New prostitution laws should consider 'consenting adults': Terri-Jean Bedford
The federal government "should take consenting adults into consideration" as it crafts its response to the Supreme Court decision that declared three key prostitution laws unconstitutional, says one of the sex workers involved in the case.
In a unanimous decision released Friday, the court found that the laws that prohibit keeping a brothel, living on the avails of prostitution and communicating in public for purposes of prostitution are overly broad and infringe on prostitutes' Charter rights by depriving them of security of the person.
The laws will remain in place, however, as the court's decision is set aside for one year until Parliament decides how to respond: it can either amend the current laws or set the issue aside.
Both Bedford and Scott agree that the answer is not the so-called "Nordic model," which makes soliciting sex by "johns" illegal.
Bedford warns that such laws put men at risk by, for example, opening them up to blackmail.
"I don't think men should be criminalized for obeying a natural need either," Bedford says.
Scott adds: "There's always money involved when it comes to sex, whether it's sex work or not. But men should not be criminalized and vilified…We're all adults here. Don't treat men like they are villains simply because they like to have sex."
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