This is just a sample of thousands of escort classified ads on websites, Facebook, Twitter and pretty much anywhere online or in print. And as of December 6, they are history in Canada now that Bill C, the new federal anti-prostitution legislation, has become law.
According to Justice Minister Peter Mackay, it will affect "all forms of advertising of sexual services , including online. Anything that enables or furthers what we think is an inherently dangerous practice of prostitution will be subject to prosecution. The new law ranks among the harshest in the world. Advertising sexual services is legal, or at least tolerated, in Europe and elsewhere in North America.
In the UK, for example, the "tart cards" that once plastered the ubiquitous red phone boxes have moved online. The internet and social networks are now prime hubs for sex-related ads. In the U. But this is a gigantic Catch, because whatever platform they choose to use - website, newspaper, online classifieds or social network - will be, in the justice minister's words, "entirely subject to prosecution.
In effect, that's a total crackdown. At Maggie's, the Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, a staffer says the advertising prohibition and other elements of the bill will "force sex workers underground to very unsafe areas. Here's a familiar scene: It's night on a rundown suburban commercial strip in a big city. A lone male driver trawls along the curb, slows his car and stops. His face is indistinct through the windshield. A woman saunters up to the car.
She leans in, her body-hugging top so scant her breasts seem to pop out. She wears a mini-skirt and 6-inch platforms. They talk. The transaction is concluded.
