But the Salvation Army will join the likes of Club X, Condom Kingdom, Fluffy Cuffs, Kinky Boots, Savage Lingerie and Awgasm at Melbourne’s Sexpo this month.

Should the Salvos be at Sexpo? Have your say in the comments below

Its stall will promote “Christian understanding of sexuality” and raise awareness about the human trafficking in prostitution.

Salvos social justice director Capt Danielle Strickland will distribute material on human trafficking, the sexualisation of girls and “Jesus loves porn stars” New Testaments, which tell how a porn star found God.

But she won’t be preaching moral messages.

Capt Strickland is no stranger to sex; she visits many brothels as part of her battle against people being forced into prostitution.

VANCOUVER — Moderated by Madam Scarlett Lake, this public forum sponsored by FIRST will provide the public with an opportunity to learn about the men who buy sex, the experiences of sex workers with their clients, and why neither sex workers nor their clients should be criminalized.

Date: Monday, November 23, 2009


Time: Doors open: 6:30 p.m. Forum: 7 – 9 pm


 Location: Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia, Alma Van Dusen & Peter Kay rooms Admission by donation

Video (10 mins): 
”A Swedish sex worker on the criminalization of clients” (Pye Jacobssen)

Speakers: 


§ Chris Atchison, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University. Topic: “John’s Voice”

§ Trina Ricketts, BC Coalition of Experiential Communities; Naked Truth (nakedtruth.ca). Topic: “Trade Secrets” – Results of interviews with clients and sex workers

§ Jody Salerno, BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses. Topic: “The clients who paid me”

 § Katrina Pacey, Pivot Legal Society. Topic: “Why Decriminalize Prostitution?” 

 FIRST is a national coalition of feminists that advocates for the complete decriminalization of sex work, for both sex workers and clients.

Prostitution sting that netted 10 had different goal
POLICE: They say they were looking for people involved with child
prostitutes.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER
zhollander@adn.com

November 3rd, 2009 05:35 PM

Last Modified: November 3rd, 2009 10:36 PMWASILLA — Authorities say a
recent Internet prostitution sting called the biggest to date in the Mat-Su
revealed a previously hidden world of men seeking cyber sex.
To some the sting also represented an invasion of privacy and waste of
federal dollars meant to catch child sex traffickers. The late October bust
resulted in the arrests of 10 men, plus the seizure of more than $2,100 in
cash and 10 cell phones, police say. The sting, conducted by Palmer and
Wasilla police with help from the FBI and Anchorage’s vice squad, was
associated with a larger federal strategy called Operation Cross Country
that targets child prostitutes and people who sell children into slavery.
The Mat-Su operation turned up neither, said Palmer police Detective Sgt.
Kelly Turney. Instead, Turney said, the arrests represented the beginning of
“us being able to work the issue”– arresting low-level johns to find pimps
for adult prostitutes who may also be trafficking young girls. Police knew
prostitution happened here, but they didn’t know to what extent. The sting
was one way to figure that out. Police placed ads on Craigslist and other
places. Turney wouldn’t describe the ad, but did say it made no reference to
child prostitution.
The phone rang off the hook, police said. The 10 men arrested met an
undercover female officer at a motel and paid a pre-arranged sum.The men
range in age from 18 to 58; most live in Palmer and Wasilla, though three
drove up from Anchorage or Eagle River. Their cases are still pending,
Turney said. All were arrested for solicitation of prostitution, a
misdemeanor, received court summons and were released. In Alaska, like
cities around the country, online prostitution is becoming more prevalent
than street walking. Authorities say Internet hookers in Anchorage can make
$1,000 a day, according to prior reports. Sometimes they keep all their
earnings. Sometimes they send part to pimps in Alaska or the Lower 48.They
also say the Internet can provide a level of anonymity that makes it more
difficult to find young girls or evidence of trafficking. It’s hard to say
exactly how many women “are working” the Valley, Turney said.They operate
from various places: cars, motels, homes. This week, a scan of the
Anchorage/Mat-Su adult services category on Craigslist revealed a couple of
Valley-specific listings, both with Wasilla locations. A caller to “April in
Wasilla” — a well-endowed brunette, judging by a picture posted with the ad
– reached a woman who said she was a friend of April’s.”She forwards her
phone to me. … I don’t know what her business is. Thank you,” she said,
before hanging up. But a woman behind another ad, offering “a relaxing
revitalizing appointment with a fun and friendly tall Blondie,” was more
than happy to talk.”Blondie” — who described herself as over 21 and from
the Wasilla area — said she provides “complete energy manipulation” that
includes reiki massage techniques, guided meditation and “ancient hot stone
body work.”There’s some nudity involved, she said, but you “can’t do
complete body work” without it. She sees clients wherever she can take her
massage table. The woman called the police sting a waste of federal funding
earmarked to fight the legitimate crimes of young prostitution and sex
slavery. She suggested police crack down on massage parlors to find
traffickers, rather than placing an ad targeting johns who think they’re
meeting up with an adult.”If you advertise in the paper for whatever service
and you’ve got grownups coming to see you, you think they’ve got child
abductees in their car?” she said. “Ask the taxpayers — was it worth
it?”News of the bust elicited a lot of negative reaction, police said.
Several hundred comments were posted on newspaper Web sites last week after
stories about the sting appeared.
Many criticized the effort as a waste of money and time that could have been
spent arresting people involved in more serious crimes.”It’s a little
disheartening when you actually try to do something good and the majority of
people think you’re wasting money, wasting time, why aren’t you out doing
something bigger?” said Palmer police Commander Tom Remaley.”It’s almost
like you can’t win.”

Robyn Doolittle Crime Reporter Published On Sat Oct 24 2009

A woman works Gerrard and Jarvis Sts. Oct. 21, 2009. Roadwork in the area sent most women elsewhere. TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR Crusading clergyman. Moralizing political regimes. Undercover police stings. Each has failed to drive prostitutes out of Toronto’s unofficial red-light district. Yet on a recent Wednesday night, only two women are working the Jarvis St. corridor. The reason is surprisingly practical – roadwork. “You aren’t going to get any customers if the sidewalk is blocked,” says Ebony, a curvy 23-year-old brunette who stands alone outside the Harvey’s – “Hooker Harvey’s” – at Gerrard and Jarvis Sts. This is a pivotal time for the country’s sex industry. In the past fours years, the dozens of women in knee-high boots and thick faux-fur coats shuffling in six-inch stilettos around these downtown streets have moved elsewhere. Some have relocated to the suburbs. Others have taken mainstream jobs. And many have moved inside, soliciting clients through the Internet and classified sections of free weekly newspapers. In July, most of the remaining women left the Gerrard-Church-Carlton-Jarvis block. Hard hats replaced miniskirts and fishnets as city crews began ripping up the sidewalks. By August, construction was tearing apart Church St. Ebony prefers working outdoors. She works alone and gets to keep all the cash she earns. “A lot of them have moved to strip clubs or their homes … they find it safer,” she says of the other women. The construction should be finished by next spring. Coincidentally, it’s also around that time that a ruling is expected in a landmark constitutional challenge, being argued in Superior Court this month. Law professor Alan Young, with three former and current prostitutes, has asked a judge to strike down three provisions in the Criminal Code. The act of selling sex for money is legal, but everything surrounding that business transaction isn’t. The three provisions Young wants dissolved are soliciting in a public place, working out of a brothel (which could be a sex worker’s own bedroom) and living off the avails of prostitution. If the judge agrees, prostitution would essentially be decriminalized. Most high-end workers are expected to then move their business inside, which may mean the end of Toronto’s red-light district. Currently, penalties associated with street-level prostitution are significantly lighter than those for indoor sex work. If successful, says Young, the Crown will almost certainly appeal. If they win again, it will be up to politicians to decide how to rewrite the laws – whether to regulate the industry or ban prostitution outright. Valerie Scott, an applicant in the case, said the current laws put the workers on Jarvis in danger. “Legally, it’s safer for us to work on the street, even though physically, it’s far more dangerous. And I have to laugh at people who say, `If they decriminalize prostitution, there’ll be a brothel on my street.’ Every block in Toronto already has a brothel on it. People just don’t know it.” Street prostitution in Toronto has generally been concentrated in the east downtown core. The “High Track,” where workers earn as much as $300 a trick, is in the Jarvis and Church area. Transgendered prostitutes work in “Trannytown,” southeast of Jarvis and Wellesley Sts. Crack-addicted sex workers can be found along River, Shuter and Sherbourne Sts., and earn as little as $20 for sex acts, said a police affidavit submitted in the constitutional challenge. Det. Christopher Higgins recently led a John sweep on the Danforth that left 70 men facing charges. Most of the women who work the streets there are addicts, he said. Jarvis is one of the few areas in the city where higher-end prostitutes work outdoors. “The others work out of condo buildings all over the city. … They put an ad in classified sections or on Craigslist.” In an affidavit submitted to the Superior Court, Insp. Howie Page warned changing the laws would increase the number of brothels, he says. “It will be a free-for-all, bawdy houses will proliferate and society will be the victim,” said Page. Julia Vanderheul, who does sex worker outreach with the Bad Date Coalition, thinks it might end the Jarvis strip. “You won’t see the girls on Jarvis any more. They do think it’s safer inside.” Even though this might be the case, Ebony has no plans to leave. Tonight, without any competition she will earn as much as $1,000. Johns will pay a few hundred for an hour with her in a local hotel room. Even Ebony doesn’t plan to work the Jarvis strip much longer. She’s saving to go to school and has plans to open her own spa.