Yes and no

They are forced into prostitution by economic necessity, a drug habit or a controlling pimp. But many more are not.

I think this point needs evidence to support it -- I'm not willing to concede it on its face.

If you take the sample delineated (allegedly) by the fellow on trial in New West, I doubt that many would fit the profile of someone not motivated by economic necessity, addiction, or a controlling pimp/drug partner/ sexual partner. I would submit that almost all, from the anecdotes transmitted by the press, survived some form of childhood abuse and/or became addicted to some form of illicit drug. These were the ultimate reasons for their presence in the downtown eastside; their participation in the on-street sex trade was a means to support their addictions and/or survive on the streets.

Thus, for them, I don't think some variant of legal reform will improve their safety. Instead, we should lobby to reduce the harms they face from the necessities of drug addiction or life on the streets.

(Fair disclosure: I'm employed by an agency with a dog in this hunt, but my views and opinions are my own.)

The MP for Vancouver East made a whole lot of sense

Libby Davies, MP for East Vancouver, was on CBC Newsworld this morning. Her comments were informative, constructive, and possible.

As I understood her premise, she says that where our society fails these women and boys who go into prostitution, is that we provide so few options for avoiding prostitution and fewer options for rescue.

Education or training suited to individual needs, a guaranteed basic income, and affordable housing were the major preventive measures the MP outlined for a healthy society.

And when a citizen does fall into the trap of prostitution, their primary need was for detox and rehab centres for the rebuilding of their health.

Sure, sure, it would cost.

But didn't I read that $70 million has already been set aside in BC's Provincial budget to cover the costs so far of the Pickton trial?

BC Mary: The eternal

BC Mary:

The eternal question...and the eternal political answer eh?

Re Pickton trial cost ....well, I heard months ago it cost over $100 Million.

Of course, before the trial started this week we didn't know the details. I had sort of presumed it would be loosely tied evidence, ie some blood, personal effects etc.

However, it looks much like others have quoted, a real HORROR show. What I don't understand is that 2 days into the trial...it already looks pretty overwhelming for the Crown's case...at least circumstantially, though DNA evidence mentioned is even more indicting.

In the U.S. there is a legal concept(sorry, forget the name) whereby the Gov't can show the defence the evidence is overwhelming... ie a hint the defendant will lose badly,its pretty close to a slam dunk... and and a sentencing option is presented to them which implies a guilty plea.

It almost seems that the Pickton defence is grasping at straws, also attempting to use some mental incompetence defence....yet MILLIONS of $$$'s are being spent on the Trial that might otherwise be spent in areas of higher priority, some of which you mentioned.

Instead, the system would rather allow the cure(justice?) than the prevention.

Ironic and very sad, isn't it?

I've been checking around a

I've been checking around a few sites and all agree, as does some commentators, this trial is appealing mostly to folks who like to read about awful stuff. Norman spedcot mentioned to day . There are lots of trials that simply get completed with very little media. Have the trial and tell us the results.

My God one TV staion this evening was telling us that the accused was wearing a newly pressed shirt. Who gives a damn what he was wearing. We went elsewhere shaking our heads. The medai selling papers so go on and on, about stuff already in the public. Must we leave our radios and TV off for the next year or so?

systematic institutional abuse

Dear BCMary; I wish I'd heard Ms Davies talk. I believe it. The very intersection of a human society with an insane ideology. The edge of a moral and ethical cliff over which we push as many as 40% of our own children.

The list of qualifiers is long: Abuse survivors who might squeal? -push em off. Physically or developmentally unconventional? Off they go. Children of poverty? Mentally ill? Single mothers? Orphans? Minorities? Too old, too sick, too much trouble? Give them the boot.

And the thing that makes the problem so insoluble is that the insane ideology has been adopted by all the most powerful elements in society, the very ones who, in a sane world, are charged with preventing such outcomes from ever happening.

Politicians and civic leaders; religious leaders, the police, the courts, social work authorities. All corrupted by the psychotic, hateful philosophy of abandonment and theft.

Some of them against their will, ground down by years of fruitless advocacy. Some cheerfully, enjoying the feeling of being powerful enough to be the decider of who gets a life and who gets the pain. Some the actual psychotics who design the system, as blissfully unaware that it's insane as they are unaware that THEY are insane.

And they never will be aware as long as there's money in it. That's the only standard these nutbars can actually perceive. 'How can there be any problems when I'm making sooooo much money? Isn't that what life is all about?'

AAh, poop!

Pardon my rant. I'm angry today. I've been dealing with this government's reorganization of the social services.

They are proposing to thrust powerless clients back into inherently abusive situations, after they have almost completely dismantled any hope of effective oversight.

Sold off to the lowest bidder, with nobody you can phone who might understand you even if you can operate a telephone. No choice, no hope, no recourse.

Bereft and abandoned to whoever wants to bid low for you. Sound familiar at all?

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Thanks, Bailey ... it really is all about our Way of Life, isn't it.

I think that I'm going to have to change my whole POV about this awful, awful Pickton trial. I've been so opposed to it, thinking it fuelled the lurid sensationalism which corrodes our brains and turns viewers into something less than they were.

But only 2 days into the promised year of horrific facts of life, I am beginning to see that it's no use turning away when we see the so-called "Sex Industry" in living colour. It's no use pretending we don't know that unemployment, illness, hopelessness, homelessness, addictions and prostitution aren't caused by society's neglect.

Because of Pickton, we can't avoid facing the horrible end result.

So maybe it's exactly the right moment to finally realize collectively, that these mean streets and violent deaths are the social conditions resulting from our acceptance of a Have vs HaveNot social structure.

Maybe the whole Province of B.C. will be so sickened by realizing what we've allowed to happen, that we'll brace ourselves to actually do something to stop the crippling of our healthy communities, healthy industries, healthy schools ... and a percentage of the young generation.

Ahh poop, I hear ya' Bailey

I know it's off topic, but coincidentally I too have been pissed off all day about social services restructuring, Bailey. I am the Manager of a group home for mentally disabled adults and I know exactly of what you speak. I will fight- you fight too and don't give up. Arghhhhh- here I go again. Better run before I get started again.

The worst aspect to me about

The worst aspect to me about the Pickton case, besides the inhuman crimes, is this: Pickton wasn't "alone" in perpetrating his crimes.
He was aided and abetted by others, namely, the Vancouver Police Dept.
VPD spent years in denial despite the disappearances of scores of women. Many of these women maintained close relationships with family and friends. The people they were close to knew something terrible must have happened. If the police had rationally (instead of prejudicially)assessed disappearances of women with solid ties to others, alarms should have gone off.

Instead, the incompetent VPD chose to generically write off every missing woman as unreliable, irresponsible "transients"
who just "drifted" away", or something!
What an outrage. Especially when the VPD had their own expert in profiling serial criminals (he earned a PHD in criminality for his studies),who came out and said he feared and believed a serial killer (or killers) was responsible. He was not just ignored. He was ostracized, then dismissed!
Family and friends were justifiably
concerned, and organized marches to City Hall to draw attention to the missing women. What did the police do? Ignored their concerns for the longest time.

It was sheer fluke that evidence was even initially found at Pickton's farm. He wasn't a suspect. They were searching
re. an unrelated firearms violation, and happened to find personal IDs of missing women.

Picture this: Some of the same incompetent senior police officers who failed to act
in the '90s, and thus allowed Pickton to go on killing long after he should have been caught, have suffered no personal repercussions, reprimands or penalties - except maybe embarrassment.

Some of those VPD officers have blood on their hands. They abbetted Pickton's crime spree through their years of inaction and denial.
They should have been an inquiry into police handling of the case, firings, and court cases against the Police officers who were responsible.

Instead, as far as I know, they're all still sitting pretty , protected by the VPD old boys' club, and they probably have been receiving regular promotions all these years.

First Pigs, then...

This is anecdotal.
A friend told me of a man he knew who had gone to work in a slaughter house for a short time. He was told by a long time slaughterhouse worker some interesting facts:

Approx. 60% of slaughterhouse workers are able to adjust to the job and work there without it affecting them in any negative way.

Another 20% start suffering anxiety or depression, and may have nightmares. It traumatizes them to be killing animals all day long.

...The last 20% are also affected, but in a different way:
they develop a morbid fascination with killing and blood. They start getting off on it.They love their work. And the morbidity can spread to other aspects of their life: they may start enjoying seeing or hearing about human tragedy and suffering, and will be top renters/viewers of the most violent, gruesome movies available.

It's obvious Pickton fits the last 20% group. Certainly, only a tiny tiny fraction of one percent of that last group actually goes on to start killing people, instead of
livestock.

Nevertheless, it's quite possible Pickton would never have started his murder spree if he hadn't started out by killing "thousands of pigs" (as he said), and developing a taste for killing and butchering, which he simply simply transferred to other mammals. Two legged ones.
*************************************
I'm vegetarian. And as far as I'm concerned, all of the above provides a good enough reason for me to think society would do well to discourage our widespread addiction to killing mammals and eating their flesh.
Not only is meat not required for a nutritious diet, but people who eat a lot of meat have a higher incidence of cancers and cardio-vascular disease (there have been a number of studies over some years demonstrating this).

To me, this makes the idea of killing intelligent animals for unneeded food,appear to be an immoral and wild extravagance. Indefensible, IMO.

Imagine: If only we had a vegetarian society, Pickton might never have turned into a prolific murderer, and thousands of Canadians would be spared unnecessary deaths from meat caused diseases!

Thanks Bob999

Killing and raising animals in such a cruel way as the commercial farming\ranching practices promote, imo, overall, affects humanity on many levels...and all that before we even "eat" them. When we then eat them, and incorporate their cells into our...well, all I can say it should not surprise anyone there is nuts like Pickton running around in our world. It also loans question to the severe depression and suicides which plague our society today.

Anyways, no evidence...just thoughts :-)

I am also upset more was not done for these women earlier. If they were the children of an Alberta Industry leader, it would have been hours not years, before an effort was made to find the missing person. Pathetic, as when it comes to life and death matters, there is no distinction via the use of “class”...or at least there shouldn't be.

Peace,

Bear

It makes me sad, again

Let me say first that I grew up in Vancouver. I’m a former child sex trade worker from the late 70’s, and not much has changed in that respect. With my background in mind, understand I base my opinions on firsthand knowledge of the trade and its destructive affects. My only comment on this article is that it’s saying nothing, offering no original information or ideas. It’s simply regurgitating same old, like the author yanked it off the shelf to fill space and word count, and readers don’t seem to mind that lack of content as they go off topic about vegetarian vs. meat on a subject as serious as this one, which leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. These women died horrifically. Their families, their daughters still mourn. Women and children will go out on those same, brutal streets again tonight and who will see them? Will any of you see them? Will you think about them as you eat your vegan dinner and pontificate about the vile meat industry? Will you think about the women and children as you watch the Pickton trial news bits and ponder why they’re telling you about his shirt? Why do you wonder that at all? They report fluff, like this article, and give no original, thought provoking content because they don’t see the real issue, the faces of the dying, suffering on our streets as we step over them. No one watching the evening news, wine glass in hand really wants to see what’s out there. They want the sanitized version; a version that will allow them to continue their comfy evening entertainment after the TV goes off. That’s the crime here, the crime of the willfully blind, and the purposely ignorant.

Lili G ...

Thanks Lili G for your comments.

A while back the Ellison case(teacher at Prince of Wales who had sex with their students years ago) was discussed on the TYEE...

We had one party who identified themselves as one of his victims and who also contributed commentary in that discussion.

Some other comments on the Ellison topic seemed to be of the view that " WHY charge him NOW? Why years later???..sour grapes ?? etc. "

My view was that years after the fact, these young students were taken advantage of (due to their Non- adult, Non- out- in- the -real- world status), and had come to that conclusion. If they had already graduated, and THEN met Ellison, it would likley be a moot point and non issue.

One who has " been there ", as both the Ellison victim/s and you Lili G , often provides the most intelligent, most credible and most constructive insight.

I myself tend to cringe when I hear the term Sex -Trade, as if its on par with a certified trade ie plumber, carpenter, electrician etc. The term "sex- trade" seems to P.R./legitimize what is effectively a business deal between two desperate and often addicted parties.

"Sex Trade"???...are we going to commence with BCIT Sex -Trade apprenticeship programs specializing in ____ ???

It may be the world's second oldest profession, but that doesn't mean we are obligated to accept it, nor in fact encourage it, as many so -called "socially progressive" types seem to lobby for.

THEY should give THEIR heads a shake!

Right to Bear

Thanks. Yes, the cruel, unnecessary meat industry is a net negative for society, we're agreed.
If we want to create a truly compassionate society, the compassion ultimately needs to extend to animals as well as all members of human society. (I imagine Lili G. won't be the only one who would come down on us as being "off topic").

There are certainly some more important factors and issues surrounding the sex trade that makes sex trade workers so unnecessarily vulnerable to violence and to
riskier lives in general. I will agree with Lili there.

But I still maintain that in this specific case, Pickton's murder spree might never have begun if it wasn't for animal slaughter, as practiced by Pickton, being
societally acceptable and rewarded. As the anecdote I posted suggests, a job of slaughtering can potentially warp the minds of a certain (fairly large) percentage of such workers.
By this theory, a susceptible Pickton became warped by pig slaughter, to a rare degree - the most extreme.
-It's a legitimate, though uncommon, point to make,IMO, regardless of what meat eaters out there may want to admit about it!
********************************************
There IS a more relevant or important factor though, to the broader issue of the sex trade in general making women vulnerable:
That is, our handling, as a society, of the issue of drug use and addiction, a topic I've posted lots about on previous Tyee threads. (Also, our handling of prostitution as an issue is very relevant, as Libby Davies has been talking about. But, while not minimizing the importance of our attitudes to the sex trade, I'll stick to the drug issue for this post).

Drug addiction should be treated entirely as a health and social issue, and should have NO connection to the justice system, whatsoever.

No woman should be forced to sell her body on the streets just because she has a physiological addiction to an illegal (and therefore over priced) substance.

We should decriminalize, and provide easy access to harm reduction (safe injection sites), needle exchange, fast access to quality detox facilities and counseling. And drug maintenance for all those unable to kick.
Heroin, for instance, properly dosed, causes no negative physical effects to the user, beyond addiction itself. A maintained heroin addict (being no longer having to live a life of desperation)can lead an otherwise normal, productive life.

Crack and meth may be more impairing and have more negative physical/mental effects than heroin.
Some drug maintenance program advocates suggest that those addicted to such stimulant drugs may be weaned off them and maintained successfully with less harmful stimulants such as ritalin, for example.

Such steps, when widely applied across communities, would lower the incidence of disease, death, and risks of violence, (as well as lower property crime associated with desperate addicts).

Why should taxpayers shell out to support "druggies"?
Well, studies have come out saying a non-judicial approach will not only save lives, but it will be cost effective for taxpayers too.

The compassionate approach would be less expensive than the police/justice system expense of criminalizing, persecuting, and punishing users. It would be less expensive than paying the astronomical medical costs for treating HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases associated with drug use in an environment of illegality.

Stop the moralizing against,and demonizing of drug use. It only makes the problems worse (and costlier), not better.

If we'd provided in the '90s, the services I advocate, many of Pickton's victims and would-be-victims would have been off the street, safe, and alive today.

I do agree with Lilli, to some extent, about the media coverage we're getting, and are likely to get. We're going to be living with this trial, day after day, for a year or more...And that's just the first trial! I'm not sure we're going to get
responsible coverage with the broader context in mind. We're going to get horror movie sensationalism instead.

Why aren't we seeing more articles about the lives of the women who Pickton victimized? There should be more of a focus on them as human beings, instead of the focus being so much on Pickton.
If we were provided, in media reports, a sense of these women's lives and personalities - I'm sure most of them were good people who, unfortunately, got caught up in the vicious circle caused by the stupid illegality of drugs - only then will the full tragedy start to be brought home to Canadians.

I'm thinking I'd be wise to start tuning out some of the day to day mainstream coverage of the trial.

I'd rather read the ongoing coverage we'll receive at http://www.orato.com/ .
The site has recruited two ex sex trade workers, Trisha Baptie, and Pauline VanKoll, to write about the trial.
Like Lilli, they'll be writing firstly from a place of empathy and sympathy for the women victims. To me, that's likely to be the more responsible and valuable form of coverage.

Maestro: on "trade"

Your apparent knee jerk revulsion response to the neutral term "sex trade", makes me suspect you tend toward the common societal attitude of demonization of sex trade workers.
As Lilli points out, such societal attitudes serve to help ensure the situation does not improve for such women. As Lilli says, 25 years later, she's sees nothing much as having changed for the better on the streets.

Worse, a society that criminalizes and demonizes drug addicted prostitutes (is the "ring" of that term preferable?), actually makes the Picktons of the world more likely to emerge. If society says sex trade workers on the street are low lifes and criminals, not deserving of much respect or sympathy, it makes it easier for psychopaths to treat them as "disposable".
And it makes the police less likely to be overly concerned with the plight of such women (well illustrated by VPD's years of denial and inaction in the case of the missing Vancouver women).

"Trade" is a suitably neutral term that is legitimately applied to anything involving supply/demand, including the sex and drug trades.

How about the terms "arms trade" or "oil trade", or "fish trade". All of those industries have current aspects of them that threaten to have very negative repercussions for humankind. Over-fishing has endangered fish stocks worldwide, arms trading (legal and illegal) kills and threatens many populations in many strife torn regions, and threatens world peace today.

As a car driver, I am guilty of helping support the oil trade, which wouldn't be quite as nefarious an industry, if its
industry captains hadn't been so in denial about global warming for years. They are also guilty currently of lobbying governments against measures to reduce C02 emissions. Instead, they should be helping to transition to a new energy economy and should be investing in new forms of energy.

So, there appear to be some mainstream economic "trades" that deserve much more "revulsion response" than "sex trade" deserves. The future of life on Earth is not threatened by the sex trade, but it may be by the arms and oil trades!

And "addictions" are more common than is often thought...Beyond drug and sex addictions, our society has addictions to oil (which I too help feed),to over-fishing, to arms proliferation, to disease causing,life-shortening fast food, and in the case of the US, an addiction to military interventions in countries that did not attack the US.

bobb 999.......

Bobb 999:

That was a good possible connection you postulated between Pickton as a farmer,.. slaughter of farm animals and then the allegation ( still before the courts) of killing all these WOMEN .

ALSO: Interesting reading via the psyche profiles you posted earlier re: slaughterhouse workers.

(Note: I said " WOMEN " , not Sex Trade workers ).

Re: Serial killers,...I recall the Green River killer worked in a truck manufacturing plant...and Ted Bundy was a Law student.

I think the case against Pickton would perhaps view the accussed as having a predisposition towards sociopathic tendencies, and that the farming was more a convenient coincidence. In other words, he could have also worked in a truck manufacturing plant or been a lawyer...(or like Jack the Ripper alleged to be a medical doctor).

The Green River killer also picked up many "women".

Unfortunately they also chose sex trade workers, but if these women were not available I doubt the killers would have stopped, but simply sought other less- available and less easy - prey victims, with the irony being that the killers would have likely been caught sooner.

His farm environment may have simply expedited and assisted the inevitable. I know people that knew the Picktons as well, and provide interesting stories of their upbringing. Two of the Pickton children appear to have been successes in life, and stories abound on how they inherited a lot of valuable assets.

What happened will ultimately come out in the trial...and likely with many Psychiatrists sparring.

Maestro

Maestro: You're right that serial killers come from a lot of different occupations, and that Pickton just may have ended up a killer regardless. We may never know for sure.
We know his being raised on a farm and inheriting the business, gave him the ability to secretly murder and dispose of bodies, as you say.

Yet, it's conceivable the slaughterhouse aspect may have been what served to tip him (obviously already pre-disposed to some degree)over the line to actual murder.
Especially if those anecdotal slaughterhouse effects on the mind are true. In Pickton's (admittedly very rare)case, pig slaughtering may have fanned the flames of a fire already potentially present to some extent, thus increasing his (uncommon) propensity to escalate to actual murder.

It must be the worst for families and friends of the women, but Pickton's siblings must be suffering some
too. They may even be wracked with some guilt that they had no idea what was going on with their brother all those years.

I recall the sister gave a brief interview a while after his arrest, saying she'd once felt pride that the Pickton family name had been respected for so many years(Picktons were kind of pioneers in Port Coquitlam). She said all that had been completely destroyed now. She implied the Pickton name was now associated with infamy and shame, not respect anymore.

Psychiatrists sparring...It's rather sordid how lawyers seem able to dredge up (or pay off) "experts" who will give "professional opinions" practically to order, to bolster any position whatsoever that a lawyer wishes to argue.
If "mental incompetence" is going to be the defense, it looks like it will be an impossible job convincing jurors of that.

He was competent enough to run a farming business (I think he also owned a retail or wholesale supply business), and as far as I know, to most people, he came across as "normal".
I imagine it will pretty hard to argue he was unable to appreciate the nature and gravity of his actions, or that he could not appreciate that such actions were wrong.

Media coverage

A lot of people aren't interested in the gory details... are sickened and revolted by what happened on the farm and prefer the bliss of ignorance. The sheer horror of what happened is actually a bit of a liability for the media (tv especially), in that it may drive many viewers to switch channels the moment they hear that Pickton is the next item on the news.

One reason why, for good or ill, this trial might lose its 'top story' status faster than we might expect.

Crown in the case:

I think the Crown in the Pickton "strategically speaking " wanted to get the gory stuff up front and out of the way in their opening statements.

(I have pretty strong stomach...and seen some pretty gory things, thanks or no thanks to the Internet).

In my view, by the Crown doing this, it allowed the prosecution to give a potent first impression to the Jury, and also to allow for more focus in the rest of the trial, ie the "shock factor" heals as time progresses.

I had assumed that because this case was so drawn out, and almost 5 years(?) since Pickton was arrested...that perhaps this was going to be another Air India case...another expensive and long drawn out trial with circumstantial evidentiary stretches by the Crown , perhaps trying to find a scapegoat to appease the Public, ...which may end in acquittal etc.etc.

Boy, did I guess wrong !!!

Pickton, of course, is innocent till proven guilty, but what has been indicated so far seems pretty indicting..ie who ELSE but someone at minimum very familiar with the property, and also a legal right to be there, would put body parts on someone else's property.... farmers tend to not like unwelcome strangers , and often have barking dogs??? as well as other indicting facts like DNA etc.

It seems like the Defence is already leaning towards the old Mental Incompetence strategy, isn't it? Or did the legal Defence team milk this cash $$$ cow knowing the Crown will likely have cover most the costs, as the Pickton family, while well off, does not to my knowledge (nor the Govt's?) have $100 Million. There seems to be something rather strange in the Defence wishing to proceed with this case ....OTHER than a cash grab ?

I am somewhat curious ,given the news reports, that the Pickton family farm still seems to be in the family hands... but that is likley due to the accussed Pickton's other siblings perhaps reasonable claim that they had nothing to do with the crime and shouldn't have their own % interests compromised ?

ALSO: I saw on the News last night that the Pickton's are planning to grow Hay on the farm and bring cattle on...its already seeded and grass growing...the property assessment has fluctuated over the past few years, but its assessed at approx. $6 Million . However, if you understood "Tax laws" you would see the accussed's siblngs are in fact very smart or else very well- advised.

In my view, there is much more than meets the eye in this case ,many dots to be connected , and perhaps the trial will bring
more and more out.

I also seem to recall this Missing Women's issue was seriously lobbied years ago by a local Radio Talk show host, who had many shows on this very topic , and shortly after the case broke wide open.

gory stuff strategy

I wish you were right. I think you'll find it will only get more horrific as witnesses are called.

Trade/Industry

It's a trade; sex is traded for cash or drugs. It's also an industry.

Thanks for the link; I'd be very much interested in worker perspective, though I'm not interested in the trial itself. It's unfortunate that Pickton's name will go down in history, and as most notorious criminals overshadow their victims, the women's names will slowly fade. I write about the industry as I knew it, and I tell my readers if they walk away from my work with nothing else, they should walk away remembering every woman, every child, has a name. Change can't happen until we remember we're dealing with real people, not statistics on paper, but real, fragile lives.

picton trial

This may be a dumb question - but with the complaints about overcrowded conditions in the Westminster Court - why didn't they use the court that cost us millions of dollars for the Air India trial?? would it have been a better location?

CanWest contribution to improving B.C. social responsibility

Bob999, thanks for much good information. We can all learn from what's being written about this trial.

And maybe that's a good thing, in the long run, if it makes our society more aware of the suffering resulting from society's failure to meet the basic needs of so many young people.

I've learned that the average age for entry into prostitution is 14. What child of 14 is able to earn a living when left without a home and family? Preparing children to make their way in this world is clearly our job and we have failed.

Bob999, there was an excellent documentary on CBC Newsworld on Tuesday evening. Its POV was that prostitution has always been with us and would always be with us.

The main character was an articulate middle-aged woman who had been a prostitute. "I liked sex," she said, and she didn't like many aspects of normal jobs. She was the type who would push to succeed. She became a Madam which, she explained, meant that she knew her girls were safe in decent apartments of their own, she arranged their bookings so she knew who was with them, what they did, and when. Then, if you were inclined to start thinking what an awful life she and her girls must have ...

... out we went with two young women onto the streets of the Downtown East Side. "Are you hungry?" they would ask each scrawny girl shivering on the sidewalk. If yes, they handed out a big tuna sandwich "From Jan's kitchen," one of them said. "I was a prostitute," she explained. "I know what it's like."

Then she told us, showed us, taught us what was going on in an area perhaps 4 blocks from my favourite hotel in Vancouver, where I used to stay on Opera nights at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Right under my nose, pretty much.

It's not that I thought street people didn't exist. I just turned away, kept away, scuttled back to the hotel like a frightened rabbit, absolutely not wanting to know about the streets at night.

Well ... now we're getting the great big Facts o'Life 101 lessons in technicolour, complete with the stink. I still don't like it. I still want to turn away. But most of all, I want our system of government to find ways to include and heal those suffering women, boys, children.

The best treatment, education, health care would cost less than this horrible trial. But there's one consolation.

If CanWest media thinks it's going to sell more advertising because of the sensational horror stories coming out of New Westminster Supreme Court ... CanWest is also going to be awakening British Columbia to its responsibilities.

Lilli: I can't disagree

Lilli: I can't disagree with anything you said in your last post. Thanks. When you say you write about your experience, where is it your writing can be found, I wonder?

BC Mary:
I only chanced on a small bit of that
CBC doc. If you say it was worthwhile, I wish I'd seen the whole thing.

I recall first seeing the downtown east side in the early '80s. I believe at that time drugs like heroin were around, if you knew where to look.
25 years later, street dealers are ubiquitous,and anyone can locate the major hard drugs within minutes. And the number of users has skyrocketed. Which means more sex trade workers working to maintain habits.

As you and Lilli say, a lot of what we're doing hasn't been helping much. But some recent initiatives are helping some: the needle exchanges and safe injection have reportedly reduced disease spread and OD deaths. I believe the heroin maintenance pilot program is ending though. What are the chances a right wing "moralist" like Harper would ever approve more drug maintenance programs?

Where I, and I think Lilli, might disagree with you, is we're both skeptical about the likely value of the trial coverage we're going to get from the mainstream papers, including Canwest (for reasons we posted earlier). But it's hard to know for sure just what effect the coverage will have
on people's attitudes to the larger issues.
I hope the larger context does get explored
seriously, instead of the focus all being on Pickton and his crimes, and on shock value. But I'm not expecting much from the Vanc. Sun.

As requested: My Sites

I have two books finished; both narrate my time in the industry from age 13 to 18. I'm in the process of completing the third, the prequel, and hunting for an agent. As you may figure, this topic is a hard sell, especially when I don't finger point, lay blame, or whine about being a victim. Laying guilt trips on readers doesn't win empathy, it makes people turn away.

Two open excerpt posts: with reader comments.

http://thelilipages.livejournal.com/158152.html

http://thelilipages.livejournal.com/180595.html

http://thelilipages.livejournal.com/ - My LiveJournal; most book related posts are locked, but if you look around you’ll find open excerpts.

http://eroticalee1.blogspot.com/ - this is my mirror page to my LiveJournal – no comments on the Blogger page, and as I’ve just begun to post there again, not many posts, but you can read a few excerpts.

What I'd like you all to know is that the sex trade isn't only about sex; it's about violence against women and children. It's an industry fueled by a cycle of violence that hasn't changed since my time because society refuses to acknowledge its existence. Proponents of decriminalization never mention the children, and the children can't be forgotten. It's an industry that should not exist. Its very existence perpetuates the violence and decriminalization will do nothing to protect women and children against the cruelty they're suffering now under the watchful eyes of a "sex trade worker helping industry." Are they really helping?

Lilli

Thanks for the links to your sites. I will certainly want to have a look at your
writings.

Harper's Tories promised to legislate raising the age of consent to 16 years (but only if it's an adult preying on a child, rather than 2 consensual teenagers). Some activists trying to address the problem of underage prostitution have been lobbying for 16 years for consent, for a long time. Diane Sowden, whose adopted daughter entered the sex trade at age 13, is one.(I worked for her for many years in her marketing research business).
She thinks such a change in the law would make it easier to prosecute pimps preying on girls under 16. As she says, a 13 or 14 year old may be more vulnerable than a 16 year old, of a more grown up age.

I don't see why having strong laws against underage, while decriminalizing adult prostitution might not work. (Of course, prostitution IS legal,, but everything else surrounding it is NOT, (solicitating, communicating, etc., as Libby Davies has been saying lately).

I've read that in European countries where prostitution (between adults)is legal, the women are at less risk than they are in jurisdictions where they are "criminals", and end up having to work in more dangerous situations.

I notice David Beers' new Tyee piece today,
reflects some of our own concerns about media coverage of the trial. He's particularly critical and skeptical of the Vanc. Sun's coverage.
And he promises the Tyee will cover the wider and related social issues, instead of
the sensationalism of the trial that we'll see elsewhere.

Good to hear.(He's head Tyee honcho).
Sounds like he's on the same page as us on this.

seen this before

I remember being alarmed and a bit sickened in the mid-90's during the Paul Bernado trial, specifically by a Vancouver Sun half-page report transcribing testimony that described grotesquely graphic sadism and murder in detail. I imagined how many people all over BC woould read that page, and whether just maybe someone out there might get excited by it, aroused by it, maybe even inspired by it.
Did Willie Pickton maybe get that paper that day? Didn't these killings apparently start in the mid-90's?

And do we really need to just maybe be inspiring a new, younger set now, with all the lurid obscenities of this ghastly case?

I want to know, but I don't want to know everything. The line is pretty clear, and we don't need to cross it.