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THE SEX WORKER RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN CANADA: CHALLENGING THE ‘PROSTITUTION LAWS’ b

THE SEX WORKER RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN CANADA: CHALLENGING THE ‘PROSTITUTION LAWS’ by Sarah Beer A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through Sociology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2010 © 2010 Sarah Beer 978-0-494-79527-9 Your file Votre référence Library and Archives Canada Bibliothèque et Archives Canada Published Heritage Branch 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Direction du Patrimoine de l'édition 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada NOTICE: ISBN: Our file Notre référence 978-0-494-79527-9 ISBN: The author has granted a non- exclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distrbute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or non- commercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Privacy Act some supporting forms may have been removed from this thesis. While these forms may be included in the document page count, their removal does not represent any loss of content from the thesis. AVIS: L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou autres formats. L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur et des droits moraux qui protege cette thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la protection de la vie privée, quelques formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de cette thèse. Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. ii Approval page iii Author’s Declaration of Originality I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iv Abstract The contemporary movement for sex workers’ rights organizes around a range of international, national, and localized grievances. They are unified in their efforts to promote and protect sex workers’ human and labour rights through the decriminalization and destigmatization of sex industry work. Within the context of social movement theory, literature on the sex worker rights movement has mainly focused on its failure to mobilize due to inadequate resources, small membership base, lack of sex worker leadership and absence of influential allies. In 2007, sex workers in Toronto, Ontario and in Vancouver, British Columbia, launched constitutional challenges to their respective Provincial Superior Courts to strike down Criminal Code of Canada provisions related to adult prostitution. The two court challenges are contrary to what would be predicted based on the extant literature on the sex worker rights movement. That literature supports a conclusion that due to marginalization, ambivalence toward their work, and feelings of inadequacy as political actors, sex workers lack the material and organizational strength to impact state regulation and alter social perceptions of sex work. This dissertation was based on a multi-site ethnographic study examining the processes by which constitutional challenges were initiated, the role of sex workers, and how the cases were perceived by the larger movement of sex worker rights activists in Canada. Drawing on primary and secondary data sources, including interviews with 26 movement activists, I examined constitutional litigation from the perspective of social movement theory, specifically considering the political opportunities, alliances, and resources necessary for these challenges to take place. This research demonstrates some tangible successes for the sex worker rights movement in Canada, despite ongoing social movement obstacles. The history of sex worker rights activism in Canada has produced sex worker-run organizations and political coalitions. These have garnered support from other organizations, researchers, cause lawyers and their teams, making it possible for sex workers, as individuals and via organizations, to mobilize legally against federal prostitution laws. v Dedicated to the movement. vi Acknowledgements Thank you to everyone who helped me through this. I would like to extend special gratitude to Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale who gave so freely of her time, teachings, and support. Her contributions to this project were instrumental, and my doctoral experience would not have been the same without her. I could not have asked for a better committee. I am thankful for the assistance of Barry Adam, Danielle Soulliere, and Richard Moon who offered instruction, guidance, and encouragement along the way. I was further engaged by Cecilia Benoit who provided much appreciated insight. I am thankful to the faculty and staff I came to know at the University of Windsor, and for the friends and family that I made in a city I have come to think of as a second home. As always, I am grateful for the love of my parents; their support has never waned, and I know how special that is. My life has been enriched by the kindness and caring extended by friends and family members. My days have been filled with conversation, laugher, and love because of Kelly. I would especially like to thank all of the activists who participated in interviews. I am so grateful for your time, knowledge, and trust. Without you, none of this would be possible. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR'S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ABSTRACT iii iv DEDICATION v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 6 The Prostitution Problem Social Movement Theory and the Sex Worker Rights Movement Legal Regulatory Approaches 7 31 44 III. METHODOLOGY Multi-Site Ethnography Limitations IV. RESULTS: SEX WORKER RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN CANADA Movement Literature The Contemporary Sex Worker Rights Movement in Canada Conclusion V. THE CHALLENGES Legal Frame The Challenges Sex Workers and Legal Mobilization Benefits and Costs of the Challenges Feminisms Conclusion VI. CONCLUSION 46 47 56 58 59 61 89 93 93 104 124 132 141 144 146 REERENCES APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C APPENDIX D 152 170 173 178 179 VITA AUCTORIS 180 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Since the rise of the contemporary sex worker rights movement in the mid-1970s, people working in the sex industry (PWSI) in numerous countries have demonstrated particular concern with the legal prohibition and stigmatization of their work (Jenness 1993; Weitzer 1991; van der Poel 1995; Mathieu 2003; Outshoorn 2004; West 2000; Gall 2007; Brock 2009). In the past 10 years laws and policies on sex work have been variously reformed in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, and The Netherlands. The degree to which the sex worker rights movement impacted any of these changes is debatable. Analyses of these events have emphasized the role and influence of women’s movements often omitting sex worker rights perspectives (Gould 2001; Outshoorn 2001; Vawesenbeeck 2001; Ekberg 2004). Literature specific to the sex worker rights movement has stressed several obstacles to collective mobilization, often describing it as a failed movement, having made little impact on public perceptions or legislative reform (Weitzer 1991; Mathieu 2003). Building a sex worker rights movement is said to be impeded by the stigma and criminalization of various aspects of sex industry work. These result in a penchant for anonymity, feelings of ambivalence toward the work, and a struggle to foster internal momentum and external support. As a result, researchers note the difficulties faced by sex workers in collectively establishing themselves as political actors endowed with rights and the capacity to realize them (Weitzer 1991; van der Poel 1995; Outshoorn 2001; Vanwesenbeeck 2001; Mathieu 2003; Wagenaar 2006; Gooptu & Bandyopadhyay 2007). 2 In Canada, legal reform has been addressed by several government funded commissions and committees (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Prostitution, and the Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights). Despite their recommendations for legislative change, the laws have remained essentially the same. On uploads/S4/ out-1.pdf