Law is about protecting votes, not women

This article is about Canada. Change some of the names and dates and it could have been written about Ireland

This prostitution law is about protecting votes, not women
By Devon BlackDec 9, 2014, iPolitics

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/12/09/t...tes-not-women/

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Had the government actually made an effort to listen to sex workers and their advocates, they might have found evidence pointing them towards a different approach. They failed to adequately consult with sex workers and their organizations, preferring instead to listen to police forces, religious groups and regressive moralists like REAL Women of Canada.

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The Conservatives have argued that the new law makes women safer (though they neglect to mention sex workers of any other gender). But most of the changes in this law are pure moralizing, and will put sex workers at greater risk. By prohibiting all advertising of sexual services, sex workers who want to screen clients before meeting them have no real way to do that. By making it illegal to communicate in any public place to buy or sell sex, vulnerable street-based sex workers have to rush their initial contacts, giving them less time to screen clients or otherwise protect themselves. By continuing to criminalize sex workers, especially street-based sex workers, this law will keep them from reporting abuse to the police. The aspects of the old legislation that put sex workers’ lives at risk are still present in the new law.

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