“Selling Sex: Experience, Advocacy, and Research on Sex Work in Canada”
Canadian Dimension (February 2, 2014)
Sex work is a contentious and divisive issue, and this definitely appears in how talk of sex workers’ rights has divided the feminist movement.
The wars between prohibitionist feminists and those in favour of decriminalization are discussed. Also included is the perspective of an activist and sexual assault survivor who observed the parallels between the experience of a sexual assault survivor and a sex worker when dealing with law enforcement and the legal system.
The phenomenon of police officers confiscating condoms and harm reduction supplies from known or perceived sex workers happens far more often than one might suspect, and is one of the ways in which those who enforce the law work against the basic rights of sex workers to workplace safety and bodily autonomy.