Bridget Perrier

Last updated
Bridget Perrier
Born1977 (age 45–46)
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanada
Occupation(s)Anti-prostitution activist, former prostitute
Organization Sex Trade 101
ChildrenTanner (deceased)

Bridget Perrier (born 1977) is an activist and former trafficked prostitute who cofounded Sex Trade 101 [1] with Natasha Falle. [2] She became a child prostitute at the age of 12 while she was staying at a group home and an older girl there persuaded her to become a runaway in order to sell sex to a pedophile named Charlie. [3] She had a son, Tanner, who developed cancer as an infant and died at the age of five with the dying wish that his mother get out of the sex industry. [4] In 2000, she moved to Toronto from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. [5] She is the stepmother of Angel, whose biological mother was Brenda Wolfe, one of Robert Pickton's murder victims. [6] In 2009, Perrier accompanied Angel at Toronto's Native Women's Resource Centre for the Sisters in Spirit vigil in remembrance of Wolfe and the other more than 500 Canadian Aboriginal women who have been murdered or gone missing over the past 30 years. [7] In 2010, Perrier picketed a courthouse in downtown Toronto in recognition of International Day of No Prostitution. She was joined by Trisha Baptie, Natasha Falle, Katarina MacLeod, and Christine Barkhouse, all former human trafficking victims. [8] In 2012, after being removed from a news conference relating to Bedford v. Canada , Perrier demonstrated a pimp stick to the media, saying that she had been battered with a pimp stick by her pimp every day that he prostituted her. [9] Perrier opposed the legalization of brothels as proposed in Bedford v. Canada, saying, "Having a legal bawdy house is not going to make it any safer. You are still going to attract serial killers, rapists, perverts." [10] Bridget shared her story in the ground breaking article by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti in Cancer InCytes magazine (Volume 2, Issue 1) about how childhood trauma is associated with chronic diseases during adulthood and how child trafficking will eventually worsen the economic burden on civil governance. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Nevada</span> Policies regarding prostitution in the only state where it is permitted in some form

Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Seven counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark and Washoe, are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the Netherlands</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in the Netherlands

Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated. Operating a brothel is also legal. De Wallen, the largest and best-known Red-light district in Amsterdam, is a destination for international sex tourism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child prostitution</span> Prostitution involving a child

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.

Prostitution in Russia is illegal. The punishment for engagement in prostitution is a fine from 1500 up to 2000 rubles. Moreover, organizing prostitution is punishable by a prison term. Prostitution remains a very serious social issue in Russia.

Prostitution in the Czech Republic is legal, but organized prostitution is prohibited. Ever since the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution (1989) led to the creation of the two independent states Czech Republic and Slovakia, prostitution has been flourishing and has contributed its share to the region's booming tourist economy. Prostitution is widespread in Prague and areas near the Republic's western borders with Germany and Austria. In 2002, the Czech Statistical Bureau estimated the trade to be worth six billion crowns a year. UNAIDS estimate there are 13,000 prostitutes in the country. In Prague, the city's third district, immediately east of the center, is home to much of the city's sex industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procuring (prostitution)</span> Facilitation or provision of a prostitute

Procuring, pimping or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp or a madam or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing and possibly monopolizing a location where the prostitute may solicit clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next.

Prostitution in Austria is legal and regulated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Mexico</span>

Prostitution in Mexico is legal under Federal Law. Each of the 31 states enacts its own prostitution laws and policies. Thirteen of the states of Mexico allow and regulate prostitution. Prostitution involving minors under 18 is illegal. Some Mexican cities have enacted "tolerance zones" which allow regulated prostitution and function as red-light districts. In Tuxtla Gutiérrez, capital of the state of Chiapas, there is a state-run brothel at the Zona Galáctica(Galactic Zone). In most parts of the country, pimping is illegal, although pimp-worker relationships still occur, sometimes under female pimps called "madrotas"("Big Mothers"). The government provides shelter for former prostitutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution</span> Engaging in sexual relations in exchange for payment

Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring diseases. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and often a sex worker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Europe</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution around Europe

The legality of prostitution in Europe varies by country.

Prostitution in Armenia is illegal under administrative law. Related activities such as running a brothel and pimping are prohibited by the Criminal Code, although there are known to be brothels in the capital, Yerevan, and in Gyumri. According to UNESCO, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, prostitution in the country has grown. There are about 5,600 women involved in prostitution in Armenia, roughly 1,500 of them are in Yerevan. However, official police figures are far lower, for example 240 in 2012. Police and other safety forces reportedly tolerate prostitution. Many women turn to prostitution due to unemployment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution law</span> Legality of prostitution

Prostitution laws varies widely from country to country, and between jurisdictions within a country. At one extreme, prostitution or sex work is legal in some places and regarded as a profession, while at the other extreme, it is considered a severe crime punishable by death in some other places.

Prostitution in Namibia is legal and a highly prevalent common practice. Related activities such as solicitation, procuring and being involved in the running of a brothel are illegal. A World Bank study estimated there were about 11,000 prostitutes in Namibia.

Canada (AG) v Bedford, 2013 SCC 72, [2013] 3 SCR 1101 is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the Canadian law of sex work. The applicants, Terri-Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott, argued that Canada's prostitution laws were unconstitutional. The Criminal Code included a number of provisions, such as outlawing public communication for the purposes of prostitution, operating a bawdy house or living off of the avails of prostitution, even though prostitution itself is legal.

Trisha Baptie is a Vancouver-based citizen journalist and activist for the abolition of prostitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Falle</span> Canadian academic

Natasha Falle is a Canadian professor at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who was forcibly prostituted from the ages of 15 to 27 and now opposes prostitution in Canada. Falle grew up in a middle-class home and, when her parents divorced, her new single-parent home became unsafe, and Falle ran away from home. At the age of 15, Falle became involved in the sex industry in Calgary, Alberta.

Nikki Thomas is the former Executive Director of Sex Professionals of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the Americas</span>

Legality of prostitution in the Americas varies by country. Most countries only legalized prostitution, with the act of exchanging money for sexual services legal. The level of enforcement varies by country. One country, the United States, is unique as legality of prostitution is not the responsibility of the federal government, but rather state, territorial, and federal district's responsibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Nevada</span>

Human trafficking in Nevada is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of Nevada, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in the United States</span>

Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. It is commonly associated with organized crime.

References

  1. ↑ "Ontario court alters sex trade landscape". Occupational Health and Safety Canada. April 3, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  2. ↑ Denis Langlois (July 16, 2012). "Survivors want to help people in sex trade". Owen Sound Sun Times . Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ Jessica Smith (November 15, 2012). "Child prostitution victims call for group home changes". Metro International . Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Victoria Gray (October 3, 2010). "Court decision could accelerate human trafficking". The Toronto Observer. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ Laurie Monsebraaten (February 6, 2012). "Poverty fight must go on despite deficit, activists say". Toronto Star . Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  6. ↑ Corey Mintz (July 5, 2013). "Family has appetite for social issues at dinner with Corey Mintz". Toronto Star . Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ Madhavi Acharya; Tom Yew (October 5, 2009). "Missing, slain women honoured at ceremony". Toronto Star . Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  8. ↑ Steffanie Petroni (June 18, 2013). "Legalizing Prostitution: Local and National Consequences". Local2. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  9. ↑ Adrian Humphreys (March 26, 2012). "Former and current sex workers at odds over prostitution ruling". National Post . Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  10. ↑ Julian Sher (June 12, 2013). "Should brothels be legal? Supreme Court of Canada ponders issue". Toronto Star . Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  11. ↑ Vincent J. Felitti. "Childhood Trauma Linked to Chronic Diseases in Adulthood." Cancer InCytes 2(2), 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.