news
Sex, Laws, and Inequality
The Canadian Medical Association has been giving prostitution law a lot of play in its journal recently. Having always been progressive on issues like marijuana legalization, the CMAJ is hosting a dialogue about the patent absurdity of laws that punish solicitation (communication about sex for money) without promoting public health or safety of sex workers. A letter from U of T prof Benedict Fischer this month is the latest in a series of criticisms calling for a new perspective. Apparently we’ve all been contributing tax money to “John Schools” – basically morality plays about prostitution performed for offending men. Meanwhile, women have no chance to assess the sketchiness of their prospective clients, because they must jump into cars as soon as possible so as not to be seen talking business. Following up on our move toward the decriminalization of marijuana and legalization of same sex marriage, perhaps a more egalitarian, civilized treatment of prostitution should be next on the government agenda.