Scorpio
As Aboriginal women on occupied Coast Salish Territory, we, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network (AWAN) implore you to pay attention to the voices of Aboriginal women and women's groups who are speaking out in the interest of our sisters, our daughters, our friends and all women whose voices have not been heard in the recent media discussion on prostitution and legalized brothels for the 2010 Olympics.
We, the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network, speak especially in the interests of the most vulnerable women - street prostitutes, of which a significant number are young Aboriginal women and girls. We have a long, multi-generational history of colonization, marginalization, and displacement from our Homelands, and rampant abuses that has forced many of our sisters into prostitution. Aboriginal women are often either forced into prostitution, trafficked into prostitution or are facing that possibility. Given that the average age at which girls enter prostitution is fourteen, the majority with a history of unspeakable abuses, we are also speaking out for the Aboriginal children who are targeted by johns and pimps. Aboriginal girls are hunted down and prostituted, and the perpetrators go uncharged with child sexual assault and child rape. These predators, pervasive in our society, roam with impunity in our streets and take advantage of those Aboriginal children with the least protection. While we are speaking out for the women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, we include women from First Nations Reserves, and other Aboriginal communities, most of whom have few resources and limited choices. We include them because AWAN members also originate from those communities, and AWAN members interact regularly with Native women from these communities.
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Re: Indian Women Slaves No More
By Hazel8500, January 25, 2008 at 22:59Dear John,
I agree the Swedish model of abolition is a better choice than many operating models out there at the moment. Its most notable success is the steep decline of Sweden being a transit hub or destination for human traffickers. But women (and men) are still plying their trade.
Rather than calling for the end of all prostitution in Canada which like it or not has a purpose in a stable society, why not focus efforts on the level of sex work that most concerns you and aboriginal youth ? The soul sucking mind numbing world of survival sex.
The issues plaguing participants in survival sex have less to do with prostitution and more to do with having been abused, exploited , abducted by criminal gangs of mac daddy's, or otherwise"tricked" into the trade.
Exploited enslaved women are not prostitutes. They are exploited enslaved women and there needs to be a clearly defined boundary here:
Not all women in the sex trade are there against their will, not all women were kidnapped by an ex and driven to the big city and forced to do tricks for meth rewards.
At the same time not all women involved in servicing johns are there because of their own choice.
This is a specific sector that is diabolical and I believe it is an injustice to those exploited women to call them prostitutes because the term implies there is choice. For the same reasons I feel it is an insult to call a prostitute exploited or enslaved. Yes people will argue one way or the other that many sex workers have drug habits and their addiction isn't a choice either but an illness. Well, no not all sex workers are addicts and besides I'm not talking about call girls who make a grand a night and like their nose candy, I'm talking about young girls forced at the points of lit cigarettes to service a gang banger "boyfriend" and his "posse", an old geezer (Like the late David Ramsay) or even a parent or guardian or other relative and I suspect John Hater, so are you when you talk about exploited and enslaved women and girls.
Putting an end to survival sex is an admirable and achievable goal. I think by engaging other participants in the trade rather than demonizing or casting them out, you'd have a better chance at stamping out the bottom feeding exploitation that you and I both abhor. This can be achieved without alienating or destroying the lives of men and women who have happily and healthily made sex their life's work. Stamping out prostitution altogether however, is naive and likely impossible.
Hazel.