Post 130—Prostitution Gone Mainstream?

Out of / in Nigeria

You may remember that I spent 30 years in Nigeria, from 1966-1996.  Even though that’s been 20 years ago now, it still seems like yesterday. Since I left the country, I have written 13 books and many articles on my work there, including Christian-Muslim relations and mission memoirs. Thus, though I was physically away from Nigeria, psychologically, emotionally and mentally I was/am still there. Even today, due to sleep apnea, I dream frequently and by far most of my dreams are still about Nigeria.

During the course of my ministry in Nigeria, I often traveled far and wide. One car trip I stayed overnight in a “local” hotel, places few Caucasians frequent; we prefer the more modern and convenient ones. I chose a local one just to see what they are like and what goes on there. It was not a pleasant or comfortable place to stay, though much cheaper, something that does a Dutch heart like mine good. 

Hymn-singing Prostitute

Like most Nigerian hotels, prostitutes were abundant. I overheard one of them humming and even softly singing Christian hymns. So I screwed up my courage and asked her how she could be singing Christian hymns while practicing prostitution. Her story broke my heart. She was from Ghana, where she had married with two or three children. Her husband abandoned her and her children. She tried every which way to provide for her children but was not successful. In her wanderings she ended up a prostitute in this Nigerian hotel. She could see no alternative.

Jesus and Prostitutes

Her story immediately reminded me of Biblical stories about Jesus and prostitutes. Go to John 7:36-50; 8:1-11 and to Luke 7:236-50.  If you want to read further on the subject in the Bible, just google “Jesus and prostitutes” and you’ll get a very full plate of stories and commentary on these stories. I am an emotional person and had to work hard at containing my emotions at  her story and those about Jesus all at once. This was the first and only time in my life that I consciously sought out a prostitute, even if it was only to satisfy my curiosity about her story. But the Jesus stories told me one thing very clearly: I was in no position to judge her.

Prostitution in Vancouver

The above paragraphs form the backdrop to this and the next post about prostitutes in my city, Vancouver, Canada. (When you write about Vancouver, you always need to specify which Vancouver, since there is a smaller city by that name in the south of the American state of Washington.) 

Apology to Sex Workers

On September 17, 2016, about three weeks ago, the Vancouver Sun featured a story on p. A16 with the heading “West End sex workers get civic apology,” written by Glen Schaefer, with the subheading, “City unveils memorial to trades people driven to margins during 1980s.” The article was flanked by a picture by Ben Nelms I might have included in this article if I had the digital know-how for it. As it is, I can only reproduce the caption underneath the picture. It reads, “Indigenous transgender sex work activist Jamies Lee Hamilton, left, and University of British Columbia professor Becki Ross unveil on Friday a memorial—a retro lamp-post with a red bulb—that has been dedicated to sex-trade workers of Vancouver’s West End Community.” 

Now I live in that part of Vancouver and do remember the stories people told me about the situation in the West End (WE). The entire “industry” had been wiped out by the time we arrived on the scene in 2001. We were still left with quite a contingent of homeless folk and addicts, who were also under pressure to move out of the area, though today they are re-invading the area with a vengeance. Had my wife and I heard of the ceremony ahead of time, we probably would have attended it out of pure curiosity, since it took place within three short blocks from us. On the evening of Sept. 17, we did take a stroll there and, sure enough, there was that new retro lamppost with clear inscriptions and a red light on top, right in front of St. Paul’s Anglican Church. A very respectable memorial at a very respectable residential/church location.

Reversal of Attitudes

How things have changed during these short 15 years that we have lived in the WE.  During that decade and a half the official attitude had been turned upside down from chasing out these prostitutes—and their clients!—to apologizing for that act!  Ross, the UBC sociology specialist in the sex trade, spoke the following:

"The early 1980s marked the full fledged anti-
prostitution crusade to purge sex workers from 
the WE. Davie sex workers built the foundation of 
what would become this city’s first Gay-
neighbourhood, and yet hookers on Davie have 
never been honoured as the former fighters for 
gender, sexual and racial minorities.”

Though I hesitate to “correct” a sociology expert on the topic, my understanding of the background to the WE’s gay culture is that it goes way back to nearly a century ago. I doubt that these prostitutes—and I insist on calling a spade a spade—laid that foundation. Ross will have to persuade me of that.

Maybe, just maybe, more on the subject next time. I will try….