Jump to content

Sex Workers in the Maritimes Talk Back

Recommended Posts

Guest W***ledi*Time

Sex Workers in the Maritimes Talk Back, by Leslie Ann Jeffrey of UNBSJ and Gayle MacDonald of STU (UBC Press, 2006), 273 pages.

"... the media portrays us as non-people ... They use the word 'prostitute' or 'hooker' as opposed to 'a woman who was working as a prostitute.' It's a job -- it's not a person. They've made it a person and they've made it a stereotypical low-life person and a disposable person and the more that the media continues to do that, the more the tricks feel that they are allowed to be violent." (Dana, Halifax)

 

"The cop says to me ... 'Listen, you're so young, so pretty. Why don't you get a real job, like work in Tim Hortons or something?' I said, 'Listen,
you
work in Tim Hortons ...' (Alison, Halifax)

Literature dealing with sex work in the Maritimes is not plentiful, so when I noticed this book mentioned on the Stepping Stone website, it caught my interest.

 

The book is based on interviews with 60 sex workers in Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton, and Halifax. (An additional 50 interviews were also conducted with police, justice officials, community advocates, lawyers and politicians -- but not clients.) The sex workers were contacted mostly through community agencies, and thus tended to be mostly street workers, not indoor workers. They ranged in age from 18 to 52 (with a mean of 32) years.

 

The workers were asked about "what was good and bad about the job, what their concerns were, and what they would like to say to society at large ... we asked questions designed to evoke a sex worker's own prioritization, and understanding, of issues ... this book presents the voices of sex workers in the Maritimes 'talking back' on economics, work, law, health, media, and politics and challenging those who would interpret their lives for them".

 

Professors Jeffrey and MacDonald provide analysis and framing of issues, mostly within the context raised by the workers' own comments. (Their observations on Phonse Jessome's Somebody's Daughter, and their analysis of the coverage of prostitution in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald from 1987 to 2003, I found particularly interesting. Also their recap of the various efforts that have been made over the years by the city of Halifax to combat sex work.)

 

Approximately one-third of the text consists of interview transcriptions -- the words of the workers themselves. The workers quoted in this book are outspoken and have a diversity of nuanced opinion on a wide range of industry-specific and societal issues; this diversity comes through clearly in the book. They bluntly tell it like it is, from their perspective ... exactly what you'd expect from true Maritimers!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sweet. I'm going to have to see if I can get Mother Tongue to order that for me. I have a gift certifcate to spend. Mwahahaha!

 

I loved the first quote.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Erin, I have a copy from a crim course, if you'd like to borrow it. It's an interesting read!

Posted via Mobile Device

 

 

That'd be sweet, thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Let me unpack it and the two of you can fight over it LOL. I have a few other related titles if you're interested. I have a friend who's doing a Masters in Sociology with a focus on sex work, so I get the interesting reads.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, please sign in.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...