Brothels No Better Than On The Streets?

Are brothel-owners any better than the pimps who sell their workers on the streets? Believing themselves to be light years better than mere pimps, owners of brothels, “massage” parlors, and escort agencies promote the idea of safety and security to sex workers. This simply can’t be true. Could it?

One case surrounds a housewife in Winnipeg who turned her home into a brothel, employing over a dozen young women and one 18-year-old young man “on staff” since at least 2007.  She even used the assistance of her own 17-year-old son to find potential employees. Luckily, “Sinful Sydnee” was arrested in 2009 within an investigation of the house and plead guilty just last week to keeping a common “bawdy” house.

“They operate as fronts for prostitution. Both the men and women (who run them) use various forms of psychological manipulation in order to persuade, compel or entice persons into prostitution,” says police officer Sergeant Gene Bowers, an expert on private sex businesses. Intimidation, manipulation and false comforts are what keep businesses like these afloat and successfully under wraps for as long as they are.

By creating a common bond and kinship with workers, they are less likely to realize how exploited and unfair the relationship actually is. ”It’s a common tactic to befriend the person and have them enter into what they believe is a fair business relationship. The relationship is actually exploitative, but appears to be reciprocal on the surface,” says Bowers.

Workers come in unsure of their position and are sucked into the world of the sex trade, living and breathing it. They feel as though they have a new family! But is a brothel really a safe alternative for those who work in the sex trade? Or does it just have a more comfortable-looking exterior?

It is hard to say. Owners such as Sinful Sydnee swear that they screen for clients and help keep employees off of the streets. And we have to remember that not all brothels are run in this way. Maybe in areas where brothels are more protected by the law and decriminalized, the sex workers would be happier and better protected. But who the hell knows.

Contact the author here: crazycolleen@morningquickie.com