Adult parlour fits the rules, like it or not

Therapy and conversation won’t be the main attraction for customers of a massage parlour that will likely open in Peterborough.

But it’s no surprise the woman applying to open the first legal adult entertainment business here in a decade feels the need to market it as something other than bare-breasted women giving men a rubdown.

During an online public information session on Wednesday, Brittany Leigh said her venture will offer “therapeutic body-rub massaging and conversational support … talk and touch therapy for adults.”

It is highly unlikely the 35 to 40 women she plans to hire will be certified in any form of therapy; physical or conversational.

Everyone understands that: Leigh, the police officers, city hall staff and city council members who listened in on the session; the men who will, if she is successful, be her customers; and anyone who takes a less hands-on interest in the plan, in favour or opposed.

Leigh said the women will be independent contractors choosing to offer a service.

“Independent contractors” and “choosing to offer a service” are also part of the sales pitch: This is no different than many other gig economy ventures; think Uber or a food delivery service.

Unlike the therapy references, those terms will apply to what happens in the former industrial building on The Kingsway where the business would operate. If it’s going be legal the women will be working by choice.

The “choice” issue is paramount. Sex trafficking and sex slavery are ongoing problems in Canada and sex trafficking charges have been laid in Peterborough.

Given that Leigh is being open and public about her plans that almost certainly won’t be the case.

She has said she won’t collect a cut of any money the women are paid by their customers, so presumably her income will come from charging a fee for use of the space and providing administration services. That’s something police will need to keep an eye on. Canada’s prostitution laws were rewritten in 2015 in an attempt to make it clear that running an organized sex business — offering sexual intercourse, sex acts through massage, lap dancing etc. — is illegal, but women have the right to provide those services on their own.

There is no indication Leigh intends to skirt the law by providing space for “independent contractors,” but it is something that will bear watching.

Whether police should be involved is another matter.

Many people, including many women’s rights groups, believe prostitution should be fully legal and controlled by government regulation, as with any business.

Since that is not the law now, it’s a moot point for local law enforcement.

The other issue that could arise when Leigh’s zoning and licensing applications come to city council for consideration is the question of morality.

However, whether it is right for men to be able to pay to be massaged by nearly-naked women has no bearing on council’s authority to grant or deny approvals.

The courts ruled years ago that municipalities can’t make land use decisions on moral grounds. They can restrict where a business operates — which is why massage parlours are allowed only in industrial areas — but not whether it can, as long as no laws are broken.

Adult entertainment seems set to make a local return, and Leigh’s proposal seems reasonable and responsible.