For independent sex workers, the real danger of the Formula 1 Grand Prix is not the clients who come to Montreal to seek sexual services, but the increased police surveillance they will face throughout the weekend.
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“For us, F1, it just means more police surveillance,” says Melina May, a sex worker and activist with the Autonomous Committee on Sex Works (CATS).
“But we don’t want our work to be monitored any more. What we keep asking for is that it be decriminalized and recognized so that we have access to job assistance programs and labor standards.
“If we’re recognized as workers, we’re really protected,” she says.
fear of the police
Investigators from the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) have been on site for a few weeks.
“They go around hotels, Airbnbs, taxi companies and Ubers to train them to spot victims of exploitation,” says Melina May. On weekends, police officers conduct operations by posing as customers to get their hands on the pimps to get and help the girls in the industry.
However, according to CATS, this increased police surveillance during the Grand Prix is not the solution to ensure the protection of sex workers.
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First, customers may offer meeting places outside of the police force or refuse to reveal their identity, knowing that buying sexual services is illegal in Canada. Women are even more isolated and therefore at risk of violence.
And then these “infantilizing” operations create stress and fear.
“When you arrive at the hotel you think you’ll meet a customer there and you’ll meet a police officer, it’s traumatic. Me, that worries me,” pleads the activist.
“It sends the message that we are prey, victims who need rescuing while the government puts no real mechanism in place to protect us.”
The same vigilance as usual
Without denying the existence of sexual exploitation – during F1 or any other time of year – Melina May distinguishes it from sex work.
“All the better if F1 brings in more customers, more men asking for sexual services,” she says.
“But we will have the same vigilance as usual. I already rigorously screen clients, I am already taking measures to protect myself given the lack of state aid,” she underlines, citing Émilie Nicolas’ column published in Le Devoir on Thursday.
“Violence against women during Formula 1 is not only in sex work,” she says. “There is also a higher risk of harassment for hostesses, waitresses or other downtown workers […] because there’s just going to be more toxic masculinity in Montreal this weekend. Point.”