By the time Vancouver was alerted to the number of women missing from the city’s Downtown Eastside, there were 69 women listed. Between the end of last July and the end of April, sex workers had reported 69 “bad dates” to the Women’s Information and Safe House (WISH).
WISH Executive Director Kate Gibson notes the sad coincidence as she flips through her organization’s collection of bad date sheets, reported by sex workers to WISH. A bad date is a report by a sex worker describing men who have behaved in a violent, threatening or upsetting manner towards the woman.
Gibson stresses that the number of bad dates, and the kinds of incidents reported have not changed since Robert Pickton was arrested and put on trial, charged with the murder of 26 women.
Gibson estimates that sex workers, for a variety of reasons, only report about 10 percent of the “bad dates” they actually experience. While the police collect some reports, most women report to WISH.
Gibson stresses that the number of bad dates, and the kinds of incidents reported have not changed since Robert Pickton was arrested and put on trial, charged with the murder of 26 women. The only change Gibson has noted, compared with the time prior to Pickton’s arrest, is that there are now fewer women going missing. As well, she said, people are being more vigilant in keeping track of each other.
Most of the bad dates are reported to the MAP (Mobile Access Project) van, a service that’s run jointly by WISH and Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education Society (PACE) that travels nightly between 10:30 pm and 5:30 am to sex workers’ strolls throughout Vancouver. The women know they can visit the van for a cup of coffee, extra condoms, needles and a friendly face. They can also view the bad date sheets and report any incidents they’ve experienced, so that they can warn others of violent men. The sheets are printed up within a day and distributed through the van and the WISH drop-in centre; WISH also sends them to numerous women’s organizations and the Vancouver Police.
The bad date sheets are horrific to read. As sun streams through the window of the bright WISH office, Gibson runs her finger down the list of reports of women being raped, beaten, punched, shot with a pellet gun, slashed with knives, thrown from cars, stalked and choked. “Some of this comes from guys wanted to buy crack and then getting high and beating them up. That’s not uncommon.”
Gibson says, however, “There’s no question there are way more bad dates than are reported.” There are many reasons for women’s reluctance to report violent incidents. Some fear that police will charge them with soliciting while others believe that reporting will do nothing because nobody will listen to them. Some of the women know their attacker, so reporting him would be risky, in case he chooses to retaliate. Some believe that the violence is part of working in the sex trade. “The level of violence has become normalized,” Gibson said.
Last month, the BC Coalition of Experiential Women and Communities released a draft document, “Bad Date Reporting and Response: Experiences and Insights from Sex Workers and Community Stakeholders.” Gibson participated in the dialogue around the report and said one of the suggestions that would help women feel more comfortable reporting bad dates was to offer more support and follow-up for women who report their experiences. “It would be great if the calls could be taken by someone on a 1-800 line,” she added.
