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Misunderstanding (Mis)Understandings: Male Sex Workers and the Canadian Criminal Code

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Abstract

Despite evidence that the Canadian government’s attempt to deter prostitution, by criminalizing the behaviour that facilitates its occurrence, has been largely unsuccessful and detrimental to the safety and security of those who ‘sell sex’, members of parliament have done little to change course. Their commitment to a flawed paradoxical approach has forced many sex workers to provide their services in ways that increase their risk of being victimized. To date, there is little published research on how adult male sex workers understand and work around the law relating to sex work. In an effort to address this void, we present the views of 19 adult male escorts on two related issues: (1) the ambiguity of the criminal law relating to their trade and its enforcement; and (2) the use of strategies to cope with the dangers posed by the current legal climate. We show that although adult male escorts misunderstood the law, their comprehension of and experience with its enforcement gave them the impression that they must take precautionary measures to decrease their risk of being charged with a criminal offence and/or victimized by clients or the police.

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Notes

  1. Although we believe that prostitution should be considered a form of work (‘sex work’), the terms prostitution and sex work are here used interchangeably, so as to be consistent with the existing literature.

  2. This claim should not be read to mean that the justifications supporting the prohibitive premise have not changed. While moral arguments remain part of political and legal discourse, there is heightened concern over prostitution as a ‘social nuisance’, a construction of the phenomenon that was highlighted in the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the ‘communication for the purpose of’ provision (Reference re. ss. 193 and 195.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code (Man.) (1990), 1 S.C.R. 1123). In a 2010 article titled Reconceptualizing Vagrancy and Reconstructing the Vagrant: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Criminal Law Reform in Canada, 1953–1972, Ranasinghe shows that this ‘new’ concern can be traced as far back as the early-1970s, when prostitution was removed from the vagrancy section of the CCC (Ranasinghe 2010).

  3. It should be noted that the entire five-judge panel voted in favour of upholding the unconstitutionality of ss. 210 and 212(1)(j). Justice MacPherson and Cronk, however, found “that the application judge was right to determine s. 213(1)(c) of the Criminal Code violated s. 7 of the Charter and is, therefore, unconstitutional.” (Ibid., para. 374)

  4. This research was approved by the University of Ottawa’s Office of Research, Ethics and Integrity.

  5. The interviews were conducted by two University of Ottawa research assistants, under the supervision of researchers Christine Bruckert and Colette Parent.

  6. Because it is not the aim of this work to compare categories of adult male escorts, differences in the responses of those who identified themselves as single and those who considered themselves to be in a common law relationship are not noted.

  7. Some of the following interviewee quotes have been edited for clarity and readability. The names of the respondents have also been changed.

  8. This assertion should not be confused with the requirement of all persons living with a high HIV viral load to, where there exists a “realistic possibility of transmission of HIV”, disclose their HIV status before engaging in sexual acts with others (R. v. Mabior, 2012 SCC 47, [2012] 2 S.C.R. 584, para. 104).

  9. To be found guilty of a CCC offence relating to prostitution, it is not necessary that the accused have or keep a common bawdy-house or be found to not have lawful employment. It is also not necessary to prove that the accused person’s behaviour directly disturbed a member of the public.

  10. Though the law does here infringe upon s. 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the infringement is considered constitutionally valid (R. v. Stagnitta (1990) 1 S.C.R. 1226).

  11. See, for example, R. v. Lemieux (1991), 70 C.C.C. (3d) 434, [1992] R.J.Q. 295, 44 Q.A.C. 1 (C.A.), on ‘found in’, R. v. Patterson, [1968] S.C.R. 157, on ‘kept or occupied’ and ‘resorted to’, and R. v. Corbeil, [1991] 2 S.C.R. 830, on ‘keeping’ or ‘keeper’.

  12. “Je recommande pas toujours les mêmes motels ou hôtels, pour que ce soit pas régulièrement aux mêmes endroits … Quand on va régulièrement au même motel ou au même hôtel avec le client, je fais savoir au client que si on a toujours la même chambre, qu’il peut y avoir un risque.” (Gilbert)

  13. For theoretical, empirical and/or methodological challenges to the deterrence theory see Blumstein et al. (1978), Cousineau (1988), Mathiesen (1990), Pirès (2002) and Dubé (2012).

  14. Kaye’s (2007, p.38) claim that “the overwhelming majority (around 80%) of male prostitutes work through agencies or by placing their own ads” can be seen to further stress the notion of a disproportional response.

  15. “Les premières années, par exemple, je laissais toujours mes cartes d’identité à la maison sauf peut-être ma carte d’assurance maladie au cas où la police m’arrêterait.” (Gilbert)

  16. “No. I keep no documents. I keep nothing … like phone numbers around.” (Kevin)

  17. “Like, I always keep my lawyer’s number in my pocket and, if I get caught, I know that I shut my mouth and don’t say anything.” (Michael)

  18. “I do most of it through phone calls and e-mails.” (Edward)

  19. “C’est ça. Donc d’utiliser moi-même le moins possible mon cellulaire.” (Gilbert)

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Christine Bruckert and Colette Parent for heading the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funded research upon which this paper is based. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and our colleague Prashan Ranasinghe for their suggestions and help in improving this work.

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Correspondence to Patrice Corriveau.

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Corriveau, P., Greco, C. Misunderstanding (Mis)Understandings: Male Sex Workers and the Canadian Criminal Code. Sexuality & Culture 18, 346–360 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-013-9201-6

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