title: Labiaplasty

text: Labiaplasty (also known as labioplasty, labia minora reduction, and labial reduction) is a plastic surgery procedure for altering the labia minora (inner labia) and the labia majora (outer labia), the folds of skin surrounding the human vulva. There are two main categories of women seeking cosmetic genital surgery: those with congenital conditions such as intersex, and those with no underlying condition who experience physical discomfort or wish to alter the appearance of their genitals because they believe they do not fall within a normal range.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The size, colour, and shape of labia vary significantly, and may change as a result of childbirth, aging, and other events. Conditions addressed by labiaplasty include congenital defects and abnormalities such as vaginal atresia (absent vaginal passage), Müllerian agenesis (malformed uterus and fallopian tubes), intersex conditions (male and female sexual characteristics in a person); and tearing and stretching of the labia minora caused by childbirth, accident, and age. In a male-to-female sexual reassignment vaginoplasty for the creation of a neovagina, labiaplasty creates labia where once there were none.


title: Labiaplasty

text: A 2008 study reported that 32 percent of women who underwent the procedure did so to correct a functional impairment; 31 percent to correct a functional impairment and for aesthetic reasons; and 37 percent for aesthetic reasons alone. According to a 2011 review, overall patient satisfaction is in the 90–95 percent range. Risks include permanent scarring, infections, bleeding, irritation, and nerve damage leading to increased or decreased sensitivity. A change in requirements of publicly funded Australian plastic surgery requiring women to be told about natural variation in labias led to a 28% reduction in the number of surgeries performed. Unlike public hospitals, cosmetic surgeons in private practice are not required to follow these rules, and critics say that "unscrupulous" providers are charging to perform the procedure on women who would not want it if they had more information.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Images of vulvae are absent from the popular media and advertising and do not appear in some anatomy textbooks, while community opposition to sex education limits the access that young women have to information about natural variation in labias. Many women have limited knowledge of vulval anatomy, and are unable to say what a "normal" vulva looks like. At the same time, many pornographic images of women's genitals are digitally manipulated, changing the size and shape of the labia to fit with the censorship standards in different countries. Medical researchers have raised concerns about the procedure and its increasing prevalence rates, with some speculating that exposure to pornography images on the Internet may lead to body image dissatisfaction in some women. Although it is also suggested that evidence for this is lacking, the National Health Service stated that some women bring along advert or pornographic images to illustrate their desired genital appearance.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The external genitalia of a woman are collectively known as the vulva. This comprises the labia majora (outer labia), the labia minora (inner labia), the clitoris, the urethra, and the vagina. The labia majora extend from the mons pubis to the perineum.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The size, shape, and color of women's inner labia vary greatly. One is usually larger than the other. They may be hidden by the outer labia, or may be visible, and may become larger with sexual arousal, sometimes two to three times their usual diameter.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The size of the labia can change because of childbirth. Genital piercing can increase labial size and asymmetry, because of the weight of the ornaments. In the course of treating identical twin sisters, S.P. Davison "et al" reported that the labia were the same size in each woman, which indicated genetic determination. In or around 2004, researchers from the Department of Gynaeology, Elizabeth Garret Anderson Hospital, London, measured the labia of 50 women between the ages of 18 and 50, with a mean age of 35.6:


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labia reduction surgery is relatively contraindicated for the woman who have active gynecological disease, such as an infection or a malignancy; the woman who is a tobacco smoker and is unwilling to quit, either temporarily or permanently, in order to optimize her wound-healing capability; and the woman who is unrealistic in her aesthetic goals. The latter should either be counselled or excluded from labioplastic surgery. Davison "et al" write that it should not be performed when the patient is menstruating to reduce potential hormonal effects and the increased risk of infection.


title: Labiaplasty

text: In sexual reassignment surgery, in the case of the male-to-female transgender patient, labiaplasty is usually the second stage of a two-stage vaginoplasty operation, where labiaplastic techniques are applied to create labia minora and a clitoral hood. In this procedure, the labiaplasty is usually performed some months after the first stage of vaginoplasty.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction can be performed under local anaesthesia, conscious sedation, or general anaesthesia, either as a discrete, single surgery, or in conjunction with another, gynecologic or cosmetic, surgery procedure. The resection proper is facilitated with the administration of an anaesthetic solution (lidocaine + epinephrine in saline solution) that is infiltrated to the labia minora to achieve the tumescence (swelling) of the tissues and the constriction of the pertinent labial circulatory system, the hemostasis that limits bleeding.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The original labiaplasty technique was simple resection of tissues at the free edge of the labia minora. One resection-technique variation features a clamp placed across the area of labial tissue to be resected, in order to establish hemostatis (stopped blood-flow), and the surgeon resects the tissues, and then sutures the cut labium minus or labia minora. This procedure is used by most surgeons because it is easiest to perform. The technical disadvantages of the labial-edge resection technique are the loss of the natural rugosity (wrinkles) of the labia minora free edges, thus, aesthetically, it produces an unnatural appearance to the vulva, and also presents a greater risk of damaging the pertinent nerve endings. Moreover, there also exists the possibility of everting (turning outwards) the inner lining of the labia, which then makes visible the normally hidden internal, pink labial tissues. The advantages of edge-resection include removal of the hyper-pigmented (darkened) irregular labial edges with a linear scar. Another disadvantage of the trim or "amputation" method, is that it is unable to excise redundant tissues of the clitoral hood, when present. Complete amputation of the labia minora is more common with this technique, which often requires additional surgery to correct. In addition, the trim method does not address the clitoral hood. Clitoral hood deformities are common with this approach, again requiring additional corrective surgery. Some women complain of a "small penis" when the trim procedure is performed, owing to the un-addressed clitoral hood tissue and completely removed (amputated) labia minor. Most plastic surgeons do not perform this procedure, and instead favor the extended wedge approach, which is technically more demanding, but produces a more natural result and is able to create a natural and proportioned appearance to the vulva. Reconstructive procedures are often required after the trim (amputation) labiaplasty.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction by means of a central wedge-resection involves cutting and removing a partial-thickness wedge of tissue from the thickest portion of the labium minus. Unlike the edge-resection technique, the resection pattern of the central wedge technique preserves the natural rugosity ("wrinkled" edge) of the labia minora. If performed as a full-thickness resection, there exists the potential risk of damaging the pertinent labial nerves, which can result in painful neuromas, and numbness. A partial thickness removal of mucosa and skin, leaving the submucosa intact, decreases the risk of this complication. F. Giraldo "et al." procedurally refined the central wedge resection technique with an additional 90-degree Z-plasty technique, which produces a refined surgical scar that is less tethered, and diminishes the physical tensions exerted upon the surgical-incision wound, and, therefore, reduces the likelihood of a notched (scalloped-edge) scar. The central wedge-resection technique is a demanding surgical procedure, and difficulty can arise with judging the correct amount of labial skin to resect, which might result in either undercorrection (persistent tissue-redundancy), or the overcorrection (excessive tension to the surgical wound), and an increased probability of surgical-wound separation. The benefit of this technique is that an extended wedge can be brought upwards towards the prepuce to treat a prominent clitoral hood without a separate incision. This leads to a natural contour for the finished result, and avoids direct incisions near the highly-sensitive clitoris.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction by means of the de-epithelialization of the tissues involves cutting the epithelium of a central area on the medial and lateral aspects of each labium minus (small lip), either with a scalpel or with a medical laser. This labiaplasty technique reduces the vertical excess tissue, whilst preserving the natural rugosity (corrugated free-edge) of the labia minora, and thus preserves the sensory and erectile characteristics of the labia. Yet, the technical disadvantage of de-epithelialization is that the width of the individual labium might increase if a large area of labial tissue must be de-epithelialized to achieve the labial reduction.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction occasionally includes the resection of the clitoral prepuce (clitoral hood) when the thickness of its skin interferes with the woman's sexual response or is aesthetically displeasing.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The surgical unhooding of the clitoris involves a V–to–Y advancement of the soft tissues, which is achieved by suturing the clitoral hood to the pubic bone in the midline (to avoid the pudendal nerves); thus, uncovering the clitoris further tightens the labia minora.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction by means of laser resection of the labia minora involves the de-epithelialization of the labia. The technical disadvantage of laser labiaplasty is that the removal of excess labial epidermis risks causing the occurrence of epidermal inclusion cysts.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labial reduction by de-epithelialization cuts and removes the unwanted tissue and preserves the natural rugosity (wrinkled free-edge) of the labia minora, and preserves the capabilities for tumescence and sensation. Yet, when the patient presents with much labial tissue, a combination procedure of de-epithelialization and clamp-resection is usually more effective for achieving the aesthetic outcome established by the patient and her surgeon. In the case of a woman with labial webbing (redundant folding) between the labia minora and the labia majora, the de-epithelialization labiaplasty includes an additional resection technique – such as the five-flap Z-plasty ("jumping man plasty") – to establish a regular and symmetric shape for the reduced labia minora.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Post-operative pain is minimal, and the woman is usually able to leave hospital the same day. No vaginal packing is required, although she might choose to wear a sanitary pad for comfort. The physician informs the woman that the reduced labia are often very swollen during the early post-operative period, because of the edema caused by the anaesthetic solution injected to swell the tissues.


title: Labiaplasty

text: She is also instructed on the proper cleansing of the surgical wound site, and the application of a topical antibiotic ointment to the reduced labia, a regimen observed two to three times daily for several days after surgery.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The woman's initial, post-labiaplasty follow up appointment with the surgeon is recommended within the week after surgery. She is advised to return to the surgeon's consultation room should she develop hematoma, an accumulation of blood outside the pertinent (venous and arterial) vascular system. Depending on her progress, the woman can resume physically unstrenuous work three to four days after surgery. To allow the wounds to heal, she is instructed not to use tampons, not to wear tight clothes (e.g. thong underwear), and to abstain from sexual intercourse for four weeks after surgery.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Medical complications to a labiaplasty procedure are uncommon, yet occasional complications – bleeding, infection, labial asymmetry, poor wound-healing, undercorrection, overcorrection – do occur, and might require a revision surgery. An over-aggressive resection might damage the nerves, causing painful neuromas. Performing a flap-technique labiaplasty occasionally presents a greater risk for necrosis of the labia minora tissues.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Labiaplasty is a controversial subject. Critics argue that a woman's decision to undergo the procedure stems from an unhealthy self-image induced by their comparison of themselves to the prepubescent-like images of women they see in commercials or pornography.


title: Labiaplasty

text: In Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has issued guidelines on referring patients with dissatisfaction with their genitals to specialists. A change in requirements of publicly funded Australian plastic surgery requiring women to be told about natural variation in labias led to a 28% reduction in the numbers of surgeries performed. Unlike public hospitals, cosmetic surgeons in private practise are not required to follow these rules, and critics say that "unscrupulous" providers are charging to perform the procedure on women who would not undergo it if they had more information.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Increasing numbers of women in Western countries are also using Brazilian waxing to remove pubic hair, and choosing to wear tight-fitting swimwear and clothing. This has led to increased numbers of women complaining of pain and discomfort from chafing of the labia minora, as well as cosmetic concerns around how the appearance of genitals. In many countries, media regulation classifies "hardcore" and "softcore" pornography – demanding that magazines with "hardcore" pornography be wrapped in black plastic and sold only to people over 18 who show photo ID. Sales of magazines in black plastic tend to be low, and thus many magazine publishers choose to comply with the "softcore" standards. In Australian magazines, images of vulvas that do not look like "a single crease" are digitally modified to comply with the censorship standard. An Australian pornographic actress says that images of her own genitals sold to pornographic magazines in different countries are digitally manipulated to change the size and shape of the labia according to censorship standards in different countries. Community opposition to sex education limits the access that young women have to information about natural variation in labias.


title: Labiaplasty

text: Linda Cardozo, a gynaecologist at King's College Hospital, London, told the newspaper that women were placing themselves at risk in an industry that is largely unregulated. Nina Hartley says that "she’s seen every type of vulva in her three decades working in the industry. When young women start out in porn, producers don’t send them off for a routine labiaplasty."


title: Labiaplasty

text: Although female genital mutilation – the practice of cutting off a woman's labia and sometimes clitoris, and in some cases creating a seal across her entire vulva – is illegal across the Western world, Davis argues that "when you really look carefully at the language used in some of those laws, they would also make illegal the labiaplasties that are being done by plastic surgeons in the U.S." The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female genital mutilation as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." The WHO writes that the term is not generally applied to elective procedures such as labiaplasty.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published an opinion in the September 2007 issue of "Obstetrics & Gynecology" that several "vaginal rejuvenation" procedures were not medically indicated, and that there was no documentation of their safety and effectiveness. ACOG argued that it was deceptive to give the impression that the procedures were accepted and routine surgical practices. It recommended that women seeking such surgeries must be given the available surgical-safety statistics, and warned of the potential risks of infection, altered sensation caused by damaged nerves, dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse), tissue adhesions, and painful scarring.


title: Labiaplasty

text: In the UK, Lih Mei Liao and Sarah M. Creighton of the University College London Institute for Women's Health wrote in the "British Medical Journal" in 2007 that "the few reports that exist on patients' satisfaction with labial reductions are generally positive, but assessments are short-term and lack methodological rigour." They wrote that the increased demand for cosmetic genitoplasty (labiaplasty) may reflect a "narrow social definition of normal." The National Health Service performed double the number of genitoplasty procedures in the year 2006 than in the 2001–2005 period. The authors noted that "the patients consistently wanted their vulvas to be flat, with no protrusion beyond the labia majora ... some women brought along images to illustrate the desired appearance, usually from adverts or pornography that may have been digitally altered." The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynæcologists published the same concern about the exploitation of psychologically insecure women.


title: Labiaplasty

text: The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Medicine produced a report in 2007 concluding that "vulvar plastic surgery may be warranted only after counseling if it is still the patient's preference, provided that it is conducted in a safe manner and not solely for the purpose of performing surgery".


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Sino-Indian border dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute over the sovereignty of two relatively large, and several smaller, separated pieces of territory between China and India. The first of the territories, Aksai Chin, is administered by China as part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region and claimed by India as part of the union territory of Ladakh; it is the most uninhabited high-altitude wasteland in the larger regions of Kashmir and Tibet and is crossed by the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, but with some significant pasture lands at the margins. The other disputed territory is south of the McMahon Line, formerly known as the North-East Frontier Agency and now called Arunachal Pradesh. The McMahon Line was part of the 1914 Simla Convention signed between British India and Tibet, without China's agreement. China disowns the agreement, stating that Tibet was never independent when it signed the Simla Convention.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The 1962 Sino-Indian War was fought in both disputed areas. Chinese troops attacked Indian border posts in Ladakh in the west and crossed the McMahon line in the east. There was a brief border clash in 1967 in the region of Sikkim. In 1987 and in 2013, potential conflicts over the two differing Lines of Actual Control were successfully de-escalated. A conflict involving a Bhutanese-controlled area on the border between Bhutan and China was successfully de-escalated in 2017 following injuries to both Indian and Chinese troops. Multiple brawls broke out in 2020, escalating to dozens of deaths in June 2020.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Agreements signed pending the ultimate resolution of the boundary question were concluded in 1993 and 1996. This included "confidence-building measures" and the Line of Actual Control. To address the boundary question formalised groups were created such as the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary question. It would be assisted by the Diplomatic and Military Expert Group. In 2003 the Special Representatives (SRs) mechanism was constituted. In 2012 another dispute resolution mechanism, the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) was framed.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: From the area's lowest point on the Karakash River at about to the glaciated peaks up to above sea level, Aksai Chin is a desolate, largely uninhabited area. It covers an area of about . The desolation of this area meant that it had no significant human importance other than ancient trade routes crossing it, providing brief passage during summer for caravans of yaks from Xinjiang and Tibet.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: One of the earliest treaties regarding the boundaries in the western sector was issued in 1842 following the Dogra–Tibetan War. The Sikh Empire of the Punjab region had annexed Ladakh into the state of Jammu in 1834. In 1841, they invaded Tibet with an army. Chinese forces defeated the Sikh army and in turn entered Ladakh and besieged Leh. After being checked by the Sikh forces, the Chinese and the Sikhs signed a treaty in September 1842, which stipulated no transgressions or interference in the other country's frontiers. The British defeat of the Sikhs in 1846 resulted in transfer of sovereignty over Ladakh to the British, and British commissioners attempted to meet with Chinese officials to discuss the border they now shared. However, both sides were sufficiently satisfied that a traditional border was recognised and defined by natural elements, and the border was not demarcated. The boundaries at the two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were reasonably well-defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay largely undefined.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: W. H. Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India proposed the "Johnson Line" in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Jammu and Kashmir. This was the time of the Dungan revolt, when China did not control Xinjiang, so this line was never presented to the Chinese. Johnson presented this line to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, who then claimed the 18,000 square kilometres contained within his territory and by some accounts he claimed territory further north as far as the Sanju Pass in the Kun Lun Mountains. The Maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir constructed a fort at Shahidulla (modern-day Xaidulla), and had troops stationed there for some years to protect caravans. Eventually, most sources placed Shahidulla and the upper Karakash River firmly within the territory of Xinjiang (see accompanying map). According to Francis Younghusband, who explored the region in the late 1880s, there was only an abandoned fort and not one inhabited house at Shahidulla when he was there – it was just a convenient staging post and a convenient headquarters for the nomadic Kirghiz. The abandoned fort had apparently been built a few years earlier by the Dogras. In 1878 the Chinese had reconquered Xinjiang, and by 1890 they already had Shahidulla before the issue was decided. By 1892, China had erected boundary markers at Karakoram Pass.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1897 a British military officer, Sir John Ardagh, proposed a boundary line along the crest of the Kun Lun Mountains north of the Yarkand River. At the time Britain was concerned at the danger of Russian expansion as China weakened, and Ardagh argued that his line was more defensible. The Ardagh line was effectively a modification of the Johnson line, and became known as the "Johnson-Ardagh Line".


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1893, Hung Ta-chen, a senior Chinese official at St. Petersburg, gave maps of the region to George Macartney, the British consul general at Kashgar, which coincided in broad details. In 1899, Britain proposed a revised boundary, initially suggested by Macartney and developed by the Governor General of India Lord Elgin. This boundary placed the Lingzi Tang plains, which are south of the Laktsang range, in India, and Aksai Chin proper, which is north of the Laktsang range, in China. This border, along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the Indus River watershed while leaving the Tarim River watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia. The British presented this line, known as the Macartney-MacDonald Line, to the Chinese in 1899 in a note by Sir Claude MacDonald. The Qing government did not respond to the note. According to some commentators, China believed that this had been the accepted boundary.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Both the Johnson-Ardagh and the Macartney-MacDonald lines were used on British maps of India. Until at least 1908, the British took the Macdonald line to be the boundary, but in 1911, the Xinhai Revolution resulted in the collapse of central power in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially used the Johnson Line. However they took no steps to establish outposts or assert actual control on the ground. In 1927, the line was adjusted again as the government of British India abandoned the Johnson line in favour of a line along the Karakoram range further south. However, the maps were not updated and still showed the Johnson Line.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China", published by the Government of China in Peking had shown the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Johnson line, which runs along the Kunlun mountains. The "Peking University Atlas", published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India. When British officials learned of Soviet officials surveying the Aksai Chin for Sheng Shicai, warlord of Xinjiang in 1940–1941, they again advocated the Johnson Line. At this point the British had still made no attempts to establish outposts or control over the Aksai Chin, nor was the issue ever discussed with the governments of China or Tibet, and the boundary remained undemarcated at India's independence.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Upon independence in 1947, the government of India fixed its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin, in a manner that resembled the Ardagh–Johnson Line. India's basis for defining the border was "chiefly by long usage and custom". Unlike the Johnson line, India did not claim the northern areas near Shahidulla and Khotan. From the Karakoram Pass (which is not under dispute), the Indian claim line extends northeast of the Karakoram Mountains north of the salt flats of the Aksai Chin, to set a boundary at the Kunlun Mountains, and incorporating part of the Karakash River and Yarkand River watersheds. From there, it runs east along the Kunlun Mountains, before turning southwest through the Aksai Chin salt flats, through the Karakoram Mountains, and then to Pangong Lake.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: On 1 July 1954 Prime Minister Nehru wrote a memo directing that the maps of India be revised to show definite boundaries on all frontiers. Up to this point, the boundary in the Aksai Chin sector, based on the Johnson Line, had been described as "undemarcated."


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Johnson Line is not used west of the Karakoram Pass, where China adjoins Pakistan-administered Gilgit–Baltistan. On 13 October 1962, China and Pakistan began negotiations over the boundary west of the Karakoram Pass. In 1963, the two countries settled their boundaries largely on the basis of the Macartney-MacDonald Line, which left the Trans Karakoram Tract approximately to in China, although the agreement provided for renegotiation in the event of a settlement of the Kashmir conflict. India does not recognise that Pakistan and China have a common border, and claims the tract as part of the domains of the pre-1947 state of Kashmir and Jammu. However, India's claim line in that area does not extend as far north of the Karakoram Mountains as the Johnson Line. China and India still have disputes on these borders.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: British India annexed Assam in northeastern India in 1826, by Treaty of Yandabo at the conclusion of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826). After subsequent Anglo-Burmese Wars, the whole of Burma was annexed giving the British a border with China's Yunan province.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1913–14, representatives of Britain, China, and Tibet attended a conference in Simla, India and drew up an agreement concerning Tibet's status and borders. The McMahon Line, a proposed boundary between Tibet and India for the eastern sector, was drawn by British negotiator Henry McMahon on a map attached to the agreement. All three representatives initialled the agreement, but Beijing soon objected to the proposed Sino-Tibet boundary and repudiated the agreement, refusing to sign the final, more detailed map. After approving a note which stated that China could not enjoy rights under the agreement unless she ratified it, the British and Tibetan negotiators signed the Simla Convention and more detailed map as a bilateral accord. Neville Maxwell states that McMahon had been instructed not to sign bilaterally with Tibetans if China refused, but he did so without the Chinese representative present and then kept the declaration secret.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: V. K. Singh argues that the basis of these boundaries, accepted by British India and Tibet, were that the historical boundaries of India were the Himalayas and the areas south of the Himalayas were traditionally Indian and associated with India. The high watershed of the Himalayas was proposed as the border between India and its northern neighbours. India's government held the view that the Himalayas were the ancient boundaries of the Indian subcontinent and thus should be the modern boundaries of British India and later the Republic of India.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Chinese boundary markers, including one set up by the newly created Chinese Republic, stood near Walong until January 1914, when T. O'Callaghan, an assistant administrator of North East Frontier Agency (NEFA)'s eastern sector, relocated them north to locations closer to the McMahon Line (albeit still South of the Line). He then went to Rima, met with Tibetan officials, and saw no Chinese influence in the area.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: By signing the Simla Agreement with Tibet, the British had violated the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, in which both parties were not to negotiate with Tibet, "except through the intermediary of the Chinese Government", as well as the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906, which bound the British government "not to annex Tibetan territory." Because of doubts concerning the legal status of the accord, the British did not put the McMahon Line on their maps until 1937, nor did they publish the Simla Convention in the treaty record until 1938. Rejecting Tibet's 1913 declaration of independence, China argued that the Simla Convention and McMahon Line were illegal and that Tibetan government was merely a local government without treaty-making powers.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The British records show that the Tibetan government's acceptance of the new border in 1914 was conditional on China accepting the Simla Convention. Since the British were not able to get an acceptance from China, Tibetans considered the McMahon line invalid. Tibetan officials continued to administer Tawang and refused to concede territory during negotiations in 1938. The governor of Assam asserted that Tawang was "undoubtedly British" but noted that it was "controlled by Tibet, and none of its inhabitants have any idea that they are not Tibetan." During World War II, with India's east threatened by Japanese troops and with the threat of Chinese expansionism, British troops secured Tawang for extra defence.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: China's claim on areas south of the McMahon Line, encompassed in the NEFA, were based on the traditional boundaries. India believes that the boundaries China proposed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have no written basis and no documentation of acceptance by anyone apart from China. The Indian government has argued that China claims the territory on the basis that it was under Chinese imperial control in the past, while the Chinese government argues that India claims the territory on the basis that it was under British imperial control in the past. The last Qing emperor's 1912 edict of abdication authorised its succeeding republican government to form a union of "five peoples, namely, Manchus, Han Chinese, Mongols, Muslims, and Tibetans "together with their territory in its integrity"." However, the practice that India does not place a claim to the regions which previously had the presence of the Mauryan Empire and Chola Dynasty, but which were heavily influenced by Indian culture, further complicates the issue.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: India's claim line in the eastern sector follows its interpretation of the McMahon Line. The line drawn by McMahon on the detailed 24–25 March 1914 Simla Treaty maps clearly starts at 27°45’40"N, a trijunction between Bhutan, China, and India, and from there, extends eastwards. Most of the fighting in the eastern sector before the start of the war would take place immediately north of this line. However, India claimed that the "intent" of the treaty was to follow the main watershed ridge divide of the Himalayas based on memos from McMahon and the fact that over 90% of the McMahon Line does in fact follow the main watershed ridge divide of the Himalayas. They claimed that territory south of the high ridges here near Bhutan (as elsewhere along most of the McMahon Line) should be Indian territory and north of the high ridges should be Chinese territory. In the Indian claim, the two armies would be separated from each other by the highest mountains in the world.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: During and after the 1950s, when India began patrolling this area and mapping in greater detail, they confirmed what the 1914 Simla agreement map depicted: six river crossings that interrupted the main Himalayan watershed ridge. At the westernmost location near Bhutan north of Tawang, they modified their maps to extend their claim line northwards to include features such as Thag La ridge, Longju, and Khinzemane as Indian territory. Thus, the Indian version of the McMahon Line moves the Bhutan-China-India trijunction north to 27°51’30"N from 27°45’40"N. India would claim that the treaty map ran along features such as Thag La ridge, though the actual treaty map itself is topographically vague (as the treaty was not accompanied with demarcation) in places, shows a straight line (not a watershed ridge) near Bhutan and near Thag La, and the treaty includes no verbal description of geographic features nor description of the highest ridges.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Nathu La and Cho La clashes were a series of military clashes in 1967 between India and China alongside the border of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, then an Indian protectorate. The end of the conflicts saw a Chinese military withdrawal from Sikkim.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1975, the Sikkimese monarchy held a referendum, in which the Sikkemese voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining India. At the time China protested and rejected it as illegal. The Sino-Indian Memorandum of 2003 was hailed as a "de facto" Chinese acceptance of the annexation. China published a map showing Sikkim as a part of India and the Foreign Ministry deleted it from the list of China's "border countries and regions". However, the Sikkim-China border's northernmost point, "The Finger", continues to be the subject of dispute and military activity.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in 2005 that "Sikkim is no longer the problem between China and India."


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: During the 1950s, the People's Republic of China built a road connecting Xinjiang and western Tibet, of which ran south of the Johnson Line through the Aksai Chin region claimed by India. Aksai Chin was easily accessible from China, but for the Indians on the south side of the Karakoram, the mountain range proved to be a complication in their access to Aksai Chin. The Indians did not learn of the existence of the road until 1957, which was confirmed when the road was shown in Chinese maps published in 1958.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Indian position, as stated by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was that the Aksai Chin was "part of the Ladakh region of India for centuries" and that this northern border was a "firm and definite one which was not open to discussion with anybody".


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Chinese minister, Zhou Enlai argued that the western border had never been delimited, that the Macartney-MacDonald Line, which left the Aksai Chin within Chinese borders was the only line ever proposed to a Chinese government, and that the Aksai Chin was already under Chinese jurisdiction, and that negotiations should take into account the status quo.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1960, based on an agreement between Nehru and Zhou Enlai, officials from India and China held discussions in order to settle the boundary dispute. China and India disagreed on the major watershed that defined the boundary in the western sector. The Chinese statements with respect to their border claims often misrepresented the cited sources.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Nathu La and Cho La clashes were a series of military clashes in 1967, between India and China alongside the border of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, then an Indian protectorate.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The Nathu La clashes started on 11 September 1967, when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched an attack on Indian posts at Nathu La, and lasted till 15 September 1967. In October 1967, another military duel took place at Cho La and ended on the same day.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: According to independent sources, the Indian forces achieved "decisive tactical advantage" and defeated the Chinese forces in these clashes. Many PLA fortifications at Nathu La were said to be destroyed, where the Indian troops drove back the attacking Chinese forces.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: The 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish was the third military conflict between the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force and Indian Army that occurred at the Sumdorong Chu Valley, with the previous one taking place 20 years earlier.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: On 20 October 1975, 4 Indian soldiers were killed at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh. According to the official statement by the Indian government, a patrol of the Assam Rifles comprising a non-commissioned officer (NCO) and four other soldiers was ambushed by about 40 Chinese soldiers while in an area well within Indian territory, and which had been regularly patrolled for years without incident. Four members of the patrol unit were initially listed as missing before confirmation via diplomatic channels they had been killed by the Chinese troops; their bodies were later returned. The Indian government registered a strong protest with the Chinese.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 2006, the Chinese ambassador to India claimed that all of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory amidst a military buildup. At the time, both countries claimed incursions as much as a kilometre at the northern tip of Sikkim. In 2009, India announced it would deploy additional military forces along the border. In 2014, India proposed China should acknowledge a "One India" policy to resolve the border dispute.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In April 2013 India claimed, referencing their own perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) location, that Chinese troops had established a camp in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector, on their side of the Line of Actual Control. This figure was later revised to a claim. According to Indian media, the incursion included Chinese military helicopters entering Indian airspace to drop supplies to the troops. However, Chinese officials denied any trespassing having taken place. Soldiers from both countries briefly set up camps on the ill-defined frontier facing each other, but the tension was defused when both sides pulled back soldiers in early May. In September 2014, India and China had a standoff at the LAC, when Indian workers began constructing a canal in the border village of Demchok, Ladakh, and Chinese civilians protested with the army's support. It ended after about three weeks, when both sides agreed to withdraw troops. The Indian army claimed that the Chinese military had set up a camp inside territory claimed by India. According to scholar Harsh V. Pant, China gains territory with every incursion.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In September 2015, Chinese and Indian troops faced off in the Burtse region of northern Ladakh after Indian troops dismantled a disputed watchtower the Chinese were building close to the mutually agreed patrolling line.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In June, a military standoff occurred between India and China in the disputed territory of Doklam, near the Doka La pass. On 16 June 2017, the Chinese brought heavy road building equipment to the Doklam region and began constructing a road in the disputed area. Previously, China had built a dirt road terminating at Doka La where Indian troops were stationed. They would conduct foot patrol from this point up till the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA) post at Jampheri Ridge. The dispute that ensued post 16 June stemmed from the fact that the Chinese had begun building a road below Doka La, in what India and Bhutan claim to be disputed territory. This resulted in Indian intervention of China's road construction on 18 June, two days after construction began. Bhutan claims that the Chinese have violated the written agreements between the two countries that were drawn up in 1988 and 1998 after extensive rounds of talks. The agreements drawn state that status quo must be maintained in the Doklam area as of before March 1959. It is these agreements that China has violated by constructing a road below Doka La. A series of statements from each countries' respective External Affairs ministries were issued defending each countries' actions. Due to the ambiguity of earlier rounds of border talks beginning from the 1890 Anglo-Chinese Convention that was signed in Kolkata on 17 March 1890, each country refers to different agreements drawn when trying to defend its position on the border dispute. Following the incursion, on 28 June, the Chinese military claimed that India had blocked the construction of a road that was taking place in China's sovereign territory. On 30 June, India's Foreign Ministry claimed that China's road construction in violation of the status quo had security implications for India. Following this, on 5 July, Bhutan issued a demarche asking China to restore the status quo as of before 16 June. Throughout July and August, the Doklam issue remained unresolved. On 28 August, India issued a statement saying that both countries have agreed to "expeditious disengagement" in the Doklam region.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 2019, India and China decided to coordinate border patrolling at one disputed point along the LAC.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In June 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a brawl in the Galwan River valley which reportedly led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. International media claimed 40+ Chinese soldiers had been killed, but this number has not been confirmed by Chinese authorities.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: One of the first set of formal talks between China and India on the border were following Zhou Enlai's visit to India in 19–25 April 1960. Following this there were a further three sessions of talks, the "Official's" talks, between— 15 June-6 July 1960; 15 August-24 September 1960; and 7 November-12 December 1960. These discussions produced the 'Report of the Officials on the boundary question'.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Boundary discussions have covered micro and macro issues of the dispute. At a local level, localised disputes and related events such as de-engagement and de-escalation are tackled. Wider overarching issues include discussion related to a package settlement versus sector-wise, clarification of the LAC and border and accordingly the exchange of maps, and delinking or linking the boundary dispute to other bilateral ties.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: China made the so-called "package" offer in 1960, which again came to the table in 1980–85. As explained by former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, China "would be prepared to accept an alignment in the Eastern Sector, in general conforming to the McMahon Line, but India would have to concede Aksai Chin to China in the Western Sector [...] For the Central Sector, the differences were regarded as relatively minor and manageable." In other words, China "offered to hold 26% of the disputed land".


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In 1985 China made modifications to the package— "the Indian side would have to make significant and meaningful concessions in the Eastern Sector... for which China would make corresponding but undefined concessions in the Western Sector". Additionally, Tawang was brought up "as indispensable to any boundary settlement". These changes in the package proposal by China remained till at least 2015.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: During the first round of renewed talks between China and India in December 1981, China suggested maintaining the status quo on the border question, and in the meantime other relations could be normalized. By the fourth round in October 1983 the Indian negotiators agreed to normalization in other areas. This aspect of linking or de-linking border relations resurfaced in the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In the 1980s, during the beginning of talks between the two countries, India made it clear that it would not discuss the legal position of either side as it had already been documented in the 1960 Official's report.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: During the eighth round of talks in November, 1987, in the background of the Sumdorong Chu standoff, the negotiators on both sides came to a conclusion that apart from these bureaucratic level talks, a political move was needed.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Indian spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs stated in May 2020 that there were enough bilateral mechanisms to solve border disputes diplomatically. However, some critics say that these agreements are "deeply flawed".


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Following the 1962 boundary war, official border talks started in December 1981. There were eight rounds of these talks, with the eight round being in 1987. In 1988, through a joint press communique, the border talks were formalized as the 'India-China Joint Working Group on the Boundary Question' (JWG). The JWG met 15 times, the final meeting being in 2005. In 2003 the Special Representatives Mechanism (SRM) was set up as per the 'Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation'.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: In April 2005 another agreement mentioned that the JWG, the "India-China Diplomatic and Military Expert Group", and the "Special Representatives on the boundary question" would carry on with their work and consultations. Other than agreements directly related to the border, there have been numerous agreements that worked on other aspects of the bilateral relations such as a memorandum of understanding on military relations that was signed in 2006, that in turn affected the border situation.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: There are five Border Personnel Meeting points (BPM) for holding rounds of dispute resolution talks among the military personnel with a defined escalation path, such as first between colonels, then between brigadiers, and finally between major generals. Of these five BPM, two are in the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh or India's western (northern) sector corresponding to China's Southern Xinxiang Military District, one in Sikkim and two in Arunachal Pradesh in India's central and eastern sectors corresponding to China's Tibet Military District.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Negotiations for an inter-military hotline started in 2012. It was initially planned for communication between India's Eastern Command and PLA's Chengdu Military Region Command. Negotiations for Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) level hotline continued in 2013. In 2014 a hotline was set up between the DGMOs of both countries. In 2021 both countries agreed to set up a hotline between their foreign ministers. By 31 July 2021, six hotlines had been set up between commanders; 2 in Ladakh, 2 in Sikkim and 2 in Arunachal Pradesh.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: 'Corps Commander Level Meetings' during the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes allowed both sides to exchange perspectives and was seen as an important way to keep communication open. The length of these meetings varied from 9 hours to over 12 hours. Apart from the military, the chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and a Ministry of External Affairs representative were also present.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Chinese Military has an integrated Western Theater Command (WTC) across the whole LAC with India. Western Theater Command also covers provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Chongqing. China has 5 integrated theater commands.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Indian Military has divided the LAC into 3 sectors - the "northern sector" (some times also called "western sector") across Ladakh and the Chinese-held Aksai Chin, the "central sector" across Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand states, and the "eastern sector" across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh states. Similarly, Indian Airforce has Prayagraj-based Western Air Command, Delhi-based Central Air Command, and Shillong-based Eastern Air Command to cover the LAC. India, whose sole integrated command is Andaman and Nicobar Command, is still going through integration of its various geography and services based commands as of 2020.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BCSIA) carried out an independent analysis of troops deployment in 2020. Indian Army strike forces has 225,000 soldiers near China border all of whom are focused on China, 34,000 in the Northern Command, 15,500 in the Central Command, and 175,500 troops in the Eastern Command, including 3,000 soldiers of T-72 tank brigade in Ladakh and 1,000 soldiers of BrahMos cruise missile regiment in Arunachal Pradesh. Of the 200,000 to 230,000 ground forces under the China's Western Theater Command, only 110,000 are available for focusing on the Indian border, rest are deployed on protecting China's border with Russian in north, and for suppression of internal rebellion in restive Tibet and Xinjinag, or deployed elsewhere deep inside Chinese provinces. Chinese troops aimed at India border, who belong mainly to 76th Group Army and 77th Group Army, 70,000 are deployed in Southern Xinjiang Military District (corresponding to India's northern or western sector in Ladakh) and 40,000 are deployed in Tibet Military District (corresponding to India's central and eastern sector along rest of the LAC from Himachal Pradesh to Arunachal Pradesh), rest will be not be available for deployment on India border in the case of war. This creates a disparity in terms of India's larger number of conventional troops (225,000) focused on China border compared to the smaller number of Chinese troops (90,000-120,000) focused on the Indian border majority of whom are deployed far from the Indian border while Indian troops are deployed with single mission of defence against china. In case of stand offs, while Indian troops are already in position on or near border, China will have to mobilise troops mainly from Xinjiang and secondarily from other troops of Western Theater Command in deep interiors of China.


title: Sino-Indian border dispute

text: Bhutan's Doklam area on Sikkim-China-Bhutan tri-junction, disputed by China in which Bhutan is assisted by India, has been kept out of this list, see also 2017 China–India border standoff at Doklam and Nathu La and Cho La clashes in Sikkim. India and China will hold the 9th round of military commander level talks on 24 January 2021, The talks will be held in Moldo opposite to the Chushul sector in India.


title: James Hong filmography

text: James Hong is an American character actor, producer and director who has appeared in more than 600 films, TV shows and video games. His career began in the 1950s when he redubbed soundtracks of several Asian films. Notable roles include Hannibal Chew in "Blade Runner" (1982), David Lo Pan in "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986), Jeff Wong in "Wayne's World 2" (1993), and Chi-Fu in "Mulan" (1998). Hong is also best known for playing Daolon Wong on the television series "Jackie Chan Adventures", and Mr. Ping in the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise.


title: Bellesa

text: Bellesa is a Canadian internet pornography website founded in 2017 and marketed towards women. It produces original pornographic films under the company Bellesa Films, with Jacky St. James as a director. Bellesa Boutique (BBoutique) offers sex toy products, and the website also features webcam models, pornographic fiction and other media. Under the name Bellesa Plus, they have a tiered subscription service.


title: Bellesa

text: The company was initially founded to host pornographic videos and other content shared by women, but after a positive profile in "Bustle", it was widely criticized by sex workers for embedding content without consent from the production studios, directors or performers, and without paying them. After CEO Michelle Shnaidman apologized, the website underwent redesign. Bellesa later began working with St. James to produce films in which the pornographic actors had agency over storylines, outfits and who they would work with. They have a BIPOC Creators Program to give $20,000 per month to filming projects involving BIPOC workers. Additionally, the company produces sex toys with BuzzFeed, who promote the products on their website, and they sponsor BuzzFeed's "Sex and Love" section.


title: Bellesa

text: Bellesa Films have garnered several nominations for AVN Awards, winning one. A review of the website in "The Daily Dot" was mostly positive. The company's first sex toy, the Air Vibe, received mixed feedback from critics.


title: Bellesa

text: The Montreal-based company Bellesa was founded in February 2017 by Michelle Shnaidman, who majored in Psychology and minored in Women's Studies at McGill University, graduating in 2014. According to a sponsored article in "The Bull & Bear", Shnaidman named the website after the Catalan word "beauty". She felt alienated by mainstream pornography websites, highlighting "grow your penis by 4 inches"-type adverts as a demonstration that the sites are not designed for her. Bellesa was targeted towards women. As a result of the company's research, Schnaidman said that the site was designed to highlight "authentic" performer pleasure and "relatable" bodies in pornography, with an increased focus on male bodies and noises. Additionally, Schnaidman saw women as more interested in erotica than men, due to the focus on empathy and imagination, and as consumers of both male-on-male and female-on-female porn—the latter was not referred to by Bellesa as "lesbian porn" to avoid alienating heterosexual women. "Vice" journalist Zing Tsjeng wrote in September 2017 that the website's official comments "leaned hard on the language of feminism and sex positivity".


title: Bellesa

text: The website began by hosting user-submitted videos, pornographic fiction and other media. It also hosted a blogging platform, The Collective, focused on sex-positivity as it relates to culture and feminism. An NowThis News video about the site drew attention to it. In September 2017, complaints by pornographic actors including Kim Cums, Janice Griffith and Casey Calvert about the illegitimacy of the website hosting videos without the performers' consent or financial benefit led Bellesa to remove its video and picture sections. According to Tsjeng, video clips were used without crediting the director or production company and appeared to be embedded from tube sites including Pornhub, SpankBang and xHamster. Mile High Media said that they had not given permission for their productions to be used on the website, but that it made up a substantial amount of Bellesa's hosted content. According to Schnaidman in September 2018, the pirated content was uploaded to tube sites and embedded on Bellesa by users; Bellesa did not have the facility to monitor uploads as its userbase grew. Schnaidman believed that host websites should have taken down the videos, but "bigger tube sites don't care whatsoever" about piracy.


title: Bellesa

text: The owner of Takedown Piracy, Nate Glass, said that the website was not hosting the content, instead "curating" the "predominantly pirated content". Glass sent at least 20 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices to Bellesa. Pornographic director Jacky St. James, whose content was used on Bellesa, criticized that the website was "faux-feminist" for making statements about ethics but using others' content without credit. According to "The Daily Dot"s Ana Valens, the website's terms and conditions held the users who uploaded material, not the owners, responsible for copyright issues. Jiz Lee, a producer for PinkLabel, commented that "piracy is the most destructive to independent creators, especially women filmmakers and female performers who produce their own content". Sociologist Chauntelle Tibbals wrote a piece for "AVN" that was strongly critical of both Bellesa and Suzannah Weiss's positive "Bustle" profile of Shnaidman; Tibbals said the profile was what brought scrutiny to the site.


title: Bellesa

text: Shnaidman apologized in a statement, saying: "it has become soberingly clear to me that the goal with which I created this platform has regrettably become in direct conflict with supporting and respecting the women of the sex-space". Brady Dale of "The New York Observer" commented that Bellesa's mission statement was solely about its audience, not sex workers, but that Shnaidman's apology "acknowledges that she also has a responsibility to the women producing this work".


title: Bellesa

text: Bellesa.co underwent a website redesign in August 2019, and by March 2020 it had launched a sex toy shop, and a webcam model section. They formed contributing partnerships with Deeplush, Sweet Sinner and Vixen. Their tiered susbcription plan scheme, Bellesa Plus, began in February 2021.


title: Bellesa

text: In October 2017, "AVN" announced that Bellesa was founding a pornographic studio, Bellesa Productions, in co-operation with Mile High Media. This manifested in April 2019 as Bellesa Films, with Jacky St. James as a director. It debuted with two box sets, "First Times & Second Chances", and "This Isn't Cheating", the first of which features Calvert and the latter of which features Carter Cruise. In 2020, Damon Dice was the first contract performer for Bellesa Films, with a year-long exclusivity contract.


title: Bellesa

text: In December 2019, Bellesa Films launched an imprint, Bellesa House, with St. James as a director. According to Bellesa, the productions give performers a chance to choose their partners; it features movies that are unscripted and unedited, where performers choose their own clothes and do not wear makeup or have their hair done. In addition, no sex stills are taken. The videos have no dialogue and are not softcore. Shooting for the imprint began at the end of January 2020.


title: Bellesa

text: Another original production series, Bellesa Blind Date, began in August 2021. Directed by St. James, two performers communicate with each other anonymously about their sexual fantasies, and then meet each other and have sex.


title: Bellesa

text: The BIPOC Creators Program, launched in February 2021, earmarks $20,000 per month to projects involving BIPOC workers. Bellesa stated that the initiative was needed because "much of the adult content shot by studios with performers of color, even in 2021, is fetishized and problematic".


title: Bellesa

text: In 2018, the company launched Bellesa Boutique, a sex toy shop. They began partnering with BuzzFeed. Their first original product, the AirVibe, was released in November 2020. It is a vibrator that uses suction and G-spot stimulation. The Pebble debuted in February 2021. The release dates were timed to arrive shortly before seasonal peaks in sex toy sales. In November 2021, Bellesa Boutique launched the Demi Wand sex toy with musician and actor Demi Lovato. The product is a wand vibrator that charges in its casing, designed mostly for clitoral stimulation. It was intended, like a love egg, to be accessible to people new to using sex toys. Bellesa also produces cock rings, dildos and other sex toys.


title: Bellesa

text: Bellesa sponsors BuzzFeed's "Sex and Love" vertical, while BuzzFeed receive royalties when its readers are pointed to a Bellesa product and complete a sale. The companies cannot spend money on Google or Facebook-owned platforms advertising, as their terms and conditions forbid this, but they can post on Facebook and Instagram. They use information collected from BuzzFeed readers to inform their consumer choices. Bellesa have also worked with "The Daily Beast" to promote its sex toys.


title: Bellesa

text: On August 19, 2021, the content creator platform OnlyFans—best-known for hosting pornography—announced that it would be prohibiting sexually explicit material from October onwards. The same day, Bellesa declared that it would be launching a similar platform for sex workers and content creators later in the year. Individual creators would monetize their content through subscription fees and one-time tips. OnlyFans reversed its decision a week later.


title: Bellesa

text: Bellesa are a sponsor of Rachel Kramer Bussel's Good Sex Awards, which had its first ceremony in July 2021.


title: Bellesa

text: The company has an active Instagram account, which was briefly suspended in December 2021, but restored after fan protest.


title: Bellesa

text: At the 37th AVN Awards, for pornography in 2019, Bellesa Films garnered five nominations. In the following year, Bellesa House won the award for Best New Production Banner.


title: Bellesa

text: Danni Danger of "The Daily Dot" gave a mostly positive review of Bellesa in 2020, praising the "authentic, raw" nature of its original content, the high-profile nature of its pornographic performers and St. James's direction in maintaining "flirtatious tension". They praised the website's layout, its reasonable bandwidth, minimal adverts and affordability, but criticized that the films present womanhood as "thin, cis-gendered and able-bodied", and that some storylines are "cringeworthy", such as one in which a man is rewarded by the narrative for arguing with his girlfriend about her sexual boundaries in a threesome.


title: Bellesa

text: Mashable's Anna Iovine gave the AirVibe a mostly negative review, criticizing the buttons and design as confusing and writing that the size and shape of the toy did not match her anatomy. However, she praised its discreet packaging and price. In contrast, Anne Stagg, reviewing for "New York", recommended the AirVibe for its price and ability to induce "glorious, toe-curling, blended orgasms".


title: Bellesa

text: "Bustle"s Sophie Saint Thomas and "Cosmopolitan"s Megan Wallace both praised the small size, quiet but powerful vibrations, case charger and ungendered yellow color. Thomas recommended it for traveling and for use on multiple erogenous zones during masturbation and sex. However, Wallace reviewed it as less aesthetically pleasing than some other sex toys, and noted that there is no option to reduce the intensity except by cycling through all eight modes.


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: Roman Empire is a television docudrama based on historical events of the Roman Empire. The show is in the anthology format with each season presenting an independent story. Season 1, "Reign of Blood", is a six-part story about Emperor Commodus. Jeremiah Murphy and Peter Sherman collaborated on writing the first season, with Richard Lopez directing. It premiered on Netflix on November 11, 2016. Season 2, "Master of Rome", is a five-part story about the rise of Dictator Julius Caesar and the fall of the Roman Republic. Season 2 premiered on July 27, 2018. Season 3 "The Mad Emperor" premiered on Netflix on April 5, 2019, and is a four-part story about Emperor Caligula.


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: The series was produced by Netflix as a "Netflix Original" series, though it frequently reuses footage from other programs, including "" (2006).


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: As "Roman Empire" is an anthology series, each season tells its own story, and each season has its own title.


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: The first season is named "Commodus: Reign of Blood", and consists of six episodes. It became available for streaming on November 11, 2016.


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: The second season is named "Julius Caesar: Master of Rome", and consists of five episodes. It became available for streaming on July 27, 2018.


title: Roman Empire (TV series)

text: The third season is named "Caligula: The Mad Emperor", and consists of four episodes. It became available for streaming on April 5, 2019.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1970. Ambrosia had five top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the top 5 hits "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me", and top 20 hits "You're the Only Woman (You & I)" and "Holdin' on to Yesterday". Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously for over thirty years to the present day, with the notable exception of original lead vocalist and guitarist David Pack since 2000.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ambrosia currently tours internationally and has worked in the past and present with Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Alan Parsons, Bruce Hornsby, Bill Champlin, Michael McDonald and Peter Beckett among other notable artists.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The group was founded as a quartet with guitarist/vocalist David Pack, bassist/vocalist Joe Puerta, keyboardist Christopher North and drummer Burleigh Drummond. According to Joe Puerta, their original name was "Ambergris Mite," but after doing some touring they discovered there was already a band using the name "Ambergris," so they turned to the dictionary and picked the name "Ambrosia" because a name meaning "nectar of the gods" seemed fitting. While Ambrosia had several radio hits in the 1970s, much of the material on their five albums is progressive in nature.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The founding constituents of Ambrosia were reared in Southern California's South Bay, later adopting San Pedro as their hometown. Their initial musical influences, like many of their generation, came from the Beach Boys, Jimmy Reed, King Crimson, and the Beatles. Ambrosia fused symphonic art rock with a slickly produced pop sound, resulting in a "melodic prog" style.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Early on, the band was infatuated with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and began to experiment with vocal harmonies. After the group attended a show at the Whisky a Go Go in December 1969 to see an unknown but highly recommended new band called King Crimson, their perception of music was changed.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The musicians, inspired by the music and artists of the progressive rock era, acquired a significant regional admiration. In 1971, a friend who was doing sound for the Hollywood Bowl, invited them to play there on stage to test a new sound system that had been installed. Gordon Parry, the head engineer in charge at the Bowl, was so impressed with the group that he invited them back to attend performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He introduced them to conductor Zubin Mehta, who featured Ambrosia as part of a so-called All-American Dream Concert.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ambrosia auditioned for Herb Alpert and A&M Records early in their history, but were signed by 20th Century Fox Records in 1975, who released two albums by the group.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Their first album, the eponymous "Ambrosia", produced by Freddie Piro, was released in February 1975. It spawned the top 20 chart single "Holdin' On to Yesterday", as well as "Nice, Nice, Very Nice". The latter sets to music the lyrics to a poem in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle". The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording (other than Classical). Alan Parsons was the engineer for Ambrosia's first album and the producer for their second. All four members of Ambrosia played on the first Alan Parsons Project album, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", which was recorded soon after Ambrosia's first album. David Pack later appeared on the Alan Parsons album "Try Anything Once" (1993), co-writing, playing, and providing vocals on three songs.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: After lengthy touring, the band returned in September 1976 with "Somewhere I've Never Travelled". The album yielded the title song and the single "Can't Let a Woman", which both became FM favorites, both featuring lush orchestration and vocal arrangements. The record sleeve folded into a large pyramid. "Somewhere I've Never Travelled" received a Grammy nomination and set the stage for the band's signing to Warner Bros. Records.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In 1976 the group recorded the Beatles song "Magical Mystery Tour", for the transitory musical documentary, "All This and World War II" (November 1976). The film's soundtrack consisted of different artists providing arrangements of Beatles songs. Their version of "Magical Mystery Tour" scored a top 40 hit, and has since been a staple of their live shows.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In August 1978, "Life Beyond L.A." was released. It marked a move away from their lush arrangements and introduced a more raw, aggressive jazz/R&B influence. Christopher North, who had family obligations and was not totally happy with the group's shift away from the sound of the first two albums, had left the group in 1977 during the album's recording.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The year 1978 marked their biggest pop breakthrough with their first Gold single "How Much I Feel" from the album, which was a No. 3 hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Warner Bros advertised the title cut for radio and "Life Beyond L.A." started to get significant airplay on radio stations, a few months after the album's release. Extensive touring with Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and the Doobie Brothers, in addition to major headlining shows, cemented Ambrosia's reputation as a live act. For the 1978 touring band, North returned and the group added a second keyboardist, David C. Lewis, as well as an additional singer, Royce Jones, who joined in late 1978.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In April 1980 Warner Bros. released "One Eighty", which produced two of the year's biggest hits. The first, "Biggest Part of Me", reached number three for three weeks on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and crossed over to the soul chart, where it peaked at number thirty-five. The second, another blue-eyed soul hit, "You're the Only Woman (You & I)", reached No. 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "One Eighty" earned the band three Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Group. A headlining world tour followed. For the Japanese leg of the tour, the group was joined by their longtime friend Cliff Woolley (formerly of the Association, who had also guested on "Life Beyond L.A.") on guitar, harmonica, and backup vocals.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The title of the album "One Eighty" was believed by fans to signal the group's "180-degree" change in direction. The band maintains that the album title came from the fact that they began recording in January 1980 (1/80).


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Also in 1980, the band contributed the song "Outside" to the film "Inside Moves", and "Feels So Good to Win" appeared in the film "Coast to Coast" later that same year. The following year they placed another track, "Poor Rich Boy" (written by Burt Bacharach), on the soundtrack of the film, "Arthur".


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In 1982, David C. Lewis briefly left the touring group to be replaced by Bruce Hornsby, four years before his own rise to stardom. The same year, Ambrosia released their fifth and final studio album, "Road Island" (May 1982), their first effort without the assistance of Freddie Piro's production company. Produced by James Guthrie, the album consisted of intense, driving hard rock (outside of the soft ballad "Feeling Alive Again" and the progressive rock closer "Endings"). Though it received some airplay with "How Can You Love Me", the album was a commercial disappointment. The band broke up afterwards, ending their run of chart success.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: After Ambrosia, David Pack pursued a solo career and produced or worked with many top artists. Pack's 1985 solo album, "Anywhere You Go", included the song "Prove Me Wrong", which also appeared on the soundtrack of the 1985 film "White Nights". Joe Puerta became a founding member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In 1989, Ambrosia reunited with all four original members and began playing live shows again, mostly on the West Coast. They expanded their touring ranks once again with Tollak Ollestad (vocals, keyboards, harmonica) and Shem von Schroeck (vocals, percussion, bass, guitar).


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In 1995, the band expanded their annual touring schedule. Pack had a conflict and guitarist John DeFaria filled in for him. Bernie Chiaravalle likewise stepped-in in the summer of 1997 and Mike Keneally did the honors in 1998 and 2000 for the concerts Pack was unable to play. Brian Stiemke subbed for an ill Burleigh Drummond for a few shows in 1997.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In May 1997, Warner Bros. released Ambrosia's greatest hits CD "Anthology", which contained tracks from all five albums plus three new tracks. In addition to "Anthology", the entire Ambrosia catalog was remastered and released on CD.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: The band launched a 30th anniversary tour in 2000. Early the following year, it was announced that Pack had permanently left the band and he was replaced by Doug Jackson, who had filled in for him for some shows the previous year. Pack's final show with the band was on November 4, 2000, in Chandler, Arizona. Jackson was in place on guitar for their 2001 shows, except for one gig at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia on August 25 where Steve Farris (from Mr. Mister) subbed for him.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ricky Cosentino filled in for Shem for some concerts in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2003. Shem then left in 2003 to join Kenny Loggins' band. Robert Berry (vocals, guitars), formerly of 3 and GTR, joined temporarily in 2004–2005, and singer/guitarist Ken Stacey became a member in 2005. Shem then returned and he and Stacey alternated with the group for a while.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Tollak Ollestad left in late 2004 to concentrate on a solo career and relocate to the Netherlands where he has had success. David C. Lewis then returned, after having substituted for Ollestad on some 1999 and 2003 gigs. Ollestad remained on call to sub for various band members and came back to play with Ambrosia's spring 2009 tour in place of Lewis and Shem.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Later in 2009, Rick Cowling (formerly with Kenny Loggins) came in on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, though Ollestad still appeared with the band from time to time, most recently in 2010 when Doug Jackson was out playing guitar for Gary Wright, and again while Cowling moved over to lead guitar until Jackson's return later in the year.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ambrosia appeared on the May 2, 2011 episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" as part of the host's "Yacht Rock 2k11" theme show, performing "Biggest Part of Me" (during the show) and "How Much I Feel" (after the formal taping, but put up on the Fallon website).


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: In 2012, Burleigh Drummond's wife Mary Harris, after filling in on a show or two since 2000, became a permanent band member on keyboards and vocals. Harris is also a vocal arranger and songwriter, who has co-written new material for Ambrosia performed onstage. She has previously worked in varied capacities with Pink Floyd, XTC, Stanley Clarke and for many years with Jimmy Buffett.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ken Stacey rejoined in 2014 after Rick Cowling departed. Ambrosia's six-person lineup was then stable for a while and the group continued to tour, sometimes combining their talents with other artists including Bill Champlin, Peter Beckett, Michael McDonald, Edgar Winter, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Al Stewart and others.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Ambrosia's live performances showcase both their legacy hit material and more recent songs. Ambrosia continues to feature a majority of the band's founding members, with Puerta, Drummond and North onstage, as they have been for the past thirty plus years. Kipp Lennon (from the Venice, California band Venice) joined on lead vocals to start the 2021 tour as the band began their post lockdown era, Ken Stacey having exited during their downtime in 2020.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: Former member Shem von Schroeck returned in the fall of 2022, this time on drums, to sub for Drummond, who was recovering from back surgery.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: On September 1, 2001, the band recorded a live album at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana, California without David Pack. This album, "Live", was released in May 2002. Also, in 2003 Collectables Records released another compilation album, "How Much I Feel and Other Hits". Several compilation albums and another live album have been released, though none officially from the band. In 2004, the band released a DVD called "Ambrosia: Real Artists Working". Ambrosia has written and performed new material, and an album of all new original material is currently being recorded, their first since 1982.


title: Ambrosia (band)

text: David Pack released two 2005 solo projects: "Unborn", a compilation of older unreleased material, and the more up-to-date "The Secret of Movin' On" featuring collaborations with Timothy B. Schmit of Eagles fame, former Journey vocalist Steve Perry, Heart vocalist Ann Wilson and America co-founder Dewey Bunnell, amongst others. Both albums follow in Pack's later era style of smooth pop-rock.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "The Loco-Motion", and "Go Away Little Girl". It was later said of Goffin that his gift was "to find words that expressed what many young people were feeling but were unable to articulate."


title: Gerry Goffin

text: After he and King divorced, Goffin wrote with other composers, including Barry Goldberg and Michael Masser, with whom he wrote "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" and "Saving All My Love for You", also No. 1 hits. During his career, Goffin wrote over 114 "Billboard" Hot 100 hits, including eight chart-toppers, and 72 UK hits. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, with Carole King.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin was born in New York City. As a boy, he wrote lyrics in his head, as a game. In his teen years, he worked for his grandfather, a Russian-born Jewish furrier. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School. After a year at the U.S. Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1961, he resigned from the Navy to study chemistry at Queens College.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: At college he met Carol Joan Klein, who had started writing songs under the name Carole King. They began collaborating on songwriting, with King writing the music and Goffin the lyrics, and began a relationship. When King became pregnant, they left college and married in August 1959 when he was 20 and she was 17. Goffin began working with a chemicals manufacturer, and wrote the lyrics for King's 1959 single "Oh Neil", an answer song to her friend Neil Sedaka's "Oh! Carol". Goffin added the words to the tune written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, who both worked under Don Kirshner at the Aldon music publishing company in Manhattan; the single's B-side, "A Very Special Boy", was a Goffin-King composition. Although the record was not a hit, the couple both secured contracts to write songs professionally at Aldon.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin at first worked with other writers including Barry Mann and Jack Keller, but he and Carole King soon established themselves as a successful writing team. The partnership's breakthrough hit was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", for which Goffin wrote the lyrics. The song was recorded by the Shirelles and went to number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in January 1961. Goffin and King formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the period, with hit songs including: "Take Good Care of My Baby" (a hit for Bobby Vee), "Halfway to Paradise" (Tony Orlando, Billy Fury), "The Loco-Motion" (Little Eva, and later Grand Funk Railroad and Kylie Minogue), "Go Away Little Girl" (Steve Lawrence, and later Donny Osmond), "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" (the Cookies), "It Might as Well Rain Until September" (Carole King), "One Fine Day" (the Chiffons), "Up on the Roof" (the Drifters and later James Taylor), "I'm into Something Good" (Herman's Hermits, but recorded first by Earl-Jean McCrea under the name Earl-Jean), "Don't Bring Me Down" (the Animals), "Oh No Not My Baby" (Maxine Brown, and later Rod Stewart), "Goin' Back" (Dusty Springfield, The Byrds), "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin), and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (the Monkees). Goffin and King also wrote several songs jointly with record producer Phil Spector. In 1963, John Lennon was quoted as saying that he wanted Paul McCartney and himself to become "the Goffin-King of England".


title: Gerry Goffin

text: In 1964, Goffin fathered a daughter with singer Jeanie Reavis (whose recording of "I'm into Something Good" preceded the better-known version by Herman's Hermits), but he and King remained together for several years before divorcing in 1969. Goffin later said in an interview in "Vanity Fair" that he "wanted to be a hippie — grew my hair long — and Carole did it modestly...And then I started taking LSD and mescaline. And Carole and I began to grow apart because she felt that she had to say things herself. She had to be her own lyricist." According to King's memoir, Goffin suffered from mental illness following ingestion of LSD, eventually undergoing treatment with lithium and electroshock therapy, and was diagnosed with manic depression. His drug use affected his health, and he was hospitalized for a time.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin also worked successfully with other composers in the early 1960s, including Barry Mann ("Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)") and Jack Keller ("Run to Him").


title: Gerry Goffin

text: After splitting from King, Goffin released a solo album in 1973, "It Ain't Exactly Entertainment", but it was not successful, and he began working with other composers, including Russ Titelman, Barry Goldberg, and then Michael Masser. He and Masser won an Academy Award nomination in 1976 for the theme to the film "Mahogany", sung by Diana Ross; and also wrote "Saving All My Love for You", a worldwide hit for Whitney Houston, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "Miss You Like Crazy" and "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You". Goffin and Masser also received a Golden Globe nomination for "So Sad the Song" from the 1976 Gladys Knight film "Pipe Dreams".


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin co-wrote three songs for the soundtrack to "Grace of My Heart", a 1996 movie whose principal character's life paralleled that of Carole King in many ways.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin and King were inducted together into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: In 1996 he released his second solo album, "Back Room Blood", which he said was inspired by his anger at conservative gains in the 1994 congressional elections. The album was mostly co-written with Barry Goldberg, but included two songs co-written with Bob Dylan, "Tragedy of the Trade" and "Masquerade". Goffin described Dylan as "sort of like a god to me". Goffin was one of the first people to take notice of Kelly Clarkson's talent and had hired her to do demo work before she auditioned for "American Idol" in 2002.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin and his wife Michele attended opening night of the musical "" which depicted his marriage with Carol King.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Gerry Goffin was married to Carole King between 1959 and 1969; they had two daughters, singer-songwriter Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor. Goffin also had a daughter, Dawn, with Jeanie Reavis (Earl-Jean McCrea). He married Barbara Behling in the early 1970s and had a son, Jesse Dean Goffin, in 1976. They divorced later that decade. Goffin then married songwriter Ellen Minasian in the 1980s and had one daughter, Lauren, in 1984. Following their divorce, he married actress Michele Conaway (the sister of Jeff Conaway) in 1995.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: Goffin died on June 19, 2014, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 75. His death was announced by his wife, Michele. No cause was specified. He left a wife, one son, four daughters, and six grandchildren.


title: Gerry Goffin

text: On hearing of his death, Carole King said that Goffin was her "first love" and had a "profound impact" on her life." She went on to say, "His words expressed what so many people were feeling but didn't know how to say... Gerry was a good man and a dynamic force, whose words and creative influence will resonate for generations to come." Barry Goldberg, who wrote many later songs with Goffin, said "Gerry was one of the greatest lyricists of all time and my true soul brother."


title: Fence (criminal)

text: A fence, also known as a receiver, mover, or moving man, is an individual who knowingly buys stolen goods in order to later resell them for profit. The fence acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may not be aware that the goods are stolen.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: As a verb (e.g. ""to fence" stolen goods"), the word describes the behaviour of the thief in the transaction with the fence.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: As is the case with the word "fence" and its derivatives when used in its other common meanings (i.e. as a type of barrier or enclosure, and also as a sport), the word in this context is derived from the word "defence." Among criminals, the "fence" originated in thieves' slang tracing from the notion of such transactions providing a "defence" against being caught.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The thief who patronises the fence is willing to accept a low profit margin in order to reduce their risks by instantly "washing their hands" of illicitly gotten loot (such as black market goods) and disassociating from the criminal act that procured it. After the sale, the fence recoups their investment by disguising the stolen nature of the goods (via methods such as repackaging and altering/effacing serial numbers) and reselling the goods as near to the white market price as possible without drawing suspicion. This process often relies on a legal business (such as a pawnshop, flea market, or street vendor) in order to "launder" the stolen goods by intermixing them with legally-obtained items of the same type.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: Fencing is illegal in all countries, but legally proving a violation of anti-fencing laws can be difficult.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The fence, or receiver, is an old kind of criminal, historically attested in many countries, and with deep and complex dynamics within society.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: Receiving was a widespread crime in Modern England and a concern for the English government of that period. It involved many other kinds of activities and crimes, and it saw its peak in the early 18th century with the notorious Jonathan Wild. Receiving is intrinsically connected to theft, as receivers, by definition, buy previously stolen goods in order to make profit out of them later. When organised theft grew in London thanks to the support of receivers, the establishment started to fight it with new laws, often aimed at receivers: receiving was acknowledged as the core of property crime.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: Receiving was not considered as a felony (crime) in common law until 1691, when fences became potential targets of charges as accessories to theft. This meant that in order to judge a suspected receiver, it was necessary to condemn the related thief first. Later laws further focused on receivers, especially the 1718 Transportation Act, which, together with other measures, made fences main felons and not simply accessories to other felonies. Nonetheless, it was not easy to prove that a dealer knowingly accepted stolen goods, especially without the related theft event being fully cleared out.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: There are 5,664 proceedings stored in the Old Bailey Online archive where the offence category is receiving. Of these, 1,973 have a verdict category of guilty.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The 1718 Transportation Act also criminalised returning goods for a fee, which reveals that by then, receiving had already been taken to the next stage: returning goods to their owner, for a fee, instead of selling them in the second-hand market. Thieves could in this way act as go-betweens themselves, but go-betweens could raise some suspicions, whereas relying on receivers added a safety layer against effective prosecution. A victim of theft was often willing to pay in order to get their goods back, in order to spare themselve further troubles and/or if the items taken had the potential to reveal unflattering details about their personal affairs. In addition to that, for many centuries, prosecution in England was entirely at the expense (of personal money, time, and effort) of the prosecutor. Therefore, given the difficulty of actually proving receiving in courts, common people, especially shopkeepers, often preferred compounding, feeling that prosecuting was not worth it. This gave a considerable advantage to receivers.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: In order to effectively act as go-betweens for compounding, or brokerage, fences needed to personally know thieves or have ways to easily interact and bargain with them for a common benefit about compounding: nobody was in a better position to do so than thief-takers. Thief-takers grew increasingly notorious in England as a reward was introduced by the Crown for each successfully condemned criminal. Some of them, such as Anthony Dunn, publicly referred to as "pretended Thiefe-taker" in a 1707 document, used their social power as thief-takers as an advantage for receiving. Thief-takers were usually so involved with thieves and gangs of thieves that they could easily condemn them for the reward, or use this power to intimidate and command thieves to do their bidding. In exchange for clemency or protection from capture or condemnation, they could have thieves to steal under their command. Indeed, thief-takers could act as direct instigators, supporting their thieves with intelligence or offering them shelter at need (when convenient), and then acting as receivers with the stolen goods. Through , receivers could feed their own business.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: Confirmation of how thief-taking and receiving were tightly connected is demonstrated by the career of Charles Hitchen, who was known as a thief-taker. He bought off the position of Under City Marshal with his wife's money in order to have one of the best positions amongst the thief-takers of the City. However, a vast part of his income came from the receiving activity related to the network of connections with London's underworld. Hitchen controlled this network through his official (that is to say, legal) position as a thief-taker.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The synergy between receiving, theft, and corruption, as well as official activities such as thief-taking or pawnbroking was a where each element enhanced the others in a vicious circle.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The master of this powerful synergy of London underworld was Jonathan Wild, who replaced his previous master, Charles Hitchen, in 1713, and gained control of London's crime and the title of "thief-taker general". His power was due to his ruthless thief-taking and intimidation activities as well as a complex web of intelligence also built around the diffusion of newspapers. However, overly bold receiving was his undoing, as it provoked the English government to promote further laws against receiving and related activities, such as the Transportation Act in 1718, also known as "Jonathan Wild Act", and its extension in 1720, which made returning goods for a fee a felony of the same importance and punishment as the crime (theft) related to the goods returned (which meant a capital offence in most cases, with raised potential reward for definitive evidence, from £40 to £140). Eventually, the government took direct action against Wild through lawyers, succeeding in condemning and executing him in 1725.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: There is no registered case of female fences of the same fame of Wild or Hitchen. However, women had active roles in both receiving and theft. Elizabeth Hitchen, Hitchen's wife, gave her inheritance money to her husband in order to buy the Under City Marshal office for his plans. Moreover, women could also be active fences. For example, Elizabeth Fisher managed her own receiving business in her husband's alehouse. As of early 2018 a total of 5,664 proceedings were stored in the Old Bailey Online archive where the offence category is receiving. Of these, 1,858, nearly one-third, have a defendant gender category of female.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The growth of the crime of receiving in Early Modern society, combined with the increasing interest of society on reading, led to depictions of the crime in the works of writers such as Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders" and John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera".


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The novel "Moll Flanders" narrates the whole life of its protagonist (Moll Flanders), but a relevant part of it is about her becoming a master thief. Moll's activity as a thief relied on the protection and support of her governess, who acted also as a receiver for the goods stolen by her affiliates. She is the one who buys Moll's stolen goods the first time, as Moll narrates "I was now at a loss for a market for my goods... At last I resolved to go to my old governess." The governess character sealed Moll's fate as a thief, and eventually taught her the basics of thievery, redirecting Moll to work with other senior thieves. Defoe shows how crucial as well as subtle receiving was in building the whole of crime activity in London.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The Governess is officially a pawnbroker, and she uses this legal business to also sell stolen goods. Sometimes, such as in the case of a silver inscribed mug stolen by Moll, she smelts metals, in order to avoid getting caught while re-selling. Along with receiving activity, she actively protects and supports many criminals and thieves in order to secure a steady income to her activity.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The same governess protects and offers refuge to her affiliates whenever possible, or recruits thieves into small groups, always via middlemen, in order to protect their thieves' identities in case some of them were caught and willing to confess.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: She is also a main intelligence source and often a direct instigator to theft, such as in a case of fire in a well-off house in the neighbourhood (more vulnerable to theft because of the sudden emergency), and finally becomes a broker for goods stolen by Moll to a drunken gentleman. In that case, the amount gained is allegedly greater than what she would have gained by standard re-selling in the secondary market.


title: Fence (criminal)

text: The Governess embodies female social cunning in London's underworld, from Defoe's point of view. She is a typical receiver of her time, and whereas many male receivers used thief-taking as an official business, she relies on pawnbroking.