re: illegal foreign sp's

[Guest t****ster***ke]

first of all, i want to stress that this thread is in no way intended to be xenophobic in any way, and i think all canadians should realize that we are a country founded by immigrants and should be far more tolerant of newcomers to our wonderful country.

 

with that out of the way, i am curious to find out what some of the sp's and hobbyists on here think about some of the agencies and massage parlors that illegally bring women in from other parts of the world. i have heard many rumors about how this is often a form of indentured servitude, and unlike the average cerb sp, the ladies are not 100% free.

 

perhaps it is misguided on my part, but i have always stayed away from these types of providers because i felt uneasy about the possibility of having an encounter with someone who was not necessarily participating 100% of their own free will.

 

i would be interested to know the thoughts of others on this board ...

[SamanthaEvans 166766]

This is an important topic.

 

In Vancouver, there are a lot of what we call Asian micro-brothels. Some permanent residents or citizens who have immigrated, usually from China or Korea, provide opportunities for women from their home countries to come to Canada to work for up to six months. They rent houses and condos around the Lower Mainland and the ladies work from them. Sometimes the women stay in the same place for several weeks or months; more often, they work in one place and then move on to another, usually in another suburb. Some of these micro-brothels are affiliated with others in other cities, so it's possible for a worker to travel around the province, through the prairies or even across the country.

 

The women who work in these brothels have come to Canada to be sex workers. They enter the country as tourists and leave within six months (the length of a tourist visa). They send most of their earnings back home.

Most speak little English.

 

The brothel owners always significantly undercut the going rates charged by independent companions. Their advertisements on the free and low-cost advertising sites are usually represented as ads from one or two girls, though there may be six or eight of them working in a house. The great majority of them are classic bait-and-switch ads. The photographs come from all kinds of places, but are almost never of the woman you will see if you make an appointment. The actual workers are generally older and don't look like svelte models.

 

My Asian clients tell me that there are significant cultural differences when it comes to expectations about advertising. North Americans expect that the photograph will match the product they purchase and feel very annoyed when it doesn't. My clients say that the micro-brothel ads really are offering a fantasy, that the brothel owners have no compunction about whether the women look like the images they use for the ads. The woman in the photo isn't available, but the sexual services are, and that's what matters. I'm told that Caucasian clients generally don't repeat their visit. The brothels really are intended for Asian men who speak the same language and have the same cultural expectations.

 

Since people read the ads and assume that what's being offered really does exist even though they don't check to be sure, one effect of these micro-brothels is that they put enormous pressure on independent providers, particularly those new to our industry, to charge significantly lower fees even though they're offering a dramatically different experience.

 

As for whether the workers are being exploited, a lot may depend on definitions. The women do know what they're going to be doing when they come to work. However, since it's not legal to work when on a tourist visa, none of them is here legally. It's difficult to say how much the workers in the brothels know about safer sex practices, about STIs or their risk of infection. We also don't know how much these workers know about their legal rights in relation to sexual assault except that they're unlikely to call the police if there's a problem. Since they're visitors and have little English language skills, they're not likely to be tested or treated for STIs while they're here. About 20-40% of the fee the client pays actually goes to the girl he sees. Compared to what she might earn at home, this is still a significant income. Compared to what independent companions and those who work for reputable agencies earn, it's highway robbery.

[fortunateone 156618]

The ladies also obviously owe a significant amount of money to the people who made all the traveling arrangements which may (and probably does) include false passports and pay offs for documentation necessary to leave the country. I know that a cheap round trip ticket is going to cost 1000, and passport costs and visas to enter Canada will add to that as well. So even at best the sp who arrives owes say $1500 first, and that will need to be paid off one appointment at a time.

 

I do think that their take home portion may be higher, as in if the charge is 120 for the session (usually 45 minutes) their 60 will be used for themselves. I do not know if the pay back comes out of the 60 the handlers take, or that is just the cost covering being there, and that they still have to pay off the 1500 out of their 60.

 

These things are not discussed, as the majority of clients who do use these services, from Vancouver to Toronto, want the low rates, and lack of restrictions, and will favourably review them while at the same time pointing out the fake pics, fake ages, and general false advertising that they would flame, blame and trash anyone else for. (And by fake age I mean usually anthing from 10-15 years off, if not more in some cases)

 

 

I think anyone from a union background or in any type of business would object to people working under the table, who also undercut rates, but usually it isn't about the rates or the pressure to do more for less,, it is the principle of the thing. Why do the laws of this country not apply when it comes to the sex trade business, and why should we allow anyone to be exploited with overwork and underpay simply because it is convenient for a few? Bring them in on work visas and employ them in a massage parlour then, imo, do it properly, no one will have any reason to object.

 

 

It seems like an obvious thing. Canadian border people turn people away for trying to enter without a proper work visa when it is obvious they are being employed by someone somewhere. I don't see a difference with this business.

 

It also seems like a thing that would be dead easy to police, but that is also largely not done.