I am an escort, and generally, my work conditions are reasonably safe. However, some of the laws around sex work in Canada make it a bit more difficult to avoid dangerous situations while at work.
For a while, I had a regular client in downtown Vancouver, in the rough part of town. My driver did not like to drop me off in front of his SRO (rooming house) because the police tend to hang around, and he could be charged with ‘living off the avails.’ One night, he dropped me off in the rough part of town on the corner and I had to walk towards the rooming house in my club dress and heels. Five drug dealers who hang out on the corner immediately started aggressively harassing me. “Get over here!” Where are you going looking so hot?’ “Oh yeah baby, come here.”
I told them I was going somewhere. They followed me yelling for a block.
When I got to my client, I was shaking. I took a few deep breaths in the hallway to calm myself down. The session went well. Afterwards, I knew that my driver would be expecting me on the same corner. I called the agency and told them to send him and prepared to walk the gauntlet again.
I decided to play nice with the drug dealers until the driver came back. I flirted a little, told them I’d been dancing at a club and that I was visiting a friend who was down on his luck. I said that my boyfriend would be coming to get me any minute. The whole time, I was terrified. I kept praying that they wouldn’t figure out that I was lying my face off and put two and two together about me being a working girl.
In a culture that treats people in my profession as something less than fully human, street harassment while working can take on an even more sinister feeling. Especially with the amount of street sex workers who have been murdered in this city.
– Carmen
Location: Vancouver
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