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Prostitution and sex trafficking as severe forms of violence against women

Melissa Farley, an activist feminist researcher based in San Francisco, will
be in Montreal to give a talk at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, September 22, entitled
"Renting an organ for 10 minutes - What johns tell us about prostitution."

Come hear what she has to say and share with her and members of the
Concertation des Luttes contre l’Exploitation Sexuelle (CLES) at the Comite
social Centre-Sud, 1710 rue Beaudry, Montreal (two blocks north of the
Beaudry Metro station). Free admission (voluntary contribution).

Melissa Farley is a psychologist who has done a decade of research in ten
countries, including Canada. Her work and that of 30 other writers, appears
in a recent book, "Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress," 2004,
Haworth Press. Her solidly feminist analysis springs from listening to the
experience and demands of over 850 women, men, transgendered people and
children who are either trapped in or have escaped from the prostitution
network.

In the context of neoliberal corporations and governmental organizations
that glamorize and benefit economically from a global sex industry, Melissa
Farley speaks about the colonial, racist, and sexist nature of a system
predicated on a male buyer that "transforms women into his own masturbatory
commodity."

She, and women in prostitution, refer to the right to NOT be prostituted,
and encourage us to go further than merely offering a "condom and a cup of
coffee," and take a united stand against all forms of oppression.

A response to the propaganda minimizing the reality of "sex work," Melissa
Farley’s research and writings document the psychological and physical harms
to women in all prostitution, whether legal or illegal, whether indoors or
outdoors. Farley is affiliated with the nonprofit organization Prostitution
Research Education, which offers data on the rates of physical assault, rape
and murder that continue to be inflicted on prostituted individuals,
including in the countries where prostitution is legally ordained.

At a time when a federal parliamentary standing committee is discussing the
legalization of procuring and the street solicitation imposed on all women
by "customers," Melissa Farley notes that Sweden has legally challenged
men’s constant sexual access to women and girls via prostitution/trafficking, while at the same time avoiding further legal stigma to those in prostitution.

Farley is concerned about the millions of dollars spent for the political promotion of the business of sexual exploitation under the guise of safer sex education and condom distribution.

Advocating for real choices for women among a range of options including the
choice NOT to prostitute - Farley draws on her research to identify and denounce the social constraints that push women into the prostitution system : child sexual assault, racism, poverty, wife battering (including rape), lack of decent jobs and affordable housing, sexual harassment on the job, the oversexualization of girls, etc. - facts everyone needs to know to prevent further deterioration of women’s living conditions.

Come hear Melissa Farley and the CLES. Bring a friend. 7:30 p.m., Thursday,
September 22, at the Comite social Centre-Sud, 1710 Beaudry.

Bilingual documentation will be distributed. More articles can also be found
at http://www.prostitutionresearch.com and
http://sisyphe.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=12

For more information, please contact 514-395-1196 or la_cles@yahoo.com.

On Sisyphe website, 15 September 2005

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