Another distress call from a mother. “Amanda is in Toronto. She can’t take it anymore. He keeps beating her. He wants her to do 10 clients a day. He took her papers. »
Amanda is 21 years old. She has been under the yoke of a pimp since the age of 16. She no longer knows what to think of this “lover” who says he loves her to the point of feeding her to several men a day in return for payment. His mother is overwhelmed. Amanda is over 18 years old. The police ? It does what it can with a law whose complex workings make it necessary to demonstrate exploitation, especially when the victim is an adult.
In Canada, the average age of entry into prostitution is 14 years old. You don’t wake up one fine morning when you turn 18 and say to yourself: “I’m going to embark on a rewarding and profitable career, prostitution!” Adult or minor, the effect is the same. We enter a system, a sex industry; a machine that crushes lives, a killer of souls. The mower before its time.
A modern law
On November 6, 2014, a new law on prostitution was introduced. Its originality is that it no longer only attacks pimps; it also targets prostitutes and advertising of sexual services. What is a prostitute ? A man, in the vast majority of cases, who buys sexual services and thus actively contributes to the exploitation of women and men, minors and adults. You will have understood that the word “client” is not part of my vocabulary.
The 2014 law is based on an elementary principle: that of supply and demand. By criminalizing the purchase of sexual services, it seeks to eliminate the demand and thus act on the supply. Logical, right?
Sweden was the first to attack the purchase of sexual services, and this, since the law of 1999. Canada was inspired by it. Since then, other countries have followed suit, including Norway and France. No law is perfect, but this one has a proven track record in protecting victims of sexual exploitation.
Another Supreme Court challenge
What a surprise ! A challenge like the Bedford affair. Indeed, Bedford was a blessing, as it provided an opportunity to strengthen the prostitution law. Current protesters argue, among other things, that the ban on purchasing or materially benefiting from sexual services is unconstitutional. In other words, we should let the prostitutes quiet and the pimps do their job. Of course, all this in the name of protecting “sex workers”.
The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will be decisive. Will it protect the rights of pimps? From prostitutes ? Besides, is it a right to buy sexual services? And Amanda, who will protect her?