Furthermore, the moralization of sex work affects women experiencing homelessness on multiple levels. Within the structure of patriarchy, the criminalization of sex work (which is justified by morality) is also used to ensure the continued economic subordination of women. Essentially, when women and femmes experiencing homelessness engage in survival sex, they are often doing so in pursuit of saving up a substantive amount of money. This is to evidently for one, dig themselves out of homelessness but also to ensure that they are completely financially independent in the future. Often times, what pushes these women and femmes into homelessness are households where they experience abuse and violence. According to the “YWCA Canada”, thousands of women leave their homes every year, to escape on-going and repetitive cycles of physical, emotional, mental, sexual, and psychological harm (YWCA Canada, 2012). Many times, this abuse is intimate partner violence, where the victim is financially dependent on the other individual (YWCA Canada, 2012). Thus, when these women leave and find themselves battling homelessness, they choose to engage in survival sex, with a goal to eventually become economically independent, so they will not have to return to violent relationships and households (YWCA Canada). However, the criminalization of sex work make this nearly impossible for women due to its heavy policing. The criminalization of sex work either prolongs the process one must engage in survival sex (increasing risks) or forces the person to return to abusive situations. When conceptualizing this issue through a feminist framework, this resistance towards a de-moralization\de-criminalization of sex work, may be an attempt to not alleviate women from the power and privilege males often have over them. In that sense, an economic profession that
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Patriarchy not only intertwines with class, sex, and gender, but also with race and ethnicity. The acknowledgment of this aspect of patriarchy helps to contextualize the fact that the criminalization of the trade also happens to be colored as well. The extent to which patriarchy (in regards to homelessness) is racially fueled becomes further evident when analyzing the type of sex work that receives the most harsh and discriminatory policing. This segment of sex work happens to be street-level sex work, which is dominated by a disproportionate amount of racialized and poor women. These women and femmes are often less likely to gain access to safe indoor working conditions, leading to an unfavoured final resort, increasing their visibility on the street. This manifests into the authorities targeting these women through harassment and harsh treatment due to their racial and class …show more content…
According to “Voices For Dignity: A Call To End The Harms Caused By Canada’s Sex Trade Laws”, even if sex work were not criminalized, low-income sex workers are still particularly susceptible to economic exploitation (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee,2011). Women engaged in “survival sex” tend to lose the ability to demand appropriate compensation for their services (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee,2011). Due to their social locations, their work is often framed as having lesser value than the work performed in other segments of the trade (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee, 2011). These discriminative factors of the sex trade industry emphasize what these women and femmes must endure simply within the practice itself. Thus, when factoring in the increasing and extremely discriminative criminalization of the practice in conjunction with these factors, it become easier to comprehend the ways in which these women face multiple
Patriarchy not only intertwines with class, sex, and gender, but also with race and ethnicity. The acknowledgment of this aspect of patriarchy helps to contextualize the fact that the criminalization of the trade also happens to be colored as well. The extent to which patriarchy (in regards to homelessness) is racially fueled becomes further evident when analyzing the type of sex work that receives the most harsh and discriminatory policing. This segment of sex work happens to be street-level sex work, which is dominated by a disproportionate amount of racialized and poor women. These women and femmes are often less likely to gain access to safe indoor working conditions, leading to an unfavoured final resort, increasing their visibility on the street. This manifests into the authorities targeting these women through harassment and harsh treatment due to their racial and class …show more content…
According to “Voices For Dignity: A Call To End The Harms Caused By Canada’s Sex Trade Laws”, even if sex work were not criminalized, low-income sex workers are still particularly susceptible to economic exploitation (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee,2011). Women engaged in “survival sex” tend to lose the ability to demand appropriate compensation for their services (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee,2011). Due to their social locations, their work is often framed as having lesser value than the work performed in other segments of the trade (Pivot Legal Society Sex Work Subcommittee, 2011). These discriminative factors of the sex trade industry emphasize what these women and femmes must endure simply within the practice itself. Thus, when factoring in the increasing and extremely discriminative criminalization of the practice in conjunction with these factors, it become easier to comprehend the ways in which these women face multiple