LOS ANGELES—The issue of consensual sex work versus human trafficking has been all over the news of late, and online adult entertainment guide Slixa has published an informative interview with Canadian MP Laurel Collins on those topics in its latest Slixa.com blog post.
The article, "NDP's Laurel Collins Talks With Slixa About MP Arnold Viersen's Parliamentary Stunt to Shame Both Her And Canadian Sex Workers," highlights the problem with sex work laws in Canada, and out-of-touch politicians who do little to protect its citizens who choose this work.
"I have spoken at length with sex workers I know about their life experiences, and the damage that stigma does,” said Collins. “It increases violence and it increases risk, and the laws of Canada, currently, really make their lives more dangerous.”
Conservative MP Arnold Viersen was debating Collins on February 4 over the recent murder of a sex worker, when Collins asked Viersen to consider whether his party’s legislation banning elements of the sex trade in Canada could have been a factor in her death. In an attempt to sidetrack the discussion, Viersen crudely asked Collins whether sex work was something she’d personally "considered."
Although Viersen later apologized for his off-the-cuff remark, it sparked anger among many. "When you conflate sex trafficking and sex work, you propagate ignorance. You presume that sex workers are all victims and have no agency, and that we cannot possibly think for ourselves,” wrote Toronto service provider Isobel Andrews in an open letter. “But this is because you refuse to listen to us. You neglect the real needs of thousands of sex workers in Canada by ignoring our lived experiences as sex workers, and as human beings… You create an ineffective legal system with laws under the guise of 'helping victims' that that in fact end up being very, very harmful to sex workers.”
Collins added that Viersen “doesn’t understand the difference between sex work and sex trafficking. It’s extremely dangerous and harmful to have an elected official speaking in this way… To me, it seems like common sense that if we want to fight for justice and human rights, we need to speak for sex worker rights as well.”
To read the full article with NDP’s MP Lauren Collins, visit Slixa.com/blog or click here.
To learn more about Slixa visit Slixa.com, Twitter.com/Slixa and Instagram.com/Slixa.
Pictured: Laurel Collins
