What do you call men who take money from prostitutes? Magistrates. – Slogan from the English Collective of Prostitutes
Prohibitionists simply adore pimps. After all, if there were no pimps, it would be a great deal harder for them to convince Mr. and Mrs. Average that prostitution was something other than a victimless “crime”. But because pimps do exist, the antis (whether neofeminist, politician, cop, Christian or trafficking-fetishist) have a ready-made bogeyman upon whom they can hang claims that all prostitutes are “trafficked slaves”. There’s only one problem, though; there simply aren’t enough pimps to go around, even using the criminally vague standards favored by the antis. So in order to rectify this situation, some dedicated politicians have stepped into the breach in order to address this terrible pimp shortage by making money off of whores without giving them anything in return (which is as good a working definition of “pimp” as I can imagine).
This is nothing new; since at least Roman times many governments have set themselves up as pimps by charging disproportionately-high license fees (not to mention fines, taxes, etc) to prostitutes; in many of these jurisdictions the police were allowed to set and charge these fees at will, with the money going directly to the police (or to individual policemen). And of course many of these cops took the traditional pimp privilege of raping whores at will (and many still do). But modern governments prefer to do things more subtly, and besides there are those pesky human rights activists and civil rights attorneys running around everywhere interfering in traditional police privileges. So politicians are turning to more subtle (not to mention profitable) forms of pimping. The State of Nevada of course pioneered this more subtle modern approach, and I’ve discussed other recent efforts in previous posts on several dates. But here are two new examples, one an attempt to pimp an untapped market and the other a clever and sleazy maneuver by an aspiring politician.
The first came by way of the Associated Press last Thursday (March 31st) and continues the saga of condom fetishists attempting to force the porn industry to cater to their peculiar preferences:
California workplace safety officials have fined Larry Flynt’s Hustler Video and another porn producer for not using condoms on set to protect sex performers from exposure to disease. Hustler faces $14,175 in fines for three violations, including failure to provide condoms or other protective equipment, according to a Division of Occupational Safety and Health citation provided to The Associated Press Wednesday. Hustler “failed to ensure the use of appropriate personal protective equipment, such as condoms” to protect its employees from semen, vaginal excretions and blood in the course of producing adult videos, according to the citation. The current fines are based on the same section of state law that also requires hospitals to provide nurses with protective gear…Flynt has said in the past that audiences don’t want to watch porn in which actors use condoms. Hustler was also fined for failing to maintain a written injury and illness policies and for failing to provide workers with vaccines for hepatitis C. Hustler’s citation stems from a Sept. 14 inspection of a jobs site in response to a complaint from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation…Forsaken Pictures faces $12,150 in fines for similar violations. The fines were issued March 9…
To porn producers, fines of this size are like parking tickets to individuals: annoying, but not really harmful. And this exposes Los Angeles’ game, because if the fines were really painful the porn industry might decide to relocate, then the gravy train would stop. Clearly the state, city and county have no intention to bleed the industry heavily enough to actually hurt it; they’re just using the ridiculous complaints of Michael Weinstein and his condom fetishist pals as a convenient excuse to extract a few more pimp fees. If the authorities were really concerned about “protecting” porn actors, they’d be trying to do something about the privacy leak.
This sort of behavior from officials doesn’t get me angry; after all, it’s the sort of thing one expects from government officials. What does anger me is when a whore-turned-politician panders to trafficking fetishists by mouthing blatant lies in order to advance herself at the expense of her sisters:
…Ex-Madam Kristin Davis, who supplied high priced call girls for former Governor Eliot Spitzer, said she will jump in the 2013 New York City Mayor’s Race if the former Governor… makes a bid…“If Spitzer throws his black socks in the ring I may have to throw in my lacy brassiere” said Davis who once ran the most successful high end escort service in US history. “I had pretty much decided to focus on the sex trafficking issue and not to run for public office again,” said Davis. “I am working to take the GOLD program, put forward by an advocacy group in Miami to combat sex trafficking nationwide.” Davis kicked off Hope House, a New York based non-profit to fight the conscription of women into prostitution last month. “The women who worked for me chose to be sex workers,” said Davis. “80% of the women working as escorts are doing so against their will,” said Davis. “Until prostitution is decriminalized we must provide an escape from this life for thousands of young women”…
Back in February I called Davis on the carpet for her ludicrous claim that escorts make up only “5% of the world of prostitution…” and though she seems to have increased that to 20% she’s now blatantly claiming the other 80% are coerced, when she knows damned well that’s an outrageous lie. This obvious attempt to suck up to the prohibitionists makes me so freaking angry that I’m going to let Kelly James say the rest for me (courtesy of this link to her column of March 31st) before I say something even more unladylike than I already have.
“if there were no pimps, it would be a great deal harder for them to convince Mr. and Mrs. Average that prostitution was something other than a victimless “crime””
I think Ms. Average will always be against prostitution for a simple reason: it threatens her. If prostitution were legal, then wives and girlfriends would have to treat their men a lot better than they do. In effect they would have less power over their men. If there is anything modern feminists hate is a lack of “empowerment”.
Call me Mr Silly, but I’ve always gotten the distinct impression Ms Average only considers us whores in hypothetical terms (if at all). Ms Average assumes, after all, that since everyone knows* that hookers are disadvantaged, poverty-stricken druggies they are naturally very far removed from her own personal sphere of day-to-day interactions.
Just throwing that out there for interest, much like the parsley you find on your dinner plate.
However, this…
Fixed that for you.
*Ye gods, don’t get me started.
Did you ever read Penn and Teller’s How To Play With Your Food? I highly recommend it to any P&T fans. In it they describe what they call “the Parsley Game”, developed in response to far too many restaurant meals while on tour. They describe it thus:
They describe elaborate variations on the game (such as paying the waiter to tell one of the diners he has a phone call) and even mention one instance where, when a car came through the window of the restaurant in which they were dining, Teller and another member of their group went into “parsley defense position” rather that reacting with shock as most of the other diners did. 😀
I haven’t, and it sounds as if I’ve been deprived in my loss.
I tell you, my only beef with the disparaged parsley sprig is that it isn’t cilantro. Both palate-cleansing and a much more interesting choice.
/food porn
I eat the parsley after the meal. It’s good for the breath. I’d rather not have cilantro so much as touch my food.
Since early childhood I have honed my parsley evading skills into a fine art… 😉
Please note there’s women who won’t have ANY part of prostitution themselves but are FOR decriminalization. I’m 1 of these. It’s 1 of the reasons I started posting here. I won’t have any part of it PERSONALLY for at least a few reasons. I’m also a Christian (but I thought all we Christians pretty much do all day is persecute, order around, etc., prostitutes and everyone else who chooses not to have a conservative sex life…I don’t do this…HHHHMMM…how can that be? (eyeroll)) and we need to speak out also to break the mentality that all of us are doing what I just put in ( ). Yes, some women can be against it personally and in general for the reason you named. But, there’s also women that are against it personally for more than this 1 reason. Thanks for listening.
Walenty,
I have the personal theory that the reason women are so nice to men here in Germany is partly because of the widespread, legal, seemingly inexpensive by UK/US standards, of prostitution. Maybe it’s not the only reason. I find eastern european the nicest. I have never been treated as well by the general population of women as I have here. And I have travelled to a lot of places.
I understood Davis said that 80% of *escorts* are coerced, not having made any statement on the escorts vs other prostitutes ratio? Or have I misread the quote and Maggie’s words just below which seem to state that Davis now says 20% of all prostitutes are escorts, and the other 80% (i.e. all other prostitutes) are coerced. Whichever Davis believes sounds silly, but I am now confused as to which it is.
It seems that she is interchanging her terminology, which I’m also guilty of, but in this case it’s definitely confusing.
Yeah, she said 80% of escorts are coerced, which as she is well aware is 99 44/100% pure bullshit. 🙁
There is another breed of women — and men — who are anti-prostitution. These are the programmed church robots who still hold the Victorian idea that women don’t really like sex and only have it out of obligation. So it stands to reason that if they have to have sex for money, it’s sort of a double whammy.
I grew up in a Catholic family and this is the prevailing way some of them think.
I’m not sure who came up with the new “sex trafficking” meme, but it sure is sticking around, isn’t it? Every year there’s a new media-generated “terror” to contend with, and I guess this is the new trendy one, replacing the non-existent abuse of Robitussin.
What I want to know is why Tiger Woods was never busted for trafficking since having his creepy mistresses follow him around for money fits the definition.
Just a note: there are people who consume Robitussin for the psychedelic effects of dextromethorphan (DXM). Here’s a video about it from Kristal Cole (the Neurosoup girl):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrvFqDfuna0
Please note that Krystal is Laura’s favorite Internet personality ever. 😉
“Favorite”-GGGGGRRRR…lol!
Yes, you’re 100% right that there ARE these Christians you’re describing. It’s very sad because even though the Bible does limit what believers can do sexually these Christians take that to a sick extreme. You’re also right about the programming. The Bible tells believers to use their minds all the time but the false preachers say the opposite. Sad and dangerous. I think 1 reason for it is it’s an easy way out and some like that way of life. I personally think the Catholic Church is the worst in the sexual area with stuff like not letting priests marry plus the lies they put out about the Virgin Mary. So, yes, you’re right about these Christians, but there’s also 1’s who aren’t that way and am very glad for that!
and i know someone who suggests ashton kutcher needs to be saved from his sex slavery to demi moore…
LOL, too true! 😀
I’ll SAVE him!!! For his own good of course… has nothing to do with that smile or tight little tushie 🙂
thanks for linking that Maggie!
It was well-deserved! 🙂
“The women who worked for me chose to be sex workers,” said Davis.
“80% of the women working as escorts are doing so against their will,” said Davis.
Hysterical. She NEVER coerced one of her girls to date a man that she really didn’t want to but 80% of the rest are working against their will?
In Germany if a prostitute does not want to be a prostitute she can always sit at a cash register for Aldi. There are plenty of jobs at Aldi.
Maybe the fact she will get EUR800/month for sitting at a cash register and maybe EUR10-20K per month for being a prostitute might have something to do with the ‘coercion’ of becoming a prostitute.
But coming from an ex madam? This is all the more ludicrous.
that was fucking classic and will be included in my now very long soon to be published response to the Madam
Simple statement. Why do women get paid for sex? Because they can.
Very disappointing comments from Davis.
This woman knows better than this.