Talk to sex workers, don’t condemn them
RE: Residents want new approach to prostitute problem, Oct. 28.
The Centretown community no longer wishes to demonize prostitutes or police them out of their neighbourhoods. Condemnation has turned into pity.
No doubt, there are sex trade workers in the community (and perhaps the vast majority of them) are miserable and want to change their source of income.
But the only way to truly understand a situation is to communicate with the subject of your discussion: the sex workers themselves.
I wonder if there were any sex trade workers (or representatives thereof) invited to attend the meeting that took place. I’d like to hear what they have to say in this discussion.
It seems rather patronising and disempowering to hold discussions regarding the fate of a whole group of people without including them in the discussion.
p.s. The “prostitutes” themselves are merely one dimension of the discussion. Sex trade workers only work in neighbourhoods where there are customers who are ready and willing to pay for their services.
Susannah Campbell,
Cooper Street