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<font size=3>Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 01:21:34 -0800<br><br>
From:
<a href="mailto:indigenous.free.school@gmail.com">
indigenous.free.school@gmail.com</a><br><br>
Subject: Indigenous Women say NO to 2010 Olympic Brothels!<br>
<br>
December 6, 2007<br>
<br>
Aboriginal Women's Action Network<br>
<br>
<br>
As Aboriginal women on occupied Coast Salish Territory, we,
the<br>
Aboriginal Women's Action Network (AWAN) implore you to pay
attention<br>
to the voices of Aboriginal women and women's groups who are
speaking<br>
out in the interest of our sisters, our daughters, our friends and
all<br>
women whose voices have not been heard in the recent media
discussion<br>
on prostitution and legalized brothels for the 2010 Olympics.<br>
<br>
We, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network, speak especially in
the<br>
interests of the most vulnerable women - street prostitutes, of
which<br>
a significant number are young Aboriginal women and girls. We have
a<br>
long, multi-generational history of colonization, marginalization,
and<br>
displacement from our Homelands, and rampant abuses that has
forced<br>
many of our sisters into prostitution. Aboriginal women are
often<br>
either forced into prostitution, trafficked into prostitution or
are<br>
facing that possibility. Given that the average age at which
girls<br>
enter prostitution is fourteen, the majority with a history of<br>
unspeakable abuses, we are also speaking out for the
Aboriginal<br>
children who are targeted by johns and pimps. Aboriginal girls
are<br>
hunted down and prostituted, and the perpetrators go uncharged
with<br>
child sexual assault and child rape. These predators, pervasive in
our<br>
society, roam with impunity in our streets and take advantage of
those<br>
Aboriginal children with the least protection. While we are
speaking<br>
out for the women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, we
include<br>
women from First Nations Reserves, and other Aboriginal
communities,<br>
most of whom have few resources and limited choices. We include
them<br>
because AWAN members also originate from those communities, and
AWAN<br>
members interact regularly with Native women from these
communities.<br>
<br>
The Aboriginal Women's Action Network opposes the legalization
of<br>
prostitution, and any state regulation of prostitution that
entrenches<br>
Aboriginal women and children in the so-called "sex
trade." We hold<br>
that legalizing prostitution in Vancouver will not make it safer
for<br>
those prostituted, but will merely increase their numbers. Contrary
to<br>
current media coverage of the issue, the available evidence
suggests<br>
that it would in fact be harmful, would expand prostitution and
would<br>
promote trafficking, and would only serve to make prostitution
safer<br>
and more profitable for the men who exploit and harm prostituted
women<br>
and children. Although many well-meaning people think that<br>
decriminalization simply means protecting prostituted women
from<br>
arrest, it also refers, dangerously, to the decriminalization of
johns<br>
and pimps. In this way prostitution is normalized, johns multiply,
and<br>
pimps and traffickers become legitimated entrepreneurs. Say
"No" to<br>
this lack of concern for marginalized women and children, who in
this<br>
industry are expected to serve simply as objects of consumption!
The<br>
Aboriginal Women's Action Network opposes the legalization of
brothels<br>
for the 2010 Olympics. We refuse to be commodities in the
so-called<br>
"sex industry" or offer up our sisters and daughters to
be used as<br>
disposable objects for sex tourists.<br>
<br>
A harm-reduction model that claims to help prostituted women by
moving<br>
them indoors to legal brothels, not only would not reduce the harm
to<br>
them, but would disguise the real issues. There is no evidence
that<br>
indoor prostitution is safer for the women involved. Rather, it
is<br>
just as violent and traumatic. Prostitution is inherently
violent,<br>
merely an extension of the violence that most prostituted
women<br>
experience as children. We should aim not merely to reduce this
harm,<br>
as if it is a necessary evil and/or inescapable, but strive to<br>
eliminate it altogether. Those promoting prostitution rarely
address<br>
class, race, or ethnicity as factors that make women even more<br>
vulnerable. A treatise can be written about Aboriginal women's<br>
vulnerability based on race, socio-economic status and gender
but<br>
suffice it to say that we are very over-represented in
street-level<br>
prostitution. There may even be a class bias behind the belief
that<br>
street prostitution is far worse than indoor forms. It is not
the<br>
street per se or the laws for that matter, which are the source of
the<br>
problem, but prostitution itself which depends on a sub-class of
women<br>
or a degraded caste to be exploited. A major factor contributing
to<br>
the absence of attention given to the women who have gone
missing<br>
women in Vancouver is the lack of police response, and the
insidious<br>
societal belief that these women were not worthy of protection,
a<br>
message that is explicitly conveyed to the johns, giving them
the<br>
go-ahead to act toward these women with impunity. If we want
to<br>
protect the most vulnerable women, we could start by
decriminalizing<br>
prostituted women, not the men who harm them. Although it is
not<br>
mentioned in the local news, the Swedish model of dealing with<br>
prostitution provides an example we should seriously consider.
It<br>
criminalizes only the buying of sex, not the selling, targeting
the<br>
customer, pimp, procurer, and trafficker, rather than the
prostituted<br>
woman, and provides an array of social services to aid women to
leave<br>
prostitution. Given that the vast majority of prostituted women
wish<br>
to leave prostitution, we should focus on finding ways to help them
to<br>
do that rather than entrenching them further into prostitution
by<br>
legalizing and institutionalizing it. Here in Vancouver, if we are
to<br>
help those most in need, young Aboriginal women, it would help
to<br>
think more long-term, to focus on healing and prevention. Let's
not<br>
get tricked into a supposed fix which is not even a band-aid, but
only<br>
deepens the wounds.<br>
<br>
<br>
AWAN demands that Aboriginal women have the opportunity to raise
our<br>
families within our Traditional values of having a respected
position<br>
for women and children in our societies. The single-most effective
way<br>
of achieving that goal is empowering and resourcing Aboriginal
women's<br>
groups, such as AWAN, so that we can organize, engage with
other<br>
sectors of society and speak with our own voices. We have a great
deal<br>
of certainty that organized Aboriginal women's voices would be
calling<br>
for "Exiting" programs and services, support for
Aboriginal women and<br>
children, and an end to forced prostitution. Let Vancouver enter
into<br>
the 2010 Olympics without wearing the black-eye of
decriminalized<br>
prostitution and legalized brothels that drive Aboriginal
women<br>
further down the Human Rights ladder of Canadian and Vancouver<br>
society.<br>
<br>
For further information, please contact AWAN spokesperson,
Laura<br>
Holland at (604) 767-5564.<br><br>
<br><br>
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