Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact. – Marlene Dietrich
A collection of short, only tangentially related articles from elsewhere on the internet.
Actually, This Is Good News
The Dutch government has announced that it plans to start collecting sales and income taxes on prostitution. And while some Dutch whores are unhappy about it, they’re not looking at the big picture. Taxation is a drug to government; once it becomes used to a “fix” of a certain level it will not under any circumstances voluntarily sever that income stream. Nevada realizes this, which is why it has steadfastly refused to tax legal prostitution in its state. Once a government becomes addicted to the revenue generated by harlotry, prohibitionists can kiss any chance of recriminalization goodbye, so they are the staunchest opponents of taxing prostitutes and we should be among the staunchest proponents of it.
Doublethink in Modesto
Brandy Devereaux recently reported on a police “sting” of streetwalkers’ clients in Modesto, California in which 26 men were arrested. But Modesto is apparently affected by a strange kind of doublethink, because the story contains the following paragraph:
Prostitution is a victimless crime; the charges and fines are often minor. “What are you doing tonight,” but what these women see from the men they meet behind closed doors can be revealing. And, strangely enough the prostitutes become valuable crime fighting tools. “They’ll get the license plate on these individuals. And, when we end up running them we come to find out their sexual predators, violent sexual offenders and they’re not supposed to be around any of this,” says Deputy Marc Nuno during a brief break from patrol.
If this attitude is the norm in the Modesto police department, why the hell was public money spent on a sting? If Deputy Nuno isn’t just stating his own opinion and Modesto cops recognize that hookers can help them catch sexual predators, why on Earth are they harassing these women and trying to hurt their business? Why not grant them amnesty and ask for their help?
Sex Workers Against Trafficking
This short advertisement from SWOP Chicago was recently disseminated on SWOP, Bound, Not Gagged and a number of other sites. This isn’t news to any of my regular readers, but I think it deserves as widespread exposure as possible in answer to the trafficking fanatics who constantly classify all sex workers as either enslaved victims or enslaving “pimps”.
I Really Shouldn’t Even LOOK At an Issue of Cosmopolitan
No, I don’t read it. But sometimes one finds oneself waiting in a slow line at Wal-Mart, or for the nurse to call one’s name for a doctor’s appointment, or for one’s nails to dry, and the only other magazines available are Sports Illustrated, People and a copy of Highlights for Children one has already read. At that point, if your name is Maggie McNeill you sigh and open up the nearby issue of Cosmo…and immediately begin to chuckle, roll your eyes, say “yeah, right!” or even laugh out loud at the magazine’s juvenile, absurd and often ass-backward ideas on sex advice. Over the years I’ve discovered that Cosmo’s “sex tricks” tend to fall into five main categories:
1) The completely bloody obvious;
2) Basic stuff I’ve known since I was 16;
3) Retreads of things they’ve suggested 6,234 times before;
4) Things far too complicated to be remotely practical; and
5) Things that would have no worthwhile effect on 90% of men.
And then there’s the “advice” whose stupidity defies analysis, like the one I remember from the early ’90s in which the writer claimed one could have sex with a man without letting him see one’s behind. Yes, she clearly believed it was not only possible but desirable; the mind boggles. I’m not going to go into detail about the cover collection linked above, but I am compelled to comment on two language issues: First, the term is “buck naked”, not “butt naked”; and second, if I ever see the term “va-jay-jays” on a magazine cover again I shall not be responsible for my actions.
Raise Your Hand if You’re Tired of Hearing About Silvio Berlusconi
Talk about “Dog Bites Man”; he’s an Italian politician, yet everyone keeps acting surprised that he has a history of consorting with hookers. Am I missing something? Fellow whores, seriously; do any of you girls find this any less of a yawn-fest than I do?
Why Would You Want To?
OK, I understand nobody wants to be fired. And maybe I’m prejudiced because I’ve never had any trouble getting jobs. But honestly, would you want to work at a place that didn’t want you? My mind boggles at the concept of trying to force an employer to keep me on rather than just going someplace else, especially if the employer had a certain “look” it was trying to maintain and I violated that look. Perhaps it’s pride, but this is just too much like begging for me to be comfortable with it. I reckon it’s part of the Cult of Victimhood, but I just can’t imagine wanting to be known as someone who got fired from a strip club for being too old. Why not just go to a regular restaurant? This rather reminds me of the guys who try to get jobs as “Hooters girls”.
Sweden’s Ultra-progressive Views on Women
We’ve talked before about the various asinine ways in which cops and prosecutors imagine they can infallibly determine which women are prostitutes, and we’ve also discussed the manner in which the Swedish Pimpocracy uses women while proclaiming its support for our rights. So it may interest you to know that two Swedish footballers were recently convicted of paying for sex on the grounds that they “should” have known the girls were prostitutes “on account of their clothing and make-up and the fact that they spoke English with a thick accent.” If I didn’t know that Sweden is such a champion of women’s rights, I might be tempted to call that…well, misogynistic. Good thing I know better.
Yes! If you want the support of the public then by God you better be willing to suffer under the same oppressive burdens that they are subjected to. Declaring that you shouldn’t be taxed like everyone else gives most people the impression that you think you’re special.
When I lived in San Francisco, I couldn’t always tell who was a hooker. Hell, sometimes I couldn’t even tell which ones were women.
Sweden has so fallen into female stereotype that now the government is declaring, “She shouldn’t have to tell you; you should have known!”
Indeed, Maggie and Dave! From a local perspective, and from what I’ve been able to see from the media, it seems that what the prostitutes are afraid of (asides from the obvious pain of having to pay taxes–and they are high here; a little more than 1/2 of my salary goes away to all kinds of taxes) is that this might be an indirect attempt to make prostitution more difficult (= more bureaucracy, less money), less attractive, and therefore either diminish the size of the sector or drive those too impatient to deal with taxes into illegal prostitution, thereby making the sector look more problematic and giving ammunition to anti-prostitution activists. But I think they’re wrong, for precisely the same reasons both of you guys point out.
Jeeeeeeezzzzzzzuuuusssssss!
I am really starting to feel sorry for Swedish men here. Pretty soon they won’t be able to make love to anything but their left hands.
Do you think there will be a breaking point where Swedish men say, enough is enough?
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. – Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)
Even though the situation sounds bad when you concentrate on facts like prostitution law, most people aren’t really affected by it. I’ve talked to several Swedish colleagues, and when I mention the ‘problems’ that men have in Sweden they laugh and tell me that it’s not that hard. (It’s a bit like those MRA’s who claim that the draft in the US is discriminatory. Indeed it is — but it doesn’t really affect anyone’s life right now, so most people don’t even notice it.)
Or even the opposite effect to the intended one. I keep remembering this column I read on some woman’s blog several years ago who claimed she had tried a couple of things from Cosmo, with comic results. The idea “give him a blowjob with your mouth full of champaign” resulted in him shouting “stop! the bubbles hurt!”, and the idea of “while on a hiking expediction, find a smooth stone near the creek and then place it against his perineum while he is trying to penetrate you” ended up being a mood-killer: the guy stopped, a weird look on his face and some faint associations with homosexuality (‘what are you doing down there, and why exactly now?’).
The funny thing about Hedman’s case (one of the two Sweedish footballers) is that the argument that ‘he should have known’ the women were hookers implies that prostitutes don’t have the right to have sex, even if money isn’t part of the equation (apparently there is no evidence that Hedman ever paid for it). It would seem to follow from the “he-should-have-known” argument that “we all know” that prostitutes only have sex for money, so if you have sex with one you’re paying her even if you didn’t… which basically implies that prostitutes never even have the right to have sex the way other women do, for free. Now isn’t that really feminist? 🙂
I note that this case had repercussions. In the same website there’s this article by author Jan Söderqvist arguing that this is an example of why the laws about purchasing sex in Sweden must be changed. If this debate picks up some momentum (and if a few more cases happen that embarrass the Swedish “state feminists”), one may see changes in the law.
Left hand? Well, crap. That’s just one more thing I’ve been doing wrong all my life. 🙂
So have I! 🙂
Speaking of arguments against the Swedish Model on prostitution and sex, I wonder if you guys know this video about a woman’s shelter organization in Sweden, ROKS, and its borderline insane ideology. This is a short part of a longer video called Könskriget (Gender War), which has several parts and which you can see in the side bar.
The original video in Swedish is a bit old (from 2005, I think), and apparently it did have some consequences, as YouTube User Eopyk describes in this other video.
Wow, I watched the videos. It’s surprising that a perspective like that could be taken seriously. It’s almost like a feminist version of the KKK.
To a certain extent it is, Dave. It’s this holier-than-thou certainty that “we know everything” and “we know who the good and bad guys (gals?) are, so don’t even try to inform us, thank you” that one finds depressingly often in activisms, taken a bit farther than the usual because of success in Sweden — even the center-right parties have aligned with the general view that the problem is the johns, says Söderqvist.
Closed-mind people are a pain. Especially when they get power, even if only a little bit.
So you’re a “right-y”, right Dave? Somebody outta do some research on masturbation.
I detest COSMO and have since I saw the First copy!
Joyce
Strip club waitresses have good “regulars” too. Safe bet a 60 yr old has put enough time into one club to be making double or triple the tips (from said regulars) as she’d earn starting from scratch at another club.
Times are tough. Being forced out of a job where you’ve established a serious regular customer base can be a major hit to your income. And unlike the strippers she works with, HER regulars may not be willing to follow her to another club. Sometimes not even a stripper’s regulars want to change clubs so what are the odds a waitress’ regs will??
I love your blog and the way you think, but seems to me you were pretty dismissive here.
I’m sure you’re right, Casey; I knew there was something I wasn’t considering, which is why I prevaricated so much in that section. I just couldn’t see what I was missing, and I think you hit it. 🙂
Hello Ladies,
On the TAX issue. Always pay some taxes. You MUST justify your life style. I always had a CPA and listed myseld as an Adult Entertainer. The IRS does not care where you got your money as long as they get their share.
Joyce
I think your annoyance at ‘butt naked’ vs ‘buck naked’ reveals the generational gap between you and the target reader of cosmo magazine … it’s not a term I’d ever use myself, but as a 20 year old I definitely recognise ‘butt naked’. ‘Buck naked’ is not something I’ve heard before.
Oh and I’m pretty sure that phrase first came into my consciousness upon hearing the song ‘It wasn’t me’ by Shaggy, so this might be all his fault.
It might have been Shaggy, but it wasn’t me. 😉
I first heard “butt naked” in 1996. It was one Olympic runner talking about another, in Atlanta.