Letters

Prostitutes don't sell themselves

To the editor:

Regarding the letters in response to Mark Hasiuk's ill-informed article ("Vancouverites indifferent to plight of prostitutes," Dec 12).

It seems some people have a lot of difficulty understanding a simple fact. Prostitutes do not sell themselves. Like almost all other employed people (either in a workplace or freelance), sex workers negotiate to provide a service for a set amount of remuneration, during a set amount of time.

Vancouver strip clubs, health enhancement centres and escort services (and escorts) are licenced, and subject to walk-throughs by chief business licence inspectors, fire inspectors and even police. You can be sure that any of these establishments in Vancouver, which hold a licence from the city to do business, is not in anyway involved in the "trafficking" or "enslavement" of sex workers. I am certain that workers in these establishments do not appreciate insinuations that this municipal system is corrupt.

The recent advertising campaign by the Salvation Army and the statistics provided by their website (www.thetruthisntsexy.ca) are complete falsehoods designed to evoke an emotional response and support for their cause to end all sex work. This campaign promotes stigma and mistreatment of prostitutes and deserves to have an official complaint filed with Advertising Standards Canada.

– Andrew Sorfleet,
Vancouver