Aboriginal Women’s Overrepresentation in the Sex Trade

This research paper was written for my Contemporary Aboriginal Issues course last semester and due to its length, it will be placed under a cut.

photo found here

The number of Aboriginal people living in Canadian cities has been stably increasing over the decades. According to Hanselmann, (2001) more than half of Canada’s Aboriginal population lives in cities and two-thirds of that population lives in Western Canada (as cited in Benoit, Carroll, & Chaudhry, 2003, p. 822). Aboriginal women have been steadily migrating from reserves to cities, often with their children. In fact, Frideres & Gadacz (2012) affirm that many of these migrating women are living in poverty and are often inclined to migrate to the city in hopes of finding employment (p.151). However, Aboriginal women are less likely than Aboriginal men to find employment on and off reserve; if they do find work, they will receive less money than their male counterparts. Women migrating from reserves often do not have the education or skills-training required to find adequate work in the city and often find themselves and their children struggling with urban life (p.151).Poverty combined with a history of colonialism, racism, and sexism has lead to an overrepresentation of Aboriginal women in the Canadian sex trade, particularly in the city of Vancouver, where, in the downtown east-side (VDES), many Aboriginal women live. This paper will explore the current realities faced by Aboriginal women in the sex trade within Vancouver’s downtown eastside, how their overrepresentation in the sex trade is linked with colonialism, and the ways in which Aboriginal women are working together for change.

Aboriginal women are overrepresented in the Canadian sex trade, particularly in the Vancouver’s downtown eastside or VDES, a highly stigmatized community with high rates of poverty and homelessness. According to Currie (1995) and Hanselmann (2001), it has been estimated that 70 percent of the women in the VDES sex trade are Aboriginal and that the average Aboriginal woman in the sex trade is 26 years old, does not have a high school education and has three or more children (as cited in Benoit et al. 2003, p. 824). Considering these findings, it is essential to question our dominant notions of “free-choice” when we discuss the sex trade. These notions of “free-choice” are questionable and attempt to deflect from the realities that many of Aboriginal women face in the sex trade.

 Generally, poverty is related to higher levels of homelessness, which is one of the main risk factors for entering prostitution (Farley, Lynne & Cotton, 2005, p. 245). In their study of 100 women in the sex trade in VDES, where over 50% of those interviewed were Aboriginal, Farley et al. 2005 found that 86% of the women reported experiencing past or current homelessness and that finding housing or “a safe place” was among their most urgent needs (p. 250). Furthermore, of the women interviewed in this study, 95% of them reported a desire to leave prostitution (p.253). The inequalities faced by Aboriginal women, however, do not end with housing and economics, violence against Aboriginal women is rampant, particularly in the VDES.

Aboriginal women living in VDES and all over Canada for that matter, experience significantly more violence than non-Aboriginal women. In the same study by Farley et al., (2005) Aboriginal respondents reported higher levels of child physical and sexual abuse than those who identified as European-Canadian, although both groups had high numbers (253). Further, as of 2005, according to Thompson, 60% of the fifty women missing from VDES were Aboriginal and had been disappearing from the area since the late 1970s (as cited in Schatz, 2010, p. 12). Furthermore, the NWAC (2004) states that Aboriginal women are more likely to commit suicide, experience family violence, contract HIV and even experience a higher mortality rate than non-Aboriginal women (as cited in Kubik, Bourassa, & Hampton, 2009, p. 23). Violence and abuse often leads to increased levels of substance abuse, cigarette smoking, and overall poorer health (p. 27). In contemplating these grim realities, one must ask why Aboriginal women experience so much inequality and further, how such inequality has lead to an increase in their representation within the sex trade.

Canada’s history of colonialism has marginalized Aboriginal people for centuries; however, Aboriginal women face even greater oppression, being forced to contend with sexism and racism in their daily lives. Colonialism has exacerbated Aboriginal women’s oppression in Canada, creating what Voyageur (2000) calls a “double-jeopardy.” This doubled oppression produces economic, political, and social barriers for Aboriginal women (as cited in Kubik, et al., 2009, p. 24). Colonialism is also responsible for the Indian Act which disenfranchised many Aboriginal women and the residential school system which has had enduring consequences that carry on through generations (p. 22). Structural oppression that stems from colonialism is utilized through government policies which increase Aboriginal women’s vulnerability for poverty and homelessness. Poverty and homelessness are two major factors that can increase the likelihood of a woman entering the sex trade in order to survive. Despite the inequalities that many Aboriginal women endure, such as being overrepresented in the sex trade, they continue to resist oppression and reclaim their identities and communities.

The debates surrounding prostitution are often heated, many believe that full decriminalization of the sex trade is the best way to deal with the industry, while others favour a model that targets the “demand” and offers those who want to exit the resources to do so. This is often referred to as the “Swedish Model” or “Nordic Model” (Longworth, 2010, p. 61). One particular group of Aboriginal women who are active in this debate and many others that impact Aboriginal women is AWAN or the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network based in Vancouver. AWAN asserts that Aboriginal women have “a long, multi-generational history of colonization, marginalization, and displacement from our Homelands, and rampant abuses that has forced many of our sisters into prostitution” (2009). The group is heavily involved with the VDES community but is also still involved with Aboriginal women living in rural communities or on reserves. In addition to challenging the sex industry and the demand for Aboriginal women’s bodies, members of AWAN (2009) also seek to challenge governments, support land claims and self-government, increase representation of Aboriginal women through networking, and reclaim their traditional values.

Aboriginal women are overrepresented in the sex trade in Canada, particularly in VDES where poverty and homelessness is rampant. The women represented in the VDES face more violence, poverty, childhood sexual abuse, and homelessness than non-Aboriginal women. Colonialism in Canada has proven to be unrelenting in its attempts to destroy Aboriginal culture, creating a cycle of poverty that has had significant implications for Aboriginal women. Through colonialism, Aboriginal women lost their status if they chose to marry non-Aboriginal men and lost their childhoods and even their own children to the residential school system. Taking into consideration the incessant sexism and racism that Aboriginal women still face, it should come as no surprise that Aboriginal women are fighting against this overrepresentation of their sisters in the sex trade, viewing it as a direct result of colonialism. Colonialism has propagated this poverty that has lead to such an overrepresentation in the sex trade. Consequently then, in order to create change we must eradicate such poverty through provisions endorsing Aboriginal people’s right to self-govern and reclaim their traditions and values.

            Other initiatives are offered by organized groups of Aboriginal women such as AWAN and other feminist groups based in Vancouver. Groups such as AWAN believe that the “Swedish model” would be the best option for women as it views prostitution as violence against women rather than just another job (Longworth, 2010, p. 69). What kind of society accepts prostitution as work when so many are driven into the sex trade due to lack of social, economic and political power? Groups such as AWAN seek to understand the deeper structures that sustain such a demand, “Let's not get tricked into a supposed fix which is not even a band-aid, but only deepens the wounds” (AWAN, 2009). However, as Kubik et al. (2009) highlights, the eradication of poverty and the emancipation from the enduring impacts of colonialism can only occur when Aboriginal women are valued, respected and treated as fully-human (p.31).

 References

Aboriginal Women's Action Network. (2009). Statement Opposing Legalized Prostitution & Total Decriminalization of Prostitution. Retrieved March 24, 2012, from http://www.awanbc.ca/aboutus.html#Oppose

Benoit, C., Carroll, D., & Chaudhry, M. (2003). In search of a Healing Place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Social Science and Medicine, 56, 821-833.

Farley, M., Lynne, J., & Cotton, A.J. (2005). Prostitution in Vancouver: Violence and the

Colonization of First Nations Women. Transcultural Psychiatry. 42(2), 242–271

doi: 10.1177/1363461505052667

Frideres, J. S., & Gadacz, R. R. (2012.). Great Strides and New Challenges. Aboriginal Peoples in Canada (9^th ed., pp. 129-157). Toronto, Canada: Pearson.

Kubik, W., Bourassa, C., & Hampton, M. (2009). Stolen Sisters, Second Class Citizens, Poor Health: The Legacy of Colonization in Canada. Humanity & Society, 33, 18-34.

Longworth, C.E. (2010). Male Violence against Women in Prostitution: Weighing Feminist Legislative Responses to a Troubling Canadian Phenomenon. Appeal, 15, 58-85.

Schatz, D. (2010). Unsettling the Politics of Exclusion: Aboriginal Activism and the Vancouver Downtown East Side. The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Session M10 (b) Beyond Statistics: Urban Indigenous Politics. Retrieved from http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2010/Schatz.pdf