this will make you mad!! female sex trade workers in city infected with virus

susi

Sassy Strumpette
Jun 27, 2008
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@the Meat Market!!!lol
By Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver SunMarch 5, 2009



Twenty-six per cent of Vancouver's female sex trade workers are infected
with HIV, as are 17 per cent of the city's injection-drug users, a new B.C.
study shows.

The study, by researchers at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and
published in the Harm Reduction Journal, is the first in Canada to estimate
the per-capita prevalence ranges for high risk groups, using United
Nations/World Health Organization software, 2006 Statistics Canada data and
other sources such as population surveys.

Gay men, the local population of which is said to be 20,000, including male
sex trade workers, have an estimated HIV prevalence rate of 15 per cent.

The overall prevalence of HIV in Vancouver is about 1.21 per cent, six times
higher than the national rate.

"Drugs and sex are the preferred routes for transmission. Female sex trade
workers get paid more money for having unprotected sex with johns,"
explained co-author Dr. Julio Montaner, who is president of the
International AIDS Society and head of the division of HIV/AIDS at the
University of B.C.

There are up to 520 female sex trade workers in Vancouver. Montaner, asked
if the high HIV prevalence among prostitutes should trigger a warning to
visitors during the 2010 Olympics, said:

"I don't want to jump on the Olympics bandwagon with this. There should be
public advisories everywhere about this, not just because of the Olympics.
People who avail themselves to this industry should know you better watch
out. At home, tourists and transients may behave like star citizens and
then, when people go to places like Vancouver, Vegas or Thailand, they party
it up."

Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal
Health, said she had not yet read the report, so she couldn't say whether a
targeted public health campaign for those who pay or trade for sex is
required.

"Our message has always been that you should assume sex trade workers are
HIV positive," Daly said. "It is a high-risk activity for all kinds of
infections and therefore you need to practise safe sex. During the Olympics,
we are going to be distributing 100,000 condoms to athletes and hotels along
with educational information. Whether it will specifically mention the sex
trade I cannot say at this point."

The high prevalence of HIV among female sex-trade workers is an emerging
trend, given that in the 1980s, most infections were among gay men and in
the second wave of the epidemic, injection drug users were hit hard.

"We always knew we had a significant problem, because of factors like our
benign climate causing people to drift here, being a port city, and having
so much poverty and so many homeless people on the Downtown Eastside,"
Montaner said, adding that it is difficult to know if men who buy sex from
infected prostitutes are also getting infected.

"We don't have any way of accessing the johns to ask them those questions,"
he said. "And if we see them in our clinics, it's not like they volunteer if
they got it that way. They would be more likely to report that they got it
through having casual sex, or with multiple partners."

Montaner said HIV experts have made a pitch to the provincial government to
"seek out and treat" HIV-infected individuals who are not on medications.
It's estimated there are about 13,000 B.C. residents infected with HIV --
11,000 males and 2,000 females -- but fewer than a third of them are taking
such medications.

Montaner believes the number on medications should be more like 7,500. He
said that would reduce the number of new infections each year from 400 to
300.

"The premier, the health minister and other government officials have been
very supportive about this kind of progressive approach. But now with the
economic downturn, we are in a waiting mode. We need an outreach program
that brings treatment to the people, to make it more accessible," he said,
referring to his vision of clinics in high-risk neighbourhoods where such
medications would be distributed.

Currently, the drugs are not taken by HIV-infected patients until their
immune systems have deteriorated to a certain level. The
delay-until-you-can-no-longer-delay approach is intended to save money and
stall the potentially unpleasant side effects of medications. But it also
means that untreated HIV patients can transmit infections.

Under another proposed strategy by Montaner's group, the "highly active
antiretroviral therapy" (HAART) medications would be taken by infected
patients far earlier in their disease process, so they wouldn't get the
opportunity to transmit the disease.

HAART is said to be nearly 100-per-cent effective at preventing HIV by
suppressing viral loads to undetectable levels and preventing people from
developing full-blown AIDS by boosting the immune system.

Sun Health Issues Reporter

[email protected]
 

Adriana✿

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Sep 2, 2008
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Happily Ever After!
Oh my god. That is insane. They are getting an earful from me.

I am going to fax them my all negative test results from last week. We all should!!!!! Lets bombard all of them by fax, phone & email.:mad: :mad:
 

island-guy

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Sep 27, 2007
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Only 17% of injection drug users?

Are they including the diabetics in their numbers?

The numbers they were spouting when they were pushing to keep the injection site were more like 80-90%.

Funny how their numbers can totally flip depending on which argument they are making.
 

island-guy

New member
Sep 27, 2007
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Their own numbers make NO sense

Where do they get the '11,000 males' and '2,000 females' from given their numbers that there are only 3,000 gay men infected.

Are they saying that the other 8,000 men are all drug users? in which case, if that is only 17% of the drug users that would mean that there are over 47,000 male injection drug users in Vancouver??

Wow. Now THAT is a story.

There are over 47,000 male injection drug users in Vancouver. That is almost 20% of the male population of vancouver, including newborns and seniors.

How's that for a headline:

20% of Vancouver's heterosexual male population are injection drug users.

Wow. I'm impressed.
 

wess

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Jan 5, 2009
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✿Adriana✿;861456 said:
Oh my god. That is insane. They are getting an earful from me.

I am going to fax them my all negative test results from last week. We all should!!!!! Lets bombard all of them by fax, phone & email.:mad: :mad:
I dont think they are talking about girls like you. They are talking about drug addicts/street dwellers. These people usually get it from drug use. I would just ignore it.
 

mclovin76

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Aug 29, 2008
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they say sex trade worker also with the current gang fights u never know if the girl your going to c has a bf that is targeted or wanted by cops.
 

moi

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Mar 31, 2008
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Edmontons
"Our message has always been that you should assume sex trade workers are
HIV positive,"
Daly said. "It is a high-risk activity for all kinds of
infections and therefore you need to practise safe sex.


Montaner said HIV experts have made a pitch to the provincial government to
"seek out and treat" HIV-infected individuals who are not on medications.
It's estimated there are about 13,000 B.C. residents infected with HIV --
11,000 males and 2,000 females -- but fewer than a third of them are taking
such medications.
At first when i read the bolded statement, I felt an immediate sense of anger and judgment but after thinking about it for awhile, it is understandable. It is the same as always watching your drink at the bar and assume if it is left alone it will be drugged.

It's all about being safe. This is another reason why I believe the whole industry SHOULD be legalized so anyone who get's an SP or massage license should also get tested initially, and regularly after that in order to keep a license or to continue working.
Any politician could argue this would be costly to the government, but perhaps a portion of the fees charged for carrying out these tests can be charged to the girl applying for the license. This will also greatly lower the amount of people needing the extremely expensive HAART drugs for HIV-infected people.
Everyone always thinks "it won't happen to me" or "she only does that with me" but it's bullshit. Perhaps it may NOT be, but you should always assume it is, if you value your life and your loved ones.
That can apply to any situation. Even for us SPs who do outcalls. We should always assume the other person could be potentially dangerous. I'm pretty sure those SPs in Metrotown and Edmonton didn't think they would be murdered at their next call. But it happened.
All this because society refuses to acknowledge we do have a very active sex-trade industry going on in Canada and they won't take the necessary measures needed to protect everyone both directly AND indirectly involved.
 
Aug 15, 2006
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I could see their stats being accurate if they are only including street level prostitutes. The problem is, with their verbage, it paints ALL sex trade workers with the same brush.
 

susi

Sassy Strumpette
Jun 27, 2008
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@the Meat Market!!!lol


they've been casting us this way for a hundred years, check out hilter, the emperor of japan and the sex worker...she's the worst of the 3? this is an anti syphilis campaign poster from the 2nd world war.

this is the reason the stigma exists and why people see us as dirty, disposable and less than human. this is also partially the reason people think it's alright to hurt us....
 

Validator

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Sep 19, 2008
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I see ur point but IS IT REALLY that wrong for them to post this? "To assume that a sex worker has the HIV" is not a diss but a safety precaution, isn't it? I don't see why it's so offensive. Has it not come across your ladies' minds that perhaps YOU GALS are the exception, not the rule? In terms of statistics, yes you can make stats look good or bad so that doesn't prove your point or theirs either. I just don't understand why its gets you so flusterred - it comes with territory folks!
 

moi

Female Companion
Mar 31, 2008
621
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Edmontons
I could see their stats being accurate if they are only including street level prostitutes. The problem is, with their verbage, it paints ALL sex trade workers with the same brush.
Yes but nowadays, do you realize even BBFS is offered in MPs and who knows where else?...So really, the risks are there regardless of where you get it from.

I see ur point but IS IT REALLY that wrong for them to post this? "To assume that a sex worker has the HIV" is not a diss but a safety precaution, isn't it? I don't see why it's so offensive. Has it not come across your ladies' minds that perhaps YOU GALS are the exception, not the rule? In terms of statistics, yes you can make stats look good or bad so that doesn't prove your point or theirs either. I just don't understand why its gets you so flusterred - it comes with territory folks!
I agreed with you in my post. A person who sells sex is still a person who sells sex whether it is through the internet, on the street, through the phone book or whatever.
 

FortunateOne

Banned
Jan 29, 2008
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The article says that "there are up to 520 sex trade workers in Vancouver"?!??!?!?


That figure has to be soooooo wrong and so easily disprovable right there. Surely to god that figure is way low, isn't it?
I would think so. And that 520 has got to be male and female sex workers, due to the nature of the article.
 

treveller

Member
Sep 22, 2008
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Ideas

The best way to deal with questionable statistics may be to provide more credible statistics as an alternative. Is there a sex trade group (Experential Women?) that could be trusted with info from 5 or 6 hundred in the trade who know they don't have AIDS? That would completely invalidate the supposed estimates in the article. If the sex workers in Vancouver don't supply real stats then someone else will make up there own.

As for the stats in the article representing the survival sex trade, this is an example why it is in the interests of all the well off sex trade workers to support efforts to help the women on the street. Everyone in the sex trade community will be tarred with the same brush to some degree. If conditions improve for the survival sex trade workers then all workers will benefit.

You are all part of one sex trade community, biologically and in the minds of the simple minded majority that supports or tolerates the laws and attitudes that do so much harm. What they don't understand is that we are all part of one biological community and we all suffer when we allow any part or the community to suffer.
 

wess

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Jan 5, 2009
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they've been casting us this way for a hundred years, check out hilter, the emperor of japan and the sex worker...she's the worst of the 3? this is an anti syphilis campaign poster from the 2nd world war.

this is the reason the stigma exists and why people see us as dirty, disposable and less than human. this is also partially the reason people think it's alright to hurt us....
I dont know why you keep bringing this stuff up on this site. I try and tell other men that escorts are higher quality then street hookers because the media leads men to believe that a hooker is what you see on hastings and nothing else. Lots of men dont get into it because of this and i need to convince them otherwise. Posts like this mix it all up again.

I alwase thought there was a clear difference between a d&d free escort who owns a condo with a 60 inch plasma hanging on the wall and a drug addicted street person. Maybe you should talk about this on a seperate Sp thread because you are not winning over any new pooners with posts like this. Not you personally but the business as a whole.
 

big_bear

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Jul 29, 2008
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this thread is similar to mine under the topic of
are girls safer if they charge more?
 

FortunateOne

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Jan 29, 2008
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vancouver
I've seen Limo's pick-up girls on Hastings street, stands to reason other nights those men are paying 300 a hour for a girl
I think I know what you mean: wess doesn't get it that high track girls (yes wess, these ladies are actually outdoor sps) often charge more than indoor indys (and do a whole lot less, for what its worth, really safe sex). When the night is done, then they go home to their nice condo with the plasma tv lol, in their own limos.
 

Thais

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Apr 29, 2006
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Thanks, Holly.

Their data sources were existing studies, and when one looks at the list of references and populations, here are the 3 used for "Female Sex Workers":

1. Strathdee SA, Patrick DM, Currie S, et al: Needle exchange is not enough:
lessons from the Vancouver injection drug use. AIDS 1997; 11(8): F59-F65.

25. Rekart ML: Trends in HIV seroprevalence among street-involved persons in Vancouver, Canada (1988-1992). Int Conf AIDS 1993, 9:734 [Abstract #PO-C21-3105].

30. Shannon K, Bright V, Duddy J, et al: HIV vulnerabilities of women engaged in survival sex work in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. CAHR Abstracts 2005, [Abstract #171].


Guess that explains the results... Unfortunately, I am not mad enough to write to them a detailed letter explaining that "survival street sex workers" and "female sex workers" are somewhat different categories. Would take me too long to find the academic sources again (there are several estimates that street work comprises only 5-15% of total sex worker population)...
But I may forward it to some sex work positive researchers I know, perhaps they will have more time...
 

wess

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Jan 5, 2009
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I think I know what you mean: wess doesn't get it that high track girls (yes wess, these ladies are actually outdoor sps) often charge more than indoor indys (and do a whole lot less, for what its worth, really safe sex). When the night is done, then they go home to their nice condo with the plasma tv lol, in their own limos.
Im not talking about the girls on seymore street. I dont even know what the deal is with them. Im talking about the drug addicts that sleep on the street. The numbers susi is talking about here is the drug addicts and not the high rollers. If im wrong and the high rollers are drug addicts living on the street too then I will be the first one out.
 

wess

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If anyone is interested, this study can be found online:

http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-6-5.pdf

The authors describe how they determined the population size for the subgroup they call "female sex workers" and the other subgroups they were looking at, such as men who have sex with men, injection drug users, and so on:

"The final population subgroup sizes were based on previously published estimates and peer-based discussions."

You will also find that if you look at Table 3 in the study, they estimate the population of female sex workers in Vancouver to be 1500. They give low, medium and high estimates for how many of them are infected with HIV (260, 390, and 520, respectively).

520 is the high estimate for the total number of female sex workers infected with HIV, not the estimate for the total population size of this subgroup.

It appears as though the journalist misunderstood the figures presented in the study, as she writes that "there are up to 520 female sex trade workers in Vancouver."

I, like many of you, am extremely unimpressed that they did not define their terms. A term like "female sex worker" is ambiguous. It could mean anything from a woman who works on the street, to a woman who works in a massage parlour, to a woman who works out of her own apartment. Are they referring to all of these women? Who knows, since they don't define the term?

I feel that this lack of clarity is not only sloppy work, but academically irresponsible.

I also think they should have discussed how they arrived at their population estimates in more detail. They flutter over this information in 2 or 3 sentences.
I have my suspicions for the people putting this stuff out. They dont want to differentiate street drug addicts from enterprising escorts because they want to make the industry look bad. Now some potential new client will read this study and think that out of 1500 escorts in van, 520 of them have HIV. If I was an escort I would have this thread removed.
 
Ashley Madison
Vancouver Escorts