PIMP ‘N ‘HO PARTY FRIDAY JULY 20 IN VANCOUVER:
ENGLISH BAY EYE CARE MAINSTREAMS PROSTITUTION

(Press conference Friday July 20 at 8pm, Plaza of Nations)

Pimp ‘N ‘Ho is the theme of an adult party event that is to be held in Vancouver this week. English Bay Eye Care (605-685-7001), and Paragon are sponsors of this event,

Saying that it is just a "Las Vegas theme party with sexual attire desired," Kevin and Mike of English Bay don’t seem to care about what prostitution is really like from the perspective of the woman or girl in prostitution.

From her perspective, prostitution is mostly rape, with some money tossed at her, or some food, or some drugs after the rape. Prostitution causes great physical and psychological harm to women and children, especially those who are poor, and especially those who are First Nations. Raves which trivialize prostitution as pimp 'n 'ho theme parties are teaching men to sell, abuse and rape women (which is what pimps do) and they are teaching young women that it is fun to be sexually exploited.

This week, five Vancouver corporate sponsors have withdrawn their economic support from the Pimp ‘N ‘Ho party. In addition, 23 organisations are currently protesting this event, including 7 Canadian organisations. We expect more organisations to join our protest soon and will disclose their names on Thursday July 19.

You are invited to attend a press conference which will be held at Plaza of Nations, Friday July 20 8pm.

We plan to demonstrate against Pimp ‘N ‘Ho on Friday evening at Plaza of Nations by distributing a fact sheet which describes what prostitution is — not the glossed-over version which is being promoted by English Bay Eye Care’s Pimp ‘N Ho event. We’ll hand these out to youth attending the event. We will also release preliminary findings from a study of prostitution in Canada conducted by Melissa Farley & Jackie Lynne. Prostitution in Canada is the result of both gender inequality and the colonization of Aboriginal peoples. This research is part of a 10-country study which documents the violence and racism intrinsic to all kinds of prostitution, including stripclub, lapdancing, brothel, and street prostitution. See some of this research at http://www.prostitutionresearch.com.

If (we hope) the event is cancelled before Friday, we will still be there, and we’ll celebrate. We’ll have dinner and a party for homeless women and youth at Plaza of Nations.

Contacts

Prostitution Research & Education, San Francisco

Justice for Girls, Vancouver

Prostitution Alternatives Counseling and Education (PACE), Vancouver