Homosexuality and Prostitution: A Tale of Two Deviancies

Abstract

Historically, homosexuality and prostitution were both branded immoral vices that required criminalization, despite the fact that they were also considered ‘victimless crimes.’ Yet, in contemporary Canadian society, gays and lesbians have gained wide social acceptance and legal rights, while the sex trade has become more criminalized, stigmatized, and, for clients or third parties, vilified. This article explores the reasons for this divergence. First, drawing on radical queer critique, I problematize this framing, arguing that the equality and rights-based victories for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans community did not necessarily benefit all of its members. Building on this insight, I argue that those queers who are unable or uninterested in accessing the benefits ushered in by ‘gay rights’ have identities, proclivities, and vulnerabilities that overlap with those of sex workers and/or their clients. Part I of the article sets the socio-legal and political context, providing succinct overviews of key developments relating to gay and lesbian rights and of key developments relating to sex trade regulation, focusing primarily on the last fifty years. Part II analyses how gay/lesbian mainstream acceptance and the queer/sex trade marginalization occurred through overlapping discourses and laws related to privacy, bawdy houses/indecency, disease, spousal/marital relations, and children. I end with a consideration of the intersectionality between queerness and the sex trade, both in terms of subjectivities and non-normative sexual practices.

Exploring the Vowel Space of Multicultural Toronto English

“…We take Cheshire, Kerswill, Fox, and Torgersen’s (2011) approach as our baseline for understanding MTE, which, we argue, exhibits a “dual status” nature. Indeed, MTE is inherently linked with what is locally labeled “Toronto Slang” in media and social media metadiscourse (Denis 2016; Bigelow, Gadanidis, Schlegl, Umbal & Denis 2020; Khan 2020; Denis 2021; Elango 2021). We use the term “slang” here only as part of this label and do not intend to signal that Toronto Slang constitutes slang in any linguistically-technical sense.…”

The white-painters of Cabbagetown: Neighborhood policing and sex worker resistance in Toronto, 1986–1987

“…Like sexuality, the relegation of sex work to the social margins is a legal, material, and discursive process ( Bill C-36, 2014 ; Butler, 1990 ; Khan, 2020 ). Gayle Rubin’s foundational work in sexuality studies is instructive here, in particular her model of a “sex hierarchy” to illustrate how sexual behaviors are designated as “good, natural, and normal” versus “bad, abnormal, or unnatural” ( Rubin, 2012 : 45).…”

“…While homosexuality itself was not illegal prior to the Omnibus Bill, sodomy, buggery, and gross indecency were; the Omnibus Bill removed only sodomy from the Criminal Code, leaving intact the latter as criminal acts ( Sethna and Dummitt, 2020 : 12–14). Furthermore, the 1969 amendments maintained bawdy-house laws, which were regularly enforced against gays and sex workers alike ( Khan, 2020 : 291). Thus, the state maintained an active interest in the corporeal politics of its citizens, in particular in criminalizing non-normative and non-procreative sexual acts, including sex work ( Hooper, 2020 : 106, 113–114).…”

“…Sex worker activists and policy researchers continue to urge decriminalization, including demanding an overdue Parliamentary review of Bill C-36 ( Butterfly, 2018 ; Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, 2017 ). Unlike the limited forms of sexual liberation gained by mainstream lesbian and gay, and feminist movements, sex workers continue to be criminalized and stigmatized ( Khan, 2020 : 284). In a contemporary moment rife with questioning the limits of the law in administering justice, coupled with popular debate about the role of policing in society, this history affirms the place of sex workers as leaders in the ongoing struggle for sexual minority rights.…”

“…Yet, in recalibrating from these raids and the trauma of Operation Soap, the RPC recommended the removal of bawdy-house laws as a way to prevent men from being charged as found-ins ( Hooper, 2014 : 55). Despite the bawdy-house laws being used to criminalize both gay men and sex workers, the bath house raids did not result in gay activists fighting for the removal of bawdy-house laws in general; in failing to do so, a crucial opportunity to deepen alliances with sex workers was lost ( Khan, 2020 : 304). Rather, as this article demonstrates, sex workers—despite participating in both gay and lesbian and women’s liberation—forged their own way forward with little orchestrated support from other sexual minorities.…”