File #986: "Stiletto - Volume 1 Number 2.pdf"
Text
"communicating for the purpose of prostitution"
Drawing by Mary
In this issue ,. ....
The Supreme Court decision
A look at Prowling By Night
Lamp Post: Notes from Cabbagetown
On Call: A Piece of the Action
Money Matters: More on Undercutting
Personal Story: Recovery, Our
Profession, and US Treatment
Programs
News: Whores in uniform (Or, Isn't
hypocrisy fascinating?) • Interstate
Soliciting • Al DS update • You can find
us in the phone book! • Pro Press
Plus: Safe Sex is Our Business •
Just for laughs • A review of
Working• Merchants of Love goes to
England • Poetry • Letters
--------------------------------------------------
-----------
Volume 1, Issue 2 - June 1990
Our "dubious honour" this issue
goes to a group of four.
The majority of judges of the
Supreme Court of Canada, who
decided that it was just fine if the
communicating law violates the
rights of street hos, really earned
their the "Incredible Jerk Award".
What a bunch of guys, eh? (See
the story on the next page for more
details. And send us your nominations for the "Incredible Jerk
Award" for the next issue of
is the newsletter of
the Canadian Organization for the
Rights of Prostitutes - CORP
Signed articles represent the opinions
of the authors only.
Contributing to this issue Chris Bearchell, Catherine,
Danny Cockerline, Gwendolyn,
Ryan Hotchkiss, Alexandre Highcrest,
Hell-in, Julian, Mary Anne,
Will Pritchard.
Stiletto.)
Production - Chris Bearchell,
Will Pritchard
Address - Box 1143, Station F,
Toronto, ON M4Y 2TB
Phone - (416) 964-0150
FIRST RUNNER UP.
William McCormack
Call for advertising rates.
What a contest it was this issue! Metro Police
Chief William McCormack placed a close second
with the comment, "Who would you believe, the
chief of police or a prostitute?"
(See the story on page 5 for details)
2/Stiletto
Deadline for Volume 1, Issue 3 is
October 1, 1990.
---
Giving the green light to whore-bashers
T
The Supreme Court's June ,
1990 decision to uphold section
195.1 of the Criminal Code,
which makes it illegal to"communicate" for the purpose of
prostitution in a public place,
gives the cops the goahead to entrap, arrest
and harass street prostitutes.
Alexandre Highcrest
recounts the story behind
the country's most recent
"business as usual" legal
benchmark.
iagara Falls, Ontario,
was known as a good
place to ply the trade, at least
among some American hos and
their Canadian sisters and brothers working in the industry.
Canada's honeymoon capital
had more to offer residents and
guests than over-priced motel
rooms, tacky souvenirs, and a
nice view of the falls. The
Niagara Falls Police Department, though, didn't care too
much for the idea of the sex
trade flourishing in their community (although making
money indirectly off of non-commercial sex is okay!) and ratepayers
groups were bitching about the developing strolls.
Niagara's Police Chief decided to act;
he met with other police chiefs from
across the country and they decided
that a stiffer law was needed "to control the problem of street prostitution."
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of
Police is a powerful lobby in Ottawa.
They went to work and, by December
r
1111
11111
I I
of 1985, Bill C-49 had been passed.
The infamous "communicating law"
came into effect.
We are all familiar with the bare
bones of C-49. The bill created section
195.l of the Criminal Code, which
makes it an offence to communicate
for the purpose of prostitution in a public place. "Communicate" can mean
anything; a short conversation, a nod, a
wink, or a wave. For the purpose of
this law, a client's car is considered "a
public place." Some of you hos think
it's okay to negotiate in your date's
Ford - uh-aah! If the prospective date
is really a cop and you talk business in
his car, you are busted. Quiet, secluded
parks and back lanes are considered
the same, so be careful, guys.
Stiletto\3
n
Since section 195.l became law, it
has been repeatedly challenged. A number of working girls who were busted
for communicating pleaded not guilty
on the grounds that the communicating
law infringed on their right to freedom
of expression, something guaranteed
under section 2 (b) of Canada's Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. The Canadian Organization for the Rights of
Prostitutes (CORP) has been
campaigning along similar
lines - and on the grounds that
the new law did not, and does
not, work.
C-49 included a clause that
required that section 195.1 be
reviewed after three years. So,
in December 1989, three representatives of CORP went to
Ottawa to present a brief supporting the decriminalizing of
prostitution to the House of
Commons' Committee on Justice. Our presentation addressed the unconstitutionality of
the communicating law and its
ineffectiveness. A study called
Street Prostitution: Assessing
the Impact of the Law, conducted by the Department of Justice as part of the review, confirmed what we were saying
about the fact that the new law has not
decreased street prostitution at all.
There were a number of nodding governmental heads around the table - and
they were nodding in agreement with
what we were saying, not nodding off.
A thin ray of hope in a fog of conservative, right-wing moralism. Truthfully,
we did not expect to see decriminalization take effect simply as a result of
this presentation, but we felt we had
driven a few more nails into C-49's
coffin. Defeating the communicating
law would have been one more step towards achieving our ultimate goal decriminalization of prostitution.
In addition to the pressure applied to
the federal government in general, the
Supreme Court was also feeling the
heat. In May, 1987, the Nova Scotia
Court of Appeal said that the law violated the Charter, and struck it down;
the police in Nova Scotia stopped enforcing it. Another case was decided in
favour of the law by the Manitoba
Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court
was forced to decide between these
two interpretations of the law.
As we waited for the Supreme
Court's decision to come down, we
watched the Mulroney government cut
back funding for services for women.
We watched as the conservatives reinstated abortion into the Criminal Code.
And we cried when the Supreme Court
finally said it was upholding section
195.l of the Criminal Code.
Defeat is a bitter pill to swallow. The
nature of this defeat made the pill especially hard to swallow. The Supreme
Court judges voted on the issue along
gender lines: four male judges voted in
favour of retaining section 195.l as it
stands; the two female judges voted to
dump it. A heartbreaker.
Both Supreme Court justices Bertha
Wilson and Claire L'Heureux-Dube argued against the law on two of
grounds: that it enables the police to arrest citizens who are bothering no one
simply because they are engaged in
communicative acts concerning something that is not illegal; and that the
definition of communicating "in any
manner" is too broad. A citizen may
be charged with communicating when
he or she has nothing more serious in
mind than hailing a passing taxi. To
quote Judge Wilson, "some definitional
limits would appear to be desirable in
an activity labelled as criminal."
The four judges in the majority
agreed that section 195.1 lirnits the
right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Charter of Rights but said
that "the limit passes the Charter's test
of being reasonable and demonstrably
justified in a free and democratic society." Chief Justice Brian Dickson wrote
that "ending the nuisance-related problems caused by street solicitation is a
valid legislative aim."
But the communicating law has failed
to do this - a parliamentary study has
proved this failure. It seems that the
Court did not wait for the parliamen-
tary review before it sat to consider the
law (which sure makes it clear what
government studies are for).
CORP will not give up the fight
against the communicating law in particular and against the other laws which
surround prostitution. In spite of the
fact that prostitution is legal in Canada,
there are a myriad of laws which surround the business and which make it
difficult for sex trade workers engaged
in prostitution to conduct their business
and their own personal lives.
As the situation stands now, we cannot refer dates to other workers, we
4/Stiletto
cannot support our older children or
lovers financially if we choose to do
so, we cannot work out of our own
homes, and we cannot look to our
homes as places of security. Even our
bank accounts can be subject to freezing by police if we are unfortunate
enough to get busted. This form of discrimination must be stopped. No other
group of people is subjected to this
level of government-approved, courtsanctioned discrimination.
To quote the June 6, 1990 Globe and
Mail, "The federal anti-soliciting law
was a sledgehammer when it was introduced and it remains a sledgehammer." The communicating law gives
the police the power to harass and arrest people for communicating with
their potential clients, clients who want
to engage the services of someone engaged in a legal profession, because
some people see the presence of the
working prostitutes as "a nuisance." A
prostitute may be tossed into jail if she
or he "impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic." Lawful assemblies and/or demonstrations often
do the same thing; will this activity
also be stifled in the future by similar
laws? The Supreme Court decision has
set a dangerous precedent. How many
more basic rights of Canadian citizens
will be limited or stripped away before
this form of legislation becomes unacceptable?
Another government study, this one
undertaken in the mid-eighties, found
that the majority of Canadians do not
see street prostitution as a problem. According to the report of the Fraser
Commission on Pornography and Prostitution, only 36% of respondents felt
that the police in Canada should spend
more time trying to catch pros. And
we all know that the communicating
law is ineffective in controlling the socalled problem. Still, the Court upheld
the law. Where is the justice, the desire
for Canada to function as a democracy,
in that?
Have you heard the one about the cop running an escort business?
serve and protect - t
lot of street girls had heard
about Gord Junger before the
story hit the press. Not that Stiletto has
a problem with someone being in the
escort business. Obviously the cops
don't either, if you're a friend of theirs.
For those of you who haven't been
the story closely, this is how
it goes:
Gord
had been on the
Metropolitan Toronto Police Force
since 1981.and was officer of the
month in July 1986. He was a constable at 52 Division before he was
forced to resign; before that he had
been on the morality squad. He met a
"highly-paid call girl" at the home of
another morality squad officer and got
involved in a relationship with her in
the fall of 1989.
It wasn't long before he got involved
in her business too, using the name
"Greg." They ran ads in NOW
magazine offering "executive style
males, females and couples." They
recruited a couple of other male cops
to work with them; women were hired
too but not until Junger had run their
names through the police computer to
make sure they didn't have a record.
Business was going along well. Then
his lady friend got pregnant and Junger
was enough of a cad to ditch her. She
Constable Gord Junger
recorded some incriminating
calls that she had with him and took
the tapes to police internal affairs. Internal affairs investigated lunger by setting him up with a female undercover
cop who posed as a customer.
On December 5, 1989, they
him red-handed - making the deal with
the undercover cop and with a small
amount of hash in his townhouse
kitchen. They laid criminal
against him for possession of
He was suspended with pay the next
day.
Although Junger's former partner's
tape recordings include him
about a deal with the cops, Chief of
Police William McCormack told the
Star that no deals were made. The
cops dropped the drug charges against
Junger on February 28, the day before
he resigned from the force. Junger was
threatened with charges under the
Police Act unless he resigned and he
agreed to resign if the force gave him
a letter of reference. (Presumably the
drug charges were also part of these
non-negotiations.) They dropped the
charges and gave him the letter, and
Junger resigned on March 1. That was
the end of it as far as the cops were
concerned.
But that was hardly the end of it for
his pregnant former girlfriend and
Stiletto\5
ir own asses
William McCormack
partner. She wanted the tapes that she
had given to internal affairs back so
she could pursue a paternity suit
against Junger. They refused to return
them until she got a lawyer after them.
Alan Story, a Toronto Star reporter
who was doing research about the sex
trade, got wind of her situation. He interviewed her and a story about Junger
appeared in the Saturday Star on April
7, sending the Chief of Police and the
Police Commission into a tailspin.
Most commissioners couldn't remember having heard anything about the
case until fr appeared in the Star. Commission chair June Rowlands refused
to comment on the case. The chief of
police explained that he had made only
very brief reports on it to the commission, at the end of meetings after the
person recording the minutes had left.
The press kept after McCormack
about the woman's allegations that
there were other cops involved in the
escort service. McCormack' s response:
"Who would you believe, the chief of
police or a prostitute"? A funny question considering that her claims so far
have proven to be true, while he has
looked like a man covering his ass at
every turn in this case.
The Ontario Police Commission
(OPC) was appointed to look into the
Junger affair. Then Douglas Drinkwalter, chairman of the OPC, told the Star
April 18 that the case was "a tempest
in a teapot" - before he had seen any
of the files on it The Ontario Solicitor
General's office had the good sense to
be embarrassed by this and OPC vicechairman Frank D' Andrea was assigned to head up the investigation instead.
The OPC has since looked into it and
Drinkwalter has changed his tune. He
is now saying that they "are finding
some very disturbing things" about the
case and that there should be a public
inquiry. The Police Commission has
set up a task force, made up mostly of
cops, to study how to handle the cases
of officers who are being investigated
by the force. We're not holding our
breath on that one. But we are waiting
anxiously to see if the OPC is going to
drag Junger's former partner up before
a
inquiry, recommend a major
crack-down on escorts, or do someequally vindictive.
People living with AIDS in danger
Ontario's ief medical officer wants
power to quarantine
The Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project
(PSSP) was well represented at the
April 25 demonstration against Richard
Schabas, the Chief Medical Officer of
Health for the Province of Ontario.
The demonstration was held outside
the Westbury Hotel where the Ontario
AIDS Advisory Committee was hearing a report from Schabas, in which he
recommended that the status of AIDS,
under the province's public health
laws, be changed from that of a "communicable" disease to that of a
"virulent" one. This would give public
health officials greater power to lock
up people who they believe are putting
other people at risk for AIDS. According to an interview he gave the Toronto Star, that includes people who know
they are infected with HIV, the virus
associated with AIDS, who have any
kind of intercourse - even if they' re
using a condom.
Schabas's proposal is dangerous for a
number of reasons. First of
people
photo by Konnie Reich
6/Stiletto
living with AIDS (PLW As) do not
have a "virulent" disease the way tuberculosis is virulent. To say otherwise is
to give people the mistaken impression
that they are in danger from casual contact with PLW As. Secondly, to suggest
that people with HIV shouldn't have
sex, even using condoms, suggests that
condoms don't really work - so why
bother with them. Third, giving people
the idea that tl-ir~ government is quarantining everyone who is a possible
danger suggests that all individuals
don't have to take responsibility for
protecting themselves from AIDS and
other sexually transmitted diseases.
These misconceptions undennine the
work being done by AIDS education
groups all over Ontario and around the
world. It is outrageous that they should
be
forward by the province's Chief
Medical Officer of Health.
Schabas and his ideas are a particular
threat to people in the business. At a
meeting during i.\IDS Aware-
OLDEST
PROFESSION
TIMES
A newsletter published by 90's
Ladies and Friends, a group
working for the repeal of laws
against prostitutes.
OPT, l 125-9thStreet,
Sacramento, CA, 95814 USA
orking
irl
ness Week last fall, Schabas told the
largely gay audience that it isn't them
he's worried about, because gay men
have done a good job of adopting
responsible safe-sex behaviour. It's
those other, less responsible groups in
society who are affected, like IV-drug
users, who he's worried about.
The City of Toronto's newly released
report, Women and AIDS, says that 10
of the 100 or so women who have
tested positive for HIV in the city are
prostitutes. Nine of them are believed
to have got the virus through sharing
injection equipment. (A man with
Schabas' s kind of logic is apt to decide
that this means that all pros are sharing
needles.)
In a letter to the Star saying his comments about sex with condoms were
taken out of context (whatever that
means), Schabas used a couple of examples of people he wanted to control.
One of them was an HIV-infected prostitute who shares needles. Of course,
no one should share needles now that
we know that it spreads AIDS,
hepatitis and other diseases. Schabas 's
implication is clearly that this person is
a particular problem because she's a
prostitute - otherwise he wouldn't
have mentioned her job.
The Toronto Board of Health has
taken a position against Schabas' s
recommendation and has urged the Ontario Ministry of Health to reject it.
And so did the noisy demonstrators.
Chris Bearchell
A magazine published by the
Prostitutes Association of
South Australia (PASA).
Pros' Press
The prostitutes' rights movement
media is looking good these days.
New from Prostitutes Of New York
(PONY), The PONY X-press, is a 28page glossy magazine with some great
articles and humour and lots of images
and graphics. It's an inspiring way to
find out about PONY and life in the
business in the Big Apple.
Old reliable Oldest Profession Times
(OPI) has been designed and laid out
using desktop publishing for the past
two issues and is looking much more
professional and presentable. Unfortunately, that means that their costs are
up and they aren't sure that they'll be
able to keep doing OPT in the new format. If you've thought about subscribing in the past, now's the time to send
them your cash. (See ads this page.)
Scarlet Harlot's "Interstate Solicitation
Tour" roared into New York City on
May 24.
The outrageous performance artist
and whore has set off to deliberately
and publicly challenge the law - by
breaking it - in her own dramatic
style. She took her street theatre, with
a bevy of Prostitutes of New York
(PONY) supporters, right to where the
money is. The colourful activists
gathered a sizable crowd in front of
TV cameras outside the New York
Stock Exchange on Wall Street for a
rousing rendition of Scarlet's raunchy
song, Bad Girl. It was a hit, as usual.
Look in the book!
PASA
PO Box 7072, Hutt Street
Adelaide 5000
Australia
Finally! After much wrangling with
Bell Canada and some welcome assistance from the Canadian Radio and
Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC), you can find both the
Canadian Organization for the Rights
Stiletto\7
white pages.
Bell was, of course, hung up about
the word prostitute. But after PSSP's
funders made a few enquiries and the
CRTC told them, in a rapid exchange
of faxes, that they were out of line,
they backed down.
Naturally we're getting a few more
prank calls as a result of the increased
exposure, but it's worth it to have
. ~
e c,O"
. ,,.,.se
so
,o
'"e
"i,_\t!J;',;.'61/t.()'\
'(I - q
e,'(llllc;
<:/::,A.s~,;a\\
Q\ l),;0rt.'c>
\':,"l
r:.,or/'>
-c.o -- - ,,11fo
~a ~t~\.a:~~~e{\\\:.
0 oo"fi
g
i1 ___ - - - - - a"'li
C,ll
()
\\
a~~a,u~~l:l '{ ?\\~\'\\
;..Q01
.c.cr)fj\;,,
,,
flfl. s
,\\
, - - \,?.'f,)O(
i\\~ll, Cl.•
. c) - ~t,fi.
qO"
\
"-'il.1)\9
b
:,
~t.~ " '{ol'\:f ~,.,
Sex t,:~~::Jrfo~~'*,\'\}'1!'1\\6eJ'"" -
r
Sports
·osurn E{9 fn;;P:1
'SIJre In
suranc
.•• .,,
fject
- <.)<·.:i,31
_ F1~c~~r~h -964. 01 °
=~~
51
.-::risJf :,
;
r1r,g Ltd - - - - - - _
56 G
eAgencies 1idard -631
'-',..,,,,,,,~
62 Sn d
Ortm~
--
·Seso
t'ro1r1
o
"6355 P
f!Jt
people in the business be able to look
us up in the book and give us a call.
You will find that we have the answering machine on most of the time
though, so please leave a number and
give us a bit of time to get back to
you. We promise to return every
serious call that we get
Farewell to Danny
Goodbye can be one of the hardest
things to say in any language and
that's particularly true when it comes
to saying farewell to CORP spokesman
and Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project co-ordinator Danny Cockerline.
Danny is, of course, still a member of
CORP and is back on the board of
PSSP. But we sure miss his hard work,
insight, talent, dedication and sunny
smile as the two groups slog through
we're pretty sure
he left some
other broken
hearts behind
among his
friends and customers in the
business, too.
Danny is talcing
a well-deserved
vacation after
working long and
hard to get PSSP
set up and
funded and then
co-ordinating the
project for the
two crucial years
that followed.
He's rumoured to
be having a good
time in New
York (look out
all you folks in PONY!) before he sets
off to visit friends (and make new
ones) in the rest of the world-wide
whores' movement.
We can only say, "Good luck and
come back soon."
lf-----------------------------"11
Parkdale Community Legal Services
1239 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON
531-2411
Monday
10 am to 6 pm
Tuesday
1O am to noon and 2 pm to 7:30 pm
Wednesday
2 pm to 6 pm
Thursday
noon to 7:30 pm
8/Stiletto
Notes from Cabbagetown
ome nights there are so many
girls out working it seems like a
harem. Other nights I'll ride around for
hours and not see anybody. Usually
that means a sweep but sometimes it's
just the moon.
"What about that red-haired cop? He
turns ya, then he takes the money
back."
"Who's supposed to be patrolling this
street, 51 or 52? They're both always
over here. Somebody should stay in
their own division."
New funds
mean
a new home
for PSSP
For the first time, beginning July 1, the
federal government will be funding the
Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project.
The three-year, AIDS Community Action Plan grant will cover the cost of
one staff salary and will help cover the
cost of operating a more accessible
resource centre/office space/meeting
place. It will be open sometime this
fall. Yes, your tax dollars will actually
be going to something that is for
people in the business!
In the meantime, if you see a likely
looking location that you think the
project should know about, call and
leave a message on the PSSP answering machine at 964-0150.
"I wasn't even working; I
was jus~ walking home. A
guy pulled up beside me
and said, I feel like getting laid. I said, yeah,
that's nice, and kept on
walking. I recognized
him; I knew he was a
cop. Then he pulls up
beside me again and says,
you 're under arrest for
communicating. I said, we
never discussed a price,
how'd you know I wasn't
gonna do you for free?
And you never showed
me your badge so it won't
hold up in court. He said,
who's the judge going to
believe, the police or a
whore?" [He's been
taking lessons from his
chief.]
"Yeah, you haven't seen
me for a while; I've just
done 92 days. I was sitting in court. The judge
was arguing with the
prosecutor for half an
hour on the case before
mine. When I came up
Stiletto\9
the judge was in a bad mood - he
didn't want to hear any details ofmy
case. He called me "a burden to
society" and gave me 90 days. I'm really pissed off."
The cops got this old guy to pretend he
wanted me. He took me in his car to a
parking lot and parked beside an unmarked cop car. They busted me
before anything went down and gave
me a ticket. Then, when I was walking
home, the old guy pulled up beside me
again and asked if I wanted a date.
[Was this another bust or
did she get him horny?]
"Where is this 'zone of
tolerance'?"
Ran into a girl I haven't
seen in months. Turns out
she's got a curfew so she
can't work nights.
"What can we do about
the 20-dollar hos?"
Favourite pieces from
issue one of Stiletto:
"Spermwhale," "Wild
West Hos" and "Feed
your pussy well."
"I can hand out as many
Stiletto's as you can give
me. Girls are asking for
them from as far away as
Oshawa. They've been
photocopying my copy."
[Sheila Pieschke]
"Have you got any more
of that magazine? Oh,
I've had that one sitting
on my coffee table for
months."
Gwendolyn
I
1
111:11:::11111111111111111:::;:i:1:11111111:111111,1:11111111111111:1:111111111 Jlilililill!lilil!llililiili!il!illl! lil!II
...,j:::t
have seen many films about
the business; those made by social
workers, big-buck Hollywood
producers, T.V. documentary
filmmakers and the like. But
I've never seen a film about
working made by hos - that is,
until I saw Prowling By Night.
This film is unlike any film
dealing with prostitution that I
have ever seen.
To read my initial description
of Prowling By Night, the film
sounds almost innocent. Gwendolyn, an outreach worker with
the Prostitutes' Safe Sex
Project, comedienne and parttime ho, made the film to document the experiences of two
other Safe Sex Project workers
and the street girls they work
for. The format used was that
of an adult, puppet cartoon - no
JO/Stiletto
actors, no big budget, no glitzy special
effects. But she did use working girls;
street pros drew the pictures to represent themselves in the film, pro~ did
all the talking and there was riO SCript.
Everyone spoke freely and openly
about their experiences working Toronto's strolls. Valerie and Ryan, the two
girls who work for the project, did the
same.
The film follows Valerie and Ryan as
they walk the stroll in Parkdale, passing out condoms, doing the AIDS rap
and talking the politics of the sex
trade. But the film focuses on the girls
who work the street and the harassment they face at the hands of the
cops. The language used is as real as
the women who are speaking and the
effect is moving and powerful. Hos,
friends of hos and people who get
upset when they see other people being
abused or disadvantaged will all be af-
fected by this work. Prowling By Night
is not a cartoon version of Pretty
Woman. The film's imagery is vivid,
often stark, but the message is driven
home clearly. Cabbagetown's bikeriding "Condom Lady" and the twenty
or so prostitutes who helped make the
film have done one hell of a job.
Films, even shorts like Prowling By
Night, need money to be produced and
Gwendo's efforts were funded by a
grant from the National Film Board's
women's studio, Studio D. This year
Studio D is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary by sponsoring the Five
Feminist Minutes Project, which
funded fifteen women filmmakers to
each make a five-minute film
documenting experiences of women in
each of their communities. They will
all be screened together at several festivals this summer. Prowling By Night
i
drawing by Catherine
was one of the fifteen proposals
harassment of Toronto's street prosselected from a field of many contitutes, but the stories the girls tell
tenders and I have to give Studio D
could have happened anywhere. The
credit for making a wise choice.
sad part of it is, they probably already
Keep your ears open on the stroll or
have.
read Stiletto for information about
when and where you can see this film.
Alexandre Highcrest
Prowling By Night is about police
SPECIAL SCREENING
Prowling By Night will be shown at the
416 Drop-in Centre for Women,
416 Dundas Street East
on Friday September 28, 1990 at 2:00 pm.
All pros and your invited guests
WELCOME
Prowling By Night will also have two showings at
the Toronto Festival of Festivals which runs from
September 6 through to September 15, as part of
the Five Feminist Minutes Programme.
Call the Festival for time and place.
drawing by Mary Anne
Stiletto\11
Ryan Hotchkiss revi~5?
The secret to being happy and successful in any career is having a job you
are suited to. Football players are
suited to playing football. Meteorologists are suited to being weather
forecasters. I am suited to being a prostitute. - Dolores French
orking is a fine addition to the
genre of books by prostitutes
about the life such as The
Mayflower Madam, by Sidney Biddle Barrows or Personal Services, by Cynthia
Payne. These books are
first-person accounts written by those most qualified
to write about the business
- those in the business.
Working was written in
collaboration with New
York writer Linda Lee and
documents Ms French's
career as a prostitute over
a ten-year period. She has
crammed a lot of experience into those ten
years. Her sense of adventure and desire to travel
and try new things have
served her well in the business. She worked as a call
girl, a streetwalker and a
brothel worker. Her
curiosity has taken her all
over Europe, the Caribbean, and the U.S.A. She
has even worked in the
windows of the red-light
district and in a brothel in
Amsterdam.
The two years that she spent in the
Caribbean made for some of the most
entertaining stories. Dolores worked
for part of that time at the Black
Angus in San Juan, a loud and raucous
place, " ... it was like a boot camp for
prostitution. It prepared you for battle,
it made you physically fit and it was a
!:~!~~
by Delores French
darned good place to meet other foot
soldiers."
Dolores answers all of the typical
questions: How did you get into the
business? What was your childhood
like? Do your parents know that you
work? What about taxes? Do you have
normal relationships? In the process,
she explores the myths about pros-
titutes, destroys the stereotypes, and
humanizes us.
Working has an easy-going, off-thecuff story-telling style which, along
with its humour, disguises the fact that
it's a highly political book. It gets
across basic ideas about things like
prostitutes' rights and AIDS, painlessly.
121Stiletto
Dolores is angry at a hypocritical justice system that batters and dehumanizes women who are providing a
legitimate service. Out of her anger,
the Atlanta prostitutes' rights group
HIRE (Hooking Is Real Employment)
was formed in 1983. HIRE is a political lobby group that, like CORP, tries
to lobby for the decriminalization of
prostitution. HIRE does
public speaking and complains about how the cops,
courts, health clinics, and
hotels treat prostitutes. Like
any prostitutes' organization, HIRE has had some
trouble involving prosti. tutes. Dolores quips, "It
was like trying to organize
raw eggs."
Dolores turned her first
trick at twenty-seven while
working in a small radio station in Atlanta as an administrator and fund-raiser. She
said of that first experience,
"That man treated me with
more respect than I had gotten in most other occupations, and he paid me a lot
closer to what my time and
mind were worth. He paid
me with a smile on his face
... and I was proud to
have been able to help him."
Dolores's pride in her
work and her love of the
women she worked with
shine through in this book. Dolores
found, as many of us have, that working as a prostitute increased her feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. The
attitude that you adopt towards the
business has so much to do with how it
will affect you.
Ms French says a lot of positive
things about the business without
glamourizing it. She acknowledges that
it can be a difficult and dangerous
profession. It is made dangerous by the
laws that we are forced to work under
and by moral prejudice. Working is
chock-full of tips about how to deal
with the down side of prostitution. She
talks about what to look for in a trick,
how to avoid creeps and cops, how to
defuse potentially violent situations,
how to put a safe on with your mouth,
and what to do during your period. She
says of one of her teachers, "She
trained me to bring deeply buried
thoughts, perceptions, suspicions to the
front of my mind: You're alone. A mistake could mean anything from simple
unpleasantness to jail or death."
Dolores is a highly skilled professional. She is good at dealing with
people, uninhibited about sex, intelligent and articulate, and she thinks
well on her feet. If you know anyone
who thinks prostitution is an unskilled
profession, have them read this book.
Working is a real morale-booster that
makes you feel good about working
without skirting the tough issues. One
caution, however: Dolores makes you
yearn for the open road, and if you
have the wanderlust, this book is sure
to fuel it.
Working by Delores French with Linda
Lee. Published by E.P. Dutton, New
York, 1988.
Announcement:
Women's Press is publishing a book
called Words from Within: Women
Prisoners Write.
If you are a woman who is or has
been in prisori and you have a message
to share, they want to hear from you.
All forms of writing, including songs,
essays and poetry, will be considered.
Pen names can be used and a fee will
be paid upon publication. Send your
writing to #233, 517 College St, Toronto, ON M6G 4A2, or contact them for
infonnation. Phone: 921-2425.
;····:···~~,~··-~e~···i···o:.~··bus,.;;;···················································-----
:....:..:.:.:.i.:.i...:.:...:..:...:.:..:...........:..
co v enan t House Hypocrisy
I
can't say that I haven't been
doing. The social services agencies are
delighted by all of the bad press
trying to save people from prostitution.
Covenant House (CH) of New York
They don't seem to realize that by
has been getting lately.
treating prostitution like a problem that
Father Bruce Ritter, the founder of
must be wiped out they are indirectly
CH, has been accused of using CH
supporting the arrest, harassment,
money to get young male clients of
abuse, rape and murder of prostitutes.
CH to have sex with him. It's unforRather than trying to save people from
tunate, though, that Ritter is being atprostitution, CORP and PSSP are
tacked for
trying to
his homosave prossexuality
titutesand for
ourselves
being a
includedtrick when
from the
it is his
laws and
hypocrisy
attitudes
that is the
that hurt
scandal. Ritus and
ter opposes
make our
gay rights
work
and prosmore
titutes'
dangerous.
rights and
We want
yet heapprostitupears to be
tion
both gay
decriminand a trick.
alized so
Isn't there
that prossomething
titutes
in Catholihave the
cism about
same
being
rights and
honest?
respect as
Tim Warner, the Pro who blew Ritter's cover
CH's
other
moral thinking has always been someworkers.
what fucked up. They say they want to
Unlike the agencies which treat proshelp young people who are turning
titutes as "clients" or "victims" who
tricks on the street but they won't give
need to be helped by educated social
them condoms. Better to let them die
workers, CORP and PSSP are run by
and have God sort them out, they
prostitutes and we want other prosfigure.
titutes to get involved. Join us. Call
It is because of CH, and agencies like
(416) 964-0150 or write Box 1143, Stait, that the Canadian Organization for
tion F, Toronto, ON M4Y 2T8.
the Rights of Prostitutes (CORP)
decided to start Prostitutes' Safe Sex
Danny Cockerline
Project (PSSP). We wanted to try to
undo some of the damage they are
Stiletto\13
Undercutting only benefits the johns
hen the first issue of Stiletto
hit the streets there was a
piece in there written by a ho who was
bitching about the undercutting of prices on
the street and by the
boys who work inside.
I work inside and I
thought, "Well, it can't
be as bad as all that.
I'm still scoring my
decent money dates."
But he was right. I run
a lot of fantasy and
fetish scenarios and
usually these kinds of
gigs involve a fair degree of time and some
preparation, yet the
johns are balking at
realistic prices for this kind of service.
For plain sex they practically expect
you to give it away.
We're into summer and business
should be picking up for everyone as
·~
Qr,,..,,.,,
VE""fl,'!'
I
.
\
"olELFr.:;
,:,., · .
=- ,
'
Toronto fills up with horny tourists and
the like. These people all have money
to spend and I for one would like to
make some serious dollars over the
I
1111
's Clinic
I
diseases
Ste. 2
phone 922-0566
Mon, Wed, Fri - 10 am to 3 pm
Tues & Thurs - 4 pm to 8 pm
by appointment
STD drop-in (no appointment necessary)
Tues & Thurs - 4pm to 6pm
Men's Clinic
hours:
'
'-~-m'i,,;:_,"'~~~¾;'~sf-
rth control and sexually
Church St., at Wellesley,
hours:
00..,,:.;,
~
phone 922-0603
Mon & Wed - 4 pm to 9 pm
Tues & Thurs - 10 am to 2 pm
Fri - 4 pm to 7 pm
Sat - 10 am to 2 pm
I
next six months. No one has to roll
over for forty or fifty bucks and if no
one did we'd all make
more money. The
clients will pay, they
have no choice; a customer's urges are not
linked to his wallet.
And it has nothing to
do with your age,
either; in the January
26 issue of Xtra they
interviewed a 45-yearold pro who charges
$50 per date regardless
of what he has to do.
A "Bargain Ho" if I
ever heard of one. I
also know a 20-year-old ho who bases
everything on the $50 date. Sure,
maybe you can make money turning
cheap tricks but you have to work all
the time. I'm in The Business because
I love it, but I also havt.; a life outside
of prostitution. I don't want to spend
all of my waking hours waiting for the
phone to ring or sucking cock.
We can educate the clients to the
realities of The Business only after we
have educated ourselves. We are the
commodity; we can dictate the price.
Come on ladies and gentlemen, lets
conduct ourselves like the freelance
business people we are. Undercutting
only benefits the customer while we,
as a group, suffer financially. My rent
is not going down, is yours? The Scarlet Harlot, a politically active whore
out of San Francisco, summed it up
quite nicely in a line from a poem she
has written, entitled Cheap.
"Cheap is when you want less than
pleasure, a baby or a hundred dollars."
And that's a hundred bucks American.
Alexandre Highcrest
no appointment necessary
Free and confidential health care services.
14/Stiletto
Recovery, our profession
and U A treatme t programs
I
am a recovering heroin addict and
may name is Julian. I have also
worked Grosvenor street as a hustler
for about six months this past winter,
fall and summer. My chosen profession allowed me to support a one- to
two-bag-a-day junk habit on the good
days. However, I wasn't without sick
days, on and off the job.
When I heard the words "social
worker" - when I hear the words "social worker" today - I cringe. My
experience on the street with the dogooders was consistently bad. As I
said in a previous commentary in
this 'zine, a lot of times there were
more social workers on the street
than hustlers and johns. I had
made a conscious decision to work
the street without help from social
services and I resented the outreach these workers were forcing
on me and my co-workers. After
all, their very presence caused us
to lose money. My resentment was
amplified by the fact that more
often than not I was junk sick and
needed that money to restore me
to a fully functional state of being.
Their presence hampered my efforts to
achieve this goal.
As I sit writing this, I am fully functional - or as much so as I could hope
to be - and I achieve this without junk.
I have been clean for a month and a
half, approximately, and firmly believe
I wouldn't have lasted more than a few
days in this attempt had I not received
the help I did.
I had sort of hit bottom. Meaning I
had fucked everyone there was to fuck
in several different ways and was left
with an uncontrollable urge and an
empty hype. There seemed very little
hope of any sort of happiness in my
life and I had burned all my bridges to
resources.
I made a decision to enter a treatment
facility in the United States and to see
if the thirty days clean could start me
on a different course.
I knew upon entering that the centre
based its principles of recovery on the
philosophy of the twelve-step
programs of Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous and I had
no intention of conforming to these
principles.
As more time passed, I became more
aware that these people were not as
moralistic as I had anticipated. In fact
they were only concerned with the issues in my life that I personally had
trouble with.
For instance, the prostitution issue,
which I knew would come up, has
never been a moral problem for me so
consequently when I explained my
past financial endeavours and my attitude towards them (fair trade) I ran
up against no opposition or socialworker rhetoric. I'm sure these people
do have these opinions on the subject
as a whole but I was not made privy to
them, which was fine with me. I was
there for my recovery - not theirs. My
career choice does not force me to use
drugs but conversely my drug depend-
Stiletto\15
ency did help immensely in my career
choice. To sum up, I maybe talked to
my counsellor (also a recovering addict) for about fifteen minutes in a thirty-day period about the subject of prostitution.
Back to the program basis - the
twelve steps, and more importantly,
the god concept. For one, the only
thing I was asked to do while I was
there was admit that I was powerless
over my addiction and that my life had
become unmanageable; then, to consider and be open to the possibility that there is a power
greater than myself. It was totally up to me how I defined
this power. I could call it God
or I could call it George - the
name and religion are irrelevant. For me, at the risk of
sounding Pollyanna-ish, this is
just the power I witness when
love is demonstrated in
relationships and in the beauty
of nature - a thunderstorm, the
blije sky of a clear day. These
are things that I did not create
and that demonstrate to me an existence far greater than this afflicted body.
So, upon leaving the facility, my attitude to the program had changed. I
am still Julian, I am healthy, I am
clean and I am a much more contented
individual. The twelve steps have allowed me certain insights, although I
do not spend twenty four hours a day
wrapped up in their written word. For
me, this treatment was extremely
beneficial and has allowed me a certain amount of peace and serenity and
the ability to regain control in a drugfree existence - to get on with my life.
Julian
Gwendolyn's
show,
Merchants
Love,
goes
it makes a di!'feren_ce just what colour bag you choose
to carry. and 11:- which h~d. also as you realize that you
are leavmg this place this time walking out as they so
often say with every care behind you but the close
deliberation ?f each step you take each mark you make
before
fmd yourself run all full fool circle and the
pattern starts again as 01;1e more lonely gambling lady
leans out the sun for Just a moment thinking yes i
~an o[ course i can pretending as she dawdles by the rail
m qme_t warmth that she can f!.y is weightless yes
and childless too no anchors tie her silver steps and
then you know for sure that you have caught her eye as
you put one bag down to measure faith and distance for
the present for the price of one night shuffling and you
eye her too because you both know there is no touch no
communication and there will be always balconies just off
the street
and solitary strolling passersby and each
knows each as they say i must really keep to my own path
but if your mind is open or(e) my bags get too damn heavy
then i will consider entering your place
and maybe i will
stay false promise in the dust you know but both of you
rush to the meeting blind as they do say and nobody
ever stops to look at all leaves falling as the heart of
this articular! colourful street truth flows b
16/Stiletto
Merchants ofLove, prostitute activist
Gwendolyn's r:mlti-media presentation
about "a sex worker's experiences in
therapy," which was the hit of last
year's "Fringe of Toronto" theatre festival, was performed in Britain twice in
May.
Gwendolyn appeared at the "Edge
90" festival in Newcastle upon Tyne
on May 20 and then did the show
again in London a week later for the
London Film Makers' Co-operative.
Some of the notorious British tabloid
press got in a predictable flap about
the fact that a self-confessed hooker
was representing Canada at these
events. "The Hooker ... sponsored by
her government!" screamed the headline on a story which quotes Alan
Beith, Liberal Democratic MP for Berwick-on-Tweed, saying: "The reports I
have had of the show and the profession of this women are disgusting.
"The taxpayers in Canada should be
asking their government to explain
why they are supporting such a person
and burdening the British public with
her."
Dear Editor:
Thanks for the copy of Stiletto that I
received from one of your workers at
the International Women's Day fair.
I found the magazine to be well-written, witty and full of helpful information.
However, I'd like to point out an
error. I represented the Elizabeth Fry
Society at the meeting Valerie reports
in the News section. Jennifer Stephens
represented NAC. The views expressed
in the report seem to be a mixture of
Jennifer's and mine, but it is certainly
true that the Elizabeth Fry Society is
for decriminalization of the criminal
code offences surrounding prostitution
and that we feel prostitutes have the
right to be treated "as human beings
deserving of dignity."
Good luck with the magazine. Sign
us up as subscribers!
Yours truly,
Rosemary Aubert
Director of Community Relations
Elizabeth Fry Society
Fm TO SEX TRADE WORl<ERS
AVAILMJLE IN BULK FOR RETAIL
OR AGENCY DISTRIBLmON
MAIL $.75 EAOI FOR 10
OR MORE. PLUS $3 POSTAGE
AND HANDLING TO:
PSSP, BOX 1143 STATION f
TORONTO ON M4Y 2T8
Editors:
First, let us say that we found your
magazine both informative and interesting and look forward to future issues.
As counsellors at The Works, we
would however, like to respond to the
article about our program that appeared in your first edition of Stiletto.
Unfortunately there has been some
misunderstanding about the function of
The Works and how it operates and we
want to clarify this.
The Works is an AIDS and Drug Use
Prevention Program. The purpose of
our program is to prevent the spread of
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,
among injection drug users and their
sexual partners. At The Works you can
exchange used needles/syringes for
new ones, get free condoms and get
free needle cleaning kits. We also offer
counselling, support, health information and drug treatment referral. All
services at The Works are free and confidential.
PLEASE SPECIFY DESIRED SI.OGANS
Stiletto\17
When someone comes to The Works
they are given a code. In the article the
writer was very concerned that being
assigned a personal code could result
in the person being identified by name.
This is not true. There is no possible
way that this code can be traced to a
specific individual or identification,
like a social insurance number. The
code was designed so that people
could remain anonymous but could
also remember their code. We ask for
the first initial of their first name, the
second and third letters of their
mother's or pet's name, the month of
birth and the year of birth.
Each person has a code so that we
know how many people return and
what type of services people are asking
for. Having this information helps us
in two ways. First, we are able to find
out how useful our service is by the
number of people who return. Second,
this information helps us plan and
develop our programs to meet the
needs of our clients. We encourage
people who have questions about The
Works to contact us at 392-0520 or
drop by our office. The Works is located at 660 Dundas Street West and
we are open Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday from 1:00 pm to
9:00 pm and on Tuesday from 5:00 pm
to 9:00pm.
We hope this letter has cleared up
any misunderstanding.
Sincerely,
Sheila Scott, RN
Counsellor
The Works
H
A Piece of the Action
aving been a pro for about 13
years, I'm not used to paying to
get screwed; the money usually flows
the other way. Of course that doesn't
apply to advertising and since I
work inside, advertising is an essential part of my business.
NOW magazine knows how important an inside sex trade
worker's advertising is; they've
been taking advantage of their
,f.\
position, and us, for years. NOW J
is not the only place for a ho or
escort service to advertise; most
personal contact magazines will
accept ads from us, as will Xtra.
However, none of these publications can boast of a readership
comparable to NOW' s (240,000
per week, according to the publication) nor are they as publicly visible
and accessible. These features, along
with the fact that NOW allows fairly
explicit ads, make advertising in NOW
potentially lucrative in spite of the fact
that we are gouged weekly (the "Business Personals" are the most costly ads
of their kind in the mag; we pay
'
double everyone else's rates).
Enter Metropolis magazine, a publication which just recently opened its
doors to advertisers from The Business. As of March 1, their weekly print
run was 150,000 copies - respectable.
Little Ho Humour
couple's conversation, overheard in the lobby of a downtown hotel:
Well-dressed man: "Would you go to
bed with me ifl paid you $10,000.?"
Attractive woman: "Hmmm ...well, I
might."
Well-dressed man: "Would you go to
bed with me if I paid you one dollar?"
Attractive woman: "Certainly not!
What do you think I am?"
Well-dressed man: "Oh, I think
we've already established that. Now
we're just haggling over the price."
Back stage at a major network
television studio, a prominent TV evangelist and a well-known local prostitute were waiting to go on camera to
debate the pros and cons of the sex
trade. As part of the intro to the talk
show the host was airing a couple of
the evangelists videos where the minister was pitching his religious beliefs
while soliciting money for his church.
The minister asked the pro to watch
the vids, as he felt she might learn
something about his faith. At the end
of the video broadcast, just before the
two guests were to be introduced, the
whore turned to the evangelist and
said, "Well honey, in spite of our differences we do have one thing in common."
"Oh, what's that?" asked the evangelist.
"Obviously," replied the ho, "neither
of us believes in free love."
18/Stiletto
Metropolis is also visible and accessible and their advertised rates are
cheap; $10 per initial insertion (one
"form" of 100 characters) and $8 for
each additional insertion. A month's
worth of advertising can be bought for
$34, right? Wrong! Not for prostitutes.
We pay $25 per week, flat,
with no deals for multiple insertions. That's 2.5 times the
rate for initial insertions and
more than three times the rate
for subsequent insertions.
NOW just charges us double
and they're up-front about it
when they publish their fees. I
don't agree with their rationale for doing this; they claim
that our ads take more effort
to administer, but I do appreciate knowing exactly how
much I'm paying for something. Metropolis's $25 per
week is exclusively for us and
this special rate is not advertised anywhere in the publication.
Among Toronto's major papers,
NOW has enjoyed a virtual monopoly
on sex trade workers advertising until
Metropolis loosened up its policy. The
big three papers won't touch our ads at
all unless they're suitably camouflaged
as "personal" ads - whores in good
girl's clothing. Then I heard from a
reliable source that Metropolis would
be accepting ads from people in The
Business, provided they weren't too explicit. A major pizza firm delivers Metropolis to many houses unsolicited, so
the editors are concerned about the possible "lewd content" being delivered
into the homes of children. I thought,
someone is taking a quiet run at
NOW' s monopoly. Apparently not - it
seems that all Metropolis is doing is
trying to cut itself a piece of the action. Considering the fact that NOW' s
Business Personals are rumored to
generate approximately $8,000 per
issue, there's a fair bit of action to be
had. But lvfetropolis got none of mine.
Alexandre Highcrest
• Legal Aid: Old City Hall - 598-0200,
College Park - 598-1260, University
Avenue - 598-0200.
• Parkdale Community Legal Services 531-2411
• Neighbourhood Legal Services - 9612625
• Justice for Children (under 18 years
old) - 920-1633
• Law line - 978-7293
• Dial-a-law - 947-3333
• Lawyer Referral Service (includes
free 1-hour consultation) - 947-3330
Pissed off with your lawyer? Call
CORP at 964-0150, leave a message on our answering machine,
and we'll get back to you as soon
as we can. We can help you find
the kind of legal advice you need.
HEALTH SERVICES
• AIDS Committee of Toronto - 9261626.
• Alexandra Park Community Health
Service - 64 Augusta, 364-4107.
• Bay Centre for Birth Control - 901
Bay St, 920-1263.
• Birth Control and VD Information
Centre - 2828 Bathurst, 789-4541.
• Davenport-Perth Community Health
Centre - 1944 Davenport, 658-6812.
• Hassle Free Clinic - 556 Church St,
Men - 922-0603, Women - 922-0566.
(See ad for hours.)
• Niagara Neighbourhood Health
Centre - 674 Queen St W, 363-2021.
• Parkdale Community Health Centre 1257 Queen St W, 537-2455.
•St.Lawrence Health Service - 45
Lower Jarvis St, 864-6000.
• Street Health (free nursing services) at All Saints Church, Open Door, 315
Dundas E Tues 2-4 pm. Or Fred Victor Mission at Queen and Jarvis Wed 57. 863-1610.
• South Riverdale Community Health
Centre - 126 Pape Ave, 461-2493.
• The House (planned parenthood
youth clinic) 36B Prince Arthur, 9277171.
• The Works (needle exchange) 660
Dundas Street W, 392-0520.
• City hostel (for families) - 674 Dundas W, 392-5500.
• Covenant House (Catholic; for men
and women under 21) - 70 Gerrard E,
593-4849.
• 416 (drop-in for women; daytime) 416 Dundas E, 928-3334.
• Nellie's (for women) - 275A Broadview Ave, 461-1084.
• Robertson House (for women) - 291
Sherbourne, 392-5650.
• Seaton House (for single men) - 339
George St, 392-5522.
• Stop 86 (for women under 21) - 9223271.
• Street Haven (for women) - 87
Pembroke, 967-6060.
FOOD BANKS
Daily Bread Food Bank. Will tell you
locations of food banks near you. 7695155.
"communicating for the purpose of prostitution"
i
Subscribe to Toronto's sharpest new· magazine .
.And help us keep on communicating.
~-------~~~~-~-~------~------~----~-~~--------En dosed
or money order, payable
'
is a cheque
Check one:
to Stiletto.
_ individual subscriber, at$ 10 for six issues
_ supporting subscriber, at$ 20 for six issues
__ agency subscription, at $ 30 for six issues
__ I am also enclosing a donation of $_ __
Name:----------------------------Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City/province/postal code: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Telephone: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FOi MOIE INRlllWIOll CAil 926-1626 OR ffl.AIDS. fflP CAIi iE lfAClliD
AJ M-01!1 AIID IIABE,fE OIIIC AJ 922~.as66.
Drawing by Mary
In this issue ,. ....
The Supreme Court decision
A look at Prowling By Night
Lamp Post: Notes from Cabbagetown
On Call: A Piece of the Action
Money Matters: More on Undercutting
Personal Story: Recovery, Our
Profession, and US Treatment
Programs
News: Whores in uniform (Or, Isn't
hypocrisy fascinating?) • Interstate
Soliciting • Al DS update • You can find
us in the phone book! • Pro Press
Plus: Safe Sex is Our Business •
Just for laughs • A review of
Working• Merchants of Love goes to
England • Poetry • Letters
--------------------------------------------------
-----------
Volume 1, Issue 2 - June 1990
Our "dubious honour" this issue
goes to a group of four.
The majority of judges of the
Supreme Court of Canada, who
decided that it was just fine if the
communicating law violates the
rights of street hos, really earned
their the "Incredible Jerk Award".
What a bunch of guys, eh? (See
the story on the next page for more
details. And send us your nominations for the "Incredible Jerk
Award" for the next issue of
is the newsletter of
the Canadian Organization for the
Rights of Prostitutes - CORP
Signed articles represent the opinions
of the authors only.
Contributing to this issue Chris Bearchell, Catherine,
Danny Cockerline, Gwendolyn,
Ryan Hotchkiss, Alexandre Highcrest,
Hell-in, Julian, Mary Anne,
Will Pritchard.
Stiletto.)
Production - Chris Bearchell,
Will Pritchard
Address - Box 1143, Station F,
Toronto, ON M4Y 2TB
Phone - (416) 964-0150
FIRST RUNNER UP.
William McCormack
Call for advertising rates.
What a contest it was this issue! Metro Police
Chief William McCormack placed a close second
with the comment, "Who would you believe, the
chief of police or a prostitute?"
(See the story on page 5 for details)
2/Stiletto
Deadline for Volume 1, Issue 3 is
October 1, 1990.
---
Giving the green light to whore-bashers
T
The Supreme Court's June ,
1990 decision to uphold section
195.1 of the Criminal Code,
which makes it illegal to"communicate" for the purpose of
prostitution in a public place,
gives the cops the goahead to entrap, arrest
and harass street prostitutes.
Alexandre Highcrest
recounts the story behind
the country's most recent
"business as usual" legal
benchmark.
iagara Falls, Ontario,
was known as a good
place to ply the trade, at least
among some American hos and
their Canadian sisters and brothers working in the industry.
Canada's honeymoon capital
had more to offer residents and
guests than over-priced motel
rooms, tacky souvenirs, and a
nice view of the falls. The
Niagara Falls Police Department, though, didn't care too
much for the idea of the sex
trade flourishing in their community (although making
money indirectly off of non-commercial sex is okay!) and ratepayers
groups were bitching about the developing strolls.
Niagara's Police Chief decided to act;
he met with other police chiefs from
across the country and they decided
that a stiffer law was needed "to control the problem of street prostitution."
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of
Police is a powerful lobby in Ottawa.
They went to work and, by December
r
1111
11111
I I
of 1985, Bill C-49 had been passed.
The infamous "communicating law"
came into effect.
We are all familiar with the bare
bones of C-49. The bill created section
195.l of the Criminal Code, which
makes it an offence to communicate
for the purpose of prostitution in a public place. "Communicate" can mean
anything; a short conversation, a nod, a
wink, or a wave. For the purpose of
this law, a client's car is considered "a
public place." Some of you hos think
it's okay to negotiate in your date's
Ford - uh-aah! If the prospective date
is really a cop and you talk business in
his car, you are busted. Quiet, secluded
parks and back lanes are considered
the same, so be careful, guys.
Stiletto\3
n
Since section 195.l became law, it
has been repeatedly challenged. A number of working girls who were busted
for communicating pleaded not guilty
on the grounds that the communicating
law infringed on their right to freedom
of expression, something guaranteed
under section 2 (b) of Canada's Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. The Canadian Organization for the Rights of
Prostitutes (CORP) has been
campaigning along similar
lines - and on the grounds that
the new law did not, and does
not, work.
C-49 included a clause that
required that section 195.1 be
reviewed after three years. So,
in December 1989, three representatives of CORP went to
Ottawa to present a brief supporting the decriminalizing of
prostitution to the House of
Commons' Committee on Justice. Our presentation addressed the unconstitutionality of
the communicating law and its
ineffectiveness. A study called
Street Prostitution: Assessing
the Impact of the Law, conducted by the Department of Justice as part of the review, confirmed what we were saying
about the fact that the new law has not
decreased street prostitution at all.
There were a number of nodding governmental heads around the table - and
they were nodding in agreement with
what we were saying, not nodding off.
A thin ray of hope in a fog of conservative, right-wing moralism. Truthfully,
we did not expect to see decriminalization take effect simply as a result of
this presentation, but we felt we had
driven a few more nails into C-49's
coffin. Defeating the communicating
law would have been one more step towards achieving our ultimate goal decriminalization of prostitution.
In addition to the pressure applied to
the federal government in general, the
Supreme Court was also feeling the
heat. In May, 1987, the Nova Scotia
Court of Appeal said that the law violated the Charter, and struck it down;
the police in Nova Scotia stopped enforcing it. Another case was decided in
favour of the law by the Manitoba
Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court
was forced to decide between these
two interpretations of the law.
As we waited for the Supreme
Court's decision to come down, we
watched the Mulroney government cut
back funding for services for women.
We watched as the conservatives reinstated abortion into the Criminal Code.
And we cried when the Supreme Court
finally said it was upholding section
195.l of the Criminal Code.
Defeat is a bitter pill to swallow. The
nature of this defeat made the pill especially hard to swallow. The Supreme
Court judges voted on the issue along
gender lines: four male judges voted in
favour of retaining section 195.l as it
stands; the two female judges voted to
dump it. A heartbreaker.
Both Supreme Court justices Bertha
Wilson and Claire L'Heureux-Dube argued against the law on two of
grounds: that it enables the police to arrest citizens who are bothering no one
simply because they are engaged in
communicative acts concerning something that is not illegal; and that the
definition of communicating "in any
manner" is too broad. A citizen may
be charged with communicating when
he or she has nothing more serious in
mind than hailing a passing taxi. To
quote Judge Wilson, "some definitional
limits would appear to be desirable in
an activity labelled as criminal."
The four judges in the majority
agreed that section 195.1 lirnits the
right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Charter of Rights but said
that "the limit passes the Charter's test
of being reasonable and demonstrably
justified in a free and democratic society." Chief Justice Brian Dickson wrote
that "ending the nuisance-related problems caused by street solicitation is a
valid legislative aim."
But the communicating law has failed
to do this - a parliamentary study has
proved this failure. It seems that the
Court did not wait for the parliamen-
tary review before it sat to consider the
law (which sure makes it clear what
government studies are for).
CORP will not give up the fight
against the communicating law in particular and against the other laws which
surround prostitution. In spite of the
fact that prostitution is legal in Canada,
there are a myriad of laws which surround the business and which make it
difficult for sex trade workers engaged
in prostitution to conduct their business
and their own personal lives.
As the situation stands now, we cannot refer dates to other workers, we
4/Stiletto
cannot support our older children or
lovers financially if we choose to do
so, we cannot work out of our own
homes, and we cannot look to our
homes as places of security. Even our
bank accounts can be subject to freezing by police if we are unfortunate
enough to get busted. This form of discrimination must be stopped. No other
group of people is subjected to this
level of government-approved, courtsanctioned discrimination.
To quote the June 6, 1990 Globe and
Mail, "The federal anti-soliciting law
was a sledgehammer when it was introduced and it remains a sledgehammer." The communicating law gives
the police the power to harass and arrest people for communicating with
their potential clients, clients who want
to engage the services of someone engaged in a legal profession, because
some people see the presence of the
working prostitutes as "a nuisance." A
prostitute may be tossed into jail if she
or he "impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic." Lawful assemblies and/or demonstrations often
do the same thing; will this activity
also be stifled in the future by similar
laws? The Supreme Court decision has
set a dangerous precedent. How many
more basic rights of Canadian citizens
will be limited or stripped away before
this form of legislation becomes unacceptable?
Another government study, this one
undertaken in the mid-eighties, found
that the majority of Canadians do not
see street prostitution as a problem. According to the report of the Fraser
Commission on Pornography and Prostitution, only 36% of respondents felt
that the police in Canada should spend
more time trying to catch pros. And
we all know that the communicating
law is ineffective in controlling the socalled problem. Still, the Court upheld
the law. Where is the justice, the desire
for Canada to function as a democracy,
in that?
Have you heard the one about the cop running an escort business?
serve and protect - t
lot of street girls had heard
about Gord Junger before the
story hit the press. Not that Stiletto has
a problem with someone being in the
escort business. Obviously the cops
don't either, if you're a friend of theirs.
For those of you who haven't been
the story closely, this is how
it goes:
Gord
had been on the
Metropolitan Toronto Police Force
since 1981.and was officer of the
month in July 1986. He was a constable at 52 Division before he was
forced to resign; before that he had
been on the morality squad. He met a
"highly-paid call girl" at the home of
another morality squad officer and got
involved in a relationship with her in
the fall of 1989.
It wasn't long before he got involved
in her business too, using the name
"Greg." They ran ads in NOW
magazine offering "executive style
males, females and couples." They
recruited a couple of other male cops
to work with them; women were hired
too but not until Junger had run their
names through the police computer to
make sure they didn't have a record.
Business was going along well. Then
his lady friend got pregnant and Junger
was enough of a cad to ditch her. She
Constable Gord Junger
recorded some incriminating
calls that she had with him and took
the tapes to police internal affairs. Internal affairs investigated lunger by setting him up with a female undercover
cop who posed as a customer.
On December 5, 1989, they
him red-handed - making the deal with
the undercover cop and with a small
amount of hash in his townhouse
kitchen. They laid criminal
against him for possession of
He was suspended with pay the next
day.
Although Junger's former partner's
tape recordings include him
about a deal with the cops, Chief of
Police William McCormack told the
Star that no deals were made. The
cops dropped the drug charges against
Junger on February 28, the day before
he resigned from the force. Junger was
threatened with charges under the
Police Act unless he resigned and he
agreed to resign if the force gave him
a letter of reference. (Presumably the
drug charges were also part of these
non-negotiations.) They dropped the
charges and gave him the letter, and
Junger resigned on March 1. That was
the end of it as far as the cops were
concerned.
But that was hardly the end of it for
his pregnant former girlfriend and
Stiletto\5
ir own asses
William McCormack
partner. She wanted the tapes that she
had given to internal affairs back so
she could pursue a paternity suit
against Junger. They refused to return
them until she got a lawyer after them.
Alan Story, a Toronto Star reporter
who was doing research about the sex
trade, got wind of her situation. He interviewed her and a story about Junger
appeared in the Saturday Star on April
7, sending the Chief of Police and the
Police Commission into a tailspin.
Most commissioners couldn't remember having heard anything about the
case until fr appeared in the Star. Commission chair June Rowlands refused
to comment on the case. The chief of
police explained that he had made only
very brief reports on it to the commission, at the end of meetings after the
person recording the minutes had left.
The press kept after McCormack
about the woman's allegations that
there were other cops involved in the
escort service. McCormack' s response:
"Who would you believe, the chief of
police or a prostitute"? A funny question considering that her claims so far
have proven to be true, while he has
looked like a man covering his ass at
every turn in this case.
The Ontario Police Commission
(OPC) was appointed to look into the
Junger affair. Then Douglas Drinkwalter, chairman of the OPC, told the Star
April 18 that the case was "a tempest
in a teapot" - before he had seen any
of the files on it The Ontario Solicitor
General's office had the good sense to
be embarrassed by this and OPC vicechairman Frank D' Andrea was assigned to head up the investigation instead.
The OPC has since looked into it and
Drinkwalter has changed his tune. He
is now saying that they "are finding
some very disturbing things" about the
case and that there should be a public
inquiry. The Police Commission has
set up a task force, made up mostly of
cops, to study how to handle the cases
of officers who are being investigated
by the force. We're not holding our
breath on that one. But we are waiting
anxiously to see if the OPC is going to
drag Junger's former partner up before
a
inquiry, recommend a major
crack-down on escorts, or do someequally vindictive.
People living with AIDS in danger
Ontario's ief medical officer wants
power to quarantine
The Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project
(PSSP) was well represented at the
April 25 demonstration against Richard
Schabas, the Chief Medical Officer of
Health for the Province of Ontario.
The demonstration was held outside
the Westbury Hotel where the Ontario
AIDS Advisory Committee was hearing a report from Schabas, in which he
recommended that the status of AIDS,
under the province's public health
laws, be changed from that of a "communicable" disease to that of a
"virulent" one. This would give public
health officials greater power to lock
up people who they believe are putting
other people at risk for AIDS. According to an interview he gave the Toronto Star, that includes people who know
they are infected with HIV, the virus
associated with AIDS, who have any
kind of intercourse - even if they' re
using a condom.
Schabas's proposal is dangerous for a
number of reasons. First of
people
photo by Konnie Reich
6/Stiletto
living with AIDS (PLW As) do not
have a "virulent" disease the way tuberculosis is virulent. To say otherwise is
to give people the mistaken impression
that they are in danger from casual contact with PLW As. Secondly, to suggest
that people with HIV shouldn't have
sex, even using condoms, suggests that
condoms don't really work - so why
bother with them. Third, giving people
the idea that tl-ir~ government is quarantining everyone who is a possible
danger suggests that all individuals
don't have to take responsibility for
protecting themselves from AIDS and
other sexually transmitted diseases.
These misconceptions undennine the
work being done by AIDS education
groups all over Ontario and around the
world. It is outrageous that they should
be
forward by the province's Chief
Medical Officer of Health.
Schabas and his ideas are a particular
threat to people in the business. At a
meeting during i.\IDS Aware-
OLDEST
PROFESSION
TIMES
A newsletter published by 90's
Ladies and Friends, a group
working for the repeal of laws
against prostitutes.
OPT, l 125-9thStreet,
Sacramento, CA, 95814 USA
orking
irl
ness Week last fall, Schabas told the
largely gay audience that it isn't them
he's worried about, because gay men
have done a good job of adopting
responsible safe-sex behaviour. It's
those other, less responsible groups in
society who are affected, like IV-drug
users, who he's worried about.
The City of Toronto's newly released
report, Women and AIDS, says that 10
of the 100 or so women who have
tested positive for HIV in the city are
prostitutes. Nine of them are believed
to have got the virus through sharing
injection equipment. (A man with
Schabas' s kind of logic is apt to decide
that this means that all pros are sharing
needles.)
In a letter to the Star saying his comments about sex with condoms were
taken out of context (whatever that
means), Schabas used a couple of examples of people he wanted to control.
One of them was an HIV-infected prostitute who shares needles. Of course,
no one should share needles now that
we know that it spreads AIDS,
hepatitis and other diseases. Schabas 's
implication is clearly that this person is
a particular problem because she's a
prostitute - otherwise he wouldn't
have mentioned her job.
The Toronto Board of Health has
taken a position against Schabas' s
recommendation and has urged the Ontario Ministry of Health to reject it.
And so did the noisy demonstrators.
Chris Bearchell
A magazine published by the
Prostitutes Association of
South Australia (PASA).
Pros' Press
The prostitutes' rights movement
media is looking good these days.
New from Prostitutes Of New York
(PONY), The PONY X-press, is a 28page glossy magazine with some great
articles and humour and lots of images
and graphics. It's an inspiring way to
find out about PONY and life in the
business in the Big Apple.
Old reliable Oldest Profession Times
(OPI) has been designed and laid out
using desktop publishing for the past
two issues and is looking much more
professional and presentable. Unfortunately, that means that their costs are
up and they aren't sure that they'll be
able to keep doing OPT in the new format. If you've thought about subscribing in the past, now's the time to send
them your cash. (See ads this page.)
Scarlet Harlot's "Interstate Solicitation
Tour" roared into New York City on
May 24.
The outrageous performance artist
and whore has set off to deliberately
and publicly challenge the law - by
breaking it - in her own dramatic
style. She took her street theatre, with
a bevy of Prostitutes of New York
(PONY) supporters, right to where the
money is. The colourful activists
gathered a sizable crowd in front of
TV cameras outside the New York
Stock Exchange on Wall Street for a
rousing rendition of Scarlet's raunchy
song, Bad Girl. It was a hit, as usual.
Look in the book!
PASA
PO Box 7072, Hutt Street
Adelaide 5000
Australia
Finally! After much wrangling with
Bell Canada and some welcome assistance from the Canadian Radio and
Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC), you can find both the
Canadian Organization for the Rights
Stiletto\7
white pages.
Bell was, of course, hung up about
the word prostitute. But after PSSP's
funders made a few enquiries and the
CRTC told them, in a rapid exchange
of faxes, that they were out of line,
they backed down.
Naturally we're getting a few more
prank calls as a result of the increased
exposure, but it's worth it to have
. ~
e c,O"
. ,,.,.se
so
,o
'"e
"i,_\t!J;',;.'61/t.()'\
'(I - q
e,'(llllc;
<:/::,A.s~,;a\\
Q\ l),;0rt.'c>
\':,"l
r:.,or/'>
-c.o -- - ,,11fo
~a ~t~\.a:~~~e{\\\:.
0 oo"fi
g
i1 ___ - - - - - a"'li
C,ll
()
\\
a~~a,u~~l:l '{ ?\\~\'\\
;..Q01
.c.cr)fj\;,,
,,
flfl. s
,\\
, - - \,?.'f,)O(
i\\~ll, Cl.•
. c) - ~t,fi.
qO"
\
"-'il.1)\9
b
:,
~t.~ " '{ol'\:f ~,.,
Sex t,:~~::Jrfo~~'*,\'\}'1!'1\\6eJ'"" -
r
Sports
·osurn E{9 fn;;P:1
'SIJre In
suranc
.•• .,,
fject
- <.)<·.:i,31
_ F1~c~~r~h -964. 01 °
=~~
51
.-::risJf :,
;
r1r,g Ltd - - - - - - _
56 G
eAgencies 1idard -631
'-',..,,,,,,,~
62 Sn d
Ortm~
--
·Seso
t'ro1r1
o
"6355 P
f!Jt
people in the business be able to look
us up in the book and give us a call.
You will find that we have the answering machine on most of the time
though, so please leave a number and
give us a bit of time to get back to
you. We promise to return every
serious call that we get
Farewell to Danny
Goodbye can be one of the hardest
things to say in any language and
that's particularly true when it comes
to saying farewell to CORP spokesman
and Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project co-ordinator Danny Cockerline.
Danny is, of course, still a member of
CORP and is back on the board of
PSSP. But we sure miss his hard work,
insight, talent, dedication and sunny
smile as the two groups slog through
we're pretty sure
he left some
other broken
hearts behind
among his
friends and customers in the
business, too.
Danny is talcing
a well-deserved
vacation after
working long and
hard to get PSSP
set up and
funded and then
co-ordinating the
project for the
two crucial years
that followed.
He's rumoured to
be having a good
time in New
York (look out
all you folks in PONY!) before he sets
off to visit friends (and make new
ones) in the rest of the world-wide
whores' movement.
We can only say, "Good luck and
come back soon."
lf-----------------------------"11
Parkdale Community Legal Services
1239 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON
531-2411
Monday
10 am to 6 pm
Tuesday
1O am to noon and 2 pm to 7:30 pm
Wednesday
2 pm to 6 pm
Thursday
noon to 7:30 pm
8/Stiletto
Notes from Cabbagetown
ome nights there are so many
girls out working it seems like a
harem. Other nights I'll ride around for
hours and not see anybody. Usually
that means a sweep but sometimes it's
just the moon.
"What about that red-haired cop? He
turns ya, then he takes the money
back."
"Who's supposed to be patrolling this
street, 51 or 52? They're both always
over here. Somebody should stay in
their own division."
New funds
mean
a new home
for PSSP
For the first time, beginning July 1, the
federal government will be funding the
Prostitutes' Safe Sex Project.
The three-year, AIDS Community Action Plan grant will cover the cost of
one staff salary and will help cover the
cost of operating a more accessible
resource centre/office space/meeting
place. It will be open sometime this
fall. Yes, your tax dollars will actually
be going to something that is for
people in the business!
In the meantime, if you see a likely
looking location that you think the
project should know about, call and
leave a message on the PSSP answering machine at 964-0150.
"I wasn't even working; I
was jus~ walking home. A
guy pulled up beside me
and said, I feel like getting laid. I said, yeah,
that's nice, and kept on
walking. I recognized
him; I knew he was a
cop. Then he pulls up
beside me again and says,
you 're under arrest for
communicating. I said, we
never discussed a price,
how'd you know I wasn't
gonna do you for free?
And you never showed
me your badge so it won't
hold up in court. He said,
who's the judge going to
believe, the police or a
whore?" [He's been
taking lessons from his
chief.]
"Yeah, you haven't seen
me for a while; I've just
done 92 days. I was sitting in court. The judge
was arguing with the
prosecutor for half an
hour on the case before
mine. When I came up
Stiletto\9
the judge was in a bad mood - he
didn't want to hear any details ofmy
case. He called me "a burden to
society" and gave me 90 days. I'm really pissed off."
The cops got this old guy to pretend he
wanted me. He took me in his car to a
parking lot and parked beside an unmarked cop car. They busted me
before anything went down and gave
me a ticket. Then, when I was walking
home, the old guy pulled up beside me
again and asked if I wanted a date.
[Was this another bust or
did she get him horny?]
"Where is this 'zone of
tolerance'?"
Ran into a girl I haven't
seen in months. Turns out
she's got a curfew so she
can't work nights.
"What can we do about
the 20-dollar hos?"
Favourite pieces from
issue one of Stiletto:
"Spermwhale," "Wild
West Hos" and "Feed
your pussy well."
"I can hand out as many
Stiletto's as you can give
me. Girls are asking for
them from as far away as
Oshawa. They've been
photocopying my copy."
[Sheila Pieschke]
"Have you got any more
of that magazine? Oh,
I've had that one sitting
on my coffee table for
months."
Gwendolyn
I
1
111:11:::11111111111111111:::;:i:1:11111111:111111,1:11111111111111:1:111111111 Jlilililill!lilil!llililiili!il!illl! lil!II
...,j:::t
have seen many films about
the business; those made by social
workers, big-buck Hollywood
producers, T.V. documentary
filmmakers and the like. But
I've never seen a film about
working made by hos - that is,
until I saw Prowling By Night.
This film is unlike any film
dealing with prostitution that I
have ever seen.
To read my initial description
of Prowling By Night, the film
sounds almost innocent. Gwendolyn, an outreach worker with
the Prostitutes' Safe Sex
Project, comedienne and parttime ho, made the film to document the experiences of two
other Safe Sex Project workers
and the street girls they work
for. The format used was that
of an adult, puppet cartoon - no
JO/Stiletto
actors, no big budget, no glitzy special
effects. But she did use working girls;
street pros drew the pictures to represent themselves in the film, pro~ did
all the talking and there was riO SCript.
Everyone spoke freely and openly
about their experiences working Toronto's strolls. Valerie and Ryan, the two
girls who work for the project, did the
same.
The film follows Valerie and Ryan as
they walk the stroll in Parkdale, passing out condoms, doing the AIDS rap
and talking the politics of the sex
trade. But the film focuses on the girls
who work the street and the harassment they face at the hands of the
cops. The language used is as real as
the women who are speaking and the
effect is moving and powerful. Hos,
friends of hos and people who get
upset when they see other people being
abused or disadvantaged will all be af-
fected by this work. Prowling By Night
is not a cartoon version of Pretty
Woman. The film's imagery is vivid,
often stark, but the message is driven
home clearly. Cabbagetown's bikeriding "Condom Lady" and the twenty
or so prostitutes who helped make the
film have done one hell of a job.
Films, even shorts like Prowling By
Night, need money to be produced and
Gwendo's efforts were funded by a
grant from the National Film Board's
women's studio, Studio D. This year
Studio D is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary by sponsoring the Five
Feminist Minutes Project, which
funded fifteen women filmmakers to
each make a five-minute film
documenting experiences of women in
each of their communities. They will
all be screened together at several festivals this summer. Prowling By Night
i
drawing by Catherine
was one of the fifteen proposals
harassment of Toronto's street prosselected from a field of many contitutes, but the stories the girls tell
tenders and I have to give Studio D
could have happened anywhere. The
credit for making a wise choice.
sad part of it is, they probably already
Keep your ears open on the stroll or
have.
read Stiletto for information about
when and where you can see this film.
Alexandre Highcrest
Prowling By Night is about police
SPECIAL SCREENING
Prowling By Night will be shown at the
416 Drop-in Centre for Women,
416 Dundas Street East
on Friday September 28, 1990 at 2:00 pm.
All pros and your invited guests
WELCOME
Prowling By Night will also have two showings at
the Toronto Festival of Festivals which runs from
September 6 through to September 15, as part of
the Five Feminist Minutes Programme.
Call the Festival for time and place.
drawing by Mary Anne
Stiletto\11
Ryan Hotchkiss revi~5?
The secret to being happy and successful in any career is having a job you
are suited to. Football players are
suited to playing football. Meteorologists are suited to being weather
forecasters. I am suited to being a prostitute. - Dolores French
orking is a fine addition to the
genre of books by prostitutes
about the life such as The
Mayflower Madam, by Sidney Biddle Barrows or Personal Services, by Cynthia
Payne. These books are
first-person accounts written by those most qualified
to write about the business
- those in the business.
Working was written in
collaboration with New
York writer Linda Lee and
documents Ms French's
career as a prostitute over
a ten-year period. She has
crammed a lot of experience into those ten
years. Her sense of adventure and desire to travel
and try new things have
served her well in the business. She worked as a call
girl, a streetwalker and a
brothel worker. Her
curiosity has taken her all
over Europe, the Caribbean, and the U.S.A. She
has even worked in the
windows of the red-light
district and in a brothel in
Amsterdam.
The two years that she spent in the
Caribbean made for some of the most
entertaining stories. Dolores worked
for part of that time at the Black
Angus in San Juan, a loud and raucous
place, " ... it was like a boot camp for
prostitution. It prepared you for battle,
it made you physically fit and it was a
!:~!~~
by Delores French
darned good place to meet other foot
soldiers."
Dolores answers all of the typical
questions: How did you get into the
business? What was your childhood
like? Do your parents know that you
work? What about taxes? Do you have
normal relationships? In the process,
she explores the myths about pros-
titutes, destroys the stereotypes, and
humanizes us.
Working has an easy-going, off-thecuff story-telling style which, along
with its humour, disguises the fact that
it's a highly political book. It gets
across basic ideas about things like
prostitutes' rights and AIDS, painlessly.
121Stiletto
Dolores is angry at a hypocritical justice system that batters and dehumanizes women who are providing a
legitimate service. Out of her anger,
the Atlanta prostitutes' rights group
HIRE (Hooking Is Real Employment)
was formed in 1983. HIRE is a political lobby group that, like CORP, tries
to lobby for the decriminalization of
prostitution. HIRE does
public speaking and complains about how the cops,
courts, health clinics, and
hotels treat prostitutes. Like
any prostitutes' organization, HIRE has had some
trouble involving prosti. tutes. Dolores quips, "It
was like trying to organize
raw eggs."
Dolores turned her first
trick at twenty-seven while
working in a small radio station in Atlanta as an administrator and fund-raiser. She
said of that first experience,
"That man treated me with
more respect than I had gotten in most other occupations, and he paid me a lot
closer to what my time and
mind were worth. He paid
me with a smile on his face
... and I was proud to
have been able to help him."
Dolores's pride in her
work and her love of the
women she worked with
shine through in this book. Dolores
found, as many of us have, that working as a prostitute increased her feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. The
attitude that you adopt towards the
business has so much to do with how it
will affect you.
Ms French says a lot of positive
things about the business without
glamourizing it. She acknowledges that
it can be a difficult and dangerous
profession. It is made dangerous by the
laws that we are forced to work under
and by moral prejudice. Working is
chock-full of tips about how to deal
with the down side of prostitution. She
talks about what to look for in a trick,
how to avoid creeps and cops, how to
defuse potentially violent situations,
how to put a safe on with your mouth,
and what to do during your period. She
says of one of her teachers, "She
trained me to bring deeply buried
thoughts, perceptions, suspicions to the
front of my mind: You're alone. A mistake could mean anything from simple
unpleasantness to jail or death."
Dolores is a highly skilled professional. She is good at dealing with
people, uninhibited about sex, intelligent and articulate, and she thinks
well on her feet. If you know anyone
who thinks prostitution is an unskilled
profession, have them read this book.
Working is a real morale-booster that
makes you feel good about working
without skirting the tough issues. One
caution, however: Dolores makes you
yearn for the open road, and if you
have the wanderlust, this book is sure
to fuel it.
Working by Delores French with Linda
Lee. Published by E.P. Dutton, New
York, 1988.
Announcement:
Women's Press is publishing a book
called Words from Within: Women
Prisoners Write.
If you are a woman who is or has
been in prisori and you have a message
to share, they want to hear from you.
All forms of writing, including songs,
essays and poetry, will be considered.
Pen names can be used and a fee will
be paid upon publication. Send your
writing to #233, 517 College St, Toronto, ON M6G 4A2, or contact them for
infonnation. Phone: 921-2425.
;····:···~~,~··-~e~···i···o:.~··bus,.;;;···················································-----
:....:..:.:.:.i.:.i...:.:...:..:...:.:..:...........:..
co v enan t House Hypocrisy
I
can't say that I haven't been
doing. The social services agencies are
delighted by all of the bad press
trying to save people from prostitution.
Covenant House (CH) of New York
They don't seem to realize that by
has been getting lately.
treating prostitution like a problem that
Father Bruce Ritter, the founder of
must be wiped out they are indirectly
CH, has been accused of using CH
supporting the arrest, harassment,
money to get young male clients of
abuse, rape and murder of prostitutes.
CH to have sex with him. It's unforRather than trying to save people from
tunate, though, that Ritter is being atprostitution, CORP and PSSP are
tacked for
trying to
his homosave prossexuality
titutesand for
ourselves
being a
includedtrick when
from the
it is his
laws and
hypocrisy
attitudes
that is the
that hurt
scandal. Ritus and
ter opposes
make our
gay rights
work
and prosmore
titutes'
dangerous.
rights and
We want
yet heapprostitupears to be
tion
both gay
decriminand a trick.
alized so
Isn't there
that prossomething
titutes
in Catholihave the
cism about
same
being
rights and
honest?
respect as
Tim Warner, the Pro who blew Ritter's cover
CH's
other
moral thinking has always been someworkers.
what fucked up. They say they want to
Unlike the agencies which treat proshelp young people who are turning
titutes as "clients" or "victims" who
tricks on the street but they won't give
need to be helped by educated social
them condoms. Better to let them die
workers, CORP and PSSP are run by
and have God sort them out, they
prostitutes and we want other prosfigure.
titutes to get involved. Join us. Call
It is because of CH, and agencies like
(416) 964-0150 or write Box 1143, Stait, that the Canadian Organization for
tion F, Toronto, ON M4Y 2T8.
the Rights of Prostitutes (CORP)
decided to start Prostitutes' Safe Sex
Danny Cockerline
Project (PSSP). We wanted to try to
undo some of the damage they are
Stiletto\13
Undercutting only benefits the johns
hen the first issue of Stiletto
hit the streets there was a
piece in there written by a ho who was
bitching about the undercutting of prices on
the street and by the
boys who work inside.
I work inside and I
thought, "Well, it can't
be as bad as all that.
I'm still scoring my
decent money dates."
But he was right. I run
a lot of fantasy and
fetish scenarios and
usually these kinds of
gigs involve a fair degree of time and some
preparation, yet the
johns are balking at
realistic prices for this kind of service.
For plain sex they practically expect
you to give it away.
We're into summer and business
should be picking up for everyone as
·~
Qr,,..,,.,,
VE""fl,'!'
I
.
\
"olELFr.:;
,:,., · .
=- ,
'
Toronto fills up with horny tourists and
the like. These people all have money
to spend and I for one would like to
make some serious dollars over the
I
1111
's Clinic
I
diseases
Ste. 2
phone 922-0566
Mon, Wed, Fri - 10 am to 3 pm
Tues & Thurs - 4 pm to 8 pm
by appointment
STD drop-in (no appointment necessary)
Tues & Thurs - 4pm to 6pm
Men's Clinic
hours:
'
'-~-m'i,,;:_,"'~~~¾;'~sf-
rth control and sexually
Church St., at Wellesley,
hours:
00..,,:.;,
~
phone 922-0603
Mon & Wed - 4 pm to 9 pm
Tues & Thurs - 10 am to 2 pm
Fri - 4 pm to 7 pm
Sat - 10 am to 2 pm
I
next six months. No one has to roll
over for forty or fifty bucks and if no
one did we'd all make
more money. The
clients will pay, they
have no choice; a customer's urges are not
linked to his wallet.
And it has nothing to
do with your age,
either; in the January
26 issue of Xtra they
interviewed a 45-yearold pro who charges
$50 per date regardless
of what he has to do.
A "Bargain Ho" if I
ever heard of one. I
also know a 20-year-old ho who bases
everything on the $50 date. Sure,
maybe you can make money turning
cheap tricks but you have to work all
the time. I'm in The Business because
I love it, but I also havt.; a life outside
of prostitution. I don't want to spend
all of my waking hours waiting for the
phone to ring or sucking cock.
We can educate the clients to the
realities of The Business only after we
have educated ourselves. We are the
commodity; we can dictate the price.
Come on ladies and gentlemen, lets
conduct ourselves like the freelance
business people we are. Undercutting
only benefits the customer while we,
as a group, suffer financially. My rent
is not going down, is yours? The Scarlet Harlot, a politically active whore
out of San Francisco, summed it up
quite nicely in a line from a poem she
has written, entitled Cheap.
"Cheap is when you want less than
pleasure, a baby or a hundred dollars."
And that's a hundred bucks American.
Alexandre Highcrest
no appointment necessary
Free and confidential health care services.
14/Stiletto
Recovery, our profession
and U A treatme t programs
I
am a recovering heroin addict and
may name is Julian. I have also
worked Grosvenor street as a hustler
for about six months this past winter,
fall and summer. My chosen profession allowed me to support a one- to
two-bag-a-day junk habit on the good
days. However, I wasn't without sick
days, on and off the job.
When I heard the words "social
worker" - when I hear the words "social worker" today - I cringe. My
experience on the street with the dogooders was consistently bad. As I
said in a previous commentary in
this 'zine, a lot of times there were
more social workers on the street
than hustlers and johns. I had
made a conscious decision to work
the street without help from social
services and I resented the outreach these workers were forcing
on me and my co-workers. After
all, their very presence caused us
to lose money. My resentment was
amplified by the fact that more
often than not I was junk sick and
needed that money to restore me
to a fully functional state of being.
Their presence hampered my efforts to
achieve this goal.
As I sit writing this, I am fully functional - or as much so as I could hope
to be - and I achieve this without junk.
I have been clean for a month and a
half, approximately, and firmly believe
I wouldn't have lasted more than a few
days in this attempt had I not received
the help I did.
I had sort of hit bottom. Meaning I
had fucked everyone there was to fuck
in several different ways and was left
with an uncontrollable urge and an
empty hype. There seemed very little
hope of any sort of happiness in my
life and I had burned all my bridges to
resources.
I made a decision to enter a treatment
facility in the United States and to see
if the thirty days clean could start me
on a different course.
I knew upon entering that the centre
based its principles of recovery on the
philosophy of the twelve-step
programs of Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous and I had
no intention of conforming to these
principles.
As more time passed, I became more
aware that these people were not as
moralistic as I had anticipated. In fact
they were only concerned with the issues in my life that I personally had
trouble with.
For instance, the prostitution issue,
which I knew would come up, has
never been a moral problem for me so
consequently when I explained my
past financial endeavours and my attitude towards them (fair trade) I ran
up against no opposition or socialworker rhetoric. I'm sure these people
do have these opinions on the subject
as a whole but I was not made privy to
them, which was fine with me. I was
there for my recovery - not theirs. My
career choice does not force me to use
drugs but conversely my drug depend-
Stiletto\15
ency did help immensely in my career
choice. To sum up, I maybe talked to
my counsellor (also a recovering addict) for about fifteen minutes in a thirty-day period about the subject of prostitution.
Back to the program basis - the
twelve steps, and more importantly,
the god concept. For one, the only
thing I was asked to do while I was
there was admit that I was powerless
over my addiction and that my life had
become unmanageable; then, to consider and be open to the possibility that there is a power
greater than myself. It was totally up to me how I defined
this power. I could call it God
or I could call it George - the
name and religion are irrelevant. For me, at the risk of
sounding Pollyanna-ish, this is
just the power I witness when
love is demonstrated in
relationships and in the beauty
of nature - a thunderstorm, the
blije sky of a clear day. These
are things that I did not create
and that demonstrate to me an existence far greater than this afflicted body.
So, upon leaving the facility, my attitude to the program had changed. I
am still Julian, I am healthy, I am
clean and I am a much more contented
individual. The twelve steps have allowed me certain insights, although I
do not spend twenty four hours a day
wrapped up in their written word. For
me, this treatment was extremely
beneficial and has allowed me a certain amount of peace and serenity and
the ability to regain control in a drugfree existence - to get on with my life.
Julian
Gwendolyn's
show,
Merchants
Love,
goes
it makes a di!'feren_ce just what colour bag you choose
to carry. and 11:- which h~d. also as you realize that you
are leavmg this place this time walking out as they so
often say with every care behind you but the close
deliberation ?f each step you take each mark you make
before
fmd yourself run all full fool circle and the
pattern starts again as 01;1e more lonely gambling lady
leans out the sun for Just a moment thinking yes i
~an o[ course i can pretending as she dawdles by the rail
m qme_t warmth that she can f!.y is weightless yes
and childless too no anchors tie her silver steps and
then you know for sure that you have caught her eye as
you put one bag down to measure faith and distance for
the present for the price of one night shuffling and you
eye her too because you both know there is no touch no
communication and there will be always balconies just off
the street
and solitary strolling passersby and each
knows each as they say i must really keep to my own path
but if your mind is open or(e) my bags get too damn heavy
then i will consider entering your place
and maybe i will
stay false promise in the dust you know but both of you
rush to the meeting blind as they do say and nobody
ever stops to look at all leaves falling as the heart of
this articular! colourful street truth flows b
16/Stiletto
Merchants ofLove, prostitute activist
Gwendolyn's r:mlti-media presentation
about "a sex worker's experiences in
therapy," which was the hit of last
year's "Fringe of Toronto" theatre festival, was performed in Britain twice in
May.
Gwendolyn appeared at the "Edge
90" festival in Newcastle upon Tyne
on May 20 and then did the show
again in London a week later for the
London Film Makers' Co-operative.
Some of the notorious British tabloid
press got in a predictable flap about
the fact that a self-confessed hooker
was representing Canada at these
events. "The Hooker ... sponsored by
her government!" screamed the headline on a story which quotes Alan
Beith, Liberal Democratic MP for Berwick-on-Tweed, saying: "The reports I
have had of the show and the profession of this women are disgusting.
"The taxpayers in Canada should be
asking their government to explain
why they are supporting such a person
and burdening the British public with
her."
Dear Editor:
Thanks for the copy of Stiletto that I
received from one of your workers at
the International Women's Day fair.
I found the magazine to be well-written, witty and full of helpful information.
However, I'd like to point out an
error. I represented the Elizabeth Fry
Society at the meeting Valerie reports
in the News section. Jennifer Stephens
represented NAC. The views expressed
in the report seem to be a mixture of
Jennifer's and mine, but it is certainly
true that the Elizabeth Fry Society is
for decriminalization of the criminal
code offences surrounding prostitution
and that we feel prostitutes have the
right to be treated "as human beings
deserving of dignity."
Good luck with the magazine. Sign
us up as subscribers!
Yours truly,
Rosemary Aubert
Director of Community Relations
Elizabeth Fry Society
Fm TO SEX TRADE WORl<ERS
AVAILMJLE IN BULK FOR RETAIL
OR AGENCY DISTRIBLmON
MAIL $.75 EAOI FOR 10
OR MORE. PLUS $3 POSTAGE
AND HANDLING TO:
PSSP, BOX 1143 STATION f
TORONTO ON M4Y 2T8
Editors:
First, let us say that we found your
magazine both informative and interesting and look forward to future issues.
As counsellors at The Works, we
would however, like to respond to the
article about our program that appeared in your first edition of Stiletto.
Unfortunately there has been some
misunderstanding about the function of
The Works and how it operates and we
want to clarify this.
The Works is an AIDS and Drug Use
Prevention Program. The purpose of
our program is to prevent the spread of
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,
among injection drug users and their
sexual partners. At The Works you can
exchange used needles/syringes for
new ones, get free condoms and get
free needle cleaning kits. We also offer
counselling, support, health information and drug treatment referral. All
services at The Works are free and confidential.
PLEASE SPECIFY DESIRED SI.OGANS
Stiletto\17
When someone comes to The Works
they are given a code. In the article the
writer was very concerned that being
assigned a personal code could result
in the person being identified by name.
This is not true. There is no possible
way that this code can be traced to a
specific individual or identification,
like a social insurance number. The
code was designed so that people
could remain anonymous but could
also remember their code. We ask for
the first initial of their first name, the
second and third letters of their
mother's or pet's name, the month of
birth and the year of birth.
Each person has a code so that we
know how many people return and
what type of services people are asking
for. Having this information helps us
in two ways. First, we are able to find
out how useful our service is by the
number of people who return. Second,
this information helps us plan and
develop our programs to meet the
needs of our clients. We encourage
people who have questions about The
Works to contact us at 392-0520 or
drop by our office. The Works is located at 660 Dundas Street West and
we are open Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday from 1:00 pm to
9:00 pm and on Tuesday from 5:00 pm
to 9:00pm.
We hope this letter has cleared up
any misunderstanding.
Sincerely,
Sheila Scott, RN
Counsellor
The Works
H
A Piece of the Action
aving been a pro for about 13
years, I'm not used to paying to
get screwed; the money usually flows
the other way. Of course that doesn't
apply to advertising and since I
work inside, advertising is an essential part of my business.
NOW magazine knows how important an inside sex trade
worker's advertising is; they've
been taking advantage of their
,f.\
position, and us, for years. NOW J
is not the only place for a ho or
escort service to advertise; most
personal contact magazines will
accept ads from us, as will Xtra.
However, none of these publications can boast of a readership
comparable to NOW' s (240,000
per week, according to the publication) nor are they as publicly visible
and accessible. These features, along
with the fact that NOW allows fairly
explicit ads, make advertising in NOW
potentially lucrative in spite of the fact
that we are gouged weekly (the "Business Personals" are the most costly ads
of their kind in the mag; we pay
'
double everyone else's rates).
Enter Metropolis magazine, a publication which just recently opened its
doors to advertisers from The Business. As of March 1, their weekly print
run was 150,000 copies - respectable.
Little Ho Humour
couple's conversation, overheard in the lobby of a downtown hotel:
Well-dressed man: "Would you go to
bed with me ifl paid you $10,000.?"
Attractive woman: "Hmmm ...well, I
might."
Well-dressed man: "Would you go to
bed with me if I paid you one dollar?"
Attractive woman: "Certainly not!
What do you think I am?"
Well-dressed man: "Oh, I think
we've already established that. Now
we're just haggling over the price."
Back stage at a major network
television studio, a prominent TV evangelist and a well-known local prostitute were waiting to go on camera to
debate the pros and cons of the sex
trade. As part of the intro to the talk
show the host was airing a couple of
the evangelists videos where the minister was pitching his religious beliefs
while soliciting money for his church.
The minister asked the pro to watch
the vids, as he felt she might learn
something about his faith. At the end
of the video broadcast, just before the
two guests were to be introduced, the
whore turned to the evangelist and
said, "Well honey, in spite of our differences we do have one thing in common."
"Oh, what's that?" asked the evangelist.
"Obviously," replied the ho, "neither
of us believes in free love."
18/Stiletto
Metropolis is also visible and accessible and their advertised rates are
cheap; $10 per initial insertion (one
"form" of 100 characters) and $8 for
each additional insertion. A month's
worth of advertising can be bought for
$34, right? Wrong! Not for prostitutes.
We pay $25 per week, flat,
with no deals for multiple insertions. That's 2.5 times the
rate for initial insertions and
more than three times the rate
for subsequent insertions.
NOW just charges us double
and they're up-front about it
when they publish their fees. I
don't agree with their rationale for doing this; they claim
that our ads take more effort
to administer, but I do appreciate knowing exactly how
much I'm paying for something. Metropolis's $25 per
week is exclusively for us and
this special rate is not advertised anywhere in the publication.
Among Toronto's major papers,
NOW has enjoyed a virtual monopoly
on sex trade workers advertising until
Metropolis loosened up its policy. The
big three papers won't touch our ads at
all unless they're suitably camouflaged
as "personal" ads - whores in good
girl's clothing. Then I heard from a
reliable source that Metropolis would
be accepting ads from people in The
Business, provided they weren't too explicit. A major pizza firm delivers Metropolis to many houses unsolicited, so
the editors are concerned about the possible "lewd content" being delivered
into the homes of children. I thought,
someone is taking a quiet run at
NOW' s monopoly. Apparently not - it
seems that all Metropolis is doing is
trying to cut itself a piece of the action. Considering the fact that NOW' s
Business Personals are rumored to
generate approximately $8,000 per
issue, there's a fair bit of action to be
had. But lvfetropolis got none of mine.
Alexandre Highcrest
• Legal Aid: Old City Hall - 598-0200,
College Park - 598-1260, University
Avenue - 598-0200.
• Parkdale Community Legal Services 531-2411
• Neighbourhood Legal Services - 9612625
• Justice for Children (under 18 years
old) - 920-1633
• Law line - 978-7293
• Dial-a-law - 947-3333
• Lawyer Referral Service (includes
free 1-hour consultation) - 947-3330
Pissed off with your lawyer? Call
CORP at 964-0150, leave a message on our answering machine,
and we'll get back to you as soon
as we can. We can help you find
the kind of legal advice you need.
HEALTH SERVICES
• AIDS Committee of Toronto - 9261626.
• Alexandra Park Community Health
Service - 64 Augusta, 364-4107.
• Bay Centre for Birth Control - 901
Bay St, 920-1263.
• Birth Control and VD Information
Centre - 2828 Bathurst, 789-4541.
• Davenport-Perth Community Health
Centre - 1944 Davenport, 658-6812.
• Hassle Free Clinic - 556 Church St,
Men - 922-0603, Women - 922-0566.
(See ad for hours.)
• Niagara Neighbourhood Health
Centre - 674 Queen St W, 363-2021.
• Parkdale Community Health Centre 1257 Queen St W, 537-2455.
•St.Lawrence Health Service - 45
Lower Jarvis St, 864-6000.
• Street Health (free nursing services) at All Saints Church, Open Door, 315
Dundas E Tues 2-4 pm. Or Fred Victor Mission at Queen and Jarvis Wed 57. 863-1610.
• South Riverdale Community Health
Centre - 126 Pape Ave, 461-2493.
• The House (planned parenthood
youth clinic) 36B Prince Arthur, 9277171.
• The Works (needle exchange) 660
Dundas Street W, 392-0520.
• City hostel (for families) - 674 Dundas W, 392-5500.
• Covenant House (Catholic; for men
and women under 21) - 70 Gerrard E,
593-4849.
• 416 (drop-in for women; daytime) 416 Dundas E, 928-3334.
• Nellie's (for women) - 275A Broadview Ave, 461-1084.
• Robertson House (for women) - 291
Sherbourne, 392-5650.
• Seaton House (for single men) - 339
George St, 392-5522.
• Stop 86 (for women under 21) - 9223271.
• Street Haven (for women) - 87
Pembroke, 967-6060.
FOOD BANKS
Daily Bread Food Bank. Will tell you
locations of food banks near you. 7695155.
"communicating for the purpose of prostitution"
i
Subscribe to Toronto's sharpest new· magazine .
.And help us keep on communicating.
~-------~~~~-~-~------~------~----~-~~--------En dosed
or money order, payable
'
is a cheque
Check one:
to Stiletto.
_ individual subscriber, at$ 10 for six issues
_ supporting subscriber, at$ 20 for six issues
__ agency subscription, at $ 30 for six issues
__ I am also enclosing a donation of $_ __
Name:----------------------------Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City/province/postal code: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Telephone: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FOi MOIE INRlllWIOll CAil 926-1626 OR ffl.AIDS. fflP CAIi iE lfAClliD
AJ M-01!1 AIID IIABE,fE OIIIC AJ 922~.as66.