Critics say Ontario forum glamorizes sex-trade

TORONTO— An upcoming forum aimed at raising awareness about Canada's sex-trade industry runs the risk of glamorizing an underground sector that has often exploited the poor and marginalized, some critics caution.

The Sex Workers Event on Feb. 18 in Hamilton, has been organized by the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre and Hamilton Artists Inc., as part of an ongoing series on different employment sectors.

"We're doing this event in an empowering kind of way," the event's co-ordinator, Ian Jarvis, said on Friday. "We want to get an honest, open perspective out there of what it's like to do the work that they do . . . "

It's being billed as one of the first of its kind in the country.

The public forum will feature a panel of local Hamilton sex workers — prostitutes, strippers, escorts and porn stars — who will speak openly about their experiences in the industry and worker safety concerns.

"When we talk about sex workers, there are two stereotypes: the drug-addicted street prostitute and the high-end Hollywood, perfect-body, rich escort," said Jarvis. "We want to break down these stereotypes and show that not all sex workers are victims. They are healthy. They have families. They lead normal lives."

He said it was about time the industry became more open and transparent, to ensure workers' safety.

"The laws don't help. Criminalizing sex makes it difficult for people to get together, organize and feel better about the work they do," said Jarvis.

The event also will feature films by sex workers, and performances by burlesque dancers and a drag queen. A number of local AIDS, women's abuse centres and lesbian and gay groups also have pledged their support.

Elizabeth McLuhan of the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, the venue hosting the event, said the decision to hold the event was in the public interest.

"We're doing it because it's an opportunity to bring this to everyone's attention. We're going to be talking about human dignity, human safety, safety in their workplace and doing it through an arts event," she said. "We've done a workshop on construction workers' safety. This is along the same vein."

But a spokeswoman for the national organization, Real Women of Canada, said event organizers are not placing enough emphasis on victims of the sex industry.

"Most of these workers are women being exploited due to their vulnerability, due to a lack of education and poverty," said the group's researcher, Diane Watts, in Ottawa. "Many want to get out of this type of work. It's a trap for the great majority of women."

Former Toronto sex worker Natasha Falle, who is also the executive director of the advocacy group Sex Trade 101, said she fears the forum will encourage vulnerable children and youth to enter the industry.

"An event like this makes me sick in (the) stomach. It discredits the violence and trauma that most of us have experienced as a result of the sex trade," she said in an email. "It also revictimizes the majority of those who've been involved with the sex trade. . . . It leaves us voiceless."

Falle said sex workers need more support to get out of the business, and to help with being connected to programs that deal with job placements, education, housing and counselling.

Yet Capri Rasmussen of Aids Calgary points out that it's safer to give a voice to sex workers than to keep them silenced.

"We have to realize that sex workers are a diverse group with diverse backgrounds and this is just one voice in the industry," she said.

A Hamilton police spokeswoman said the force was aware of the event but that it did not plan on attending.