The Supreme Court gave a gift recently to the Conservative Government that will keep on giving. It is the opportunity for Stephen Harper and his friends to learn about sex. They seem to be a very repressed bunch of people and any new learning on this subject should be welcome. And they will be tested on what they learn. The Supreme Court has only given them a year to write new laws for Canada on prostitution.
The first hurdle for the repressed among us is to understand that prostitution is a legal activity in this country. And the Supreme Court unanimously said that you cannot get around the law by putting sex workers at risk. The court said we must not deny prostitutes the relative safety of a bawdy house. Nor should we deny them the right to solicit customers or to hire protection. In short, the Supreme Court said take down the barriers that hide the truth of human sexuality and let prostitutes walk on the sunny—and safe—side of the street.
And any parent who is so worried about their impressionable children should worry more about what the kids see on television every day. The recent Conservative convention in Calgary ignorantly passed a resolution that said criminalize the John-not-the-Jane. It is quite likely that the Supreme Court would see that as exactly the same as today’s unworkable laws. In countries where they are trying to arrest the person purchasing sex instead of the seller, they are driving prostitution further and further into the darkness and the hands of the dangerous elements of society.
It is too bad that Conservatives in our society are so repressed in their sexual understanding. Sexuality is a multi-facetted jewel in human existence. It is what brings us together for the need for procreation, communication, affection, stimulation and expression of love and need. To deny sex to yourself is simply stupid. To try to deny it to others is the height of cruelty.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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