Abstracts Category : Other

Differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women engaged in street prostitution in Sudbury.

by Bernadette Walicki

This study identifies differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women engaged instreet prostitution in Sudbury, Ontario using an Indigenous Research Paradigm. A sample oftwelve women engaged in street prostitution were interviewed using the ProstitutionQuestionnaire developed by Dr. Melissa Farley of Prostitution Research & Education.Additional questions of regional and cultural relevance were added. A comparison group of ninemarginalized women without experience in prostitution was also interviewed with an abbreviatedinterview tool. The results indicated that Aboriginal women engaged in street prostitutiondiffered from non-Aboriginal women in the following areas: stronger desire for the legalizationof prostitution, more experience with discrimination, more physical assaults, higher alcoholconsumption, more criticism from others about alcohol consumption, stronger desire to reducealcohol consumption, more prolonged substance use, stronger desire for treatment of substance use, family with residential school experience, more interest in deepening cultural connections,more active within their faith, greater contact with family and more trusting relationships. LikeAboriginal women engaged in prostitution, Aboriginal women with hardships differed from non-Aboriginal women with hardships in their family experience with residential schools, in beingmore active within their faith and having greater contact with family. Furthermore, Aboriginalwomen with hardships also had more family and friends living in a First Nations community, hadlived in a First Nations community at some point and had more knowledge of Aboriginalteachings. Additional results outside of identified differences were also included to help definethe local populations. The findings, in relation to Aboriginal women engaged in streetprostitution, are discussed within the context of historical antecedents, community developmentand political policies.