A Salvation Army campaign highlighting the harsh realities of sex slavery has come under fire by sex-trade rights advocates.
"The Truth Isn't Sexy" posters - which will go up at men's washrooms and transit shelters - depict women being physically assaulted, along with a message that 250,000 "slaves" exist in North America.
The campaign has drawn the ire of the Sex Industry Worker Safety Action Group, which includes Vancouver police, Pivot Legal Society, PACE and the WISH Drop-In Centre Society.
"They're painting everyone in the sex trade with one brush, as victims," said Katrina Pacey, director of Pivot's sex work human rights campaign. "They're misrepresenting the reality by inflating the numbers. Not all sex work is trafficking."
Susan Davis, a sex-trade worker and member of the B.C. Coalition of Experimental Communities, called the campaign distasteful.
"The images like the ones they're using are not even allowed in a porno," she said. "I don't think it's reasonable in this day and age to take uninformed actions that can put sex-trade workers at risk."
While the Salvation Army agrees accurate numbers are hard to come by, spokesperson Brian Venables said they're sticking to the campaign.
"We're targeting victims of human sexual trafficking," he said. "It's not about prostitution. It's not about women that make a choice."
The entire campaign can be found at www.thetruthisntsexy.ca.
