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Article Excerpt
SEX WORK RESEARCH IS SURPRISINGLY BROAD in its implications. When properly conceived it can be understood as directly relevant to issues of work and labour; livelihood and the life course; gender; social rights and justice; health and well-being; and stigma, social exclusion and marginalization. Too often, however, it has suffered from moralistic perspectives and been relegated to the realms of deviance, crime, contagion and exploitation.
This issue of The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology is an attempt to overcome such limitations by shedding light on a number of underresearched areas. The included papers go beyond the standard moral and criminal views of "prostitution" that have been topics of Canadian media and lay fascination for decades. Combined, the contributions present recent case studies on the limits of the debate between abolitionists and people working in the sex industry (PWSI), how the social context impacts their situation and that of their clients, constructions of stigma, and the organization of the sex industry in diverse sectors and various regions of the country: the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, Toronto and Southern Ontario, Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.
Our purpose in this introduction is to situate these various contributions in the contemporary literature. First, we locate PWSI within the broader medical and feminist debates and note the limited empirical data on the Canadian context. The articles in this special issue aim to contribute to this scholarship by adopting a critical perspective that highlights the structural vulnerability of PWSI in Canada, as well as their heterogeneity along key variables. The issue also demonstrates the wider applicability of sociological concepts and theoretical insights, which in turn provide a general framework for organizing and elaborating on each of the contributions. We conclude by summarizing the contents of this special issue, identifying the main conclusions, and outlining new directions for future research.
Sex Industry Research
Although there has been substantial interest in PWSI among policy makers, service providers and academics in Canada and elsewhere, much of the scholarship on the topic has focussed on the moral, criminal and legal aspects of the industry, or on the proximate health risks associated with those involved (see Barry, 1995; Dworkin, 1997; Fraser Committee, 1985; Jackson, Highcrest and Coates, 1992; Pyett and Warr, 1997; Farley, 2004). In the last decade or so, however, research has shifted toward an understanding of the heterogeneity of those involved in the sex industry, the broader social determinants of their health and well-being, and the impact of stigma and social exclusion on their life chances (Sullivan, 1997; Lim, 1998; Vanwesenbeeck, 1994; 2005; Weitzer, 2000).
Canadian scholars have made important contributions to international scholarship, including comparative research regarding PWSI and other service occupations (Benoit, Jansson and McCarthy, 2005; Benoit, 2005; Shaver, 1996; 2005a). Other studies have documented the advantages and disadvantages of more elusive indoor work (Brock, 1998; Benoit and Millar, 2001; Lewis, Maticka-Tyndale, Shaver and Schramm, 2005; Shaver, 1994; STAR, 2004; 2005). Another body of research is now emerging on how PWSI integrate the private and public spheres of their lives, and the factors that determine whether home and work are protective of PWSI or not (Jackson, Bennett, Sowinski and Ryan, 2005; Shaver, 2005b). Other studies have examined the impact of discrimination or enacted stigma on the mental health of PWSI and their access to key living, health and social services resources (MacDonald and Jeffrey, 2004; Jeffrey and MacDonald, forthcoming; Phillips and Benoit, 2005; Benoit, Jansson and McCarthy, 2005). Finally, a small body of research has sought to understand the impact of early entry and different levels of involvement of female and male youth on their future life course trajectories (Benoit, Jansson and Anderson, forthcoming; Jansson and Benoit, 2006), while other studies in this area have attempted to critically analyse public policy and service responses to underage persons (Brock, 1998; Gorkoff and Waters, 2003).
Government and non-government groups are also taking a greater interest in the vulnerable situation of PWSI. In the last decade, several advocacy and service organizations have become established in Canada. These groups have joined academics and other advocacy groups internationally to raise the profile of experience-based knowledge, as well as to shed light on the critical issues for workers in various sectors of the sex industry (Benoit, Jansson, Millar and Phillips, 2005). At the same time, government interest in the sex industry is shifting to a social inclusion and harm-reduction perspective. The Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Prostitution was established in 1992 to review policies and practices related to prostitution and make recommendations. Their report, released in 1998, acknowledged the need for public policy measures to reduce harm to those working in the sex industry, while at the same time noted the lack of evidence to support the effectiveness of particular initiatives over others (Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group, 1998).
The issues of health and well-being, stigma, social exclusion and marginalization have become even more salient in light of the charging of Robert Pickton for the multiple murders of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside "missing women." The majority of these women worked in the so-called low track sex industry and many were of Aboriginal heritage. A report by the Pivot Legal Society (2004)--a Vancouver-based law organization representing marginalized populations--draws attention to the connection between the harms committed against PWSI and the legal ramifications of those sections of Canada's Criminal Code relating to prostitution. Workers' collectives, such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, have also begun to advocate on behalf of PWSI (CUPE, 2005). Relatedly, in 2003 the Canadian House of Commons established a subcommittee to review the solicitation laws contained in the Criminal Code. The subcommittee heard formal presentations by several contributors to this issue and/or reference to their research on PWSI in Canada. During this same time period, the Law Commission of Canada produced a report on vulnerable workers that refers to the special situation of off-street PWSI (Bruckert, Parent and Robitaille, 2003).
Finally, support for a public health-based policy approach that would include decriminalization of on- and off-street sex work and harm-reduction services for PWSI dealing with addictions has come from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (2005), as well as prominent medical journals (Karim, Karim, Soldan and Zondi, 1995). As argued in a recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: "Physicians should urge federal politicians to repeal all prostitution laws.... Municipalities and public health and community physicians must work harder to protect this vulnerable population" (CMAJ, 2004).
At the same time, studies completed or underway in different countries where, unlike Canada, aspects of the sex industry have already been legalized or fully decriminalized point to the paucity of research on how different social-legal environments influence access to key resources available to others in the larger society, including legal protection and health-care services (Sullivan, 1997; Abel, Fitzgerald and Brunton, 2005).
Research Gaps
In spite of the shift in the research literature to a broader, social determinants focus and the contributions made by Canadian and international scholars regarding significant heterogeneity in backgrounds and experiences of PWSI, many gaps remain. Further work is needed, particularly with regard to the extent and experiences of youth in the sex industry, including whether or not the age distinction between "minor" and adult is a valuable approach. We also know very little about the experiences of new immigrants, or the congruence, if any, between their personal stories and those in the media concerning "sex slaves." In addition, there remains a paucity of research on the different trajectories of migrant workers in various parts of the sex industry, such as massage parlours and escort agencies catering to particular ethnic clienteles, and the eventual status of PWSI as temporary workers, landed immigrants, or new citizens. Other understudied groupings of PWSI include men and transgender workers, as well as Aboriginal persons, who we do know are overrepresented in the sex industry in many regions of the country. The extent and experiences of their involvement in the industry, including its impact on their health, well-being and life trajectories, is not well known or well understood. Work on the social construction of stigma relating to the sex industry has begun, but we know little about how discrimination or enacted stigma become "felt" and internalized, and what the outcome means for PWSI. In addition, research on PWSI is limited, to a large extent, to their involvement in the industry. More work is required with respect to their personal lives and to the factors therein that positively and negatively influence their health, safety and well-being. Thus, they often still appear as one-dimensional, rather than as people whose work represents only one part of their multi-faceted lives. Finally, there is virtually no research to date on the long-range impact of time spent by PWSI on their health, safety and well-being, or on the strategies that work to help them develop sustainable lives, whether inside or outside the industry.
The six papers included in this special issue do not address all of these gaps. They do, however, attend to some of them. In doing...
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