Sex Worker Alliance: GTA normalizes violence against sex workers

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 17th 2007 at 5:10PM }

On this fifth annual "International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers," we remind you to tip -- but not to kill -- your service providers. According to The Toronto Sun, Anastasia Kuzyk of the Sex Workers' Alliance of Toronto believes that games like Grand Theft Auto feed into the "subculture of allowing the violence to continue," and that violence "against sex workers should not be normalized, but it is." Although she doesn't mention GTA by name in the quote, it's the only well-known game we can think of that lets you "run down prostitutes and kill them and beat them up and take their money."

Kuzyk has cause for concern, as 171 female sex workers (no stats on men given) were killed between '91 and '04 in Toronto. This is also not the first time in recent memory that GTA has received flak from sex worker advocates, though there's no word yet on whether GTA IV will allow for the ironically health-enhancing activity of picking up a prostitute like in other installments in the series. So, Happy International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers everyone! Boy, that's a mouthful.

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: gtaiv, hookers, prostitutes, rockstar, sex-workers, sexworkers, toronto, violence

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)

Rubang is Back @ Dec 17th 2007 5:54PM

This is why they should legalize prostitution, or at least decriminalize it to the point where it's not this pointlessly dangerous.

I don't blame the game, but the law's pretty fucked up as it is. They're real people, and they work harder than any of us do. They should be able to feel safe.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Dec 17th 2007 6:11PM

I agreed with you until you said they work harder than anyone else.

Rubang is Back @ Dec 17th 2007 6:38PM

Well shit, they work harder than I do.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 18th 2007 10:11AM

So you have a job where you lie there and let men have their way with you?

Its actually a pretty passive occupation.

Dio @ Jan 15th 2008 10:52PM

Prostitution is legal in SOME places in the US, but I can't really tell you where ;D I will tell you, however that miners work very hard and deserve to be able to pay for sex instead of taking chances with dating.

Not that I'm saying that one is better than the other, but of course there are some people out there that view dating as a legalized form of prostitution.
http://www.blowmeuptom.com/

ThornedVenom @ Dec 17th 2007 5:57PM

"Sex workers", LOL. I love political correctness.

Don't want to be the victim of "sex worker violence"? Then don't be a fucking "sex worker" because it's fucking illegal.

You want rights? Legalize prostitution like in many countries in Europe.

fugori @ Dec 17th 2007 6:00PM

So it's perfectly fine to murder or savagely beat sex workers, illegal immigrants, jaywalkers, tax evaders, etc.?

That's a pretty fucking reprehensible thing to say.

danny. @ Dec 17th 2007 6:10PM

fugori,

if you aren't a sex worker than you can't be a victim of 'sex worker violence', just 'violence'.

fugori @ Dec 17th 2007 6:15PM

danny,

You're absolutely right.

Edited:

So it's perfectly fine to murder or savagely beat sex workers? A person has no right to live if they make a living illegally? That's a pretty fucking reprehensible thing to say.

ThornedVenom @ Dec 17th 2007 8:20PM

Sorry for that post: I had a bad day, that's all. I don't think that prostitutes should be considered as lesser human beings, therefore should be denied basic human rights.

The point I wanted to underline was that I believe that the way they portrayed the situation was ridiculous, as if being a prostitute granted you rights as a prostitute. I realize now that it's just another discriminated group re-affirming their basic human rights.

Nevertheless, back to the story: I still don't believe that GTA focuses on killing "sex workers", therefore this unified uprise of "sex workers" is ridiculous. And to cover some of the points discussed in the other comments, I think that legalizing prostitution would prevent more "sex worker violence", as it'd be treated like any other type of violence, "sex worker" being a legal profession.

Judd @ Dec 17th 2007 6:04PM

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers:

Wow, I never knew that I shared my birthday with a holiday before!

Jose @ Dec 17th 2007 6:25PM

Most sex workers don't have a fucking choice.

You ever seen Born into Brothels?

Or read the fucking news every day about the children kidnapped from their homes to be shipped off to some other country as whores?

You ignorant fucks please shut your mouths.

Can you please not allow comments on this thread so all these self righteous judgmental asshats can stop preaching about getting "a real job."

arrrgh @ Dec 17th 2007 6:32PM

You really think most sex workers in TORONTO (the subject of the post) have no choice and are born into it? in a city of 2M people? Fuck right of my good sir.

arrrgh @ Dec 17th 2007 6:32PM

twice.

AirIntake @ Dec 17th 2007 6:32PM

Why don't you get a real fucking job as a sex worker and stop posting here, you big whore.

Assmar @ Dec 17th 2007 6:48PM

More like "CockIntake"

El Chavo Del 8 @ Dec 17th 2007 7:03PM

"You ignorant fucks please shut your mouths."
You know, It's hard demand respect from people when there's no more than one sentence between variants of "fuck". People get defensive. Just saying...

Batzarro @ Dec 17th 2007 6:38PM

Were lucky we don't have statistics on clerk murders, then, arn't we? Cause killing clerks DOES pay in GTA. Listen ladies, prostitutes get killed because they work at night, in places with low police vigilance(otherwise why bother?) and their clients don't generally have high moral standards. It sounds harsh, and it doesn't bring joy to my heart, but that's the truth for ya!

wickedpheonix @ Dec 17th 2007 6:43PM

You know, I'm half surprised Joystiq posted this if they can't close comments for a post since this is almost guaranteed flamebait...

...and has become a flame thread.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 18th 2007 10:16AM

How has this become a flame thread. If this is flaming, its been the most civil flaming I've seen on joystiq in ages.

mafafu @ Dec 17th 2007 6:51PM

I thought they were called The Seamstress Guild

Geist @ Dec 17th 2007 8:02PM

You get a +1 for the Discworld reference.

Singapura @ Dec 17th 2007 6:53PM

Hmm I wonder if they celebrate this special day down at Madam Wu's House of Pain? To be serious though, violence of any kind against real people is horrible. That's what we have FPS and beat em ups for. When my girlfriend left me for my best friend I was playing Quake for days. They should be grateful I had that game so I could take my anger out on pixels instead of them.

Huey2k2 @ Dec 17th 2007 6:59PM

It's a story in the Toronto Sun. The Toronto Sun is a tabloid (at best) that likes to think it is a real News Paper. Nothing it prints should ever be considered "News" so much as hype generated to sell copies.

Ron @ Dec 17th 2007 7:01PM

All I'm going to say is when they hold that rally I will definitely be there because you know they're fuckin'. There ain't gonna be virgins in that crowd.

"Uh yeah, GTA is bad. Do you spit or swallow?"

Grant @ Dec 17th 2007 7:11PM

hey baby,
anything you want off the Mickey D's Dollar menu, and then we'll go back to my place for some sweet dessert.

Killer @ Dec 17th 2007 7:20PM

I just want to point out something...

War was legalize along time ago...

So far we haven't figured out why people are still dying, but several sceintist are coming close to an answer.

(Ps. I agree with wickedpheonix. I mean it was funny till someone got all "Save the whales!" on the subject.)

generic @ Dec 17th 2007 7:44PM

The dialogue in response to this story makes me fear for the human race.

The point isn't that Grand Theft Auto is the cause or even a catalyst for violence against sex workers. That's hardly even alluded to, let alone stated outright. The point is that the game series is an example in the media where violence against prostitutes is acceptable, and even provides the viewer/player with rewards for carrying out that act of violence. Nobody's saying that killing some stereotypical, virtual prostitute is going to make a murderer out of you, but that it makes light of violence against sex workers in real life, and makes it more of an acceptable idea. A good half of you are perfect examples of this, making jokes about just such acts.

I'll go one further with a segway; a few of you have referenced the Wayne Brady skit on the Chappelle Show. Try to think back a couple years, before the show came out. You'd be hard pressed to find any white kids using the N word in a comedic fashion. The Chappelle Show was so popular that it became acceptable (at least in their minds) for white guys everywhere to shout out the slur as a greeting, or in reference to a skit, as long as it was in a "comedic" fashion. Well it is offensive no matter what, and it's even one of the reasons Chappelle changed his comedic direction.

It's that kind of link that Anastasia Kuzyk from the Sex Workers' Alliance of Toronto is talking about. When you remove a certain taboos, there is less vigillance attached to preventing their causes.

Read the source before spreading more bull online, people.

Geist @ Dec 17th 2007 8:08PM

Video games show a lot of things. You might as well say they're terrible because they show violence against everyone. Singling out sex workers is ridiculous, people are no more likely to glorify prostitute bashing because of GTA than they are to glorify cutting someone's testicles off because of Manhunt or glorify slicing someone in half with a sword because of Tenchu. I've shot a dog in the head in Hitman because he was yapping, but am saddened and hurt inside when I hear of dogs being put down, and whether or not I beat a prostitute in a game doesn't relate to whether or not I feel bad when they get hurt in real life.

Oh, and it's segue.

generic @ Dec 17th 2007 8:37PM

Oh I get it! My spelling isn't consistent, so I must be an idiot.

Look man, I'm not singling out anybody, just trying to correct the usual knee-jerk reaction to an article like this, in which too many here immediately assume the person in question is blaming gaming for all of society's crap. And why am I not talking about shooting dogs in Hitman? Because this thread is regarding a specific group that represents sex workers in Toronto. They have a very straight-forward mandate, and talking about dogs or ninjas isn't one of them. I'm not saying games are terrible, and neither is Kuzyk. It's her job to further discussion about violence against sex trade workers, and that's exactly what she's doing.

By the way, I also misspelled "vigilance"; I must be a HUGE moron.

Batzarro @ Dec 17th 2007 8:39PM

To be fair, elephant trainer is the deadliest profession. Not because of gradual changes in the way we view elephants as a society, but because elephants are already dangerous to work with. Their weight can easily crush you and training them makes them cranky.

Now, back to prostitutes. When where they ever respected members of contemporary society(not arguing wether it's deserved)? They gain hardly any sympathy or respect from other folks, especialy their clients. Now remember that those other folks include crazy/dangerous/violent folks, it always has. And prostitutes are easy targets, who often get involved with those very folks.

It's a security and health problem, because once you make everyone respect sex workers in the real sense, they are out of a job(No, you don't pay people you respect money in exchange for felation). But without enought respect, they can't run their practice "properly" (read: sublegality is no excuse for non-security, but it's hard to protect someone your supposed to arrest)

generic @ Dec 17th 2007 8:54PM

@ Bat

No kidding? I always thought Crab Fisherman was the most dangerous profession in the world.

Anyhow, back on topic... there's definitely no chance of stopping prostitution all together, so really, the only way to at least reduce violence in the profession is through legalization. I don't mean unfettered decriminalization, as that changes nothing for the positive. Through legalization though, you can control which areas of town the sex industry operates in, supervise regular, mandatory STD testing, rule out the filthy pimps, and raise a boat-load of tax money. Besides, the actual act of prostitution isn't technically illegal in Canada... it's the solicitation process and maintenance of a brothel that's illegal. At least through legalization, you can keep everything relatively supervised, and get the cops taking care of the real scum on the streets.

That would get a lot of peoples' undies in a twist, but there are very few laws that most people can agree on anyway.

Geist @ Dec 18th 2007 12:51AM

Well then, last time I ever simply correct someone's spelling. Forgive me for, apparently, calling you a moron without even realizing it. I do the same thing with the oft-misspelled word "definitely".

Christ.

Steve @ Dec 18th 2007 3:19AM

Geist: if you stopped correcting spelling, everyone would be better off. The fact that you can't seem to form a sentence which isn't a run-on belies your grammatical skill. "Glass houses," as they say.

And Generic: Thanks for saying something reasonable.

ErbilT @ Dec 17th 2007 8:27PM

I think Generic nailed this one on the head.

RUSKULL @ Dec 17th 2007 8:42PM

Conditions of working in a dangerous job. Perhaps they should try crab fishing instead...although I'm sure catching crabs is still a part of their jobs :P

Drew @ Dec 17th 2007 9:05PM

Not only do I work in the "Escort" business, but I also live in Toronto.
Two things need to be pointed out here:
1) The Toronto Sun is a tabloid. Do not confuse it for real news.
2) At about 13 deaths a year there are many many more dangerous jobs out there to be worried about.

Deuxhero @ Dec 17th 2007 8:59PM

Wait, when did prostitutes unionize? What does this mean for there pimps?

Toprem @ Dec 17th 2007 9:11PM

I find it funny that WinAmp just started playing Gavin Friday - Baltimore Whores as I was reading this.

fugori @ Dec 17th 2007 9:41PM

ThornedVenom,

I understand, and in light of your edit, I agree completely.

rasgueado @ Dec 17th 2007 11:16PM

Actually... I think pimps normalize violence against sex workers.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 18th 2007 1:09AM

I would totally agree with these "sex workers" (get over yourselves, you're whores. Whores Whores Whores!!!)

Except for the fact that the game gives you choice, meaning you can choose whether or not you want to kill whores. But if you're like me, you'll rundown anyone regardless of their sex, race, or employment.

t_m @ Dec 18th 2007 2:49AM

Unfortunately, sex workers have always been in a very vulnerable position, and they rarely have the protection of the law to fall back on.

Crimes against sex workers have been going on for centuries, they are simply easy targets. Legalisation would probably help, but it wouldn't solve things entirely.

Either way, the GTA games have no relation to the issue whatsoever. (but to be fair, she hardly harps on about it as the main problem).

jumpman @ Dec 18th 2007 5:52AM

"Don't want to be the victim of "sex worker violence"? Then don't be a fucking "sex worker" because it's fucking illegal."

Very few women chose to go into prostitution. They are forced into it out of desperation because they cannot get a job. And even if prostitution was legal, it does not make it any safer.

If anything the incredibly insulting comments on this topic show the extent to which this topic *has* become normalized, and, I hate to say it, but you are all proving Kuzyk's point again and again: most of the comments here are ignorant, violent, crude and derogatory against women. It is an attitude that has to change, and whilst everyone here seems so keen on linking arms and saying video games have had no influence *something* has, because you seem to all think like that. It's a very serious, depressing issue, and to just brush it aside by blaming women for going into prostitution is completely avoiding the point.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 18th 2007 10:29AM

No one is blaming prostitutes for violence against prostitutes. They're saying that the profession is a high risk profession, so the threat of violence comes with the territory.

And there are plenty of jobs prostitutes can get that are safe and legal. They choose prostitution because of the money involved, or they like the idea of having sex for money.

There are cased of young girls forced into prostitution by an authority figure (teenage girls with white trash fathers, etc), but there is always the police and higher authority these people can go to. To say that all prostitutes are unwilling prostitutes is just incorrect.

This is just talking about in the west. In the 3rd world, its a whole other story.