Grant: Catalyst Grant: Ethics

Over two decades of research across disciplines, including CIHR-funded research led by the investigators of this application, now demonstrate critical ethical gaps in the health and safety of sex industry workers and their commercial partners. Specifically, this research demonstrates how specific social, legal and policy barriers deny sex industry workers and their commercial clients' access to health and safety. For example, key qualitative and mixed methods have demonstrated that sex industry workers in safer indoor spaces experience greater control over their health and that the lack of industry regulatory standards and legitimate avenues for dispute resolution place both sex workers and their commercial clients at greater physical, health and social risk. This work parallels recent public health analyses that female sex workers forced to solicit and servicing clients in outdoor public spaces as compared to indoor settings were 4-times as likely to experience violence or sexual coercion by clients. While this work identifies critical public health and policy gaps, there remains a major lack of dialogue across disciplines for bridging research, policy and practice. Through the initiation of critical sex industry networks in BC and across Canada, in partnership with academic investigators, policy makers and members of the commercial sex community, the proposed project will serve as a catalyst towards an evidence-based response addressing the ethical human rights gaps of sex industry workers and their commercial clientele, to health and safety in Canada.