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Marginalized populations – Sex Trade Workers

  • Writer: Shabin Mere
    Shabin Mere
  • Nov 22, 2023
  • 5 min read

Updated: Dec 1, 2023


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“Marginalized communities include those who have been historically excluded from involvement in our cities, as well as those continuing to face other barriers to civic participation. This includes … factors like race, wealth, immigration status, and sexual orientation” (Engaging Marginalized Communities: Challenges and Best Practices, 2021). My discussion for this unit’s topic is on Sex trade workers and the inequalities they continuously face in healthcare access and discrimination in BC, specifically the Vancouver Lower Mainland.


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Chinatown [Vancouver, BC]” (Russwurm, 2023).  An attempted murder five years later contributed to the brothel’s shutdown, when the red-light district was driven out of Chinatown and into other neighborhoods by the authorities. The city had completely prohibited prostitution by the time the war broke out in 1914, forcing the trade to go underground. This red-light district run by Mackenzie was then prominently situated between Westminster Avenue (now Main Street) and Carrall, on a two-block section of Dupont Street.


Historically, the sex trade industry has led to the creation of barriers to health care, social and economic equality, and stigma due to the nature of this business. These factors being a social determinant of health for women in the trade is an important matter for our government and criminal system to ensure they are not discriminated against or pushed away from being able to access health care or other resources and safety measures, as equally as all populations.


Several research studies are being conducted in BC, and throughout Canada to understand and create awareness of the inequalities faced by sex workers. There are many advocacy groups also established within BC to be the voices of the individuals who continuously encounter inequities and prejudices. Additionally, there are several non-profit organizations, including women’s clinics to provide resources and health care access, especially since the HIV epidemic, rise in drug overdoses, and increase of violence toward street workers.


In April of this year, a CBC News reporter, Yvette Brend (2023) submitted an insightful article on a survey conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic titled " Sex worker survey offers rare glimpse into risks, needs of those often forced into shadows”. In this article, she has focused on some anecdotal events from a 38-year-old transgendered sex worker, Tyler Cuddahy, who has been in this industry since she was 18 years old. "As a trans adult I work more with the straight population — the guys who are questioning their sexuality” (Cuddahy, as cited in Brend, 2023). She describes the various mistreatments and violent encounters she has faced through her work when she worked the streets, and now as a safety measure uses her own home to work. Additionally, Brend has outlined findings of the survey of “239 sex workers in southwestern B.C. that offers a glimpse into the needs and risks they faced during the pandemic” (Brend, 2023). These studies were conducted by and collaborated amongst various advocacy organizations and funded by the City of Vancouver and the Emergency Community Support Fund. The project name is BUFU (By Us For Us). The following were some of the excerpts from the survey reported in this article:

Study participants called for better mental health supports, as they are struggling

to deal with everything from violence within the industry, hate-based threats,

intimate partner violence, addictions, the fallout of residential schools, refugee

experiences, and depression and anxiety (2023)


The study also recommended better financial support for people affected by the opioid crisis and the pandemic by upping income assistance and disability rates.

Highlights of the BUFU Research Project - Of the 239 sex workers surveyed:

73 per cent reported a disability

69 per cent were cisgender women 

60 per cent feared a loved one would overdose

46 per cent struggled to pay for food

45 per cent were Indigenous

35 per cent were not housed safely

29 per cent had dependents

8 per cent were transgender

Participants wanted a medical clinic, legal aid services, shared workspaces for sex workers and an expansion of harm reporting tools.

The report notes a need for more flexible, non-stigmatizing care and services for Indigenous people, and involving an elder.

Distrust of police - the report also recommends police-free sex worker spaces.

In 2013 the VPD worked with advocacy groups to adopt a set of sex work enforcement guidelines in an effort to build trust with sex workers. The guidelines talk about poverty and cultural considerations, and the over-representation Indigenous women in so-called "survival" sex work.

Other sex workers in the survey described feeling "invisible," with no effective way to report violence against them (Brend, 2023)


Along with this article, there are many other articles and reports on the barriers to healthcare access for street workers. One example from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in an article published by Stefania Seccia in 2015 from 24hrs Vancouver, reporting:

Local sex workers face barriers to cervical screening, says a recent Vancouver study — but advocates say it extends to healthcare services as a whole.

Stigma, discrimination, and a distrust of authority remain in the way for street sex workers to access the health-care system. The study Barriers to Cervical Screening among Sex Workers was published in the American Journal of Public Health, drawing on analysis from 2010 to 2013 from a survey of 611 sex workers.

Only 38% of them received a cervical screening, 23% didn’t receive their results, and while HIV-positive sex workers were more likely to have an annual test, 46% reported having missed their scheduled test (Sex Workers Face Health-care Barriers | BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, n.d.)


During the pandemic, along with other marginalized people impacted financially by loss of work due to the shutdown of many businesses, sex workers experienced the same hardship. Because selling sex is considered illegal in Canada, even though prostitution is not illegal, this industry left many sex workers without any support financial support, or subsidies to survive during the pandemic:

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There is still a lot of work and improvement needed for our society and Governments to ensure equitable health care and resources for our sex worker population. However, there are more and more resources and initiatives coming in place advocating for equality, and equitable, easier access to various services and regular health care for this group. For example:

Health and safety for sex workers and communities impacted by sex work, and the prevention of sexual exploitation | City of Vancouver - Health and safety for sex workers and communities impacted by sex work, and the prevention of sexual exploitation.










References

BC Studies. (2018, October 17). Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver’s Sex Trade | BC Studies.

Brend, Y. (2023, April 12). Sex worker survey offers rare glimpse into risks, needs of those often forced into shadows.

Brown, D. (2022, October 3). Advocates argue for full decriminalization of sex work in Canada as landmark hearing

How COVID-19 has exacerbated hardships for sex workers. (n.d.). [Video]. CBC.

Russwurm, L. (2023, May 12). A History Of Sex Work In Early Vancouver -. Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours.

Sex workers face health-care barriers  | BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. (n.d.). https://bccfe.ca/news/in-the-

The Canadian Press. (2018, April 23). Women working in Vancouver sex trade were seen as ‘disposable,’ inquiry hears.

The fight for BC sex worker rights is far from over. (2023, November 4). The Georgia Straight.

Underserved, Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations, Areas and Facilities — Health Equity & Policy Lab. (n.d.).

Vancouver, C. O. (n.d.). Health and safety for sex workers and communities impacted by sex work, and the prevention

Wish Drop-In Centre Society. (2023, November 14). Indigenous Health & Safety - WISH Drop-In Centre Society. WISH

 
 
 

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