Buying Sex

Buying Sex is a timely examination of the ongoing and global debate about prostitution laws. Would decriminalizing prostitution free sex workers to take more control over their activities, run legal brothels and manage their own business without fear of punishment? Or would it give the buyers of sex (as well as illicit sex-trade business owners) even more power and opportunity to benefit from and possibly exploit the sale of sexual services? This revealing film allows both sides to make their case. Filmed in Sweden, New Zealand and Canada, Buying Sex introduces sex-consumers ("johns"), sex workers, and policy-makers who, with eye-opening clarity, challenge our pre-conceptions. Featuring Trisha Baptie, a woman who used to work the streets of Vancouver's downtown and now is an abolitionist and journalist Janine Benedet, the lawyer for the intervener Women's Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution Valerie Scott, sex worker and advocate who entered the trade when she was 16 years old, Angel Wolfe, daughter of Brenda Anne Wolfe, who was one of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, and many others.