Advocates for legalizing brothels in Canada have been buoyed by a groundbreaking Ontario court decision and a University of British Columbia study finding prostitution is safer when it happens indoors.
But brothel proponents are getting pushback not just from social conservatives but women’s rights advocates who fear the public is being misled into believing prostitution can be made generally safe and non-exploitive.
Published by the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), researchers looked at the experiences of 39 women living in two women-only housing facilities located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.