If my work is to be successful it will draw from a diversity of sources to reach the conclusion that the sex industry has played a critical part in the development of society in Toronto. I have gathered information from a wide variety of theorists as well as those whose approach is more practical. Most importantly perhaps is that I draw from the work of Phillipa Levine, Kamala Kempadoo, Jo Doezema, Dan Allman, Gloria Lockett, Julian Marlowe, Gail Pheterson, and others and will be operating on the assumption that discrimination against sex workers as a group is grounded in racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia. While there are certainly concerns, such as physical exploitation and transmission of infection, that are connected to the sex industry, it is my standpoint that these concerns are not peculiar to the sex industry and furthermore, that procedures to abolish the sex industry will make those involved less likely to seek outside help, and will hence worsen the problems associated with it. One factor shared by all instruments intended to abolish the sex industry is that they have all been ineffective. Approaches ranging from patriarchal-monotheistic anti-sex doctrines, outright criminalization of those involved in the sex industry, and certain factions of the feminist movement that view the sex industry’s existence as inherently oppressive to women, have at this time not succeeded in eliminating the sex industry. If these approaches have been successful at all it has been in pushing those involved in the sex industry outside of critical factions of society such as the legal system, spiritual communities, and the feminist movement, hence, causing them to be more oppressed.

There is a feminist stream, headed by theorists such as Kathleen Barry (see Kempadoo 1998, pp. 11-12), that views the commercial sex as a paradigm of women’s oppression via sexual subordination and economic marginalization. Proponents of this form of thinking believe that women will not fully be emancipated until the sex industry is abolished. I intend to challenge this viewpoint, as I believe, conversely, that it is the oppression of women that makes people concerned about the existence of the sex industry. Women in European society are, traditionally, not supposed to earn their own money or be agents of their own sexuality. Participation in the sex industry necessarily entails these two aspects, which is why I believe that it is the patriarchy that seeks to abolish it. While there is certainly much work to be done by feminists in terms of improving the working conditions of women, I feel that when this work takes the direction of abolishing the sex industry, it is misguided.

Additionally, there is a stream of thought that came heavily into play during the colonial era in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century and saw a resurgence in the 1990s that states that while women of European descent who are citizens of wealthy countries might be able to make the choice to participate in the sex industry as a way to further their emancipation as women, all other women throughout the world cannot. In this view, women who travel from countries formerly known as ‘second,’ and ‘third’ world countries to ‘first’ world countries to work as sex workers as well as many women from various sub-populations living within ‘first’ world countries who work as sex workers are seen as inherently exploited. While I am certainly not saying that I do not advocate greater economic oppourtunities for women throughout the world that would cease to cause women to work as sex workers for lack of other options, I also would like to challenge the racist assumption that some women lack agency. I believe that the separation of ‘first,’ ‘second,’ and ‘third’ world women in this regard is part of the same thinking that caused the feminist movement to initially exclude women who were not white.

One important element of my approach is that I will be utilizing some degree of a linear, historical approach (alongside other approaches, of course). I intend to trace the history of the fur-trade in Canada as well as other aspects of Canada’s colonial history as regards how these aspects caused the development of a lucrative sex industry in Canada. t industry in Canada and how its development was intensely connected to the sex industry.

Unfortunately, Much literature on the sex industry in Canada states that not much is known about the Canadian sex industry save that it has historically and continues to play a major role in the society and economy of Canada.I believe that my approach will be unique because it will look at the colonial history of Canada, specifically, and will recognize that Canada has a unique colonial history that has resulted in a unique situation with regard to the global sex industry.

References

Allman, Dan. M is For Mutual, A is For ACTS: Male Sex Work and HIV/AIDS in Canada. Vancouver: Sex Workers’ Alliance of Vancouver along with Health Canada, AIDS Vancouver, and the HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, 1999.

Allman, Dan, and Myers, Ted. “Male Sex Work and HIV/AIDS in Canada,” In Men Who Sell Sex: International Perspectives on Male Prostitution and AIDS.

Aldrich, Robert. Colonialism and Homosexuality. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.

Arens, Blake, Hima B., Gina Gold, Jade Irie, Madeleine Lawson, and Gloria Lockett. “Showing Up Fully: Women of Colour Discuss Sex Work,” moderated By Jill Nagle in Whores and Other Feminists. ed. Jill Nagle. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.

Bidini, Dave. On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock. Toronto: McClelland and Stweart, 1998.

Doezema, Jo. “Forced to Chose: Beyond the Voluntary vs. Forced Dichotomy,” In Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, Redefinition. ed. Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema. London and New York: Routledge: 1998. pp. 34-47.

Goddard, Peter, and Ronnie Hawkins. Ronnie Hawkins: The Last of the Good Ol’ Boys. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 1989.

Kempadoo, Kamala “Introduction: Globalizing Sex Worker’s Rights,” In Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, Redefinition. ed. Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. pp.1-24

Kempadoo, Kamala. “The Migrant Tightrope: Experiences from the Caribbean,” In Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, Redefinition. ed. Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema. London and New York: 1998. pp.124-138.

Kempadoo, Kamala. Sexing the Caribbean: Gender, Race, and Sexual Labour. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.

Levine, Phillipa. Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Venereal Disease in the British Empire. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.

Marlowe, Julian. “It’s Different for Boys,” In Whores and Other Feminists. ed. Jill Nagle. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.

Pheterson, Gail (ed.). A Vindication of the Rights of Whores. Seattle, WA: Seal Press, 1989.