Brothel Bust

This has been cross-posted to the Western Standard Blog; The Shotgun

Prostitution, the act of having sex for money, is not illegal in Canada, nor should it be. But most of the acts surrounding consensual sex for money is illegal;

• public communication for the purposes of prostitution (soliciting)
• owning, running, occupying or transporting anyone to a bawdy house (brothel)
• being in a bawdy house
• paying for sex from anyone under the age of 18
• pimping
• bringing someone to Canada to work as a prostitute

Last week in Winnipeg, two people were charged with running a brothel.

A number of rooms within the residence were being rented to sex-trade workers for illegal sexual activity, police said. As well, one of the occupants of the home was allegedly involved in the sex trade and directly involved with the other sex-trade workers by way of booking appointments for the consumers, police said.

This sounds like a business to me, a business run on consensual sex.

"These individuals were acting in a sense almost as managers. They were running a facility, and not only were they running the facility, they were benefitting by way of allowing individuals to attend and use the residence for sexual acts," alleged police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen.

And now those folks will move to the street, or another brothel. These actions don't stop prostitution, it just makes criminals out of the participants. This was a home that offered controls and a safe environment for people to do their business, moving it to the street provides much more risk to the people involved.

Because of the prohibited activities that surround prostitution it is difficult to engage in it without breaking any laws. Perhaps that is the purpose that some of these moralists have, to make it more difficult and force their morals onto other people. While it might do that, it doesn't stop people from participating in it, just makes it more dangerous.

Perhaps you don't approve of prostitution, that is fine, don't participate in it. Consensual sex is the business of those people involved in the transaction, whether it be for cash, for popularity, or whatever motivations people may have. If you expect the freedom to choose who you have sex with, then you need to afford others that same freedom, no matter their motivation.

As is often heard, people in the neighborhood where this home was located were unaware of the illegal activity.

(Neighbor Shelly )Mure said Stiles Street is quiet and family-friendly and that she was surprised to hear of the arrests.

Tanya Warrikow grew up on Stiles and described it in the same way as Mure. It is because of that quiet, safe feel that she returned there to raise her own family. But news of the brothel has tainted that image.

If brothels weren't prohibited then they could set-up as legitimate business in non-residential areas; doing that in the current climate is difficult.

With all of the gang activity and real criminals in Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Police Service continues to investigate and go after people involved in consensual so-called "crimes" such as the sex trade, and you and I are forced to pay for it.