It's not really a fair assessment of what actually occurred. There were a number of well established reputable sps on a couple of sites expressing their concerns. These are people who have a history of sex worker advocacy, and organizations such as POWER and even speaking at the hearings.
Including maggies toronto, and their concerns were with the original site, the way it excluded some types of sex workers. Since then, the site itself has changed, a great deal, after a great deal of unnecessary debate about those points. Which included pointing out to the folks who created it that a few sex worker advocate groups seriously thought it was created by abolitionists, based on the way the front page was.
Now it has become the equivalent of a 'when did you stop beating your dog' comment exchange. The original was divisive, and people problems with that. Some people still have issues with the name itself, but those are far fewer than the ones who saw that street workers were considered 'different' than the rest of us. The expressed their opinion about that, and eventually the site changed, and the majority of people who were expressing their very legitimate concerns about the exclusionary original design have been more than satisfied by the changes.
Let me just repeat that so there are no more misunderstandings/interpretations: MORE THAN SATISFIED WITH THE CHANGES, MORE THAN SATISFIED WITH THE SITE THE WAY IT IS TODAY.
Just wanted to keep people up to date on that. At the time it was introduced, i don't think there were any stories posted, just the opening description, which made it clear that there was a need for two different sets of laws: one for us, and one for them (them being street workers). Now if I had to guess, at least one of the people who was the first to express their real concerns has submitted their story.
This site came up shortly after the abolitionists created these two sites:
https://invisible-men-canada.tumblr.com/post/91055157895
https://atrickofthetrade.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/chris-atchison-johns-voice/
Plus a few of the antiC36s had spoken at the hearings, throughout which the proC36s were heckling and jeering at them, from their seats in the audience. Afterwards, a great many of the abolitionists started a twitter attack against these speakers, and the a trick of the trade site was created the same day Chris Atchison presented.
So the people who follow this from day one, the sex worker advocate groups, etc, were presented with the Happy Hooker site AFTER they'd gone thru all of that. Having Ambler also mentioning the Happy Hooker sitcom line to dismiss what one of them had to say at the hearings, it all added up to a reaction that was not quite what the HHC site creators expected. One poster on Facebook assumed it was as she puts it
However, i do know that the majority of the ones with the issues have now gone public to talk about their approval of the changes, and i think MAYBE it is time to stop talking about them as tho they still exist and are still working against the site. There will always be some sex workers out there who want to make sure that the public sees us as doing work, not just here for a fun time play time meaning we have to be super happy all the time and enjoy every single part of every single day. That isn't a realistic look at work at the best of times, and they do want the ability to talk about having a bummer of a day from time to time
