Laws against sex work stigmatize sex workers, push them away from safe areas and support services, make them afraid of the police (who are often the worst [URL="http://www.incite-national.org/sites/default/files/incite_files/resource_docs/4668_toolkitrev-sexwork.pdf"]perpetrators of violence[/URL]), and put them in danger. This is the case regardless if the workers themselves are supposedly "decriminalized" such as in Sweden, where sex workers are still targeted and punished under procuring and immigration laws, and effectively denied social services unless they "exit" prostitution.

[URL="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/12/december-6-marks-endorsement-violence-against-sex-workers?utm_content=buffer3d460&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer"]Read Moreâ?¦[/URL]
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