Choose your own Sex Work AdventuresBy Alex Gosselin and Harry Au

IntroductionWelcome to “Choose your own Sex Work Adventures.” This activity is aimed at helping readers understand some experiences and decisions a sex worker in Canada may face, under Bill C-36, introduced in October 2014.

As you move into the plotline, you will be given a series of decisions you can make.

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The ScenarioYou are a sex worker living and working in the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. Many sex workers use a work name different from their legal name. Please take a minute to pick a work name you would like to be referred to as.

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The ScenarioLike many jobs, some days are more enjoyable than others. That is the reality of all work life. However, as a sex worker, the risks and dangers involved are substantially higher.

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The ScenarioDue to moral debates and stigma regarding the sex work profession in Canada, you are not protected by Occupational Health and Safety Legislation (Shaver, Lewis & Maticka-Tyndale, 2011). Unlike other high-risk professions such as construction and assembly line workers, your work does not have safety protocols and procedures.

Required for construction

Not required for sex work

Begin sex work career

Adventure BeginsDo you plan on working as an indoor sex worker, or an outdoor sex worker? (Please click on one of the buttons below)

IndoorOutdoo

r

*Working inside, such as an apartment.

*Working outside, on the street.

Indoor Sex WorkIt is a lot safer to work indoors in the sex work industry. What kind of safety precautions would you like to take?

Hire partner as bodyguar

d

No safety precautio

ns

Hire friend to screen clients

Work with another

sex worker

Working with another sex workerYou decide to rent out an apartment with another sex worker friend. This will help you share costs of the apartment. It is also a safety precaution because your friend will know when you see a client.

However, under Bill C-36, this could be understood as persons getting “material benefit” from sales of sexual services. It is potentially illegal (Pivot Legal, 2014).

Reconsider decision

Continue with

decision

Hire partner as bodyguardYou decide you need a bodyguard you trust, and your partner is the perfect person for the job.

But Bill C36 is not very nuanced. Your partner, hired as your bodyguard, can be construed as a “pimp” who receives financial or other material benefits from the sales of sexual services. This is illegal (Pivot Legal, 2014).

Reconsider decision

Continue with

decision

Hire friend to screen clientsIt would increase your safety to have someone help you find and screen clients. Your friend, who used to work as a sex worker, would be the perfect person for this task.

This can be considered illegal under Bill C-36. As a past sex worker helping you find and screen client, your friend could be understood as someone who “counsel or encourage” sex work (Wingrove, 2014).Reconside

r decision

Continue with

decision

No safety precautionYou decide on not having any safety precautions. Under the law, you are also not protected by Occupational Health and Safety Legislations.

Under Bill C-36, you are not breaking any laws yet.

Reconsider decision

Continue with

decision

Sometimes life happensYour mother is having health issues. You moved closer to central Toronto, so your mother has more access to health services. The cost of living is much higher in Toronto, and you have used up all your savings. What will you do to continue your work?

Rent a place in Toronto

Advertise online

Do outdoor sex work

Rent a place in Toronto

Business is going poorly, because it is difficult for clients to travel so far to central Toronto.

Make another decision

Advertise onlineYou decide to advertise online. However, many advertising websites and support websites for sex workers have been taken down by the government. It is also illegal, under Bill C-36, so advertise sexual services (Pivot Legal, 2014).

Make another decision

Outdoor sex workIt is much higher risk to work outdoors in the sex work industry. You are much more likely to receive threats, threats with weapons, physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, kidnapped and confined, and refused condom usage.

Continue

Receiving a clientWorking outdoors, it is much harder to screen your clients. A client pulls up in a car asking for service. You feel uneasy about this client, and wanted to talk and screen the client a bit longer. But you see a police car coming down the street. What will you do?

Get in the client’s

car

Walk away

Continue talking to

client

Continue talking to clientAs you continue talking to the client, the client notices the police car, and drives away. The police approaches you. They tell you that under Bill C-36, they can arrest you for communication of sexual services in an area where anyone under age 18 could “reasonably” be present (Allen, 2014). Who knew the half abandoned, old style theatre was where kids hang out nowadays? They arrest you.

Go Back

Getting in the client’s carYou jump into the client’s car, and you’re off. You are nervous, because you did not have enough time to screen the client. You reach a location to perform your sex work, and you give the client a condom. The client offers to pay you more for not using a condom. What will you do?

Refuse offer

Accept offer

Refuse offerYou are nervous as you refuse the client’s offer, and insist on condom use. You have experienced violence in the past for refusing the offer. But this time, the client is respectful, and accepts your decision. You complete the service agreement, and wonder to yourself what might happen if the next client also requests not to use a condom.

Continue working

Go home

Accept offerYou accept the client’s offer. Sometimes, you just need the money. You remind yourself to get checked at the doctor’s.

Continue working

Go home

Walk awayAs you walk away from the client, the police follows you, and eventually approaches you. They question you for a few minutes. However, they decide to be nice and leave with simple reprimands. You leave without being arrested, harassed, or forced sexual service by the police. As you walk away, you wonder to yourself how you can consider it “lucky” to not be harassed by the police.

Continue working

Go home

Go homeYou decide to finish your work night, and return home. When you get home, you go through your daily evening routine. You give your sleeping partner a goodnight kiss, and plop on the bed for a good night’s sleep. You will need your sleep, as you will be working again tomorrow.

Start a new day of work!

End

Advocate for sex worker rights!

Advocate for sex worker rights!Here are a few sex work advocacy groups!BC Coalition of Experiential Communities

(Vancouver, BC)Sex Professionals of Canada (National)Maggie’s (Toronto, ON)Stepping Stone (Halifax, NS)Stella (Montreal, QC)Power (Ottawa, ON)Big Susie’s (Hamilton, ON)PEERS (Victoria, BC)

EndStart a

new day of work!

ReferencesAllen, M. (2014). Bill C-36, The Protection of Communities and

Exploited Persons Act: An Overview. Retrieved from Rabble website: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/mercedes-allen/2014/06/bill-c-36-protection-communities-and-exploited-persons-act-ove

Pivot Legal. (2014). The New Sex Work Legislation Explained. Retrieved from Pivot Legal website: http://www.pivotlegal.org/the_new_sex_work_legislation_explained

Shaver, F., Lewis, J. and Maticka-Tyndale, E. (2011). Rising to the Challenge: Addressing the Concerns of People Working in the Sex Industry. Canadian Review Sociological, 48(1), 47-65.

Wingrove, J. (2014). Canada’s new prostitution laws: Everything you need to know. Retrieved from Globe and Mail website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-new-prostitution-laws-everything-you-need-to-know/article19610318/