Buying Sex is Not a Sport

Buying Sex is Not a Sport: Vancouver Initiative to Prevent Human Trafficking (BSNS) was a grassroots^[1] campaign that raised awareness about the human trafficking thought to surround the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that some claimed facilitated the provision of prostitution for visitors.^[2] According to the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, "The hype around large sporting events and increases in trafficking for prostitution is often based on misinformation, poor data, and a tendency to sensationalise. Despite the lack of evidence, this idea continues to hold great appeal for prostitution abolitionist groups, anti-immigration groups, and a number of politicians, scholars and journalists.^[3]

The campaign was launched on May 22, 2009^[4] and was created by academics and former prostitutes.^[5] Tara Teng, who was Miss B.C. World at the time, participated in the campaign,^[6] as did Trisha Baptie, a former sex worker.^[7] Multiple organizations opposing human trafficking were involved in the campaign, including Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity;^[8] and Eve.^[2] Some campaign participants silently protested against the sex industry outside of Rogers Arena, known at the time as Canada Hockey Place, and outside three of Vancouver's strip clubs.^[9] T-shirts and lapel pins sporting the name of the campaign were sold.^[10] Former prostitutes who participated in the campaign called for the implementation of prostitution laws in Canada analogous to Sweden's Sex Purchase Act, which makes purchasing sex illegal as a form of violence against women.^[11]

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