Christine Bruckert and Research on Sex Work Law

Christine Bruckert is a criminologist at the University of Ottawa who is known in academic circles for treating sex work as a form of labour rather than only as a social problem. Her work is frequently cited in Canadian debates about criminal law, policing and workplace safety, and this summary describes her published arguments in general terms.

Her academic background is in sociology, and her publications include work on women in the strip trade as well as papers that question how the justice system treats sex workers.

Studying escorting as a job

Research associated with her examined how people in the sex trade manage the daily give and take of their work, drawing on interviews in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, Toronto and Montreal. It looked at the labour side of escorting, including the skills workers say they have built up and the business side of keeping a small enterprise going.

Bruckert has pointed out that a faint sexual undertone shows up in many everyday service jobs, such as serving or hairdressing, where flirtation can affect earnings. From there she has asked why society looks down on sex workers while treating other close-contact occupations, such as licensed massage therapy, as ordinary professions.

A law that was legal and illegal at once

Under the Criminal Code before 2014, selling sexual services between adults was not itself a crime. Yet several surrounding activities were offences, including communicating in public for the purpose, living on the avails and keeping a common bawdy house. Researchers described this as a catch-22, since the exchange was lawful while arranging, organizing and housing it were not.

Bruckert and other researchers argued that enforcement can lead workers to move to more isolated settings. That may help them avoid arrest, but critics of the law said it also reduces visibility and informal safeguards, which can increase vulnerability to violence.

What interview studies report

Qualitative studies with sex workers in Canada have described experiences of robbery, assault and sexual violence, and reluctance to report them to police for fear of legal consequences or poor treatment. Street-based workers in particular have voiced concern about policing as well as about clients. Because such studies rely on small samples, they illustrate experiences rather than measure how common they are.

The case for decriminalization

Bruckert has been associated with advocacy groups that call for removing criminal penalties for sex workers and those around them. She has argued that decriminalization would improve working conditions and safety, and supporters point to research from other countries. Critics, including some survivor groups and policymakers, hold that criminalizing demand reduces exploitation. The evidence is contested.

Canadian law has changed since the period described. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down several of the older provisions in the Bedford case in 2013, and Parliament later adopted a different framework. Researchers, courts and advocacy organizations still disagree about which approach best protects workers.