Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Octavius Hite]

Well, another fantastic legal move (and no I am not being sarcastic). Its time to legalize, regulate, tax, and protect these women. Hopefully this will be one more archaic law shot down.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070322.PROSTITUTE22/TPStory/National

[On the other hand]

Don't start planning your sex junket to Thunder Bay just yet. Canada really isn't that liberal, despite all the hoopla(remember how Chretien was gonna decriminalize weed? Even the courts wouldn't do that, and they don't have to face re-election.) Yeah yeah, gay marriage blah blah blah, but do a google on "Little Sisters Books" to find out just how tolerant the Canadian state is toward sexual preferences that stray too far from the norm(interesting that most of the books that got seized were coming in from the USA, supposedly the bastion of theocracy).

If this makes it to the Supreme Court, expect the government's lawyers to trot out pseudo-feminist rhetoric about how prostitution, legal or otherwise, by its very nature, entails the "objectification and exploitation of women". And the judges will eat it up like cold pizza from the fridge; Canadian establishment liberals love that sort of 1970s fists-in-the-air-at-the-Miss-Canada-pageant stuff, as exemplified by the Butler decision.

What you might see is the courts saying that women who sell sex shouldn't be arrested, because of course they're just victims of the patriarchy, but that the customers can be arrested, because they're the kingpins of the exploitation. More than likely, though, they will just leave the law on the books, unchanged.

[gang ah jee]

The sex industry has been legit in New Zealand for coming up on four years now. Like Canada, prostitution previously wasn't illegal, but advertising, living off the proceeds and running a brothel was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_New_Zealand

As far as I know, the biggest issues related to it since the law change have been some zoning disputes about brothels in residential areas, and the fact that legalised prostitution is an incredibly good money-laundering front for the drug trade and organised crime. Otherwise you wouldn't really notice any changes. Paid sex isn't really a popular recreational choice for most New Zealanders, so it's not something that gets a whole lot of thought.

[crazy_arcade]

It's not going away. Therefore, it needs to be made safe, all preventative measures against disease need to be taken, and the gangs/bikers/mafia need to be driven out.

If it's under the public's scrutiny then it's a lot harder for coercion and sexual slavery to occur.

[freethought]

when I was in bangkok recently I was sitting in a mcdonald's and there were many pretty women who were working there, and a few boys that would have been the fondest desire of people like our resident roads scholar Steve.

They were choosing to work there, making low wages, instead of walking across the street (literally) and finding a job as a sex worker in any one of the bars. I applaud these people for their choice, because it has a huge impact on their lives.

The same goes for sex workers. if you have to do it in dark allies, horrible, sleazy motels, and risk your life, than we need to take measures to make the 'oldest profession' safe. Not everyone can work at mcdonalds. If we can improve an industry in a way that will not only save lives, help prevent the spread of disease, lower violence and exploitation of women etc, while at the same time generating revenue that the government can use to further these same ends... then this isn't a matter of should we do it, it's a matter of why aren't we doing it already.

On the matter of the supreme court, 5 years ago there may have been a chance that this could have gone through, the make-up of the court now means it's highly unlikely. That said, I've spent a fair amount of time with the fine people of Osgood Hall and in the Law Library and if there's any group of people with the dedication, the intelligence, the resources and the drive to fight this and win, it's them.

[Octavius Hite]

On The Other Hand wrote:

[jmbran11]

[EFLtrainer]

[thepeel]

Living off the proceeds is a way to criminalize pimps, efl. As in, they take from the hookers for 'protection'.

[Manner of Speaking]

Regardless of the merits of making prostitution legal...you have to admit that the legal situation in Canada is a bit bizarre. Prostitution itself is legal, but communicating for the purposes of prostitution, isn't. That just doesn't make sense, and was bound to be subject to a court challenge sooner or later.

Engaging in prostitution, by its very nature, involves some form of communication between individuals. If the law grants people the right to engage in prostitution, how can that right be exercised without some form of communication, some capacity to communicate on the subject?

The law as it stands now is a sham...it makes a gesture towards the idea that people have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies, but then effectively denies them that right with another law. It would be better and clearer if the law simply stated that prostitution itself was either legal or illegal.

[EFLtrainer]

[thepeel]

"Living off the proceeds of prostitution" is the term used to describe the criminal charges used to stop pimping.

[gang ah jee]

Living off the proceeds of prostitution ain't easy.

[endo]

good one

[Octavius Hite]

I guess Jinju will oppose this cause of its communist overtones???

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/sex_workers_co_op