October | 2010 | The Honest Courtesan

Archive for October, 2010

Japanese Prostitution

Posted in History, Perception, tagged archeofeminism, bad customers, Brazil, brothels, China, condoms, courtesans, disease, East Asia, Japan, Japanese Prostitution, Korea, law, marriage, naturalness, pimps, psychology, red-light districts, sisterhood, slavery, Thailand on October 21, 2010| 42 Comments »

Marriage is a woman’s grave. – Old Japanese saying

The subject of Japanese ideas about prostitution has come up in my writings, readings and discussions several times lately, so I will take that as a sign that it’s time to talk about the subject. Obviously this column only gives me room for a very limited overview of the subject, but if anyone is interested there are numerous online resources which explore it in far greater depth. The single most important thing to remember in any discussion of Japanese sexuality is that the Japanese are far more pragmatic about sex than we in the West; sex is not taboo in Shinto, and Japanese women are not brainwashed into thinking of sex as frightening, shameful or humiliating as are Western women. The result of this is that prostitution, though certainly not a choice for all women any more than it is in the West, is not viewed as an inherently degrading profession and historically might offer considerably more freedom and status to women than they would find inside the traditionally rigid and formal Japanese marriage.

Until 1617 prostitution was completely legal in Japan, but in that year the Tokugawa Shogunate issued an order restricting prostitution to certain areas on the outskirts of cities. Yujo (“women of pleasure”) were licensed and ranked according to an elaborate hierarchy, with oiran (courtesans) at the top and brothel girls (who were essentially slaves) at the bottom. These “red-light districts” were not implemented for the moralistic reasons which spurred their creation in the West, but rather to enforce taxation and keep out undesirables such as ronin (masterless samurai); prostitutes were also not allowed to leave the district except under certain rigidly-controlled circumstances. Soon the districts grew into self-contained towns which offered every kind of entertainment a man might want, all entirely run by women. Once a girl became a prostitute her birth-rank ceased to matter, and her status was determined by such factors as beauty, personality, intelligence, education and artistic skills. Even among the oiran there were ranks, of which the highest were the tayu, courtesans fit to entertain nobles. On the other end of the scale, the services of brothel girls were available even to foreigners; in earlier times these were mostly Chinese and Koreans, but later Indians and Portuguese as well. Some of these hapless whores were even sold into slavery to the Portuguese, who either used them as sex-slaves on their ships or resold them in Macau, Goa and even Brazil.

The oiran, on the other hand, enjoyed a status far greater than that of married women, just as the hetaerae of Ancient Greece and the cortigiana of Renaissance Italy did (and for the same reasons). Unlike their Occidental sisters, however, the oiran were not brought down by patriarchs jealous of their power, wealth and influence but rather by their own high standards. Because they were isolated in the “Flower and Willow World” (as their subculture was called) their customs, fashions, manners and even language remained static and became increasingly formal; they required a formal invitation from clients and would go forth to see them in elaborate processions accompanied by servants. Their costumes became more and more ornate, complex and proscribed and even the entertainments they offered were only those which had been practiced for centuries. Eventually they became so detached from the world of men that not even the nobles could relate to them any longer, and by the early 18^th century they were supplanted by a new society of courtesans, the geisha; the last known oiran died in 1761.

Though the geisha wore simpler versions of the fashions created by the oiran, they made an effort to remain approachable by speaking in the vernacular dialect, practicing the popular entertainments favored by their clientele and making themselves available to casual visits from customers. They soon replaced the oiran entirely and became so popular by the late 18^th century that they were often hired to entertain at banquets and other events outside of the walled pleasure districts, thus running afoul of government regulations and exposing themselves to arrest and forcible return to the districts. But since their popularity continued to increase despite governmental crackdowns, laws were passed which allowed the geisha to operate outside of the districts on condition that they could not offer sexual services while outside. By the end of the century geisha were legally distinguished from prostitutes and forbidden to sell sex at all, though of course many continued to do so just as prostitutes under every prohibitionist regime do. The tradition that “legitimate” geisha do not sell sex dates from this period, and to this day many people both in Japan and abroad insist that geisha are not prostitutes, despite a controversial 1872 law which proposed to apply the term “geisha” to all prostitutes and the existence of diaries from the women themselves dating as late as the 1930s which speak of selling sex. The safest assumption seems to me that, though geisha were legally prohibited from prostitution and publicly avowed that they never practiced it, in actuality many of them did just as many women of every time and place do.

After Japan was opened to Western influence in the second half of the 19^th century, the Japanese began to adopt more Western notions of control over prostitutes and passed a number of new laws which made it harder to do business even in the red-light districts. This led to the trend of many young women from poor families who would once have gone to the districts seeking employment in China, Korea and Thailand instead; these women were called karayuki-san (literally, “Miss Gone-overseas”) and with them came a new profession for Japan: The pimp. These men made a career of recruiting poor young women, mostly from fishing families, and then arranging for their travel to Asian brothels (some even went as far as Zanzibar, Hawaii and California). Thus as so often happens when governments enact laws to “protect” whores, it actually opens them up for exploitation by unprincipled men. By the 1910s the Japanese government began to see this asjoshigun (“army of girls”) as shameful and damaging to Japanese prestige, and so enacted a series of initiatives throughout the ‘10s and ‘20s to bring expatriate Japanese prostitutes home.

Soon after this the Japanese began expanding their empire into Asia, and almost immediately discovered that sexually frustrated soldiers far from home have a tendency to rape local women and thereby breed resentment in the occupied territories; to prevent this it was decided to open military brothels (euphemistically referred to as “comfort stations”) staffed with Japanese prostitutes (“comfort women”). But as Japan continued to expand its Asian presence, the military soon ran out of volunteers and began actively recruiting prostitutes in China and Korea. When this strategy failed to obtain whores in the required numbers officials resorted first to misrepresentation (recruiting poor women as prostitutes throughout the Empire by greatly overstating the pay they would receive), then to deception (women were told they were being recruited as nurses or factory workers), and eventually to straightforward abduction. It is estimated that about 200,000 women were enslaved in these wartime brothels, though many Japanese propagandists both in and out of the government claim the number was much lower (some claim as few as 20,000) and deny that any women were ever forced despite the testimony of thousands of victims. Only 25% of the victims survived, and most of the survivors were rendered sterile by disease and physical trauma. The issue remains controversial to this day, and historical revisionism of the Holocaust Denial type has become quite popular in recent years.

“Geisha girls” at a Tokyo brothel, 1948

One aspect of the “comfort station” practice which is rarely discussed, though, is that it did not end when the war did; its staff and clientele merely changed. The Japanese government recognized that just as its own horny soldiers had tended to rape women in territories they had occupied, so the Allied troops now posed the same danger in Japan. A government bureau whose English name was the Recreation and Amusement Association was therefore formed to set up and administrate “comfort stations” to service the occupying army. The official declaration stated that “…we shall construct a dike to hold back the mad frenzy of the occupation troops and cultivate and preserve the purity of our race long into the future…” The stations were abolished a year later, then in 1947 the act of recruiting women as prostitutes was made illegal despite the fact that the government itself was doing so the year before! Though the official brothels were gone, independent Japanese prostitutes (who often dressed as geishas and styled themselves “geisha girls”) continued to do brisk business with the troops; the idea of injecting silicone gel into a woman’s breasts to enlarge them was first developed by Japanese doctors after repeated requests from hookers eager to enhance their desirability to American customers. But whether because of rape, amateur activities or Japanese prostitutes being less scrupulous about condom use than their Western sisters, venereal disease rates among American troops soared and under intense pressure from the US, the Japanese government legally banned prostitution for the very first time in 1956.

Even in this case, however, Japan did things differently from Western nations. Prostitution was defined only as vaginal intercourse for pay; every other form of commercial sex (including oral and anal sex) is completely legal! Besides the usual array of call girls, escorts, brothels (including themed brothels where the girls dress as popular anime characters), strip clubs and massage parlors there are also spas and bathhouses where sexual services are available in addition to the mundane ones. And though there are still a small number of geisha, the exclusive modern practitioners of the art absolutely disdain sexual services (unless kept by a patron) due to the desire to maintain tradition and to keep for themselves and the men who appreciate them a pale remnant of the once-extensive “Flower and Willow World” separate and distinct from the noise and bustle of the thriving Japanese sex trade.

Read Full Post »

Yesterday

Posted in Current Events, Perception, Tyranny, tagged bisexuality, blogging, cops, dirty, Hollywood, law, LGBT rights, neofeminism, psychology, sex rays, sisterhood on October 20, 2010| 16 Comments »

Scratch the surface of a cynic and you’ll find a disappointed idealist. – Saying of uncertain origin

As so often happens in this blog, I started to type out an answer to a reply and found that it quickly grew long enough to be a column of its own. The reply in question was from Stephen Patterson and it appeared in yesterday’s column; I’ll break it up into pieces interspersed with my replies for ease of reading.

One of the problems with the media in this area as in many others is that the vast mass of media have little time to be anything other than superficial. Investigative journalism is also very expensive journalism.

I fully admit that the aphorism which appears as today’s epigram totally applies to me. Though I could generally give George Carlin or Ambrose Bierce a run for the money in the cynicism department (especially where government and other monolithic institutions are concerned), I am occasionally overcome by an attack of pure optimism. When this happens I usually manage to fight the feeling down, hissing and screaming like a wet cat, and force it back into the little lightless box under my mental staircase where it is kept most of the time; if I’m lucky I don’t even get too badly scratched. But every once in a while (when I think the possible consequences if I’m wrong will be minimal or nonexistent) I’ll indulge one of these optimistic feelings for a few minutes, so that when I am inevitably disappointed it acts as a sort of “booster shot” of cynicism without plunging me into deep despair.

Well, in one of the earlier replies to yesterday’s column Sailor Barsoom said: “Reporters, please. You are supposed to be what protects us from disinformation. You are supposed to be noble enough a profession that it makes sense that Superman would choose to be one of you when he isn’t in uniform”. At the mention of the Caped Kryptonian’s name I was momentarily overcome with a sort of nostalgic naïveté and thought to myself, “What if the reporter who wrote that story isn’t willfully ignorant? After all, he has to please his masters for a living just as other wage-slaves do; what if maybe he really wanted to do a real story but was too afraid, or even specifically ordered not to?” So, I went back to the original article and clicked on the link to send an email to the reporter who wrote it, Torsten Ove. Here’s what I sent him:

Dear Mr. Ove,

I realize that your editor may not be interested in balanced stories about unpopular subjects; however, if you are here are a few resources you might consult about the reality of prostitution, rather than merely accepting the lies and distortions promulgated by the police at face value.

The Sex Workers Outreach Project: http://www.swopusa.org/
The Desiree Alliance: http://www.desireealliance.org/
The Prostitutes’ Education Network: http://www.bayswan.org/index.html

You may find a lot of what the women who staff these organizations have to say illuminating.

Maggie McNeill
The Honest Courtesan

He replied within a few minutes with a single line: “Thanks, but I’ll stick with the lies and distortions.”

I then re-replied:

Dear Mr. Ove,

That doesn’t surprise me, but on the off-chance you were a true journalist I had to try.

Maggie McNeill
The Honest Courtesan

So much for truth, justice and the American way. It may be that Stephen is correct in saying that most reporters lack the time and money to look beyond the propaganda, but I’m afraid Mr. Ove isn’t one of them; by his own admission he has drunk deeply of the Kool-aid and found it sweet.

Realistically, I think we can hope for two things: sex worker rights organisations to raise their profiles and efficiency, so that media outlets think of and contact them, and that therefore at least an alternative perspective can be communicated; and secondly that they undertake pro-active initiatives so they are not caught on the back foot all the time.

Stephen is absolutely right, but the problem is that most of the women who are impacted by these discriminatory laws don’t dare to speak up about them; a friend of mine who is still an active escort told me that a recent effort to start up a SWOP chapter in Texas went over like a lead zeppelin. The reason should be obvious; to openly declare oneself a prostitute in the current repressive climate is to risk investigation by every “law enforcement” agency with jurisdiction, at least one of whom will certainly find something to charge one with. Not the least of these is the Inquisition-like “child protective services”, who would immediately abduct any avowed prostitute’s children and place them in “foster care” because obviously it’s much better for them to be given to complete strangers than to risk contamination by sex rays which might destroy their “innocence” by inducing the dreaded “premature sexualization”. And even if she has no children, the threat of a charge of “tax evasion” from the Internal Revenue Service is enough to make Satan cower. So, it’s pretty much up to us old retired ladies, except that most retired whores want to vanish into the woodwork rather than risk social censure (not to mention the aforementioned IRS and/or “child protective services”). And even those who do care enough and are willing to risk audit are largely ignored by people like Mr. Ove, who can’t even be bothered to listen.

What’s going to be needed is for some big moneybags like Bill Gates to get behind sex worker rights so we can advertise and thereby attract a bunch of empty-headed Hollywood stars who are looking for a new cause to adopt. In the minds of the hoi-polloi, the opinion of one celebrity who knows nothing about the subject is worth the life-experiences of a thousand veteran whores, and once the cause becomes “sexy” enough all of a sudden people will be coming out of the woodwork to support it. Pretty soon it will become a “controversial issue” and a few state judges looking for publicity will overturn their states’ prostitution laws while other states hold legalization referendums and still others react by enacting new and Draconian anti-prostitute laws. About this time all the self-proclaimed “liberals” will start mouthing slogans about our rights despite having vehemently denied them when it was politically correct to do so, then we’re home free.

ant is sort of right about perception, except that when you survey the actual public (our UK public, anyway), some polls suggest that antipathy to the sex industry is nothing like as widespread as people think. I think what holds up progress more than anything is (a) politicians’ understandable fear of media backlash if a more liberal regime is proposed, and (b) disunity among those advocating change, between decriminalisation; various forms of legalisation/regulation; and the Swedish catastrophe advocated by the radfems.

I agree; I think most people are not really all that opposed to us (as discussed in my column of September 28^th) and it’s getting easier for outsiders to speak out in favor of legalization without getting shouted down (though still difficult for pros to speak for ourselves as I discussed above). I also completely agree that political inertia is a large part of the problem; after all, the majority of the US population has been in favor of decriminalization of marijuana for over two decades now, yet we’ve only seen the first major cracks in the prohibition dam in the past decade, and in a few weeks the first state election on the issue of full decriminalization will be held in California. But as with marijuana, governments are not above bold-faced lying to keep prostitution illegal, though we do have one slight advantage over the marijuana issue in that there is no federal anti-prostitution law to conflict with decriminalization within a state.

However, I think Stephen has hit dead on the money with his last point; if women had not allowed the feminist movement to be hijacked by angry lesbian man-haters in the late ‘70s, prostitution would’ve been decriminalized in California twenty years ago and most states would have followed suit by now. A comparison with the “gay rights” movement is instructive; their cause was becoming more popular and slowly gaining ground until they invented the mythical “GLBT community” in the early ‘90s. By linking together four separate minorities (homosexual men, lesbians, bisexuals and “transgendered people”, the last an artificial umbrella grouping in itself) into an unreal but politically useful construction, queer activists were able to combine forces with a number of much smaller groups to present one unified front. The results are obvious; the “gay rights” landscape has changed dramatically in little over a decade. But imagine if, having won basic rights, the “GLBT” leadership had not only decided that “lipstick lesbians” were “anti-queer”, but also chosen to actively compose propaganda against them and cooperate with reactionary efforts to suppress them. Because that is what has happened to sex workers; having won their seat at the “big table”, neofeminists have not only turned against us, but have also sold us out to the tyrants by giving them new “feminist” excuses for their repressive laws.

Read Full Post »

Anatomy of a Boondoggle

Posted in Current Events, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged Anatomy of a Boondoggle, Backpage, condoms, consensual crime, cops, dirty, disease, drivers, drugs, escort services, evidence, fantasy, hotels, internet, language, law, Pennsylvania, pimps, prohibitionist myths, psychology, streetwalkers, violence vs. sex workers on October 19, 2010| 17 Comments »

If it were possible to make an accurate calculation of the evils which police regulations occasion, and of those which they prevent, the number of the former would, in all cases, exceed that of the latter. – Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt

Knowledge is power; it not only allows one to manipulate one’s local region of the universe, but also to resist attempts by others to manipulate one. I’m sure all of my readers have noticed that once they become familiar with a subject that articles or stories written by people ignorant of that field become annoying or even laughable, and the omissions and misinformation inherent in propaganda stand out like dirt under an ultraviolet light. The following is paraphrased from an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazetteof Sunday, October 17^th, 2010; it is an excellent representation of the sort of prohibitionist propaganda which the police love to issue and which gullible reporters swallow whole because they can’t be bothered to investigate the facts or interview anyone with an opposing view (and wouldn’t be allowed to print it if they did).

An Illinois prostitute was arrested recently in Monroeville, Pennsylvania after allegedly offering an undercover cop sex for $200. Prior to going to the room, she met him in the hotel parking lot and grabbed his crotch. Police call this a “cop check”, one technique women use to tell a cop from a customer. Schooled by the Internet, experience and fellow prostitutes, they post lookouts, frisk johns, demand that men get naked or ask them to fondle them. They think cops will balk at such demands, but they’re wrong. “These girls take it to another level,” said the Monroeville officer, who has worked prostitution stings for 18 years and asked that his name not be used.

She certainly didn’t learn that from the internet, unless it was from some dumb bunny who’s never been popped before; all experienced girls know that neither touching nor anything else will expose a cop because they can do whatever they like, and even in jurisdictions where there are rules of behavior the cop will just lie and say he didn’t do whatever it was he wasn’t supposed to do. Note that this slimeball enjoys victimizing women so much he’s done it for 18 years.

This kind of prostitution bust goes on every day at area hotels, which have asked police to do something about increasingly savvy hookers traveling to Pennsylvania from as far off as California, Texas, Nevada and Hawaii. But it’s become news in Green Tree, where police Chief Andrew Lisiecki reportedly allowed a 32-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Florida woman named Akudo Duru (whom he contacted from her Backpage.com ad) to begin performing a sex act on him in a hotel room on September 9^th before arresting her.

Hotels “asked police to do something about” touring escorts? Oh, please! Aside from the odd bluenosed manager, hotels love escorts; they’re clean, quiet, tip housekeeping and book rooms out of season. What’s actually going on in this paragraph is an intentional confusion of travelling escorts (who stay in 3-star hotels) with streetwalkers in fleabags, who may very well anger management with noise, drama and attracting cheap undesirables. Also note these yahoos giving themselves airs by pretending that Pittsburgh is some kind of Mecca for touring escorts!

According to Lisiecki’s affidavit, the two met at the Radisson and disrobed at her request. He asked her whether she wanted her “donation,” code for payment. After she told him to put it on the table, Lisiecki claims, the woman used her hand to start a sex act. He said he stopped her and told her he wanted more. When she pulled out a condom, he arrested her and called in two other cops. Lisiecki said the appearance of a condom is an obvious indication of sexual intent and predicate for an arrest. The chief has since been criticized for going too far, but prosecutors and police say he did nothing wrong. Touching, they say, is sometimes necessary because veteran hookers are careful not to verbalize sex acts.

Yes, it’s “code”, which is why the cops know it too; the word is “jargon”, ignoramus. The “indication of intent” thing infuriates public health advocates; by pretending the presence of a condom is “evidence of prostitution”, cops discourage streetwalkers from carrying them. But I guess the cops think their weird aversion to condoms is more important than public health. But of course he did nothing wrong; he’s a big, brave hero who busted a damned dirty whore! And even if he had done something wrong, he would simply perjure himself and deny it.

Lisiecki, a former Pittsburgh police lieutenant who became chief of the 10-man Green Tree force last year, said criticism of his conduct is unfair and has hurt his wife and children. He claimed that he doesn’t enjoy physical contact with prostitutes, many of whom are drug addicts and are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases. “I don’t like being touched by these girls but sometimes you can’t avoid it,” he said. “Some will not voice any sex act, so you can’t make the arrest.” He said he decided to do stings himself because hotels in his community have asked for help, but his force is small and he won’t make officers work a detail if they don’t want to. “A lot of guys don’t want to do this work,” he said.

This paragraph is a gold mine. The big booming metropolis of Green Tree (population 4422) has such a huge problem with prostitutes that it has to devote a THIRD of its force (i.e. all who were on duty at the time), including the chief himself, to deal with the scourge of wanton women running up and down the streets and causing general consternation. Next, a PUBLIC OFFICIAL claims immunity from criticism on the grounds that it has “hurt his wife and children.” Gee, maybe he should’ve thought of that before accepting public office and then abusing his position to get free hand jobs. Then he claims that he doesn’t like being touched by girls, despite the fact that he clearly had an erection because otherwise she wouldn’t have brought out the condom. Obviously, an erection constitutes clear legal proof of sexual disinterest in Pennsylvania; the “rape is not a crime of sex” crowd may buy that, but no sexually aware woman would. Then he trots out the old “diseased whore” stereotype, followed by a pathetic attempt to cast himself as a hero. And the reason “A lot of guys don’t want to do this work” is because of these things called scruples, which the chief clearly lacks.

At least 25 recent affidavits from area police indicate that his tactics are not uncommon; cops often take their clothes off and touch or allow themselves to be touched. While it’s legal, some officers don’t think this is a good idea, and some lawyers also question whether contact is appropriate since the law simply states that prostitution occurs when an agreement is made to exchange money for sex. David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor, said most police around the country usually make arrests after a verbal agreement. “It’s not illegal for him to do what he did,” he said. “It is simply unusual…I’m not sure he had go that far to make the arrest.”

I think this speaks for itself.

Chief Lisiecki disputed that, however, saying he has received messages of support from vice units around the country who use similar techniques such as the Indianapolis PD policy which instructs officers to wait until the prostitute touches them before arresting her. “Most (prostitutes) know not to talk,” said Sgt. Jon Daggy, late-shift supervisor of the Indianapolis vice unit. “They put you through these tests to see if you’re a cop. In many cases they’ve been coached by lawyers.”

Is even one person surprised that he received kudos from other vice cops? They probably swap these stories over beer. Apparently the brilliant legal mind of Sgt. Daggy is superior to that of the lawyers who “coach” prostitutes by giving them incorrect information about the efficacy of cop tests.

The prostitutes, who often carry laptops to keep track of appointments and post online ads, keep working because they make good money despite the occasional arrest. Some can clear $5,000 in a weekend, police said. If they have to pay a $300 fine now and then, “That’s the cost of doing business,” said Lisiecki.

$5000 in one weekend? Not hardly. In a busy week, sure, but not in two days. Long division is your friend; try it sometime. But since you admit you can’t stop prostitution, why the hell are you wasting public money trying to?

Prostitution is often referred to as a victimless crime, but police say it isn’t because it attracts other crime that can degrade the community. If independent prostitutes are permitted to work, detectives say, the stage can be set for an organized ring to move in and control the sex trade. What’s more, police say, prostitution is rampant. During one bust at a Monroeville hotel, officers learned that five hookers were working the same building that day. In Moon, police have made 33 busts this year. In the city, Lt. Mathias said, officers arrest between five and 10 prostitutes every day.

Once again we have the intentional equation of internet escorts with local streetwalkers. How, pray tell, do touring escorts “attract crime”? Do they carry thugs in the trunks of their cars, perhaps? And then we get the old “whores and pimps” fallacy again; “an organized ring…move in and control?” WTF is that even supposed to mean? I’ve been in this business for ten years and I’ve never heard of an “organized ring moving in” (from outer space, apparently) to “control” anything. Do these retards mean escort services, or are they talking about the Mafia? And how do they imagine these imaginary bogeymen “control” independent escorts, especially ones who are only there for a few days? Once again, we’re faced with a lurid masturbatory fantasy of whores enslaved by pimps, dreamed up insecure men who cannot handle the fact that the sex trade is controlled almost entirely by WOMEN.

Since the Green Tree incident, several departments have asked the district attorney’s office for guidelines on stings. Lawyers can generally challenge arrests on two fronts: entrapment and “outrageous government conduct,” but neither usually succeeds. “Entrapment” happens when an officer deceives an innocent person into committing a crime; interstate hookers rarely fall into that category. “Outrageous police conduct” means a violation of due process; the landmark Pennsylvania case involved a 2006 arrest in Allentown where state troopers paid an informant to enter a massage parlor and have sex four times with two women. The judge ruled that the man did not need to have sex four times and a verbal agreement would have sufficed. “We expect more from the police, and demand that they conduct their investigations and utilize their resources without resorting to such embarrassing investigative techniques,” the judge wrote. “No standards existed for this type of investigation, and some of the behavior by the participants was sophomoric.” He dismissed the case and prosecutors appealed, but last year Superior Court upheld the ruling.

Yes, they can challenge on those grounds, but only shysters try because they know it won’t work and merely advise their marks (excuse me, “clients”) to fight because it results in more billable hours. Lawyers know they can’t win prostitution cases because they’re “he said, she said” and the court is biased in favor of the cops, so any half-decent one will simply advise his client to take the plea bargain, pay the fine and get on with her life. The fine doesn’t even cover the cost of the trial much less the sting, so the public is left paying the bill for crooked cops to get their sadistic jollies by having sex with whores and then busting them.

Read Full Post »

Wolves

Posted in Current Events, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged archeofeminism, cops, cult of the child, ethics, hysteria, law, neofeminism, pathologization of males, psychology, rape, sacred prostitutes, social purity, tabula rasa, yin and yang on October 18, 2010| 34 Comments »

If courtesans and strumpets were to be prosecuted with as much rigour as some silly people would have it, what locks or bars would be sufficient to preserve the honour of our wives and daughters? – Bernard Mandeville

When I was a lass, we were taught that men only wanted one thing, and that it was the responsibility of women to control access to that thing. Everyone, male and female, over the age of 12 understood this principle for the first 12,000 years of human civilization, then suddenly less than one human lifetime ago started to deny it. We could talk about the reasons all day long, and in fact we have at length in this column before. Dependable birth control, the Sexual Revolution, misguided feminism, the “social construction of gender” lie, the “rape is not sexual” lie, the Cult of the Child’s catechism of trying to keep little girls ignorant of sex until marriage, and the naïve modern belief that Nature is “fair” (born of the complete disconnection of modern urbanites from the natural world they claim to be so concerned about) are among the many causes of this phenomenon, but no matter what weight we give to which factor the result is the same. The typical modern woman under the age of 40 or 50 is totally, completely clueless about the powerful, primal, dangerous, predatory nature of male sexuality and daily engages in the equivalent of dancing around in front of a pack of hungry Siberian wolves with rare steaks strapped to her naked body while insisting that said wolves are really herbivorous and only believe themselves to be carnivorous due to “social construction of dietary preferences”; and, that if they try to eat her she will simply “kick them in the balls” and thereby render them as harmless as kittens.

OK, I’m exaggerating. A little. My analogy breaks down because human men have minds and most of them are both civilized and have the instinctive tendency to protect women. That does not, however, change the fact that they’re still wolves and they’re always hungry, and the only reason they aren’t ripping those steaks off of your body (and maybe eating you for dessert) is because of their own powers of self-control backed up by fear of the consequences. It’s not because they’re “enlightened” or “modern”, it’s not because they were given unisex toys when they were kids and it certainly ain’t because they’re afraid of your magical waif fu combat ability. It’s just that most of them are too civilized, decent and self-controlled to take steaks you don’t want to give. Oh, they might try to talk you or trick you into giving them up, and I certainly wouldn’t go to sleep in the presence of a strange wolf, but most of them aren’t going to be ripping them from your body without asking. But where do men’s nigh-superhuman abilities of self-control come from? They’re learned, of course; over many centuries males have developed a set of behaviors designed to bring vicious young cubs into the pack and instill in them the ability to control their passions. These patterns of male society may seem harsh to women, but they have to be in order to control male passions and thereby turn young savages into adult gentlemen.

In the last generation, however, we have seen a breakdown in these male institutions due to the well-intentioned but frighteningly ignorant meddling of women. In the past, men largely stayed out of women’s business and women stayed out of men’s, and society stayed in balance. But once the neofeminists and their “social construction of gender” fairy tales came into favor, all this changed; male-only institutions were forced to admit women, and women did not like what they saw, largely because they had absolutely no idea what they were looking at. If one presumes that all gender is “socially constructed” then obviously there is only one “normal” pattern of human behavior and everything else is pathological. And since the neofeminists obviously can’t consider female behavior abnormal, they automatically presume that male behavior is, and furthermore conclude that if young boys are feminized then everything will be wonderful and we’ll all go skipping down the road to Candyland together. Except for one thing: Male behavior isn’t automatically pathological, it’s just male. And those young wolf cubs who are being forced to wear fleeces and eat grass won’t grow up to be sheep; they’ll grow up to be either very screwed-up wolves or else very angry, maladjusted wolves who hate sheep and don’t have any clue as to how to behave in a wolf-pack.

One example of a male norm which women have undermined is teaching boys to control their feelings; naïve women bleat about how terrible this is, and how men should be encouraged to “show their feelings”. What kind of insanity is this? The average man is six inches taller than the average woman and outweighs her by fifty pounds; he has three times her upper-body strength, twice her muscle mass and about 1.5x her bone mass. If she gets angry and hits him, it stings; if he gets angry and hits her, it can cause major damage. I’m perfectly happy with men controlling their feelings, thank you very much, and so should you be unless you think being beaten and/or raped on a regular basis is a good thing. It’s because I trust my husband’s self-control that I feel safe screaming at him when I’m angry; if he felt as free to “show his feelings” as I do he would beat the hell out of me every time I dared to provoke him in that way.

Another male social mechanism almost completely destroyed by female meddling is hazing. In any male group which faces danger together (such as military, firemen, police etc) there are certain rites of passage to which newcomers are subjected; these can appear quite brutal to female eyes and indeed I myself was horrified by such practices until I took the time to research the psychology behind them so as to attempt to understand rather than arbitrarily imposing my own female sensibilities on a male institution where they did not belong. Here is what I learned: Because such groups face danger together, they have to have absolute faith in one another. Every man must know that his brothers can be counted on in a crisis, that they will not buckle under the strain. Hazing is the way in which newcomers are tested; they are exposed to psychological stress, even mild torture, and are expected not to break. If they pass the test they become part of the brotherhood, and if they fail they wash out. The process is harsh but absolutely necessary; if a man can’t even take teasing and insults from his comrades, how the hell will he survive being shot at by people who want to kill him? By equating adult male hazing rituals with mere mean-spirited high-school bullying, well-meaning but ignorant women have removed an important and time-tested weeding process from military and paramilitary organizations.

We’ve talked about the consequences of uncontrolled male sexual passion in this column before, most recently on September 24^th and October 2^nd. But what I didn’t really discuss in those columns is the reason why we’re seeing more of this behavior despite the claims of social engineers that modern men are more “enlightened” and “sensitive” than their forefathers. Certainly the reasons are complex, but I believe one important cause is the pathologization of normal male behavior. If both society and individual men recognize the intensity of male passion and the need to control it, social mechanisms like ingrained stoicism and hazing evolve to teach men to control their passions and institutions like prostitution and violent sports arise to allow them to expend their energies in socially acceptable ways. Some men have milder passions, stronger wills, wise wives or all of the above and will never have need of these outlets, while others need them very much (as evidenced by the study I linked on the 24^th showing that decriminalized prostitution reduces rape rates). 19^th-century social purity laws which insisted that males be publicly held to female sexual standards were ridiculous enough, but at least in those days men were still allowed to act like men in every other way. Ever since the advent of “social construction of gender”, however, men are expected to act like women and are viciously punished if they do not. Every day in the US men are fired or sent to re-education camps for telling dirty jokes or hanging pictures of pin-up girls in their lockers, and five-year-old boys are arrested for stealing kisses from little girls, yet no politician has the balls to stand up and decry any of this as unjust and insane.

Modern boys are being taught that normal male behavior is sick, perverted and wrong, yet at the same time the social constructs which taught them to control their passions have largely been dismantled. Boys are encouraged to “show their feelings”, then punished when they do so. This is a recipe for instilling sociopathy on a massive scale, and if the behavior of young men on the internet is any indication the damage is already very widespread. Perhaps some of my older male readers may consider me to be overstating the problem, but I doubt many of my younger ones feel that way. And though some of my female readers may not believe me either, that’s because they aren’t whores. We frequently have to listen to customers talking about their frustration on this subject, and we constantly see the evidence of it in their behavior and sometimes-twisted desires. Modern American society needs to stop punishing boys for being boys, and to cease its relentless persecution of the women who work to keep the wolves fed so our prissy domesticated sisters needn’t get saliva on their dainty little hands.

Read Full Post »

No Other Option

Posted in Call types, Perception, tagged anecdote, archeofeminism, dirty, disability, ethics, marriage, neofeminism, No Other Option, psychology, sacred prostitutes on October 17, 2010| 98 Comments »

Chastity: The most unnatural of the sexual perversions. – Aldous Huxley

Though there are a number of feminist disability advocates who try vehemently to deny it, the fact of the matter is that is extremely difficult for some men, especially disabled ones, to get sex by the same means as their un-handicapped brethren. The bluenoses, politicians and neofeminists are even worse because they deny that a man being unable to get sex is even a problem. But since the neofeminists are discussing a subject (male sexuality) about which they know absolutely nothing and the bluenoses and politicians are lying hypocrites, I think it’s fair to completely discount their opinions; and since disabled women may indeed have no trouble getting sex simply because they are in fact women, I think it’s equally safe to presume that they’re looking at the issue through feminist-colored glasses. As a retired prostitute who has been with a number of disabled and otherwise “sex-acquisition-impaired” men and actually listened to what they had to say I can assure you otherwise; such men have the same needs as other men, but because they may be physically repellent and/or incapable of providing for a woman their chances of obtaining sex by the usual means is usually close to zero, and prostitutes are their only recourse.

A few female readers may doubt that a man incapable of supporting a wife would be able to afford prostitutes, but only if she fails to recognize that “free pussy is the most expensive kind”. A man could see a New Orleans call girl twice a month for $600, which is not remotely enough to support even a low-maintenance wife, much less a disabled one; while it is certainly true that disabled people have sex, it is generally with each other because people without disabilities do not generally consider them to be marriageable. You may call this prejudice if you like and perhaps it is, but that doesn’t change the facts: Women, especially beautiful, sought-after women, simply do not date handicapped men unless they’re rich or famous. And in such a case, which is better: A selection of whatever call girls he likes as often as he wants them, or a shallow gold-digger who may eventually tire of caring for him and take a large portion of his wealth when she goes?

There was a regular client in New Orleans who enthusiastically came down on the side of the whores. He had been in a terrible auto accident which had left him partially paralyzed so that he moved jerkily and his half-frozen face was not pleasant to look upon. He drooled, had a colostomy because his lower intestines didn’t work properly, and was rather rough with girls because of his inability to control his movements correctly. But the accident had been the fault of a large company, and his settlement had been very generous; he lived frugally on the interest and still had plenty for fun, including several escorts a month. He was not a regular of any one girl or service; he called around as he pleased and was fond of variety, but he called so often that most experienced girls like myself ended up seeing him every few months. He was not an easy customer to deal with; his physical problems were definitely off-putting even when he didn’t accidentally hurt one or ask for help changing his colostomy bag, and his personality was rather abrasive. If it weren’t for hookers, there is no way he would ever have been able to enjoy sex. But because of us, he was able to enjoy a different beautiful woman every time he wanted one and thereby make up in a very minor way for the shitty hand Fortune had dealt him.

I had another paralyzed customer once, though his paralysis was below the waist rather than on one side of his body. He was not as well-heeled as the other client, but was visiting New Orleans and wanted a beautiful lady to spend the evening with him and show him the sights. Luckily I’m in good shape because I definitely got a workout pushing his wheelchair around the Quarter! We went to dinner at Ralph and Kacoo’s (which I mentioned in my August 31^st column) and then returned to his room; obviously this was one case in which I didn’t mind doing cowgirl, because though his penis was functional his hips were not. I went way overtime, but I had already warned Grace that I would and I really didn’t mind; he really was a very nice man and quite pleasant company, but so dreadfully in need of a woman that it almost broke my heart. I still remember how he explored my body with trembling hands, like a teenage boy alone with a girl for the first time; I honestly wish I could force every prohibitionist in America to watch a film of that night so they could be confronted with the spectacle of a “degraded”, “humiliated”, “dirty”, “victimized” whore helping a desperately lonely man to enjoy the gift of Nature despite their efforts to deny it to him.

In the months after Katrina I received a call from a man who wished to hire me for his little brother, whom he told me had been badly burned in a house-fire as a child. This young man, though in his early twenties, was no larger than a 12-year-old boy due to his injuries stunting his growth; one of his arms was useless and ended in a sort of claw, and I could clearly see the two bones beneath the skin. He was bald, his face was shockingly scarred and his body bent, but the brother had the wisdom to warn me beforehand and I was able to mask my natural reaction. But though his body was ugly and ruined his mind was strong and normal; he was intelligent and sensitive, and truly appreciative of my company. He had never been with a woman before, so I made sure I showed him what it should be like; do any of my readers believe for one minute that any amateur his age would have even bothered to get to know him? I am not timid about such things, but I tell you I inwardly shuddered to look upon the terrible damage that fire had done to this unfortunate young man’s body; a typical girl would have either screamed or turned away in disgust. Yet despite his damaged shell he still had the spirit of a man, with a man’s needs and desires; if no woman will give him her favors, is it so horrible that some of us will sell ours to him just as we would to anyone else?

Calls with disabled men are often much more difficult than those with normal men, but can also be much more rewarding and allow one to experience things other women never have. For example, how many ladies have ever had sex with a blind man? My first blind client asked if he could feel my face, and of course I allowed it; after running his fingers over its lines he broke into a smile and said, “Oh, you’re so beautiful!” Then his hands ran over my body, feeling its contours, and he complimented the beauty of my shape as he had that of my face. What other men could tell with a glance he had to discover laboriously by touch, and it somehow made it all the more special for that reason. Another client was deaf, and I had to communicate with him by writing; most of the call was conducted in absolute silence, with the two of us indicating things to each other by pantomime since I don’t know sign language.

There are many disabilities more subtle than paralysis and deformity, but even these may make a man unattractive to amateurs; cerebral palsy, severe epilepsy, gross obesity, missing or amputated limbs and other such conditions often make it much more difficult for a man to find a partner even if he has a good personality, and thus these men often turn to escorts. Dealing with such conditions can range from simple to challenging; an epileptic client, for instance, warned me that when he climaxed he might have a seizure, and I should just make sure he didn’t fall off the bed if he did! As it turned out he did not, but I’ve had clients with cerebral palsy who shook so badly it was almost as though they were having seizures. And grossly obese men can be the most challenging of all for a number of reasons I am sure you can imagine without my help.

To be sure, not all prostitutes will accept disabled customers, so many such clients don’t even mention a disability because they’re afraid of being turned down. But in my experience, few call girls will refuse these men; it certainly isn’t just the money, because in that stratum of harlotry we can afford to be picky and I’ve turned clients down for far less serious reasons than paraplegia. No, I think the main reason most high-class girls readily accept such men is simply because we are high-class and take our profession seriously enough to realize that it would be wrong and unethical to refuse a paying customer who does not merely want our company but desperately needs it.

Read Full Post »

Playing the Harlot

Posted in History, Perception, Q & A, Tyranny, tagged archeofeminism, China, dirty, Egypt, fantasy, Greece, Hollywood, Islam, Japan, Madonna/whore, male prostitutes, Middle East, Norway, paganism, pimps, psychology, sacred prostitutes, slavery, Sweden on October 16, 2010| 21 Comments »

And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. – Ezekiel 16:41

In the replies to my column of October 10^th, Bredstik asked a question which I first started to type a reply to, but then quickly realized it deserved a whole column. Here is his question:

I feel compelled to ask possibly a few more…

Generic statements, so I don’t have to write a whole book, in order to frame the questions below. Truthfully, I’m having a hard framing the question succinctly so I’m trying to carefully blurt out what’s in my head as clearly as possible….hope it makes sense…

In the U.S. (and other places), the major religions are monotheistic. Of these, when they speak of ‘God’, it is basically identified/understood as being male (as a protector/father figure). There is no balancing feminine “force” in these religions that gives the feminine side equal consideration/status/dominance. Male “ideals” are predominant, female ones are … not as dominant . Even though the core teaching of the morals/ethics of these religions are frequently non gender specific, there is a sense that there is a male deity watching over and guiding things/events.

Question(s):
Do you think that religious views are *the* major factor in people believing what they do about prostitution (girls needing to be protected, male dominance, immoral, etc)?

Regardless of the answer above, do you have any info/data/good links/thoughts on how prostitution is viewed differently by countries (in current times, nothing ancient) where there is balanced or less pronounced “male dominant” deity (are prostitutes socially better off, worse off, or basically the same)?

I don’t think monotheism is really the culprit as much as patriarchal culture is. Despite neofeminist dogma about prostitution being a manifestation of patriarchy, the truth is actually the opposite: Prostitutes had our highest status in the ancient Goddess-centered cultures because we were rightfully viewed as the gateway between mortal men and the great Feminine Principle. It wasn’t until the patriarchal cultures succeeded in subordinating the Earth Mother to the Sky Father that our status started to slip, and that preceded monotheism in most of the Western world by several centuries. For example, by the 6^thcentury BCE free temple prostitutes in Athens had largely been supplanted by slave-girls given to the temple as donations, and the Athenian leader Solon tried to eradicate secular prostitution by establishing cheap state-owned brothels and persecuting streetwalkers (as discussed more fully in my July 31^st column). In general, male-dominated governments are not really happy about being unable to control prostitutes, and maladjusted men are unhappy that women they don’t own can demand (and get) generous compensation for their sexual favors while men cannot make similar demands from women. Just look at all the TV and movie fantasies (such as Hung) of male prostitutes who can make a good living from an adoring female clientele, or of male pimps controlling harems of beautiful hookers. These shows are about as realistic as your average cartoon, yet insecure men love to make and watch them because they’re a fantasy inversion of the uncomfortable truth: That women control male access to sex, always have, and always will.

That having been said, I think Judeo-Christian religion is a major source of the West’s extreme version of the Madonna/whore dichotomy (and thus an aggravating factor in the generally shoddy Western treatment of prostitutes). To understand the reason for this, it’s necessary to go back to the origins of the Hebrew people. The Hebrews were one of a number of Semitic tribes who probably entered Egypt during the rule of their Hyksos kinsmen in the 17^th-16^th centuries BCE; thus, they became rather unpopular when the native Egyptians overthrew their foreign overlords and restored native rule with the 18^th dynasty (“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” – Exodus 1:8). And though it is highly unlikely that they were actually enslaved as in the traditional conception, it is very likely that they were subject to severe discrimination and probably persecution as well. Then sometime around 1300 BCE, a lesser Egyptian prince whom history calls Moses forged himself a bloodline and in partnership with the Hebrew leader Aaron offered to lead the tribe back to Canaan, land of their ancestors.

Moses was no fool; though he had been passed over (no pun intended) as heir to the throne he had been schooled in leadership as every prince was, and well understood what was needed to forge a loose agglomeration of related clans into a nation worth ruling. He seems to have favored the monotheistic model of his ancestor Akhenaton, but transferred Aton’s characteristics to the Hebrew deity El-Shaddai, whom Moses referred to as Yahweh (“I Am that I Am”). Unfortunately for Moses’ plans, the Hebrews were not yet ready for monotheism and were perfectly happy to continue in the polytheistic ways of their ancestors and cousins. Moses soon recognized the need for a set of strict laws and customs which would unify his followers into one tribe, a “chosen people” separate and distinct from all the related peoples of Canaan; when he decided to codify the laws and pronouncements he attributed to Yahweh, he therefore included prohibitions against nearly everything the Canaanites did. If you’ve ever wondered why Mosaic law bans such innocuous activities as eating shellfish, now you know; the desert-dwelling Hebrews were unused to them anyhow, so Moses forbade them as a “Canaanite food”. Since the Canaanites were a settled agricultural people (unlike the Hebrews, who were nomadic herdsmen) they had a well-established system of religious fertility rituals, most of which had sexual components. Hence the plentiful sexual prohibitions in Mosaic law: By specifically banning the Hebrews from every kind of sexual behavior which formed a part of one Canaanite religious ritual or another (including male homosexuality and women having sex with animals), Moses kept the Hebrews from participating in those rituals and thereby prevented them from being tempted away from the cult of Yahweh.

But barring Hebrew women from becoming temple prostitutes certainly didn’t keep the Hebrew men from patronizing native ones, so the successors of Moses (the Judges and later the prophets) developed a robust tradition of condemning harlots and harlotry wherever they saw them. Since the Hebrews were staunchly patriarchal and thereby had the same public misgivings about our profession as every other patriarchal culture (discussed above), they developed unusually vicious anti-whore rhetoric which was if anything only intensified in their religious heirs, the Christians and Muslims. But while most majority-Muslim countries still have official bans on prostitution, most enlightened majority-Christian countries allow it to one degree or another (though many of these, such as Canada and the UK, practice institutionalized hypocrisy by decriminalizing prostitution itself but criminalizing every activity which is involved in its practice).

Here is a map of the world which shows the legal status of prostitution country by country. Nations where prostitution is banned are red, those in which it is restricted in some way are beige, and those in which it is at least technically legal are green; there is also a table below the map which explains the exact legal status country by country. Note the illustrious company the United States chooses to be in; practically every other “red” nation is either a majority-Muslim state, a totalitarian one or one which has only recently emerged from totalitarianism. Contrast this with the green nations: All of Western Europe, most of Australia, all of the Western Hemisphere except for the US and a few tiny, poverty-stricken third-world states, and even several African countries. The few “restricted” countries include Japan (where every kind of prostitution except “full service” is legal), India (much like Canada but worse), Norway and Sweden (where it is illegal to buy sex but not to sell it).

Looking at Bredstick’s final question in light of this map, I think we can safely say that there is very little correlation. The patriarchal Judeo-Christian sky father is indeed pre-eminent in the prohibitionist Muslim countries and the US, but Europe, Australia and certainly South America are primarily Christian and yet grant their women rights denied to us in the US. China and the former Soviet Bloc countries have no officially recognized religion, yet engage in the same paternalistic control of women’s bodies as the largely-Christian United States. The two countries Sailor Barsoom mentioned which have prominent female deities (Japan and India) are not exactly known for the high status of their women, and they restrict their whores with the same kind of arbitrary legalism as is present in de facto criminalization countries such as the UK. If I had to pick one factor which seems to correlate most closely with the legalization status of prostitutes, it would be the general attitude toward sex in that country; most Europeans and Hispanic people have far healthier attitudes toward sex than the prudish Americans, Muslims and Marxists who run the majority of prohibitionist states.

Read Full Post »

Juxtaposition

Posted in Current Events, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, China, condoms, dirty, disease, Hollywood, Juxtaposition, Latin America, law, porn on October 15, 2010| 10 Comments »

A curious thing about atrocity stories is that they mirror, instead of the events they purport to describe, the extent of the hatred of the people that tell them. – John Dos Passos

We’ve discussed on many occasions the widespread notion that everything involving sex is somehow different from similar situations not involving sex, but Tuesday’s news gave me an unusually clear example of the phenomenon. Two stories broke that day, the first a revelation that a porn actor tested positive for HIV and the second an announcement that the Chilean miners trapped underground since the beginning of August had finally been rescued. It occurred to me that it might be instructive to phrase an imaginary story about trapped miners in the same sort of language as used in the porn story. We’ll start with the real news article, paraphrased from an AP original:

California’s multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry has been left reeling after another positive HIV test for an adult film performer; the revelation Tuesday (October 13^th) led to two of the industry’s biggest companies (Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment) shutting down production as a precaution. Neither the name nor the gender of the performer was released.

The actor was a patient of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), a San Fernando Valley clinic for pornographic actors. Clinic spokeswoman Jennifer Miller told the Los Angeles Times that efforts are under way to notify individuals who may have had sexual contact with the actor, but Miller did not return calls or e-mail from The Associated Press on Tuesday. Last year, a woman tested positive for HIV immediately after making an adult film, and in 2004 an HIV outbreak affecting several actors spread panic in the industry and briefly shut down production at several California studios.

Los Angeles County public health officials and state occupational health officials have said the widespread lack of condom use on porn sets puts performers at risk for contracting HIV and other diseases, but adult film producers say viewers find them to be a turnoff. Porn actors are required by law to test negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film, but state workplace safety officials at Cal/OSHA are considering strengthening rules designed to prevent transmission of disease through bodily fluids to specify the use of condoms in the adult entertainment industry. Currently, the same laws that call on health care professionals to wear gloves and other protective barriers when dealing with patients applies to the adult film business, but the laws don’t make specific provisions for porn. AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said his organization has been advocating for a tightening of the rules, and the adult entertainment industry and AIM clinic would “do everything in its power to prevent us from knowing who was impacted.” Weinstein said the latest case is the ninth HIV-positive adult film star to be treated at the AIM clinic since the 2004 outbreak.

Chief Counsel for Cal/OSHA Amy Martin said the clinic has been uncooperative in providing state regulators with key information by citing a patient’s federal right to medical privacy. But the clinic has even refused to provide redacted copies of employment histories for infected actors, which would allow the state to investigate porn production companies without naming the sick patients, Martin said.

Regular readers may remember Michael Weinstein and the AHF from my column of September 1^st; since at that time they were agitating to force porn actors to wear condoms I’m sure they feel a ghoulish glee at this new story and are rubbing their nasty hands in delight at the ammunition thus provided to them. Most people prefer to react emotionally to situations rather than thinking about them, and incidents like this tends to strengthen appeals to emotion when in actuality they do not change the facts one iota. Porn performers are adults who know the risks before they agree to appear in films; even if a performer were diagnosed with HIV every month this fact would still be the same. I personally would never allow a strange man inside me without a condom, but then I don’t smoke, drink, use any drugs or jump out of airplanes either. Just because I choose not to engage in risky behaviors does not automatically mean others should be prohibited from making a different choice, as long as they do so with full knowledge of the risks involved. And this is equally true whether 1, 100 or 10,000 people die while participating in the activity; in a free society personal danger cannot be allowed to invalidate the individual’s right to self-determination.

Let’s contrast this article with an imaginary one about a far riskier industry than the making of porn, namely mining. Since China’s mining industry is the world’s riskiest (over 2500 men were killed in Chinese mines last year), and since China is just as enamored of paternalistic bureaucracy as is the US, we’ll place our imaginary mining accident there and invent imaginary organizations for the purpose of the story.

China’s multitrillion-dollar mining industry has been left reeling after another mine collapse; the revelation Tuesday (October 13^th) led to two of the country’s biggest mining contractors (Wicked Coal Mining and Vivid Metals) shutting down production as a precaution. Neither the names of the miners nor the chance of their survival was released.

The mine is operated by the People’s Metal Recovery Foundation (PMRF), a state-owned entity. Spokeswoman Xen Lao Ming told the Far East Times that efforts are under way to notify the families of the trapped miners, but Xen did not return calls or e-mail from The Associated Press on Tuesday. Last year, 2500 miners were killed in accidents at Chinese mines and many hundreds more were trapped and eventually rescued, spreading panic in the industry and briefly shutting down productions at several Chinese mines on 67 separate occasions.

Beijing public and occupational health officials have said the widespread requirement of working deep underground puts miners at risk for being crushed or buried alive, but mine operators say that’s where the minerals are. Mine operators are required by law to brace ceilings and implement other precautions to prevent cave-ins, but workplace safety officials in Beijing are considering strengthening rules designed to prevent disastrous collapses by specifying that no mine can be more than 10 meters deep. Currently, the same laws that call on building contractors to wear protective gear and adequately reinforce construction applies to the mining business, but the laws don’t make specific provisions for deep mines. Mine Safety Foundation President Ming Wei Shin said his organization has been advocating for a tightening of the rules, and the mining industry and PMRF would “do everything in its power to prevent us from keeping miners close to the surface.” Ming said the latest case is the ninetieth incident this year.

Chief Chairwoman for Public Safety Mei Ting Yu said the PMRF has been uncooperative in refusing to restrict mines to a safe depth by citing the fact that the minerals being sought are far deeper. But the PMRF has even refused to study the possibility of strip-mining several hundred meters of earth and stone from above mines, which would allow the miners to reach deep deposits without having to be very far underground, Mei said.

Sounds completely ridiculous, doesn’t it? Obviously, it’s an uneven fit and therefore an inexact parallel, but I think it works well enough to make my point. Even though many thousands of times as many miners as porn actors become ill every year, even though the risk of being maimed is incalculably higher, and even though thousands of miners die horrible deaths (sometimes by slow starvation or suffocation), nobody proposes for even one second that the basic character of mining be changed to protect these men, nor questions the miner’s right to choose to risk the inherent dangers of the trade despite the fact that those risks are much greater, the conditions are far more difficult and the pay is ridiculously lower than in the adult film industry. Why? Why is it OK for poor, ignorant men to risk life, limb and health for a pittance in one of the most grueling jobs in the world, but not OK for educated Americans to accept a relatively low risk of chronic disease for good pay in a pleasant job?

Obviously, the reason is the same one which makes it acceptable for men to use their natural advantages to make a living, but “degrading” and “humiliating” for women to do the same thing. To the prudish mind, sex is a magical ritual which changes everything it touches, rendering minimal risks “unacceptable” and turning simple business transactions for service into “violence against women.” It’s time for the rational people of the world to recognize this primitive, childish taboo mentality for the ridiculous superstition it is, and to assign to those who espouse it the same credibility we allow to witch doctors, flat-earthers and those who claim the Egyptian pyramids were built by space aliens.

Read Full Post »

Cracks in the Dam

Posted in Current Events, Perception, Tyranny, tagged bad customers, bogus studies, brothels, Canada, dirty, law, neofeminism, New Zealand, prohibitionist myths, stereotypes, streetwalkers, Swedish model on October 14, 2010| 9 Comments »

Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he’d punch a hole in a dam
No one could make that ram scram
He kept buttin’ that dam. – Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen, “High Hopes”

In my column of September 29^th I reported that the Supreme Court of Ontario had at least temporarily struck down the asinine laws which make it impossible for prostitutes, whose profession is legal in Canada, to perform almost any professional activity without crossing into illegality. That decision will not take effect until two weeks from today, and even longer if the judge grants the Canadian federal government’s request to suspend her decision while the years-long appeal process grinds on and on, meaning current working prostitutes would probably be retired and past menopause before the decision actually takes effect if the government has its way. Which is, of course, what the politicians want; they keep hoping we’ll forget all this and go away, and failing that they hope to deter our progress until they retire from politics and leave the next generation to deal with us.

The Ontario decision represents only one tiny crack in a very large and solid dam, but many such tiny cracks can weaken even the toughest structure so that one day it may yield to other pressures upon it. And today I’m happy to report another such crack in the structure; just as the judge in Ontario “saw through the lies and the propaganda and the hysteria and actually listened to what three members of one of the last remaining oppressed groups on the face of the Earth had to say,” (if I may be allowed to quote myself), so two judges in British Columbia Tuesday overturned a sleazy colleague’s attempt to prevent a group of prostitutes from having their day in court there. This report is paraphrased from an article in the Vancouver Sun:

A group of sex workers in British Columbia has won the right to challenge Canada’s prostitution laws after another judge had dismissed their case on a technicality. In a 2-1 ruling Tuesday (October 12^th), the British Columbia Court of Appeal found that former Vancouver sex worker Sheryl Kiselbach and an association of Downtown Eastside sex workers have “standing” to challenge the constitutionality of Canada’s prostitution laws. The appellate court’s decision overturns a December, 2008 ruling from British Columbia Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke that the case couldn’t proceed because none of the plaintiffs were currently charged with any prostitution-related offences. Kiselbach’s lawyers appealed that decision, arguing it was unreasonable to expect active sex workers to come forward by name to challenge the law because they could face everything from public stigma to investigation by child-protection authorities. Because the Court of Appeal’s decision was split, the Canadian federal government has an automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, but messages left by the Vancouver Sun for the Department of Justice in Ottawa inquiring about that possible appeal were not immediately returned.

Sheryl Kiselbach

At a news conference Tuesday, Kiselbach said she was “pleased and relieved” with the Court of Appeal’s ruling; she said laws restricting prostitution make sex workers reluctant to report violence to police and make it harder to work indoors, where they would be safer. “I would like them to have options, to be able to work safely without fear of the law,” said Kiselbach, who left the sex trade in 2001.

Writing for the majority, Justice Mary Saunders noted that one of the reasons Kiselbach brought forward her case was the “notorious missing women investigation in Vancouver” and that challenging the law should not be overly difficult for vulnerable groups. Katrina Pacey, a lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society who is representing Kiselbach, said the court’s ruling should make it easier for other marginalized groups to bring court challenges in the future. “It’s absolutely paramount to have access to our court system,” said Pacey. “This is a case we think will have a broad impact.”

Last month Ontario’s Superior Court struck down the laws against running a bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living off the avails of prostitution, but that decision only applies in Ontario and the federal government has asked the judge to suspend her decision while it appeals. Nonetheless, Pacey said the Ontario ruling is “very encouraging” and noted many of the experts relied on in that case will be called on in British Columbia as well.

Following the Ontario ruling, prohibitionists and alarmists claimed that decriminalizing the sex industry could make Canada a haven for sex tourists and “traffickers,” but Pacey noted that decriminalization in other places such as New Zealand has made prostitutes’ lives safer while not leading to any great expansion of the industry. “It’s not like mega-mall brothels are opening on every street,” she said. Pacey said the goal of Kiselbach’s challenge is to improve the safety of sex workers, and noted that if decriminalized, prostitutes would be subject to the same workplace safety and employment laws of any other legal business.

Now, it’s possible and even likely that the case may go against the prostitutes, but at least they’ll have a chance to make their case rather than being gagged by a judge who intended to silence them. I suspect this case is going to be tougher than the one in Ontario; if three or four provinces all overturn the anti-prostitution laws the Canadian Supreme Court may be tempted to let the decisions stand, so the prohibitionists will be pulling out their big guns to shoot us down in British Columbia. Canadian politicians are just as sleazy, Canadian citizens just as ignorant and accepting of stereotypes and Canadian neofeminists just as rabid and dishonest as their American cousins, so striking down whore suppression legislation in Canada will still be an uphill battle despite the Ontario precedent. Consider, for instance, this collection of caustic lies written last week by Daphne Bramham, a neofeminist editorialist for the Vancouver Sun; you can practically see the foam on her lips as you read it. First she trots out the usual collection of made-up statistics I’ve already discussed (including the newest one, the outrageous lie that the average prostitute starts working at 14). Next she makes the bizarre statement “Selling sex is dehumanizing and soul-destroying to most of the people who do it. That’s not a moral judgment. It’s fact,” which any high-school student who has taken a class in critical thinking could deconstruct. She then proceeds to quote the anti-prostitution opinions of two neofeminist lawyers, one of whom helped draft a petition the anti-sex “Canadian Federation of University Women” sent to the Ottawa government a few months ago to demand that Canada adopt the “Nordic Model”, which pretends to “help” prostitutes by viciously persecuting their clients; Bramham refers to this brutal repression of human rights with the Orwellian phrase, “educating citizens that buying sex is violence and a violation of fundamental human rights.” The word you’re looking for is “re-educating”, Miss Bramham, as in “re-education camp”.

“Nordic model” propaganda pamphlet

But fortunately, indoctrinated anti-sex crusaders like Bramham are no longer the majority. As I discussed in my column of September 28^th, many of the more intelligent members of society now recognize the absurdity and tyranny of prostitution laws, and articles like this one by Monica Shores from the October 9^th Huffington Post (which could barely have been published twenty years ago) have become much more numerous. Read Bramham’s vulgar, head-spinning rant with its appeals to emotion and demands that the reader unequivocally accept the unqualified truth of its neofeminist dogma, and then read Shores’ calmly damning indictment of the neofeminist propagandists Bramham worships, and I think you’ll see why so many intelligent people have begun to turn against the witch-burners. Intellectually and morally speaking, the prohibitionists haven’t got a leg to stand on in a free society, so they are forced to resort to lies, fake statistics and “Think of the children!” alarmism in order to distract their audience from the little man behind the curtain, while all those promoting freedom of choice have to do is present the facts and encourage their readers to think for themselves.

Once those who recognize prostitution law for what it is, a brutal and tyrannical suppression of a woman’s right to have sex on her own terms, become the majority, politicians will be forced to relent as they have in so many other countries if they wish to remain in office. It isn’t going to happen soon; the Unholy Trinity of Big Brother, Fundamentalism and Neofeminism is powerful and entrenched and has public apathy and ignorance on its side. But slowly, over time, cracks will accumulate in that dam until the day when the ram succeeds in punching a hole in it and the whole oppressive structure comes down on the prohibitionists’ heads.

Read Full Post »

A Fictional Interlude for October

Posted in Fiction, The Dark Side, tagged archeofeminism, bad customers, brothels, ethics, imaginative fiction, pimps, Prohibition (alcohol), sisterhood on October 13, 2010| 11 Comments »

By popular demand (and thank you so much for letting me say that truthfully!) here is another little tale with a prostitute protagonist. Happy Halloween, dear readers…

Dry Spell

Every once in a while, things slow down for one reason or another; we are, after all, a luxury, and if the gentlemen have pressing things they must spend their money on, why then they haven’t got as much for things they might like to spend it on. Every girl who’s been in this business for a couple of years learns the seasonal variations and comes to expect the periodic unpredictable ones; one develops a philosophical attitude toward it. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,” as Ecclesiastes put it. “A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing…” that’s certainly the verse that applies here. But one might wish they wouldn’t refrain for quite so long. Because it has been a long dry spell indeed, probably the longest one I’ve ever seen.

Oh, I knew it would be when we heard about the stock market crashing on the radio; all the girls sat around listening, and though most of the younger ones didn’t really understand what was happening Madam Theresa tried to explain it to them. I didn’t understand it all as well as Madam did, but I knew enough to know that we were in trouble. Though she tried to hide it Madam was plenty worried; enough of her money was tied up in stocks that her financial future (and with it ours) was in considerable doubt, and since most of our clients were businessmen even the ones who weren’t ruined were not going to have any money to spend on good-time girls for quite a while.

I wish I had been wrong, but I wasn’t. Madam put on a brave face: We were all set for the “holiday slump” anyhow, she reminded us; it’s just starting a few weeks early this year is all. Why, by mid-January things will start to pick up just like they always do. And though this made the young ones feel better, one doesn’t get to be top girl in a first-class bordello without knowing how to read people; I knew that Madam didn’t believe a word she was saying. She told me in secret that she was determined to ride this thing out and support all the girls for as long as need be; no girl of hers was going to be turned out on the street, she said. And I knew she meant it, but I also knew that good intentions don’t put bread on the table.

And as the weeks became months, what was on the table gradually dwindled to not much more than bread. Fortunately Madam owned her house outright, but there were taxes to be paid and bills for electricity and telephone service and gas and water, and unlike us the staff were on salary; all that left precious little for meat and extras. But since we had recently taken a big shipment of imported liquor drink was not in short supply, and it pained me to see that by springtime Madam was rarely without a glass in her hand.

We still had a few faithful regulars; some were rich men who passed the crisis unscathed, others had spread their wealth more carefully than most and so were still doing all right, and a few were in professions or owned businesses which people always need no matter what. But even they did not spend as freely as they once did, and though I was not privy to Madam’s business affairs I can do sums well enough to know that she was falling behind every month. Before too long Madam was no longer wearing some of her more expensive jewelry, and original paintings and antique furniture were quietly and gradually replaced by prints and modern furniture. The less popular girls went back to their families or took whatever menial work they could get, and even a few of the popular girls decided they were better off being kept by bankers or bootleggers than having to go without nice clothes and perfume. By summertime things seemed to stabilize, though at a much lower level than before; there was enough business to support the girls who were left, and though Madam couldn’t have been making much I don’t believe she was losing money, either. If things had stayed that way I think it would have eventually been OK, but apparently Fate had decreed otherwise.

See, up until the Crash we had a good relationship with the local mob; Madam bought their liquor and provided the bigwigs with hospitality and everyone was happy. But I guess they were hurting like most people, so they gradually started getting a lot more demanding than in the old days. Madam didn’t like to air her dirty laundry in front of the girls, but I’m not deaf and gangsters aren’t known for their discretion. First they took issue with our smaller liquor orders, then they wanted girls to “service” some of the lower echelons, and then they actually started demanding a cut of her nearly-nonexistent profits. Eventually things degenerated completely, and the boss left in a huff one night, yelling that Madam would soon wish she had “been smart.”

Later that night I awoke to the smell of smoke and shouts of “Fire!” from downstairs; I ran down and joined our cook, Tillie, in beating it with blankets while her husband Jake, our handyman, got the water hose. It seemed to take Jake forever, and I wondered if the gangsters who had set the fire (an “accident” so soon after that warning was just too convenient to be believable) had also stolen or cut the hose. By the time he got there the whole kitchen was full of smoke and I couldn’t see a thing, but eventually we did get it out (though the kitchen was utterly ruined).

Madam had wisely continued our fire insurance even through the hard times, so it was soon repaired, yet nothing was ever the same again. It was as though the fire had burned out Madam’s spirit; she started drinking again as she had right after the crash, and cried a great deal. And though she still talked to me as much as she ever had, it seemed as though she would not listen to my answers; she was lost in her own little world. While I had previously been the most popular girl in the house, now it seemed as though the clients were suddenly uninterested in me; they just passed me by, and none even wanted to talk to me. Sometimes they even got up and moved to a different part of the room when I sat down next to them; it’s enough to cause a girl to seriously doubt herself. But I won’t, I won’t…it’s just a dry spell, and it will end; they always do. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and…and…

“So you think this is the one?” David asked, examining the old photograph and then glancing at the typed pages in the folder. “Beatrice Elaine Becket, August 16^th, 1901 to October 13^th, 1931. Why her? Nobody’s ever seen her clearly, after all.”

“Just an educated guess,” said Dr. Wayne. “Of all the former residents of this house, she’s the only one known to have actually died on the premises, and the disturbances began only a few months later.”

The graduate student was still leafing through the papers in the file. “So this was a whorehouse, right? And this chick was one of the whores?”

The older man frowned. “A little respect for the dead if you please, David. Yes, it was a brothel, the finest in the city in its day. But after the Crash of ’29 its fortunes dwindled, and after Beatrice’s death the Madam became an alcoholic and the place really ran down until it was closed after a police raid in 1936.”

“She was really attached to the girl, huh?”

“Yes, and blamed herself for her death. The local crime boss was putting considerable pressure on her and she was resisting, so they lit a fire as a warning. It was probably just intended to scare her into capitulating but it got out of control, and when Beatrice tried to help put it out she was overcome by the smoke. The cook, Matilda Johnson, is still alive; I interviewed her last week and she still cries when she talks about that night.”

“So, Doc, what do you think she wants? Revenge on the guys who lit the fire?”

“You’ve been reading too many ghost stories. Look at the facts; this is a very gentle sort of manifestation, not like a vengeance-driven haunting at all. She usually appears as nothing more than a warm spot or a scent of jasmine, but some witnesses have reported a sense of physical proximity as well.”

“In other words, they feel as though someone’s standing or sitting next to them.”

“Exactly. Maybe we’ll make a parapsychologist out of you yet.”

David smirked, and then asked “So, are we going to bring Maria in on this one?”

“No, not this time,” said Dr. Wayne. “In 44 years this apparition has never appeared in the immediate presence of a woman; whatever her motivation may be, it seems both benign and entirely focused on adult men.”

Read Full Post »

An Older Profession Than You May Have Thought

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, tagged animals, apes & monkeys, archeofeminism, bad customers, BDSM, ethics, marriage, naturalness, Older Than You Thought, semen, yin and yang on October 12, 2010| 11 Comments »

Not every woman is a prostitute, but prostitution is the natural apotheosis of the feminine attitude. – Georges Bataille

One of the fascinatingly stupid statements prohibitionists sometimes make about prostitution is that it is “unnatural”. I assume this is some alternate meaning of the word “unnatural” with which I am unfamiliar; apparently in this case it means “something the speaker dislikes.” Prostitution, based as it is on the ancient and pre-human principle of barter, is a helluva lot more natural than marriage and a lot of other things these silly asses have no issue with, and it has been observed in several other species besides ours.

How can that be, you might ask, when only humans have money? If you think that, it’s because you fail to understand what money actually is. It is true that only humans have currency, which is a symbolic representation of money, but all species which rely on some limited resource such as food do indeed have money, though we may not call it that. And when a female gives sex to a male in order to obtain some of his resources via a direct barter transaction, she has performed an act of prostitution. For a good example of this we need look no farther than our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.

Like humans, chimpanzees are naturally omnivorous; they need both animal and vegetable food to be healthy, and though the vegetable matter is easily obtained and therefore cheap, chimps will go to considerable lengths to add animal protein to their diet. One way in which they do this is by “fishing” for ants or termites by inserting long sticks into their nests and licking off the insects which climb onto the stick, but as you can imagine this requires a great deal of effort for very little satisfaction. Larger animals are therefore valuable to the chimp who can catch them, and since chimps particularly relish the meat of small monkeys these are especially valuable. Researchers have observed male chimp hunters sharing such a kill with their friends, and when a female chimp sees a male doing this she may approach him to offer sex, receiving in payment a piece of the precious meat. Female primate offers male primate sex in direct exchange for a small portion of his resources; that sure sounds like prostitution to me!

Taking this shared behavior into consideration, it seems likely that the “world’s oldest profession” is much older than most people might imagine; five million years older, in fact, since that is the age of our last common ancestor with the chimp. It has even been suggested that the universal human custom of a male offering a female food as part of courtship (whether in the form of a primitive hunter bringing her a kill or a modern man taking her to dinner) may also descend from the ancient food-for-sex transaction; it is merely more thoroughly disguised by ritual than prostitution is. Another exact parallel can be seen in the fact that male chimps who share meat with females even when they aren’t looking for sex (i.e. wealthy, generous ones) mate more often and with a better selection than those who are poor and/or stingy.

Nor are primates the only creatures ever to evolve the pragmatic money-for-sex transaction; Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) have their own independent tradition, using their own scarce resource as a medium of exchange. These penguins usually mate for life, and in mating season each couple builds a nest of stones to keep their eggs warm and dry. The entire flock clusters in one area with those of highest social rank in the center, while low-status single males are pushed to the periphery just as they are in many other species (including humans). Ironically, this puts the single males in a good position to find choice stones because the center of the area gets picked over quickly. The bachelors therefore build nests themselves, then sit in them and wait.

What happens next is this; if a couple within the flock cannot find sufficient stones to complete a nest, the husband will remain behind to guard the incomplete nest from stone-thieves while his wife waddles off to find a horny bachelor sitting on a pile of good nesting stones. She then flirts with him in her penguiny fashion and if he responds she presents herself for mating; after he takes what he wants he allows her to take a choice stone and waddle back to her nest with it. Some bachelors demand sex for each stone, while other clients allow their harlots to return for as many stones as they like without having to put out again. But not all of these penguin prostitutes are honest ones; some are actually practitioners of cash-and-dash! One of these nasty little trollops will tease her victim until he jumps off his nest to have her, then she grabs one of his rocks and runs! If he catches her he will beat her and reclaim his stone, but some of them do manage to get away. As in human society, the honest version of the transaction is advantageous to all parties; the female gets resources she needs, and the male gets sex he otherwise would not have. A penguin whore will often go back to the same clients again and again, and if her husband dies before the next breeding season (which happens quite often in the harsh and dangerous Antarctic environment) she will usually choose one of her regulars as her new husband.

Obviously, it’s a mistake to attribute anything remotely resembling human thoughts and motives to invertebrates, but there are a few arthropods whose behavior does sort of resemble prostitution in a superficial way, and besides it’s the Halloween season so I think some attention to creepy-crawlies is in order. Insects and spiders don’t experience anything like what we would call “pleasure”; their nervous systems are of an extremely primitive order and they are not in any way conscious of any motivation for doing the things they do. But when the complexities are stripped away, male bugs seek sex for the same reason as their two- and four-legged counterparts: In order to impregnate females and thereby pass on their genetic legacy. The only difference is that more complex creatures cannot simply be programmed to act in a certain way; Nature had to find some better means to motivate higher animals than “Because I’m the Mother, that’s why!” And so sexual pleasure was born, and until the invention of birth control made non-reproductive sex a reality males were induced to do Nature’s work by seeking to gratify their own desires.

Many arthropods don’t even have sex in the sense we understand it; males merely generate a sperm packet which they try to attach to the female’s body without her noticing, and given sufficient time the sperm passes through her pores and enters her reproductive system. If the female discovers this insect “cumshot” on her body she will simply eat it, and though human males might find this exciting it doesn’t do anything for the more pragmatic and instinctive sensibilities of male insects. Some species of cricket have therefore developed a kind of prostitution transaction; the male gives the female a big bag of food, and while she’s busy eating it he attaches his sperm and relies on her being too busy with her dinner to remove the packet until it’s already too late. Some of these crickets are the equivalent of deceptive human men who try to pad the envelope with low-denomination bills secreted among the large ones; they gather large quantities of low-nutrition food and hope the females don’t notice how cheap they are.

Some species of flies have a similar strategy, though their sex actually involves a form of copulation which takes 5-20 minutes; the longer the act, the higher the chance of proper insemination, so the larger the food donation the longer the female is kept busy eating it and the longer she will let him have her, thus the higher the chance his genes will be passed on. Flies who are “wealthier” (i.e. better at food-gathering) have a better choice of mates and more generous clients get to buy larger blocks of ladies’ time, just as in human society.

Female spiders are generally much larger than males of their species, so their relationship could be viewed as the arachnid equivalent of a client seeking a dominatrix. Unlike human dominatrices these ladies give full service, but among redback spiders (Latrodectus hasselti, cousins of the black widow) the price is so high that this type of session is literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Everyone knows that black widows generally kill and eat their mates, but their males at least attempt to escape after the “wedding”; the male redback, on the other hand, is the ultimate masochist of the arthropod world. In order to ensure that his sperm will have time to inseminate the femme fatale of his choice, he attaches his packet to her abdomen and then literally dives into her mouth, ensuring that she will be occupied in devouring him until it is far too late to remove the sperm. Talk about paying the ultimate price! Most human men like having part of their anatomy in a woman’s mouth, but IMHO the redbacks carry this to extremes.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Visit my bookstore
This Month
October 2010

S M T W T F S

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

« Sep Nov »
Old Posts
Old Posts
Call me

Enter your email address to follow "The Honest Courtesan"; you'll be notified by email whenever Maggie posts something new.

Email Address
Become a Blog Patron

If you want to donate but don't want a recurring charge, you can send any amount you like via PayPal to my email address (see below). Be sure to include a note so I can thank you!
Contact Maggie

If you’d like to ask me a question, click here.

If you made a comment and it doesn’t appear within a few hours, click on this one.

If you’d like to alert me to an interesting item, use this one.

And if you have a request, bouquet or brickbat or just want to introduce yourself, this is the one for you.
A Few References
Boring but necessary legal stuff

All original content on this website (i.e. all of my columns, pages and anything else which I write myself) is protected under international copyright law as of the time it is posted; though you may link to it as you please or quote passages (as long as you attribute the quote to me), please do not reproduce whole columns without my express written permission. In other words, you have to say “pretty please with sugar on top” first, and then wait for me to say “okey-dokey”.

Frank commentary from a semi-retired call girl

Archive for October, 2010

Visit my bookstore

This Month

Old Posts

Call me

Become a Blog Patron

Contact Maggie

A Few References

Boring but necessary legal stuff