Why don’t we ever talk about the Johns?

Prostitution is everywhere.

When I first moved to Calgary, I answered an ad offering a room for rent on Kijiji. The room was in a penthouse apartment by 17th ave, and my friend and I could live in it in exchange for 'light housekeeping'.

This is where we met Dennis. Dennis had tan hands from fake tanning and liked slushies from Mac's that made his mouth turn blue. He's not the kind of pimp you see in the movies. But he was a pimp.

He told us he was a pimp, and introduced us to one of his girls. She was sweet, and only liked to drink Monkeys Lunch‘s because it ’just tasted like milk’.

She’d only been doing it for a few weeks, and was trying to pay off her student loans. 

He never outright asked if we’d work for him, but the door was obviously open. We also turned down requests to buy us things. 

Dennis wasn't offering a room for rent in exchange for light housekeeping after all. We spent two nights in the room in the penthouse on 17th ave and then decided his world was one we’d rather not be a part of. 

We left one night when he was out for dinner with one of his girls. He was upset we hadn’t told him and sent us countless messages, that dwindled after a few days. 

Dennis didn't frighten me, although maybe he should have. He was too stupid.

What frightened me upon learning of this world were the Johns. The nameless, faceless men who use the services with complete disregard for the countless victims.

“The main users of women in prostitution are regular men who are in regular marriages, study in regular educational programs, and have regular jobs, some of whom are entrusted with upholding the very laws that they violate. In other words, studies indicate that prostitute-users in general are not marginalized men, unlike the women they use and abuse.”((Janice G. Raymond, 2004, Prostitution on Demand: Legalizing the Buyers as Sexual Consumers, Violence Against Women, http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/Raymond%20Prostitution%20on%20Demand.pdf).)

Soon after meeting Dennis, I saw in the newspaper an initiative in the city to catch 'johns'. If you were found soliciting prostitution your car would be towed for a week, thus disrupting your life, and forcing you to explain yourself.

Interesting idea.
I have no idea if it still happens.

I have no idea what happens to Johns because no one ever talks about them. We just expect them to exist and don’t question them.