Respectable Citizens

“Some prostitutes we know are younger than 18 years of age. If they are in the presence of one another at three o’clock in the morning and are selling sexual services, they would be subject to arrest … They’re selling it in the presence of a minor,” [Federal Justice Minister Peter] MacKay volunteered as an example about how a prostitute could be prosecuted for selling sexual services in a public place where children might be present. A reporter followed up by asking whether that would force the underage prostitutes to work independently where they could be at increased risk of harm. “Not at all. We’re not making them do anything,” MacKay responded.¹

This quotation illustrates the neo-liberal mantra of individual responsibility devoid of context or compassion. Shawna Ferris successfully critiques this “dangerous order” in her book,² which will be an excellent resource for anyone engaging with social justice issues, especially those issues where law’s regulatory forces attempt to silence or disempower individuals or communities. Into the twenty-first century, the female sex worker remains “the eternal priestess of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people.”³ Many images of Canadian street sex workers are summoned by mainstream society. In terms of their vulnerability, one may think of Robert Pickton targeting vulnerable women on Vancouver’s “Downtown Eastside”; one may think of contemporary vocal opposition to sex work (including the current federal government, which has boasted that it is the first Canadian government to outlaw prostitution⁴), propounding the view that in sex work “a whole human life is reduced to a few sexual orifices”;⁵ one may also think of the disgusting phenomenon of Edmonton’s RCMP Project KARE, which was unable to effectively protect street-involved sex workers yet “proactively” collecting DNA and identification markers “in order to provide the team with information and assistance in identifying remains.”⁶ One may be tempted to view these situations as local, sensational, or contingent phenomena.

In a powerful and persuasive text, which delves into the metaphorical and literal images of Canadian street sex work, Shawna Ferris argues that individual examples of socio-legal violence against street-involved sex workers (which create a “discourse of disposal”⁷ against visible sex workers, particularly racialized people) are part of a larger picture. Ferris situates modern prostitution laws and their deadly effects as effects of a neo-liberal society. The neo-liberal agenda increasingly defines societal membership in narrow economic terms, simultaneously emphasizing “orderly Canadian cities”⁸ and insisting that individuals are solely responsible for their socio-economic status and societal inclusion.⁹ Under this ideology, undesirable or unclean professions such as sex work (and the “unclean” people who practise them) must be “rooted out and eradicated from the new cityscape.”¹⁰

In framing this narrative, Ferris comprehensively and respectfully tackles the issue(s) of modern sex work in Canada. The text covers a lot of ground, discussing topics as wide-ranging as the historical growth of the city and “whore stigma,” the media and literary portrayal of sex work, the mobilization of sex work activist groups via computer-mediated communication, and the racialization and colonial genealogies of urban street sex work. While presenting a nuanced argument, Ferris concludes that recent developments towards extirpating sex workers from cities and criminalizing commercial sex are harmful and should not be implemented, making the text an argument in favour of legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, sex work.

Chapter 1, “City/Whore Synecdoche and the Case of Vancouver’s Missing Women,” is a perfect example of the text’s broad range, demonstrating the larger context of specific examples of street sex work. The text compares Vancouver’s missing women (most of whom worked as sex workers and the majority of whom are racialized) to other instances of deadly violence against sex workers such as the 1888 Whitechapel murders and the “Yorkshire Ripper” killings of sex workers in the 1970s and 1980s. In doing so, Ferris illustrates the shifting image of the city...