Terri-Jean Bedford, a Canadian dominatrix, has many questions to ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper what is the real definition of the phrase sex act. Getting a comprehensive and definitive response would help the North American nation in its national debate on the sex industry.

Ms Bedford is one of the women behind the challenge to the Canadian Supreme Court which decriminalised in December the flesh trade by striking down laws that banned running a brothel, living off the avails of prostitution and street communication.

YouTube/BBC

Her desire to ask questions to the PM is in anticipation of the Conservative government proposing new legislation that could make transactional sex illegal.

"Harper's government is planning to regulate and enforce what goes on in the privacy of our homes and this concerns me ... Just because one red cent changes hands doesn't mean that a sex worker is a criminal. They're consenting adults engaged in private behaviour. It's not the government's business. It's nobody's business. It's only their business if somebody is getting hurts," The Star quoted Ms Bedford.

Among the different bedroom scenarios, the dominatrix wants to know if helping a straight male dress up in female clothes just for a sexual high would be considered a sex act. How about some form of domination such as binding a partner and spanking his bottom? She also wanted to know if massages by legitimate therapists that ended in orgasm count as a sex act even if only the hands or other body parts, except the genitals, are used.

YouTube/Angela O'leary

Ms Bedford posted the questions on her blog, but she will also send a copy to Mr Harper, cabinet ministers and Conservative MPs.

Nikki Thomas, former executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada, backed Ms Bedford's call for a clearer definition of the term "sex act."

"You can't regulate or restrict something unless you can say what it is ... Any time that issues regarding indecency or obscenity make their way through the court system, there's always the question of how do you define it," she added.

While the court struck down three sections of the Criminal Code, the landmark ruling also gave the Canadian Parliament a year to craft new laws that would not infringe on the constitutional right of sex workers like Ms Bedford.

Mr Harper has not commented on the court decision, but his previous comment on a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeals in March 2012 that favoured prostitution is an indicator of his stand on the crucial issue.

The PM was then quoted as saying, "We view prostitution as bad for society and we view its effects as particularly harmful for our communities and women, and particularly for vulnerable women, and we will continue to oppose prostitution in Canada."

Ms Bedford countered, "He says prostitution is bad, yet he is not clear on what he means by prostitution."

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