Confessions of a Toronto sex worker

By Vanessa Brown

* Names have been changed to protect privacy

Meet Ruby Jeffrey. She's in her early 40s; she supports two teenage daughters, one of whom is in university; she'd talk to you for hours if you let her, with a comforting voice that would remind you of your mother's; she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. Ruby is a Toronto sex worker.


In September, three prostitution laws were struck down in Ontario: operating a bawdy house, communicating for the purpose of prostitution, and living off its avails. Ruby and her colleagues cheered. Social conservatives jeered. The federal government wasted no time, promising to appeal the day after Justice Susan Himel delivered her ruling.

On Nov. 27, Alan Young, who's representing Terri-Jean Bedford and Valerie Scott in the case, spoke outside Toronto's Court of Appeal.

 

While the case could be tied up in court for years, we have since been introduced to a new kind of prostitute. Scott, a former sex worker, helped dispel the myth that all prostitutes are drug-addicted transients who carouse the streets and work against their will. Ruby told me nothing could be farther from the truth. She knows over a thousand colleagues who work exclusively indoors. Many are educated. All would like to feel safe calling 911, just in case.

As judge Himel relaxed the legal system’s bear hug on prostitutes, conservative organizations such as REAL Women of Canada immediately predicted sex trafficking would increase. In an interview, REAL Women of Canada representative Diane Watts said “studies indicate that 90 per cent of women … want to get out of the trade.” She added that the prostitutes involved in studies revealed that drug addiction and sex work went hand-in-hand.

Ruby has a problem with that assessment. The majority of sex workers, she said, aren’t included in prostitution statistics because they’re afraid of criminalization. Most hide underground because they’re afraid they’ll be outed. But sex workers are very much a part of our society, according to Ruby. They’re mothers at PTA meetings. They’re students on campuses across the nation. Ruby Jeffrey wants you to know they’re human beings with rights, just like you and me.