The Debate Over Body Rub Parlours
In 2005 City Council amended the zoning bylaw to define body rub parlours as a specific land use, then proceeded not to include this new zone within the master plan for our city.
The council of that day naively thought that this would keep our city free from this type of business; however a recent newspaper article indicated that we now have eight body rub parlours in town… about the same number of Tim Horton’s outlets.
In the words of Frederica Montseny, “Prostitution presents a moral, economic and social problem that cannot be resolved juridically” and yet over the next few months that is exactly what City council will be facing – how to craft bylaws to deal with the proliferation of body rub parlours in Guelph.
The issues are very complex, very important and will have far reaching implications. I have included a number of web references readers may find interesting.
Legal Precedence and the Cost of Defending Municipal Bylaws in the Courts
Issues Related to Human Trafficking
Human Rights and Health Issues for Sex Trade Workers
- Canadian Prostitutes at Risk (CBC News)
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (PDF file)
- Sex, work, rights: reforming Canadian criminal laws on prostitution
We must protect community standards, protect individuals from exploitation, and yet at the same time uphold individual rights.
Do body rub parlours violate community standards? Are women being exploited? Would banning body rub parlours improve our community or simply force sex trade workers underground and make things worse? What about safe sex and harm reduction? Are we trying to regulate a basic human need? These are difficult questions.
Please contribute to this discussion.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Yes as for banning these parlours, i think it would be a bad idea. We since these types of places have evolved, you hear alot less of rape and sexual violence acts in the tri cities. These girls are not actually having sex with the clients , just a very erotic massage. Over in europe these type of thing is a normal happening everyday, and they have a very low sex crime rate. The politicians are even enjoying the prositution over at the geneva convention. We are we here in north america have such prudish people in politics?