BUYING SEX IS HARMFUL IN 3 WAYS
LEGAL IMPACT
COMMUNITY IMPACT
HEALTH IMPACT
LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
Buying sex is illegal.
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The Crime. Bill C-36 prohibits the purchase of sexual service or communicating in any place for that purpose. This includes online and text messages about prostitution.
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The Penalty. Conviction comes with a maximum of 5 years in prison and the life- time repercussions of having a criminal record.
January 23, 2019
VPD say 47 men — including a retired school teacher, a former school trustee and a firefighter — were arrested during a 2-month operation...
Rhianna Schmunk
April 9. 2019
London police have released the names of four men charged in a sex-purchasing investigation. Officers say they ran a "john sting" at a London...
Jess Brady
January 14, 2017
It’s rare to see a grown man cry. But in a small hotel near a Chicago airport, more than a dozen men come and go with wet cheeks and quivering lips...
Charlotte Alter
HEALTH/personal consequences
Buying sex is often a coping mechanism used in response to stress in life such as:
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Stale relationships
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Feeling isolated
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A life crisis
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Sexual addiction
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However, this escape is self-destructive. After, we become stuck in a cycle of shame and secrecy. We seek validation but leave with immense regret.
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Community Consequences
What is really happening behind the veil.
We might think there is nothing wrong with buying sex. After all, it's the prostitute's job. They are getting paid. They are consenting. Aren't they?​
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In reality, prostitution is NOT A CHOICE for the voiceless majority.
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past abuse
Young girls, 11-14 years old, often grow up in physically and sexually abusive environments, in dysfunctional family systems, in the foster care and juvenile justice system, having inadequate support and supervision, being exposed to violence… These circumstances leave girls vulnerable to being lured into prostitution.
It turns out that 85 – 95% of those in prostitution want to escape it, but feel that they have no other options for survival.
economic need
In some cases, prostitution has to do with economic need. For these people, they feel so trapped by their poverty and their lack of ability to get or keep a job that they resort to prostitution.
75% of those in prostitution have been homeless at some point in their lives.
trafficking & Coercion
Though some are, people don’t have to be chained up to be trapped in prostitution. Fraud, force, and coercion are often used to trap girls in the prostitution industry. Pimps have multitudes of exploitative tactics they use to control a woman or child.
In reality, the vast majority of women in prostitution are lured, tricked, coerced or trafficked into the industry.