News + Events: 2010 Archives
"Men Paid to Rape Me" via Craigslist
Craigslist has been called the modern Walmart of sex trafficking. Their sex ads continue to be a major part of the site's revenue, despite the company's insistence that it will help stop them. Experts project that this year Craiglist will rake in $36.5 million from selling women, making up one-third of their total revenue.
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REED is Hiring!
REED is looking for a Volunteer Coordinator to help engage people in the work of loving mercy and doing justice. Wanna join us?
Applications due by 16 August 2010.
I'm Sorry Anna Nicole
Men and women, watch this and get inspired!
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Buying Sex Is Not a Sport goes to the Games
Olympic fans streaming to the arena for the men's hockey face-off between the USA and Canada were greeted by silent, peaceful witnesses for the dignity of women and against the male demand for paid sex. Partipants stood along a fence wearing bright t-shirts in Olympic colours emblazoned with the message, "Buying Sex Is Not a Sport," and holding signs saying, "Men: Don't Buy Women" and "For Prostitutes, Against Prostitution." Leaflets with a brief explanation of how the demand for paid sex is based on gender inequality and fuels the exploitation of women were handed out upon request. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the action was the spirit of love and nonviolence that infused such a powerful critique of gender-based violence.
Buying Sex Is Not a Sport is organized and supported by a broad base of community members including formerly prostituted women, feminists, faith-based organizations, Aboriginal women's groups, teachers, activists, frontline workers, students, anti-capitalists, academics, and women currently exploited in the sex industry both locally and globally.
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Public Witness Against Demand During the Olympics
The Buying Sex Is Not a Sport campaign is going strong with silent public witnesses against the male demand for paid sex.
On Saturday night a couragous group of individuals including activists, faith-based friends, feminists and others stood in front of a sex club as silent witnesses against the demand for paid sex. Signs were held up that explained the action and informational leaflets were given out upon request.
The group was clear that the action was against male demand and not the women inside. Buying Sex Is Not a Sport stands in solidarity with women both inside and outside of the clubs. The public witness is against the male demand.
The male demand for sexual access to the bodies of women and children fuels the sex industry which includes escalating sex acts such as strip bars, lap dancing, web pornography, street prostitution, escorts, brothels, body rub parlours, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The sex industry operates on a market-based model of supply and demand. There is an uncontrolled male demand for sexual access to the bodies of women and children, and the supply for this demand is created through violating the dignity of women who are often already living in poverty or at the margins.
It is our conviction that in order to stem the tide of human trafficking and sexual exploitation we must end the demand for paid sex.
Demand flourishes in an atmosphere of anonymity.
Get involved in Buying Sex Is Not a Sport!
Vancouver Sun Predicts the Most Popular T-shirt...Buying Sex Is Not a Sport!
"If Christian activists have their way the most popular T-shirt to emerge out of the Olympic Games, which they argue typically places prostitutes in high demand, will be the one reading, 'Buying sex is not a sport.'”
Douglas Todd
Vancouver Sun
January 21, 2010
Read full article.
Buying Sex Is Not a Sport Goes to Toronto
Buying Sex Is Not a Sport is going to the east coast! Join us as we speak in Toronto on how the male demand for paid sex fuels trafficking, with a focus on the upcoming Winter Games. Speakers include Aboriginal women, experiential women, frontine workers, academics and others.
January 30, 8pm
DOWNTOWN TORONTO
Walmer Road Baptist Church
188 Lowther Ave.
Toronto, ON M5R 1E8
Panelists:
Trisha Baptie, EVE (Exploited Voices Educating)
Michelle Miller, REED (Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity)
Cherry Smiley - AWAN (Aboriginal Womens' Action Network)
Special Guest TBA
February 1, 8pm
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Health Sciences Building
155 College Street
6th Floor, Room 610
Panelists:
Janine Benedet, UBC Law Faculty
Trisha Baptie, EVE (Exploited Voices Educating)
Michelle Miller, REED (Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity)
Cherry Smiley - AWAN (Aboriginal Womens' Action Network)
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Join Us As We Imagine More For Women!
REED's campaign around the demand for paid sex and the 2010 Olympic Games, Buying Sex Is Not a Sport, has two more local forums coming up! Engage your mind, interact with the panelists, and come think well with us. Visit the campaign website for details.
