What other services could a heterosexual guy market to women besides full service? It seems like the entire market is geared towards guys always getting services from women. I might like to investigate if there’s a place for me, but I’m just lookin’ for options. Thanks

In my 14 years in the back pages of Canadian weeklies, I have witnessed a few trends that I couldn’t have predicted. Stripper poles in nightclubs and pole-dancing studios? What the…? So let me get this straight: when a woman is paid to do it it’s morally objectionable but when you’re doing it free or for fitness it’s fine? OK, well I guess that attitude’s nothing new. Murray S. Davis’ remark about sex being the only activity where the professional gets less respect than the amateur is oft quoted here.

I gotta tell you though, Thanks, despite the fact that I truly believe it might one day be more common, I’ve yet to detect any exciting new developments in the male-escort-for-female-clientele marketplace. Female interest in this remains one of my least received questions — letters from men inquiring about paying gigs far outweigh those from women looking to procure them and I think the dearth of male-to-female strip clubs in our large, multicultural city provides at least some testimony to an overall lack of demand for male-to-female sexual services. Women are still inclined, it seems, to obtain them for occasions imbued with an ostensible jocular quality, like stagettes and birthday parties.

And yet, I don’t think it ever hurts to place an ad if only to get a personal sense of what’s going on out there. This is not to say that there aren’t women that wouldn’t love some heaving hunk to come over and break their box-spring (then leave), but if you aren’t going to offer full service, you’ve got to be creative: nude housekeeping, domination, scantily clad massage. Women like pampering. Learn to do a pedicure. Then learn to do it with your nuts. Take some time to research and refine your services. If you’re going to be one of a few, you’ve got to be worth it. 

I’d like to open the lines on the topic, too. Ladies, if you were to pay for a sexual service from a man, what would your interests and expectations be and how much would you pay? And if there are any women out there who have had some interesting experiences paying for it, please feel free to share.

Legal dealing
In your July 3 column “Pleading the filth,” you tell Alisa that “Prostitution is also not illegal in Canada.” Pardon my naivety, but I thought that prostitution was contrary to the criminal code of Canada? I have nothing against sex-trade workers — in fact I hold the belief that it should be decriminalized but I didn’t think that was the case yet. Can you clarify? ANON

This is an issue that often perplexes people. After all, if prostitution were legal, why would you hear so much about raids and busts, right?

Prostitution is legal in Canada — it is simply the activities surrounding it (210 to 213 in our criminal code) that make the occupation unlawful, challenging and dangerous. Sections 210 and 211 make it illegal to keep a bawdyhouse or transport a person to one, meaning if you work with a couple of women for security and company, or you drive a woman to work you could be charged. Section 212 makes it illegal to encourage or force someone into the sex industry as well as live off the avails. Consider the second part of this provision, which puts all people who live with sex workers in jeopardy of being criminally charged with living off their income. Section 213 makes it illegal for a person to communicate in public for the purposes of procuring sex. This law really concerns sex-worker advocates because it forces women to make hasty judgments about potentially violent clients. It also pushes them into more remote and industrial areas so as not to be seen negotiating.

Toronto lawyer Alan Young is currently challenging provisions 210, 212 (the avails part) and 213 as unconstitutional, hoping to strike them down as violations of Charter of Rights and Freedoms sections 7 (the right to life, liberty and security of the person) and 2(b) (freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication). The job is legal; it’s time the workers had rights that reflect this.

Film institutionalized
Some months ago you mentioned a documentary called Bevel Up by Nettie Wild (Love Bits, April 24). I have been waiting for it to become available at the NFB, but they are now telling me it’s only for sale at the institutional rate of $130 plus tax. It’s not going to be made available at a home-purchase price. And it’s not at the TPL. I’d really like to see it. I was wondering where you saw it, and if it might be available for public viewing. The person at the NFB didn’t have any ideas on its availability. FLO

I spoke to an RN outreach worker at the BC centre for Disease Control who contacted Bevel Up’s marketing manager, Kay Leung, at the NFB. Here’s what she said:
“The institutional price, which comes with public-performance rights, does provide for the potential of it being shown in a public setting like a classroom, group workshop and the like or loaned to other groups. It does not, however, allow for it to be used commercially — in other words, those who purchase the DVD couldn’t turn around and charge a fixed-price admission-ticket fee for their screenings in a public setting. That said, there’s nothing stopping the purchaser from asking for a ‘donation’ where the proceeds could go to a non-profit organization or community group or would cover the cost of the screening (hall rental, projection equipment etc).” Keep in mind the film does come with four and a half hours of educational material along with a learning guide, too.

Email Sasha at sasha@eyeweekly.com or send your questions to Sasha c/o Eye Weekly, 625 Church St, 6th fl, Toronto, M4Y 2G1.

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