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The Regulation of Prostitution: Avoiding the Morality Traps*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Frances M. Shaver
Frances M. Shaver
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University
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Abstract

There are three types of sexual moralism in evidence in the discussions regarding the regulation of prostitution: the overt moral fervour of the Victorian crusaders, the more covert moralism of contemporary crusaders (residents) and legislators, and the principled moralism of contemporary radical feminism. It is maintained—using arguments and evidence from the author's own and other Canadian research—that each type has contributed heavily to the failure to adequately evaluate the nature of sex work. As a consequence, our ability to develop appropriate social and legal policies has been severely restricted. It is argued that the key to appropriate social and legal reform lies in recognizing four points: prostitution per se is not different from other work; prostitution as currently practised is different; the evaluation of commercial sex must be conducted in the broader context of human sexuality; and it is essential to focus on the specificity of women, rather than the specificity of prostitution.

Résumé

Trois types de moralisme sexuel se dégagent des discussions portant sur la réglementation de la prostitution: l'évidente ferveur morale des croisés de l'époque victorienne, le moralisme plus discret des croisés (résidents) et des législateurs contemporains et, enfin, le moralisme de principe du féminisme radical contemporain. L'auteure maintient—en s'appuyant sur des arguments et des preuves tirés tant de ses propres recherches que de celles d'autres chercheurs canadiens—que l'incapacité à évaluer adéquatement la nature du travail sexuel est pour une large part attribuable à chacun de ces types de moralisme sexuel. Conséquemment, notre habileté à développer des politiques sociales et législatives appropriées est sévèrement restreinte. L'auteure prétend que la clé des réformes sociales et législatives réside dans la reconnaissance de quatre énoncés: (1) la prostitution comme telle ne se distingue pas des autres formes de travail; (2) la prostitution telle que pratiquée actuellement s'en distingue; (3) l'évaluation de la sexualité commerciale doit se faire dans le contexte plus large de la sexualité humaine; et, (4) il est essentiel de se concentrer sur la spécificité des femmes plutôt que sur la spécificité de la prostitution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 9 , Issue 01: Law, Feminism and Sexuality/Droit, féminisme et sexualité , Spring/printemps 1994 , pp. 123 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 1994

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References

1. While describing the evolution of Canadian prostitution law from 1867 to 1917, McLaren does a thorough job of demonstrating that the predominance of rhetoric and the tendency of social purity crusaders to avoid the discussion of social data shrouded the extent of the problem they were fighting. See McLaren, J. P. S., “Chasing The Social Evil: Moral Fervour and the Evolution of Canada's Prostitution Laws, 1867-1917” (1986) 1 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 125CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Prostitution in Canada (Ottawa: CACSW, 1984)Google Scholar.

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4. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the relative importance of gender and job on the objective and subjective work experiences of sex workers. Data are being collected in two stages. During the initial stage, interviews with three types of street prostitutes (male, female, and transgender) were carried out in two different field settings: the San Francisco sample (collected in 1990) includes 146 prostitutes; the Montréal sample (collected in 1991) includes 80. Interviews lasted from 30 to 90 minutes and were, for the most part, conducted during their working hours on the street or over coffee in a local restaurant. Martin Weinberg (Indiana University) was responsible for the research in San Francisco and I for the work in Montréal. The data base includes information on socio-economic background, job history, and future plans, work activity and job hazards, enjoyment of sex on and off the job, and their relations with others on and off the job. Stage two, which began this summer (1993), involves the collection of data from a sample of sex workers and a matched sample of workers in a non-sexually oriented service industry (e.g. hospital attendants). The analysis of these data will permit a stronger test of the independent effect gender and job have on variations in work experiences.

5. Others concur that the strong taboos and gender stereotypes surrounding sexual matters handicap serious study into any sexual area whether it be pornography, abortion, homosexuality, AIDS, sex education, or reproductive self determination. See Boyd, N. T., “Sexuality and the State: A Comment on Moral Boundaries in the Physical Realm” (1989) 7 Canadian Journal of Family Law 353Google Scholar; Burstyn, V., “The Left and the Porn Wars: A Case Study in Sexual Politics” in Buchbinderef, H. et al. , eds., Who's on Top? The Politics of Heterosexuality (Toronto: Garamond, 1987) at 13–46Google Scholar; Lacombe, D., Ideology and Public Policy: The Case Against Pornography (Toronto: Garamond, 1988)Google Scholar; Perkins, R. & Bennett, G., Being a Prostitute (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1985)Google Scholar; Reiss, I. L., Journey into Sexuality: An Exploratory Voyage (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986)Google Scholar. This impediment also extends into the physical sciences where it can be seen in the sexually biased descriptions experts provide of sperm and eggs. For example, fertilization imagery used by biologists most often depicts the human egg as “waiting” to be fertilized and the sperm's filament as “shooting out and harpooning” the egg. This imagery continues to dominate the literature even though studies in the early 1970s revealed that the molecules released by the egg are critical to guiding and “activating” the sperm. See Martin, E., “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles” (1991) 16:3Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 485Google Scholar.

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7. In some respects, this represents a very limited definition of prostitution: it excludes the activity of homemakers and other individuals who provide sexual services in exchange for goods and services. It parallels, however, the one adopted by the International Committee for Prostitutes' Rights which also stipulates that it must be entered into as a result of “individual decision”. See Pheterson, G., A Vindication of the Rights of Whores (Seattle, WA: Seal, 1989) at 33Google Scholar.

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14. Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, supra note 2 at 131; McLaren, ibid. at 136.

15. Ibid.

16. Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, supra note 2 at 132.

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18. Ibid. at 142.

19. Ibid. at 141–42, 151.

20. Ibid. at 150.

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24. Shaver, supra note 22; Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, ibid.

25. There was also much discussion regarding the meaning of the term “solicits”. The dialogue focused on the actions that constituted soliciting. It is not gender related and therefore is irrelevant to this discourse. For a brief discussion of the decisions taken on this issue, see Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, supra note 2 at 20-23 and Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, supra note 22 at 419–26.

26. The sexist enforcement of the soliciting provision has been well documented. See Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, ibid.; Canada, House of Commons, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence of the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, No. 86, 90, 91 (May and June 1982)Google Scholar including submissions from the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the National Association of Women and the Law, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the Vancouver Coalition for Non-Sexist Criminal Code; Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, ibid.; Lowman, J., “Notions of Formal Equality Before the Law: The Experience of Street Prostitutes and their Customers” (1990) 1:2The Journal of Human Justice 55Google Scholar; Ridington, J. & Findlay, B., Pornography and Prostitution (Vancouver: Vancouver Status of Women, 1981)Google Scholar.

27. In 1978, an Appeal Court decision established that prostitutes could not be convicted of soliciting unless their behaviour was “pressing and persistent”; simply approaching a customer and mentioning a price was no longer deemed sufficient to warrant arrest. As a result of this decision, the law fell into disuse. See Lowman, supra note 21 at 118.

28. These figures are somewhat deceiving—an unknown but small number of men were charged with transporting and living on the avails—but they do not taint the conclusion. Since the error serves to overestimate the number of “customers” charged and decrease the size of the gender-gap reflected in the ratio, it provides a stronger test of the hypothesis.

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36. These definitions were taken from the 1972 Larousse Illustrated International Dictionary. The revised and updated 1987 version provides the same two definitions.

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46. Ibid. at 206.

47. Ibid. at 208.

48. Ibid. at 207.

49. Others report similar findings. See Perkins & Bennett, supra note 5; McLeod, E., Working Women: Prostitution Now (London: Croom, 1982)Google Scholar; Stein, M., Lovers, Friends, Slaves (New York: Berkley Medallion, 1974)Google Scholar.

50. POWER (Prostitutes and Other Women for Equal Rights); CORP (Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes); COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics).

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55. Ibid. at 716.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid. at 717.

58. Supra note 29 at 41–42.

59. Shaver, F. M., “The Gendered Management of Sex Work.” (Paper presented at the CSAA Annual Meeting, Learned Societies, Carleton University, 1993)Google Scholar. These estimates are based on the average number of customers women and men see per week and the type of services usually provided. Female and male prostitutes interviewed in Montréal in 1991 serviced an average 28.5 and 14.5 customers per week respectively. On the average women charged $48 for oral sex, $95 for coitus, and $130 for a combination of both. About half their clients simply wanted oral sex; the rest were divided between the other two services. The men charged less on the average ($40 for oral sex and $74 for anal sex) and the sexual service they provided was typically limited to oral sex.

60. Perkins & Bennett, supra note 5 at 238–41; Shaver, ibid.

61. Perkins & Bennett, ibid. at 240.

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71. Estimates by CORP indicate that 60% of the street prostitutes in Toronto work for themselves. Reported in “Fighting the Myths of Prostitution” The [Toronto] Globe and Mail (24 February 1992) A2Google Scholar. The data we gathered while interviewing street prostitutes in Montréal in 1991 indicate that 50% of the women are self-employed. See Shaver, supra note 59.

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79. Pateman, supra note 39 at 208.

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82. Ibid. at 243.

83. Matthews, supra note 42.

84. Boyd, supra note 5.

85. Matthews, supra note 42 at 208.

86. Boyd, supra note 5 at 361.

87. Ibid. at 358.

88. Lowman, supra note 21; Shaver, supra note 3.

89. Jennes, supra note 51; Pheterson, supra note 7.

90. Matthews, supra note 42 at 207.

91. Tabet, supra note 64.