Overview
Prostitution and sex work is increasingly becoming a significant challenge in the current century. The issue is on the rise because prostitution is currently being faced with many problems such as violence, rising number of prostitute's deaths and high human trafficking issues. Many complicated and mysterious case has been heard on the subject of a sex workers, and the plea to protect the sex workers as they search for the means of living has filled the air. The concept is now apparent that the government had been ignoring the issue of sexual; work and the laws which were set to govern this kind of activity demonized it and branded it immoral. As a result, many people involved in this market took the law to their advantage and killed, maim, and traffic women who were involved in this market ( Weitzer, 2015). A good example is in Canada on the case of the Canada v. Bedford in the year 2002 when it was confirmed that apart from killing two missing women, Robert Pickton had been involved in several mysterious murder of the women who were proved in the court during the hearing that were sex workers. The issue which is of interest of the author of this particular article is not the Bedford case; the problem is the responses to this case and its implication. The paper will analyze the responses on this case from the government perspective and the media perspective, and the possible impact of these reactions the society as far as the matter of sex worker's security is concerned. The author has an aim to make a conclusion on whether or not based on the Canada and the Bedford case, the responses from the government and the media coverage clash, or are coherent, and the effects do they have on the face of the public ( Galbally, 2016). At the end of the analysis, the author expects the reader to have a brief overview of the topics above.
Canada v. Bedford case and government response
The Canada v. Bedford case was the issue which sparks the debate on the matter relating to the sex workers protection. Based on the Supreme Court decision on this case, many issues spread and discussion and responses were aired from media sources and government institution, before looking at its answers, it would be very paramount to review the decision made on this case. In the year 2002, a man by the name Robert Pickton was charged with the murder of some women who were confirmed of be sex workers operating in the inner streets of Canada. The man was responsible for the death of two missing women, and it was later confirmed that there is twenty-four other related death of women who were also sex workers which are directly connected to this man. However, it was the Supreme Court ruling in this case that sparked the heated debate in the country media and the rest of the world. The Supreme Court ruling held that “ several prostitution-related crimes violated section 7 of the Charter and were not saved under section 1 . 38 in its reasons; the Court emphasized the fact that the exchange of sex for money was not itself criminally prohibited”( Hayman, 2017). This ruling was seemingly undermining the long-term held the opinion of the government and attempt by the same Canadian government to associate the sex workers as wrong and immoral and those who are not coherent with the laws of the land. Instead, “the Court balanced the rights violations against a desire to prevent nuisance; and protect sex workers from exploitation. The Court ultimately found the impugned provisions invalid. Its analysis, though, implied that were prostitution itself prohibited, that would trigger an altogether different balancing exercise” (Weitzer, 2017). The government responded in this case by adopting a kind of asymmetrical approach and came up with a new bill called the C-36. The main content of this bill was to criminalize the sex buyers in the market. The government held a view that the male buyers perpetuate sex work in the country due to the bodies of the female available in the market which they are provided with as sex exchange. The problem is that government response seems to justify that the government thinks that criminalizing the sex services buyers or doing away with the demand is the best option to wipe away sex work. It justified that the government was not concerned with the reasons as per why this activity was ongoing ( Sampson, 2014).
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Media responses and its implication
Media portrayed the case differently, and there was a different view of the media and another scholar article. Based on many print media which aired their perspective on this issue, it was very evident that some of the press majored on one side of the issue; others supported the case while others majored on its implications. This was also the same statements which were quoted by Megan Robinson-Walker who the London Abused Women's Centre execrative director. In his statements on the same issue as he was addressing the LifeSiteNews stated that "We understand these issues, and so do a majority of organizations like ours that help the victims of prostitution and other forms of male violence ( Weitzer, 2015). But the media seem to be quoting only one side of this issue lately: about 60 organizations that oppose the law.” Our Canada which is one of the famous print media seems to be supporting this laws not because the laws are out to protect the victims of sex crime or because it punish the perpetrators of this act, but because" it also provides $20 million over five years on education, rehabilitation, and trauma-based counseling programs to get women involved in prostitution into other occupations. On the other hand, there are other print media such as The Canadian House and Home magazine which seems to view this support the laws criminalizing the sex buyers and also the ruling on the Canada and the Bedford case important since it hold opinion that many children should not grow up with the view that woman are sex object. The statement in this magazine reads, "But even more than that it addresses the problem at the root, changing the culture so that boys and girls will no longer grow up believing women are sex-objects” (Mathen, 2016). The difference with scholar article is that with the scholar article, the case is discussed based on its legal consequences, and its implication to the society.
Opinion
Based on my opinion, I think the government and the media are missing the point. First, the government is addressing something which they have fewer facts on. There is no way one can claim that restricting buyers of services may stop prostitution yet, the action of buying these services was not the cause of prostitution. The government needs to deal with the reasons. The media should also be very vigilant and address the two sides of the issue. They should even look at the legal perspective and not social perceptive alone ( Weitzer, 2017). For instance, the government, under the bill C-36, tried to discourage what it termed as the Commoditization of the sex and even the objectification of the human body. Based on my view, the government seems to hold an opinion that men used the female bodies as objects or tools for sex. "In the legislation's preamble, the government explicitly articulated a commitment to "equality and human dignity," and a belief that prostitution is consistent with neither. The legislation received royal assent just before the suspension's expiry” ( Sampson, 2014). The concept of the human dignity which the government used when responding to this issue was also marked by many scholars and even the media. According to the government bill C-36 in Canada, prostitution or the sex workers undermines the human dignity; however, what is evident in this allegation is that the government was aware of the reasons as per why such activities happen. In my opinion, I think the government seems carried away with the action rather than the causation factors. To me, it implies that the government did not put into consideration that some of the sex workers are forced to have this was as the alternative due to the circumstances they found themselves in. The circumstances range from the economic to forced sex due to human trafficking business. I also think that it would be challenging for the government to control the security of the sex workers if it has no idea or they don't take the causes of this matter seriously.
Conclusion
The Canadian policy on prostitution became very stronger after the Canada and Bedford case; however, it seems to have some fouls based on how the government and even the media responded to the ruling in this case. Both media and the government seem to be over-emphasizing on one side of the story. The author of this article, therefore, concludes that the problem of prostitution in Canada can only be eliminated in case the government and media major on the causes of prostitution.
References
Galbally, P. J. (2016). Playing the victim: A critical analysis of Canada's bill c-36 from an international human rights perspective. Melb. J. Int'l L. , 17 , 135.
Mathen, C. (2016). A Recent History of Government Responses to Constitutional Litigation. Const. F. , 25 , 101.
Sampson, L. (2014). The obscenities of this country: Canada v. Bedford and the reform of Canadian prostitution laws. Duke J. Gender L. & Poly , 22 , 137.
Weitzer, R. (2017). Resistance to sex work stigma. Sexualities , 1363460716684509.
Weitzer, R. (2015). Researching prostitution and sex trafficking comparatively. Sexuality research and social policy , 12 (2), 81-91.
Hayman, L. (2017). Visioning Legalized Consensual Adult Sex Work In Canada . Routledge.
