A professional dominatrix made a little bit of history in Canada yesterday. Terri-Jean Bedford (actually a retired pro-domme), along with Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott, won their case in front of the Canadian Supreme Court to strike down the countries anti-prostitution laws. This Tits and Sass post has a round-up of various links on the news. You can see some of the positive reaction from pro-dommes and other sex workers in twitter comments like this, this and this.
Some of you might be wondering why a pro-domme is involved in anti-prostitution laws. After all, don’t pro-dommes abstain from sex with clients? The reality is that when it comes to sexual matters the law is frequently an ass. In this case Terri-Jean Bedford was legally working in her own space as a pro-domme in 1994 when the Toronto police raided and arrested her. The confiscated all her equipment, splashed her name across the papers and ultimately (in 1998) convicted her of keeping a bawdy house. Since then, with the help of a dozen anonymous backers, she’s been fighting the legal system. And, as it turns out, winning.
The confluence of sex, commerce, morality and law is always going to be a complex one. I’ve therefore adopted a simple rule I always start with in these matters – listen to the voices of the people involved. It’s fine to debate with academics* and politicians, but not all opinions are equal. And in this case the opinions of sex workers are both far more important and (as far as I can tell) unequivocally in favor of this ruling. So a big congratulations to Ms Bedford, someone who can certainly rock a leather jacket and riding crop look.
I’m actually in the process of reading her book Dominatrix on Trial. I’ll put a review of it up at some point soon.
* The exception to debating academics would be people like Gail Dines and Melissa Farley. Their twisting of facts and obvious bias disqualifies them instantly from any sensible debate.
This very issue was recently had a very intelligent and sensitive airing in the a Danish TV series called Borgen. If you have not seen it, its about the adventures of a female danish politician called Brigitte Nyborg. The series has been riveting and the episode wihich delt with a plan to reform the Danish prostitution laws made exactly the same point as you make: be wary of the opinions of ‘experts’ and take much more seriously the opinions of those who actually work in this field themselves.
Thanks for the pointer. I’ve not heard of that series, but I’ll look out for it. According to the wikipedia page it has been shown in the US, so I’ll try and set my DVR. It also sounds like HBO is considering remaking it (in partnership with the BBC). Mainstream TV and print doesn’t have a great record when it comes to covering these issues, so good to hear there’s a few decent attempts out there.
-paltego
Paltego, its outstanding. There have been three series and the last episode ever has been screened over here.
Intelligent plots, thoughtful actors, beautiful sets – but don’t wait for a remake, watch the Danish Original – its subtitled. If you check out the BBC shop, you should find it.