Street prostitution is different from sex for money which occurs behind closed doors. We are not interested in what anyone does in private, whether they pay for it or not. The activity we are trying to stop is happening in public--on our streets, in our yards, parks, and schoolyards all over the City.
Street prostitution co-opts the street. It turns a community into a place where women are for sale, rather than a place where people live and work. It visibly labels communities as "bad" places. It is not fair for people to come to our neighbourhoods to do something they and their neighbours would not tolerate where they live.
Most street prostitutes are injection drug users. The johns are taking advantage of their desperation and exploiting them. These women and girls need treatment and help, and the johns are not part of any solution.
Street prostitution leaves behind distasteful and dangerous trash. In areas where street prostitution is active, used condoms are regularly found on public and private property. The drug use that johns are helping to fund results in used syringes discarded on the streets.
There is a high incidence of HIV among injection drug users, and a high incidence of sexually-transmitted diseases among street prostitutes. Johns are putting their families and the larger community at risk.
Johns cannot always tell who is a prostitute; they just assume that any woman or girl in an area known to be a "stroll" is a prostitute. Women and underage girls have often been solicited by johns in our communities in areas plagued by street prostitution. Women and girls living in our neighbourhoods have the right to be free from harassment.