The return of the Montreal Grand Prix rhymes with the return of a procession of visitors who have come to take advantage of the prostitution that runs through the streets of the metropolis. To see more clearly in this shadow industry, the independent senator from Quebec, Julie Miville-Dechêne, answered questions from the To have to..
Why is the Montreal Grand Prix associated with sexual exploitation?
When there is the Grand Prix, there are a lot of men, a lot of tourists who arrive with a lot of money in their pockets and who love automobiles, love going out, love glamor and love women. I don’t think it’s loving women very much to buy their sexual services. But clearly, there is an upsurge in demand. Pimps know there is more money to be made around this event. You have to understand that we are not in a sexual relationship where there is consent. We are, for most women, in unequal relationships where paying a woman for sexual services is the equivalent of considering her as a commodity.
Should clients be considered criminals in the same way as pimps?
We have a law that does. The penalties are not the same, but the 2014 law makes it clear that patrons are subject to a criminal offence. Pimps too, of course. But what is new in this law of 2014 is that it is a law written according to the Nordic model. It was decided that the demand for these sexual services had to be reduced. Therefore, clients for seven years are subject to a criminal offense if they purchase sexual services. It’s not the same for women who sell sex. They are not criminalized because they are generally considered to be victims of sexual exploitation. These women must not be prosecuted so that they can get out of this vicious circle, that is, looking for drugs to endure sexual relations with several men a day to finally be able to buy drugs again. But what is missing in Canada are massive awareness campaigns across Canada to clearly explain to potential customers that this is not trivial. Buying sexual services is a criminal act.
Do you think the government has done enough awareness raising?
The federal government has done virtually nothing since the law came into effect. I attribute this to several factors. First, around prostitution there are several discourses of ideological battles. On the one hand, there are sex workers who say it’s a job like any other and therefore they want to live in safety. They don’t want customers arrested. These women have the right to do so, of course, but they represent only a minority. The silent majority of women who are taken under the yoke of pimps, who are in strip bars, who are in massage bars, we do not hear them! They are sexually exploited women and they have the right to be protected. So, that’s why I say we need awareness campaigns and that’s urgent.
Should sexual exploitation be considered a social issue?
Definitely. At one time, we said “You know, prostitution is the oldest profession in the world, it has always existed”. I refuse this sort of hollow phrase which is false because prostitution is certainly not the oldest profession in the world. The trades of picker, no doubt, are older. But this cliché comes to say that nothing can be done to abolish or reduce prostitution, that men will always have uncontrollable desires. Now, all that is social. That is to say, there is no reason to believe that men have more insatiable desires than women. It’s a question of power. It is not a question of sexuality. When you buy a woman, you have power over her. We can do whatever we want with it. You know, having sex ten or fifteen times in the same night, with strangers who may be violent, is not a job like any other. For women who indulge in it, it creates significant post-traumatic shock syndrome. They begin to be disgusted with their own bodies. It leaves lifelong scars. We cannot live in a society where sexual exploitation is trivialized to such an extent.
Is the phenomenon of prostitution on the increase in the West?
It is very difficult to estimate how many women are selling sex and whether it is increasing or not. Truth be told, no number in prostitution should be trusted, as everyone uses different data to suit their purposes. All that is known, however, is that since the 2014 law was passed, fewer women are being arrested and more men are guilty of sex crimes. It’s a shame because in feminism, it’s always the numbers that have allowed us to move forward. In the absence of figures, it allows the ideological debate to continue without us being able to have a definitive answer on the small number of women who are doing relatively well compared to the large number of women who have consequences all their lives. This is the great paradox of this debate. Feminism is a discourse that says: “You can do whatever you want and your body belongs to you”. However, sex workers have used this feminist argument to say “our body belongs to us and we do what we want with it”. But feminism is also a collective reflection. It’s not just an individual reflection. And for the majority of cases, we can’t just say these are individual decisions that we can’t look at.
The full version of the interview has been shortened for clarity.