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Welcome to REED! As you explore this site you will learn more about the root causes of trafficking, the work of REED, and how you can be part of a positive solution to sexual exploitation. We invite you to get involved and take action.
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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 teh 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, but given the paradigm shift this requires not everyone got the initially got the message. 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.