Violence in the Massage Parlor Industry: Experiences of Canadian-Born and Immigrant Women

Abstract

We examined and contrasted 129 Canadian-born and immigrant women's experiences of violence and associated structural and interpersonal factors within indoor commercial sex venues. The majority experienced at least one form of structural, interpersonal, or both types of violence, with the attempted removal of a condom during sexual services being cited most frequently. Canadian-born women reported more frequent violent assaults in the survey data. The women's qualitative narratives illustrated that perceptions of violence differed significantly among Canadian versus non-Canadian born women. Findings concerning racialization and gendered relations of power have important implications for prevention and interventions to support victims of abuse.

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the British Columbia Medical Services Foundation. We thank the participants and outreach teams and leaders from the Asian Society for the Intervention of AIDS for their dedication and support in promoting women's health and human rights.

Notes

*In the analysis of survey items measuring violence, women who had reported involvement in street-based sex work (n = 19) were excluded from analysis, as we were concerned primarily with documenting violence in relation to the indoor markets.

**Missing N = 1 response.

*Minimum expected cell counts are less than 5; test is inexact. Significance at p = .05 does not change using Fisher's test.

1. The complexities of building relationships and the inherent methodological and ethical challenges in undertaking this research are in development for future publication and are beyond the scope of this article.

2. Based on the agreements with our community partners, women's immigration status data were not collected as part of the formal research procedures due the potential negative ramifications for women. The ASIA's outreach workers provided immigration support as necessary, and that information was not part of the data used in this study.

3. The term “date” is used by participants to describe the commercial sex interaction between a woman and a man (client).

4. The women's experiences of health and health care service access are beyond the scope of this discussion and will be published separately in a manuscript under development.

5. First Offender Prostitution Programs, or “john's school” are programs in which first-time offenders are provided the option of attending an educational session about negative consequences of prostitution in lieu of having criminal files charges filed (Shively et al., 2008). The primary evaluative indicator is rates of arrest.