PLAYING DIRTY
November’s almost half over, but you’ve still got time to see some of the sexiest shows in town: Rabbit Rabbit and the Suburban Motel suite of plays by George F. Walker. Both feature prostitutes prominently, which brings up some interesting age-old questions, like why is prostitution still illegal anyway? And, why is selling sex considered so much worse than selling any other goods or services?
Prostitute, geisha or "queen of sex"? (photo by Flickr user Okinawa Soba)
Legally speaking, prostitution itself isn’t technically against the law, although living off of the money you make by selling sexual services is. So you can buy sex, or sell sex, but you’re not supposed to use the money you make off of the encounter, even to do wild and crazy things like paying your bills, which is patently absurd. After all, what’s the point of having someone pay you for sex if you can’t turn around and use the money?
But that’s exactly the point: Canada’s current laws against prostitution punish the women who choose to engage in this form of business, but allow the men who solicit their services to get exactly what they want, penalty-free (unless, of course, they’re caught red-handed in a bawdy house). It’s a sexist racket, preventing independent businesswomen from doing what they do best, not to mention the fact that the underground nature of the business makes everything much more dangerous for all those involved. Isn’t it time we re-thought these fundamentally flawed laws in order to better reflect the reality of the situation? After all, if a woman chooses to sell sex to another adult who is willing to pay for it, shouldn’t that be her right?
The big issue, of course, is the moral dilemma. Prostitution is still considered immoral by most of society, though the women who sell their services are far more persecuted than the men who buy them. This imbalance of power (and criminal retribution) just doesn’t add up. If there were no demand, after all, there’d be no point in a woman’s offering her sexual services, so why shouldn’t the johns be considered equally guilty in this equation?
Furthermore, why isn’t prostitution—and any other form of sex work, for that matter—considered a legitimate profession? It’s been around since the dawn of civilization, after all, and there’s clearly considerable money to be made if you’re good at what you do. There’s an obvious need for this type of service, whether we personally choose to believe it (or purchase it) or not; sometimes it’s merely the thrill of the forbidden, other times it’s a necessity for people who cannot otherwise find sexual companionship. The point is that prostitution is never going to go away, so we might as well accept this fact and decide what to do about it.
"Tired of Prostitution" by Flickr user SpecialKRB
Personally, I believe that sex workers should be protected under the law, just like any other workers in the world. Especially given the sometimes very dangerous situations their profession puts them in on a daily basis, the need for legal protection is huge. Suburban motels, for instance, are not the safest places to meet new customers, and without bodyguards or drivers to protect them, sex workers may find their lives at risk if their clients get violent. Since sex work is an underground profession, any complaints to the police will likely go unheeded, or else the tables may be turned upon the victim, based purely upon her chosen profession. Is this right or fair?
Whether or not we morally approve of sex work, it is our responsibility to support and protect the human rights of sex workers. The men and women who service our sexual needs are human beings, just like the rest of us, and deserve to be treated as such. They are often expected to go above and beyond the scope of their professions, to play therapists or relationship advisors or caregivers for people who crave human affection, comfort and companionship. These are difficult roles to take on, even when one is being paid well to perform them, but often times sex workers are not appropriately compensated for these additional demands on their time. They never make overtime, receive no benefits like health care or retirement funds, and do not get paid unless they go to work regularly. Like part-time employees who do not receive full-time benefits, sex workers have hardships too. It may not be glamorous, but shouldn’t we give that a bit of thought the next time we oversimplify their work as “easy money”?
Rabbit Rabbit plays until November 22 at the Bain St-Michel, and Suburban Motel runs through November 29 at Mainline Theatre.
(Originally published at Hour.ca)
