Harms of third party criminalisation under end-demand legislation: undermining sex workers’ safety and rights

Abstract

After Canada’s laws criminalising sex work were struck down by the Supreme Court for violating sex workers’ rights and new end-demand legislation was passed in 2014. These new laws however continue to criminalise sex work third parties (i.e. venue owners/managers) who gain material benefits, despite evidence that managed in-call venues can provide important protections for sex workers. As part of a longstanding community-based study in Vancouver, this analysis drew on 25 in-depth interviews with third parties who provide services for indoor sex workers. We explored how end-demand third party criminalisation shapes indoor sex workers’ working conditions, health and safety. We found that most third parties were women and current/former sex workers, problematising assumptions of third parties as exploitative male “pimps”. Third parties provided client screening, security and sexual health resources for sex workers, yet end-demand laws restricted condom availability and access to police protections in case of violence, thereby undermining sex workers’ health and safety. Our findings highlight that third party criminalisation under end-demand legislation reproduces the unsafe working conditions under the previous laws deemed unconstitutional by Canada’s highest court. Legislative reforms to decriminalise all aspects of the sex industry, including sex workers’ right to work with third parties, are urgently needed.

Keywords:

• Sex work
• end demand
• third parties
• nordic model
• Canada

Acknowledgements

We thank all who contributed their expertise to this project, particularly participants, AESHA community advisory board members and partner agencies and the AESHA team, including Sarah Moreheart, Jennifer Morris, Brittany Udall, Sylvia Machat, Minshu Mo and Jenn McDermid. We also thank Peter Vann and Megan Bobetsis for research and administrative support, and Amin Ghaziani for his guidance throughout the early stages of the work.

Disclosure statement

We have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant (PJT165875), the US National Institutes of Health (R01DA028648), and the Open Society Foundations. BM and ME are partially supported through a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral award. AK is partially supported by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award. SG is partially supported by NIH and a CIHR New Investigator Award. KS is partially supported by a Canada Research Chair in Global Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS and NIH.