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Review of the documentary 'Buying Sex'

canada-man

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Review of the documentary 'Buying Sex'

‘Buying Sex’ isn't the worst prohibitionist doc we've ever seen. At least ‘B.S.’ pays lip service to the idea of decriminalization, for the first few minutes. Then the ominous music begins, as the camera pans Toronto's skyline, where innocents are bought and sold. The only hope is a few 'saved' sex workers. This saving is done by court mandated diversion programs. Most rescue organizations are run by evangelicals, and "re-education" is a mixture of religion, and modern day psychobabble. The idea that we need to be forcibly saved is as galling to us as it was to lesbian and gay people.
The very few clients interviewed are not representative of the broad spectrum of men that we see. All but one were backlit and speak anonymously. The camera lingers on his stomach and crotch, to visually reinforce his baseness.
Anti-choice feminists and evangelicals have joined forces to “eradicate” sex work. When we protest, they tell us that sex work has so damaged us that we can’t even understand what we are saying or what are experiences mean. This is a way to deny us our voice, our humanity. Much to their annoyance, they have been unable to shut down the global voice of sex workers who are demanding an end to prohibition.
‘Buying Sex’ visits Sweden, where buying sex is heavily criminalized. Most sex work in Sweden takes place indoors. The police cyber-stalk our indoor colleagues to discover the address, and with social workers in tow, arrest the clients arriving. Our colleagues are then harassed into “re-education”. The police physically stalk our outdoor colleagues to arrest their clients. Anti-choice feminists and their religious bedfellows video the near empty strolls and marvel at the 'success' of their new policy. All of this because Sweden has legislated the infantilization of sex workers by mandating that all sex work is violence against women.
‘B.S.’ went to New Zealand where sex work has been decriminalized since 2003. While Sweden was bright and sunny, New Zealand was portrayed as dark and dreary. Every rights movement has its publicity seekers, and our N.Z colleagues weren't wrong when they informed us that that is whom 'B.S'. would be interviewing. 'Buying Sex' gives so much time to an alarmingly bad brothel manager and whiny adult buisness owner that you barely notice the couple of minutes with Catherine Healy, one of the leading forces behind decriminalization in N.Z. No interviews with the many good people who operate brothels or the sex workers working in N.Z. No mention of the Occupational Health and Safety standards, workers compensation, pension plans, fair tax rates etc.
Lastly, ‘Buying Sex’ ignores how our very lives depend on the communicating law being struck down. All three of the litigants in this case, Amy Lebovitch, Valerie Scott and Terri-Jean Bedford have worked on the street as have many of the case’s witnesses. The communicating law affects our street colleagues as a defacto death penalty. In fact, any mention of the communicating law in this documentary is used to further the divide of this debate.

The upshot of this doc is that sex work is bad, but titillating, at least for the makers of ‘B.S.’

Amy Lebovitch, Executive Director

Valerie Scott, Legal Coordinator
 

freedom3

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I wonder how Valerie is going to feel when the Supreme Court rules in her favour and then Harper reacts by outlawing prostitution altogether. She should get the idiot of the year award.
 

canada-man

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I wonder how Valerie is going to feel when the Supreme Court rules in her favour and then Harper reacts by outlawing prostitution altogether. She should get the idiot of the year award.
Harper will be the idiot of the year when the supreme court struck down his law
 

freedom3

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Harper will be the idiot of the year when the supreme court struck down his law
There is no constitutional right to prostitution. Harper has every right to criminalize prostitution. The entire premise of the current litigation before the courts is that prostitution is not illegal. (Justice Himmel and the Court of Appeal were very clear about this.) Harper will criminalize prostitution, much to the applause of his right-wing christian voter basis.
 

SexSafeSecure

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If Harper does anything it is much more likely that he will put forward a bill designed to criminalize the purchase of sex and not the sale (i.e., the Nordic model) since many of his fundamentalist followers see all sex workers/sellers as "victims" in need of saving so criminalizing these "women and children" would not be seen as the 'Christian' thing to do.

The issue becomes one of what evidence there is to support the need to criminalize the purchase of sexual services.
 

freedom3

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If Harper does anything it is much more likely that he will put forward a bill designed to criminalize the purchase of sex and not the sale (i.e., the Nordic model) since many of his fundamentalist followers see all sex workers/sellers as "victims" in need of saving so criminalizing these "women and children" would not be seen as the 'Christian' thing to do.

The issue becomes one of what evidence there is to support the need to criminalize the purchase of sexual services.
I agree that following the Nordic model will likely by Harper's move. However, I don't think it matters much from the perspective of the escorts or customers: The Nordic model or full criminalization both add up to the devastation of the industry.

As for anything depending on "evidence", christian fundamentalist don't seem too focused on evidence. They know what God wants.

The industry's only hope is with the young Trudeau.
 

SexSafeSecure

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I couldn't agree more that ANY criminalization will likely continue to produce the same negative consequences for the industry and the lives of the people involved in it since criminalization not only ensures that the activity gets pushed 'out of site' and into more and more risky spaces and exacerbates the stigma that people involved in the industry are exposed to which in tandem will most likely decrease the levels of sexual and physical safety of ALL people involved and result in an increase violence, victimization and unsafe sexual activities.

Where I disagree is with the assertion that presenting solid evidence to combat the claims that are made to justify the implementation of the Nordic model (or any other model of criminalization for that matter) will not have a significant impact. One thing that came out of the initial ruling in the Bedford case by Justice Himmel was that the courts need to give substantial weight to sound empirical evidence when adjudicating outcomes. This respect for empirical evidence is also evident in the development of policies and practices that find their way into legislative changes. Quite simply, the public and policy makers/legislators are very unlikely to support policy or legislative proposals that can be shown to be based on ignorance, stereotypes or speculation. Further, such legislation would not likely stand up to court challenges that presented evidence that it was based on factual errors.
 

freedom3

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Where I disagree is with the assertion that presenting solid evidence to combat the claims that are made to justify the implementation of the Nordic model (or any other model of criminalization for that matter) will not have a significant impact. One thing that came out of the initial ruling in the Bedford case by Justice Himmel was that the courts need to give substantial weight to sound empirical evidence when adjudicating outcomes. This respect for empirical evidence is also evident in the development of policies and practices that find their way into legislative changes. Quite simply, the public and policy makers/legislators are very unlikely to support policy or legislative proposals that can be shown to be based on ignorance, stereotypes or speculation. Further, such legislation would not likely stand up to court challenges that presented evidence that it was based on factual errors.
I admire your faith in the voting public. However, the nordic people (especially swedish) are cultured, intelligent, and non-fanatics, and yet they have implemented this "nordic value" despite its inherent stupidity (ie. it's legal to sell an apple but illegal to buy one). As Churchill said: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

Look at the young Trudeau. If it wasn't for his famous father, he wouldn't even be elected to the House of Commons, let alone the leader of the party. That is democracy in action.

Further, evidence definitely won't help in court. Criminalizing prostitution is constitutional. Even if some people think criminalizing prostitution is bad for society (ie. criminalizing smoking marijuna), the government is still allowed to do it. The courts won't do anything.
 

SexSafeSecure

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Young Trudeau has already stated that he is undecided about his (and his party's) position on prostitution.

It's not that I have faith in the voting public at all, or in democracy for that matter since I am an anarchist, but I do know that power that comes from influencing public discourses. All one needs to do is sit back and look at how successful abolitionists (moral conservatives and mostly radical women's groups) have been at using dubious (yet mostly unchallenged) claims to shift conversations about prostitution to ones about trafficking and child abuse/exploitation to the point that an increasing number of people and members of the mainstream media now see these very different phenomenon as the same thing. The only way to combat this is to present convincing counter claims (preferably based on actual empirical evidence) and have an organized group who uses the media well to make sure this information reaches the light of day. I have never seen any change happen from people sitting back and saying nothing can be done - too fatalistic for me.
 

freedom3

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Young Trudeau has already stated that he is undecided about his (and his party's) position on prostitution.
Really? What a nightmare. I was assuming he would be in favour freedom of choice.

I fear the end is near. All courtesy of Valerie Scott. I can just hear her saying: "This isn't what I intended."
 

SexSafeSecure

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Hope is not lost, he simply has not committed one way or the other and has dodged questions about it at recent events. He (and the Liberal party) is likely to support a harm reduction approach (as would most civil libertarians) but doing so will involve demonstrating there are IN FACT no harms being committed against people involved in the sex industry or that the Nordic model will not actually improve the health and safety of people involved.
 

SexSafeSecure

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Surely the "Nordic" model would also be deemed unconstitutional in Canada, since it would essentially place unfair restrictions on what would still be a legal profession.
Yes but, as is the current case with sex workers/sellers, the onus would be on people who pay for sex or perhaps sex workers (again) to demonstrate that the laws violate fundamental rights and freedoms. It took almost 30 years for people who opposed the current laws to get the courts to listen and it could be argued that the only reason they did so now was because of the overwhelming evidence of the harms that the laws were creating and public outrage resulting from the media coverage of cases like Pickton, the Highway of Tears, the serial murders in Edmonton, etc.
 

Allejandro2011

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Sex should be free. Period.

P.S. Solely based on love and happily thereafter.

Like seriously, WTF? Do people ever grow up and do not engage in that ridiculous stereotypical behavior?
Do we not leave in society where individual rights and personal matters are completely confidential and
privacy related? Do we really live in a society where somebody still believes that they own(!) their partners
as well as perfect(!) for them in every single state? Like wtf?
of thereof?
 

freedom3

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I guess another hope would be the Supreme Court allows the appeal. That would keep the matter safe from Harper.
 

afterhours

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I fear the end is near. All courtesy of Valerie Scott. I can just hear her saying: "This isn't what I intended."
That's my prognosis as well. This boat should not have been rocked.
 

freedom3

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That's my prognosis as well. This boat should not have been rocked.
Did Valerie Scott really think that Canada would become one big red light district where prostitutes could freely speak to johns on the street? Is she on crack? Women were already working out of condos so there was no problem there.

Then, there is that idiot Alan Young who is only too happy to get his name in the paper yet again. He couldn't care less what the end has in store for prostitutes.

Fortunately, Harper has appointed a bunch of the judges currently on the SCC. Hopefully, they will see things his way before this becomes an issue for the public.
 

canada-man

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Did Valerie Scott really think that Canada would become one big red light district where prostitutes could freely speak to johns on the street? Is she on crack? Women were already working out of condos so there was no problem there.

Then, there is that idiot Alan Young who is only too happy to get his name in the paper yet again. He couldn't care less what the end has in store for prostitutes.

Fortunately, Harper has appointed a bunch of the judges currently on the SCC. Hopefully, they will see things his way before this becomes an issue for the public.
so you prefer the current situation where SPs work indoors keeping everything discreet?
 

afterhours

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freedom3

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so you prefer the current situation where SPs work indoors keeping everything discreet?
Absolutely. That is the only realistic solution. With Harper, we are going to move into the dark ages of police stings, names in papers, etc. I can just imagine who the escorts' clientele will be at that point.
 
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