Violence against sex workers: Correlates and Changes under ‘End-Demand’ legislation in Canada: A five city study

摘要

Canada is among several countries to have implemented ‘end-demand’criminalization frameworks for sex work. Drawing on interviews with sexworkers (n = 200) in five cities, we employed multivariate logisticregression to identify associations with workplace violence. We alsoanalysed descriptive data on trafficking and on workplace violenceunder end-demand legislation. In the past 12 months, being unable tocall 911 in a safety emergency at work for fear of police detection(Adjusted Odd Ratio AOR: 4.307, 95 Confidence Interval CI: 1.697 –10.927), being unable to screen clients due to fear of police detection(AOR: 2.175, 95 CI: 1.074 –4.405), having experienced anti-sex workhousing policy/eviction (AOR: 2.031, 95 CI: 0.897–4.598), and beingIndigenous (Adjusted Odd Ratio (AOR): 2.167, 95 Confidence Interval(CI): 1.060–4.428) were all independently associated with workplaceviolence in the past 12 months. Of those who worked prior to the lawchange (n = 167), a majority of respondents (80.24 (134)) reported thatviolence in the workplace had increased or stayed the same comparedto the previous criminalization model and 87.43 (n = 146) reported itwas harder or the same to get help in an emergency.