[SWAF-Potluck] The state re-enters the bedroom with new legislation on prostitution

[Andy Sorfleet]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/
NATIONAL POST
Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Jesse Kline, Full Comment



The state re-enters the bedroom with new legislation on prostitution

[photo caption]
In a free society, people should be able to engage in any voluntary
transaction. photo: SIMON HAYTER/NATIONAL POST

Pierre Trudeau had many deeply flawed ideas, but he was right about
one thing: "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the
nation."

The way this country deals with prostitution has traditionally
followed the idea that the government has no business interfering in
Canadians' private sex lives, so long as economic transactions for
sexual services are conducted in private. Before the Supreme Court
stuck down many of Canada's prostitution laws late last year, selling
sex was perfectly legal, but practices that took place in public --
such as negotiating on the street and running a brothel -- were
illegal.

This was better than criminalizing prostitution completely, because it
gave sex workers and johns a legal way to engage in a voluntary
economic transaction. But it also made life much more dangerous for
those who worked in the sex trade.

The ban on keeping a common bawdy house forced many sex workers into
the streets, denying them the opportunity to work indoors, away from
inner-city violence. The prohibition on living off the avails of
prostitution likewise prevented sex workers from hiring drivers and
bodyguards. The prohibition on communicating for the purposes of
prostitution meant that many of those involved in the sex trade were
unable to properly screen their clients.

It was for these reasons that the Supreme Court ruled that the
"restrictions on prostitution put the safety and lives of prostitutes
at risk and are therefore unconstitutional." Yet in one fell swoop,
the federal Conservatives have now invaded the bedrooms of Canadians,
and shown they have little regard for economic freedom or the safety
of those working the sex trade.

"The sale and purchase of sex has never been illegal in Canada,"
Justice Minister Peter MacKay said on Wednesday. "That changes today."