Emily van der Meulen

Chris Bruckert

Elya M. Durisin

Sex Work Regulation, Agency, and Resistance

Red Light Labour

Louise Toupin

Patrice Corriveau

Maria Nengeh Mensah

Colette Parent

In the early twentieth century, abolitionists sought to stamp out sex work by penalizing all involved. In the generation that followed, neo-abolitionists looked at the sex industry from a feminist perspective, claiming that workers were victims caught in a patriarchal matrix. Yet both agreed that sex work was a destructive and corrupting force that should be eliminated. In this lucid and fearless volume, five academics and activists convey their vision of prostitution as work, albeit stigmatized and marginalized labour. In chapters that consider the nature of sex work, the legal framework that seeks to control the sex industry, the historical debates over its existence, the spectre of human trafficking, and community-based activism from within the industry, the authors assert the central place of sex workers in discussions about their lives and work. This book opposes discourses that position sex workers as victims without agency.

Rethinking the Job, Respecting the Workers

Sex Work

La question du travail du sexe fait toujours, aujourd’hui, l’objet de polémiques où le moralisme et les bons sentiments prévalent sur la discussion ouverte. La traite des femmes pour fins de « prostitution » et leur vulnérabilité physique face à la violence et à l’homicide débouchent souvent sur des demandes de répression accrue, et ce sont les travailleuses du sexe qui font les frais de ces discours prohibitionnistes et moralisateurs. Soucieux de véhiculer auprès d’un large public une vision différente de la « prostitution » dans le respect des travailleuses du sexe et de remettre en question les bases du message néo-abolitionniste qui présente ces dernières essentiellement comme des victimes de souteneurs ou de leur fausse conscience, cinq spécialistes ont entrepris la rédaction collective d’un livre pour démystifier plusieurs préjugés liés au travail du sexe. Sont abordés dans ce livre original les fondements du débat actuel de la « prostitution » comme travail, les différentes réponses des régimes juridiques, la variété de pratiques et d’expertises mises en oeuvre par les femmes elles-mêmes, incluant celles des migrantes illégales, et l’action collective des regroupements qui luttent pour une reconnaissance du travail du sexe. Mais oui c’est un travail ! invite donc à déconstruire certains mythes et stéréotypes, et à étayer la preuve à l’effet qu’il est non seulement possible de défendre la légitimité du travail du sexe tout en luttant contre la violence, mais que cela est nécessaire.

Mais oui c'est un travail !

Melissa Munn

From the passage of Bill C-10, with its punitive, tough-on-crime provisions, to sensationalist media accounts of dangerous ex-convicts, it is evident that Canada is a country that is taking an increasingly hard line on crime. In reality, however, the vast majority of prisoners who serve out their sentences will never see the inside of a prison cell again. On the Outside explores the post-carceral lives of men who have successfully resettled into the community after serving at least a decade in Canada’s penitentiaries. Exploring the transition from imprisonment to the challenges of resettlement, this book will change the way you think about prisoners and open up the debate on the perils of tough-on-crime legislation.

From Lengthy Imprisonment to Lasting Freedom

On the Outside

In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Canada v. Bedford that key prostitution laws were unconstitutional. Red Light Labour addresses the new legal regime regulating sex work by analyzing how laws and those who uphold them have constructed, controlled, and criminalized sex workers, their clients, and their workspaces. This groundbreaking collection also offers nuanced interpretations of commercial sexual labour from the perspectives of workers, activists, and researchers. The contributors highlight the struggle for civic and social inclusion by considering sex workers’ advocacy tactics, successes, and challenges. A timely legal, policy, and social analysis of sex work in Canada.

Getting Past 'the Pimp' makes a compelling case for rethinking Canada's response to sex work by highlighting the limits of criminal justice solutions and drawing our attention to the experiences and perspectives of those targeted.

Chris Bruckert

Books

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