1.9% of johns admitted to physically attacking prostitutes.
4% of johns said they had been physically assaulted by prostitutes.
http://www2.canada .com/vancouvercourier/news/opinion/story.html?id=c8635c5c-fe88-4b93-993d-9fdd775d002b
Forum paints pretty picture of men who buy sex
SFU instructor details litany of offences perpetrated by prostitutes on johns
Mark Hasiuk, Special to Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Last Monday evening, deep inside the bowels of the Vancouver Public Library's central branch at Homer and Georgia, more than 100 people packed into a modest-sized conference room for a public forum about men who buy sex, also known as johns.
While longstanding problems in Vancouver, the issues of prostitution and human trafficking have come under increased scrutiny as the 2010 Winter Olympics draw near. A movement, led by feminist and church groups, want to help women escape the indignity, drug addiction, abuse and death endemic to the sex trade.
But inside the library conference room last Monday, there was no such talk.
This was the realm of legalization advocates.
FIRST, an organization bent on removing all Criminal Code violations relating to the sex trade, staged the event and packed the speaker's list with kindred spirits.
From a lectern at the front of the room, event emcee Scarlett Lake, the bleach blond 50-something owner of Scarlett's House escort service, introduced a familiar cast of local advocates who trumped the virtues of legalization.
However, the evening's star attraction was Chris Atchison, a sociology instructor at Simon Fraser University and founder of John's Voice, a study of men who buy sex.
Tall and fresh-faced, wearing a striped sweater over a collared shirt, Atchison looks more like a fraternity brother than a university instructor.
But during a three-year period, he recruited--through online chatrooms and word of mouth--922 men for a survey and interview study on the sex trade.
The results, he said, "shattered the mythology of the sex buyer as degenerate, violent and disease-spreading" and revealed a kind, gentle community of men looking for companionship.
"It's not about getting off," said Atchison. "It's having someone to connect with."
Throughout his 20-minute PowerPoint presentation, Atchison unfurled a stream of statistics and percentages gleaned from his 922 study participants.
According to his data, only two per cent of participants told Atchison they robbed a prostitute. Additionally, a mere 1.9 per cent admitted to physical attacks, and a minuscule one per cent fessed up to a rape. (That's 9.22 confessed rapists, in case you're keeping score.)
"But what about the other 98 per cent?" asked Atchison, with his hands held high in the air.
Atchison's baffling logic subdued the once lively crowd. Even the hardened pro-prostitution supporters looked on quietly as his applause lines fell flat.
He made no mention of pimps or drugs or the horror of the Pickton farm, yet detailed the litany of offences perpetrated by prostitutes on johns.
According to his data, 18 per cent of johns had been verbally abused, 14 per cent had been robbed and four per cent had been physically assaulted by prostitutes.
In conclusion, Atchison left onlookers to ponder one final statistic--a whopping 43 per cent of johns paid for services they never received.
After thanking Atchison and returning to the lectern, Scarlett Lake stamped the SFU instructor with her seal of approval.
"Those longstanding stereotypes are, yeah, in the toilet. Thanks again, Chris."
While each speaker received polite applause at the end of their presentation, dissenting voices existed in the crowd.
During a lull in the action, Marc Lawrence, a 54-year-old construction worker, disputed Atchison's claims that johns seek companionship above all else.
"Most guys, the older they get, the younger women they want," said Lawrence, a tall imposing figure with a black goatee and matching leather jacket. "They just want to get their rocks off."
Lawrence says he used to use prostitutes but doesn't anymore. "It's too much of a con game," he said, attributing prostitution's popularity to the frustrations of modern man. "They're pissed off at the feminist movement and women being so pushy."
Two rows away, seated among her fellow Douglas College criminology students, Joanna Shultz had a different take.
The forum, a class trip, was part of her ongoing study of prostitution and human trafficking. She recently wrote a paper critical of legalization and promotes the widely praised Swedish model of decriminalization, which targets pimps and johns.
"If it's legalized it could lead to more trafficking," said the bright-eyed 24-year-old. "Especially procuring, because that means people could convince other people to get involved."
When asked about the forum speakers, she furrowed her brow and smiled before choosing her words diplomatically. "We need more programs to help people have more options so they don't feel they have to enter prostitution."