VIOLENCE, ABUSE MARKS SEX TRADE

Prostitution Not A Profession But A Disease, Outreach Worker Says

EDMONTON - Rachel Quinney inhabited a deadly world of drugs, violence,
sexual abuse and predators before she was murdered and dumped in a grove of
poplar trees outside the city.

"There is a myth that prostitution is a profession," the program manager of
a prostitution outreach agency said Wednesday. "The media says it's a trade
-- a sex trade," said Kourch Chan of the Crossroad Program. It's not, Chan
said.

Street prostitution is more akin to a disease, which can be the result of
family breakup and childhood sexual abuse followed by childhood
prostitution and drug abuse. "Once you get involved in the subculture,
there is exploitation, there are people who stand to benefit, like the
johns, there are child sexual abusers, pimps and drug dealers."

An estimated 400 women sell their bodies on the street, either full time or
when they need money for rent, food or drugs, said JoAnne McCartney, a
former police officer who works with the Crown prosecutor's office.

McCartney's job is to catch those women when they go before the courts and
try to get them off the streets. She knew Quinney as an immature,
crack-addicted and confused woman.

Quinney wanted to get off the streets but didn't know how, McCartney said.
Her death sent another wave of fear and revulsion through the street
prostitute community.

"Last Saturday night I was in the Crossroads van with one of the workers
and there was a woman crying, saying, 'I want out.' And all we could tell
her was that next week we will phone Calgary and see if there is any room
there in housing, because there is no room here."

After an autopsy confirmed Quinney's identity, police announced they had
reason to believe that one person might be responsible for the deaths of
two or more of the Edmonton prostitutes in recent years. News stories
proclaiming that Edmonton might have a "serial killer" flashed across the
country.

Chan wonders why the media is obsessed with the concept of a "serial killer."

"I don't think it matters if 'one' someone is hurting them," he said. "If
it's one person, I hope they catch him soon. But it would be worse yet if
it's a whole bunch of people who are hurting them."

If there's anything good to come out of Quinney's death it's a new
awareness among street prostitutes that people are thinking of them as real
people, not as faceless statistics, Chan said.

"Since Saturday, we've had three reports of violent incidents. Before then,
we have not had a report from anyone since March of violent offence on the
street."

Realizing that people might be willing to listen, street prostitutes are
beginning to speak out. Those reports of "bad dates" didn't indicate an
upswing in violence aimed at prostitutes, McCartney said. They simply
indicated an increased willingness among prostitutes to file a report.

"Part of what happens on the street is hopelessness," McCartney said.

"It gets in the way, the addiction gets in the way, the feeling that no one
will believe me gets in the way. The hopelessness gets worse and worse the
more addicted you get, so that gets in the way of making
reports."