Grand

JAMIE Lee Hamilton,
who runs a brothel,
would doubtless be
grateful if the hostile
Vancouver neighbour-
hoods, where she keeps
attempting to hang her
shingle, showed some
Nevada-type hospitality.

In most of Nevada's coun-
ties, brotheis are not only
legal, but are hallowed state
institutions, and brothel own-
ers are important contributors
to the economic and sacial
affairs of the community. So
much is the brothel part of
Wild West ambience, that
old-time Nevadans are furious
with Calvinistic suburban
newcomers for their attempis
to outlaw this establishment.
Ms. Hamilton, however, is
nota woman easily deterred.
She has worked as a prosti-
tute, she was once a man,
aad, fess daunting, she has
attempted to become a
Vancouver City councillor.
Not lacking in gumption, we
can anticipate the day when
Ms. Hamilton sheds her least
interesting persona: that of
confused activist, and steps
out as an enterprising
madam.

There was a time when
Grandma’s House, as Ms.
Hamilton’s brothel is called,
did not raise hackles. This
was when it was a safe house
dedicated to sheltering
women who were in the
process of extricating them-
selves from the profession.

Naturally, now that the
‘mission of the house has
turned from “rehabilitation”
to tricks, Ms. Hainilton is no
longer the recipient of gov-
ernment or private charity
funds. Could she have ceased
to acquiesce in the feminist
orthodoxy that sees prosti-
tutes as victims of male
oppression? Faced with adult
women wanting to make a
“> Living, did the wily Ms.

- Hamilton decide to step in»
._and fill a gap in the market by
providing a much-needed ser-
“vice?
At play, one hopes, is a
dose of Adam Smith's provi-

988-2239 I
Lu 10 Fell Ave, North Vancouver

Canadian Hard
~ Of Hearing
- Association
North Shore Branch
gratetully acknowledges
-receipt of the following
*. community grants for
.- 2000 as follows: »
“$200 from North
- Shore Community

Foundation, .

~ $650 from City of
~North Vancouver,
$2,000 from: District
of North Vancouver,
$260 from District of .
West Vancouver...

comment

dential self-interest, but fora
hast of reasons, the transfor-
mation remains incomplete.

For one, while prostitu-
tion is legal in Canada, some-
how running a bawdy-house
is not. which confirms that
the profession has vet to be
decriminalized.

Decriminalization, writes
author Wendy McElroy,

“refers to the elimination of
all laws against prostitutes,
including laws against those
who associate with whores:
madams, pimps, and johns.”

Legalization, on the other
hand, can give way to a host
of intrusive government regu-
lations, The prostitute may be
required to have her profes-
sion stamped in travel docu-
ments, and she may find her-
self barred from entering cer-
tain countries. A registered
prostitute may also be sub-
jected to forced medical
examinations. If anti-prostitu-
tion feminists tend to infan-
talize the prostiture by claim-
ing thar she is always the vic-
tim of the patriarchy; never
the architect of her own
choices — state-regulations
tend to reinforce this state of
affairs.

The prostitute-as-victim
construct has seen policy
pivot in the direction of
harassing mostly men who
beuefit from prostitution.
According to McElroy, orga-
nizations for the rights of
prostitutes do not support

anti-piniping initiatives Cand a
madam is a female pimp). If
an adult prostitute has opted
freely for the arrangement,
her choice must be respected.
Uninvolved third parties may
think a whore dim for sup-
porting a lover, but why
should a secretary, a lawyer or
a doctor be free to so do
absent intrusion, but not 2
whore? McElroy ventures that
the pitiful image of the pros-
titute is based on research in
which streetwalkers, who are
more likely to be addicted,
abused, and ill, are ever rep-
resented. Most women in the
industry are call girls and do
Not conform te the street-
walker paradigm.

Harassment of johns and
madams, in particular, both
interferes with the livelibood
of the more vulnerable prosti-
tute, and jeopardizes her safe-
ty. What average man seeking
a liaison is going to risk being
coerced into john school, or
having his name and address
plastered over the local news-
papers — all strategies used
by police to harass clients?

Unlikely as they are ta be
deterred by such harassment,
it is the tough, more brutal
johns with whom the women
are left to deal. Scaring good
johns away, or forcing broth-
els to close, harms the street-
walking community.

Harassing those who live off
or contribute to the avails of
prostitution, says McElroy,
prevents prostitutes from
forming those economic asso-
ciations that most women
take for granted.

In this sense, Jamie I -
Hamilton’s efforts te turner
the right to engage in “vol-
untary trade of sexual ser-
vices” are important. But she
needs to get her house in
order. “This is not about
profits,” she continually

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protests, while conceding that
business is good. The boom
should signal to Ms.
Hamilton that her service is
in short supply and that she
can aim for good returns.

More of freewheeling
Nevada spirit — less of the
Vancouver East Side welfare-
activism, and Ms. Hamilton is
poised for protits and proper-
ty acquisition, these being the
most effective defences for
herself and her clients.

— anome@aticanada.uet

Free drugs,
fire cops

Dear Editor:

Re: Free drugs tor addicts
would be Kwan’s folly, July 24.

Hey ho, another day,
another load’ of prohibitionist
claptrap from “supercop” Leo
Knight.

During Prohibition thou- Ja independent, co-educational schoul,
sands of innocent boozers , K to G9, expinding ta G12.
Were poisoned by illegal adul- Muigrave fosters Mandaris of excellence
terated alcohol. What will it indewloping knowledgeable,
take to make bigoted bone- confident, cunpassionate and
heads like Knight realize the _ public spirited individuals
same thing is happening today
with respect to illegal, adulter-
ated drugs? Until drugs are
legalized and users permitted
once more to purchase clean,
cheap, safe drugs at the corner
store, does it not make sense
that users be supplied mean-
while by the taxpayer?

Free adults have the God-
given right to ingest any damn
substance they’ve a mind to.

Let’s end drug prohibition and
fire 10,000 cops.

Alan Randell
arandell@islandnet.com

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