Vancouver police, sex workers blast Salvation Army campaign

[susi]

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Van...st+Salvation+Army+campaign/2031126/story.html
Vancouver police, sex workers blast Salvation Army campaign
By Stuart Hunter, The ProvinceSeptember 25, 2009 7:22 AMComments (2)

A consortium of sex-trade workers, legal experts and Vancouver police are slamming a Salvation Army ad campaign they say is misleading, debasing to woman and sensational.
The Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group says that although the ad campaign is meant to increase public awareness about human trafficking, it instead endangers sex-trade workers.

"Street-based sex-trade workers are coming in to agencies . . . saying they feel incredibly assaulted by the campaign," said group chairwoman Tamara O'Doherty. "They are feeling very targeted. We want to make people aware this campaign was done with no consultation with anyone working in the sex-trade industry."

The Salvation Army campaign featured posters placed in bar bathrooms and billboards in the Downtown Eastside, as well as radio and TV items, presenting images of young women being beaten and abused.

The Christian social-services group launched its campaign last September, fearing a spike in such trafficking as the 2010 Winter Olympics approach.

Sally Ann spokesman Jonny Michel apologized to women upset by the ads, but said the intentions behind them were good -- and insisted the ads are staying put.

"We were not targeting sex-trade workers," Michel said. "The focus is not on the general sex trade, it is focused on the women being forced to have sex against their will."

The Salvation Army will open the first shelter for trafficking victims in Canada next fall in B.C. It will be a 10-bed facility staffed 24 hours.

shunter@theprovince.com

 

[susi]

Sex trade workers decry Salvation Army posters

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/trade+workers+decry+Salvation+Army+posters/2030193/story.html

Sex trade workers are decrying a Salvation Army campaign against human trafficking that depicts them as slaves and victims of brutal violence.

The “Truth Isn’t Sexy” campaign, developed and launched last year by Mercer Creative, has started to raise the ire of sex workers, who say they are appalled at graphic images of women being throttled or having their heads bashed against a sidewalk.

The images can be seen around Metro Vancouver on billboards, in public washrooms and on transit shelters.

“[Sex workers] are raising some concerns over the fact the campaign perpetuates the myth of sex workers being slaves,” said Tamara O’Doherty, of the Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group.

“They’re traumatized. ... For some of these people who work on the streets, they do experience violence,” O’Doherty said.

The Salvation Army acknowledged the images are graphic but said the campaign is designed to tell the true stories of sexual trafficking victims.

Spokesman Brian Venables said the campaign wasn’t aimed at all sex trade workers, but rather those who were kidnapped or brought into Vancouver against their will.

“When we came together to create this we decided first and foremost it had to be the truth,” he said.

“It’s about people who don’t have that liberty any more; they lost the right to make choices.

“Yes, the images are violent and for the Salvation Army it’s a bold, bold step, but we wanted to make an impact.”

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness about human trafficking and exploitation ahead of the 2010 Olympic Games, when the Salvation Army says “the demand for bodies to service the sex trade will increase. So will the number of victims.”

The Salvation Army website claims Vancouver is a major port of entry for international sex slaves and that nearly every prostitute in the Downtown Eastside is somehow indebted to a pimp or gang, and thus lives in a form of bondage.

Venables said he hopes the graphic images will help put a face on human trafficking.

But the Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group Vancouver claims the campaign is “misleading, debasing to women and nothing short of sensational.”

O’Doherty said sex workers are worried about exploitation and want to work with the Salvation Army on the issue. The focus, she said, should be on making the community safer for sex workers.

The group launched its opposition to the campaign on the eve of the Salvation Army’s Weekend of Prayer for Victims of Sex Trafficking, today through Sunday.

Venables said the Salvation Army would appreciate any help from sex workers and hopes the debate will bring them all together.

“This is much bigger than the Salvation Army,” he said.

“We need the whole community. These people are on the streets and they can be a huge resource.”

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

 

[HankQuinlan]

Friggin' Christians.