Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays on October 31, 2015| 10 Comments »
Happy Halloween, Dear Readers, and Blessed Be!
In the News (#584)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Tale That Grew in the Telling, Above the Law, advertising, asset seizure, Backpage, Bad Jobs, bogus studies, California, censorship, cops, Frequently Told Lies, hysteria, illegal aliens, internet, Latin America, law, Monsters, nanny state, Nevada, New York, Now They Notice, Parting of the Ways, prohibitionist myths, psychology, racism, Seizing Power, surveillance, Texas, The Camel's Nose, Uganda, Welcome to Our Updates, welcome to our world, What Were You All Waiting For?, Wise Investment, With Folded Hands, yellow journalism on October 30, 2015| 14 Comments »
A prison might be defined as any place you've been put into against your will and can't get out of, and where you are entirely at the mercy of the authorities, whoever they may be. – Margaret Atwood
Bad Jobs
You'll notice that sex workers are immune to most of these factors:
People often like to groan about how their job is "killing" them. Tragically, for some groups of people in the U.S., that statement appears to be true. A new study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford has quantified just how much a stressful workplace may be shaving off of Americans' life spans. It suggests that the amount of life lost to stress varies significantly for people of different races, educational levels and genders, and ranges up to nearly three years of life lost for some groups…
A Tale That Grew in the Telling
There are about 40,000 girls aged 13-17 in San Diego; this "study" claims that 30% of them become "victims of sex trafficking" every year:
A new study released by the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University revealed that the dark and secret world of sex trafficking in San Diego is the second largest underground economy locally after drugs…sex trafficking is an estimated $810 million-a-year industry and it is run mostly by gangs. The study revealed that as many as 11,773 become victims to human trafficking in San Diego alone on a yearly basis…Victims are primarily underage…The study was funded by the Department of Justice, and found that more than 100 gangs are involved in the local sex trafficking operations…next to schools, other recruitment hot spots include: trolley and bus stops, house parties, social media, tattoo parlors, churches, malls…about 1,776 victims/survivors come in contact with law enforcement…
That last is larger than the total number of "sex trafficking victims" that have ever been identified as such in the entire US.
With Folded Hands
Margaret Atwood on the asininity of giving away freedom for "security":
…Governments know our desire for safety all too well, and like to play on our fears. How often have we been told that this or that new rule or law or snooping activity on the part of officialdom is to keep us "safe"? We aren't safe, anyway: many of us die in weather events – tornados, floods, blizzards – but governments, in those cases, limit their roles to finger-pointing, blame-dodging, expressions of sympathy or a dribble of emergency aid. Many more of us die in car accidents or from slipping in the bathtub than are likely to be done in by enemy agents, but those kinds of deaths are not easy to leverage into panic…
Sometimes sexually-exploitative cops stop short of rape:
In August Patrick Quinn, a 27-year-old…Texas [cop]…pulled over a driver and [claimed he] spotted marijuana paraphernalia in her car. He told her he would not arrest her if she would let him lick her feet or give him her underwear. He…was [fired and] sentenced to a year in jail…
Peter Barbey is wasting no time as the new owner of the Village Voice. Per an interview with [the] Wall Street Journal…he's nixed the thought of changing the print edition size, pitched to staff the concept of special themed inserts and decided it's time for a major ad dollar shift: "Barbey plans to get rid of escort ads, a racy fixture of many an alt-weekly. 'Adult women can be escorts, that's fine with me', Mr. Barbey said, 'but it's not the kind of advertising that fits where we want go'."
…Beyoncé Karungi, a 35-year-old campaigner…is in hospital following [a] horrific attack. The activist had recently penned an article on surviving in Uganda as a trans sex worker, an occupation that can be dangerous and occasionally deadly. After recieving several hate threats, she went into hiding. When she emerged, she was attacked by a group of five unknown men. She sustained several serious facial and bodily injuries…This is not the first time Beyoncé has been attacked…one time police undressed her, took her bag, money and phone and then cut her hair to make her "masculine"…
The title is "Feminism's Sex Work Problem", but this thorough article contains a large section debunking the usual lies prohibitionists employ:
I'm not going to make the pro-decriminalization case here. Others have made it far more eloquently than I could…However, there are some elephants in the room that simply have to be addressed before a real conversation can occur. These are mistruths that seem to have become cemented as fact through sheer force of mindless repetition, and unfortunately they severely derail any objective discussion of sex work…
Wise Investment (#440)
Much more of this, please:
Las Vegas police will pay more than $80,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who said officers detained her for two hours in The Cosmopolitan after falsely accusing her of being a prostitute. A federal judge wrote that the case showed…prostitution sweeps in casinos were overly broad and threatened people's constitutional rights. Chentile Goodman was released without charge after the 2011 incident and filed a lawsuit later that year…
The Camel's Nose (#504)
Meet CISA, formerly known as CISPA, AKA SOPA, alias PIPA, née COICA:
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) passed the Senate today by a vote of 74 to 21. A different version passed the House earlier in the year, so they're going to have to conference to hammer out differences. Retail business interests supported the legislation. Major Internet and tech firms like Google, Apple, Yahoo, and Twitter…opposed it…"CISA…allows companies to monitor users and share their information with the government without a warrant, while offering a backdoor that circumvents any laws that might protect users' privacy"…Attempts to add amendments to narrow the bill's focus all failed…The Sunlight Foundation…notes that CISA creates a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act…"That means if they overstep and share the wrong information — as this bill seems to intend — the public won't know, and even if it did, it would have no legal recourse…CISA guarantees the public will have no ability to see what information is going from companies to the government"…
What Were You All Waiting For?
I'm glad Richard Branson is speaking out against criminalization, but I wish he'd talk to sex workers so as to avoid gaffes like this:
…There are good Catholic countries like Chile that have legalised prostitution. And I know its very controversial. Most people would put their arms up in horror. But by legalising it, they got rid of the pimps. The girls are monitored properly to make sure that they are healthy, to make sure they can come forward if they've got a problem. And they believe a lot of the illegal trafficking of young girls has gone away…
Now They Notice
One of the more loathsome uses of asset seizure: stealing all of the victim's bank accounts so he can't pay for a legal defense.
Things aren't looking good for rentboy.com…The company's bank accounts containing millions of dollars were frozen and its website was seized by Homeland Security…Now, the company is selling its office supplies and furniture on Craigslist in an effort to raise money to pay for its mounting legal fees…Some of these "goodies" include glass desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and video monitors. Other items for sale include cables, software, books, magazines, artwork, lamps, a copy machine, and "a lot of special, one of a kind rentboy.com ephemera"…
Seizing Power (#574)
The Cato institute supports sex workers' right to advertise:
Prior restraints—legal prohibitions on disseminating information before publication—are an odious burden on the freedom of expression and come with a "heavy presumption" against their constitutionality. Indeed, they are so disfavored in the law as to be virtually impossible to obtain outside of wartime. Informal prior restraints—government pressure without formal sanction—are even more unconstitutional than formal ones, as the Supreme Court noted in Bantam Books v. Sullivan (1963)…But that strong precedent didn't stop…Thomas Dart and his crusade against Backpage…As Cato, Reason Foundation, and DKT Liberty Project point out in our amicus brief before that court, Dart's claimed "epidemic" of sex trafficking has evaded any sort of empirical verification for over two decades. Indeed, State Department data indicate that the opposite may be true. Nevertheless, Sheriff Dart, along with a new-age Baptist-and-bootleggers coalition matching the religious right and radical feminists, have raised the human-trafficking bugaboo to rally against prostitution—mimicking the drug war and all of its worst legal mechanisms…
Welcome To Our World (#578)
Here's the first part of an in-depth look at how the New York Times callously maligned an entire industry – one that, like sex work, provides income for undocumented migrants with little money to squander on bureaucratically-imposed startup costs:
Sarah Maslin…Nir's coverage broadly [mischaracterized] the nail salon industry, [and] several of the men and women she spoke with say she misquoted or misrepresented them. In some cases, she interviewed sources without translators despite their poor English skills. When her sources' testimonies ran counter to her narrative, she omitted them altogether. The second article lent the Times' imprimatur to unproven theories, while committing science journalism's cardinal sin of highlighting alarmist anecdotes that aren't representative of systematic research. If it hadn't had real-world consequences, the series—and subsequent attempt by Nir and her editors to parry criticism—wouldn't be worth such intense scrutiny. But the day after the first article appeared in the print edition of the Times, Gov. Andrew Cuomo…announced a new multi-agency task force to inspect nail salons…The rush to legislate based solely on the Times' shoddy reporting has hurt the industry. New nail salons, "which used to open every week in New York," have stopped appearing…Salons once provided a steady source of jobs for undocumented immigrants; now many owners say they'll hire only legal workers who've completed an occupational licensing program because they're afraid of getting in trouble…
Posted in Perception, Q & A, tagged bad customers, ethics, psychology, violence vs. sex workers on October 29, 2015| 8 Comments »
For the past couple of years I've seen an amazing escort about once a month, and early this year she let me start contacting her via text. This past summer, I developed deep feelings for her and began to text her frequently just to see how she was doing; I also expressed my affection via emails, cards and gifts. Two weeks ago she cancelled a session for a reason which sounded good at the time, but I couldn't get in touch with her for the next four days; we rescheduled, then she cancelled again five minutes before our appointment time. We rescheduled again, and again she cancelled and has been impossible to reach since then. I have a feeling she doesn't want to see me anymore, but why not just tell me? I'm hurt and angry, and I realize now that I can never have anything serious with her, but is there anything I can do to regain her trust?
It's not at all unusual for a client to fall in love with a whore; sometimes, as in my case, that can actually go somewhere. But there were a lot of men who fell in love with me before Matt, and every one of my sex-working friends has had clients fall for her; it's a natural outgrowth of a situation in which a lonely man spends a lot of time in the company of a beautiful, alluring woman who only shows him her best side. Sometimes she's able to manage the situation so he can continue enjoying her company and she can continue enjoying the income, but at other times the situation spins out of control; he may become obsessive and begin to stalk or harass her, and might even become violently jealous. On rare occasions, an unstable client's infatuation with a professional can even lead to murder. Now, I'm sure you're protesting that you would never hurt a woman, and maybe that's true; however, it's equally true that most of the whores who wind up dead didn't think their murderers would go that far, else they wouldn't have been caught alone with them in the first place. The fact of the matter is, all any woman has to go on when deciding whether to be alone with a man is her gut. And though the instincts of most sex workers eventually become far more finely-tuned than those of our less-experienced amateur sisters, there is no such thing as an infallible cognitive process. When you started straying out of bounds, wasting the lady's time with non-appointment-related texting and violating her professional boundaries with excessive courtship displays, her alarm bells started to go off; it's even possible that the first couple of cancellations were tests to see how you'd react. And how did you react? By repeatedly calling her and trying to reschedule multiple times in a very short period of time (your email to me was dated only 16 days after the date of your first cancelled appointment). And given that you openly admit to being "hurt and angry", I can imagine what some of your (probably dozens of) texts or voicemails to her during that 16 days sounded like.
You ask if there's anything you can do to regain her trust, but there's no way I can answer that because I'm not in her confidence and I don't know how badly you've broken it. It may be that if you let her alone for a few months before sincerely apologizing and asking for an appointment, she'll give you another chance; most of the whores I know have "fired" clients before, and sometimes they've taken them back later. Before you could violate her trust she had to grant it, and she let you overrun her boundaries for months before doing anything about it; that tells me she was reluctant to end your arrangement, and perhaps that will play in your favor. But I've lived in the demimonde far too long to believe that your repeated attempts to reschedule were anything other than highly alarming, or that you're as contrite as you represent yourself to be; it's possible that she will never even speak to you again (much less agree to be alone with you). Your only chance is to back off and thereby show her that you're not a deranged stalker; that may not return you to her good graces, but it may at least keep her from adding your name to a blacklist.
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged anecdote, blogging, ethics on October 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »
So here we are 9 days after Jae was discharged from the hospital, and we still haven't got everything in place; I'm waiting for appointment-setting callbacks from two different rehab and therapy agencies, and she has a follow-up appointment with her primary doctor in just a few weeks. On Monday I need to make some necessary changes to her health insurance, and it will still be another two weeks before my car goes in to be fixed by the insurance of the guy who hit me. My stupid cell phone carrier sent her replacement phone to the wrong address, but it should be here today so she'll be back to answering her own calls and making her own tweets. What that means is, this will be the last column dominated by news of her recovery; I think it's important that she start taking control of her own life again after two and a half months of other people doing that for her. I'm still going to be managing a lot of the paperwork so as to keep her from getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume and depth of bureaucratic bullshit, but she should be in charge of her own story again; from here on out I'll only be talking about her as she impacts my life, just as it was prior to the accident. And that is the way it should be.
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Moral Cancer, All in the Family, BDSM, BDSM Updates, brothels, Business As Usual, California, Canada, cops, crypto-moralism, disease, Follow Your Bliss, games, hysteria, Idaho, If Men Were Angels, language, Nevada, O Canada!, Paint By Numbers, Profit from Panic, prohibitionist myths, rape, rescue industry, Swedish model, Texas, The Course of a Disease, United Kingdom, violence vs. sex workers on October 27, 2015| 50 Comments »
Once you've been arrested for prostitution…that is a stigma that will stick to you for the rest of your life. – Norma Jean Almodovar
I sometimes wonder how my life would've been different had I had the sense to lie:
What lies do people tell if they work in the sex industry? For starters, it depends on exactly what they do…An escort named Jane (I've changed the names of everyone in this story) tells everyone she's a real estate agent. It fits all the data, and also explains why her income is variable…Agency escorts have a different set of challenges, mostly surrounding the "call on" system. When an escort calls on at an agency, it means that they are dressed and ready to work; if they get a booking, they pledge to arrive to the call within an agreed-upon amount of time…Strippers have a different set of challenges…Jill works in a dominatrix parlor, and her hours are ten to six, Monday through Friday. Equipment is stored at the Midtown studio…Her babysitter thinks she works in HR…
Follow Your Bliss
A man involved with helping sex trafficking victims was arrested…during an undercover prostitution sting…Nathaniel Schlueter was arrested by an undercover officer…[whom he] offered $30 in exchange for sexual favors….Schlueter served on the board of directors for The Refuge Ranch, which helps teenage women who have rescued from sex trafficking…
A Moral Cancer (Metaupdates)
Why do people still listen to "nutritionists"?
Bacon, sausage and other processed meats are now ranked alongside cigarettes and asbestos as known carcinogens, the World Health Organization announced…a…scientific panel examined more than 800 epidemiological studies…to…[classify] "consumption of processed meat as 'carcinogenic to humans' on the basis of sufficient evidence for colorectal cancer"…Red meat carries a slightly lower risk…but is still "probably carcinogenic to humans." Aside from the "strong mechanistic evidence" related to colorectal cancer, the "consumption of red meat was also positively associated with pancreatic and with prostate cancer. As a main line of evidence, the group cites one study from 2011…
For the source of that 2011 study, click on the subtitle.
BDSM (#30)
A "cult". Because mentioning their sex practices wasn't quite lurid enough.
Three members of a reported "master-slave" sex cult were convicted…of murdering [Brittany Killgore]…Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Perez, 49, Dorothy Grace Maraglino, 40, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 28, were convicted of torturing and murdering…Killgore "for their own sadistic pleasure," Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Espinoza [claimed]…Killgore was not a part of the cult, which enjoyed bondage, whipping, spanking, cutting, sadism and masochism…Without knowing the three had a "sex dungeon" in their rented home, Killgore had agreed to go on a dinner cruise with Perez in exchange for his helping her move…
That the Nevada brothel segment of the sex industry is in decline is not news:
…The Love Ranch epitomizes the sorry state of the industry….there are currently just 17 brothels employing around 300 prostitutes in the state. That's down from 30 brothels in 2009…"These brothels are really a relic of the past," a state senator told the LA Times. "The urban areas have an appetite to abolish them. And given the state's rapid urbanization, there's really little popular support left for these businesses"…
That senator is full of shit; 66% of Nevada voters believe they should be legal everywhere in the state. But just in case you think this is really a serious economic issue, consider that those 300 licensed prostitutes represent less than 1% of Nevada's estimated whore population.
Why ride a bike or stand around on lawns or off-ramps when you can just sit?
The CNN Freedom Project has been shining a spotlight on the horrors of modern slavery, but now we need your help. We want you to join our #FlyToFreedom campaign to help fight slavery. The Freedom Project's symbol is a paper plane…so we're asking you to:
1) Make a paper plane.
2) Write a pledge on the plane — something you're going to do to help fight modern slavery.
3) Show us your plane and pledge on social media using the hashtag #FlyToFreedom.
4) Nominate two friends to do the same by tagging them in your social media post.
O, Canada! (All Traffick, All the Time)
Women continue to have bills despite cops' intimidation attempt:
Twelve Nova Scotia sex-trade workers were [targeted by] a national RCMP [intimidation campaign]…Operation Northern Spotlight [tricked]…11 women and one man in Nova Scotia…[a pig mouthpiece had the audacity to describe the intimidation attempt as] "a fostering and nurturing conversation"…[but fortunately] "they chose to continue their [work]"…
If Men Were Angels
An Idaho college's former financial aid director has been sentenced to 107 days in jail for charges related to offering students financial aid in exchange for sex…Joseph Bekken…[also got] three years of probation and a $10,000 fine…Bekken advertised on Craigslist for several semesters while working for Northern Idaho College, saying he would provide scholarship money in exchange for sex…
Though some people refuse to accept this, every sex worker knows it:
…the majority of National Blacklist posts address other issues entirely—things like time-wasters, stalkers and thieves. But it's remarkable that sex workers using a resource describing itself as the "world's largest bad client database and escort safety tool" seem more concerned about warning each other about police officers than the dangers from which law enforcement is ostensibly meant to protect them…A 2002 study in Chicago found that 24 percent of street-based female sex workers who said they were raped identified a police officer as the perpetrator, and one-fifth of other forms of sexual violence against these women were attributed to police. A study by the Sex Worker's Project of the Urban Justice Center found that 16 percent of indoor sex workers surveyed reported having been "involved in sexual situations with the police," and 14 percent reported experiencing police violence…
Profit from Panic (#448)
How transparent does this have to be before people see it?
Kids are the heroes in a new mobile game [from] Naked Sky Entertainment…and their virtual adventures will provide funds to help children around the world escape from the horrors of human trafficking. Love146…will receive 14.6 percent of the profits that come out of the new mobile game "Scrap Force"…
The Course of a Disease (#449)
Cop says it's "wrong" that he isn't allowed to arrest people who aren't doing anything illegal:
…Sgt Neil Radford, the head of Nottingham's prostitution task force, said: "On the street, the law allows you to deal with people who are purchasing sex. But there is no equivalent legislation for off-street work. If somebody goes into a brothel to purchase sex…he isn't committing any offence at all. That's wrong and we have to be able to do something about it"…
Naked Truth (#544)
An Egyptian actress…has ignited a nationwide controversy for suggesting that Egyptian men would benefit from watching more pornography. In fact, she's facing jail time. Entissar…told a TV audience…that "These films are useful for men, especially those who have no pre-marriage sex experience." But beyond what men might be able to learn about sex from such films, Entissar thinks that, "Everyone should be free in watching porn films if they want"…"This is a call for debauchery and depravity," according to one unhappy cleric quoted in the press…A group called "Who Loves Egypt?" was unhappy enough…to take her court for "inciting debauchery." The charge carries a one-year prison term…
It's kind of sad to watch Kristoff pathetically flailing about against the inexorable departure of the sea that nourishes him:
…Plenty of well-meaning people back Amnesty International's proposal for full decriminalization of the sex trade…Yet in practice, approaches similar to Amnesty's have ended up simply empowering pimps. And while under these proposals human trafficking would remain illegal, the police would no longer have a reason to raid brothels…
For comparison: "Plenty of well-meaning people back the 21st amendment, yet in practice similar approaches have ended up simply empowering bootleggers. And while under these proposals poisoned liquor would remain illegal, the police would no longer have a reason to raid speakeasies…"
Back Issue: October 2012
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged blogging, holidays on October 26, 2015| 2 Comments »
Death and I are old dance partners, and he knows I won't play hard to get when he eventually comes to claim me. – "Halloween"
October is Halloween season for me, and that means I try to work in as many horror-themed columns as I can (I know this year I didn't manage any, but I think I can be forgiven under the circumstances). In 2012, I published "That Old Black Magic", "Red in Tooth and Claw", "My Favorite Halloween Stuff" and "Eros and Phobos"; the fictional interlude was the three-part special "Pandora", and even "Dear Parasite" (the sequel to the previous day's "Parasites") had a Halloween component. The month started with another observance, Banned Books Week; my column for it this time was "Thought Control", and the harlotography was "Thaïs". The month also featured several sequel and series columns, namely "More Hooker Humor", "Book Reviews (October 2012)", "The Price is Right" (a songs column), and "Q & A (October 2012)". And in a sense, "My First Million" was the start of a series, though the others were simply news-column entries. Rounding out the month was an essay about the "Pathologization" of normal behavior; my recipe for perfect "Popcorn"; a complaint that the writings of would-be allies are often "So Close and Yet So Far"; the revelation that government actors hiring whores is "Standard Operating Procedure"; an analysis of the "Smoke and Mirrors" that often surround "sex trafficking" stories; and an explanation of why sex for women can be like "Ice Cream in the Hand".
Links #277
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged animals, apes & monkeys, cops, drugs, Europe, Florida, genitalia, Germany, imaginative fiction, Never Call the Cops, New York, North Carolina, psychology, transgender, Ukraine, United Kingdom, video, Wisconsin on October 25, 2015| 11 Comments »
I always believed you had to do something wrong to be arrested.
– Joy McFarlin
I couldn't let Halloween pass without at least one horror short; I hope you like this one. The links above it are from Radley Balko ("traveling", "pretext" and "never"), Jillian Keenan ("women"), Mistress Matisse ("capitalism"), Nun Ya ("magnets", "colors" and "yard"), Popehat ("fuck you"), Jesse Walker ("homeopaths"), and Tushy Galore ("cheese").
"At risk of traveling".
The term is "pretext stop".
Women already knew this.
True capitalism vs corporatism.
Fucking magnets, how do they work?
I see your true colors, shining through…
People just can't grasp that word "never".
You're never too old for libertarianism to happen.
Also make sure they can't just walk into your yard.
In the running for most awesome "fuck you" of all time.
Homeopaths "damage reputation" by taking drug with actual effects.
For 17 years, I ate a grilled cheese sandwich nearly every Tuesday night.
Brains, GIFs, letters, dark rides, Sasquatch, cops, necromancy, rats, schools, headlines and Halloween videos.
I ♥ Sex Workers, And Then There Were None, Ada, Big Sister and Courtesans of the Italian Renaissance.
This headline makes the contagion sound voluntary & evokes the "dirty whore" myth.
In which I'm cited by a members of the US government Commission on Civil Rights.
Idealists beg their masters to revoke one tiny part of universal criminality.
Writer says Denmark doesn't have enough reasons to lock people up yet.
Hysteria, clowns, psychics, cops, headlines, stupidity, animation & more.
Writer hates some women being more interested in profit than romance.
Was this "child sex trafficking sting" really an act of revenge by the US?
Clueless lawheads shocked that women need work despite harassment.
Politicians claim nonexistent "sex trafficking" costs UK a billion pounds.
Canadian "authorities" as obsessed with "trafficking" porn as US ones.
Why 90% of whores prefer to work illegally than submit to licensing.
It's rare to see such raw misandry outside of neofeminist hate sites.
In the US, new tools of tyranny always spread like a social disease.
Barry Freundel is a strict moralist of a rabbi, so guess what he did.
NSA says sex workers & associated parties are valid drone targets.
Cop can't understand why whores "don't realize they are victims".
Indian expert suggests decriminalizing sex work to prevent rapes.
How sexually repressive cultures generate sexual horror imagery.
The agency-denying, lie-spreading nun-SOAP cabal is at it again.
Thai cops arrest sex workers to please their American overlords.
Another degenerate member of the mugshot/revenge porn clan.
New examples of ridiculously old-fashioned anti-whore rhetoric.
How can I become more confident and less shy around women?
More ugly prohibitionist bullshit of the sort we've seen before.
Atlanta is the largest "sex trafficking hub" in the entire world!
I'm really pleased to see black intellectuals writing about this.
The "Juju sex slaves" myth just keeps on going like a zombie.
How many moronic prohibitionist plays can the market bear?
Illegal migrants cheated of pay; notice what word isn't used.
China moves ahead of the US in one area of human rights.
All it takes to be arrested in a "sex sting" is to be present.
White US feminist goes "undercover" in a Turkish brothel.
Guys, don't accept unprotected sex from a whore. Really.
Man sues cops for wrecking his life in an anti-sex "sting".
Politician says heterosexual male desire is "sickening".
Woman jailed for murder after having a miscarriage.
The half-life of sex radiation must be over 40 years.
A ridiculous "estimate" grows even more ridiculous.
Sex rays are also dangerous to plants and wildlife!
It turns out COAST is even sleazier than I thought.
Fetishists claim "sex trafficking" is "unrecognized".
Whore-hatred carries no consequences for cops.
Bad assumptions lead to ridiculous conclusions.
Unfortunately, facts don't concern politicians.
The pending release of the San Antonio Four.
We still don't know who Jack the Ripper was.
Yet another serial killer targets sex workers.
Queer-curing "warlock" rapes teenage boy.
Libertarianism even happens to politicians.
The Somaly Mam Foundation closes down.
How does sexual repression affect people?
Since when do "scientists" treat patients?
Rapist cops of the week, 2013 and 2014.
Protests against the awful Project ROSE.
A list of columns & links for Halloween.
Whorearchy from a glamour model.
Refuting the myth of the evil client.
Tizzy Wall interviews Siouxsie Q.
From sex worker to seamstress.
Pop stars cause sex trafficking!
Standard operating procedure.
A short look at the big picture.
Cuddling and diaper-flashing.
The campus censorship fad.
Whores migrate to Papua.
Back to New Orleans.
The Science of Fear.
My second million.
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged activism, agency denial, An Example to the West, brothels, California, Celebrities, Challenge, Change a Few Words, Comfort Zone, consensual crime, cops, drugs, Europe, Hall of Shame, holidays, hysteria, Innocence Never Had, It Looks Good On Paper, law, Legal Is as Legal Does, Nevada, Ohio, pathologization of males, Perquisites, politicians, porn, prisons, prohibitionist myths, racism, Secret Squirrel, sporting events, St. James Infirmary, stripping, Surplus Women, surveillance, Thailand, The Punitive Mindset, underage on October 24, 2015| 4 Comments »
I think I just wasted my time doing all these other jobs before I did sex work. I should have been doing it a long time before. – Mai Janta
It Looks Good On Paper
Another bullshit story touting bullshit "safe harbor" laws that allow "perfect victims" to expunge their records of prostitution charges after going through the hell that is the US "justice" system:
…states have dramatically changed laws…to distinguish between voluntary prostitution and the trafficking of women and girls…Before the new laws, states primarily dealt with the sex trade by charging sex workers, usually women, with prostitution. Many of those laws remain on the books, but states are supplementing them with "safe harbor" laws that protect minors—and sometimes adults—who can prove they were coerced into selling sex…
There's so much wrong in this one short section: the organized crime myth; agency denial; the pretense that only "many" prostitution laws remain (they all do); the pretense that "safe harbor" laws protect anyone; the reversal of the burden of proof…it's truly staggering that people can't see this for what it is.
The Punitive Mindset
Authoritarians think people can simply be ordered to be asexual:
…Sexuality in prison is a controversial topic, and the rare studies that explore the subject focus mostly on the impact of conjugal visits or on the same-sex relationships that develop behind bars. The general consensus, though, is that helping inmates relieve sexual tensions can actually lead to a reduction in violence and prison rape. Still, many governments around the world have refused to offer prisoners the "privilege" to watch racy content. French judge Nina Califano, author of Sexualité, Incarcérée (Sexuality, Imprisoned), [says]…"Sexuality is a basic need that doesn't go away when you are incarcerated"…[she] argues that allowing inmates to cater to their basic sexual needs — through erotic visual stimulation and masturbation — does more than calm inmates who are behind bars; it is also an important part of ensuring [they]…can later be reintegrated into society…
Change a Few Words
All prohibition is the same, so any move away from it affects all types:
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) appeared set to call on governments to end the criminalization of drug use and possession…but in a dramatic turn of events withdrew a briefing paper under pressure from…the U.S. government. More than 1.5 million drug arrests are made every year in the U.S. – the overwhelming majority for possession only. Roughly two dozen countries, and dozens of U.S. cities and states, have taken steps toward decriminalization of drug use and possession. "There is simply no good basis in science, health or ethics for bringing someone into the criminal justice system solely for drug possession," [said Ethan] Nadelmann [of the Drug Policy Alliance]. "This will hopefully help accelerate the global trend toward ending the criminalization of drugs"…
This fundraiser for the St. James Infirmary met and surpassed its goal in only a few days, but they're such an important organization that I'm not going to miss giving it a mention and ask that you consider helping out.
Comfort Zone (#320)
Sometimes the attempt to hide migration control behind the "sex trafficking" narrative is especially apparent:
The International Organization for Migration (IOM)…called on governments to more closely monitor sex trafficking and lend specialized assistance to the 1.5 million refugees expected to enter the European Union this year, warning of a surge in sexual assault against women being smuggled across the Mediterranean Sea from West Africa…
Perquisites (#340)
Dear Dave Zirin: please STFU and stop trying to get free pussy from feminists by parroting their nonsense:
In revelations that the University of Louisville basketball program may have paid a…madam to supply recruits with strippers and sex, the reactions have congregated into two camps: moralizers and cynics. The moralizers are bleating that this scandal has forever tarnished the innocent joys of amateurism…the cynics…[are] fashionably bored by all of this. They shrug, saying that these kinds of things happen everywhere…But both of these reactions miss the most urgent issue—the NCAA's political economy of misogyny…
An Example To the West (#343)
The writer hasn't got much of a sense of history; not so long ago, a substantial fraction of the bars in the US were owned by sex workers:
The stereotype of trafficked Asian women exploited by sex tourists means that few people in the west expect Thai sex workers to be at the forefront of a radical push for sex workers' rights, but…Can Do bar represents just that…it…is the only bar in Thailand, if not the world, that is owned and run by a collective of sex workers, and designed to model exemplary working conditions in the industry…[Liz] Hilton explains. "One day a group of sex workers here in Chiang Mai said, 'Actually the government doesn't get it, nobody understands what we're talking about, we're going to have to build it ourselves, we can't wait anymore.' And so they pooled their money and raised a million baht [almost $30,000] between them all and created the bar"…
Secret Squirrel (#344)
I've written about this issue before, but this is a new low:
Halloween…is a totally subversive day, proving to kids that however much they are supervised the rest of the year, they obviously don't need it. They can go out with their friends, roam the neighborhood and have a great time. So, naturally, this rebellion must be squashed. Enter…child tracking devices that are pitching parents on the necessity of electronically monitoring their kids' spoooooooky journey to…the neighbor's homes. AireLive's press release promises that its livestreaming capacity will allow "kids to communicate with their parents in real time should any questions arise. Parents can view the livestream and assess the situation should a teen ever be in need of assistance." Nooooooo! The whole idea is that if "questions" arise, kids should solve them on their own…
Legal Is as Legal Does (#440)
As Leona Hameed once wrote, "Sex work under 'legalisation' is still…conceived of as a crime for which the law makes allowances".
…The ECP and [MSP Jean] Urquhart are campaigning for decriminalisation. This is not – as has been suggested in countless media reports – legalisation. Insisting on clarification isn't petty quibbling. The models are so distinct that when York Union…changed the title of its debate to "This House believes the legalisation of prostitution would be a disaster", both sides thought they were arguing in favour of the motion…The York mix-up wasn't unique. Since Amnesty released its draft proposal for the decriminalisation of sex work, countless articles have conflated the terms, inaccurately holding up Germany and the Netherlands as examples of "decriminalisation gone wrong"…under legalisation, sex work is controlled by the government and is legal only under certain state-specified conditions. Decriminalisation involves the removal of all prostitution-specific laws, although sex workers and sex work businesses must still operate within the laws of the land, as must any businesses…
Surplus Women (#550)
I'm honestly not sure why the writer chose to link this woman's death those of a serial killer's victims merely because they happened in the same town:
The body draped over the fence was so bruised and mangled, passerby thought it was a Halloween decoration…Rebecca Cade, a 31-year-old resident of Chillicothe, Ohio…is the seventh Chillicothe woman found dead or missing in the past 16 months—a staggering number for a town of just 21,000 residents. Then there's the media coverage of Cade's murder. As news spread of the grisly discovery, websites across the nation used Cade's own mugshot from a previous arrest to illustrate articles about her death—a confusing and ethically murky editorial decision that strikes at the heart of why women like Cade become victims at all…Donnie Couchenuer Jr., 27, was charged with murder and is currently in jail awaiting trial. But it was Cade's mugshot that dotted the digital landscape all week long…
Challenge (#559)
California legislators heard from a diverse range of voices about human trafficking and prostitution in America. The proceedings before the Assembly Public Safety Committee provided a rare chance for people with divergent viewpoints…to come together and have their say. And then something even more rare happened: some California politicians even seemed to come away with new perspective…Fox News Sacramento reported on the hearing with the headline "Some Suggest Legalizing Prostitution Would Put an End to Sex Trafficking", noting the "odd mix of legislators, policy wonks, (and) sex workers" in the room…Actually, sex work and human rights advocates tend to focus on decriminalization, not legalization, of prostitution…Nonetheless, the Fox article presents an atypically nuanced perspective on prostitution…It goes on to note that "many adult sex workers say they won't be able to protect a child, or show her how to stay safe on the streets, for fear of being arrested as a trafficker"…
Innocence Never Had (#574)
Even when authoritarians do something right, they can't resist warping it into something wrong:
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced Wednesday that his department will immediately stop arresting children on prostitution charges. "They are child victims and survivors of rape," McDonnell wrote in a letter to his employees. "We must remember that children cannot consent to sex under any circumstance."
No, no, fucking no. Young adults are not "children", and the notion that they "cannot" consent is a legal fiction, not a reality. The article goes on to delineate that these young people will still be coerced into "help" by cops, such as by confining them in the foster care system many of them fled in the first place. At the end, the story quotes a prohibitionist named Withelma Pettigrew as saying "Labels are a big deal." I agree, and labeling young adults as "children" and passive "victims" both demeans and infantilizes them.
Celebrities (#580)
The phrase "sanctimonious bullshit" comes to mind:
Dennis Hof is not paying the 2 hookers who cavorted with Lamar Odom at the Love Ranch brothel, because he now believes they may have had something to do with Lamar doing drugs at the facility…The…deal with Hof was to split the $75k Lamar paid — so they were to get $37,500 which they would equally divide. But now Hof says…"They will not answer questions about Lamar or possible drug use while he was here. I'm suspicious"…
Tricks and Treats
Posted in Holidays, Links, Miscellaneous, tagged blogging, clowns, holidays, imaginative fiction on October 23, 2015| 3 Comments »
Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality. – Edgar Allan Poe
It's time once again for my annual collection of spooky stuff for the Halloween season! If you've started reading my blog this year, you may want to look at my last two such columns, "Trick or Treat" and "More Trick or Treat", and of course my most recent annual thanatopsis, "Even This Shall Pass Away". Other horror-themed columns of the past year include "Unreal Horrors" and "To the Ground" (sort of), and my stories "Serpentine", "Left Behind", "Magna Mater", "Surprise", and this month's "Athena". I also featured either scary or creepy-fun videos in Links #226, #242, #258, and #275, and here are some spooky links:
Ghouls in blue.
(Love)craft beer.
Unspeakably delicious!
Yet another clown attack.
People without eyes still see ghosts.
Jesse Walker's Halloween radio show.
First real-life horror story of the season.
Like something from an Anne Rice novel.
"Curses are laws that enforce themselves."
A real-life Halloween horror show. And its sequel.
Posted in Perception, Q & A, tagged ethics, harm reduction, infidelity, marriage on October 22, 2015| 8 Comments »
Last year, my husband had a drunk night out and called several prostitutes, but claims that no actual sex ever occurred. I have all of the numbers he called. Is there any way I could approach these women and ask whether one of them saw my husband that night? I feel like I'm fairly open minded, but in my book, sex outside of a marriage is cheating, period, and I just need to know. Is this a foolish endeavor?
Well, it's a futile one. It is extremely unlikely that any of the ladies will answer that question; our professional ethics forbid it. More than anything else, what a man is paying for when he sees a professional is discretion; if it got around that a sex worker had betrayed one of her clients to his wife (or anyone else), word would quickly get around and her reputation would be sunk. There is a small chance someone might slip and give you info that she absolutely shouldn't, but the chance is vanishingly small; you'd probably have similar luck calling a clinic to ask if your husband had been treated there. Even if he really did see a pro that night, please understand that it has absolutely no bearing on his feelings for you; men sometimes just think with the wrong head, and it's our job to minimize the harm that can come from that. And if it continues to bug you, you might consider talking to a wise friend or counsellor so as to let off the stress before it ends up hurting your marriage over something that may not even really have happened.