August 13, 2004

• What an awful story. Thanks, paradoxically.
• This could happen anywhere. Good post. Thanks, moneyjane.
• Oh, my city is unfortuately quite famous for its serial killings. There is a trial going on at the moment. No one cared that much about the victims, so it took a while for the police to get on to it.
• New Yorkers live for this kind of shit. Great post and a surprising background. Wish you'd take part in more discussions on here mj; nice writin' and I imagine you've got one hell of a perspective to bring.
• The problem with prostitution is somewhat mirrored by many other types of "service-provider" professions. It all depends on the context of the job and the individual who practices it. Sadly as more needy and unskilled a worker is, worse are gonna be the humiliations and poorer the working conditions the individual will get. Add to that an air of unlawfulness and social stigma and that's the real reason most prostitutes live the shitty life they live. Precisely the unlawfulness of the practice is what makes prostitutes easy targets for psychos and perverts who know they probably can get away with it as they consider prostitutes to be lowlifes (when it's really the other way around). It's almost the same every part of the world you look that. Just look at how the Taliban threated women in general and we get the idea that it's not the profession, but the condition of being considered a second class citizen what triggers that oppression. And no, prostitution doesn't neccessarily objectifies women. A woman, or any human for that matter, is objetified when she can't take the reins of her own life and feels herself chained to be what others want her to be. moneyjane, thanks you for standing up for your profession and not being the least ashamed of it. I visited your site a short time ago, and found it to be quite nice! Unlike any run-of-the-mill corporate pr0n or prostitution sites (not that I visit them often).
• And as far as your issues with sex worker law, the US is a bit worse off than you Canucks. But you probably already knew that.
• This is painful. Thanks moneyjane. Yes, it could happen in my city. Criminalizing prositution makes it easy for sick fucks to get away with their twisted shit. The city I live in now would most likely be just as uncaring as Vancouver was. Back home in Nevada I think there would be more concern. Prostitution isn't criminal there (in most counties), and there seems to be more understanding that working girls are human beings.
• Yay for legalised prostitution, I guess -- you should all move to NZ. Thanks for this post, moneyjane.
• moneyjane: the Canadian laws on prostitution seem pretty sensible compared to most in the US. As, I recall, you said you are a call girl. Does that come under the "bawdy house" law? I read most of the law link you provided, but it still isn't clear to me. And, to tell the truth, I think the bawdy house environment would be the safest for prostitutes, assuming the landlords were cool, since girls (and boys) wouldn't have to go out into the (seems to me) frightening world where no support was readily available if the worst happened. What's your take on that? (And, the term "bawdy house" is so old west that I love it.) And, yes I believe it happens in all the cities I've lived in. The prostitution stigma is very sad, but it falls into the "we're controlling crime" ethos that police and judicial agencies use to explain why they don't control crime that really destroys ordinary citizens. And, if prostitutes are destroyed, well they were criminals, anyway, so they should have expected it. (I hope you undrestand that I'm being ironic, though I'm not really good at it)
• Moneyjane, sad story, good post. I agree legalize prostitution. If made legitimate, I believe it would be safer and healthier.
• The most gifted writer's twisted imagination can't hold a candle to reality. And wheter due to prejudice, fundamentalism, as a 'sport', an ingrained attitude or another weapon of war, violence against women permeates every society; at different levels and intensities, but still is a big blood stain in our hands. Their ghosts will haunt them. Indeed. All of us. After visiting your site, your courage amazes me. One thing I've always thought about sex work is the main problen not being so much the social stigma or 'moral' conundrum (hey, it's our body, to use as we see fit), but rather the always present factor of crime elements around: the pimps, the extortionists, the bent police officers, the 'protection', the 'turf' rackets. What could be a liberating activity, benefiting all involved, ends up a crime, a form of slavery. And when a society has some leeway towards it, this ghoulish things happen. Crap. Thanks for the post, moneyjane. Take care.
• I followed the story of Robert Pickton when it broke, and it really does get more shocking and depressing as you read more. Moneyjane, as a retired cop I'd like to offer my apologies to you and all prostitutes for the failure of the local PD to stop this guy with any speed, for their lack of care regarding your safety, and for any trouble that officers in general have created for you. I'm not liberal enough to believe in full legalization of prostitution, but I am sensible enough to understand that it will always exist in our society, so we do need to address it and keep people who work in the industry safe from harm. I can't let my own moral quirks and beliefs direct me to look down upon someone for their profession and dismiss them as less deserving of a safe life. Be safe, please, Moneyjane. It sounds like you have taken precautions, and good on you for that. Keep it up.
• Nobody has pimps anymore?
• The lower east side is a wicked place, but really removed from the rest of Canada and the world, and from the rest of Vancouver. It is incredibly sad that such a great nation has a pocket of the third world in the middle of it's most beautiful city. Unbeleiveable, really. We may never know how many of those working women ended up at the terrible "pig farm". Pickton's trial has not begun, but what has come out so far leaves no doubt in my mind that he is a murderer or knows who is. Any sex worker takes a great risk in a society where trading in sex is illegal. It should be legal. Good luck, moneyjane.
• I'm in favour of some version of bawdy houses - but it has to be centred around detox being readily and immediately available for any addicted woman asking for it. Basically, I'm not fucked up on heroin or crack, so I have at least a fighting chance of pursuing the high (read safe) end of the ho continuum. I can rent an apartment, get a computer, answer to myself rather than a pimp or dealer, etc. I can choose, of my own accord, to do this, and so continue to have viable options as far as staying safe and healthy. Even with bawdy houses, and with available detox, there will always be women who will work the streets because they are not ready to detox, are underage or HIV+, just don't like any kind of authority, or because they cannot attract customers in a bawdy house environment. These women will continue to serve the clientele they always have - the cheap, the danger-sex fans, and predators. But there will be fewer of them, so fewer women will die. With bawdy houses rather than streetwalkers being the focus, maybe the public perception that we're all doomed crack ho's will change. Maybe we'll all goddamn grow up. We've (essentially) legalized smoking dope here, and same-sex marriage is a go; maybe the working girls will get a chance to give it a legal go. In other news, I have a feeling us internet floozies are on the verge of being hip like crazy. Not sure how I feel about that - but hey -the money, I'm sure, will be good. I don't think I've ever been so in the right place at the right time before. Should be interesting.
• On the verge? I've been reading Belle de Jour for months. Read the archives. She's about to be published. And it's about time articulate hookers speak up and tell it like it is.
• Monkeyfilter: It's about time articulate hookers speak up and tell it like it is. too easy...
• Just now read your post coppermac, and I thank you. I also think it is important to let people know that there were many Vancouver cops who tried their best to help these women while they were alive, to locate these women when they went missing, to show the disappearances were connected and indicated a serial killer or killers were at work, and to find out, ultimately what had happened to them. It just wasn't enough. They too were fighting an uphill battle - factionalism in the Vancouver Police Department, too little money, and not enough manpower. Just reading about it is awful enough - imagine if you saw these women every day, then watched them disappear and couldn't seem to do anything about it even though you were a cop. Some of them got together and started filming what it was like in the neighbourhood, trying to show what drug addiction really looks like. Many of the women in their film are also working girls - in my mind, the issues are inextricably linked. Because of how I am able to discreetly go about my business I have not had any contact with law enforcement; and given the prevailing tolerance for those of us able to operate at this level, I believe they have no interest in me.
• Pickton's case, and history, shocked and horrified me (along with everyone else who read about it), but it scared me in an odd way, as I was doing pro bono work for sex trade workers in the US and eastern Canada. As well, a close friend works for Stella, a sex trade worker's group in Montreal. I kept running through my client list, trying to think of who I hadn't spoken to in awhile, who had dropped off the map, who had told me they were moving...Paranoia, really, but it made it feel so immediate even though I was personally so distant and safe. Prostitution plays a really interesting, complex role in popular culture -- a romanticised mix of Pretty Woman, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Belle du Jour mixed with some twisted notions of youth, feminine beauty and innocence, victimhood, and culpability. And now I sound all academic about mj's life - sorry - right now I'm working on a project about trafficking and sex slaves in the US (not Subs and Doms and leather, but actual stolen or sold 9year old Ukranian girls and boys living Silence-of-the-Lambs-style in suburban US basements). There are a lot of people trying to make the entire sex trade safer and healthier (particularly for the kind of vulnerable people moneyjane mentioned) and a lot of that is disussing the issues in public, for people to learn about its realities. (sorta like here. So, yay moneyjane. Who does have a coolio site. And Vancouver is beautiful and lovely, too, not that I'm biased or anything).
• I've just moved to Vancouver from Toronto, so maybe I'm biased, but my mental image of the city is not sparkling bliss. During the first few days I was here, I had the fortune of running into a homeless man with bloodshot eyes trying to sell me a used Skytrain ticket. He had no idea why I wouldn't buy it from him, and kept begging me to give him something for it. He scared the shit out of me; in all my years spent in Toronto, I'd never encountered anything like it. Or the drug dealer who accosted me my first day here. Or the crime scene I passed on the Hastings bus. Not surprisingly, these all happened in and around downtown Vancouver, pretty close to the DES. I think people here have simply accepted that they have to sacrifice part of the city, like a gangrenous arm you give up to ensure the viability of the whole, and as long as people have that attitude, poverty and addiction will continue to survive here. Having come from a city where I never felt in danger for a second, no matter where I was or what time of day it was, I know it doesn't have to be this way. Thanks for the post; any insight into how this city works is valuable to me.
• moneyjane, thank you for your post and your story. Heartfelt, articulate and dignified. When I first typed your name it came out monkeyjane. :) Good luck, stay safe, and keep posting.
• Very interesting observation; made me think of the Ursula Le Guin short story, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas "...imagine Omelas, city of joy, where all is well, everyone is happy, the weather is fair and the people beautiful and loving, and so on. But, there is a price to be paid, and somebody who pays it. A young child is locked up, naked in a cold and damp cellar. It has to be there - such is the deal. People can come and watch, but they can not help the child. And they accept this. The child is already half crazy anyway, and oh how joyous life is thanks to this one scapegoat." From here... I believe that our mayor, Larry Campbell, will do what he can to let the kid out. He's a good man.
• moneyjane, I join with everyone else in thanking you for the post, and you get extra points from me for coming up with that Le Guin link - as soon as I read chrominance's comment I thought of the same story and was hoping I could find a link for that passage. Then I read further down and found you'd already done it. And thanks to the rest of you for a civilized discussion. I love this place.
• moneyjane's comment prompted me to read that Le Guin story. I'd never heard of it before. It's fantastic, but it's gonna ruin my weekend. As for the topic at hand, I think it's a sad reflection of our society that killers like Bernardo & Homolka cause years' worth of outrage (deservedly), but the Pickton case gets a few shrugs and head shakes...just because of what the victims do for a living. A life is a life.
• And it's happening again...Prostitutes volunteer DNA EDMONTON - Fearing they may one day be slain and their bodies dumped, Edmonton prostitutes are volunteering DNA samples to the RCMP. Mounties on a task force investigating 79 missing persons and homicide files have been collecting personal information, including DNA samples, from people in "high-risk" lifestyles such as prostitution, RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes revealed yesterday. (Edmonton Sun)
• This is a powerful post, moneyjane. I feel wrung out by all the emotions I've had reading it. I was initially going to make some sort of flip comment like, "Fabulous way to advertise!". I had checked out your site before looking at any of your links. Curiousity got the best of me as I read your site. The 'Lincoln Clarkes' photos and the 'Times' article were incredible. A miriad of emotions started crashing down on me. Vancouver is a wonderous city. It is easily in the top three most beautiful cities I have seen. But it is the number one most dangerous city I have ever been to. And that danger is not so far removed as one might think. I have felt far safer in New York, Seattle, Portland, Dallas, San Fransisco, you name it, than I have ever felt in Vancouver. The Robert Pickton story has been unbelievably horrifying. Straight out of 'Silence of the Lambs". I had, thankfully, forgotten all about the Bernardo/Homolka story until tonight. Some stories just continue to seem beyond belief. Then to read on about ilyadeux's project on nine year old children......Christ. Moneyjane, you certainly do bring to the table a viewpoint that most of us would not otherwise have. I am in a dark and weary pool of sadness and I feel like wallowing in it for awhile. I am a mere 70 miles from you, moneyjane, and I will keep you in my thoughts and wish you continuing safety, good luck and health.
• Wow, this is incredibly sad. I'd never heard of the Bernardo and Homolka story. I'd guess that it caused more outrage than the Pickton story because of the ages of the victims and the fact that they were innocents in the sense that they did not live on the streets, they were not making choices that put them in danger and that fact that the Pickton crimes are more predictable types of crimes, sadly. IMHO.
• In May 2005, Crown attorneys added 12 more first-degree murder charges against Pickton, bringing the grim total to 27.
• Pickton trial opens Evidence presented in more than a year of preliminary hearings, which has been under a publication ban, has been so gruesome that some reporters have sought psychological counseling. *shudders*
• Wish I hadn't read that. Damn.