Fantasy consists in a morbid fascination with unrealities, which secretly transforms itself into a desire to make them real. – Roger Scruton
One year ago today I published “Good Fantasy, Bad Reality”, about a Missouri case in which Ed and Marilyn Bagley were accused of torturing a young woman in extreme BDSM activities; the Bagleys say the activities were consensual, a view supported by several witnesses. Were these people twisted monsters, inexperienced dominants who overstepped their bounds, foolish kinksters who failed to recognize that their sub was mentally disturbed enough to betray them under the influence of her family, or some combination of the three? No matter what happens in court, the truth may never be known because it’s a sure bet every single person involved – defendants, alleged victim, witnesses, cops, prosecutors and even “expert witnesses” – is going to lie in an attempt to sell the jury his own version.
From the viewpoint of the American media, the truth isn’t even important; lurid fantasies of “trafficked sex slaves” are much more interesting to the hoi-polloi than Rashomon realities, so you can bet that any story involving prostitution or BDSM (or both, as this one does) is going to do its level best to make the “criminal” look malevolent and the “victim” look helpless. Nowadays this is generally accomplished by claiming she was either a “child” or “mentally handicapped”; it was both in this case, and the cops in the Maurice and Toni Johnson case invoked both by claiming the alleged victim “functions on the level of a 10-year-old”. But when neither claim is remotely credible, the yellow journalist can always fall back on “economically disadvantaged”, and if the so-called “victims” have brown skins and cross an international border to work, our reporter has hit the racist, paternalistic jackpot. Women from developing countries can be portrayed as childlike, unsophisticated and economically disadvantaged, thus denying them agency and setting the stage for benevolent Americans to “rescue” them. The truth, of course, is that most of them neither need nor want to be “saved”, and patronizing American demands that they be robbed of a livelihood “for their own good” show exactly how out of touch with reality politicians, moralists and neofeminists actually are. And that’s what makes this two part-article by USC sociology professor Rhacel Salazar Parrenas (which appeared in Business Week on October 12th and 13th) so very satisfying:
A decade ago, the U.S. government determined that apart from terrorism, the gravest threat to democracy in the world was human trafficking…congressional hearings focused attention on what was said to be the forced labor, debt bondage and coerced migration of 800,000 individuals, 80 percent of whom supposedly were women and children, throughout the world…[and especially] in the sex industry. The hearings culminated in…the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000…[which] requires the U.S. Department of State to submit to Congress an annual…Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report — describing the efforts of foreign governments to eliminate human trafficking. A country that fails to take significant actions receives a “Tier 3” assessment, which can trigger the withholding of…assistance from the U.S.
According to the 2004 report, Filipinas who work as hostesses in clubs in Japan constituted the world’s largest group of sex-trafficked persons, making up more than 10 percent of those 800,000 victims. They were identified as trafficked under the assumption of their “sexual exploitation”…After being placed on the Tier 2 Watch List, a deeply embarrassed Japan imposed new visa requirements and a more rigorous screening process for migrant entertainers from the Philippines…the number of Filipina hostesses…fell 90 percent, from 82,741 in 2004 to 8,607 in 2006. This…poses a setback to the emancipation of women. It has stripped thousands of migrant women of their livelihood, forcing them to stay at home, often in impoverished conditions…In a nine-month study in Tokyo in 2005 and 2006, I interviewed 56 Filipina hostesses and worked as a hostess myself. None of the hostesses I encountered wanted to be rescued from their employment. Most found that migration had made them breadwinners in their families, a position that granted them decision-making power and earned them the respect of their kin. In some instances, participating in commercial flirtation allowed them to challenge conservative norms that limited the acceptable sexual activities of women.
…Filipina hostesses…perform sex work in that they titillate customers via commercial flirtation, [but not all] “sex work” is…“prostitution.” It encompasses a wide array of services including flirtation and stripping — in addition to prostitution…For the most part, no one coerced my fellow hostesses to work in Japan. They were not drugged, taken on planes and trapped in clubs. No one lied to them or explicitly told them they would only be singing and dancing onstage. This is not to say that migrant Filipina hostesses do not face serious problems. First, middleman brokers who arrange for visas, transit and job placement charge high rates upfront, subjecting hostesses to what amounts to indentured servitude. Once in Japan, hostesses cannot legally change clubs. Because being undocumented is a crime, those who are fired and remain in Japan become dependent on their next employer and on other Filipinos who may exploit their vulnerability by withholding wages or overcharging them for housing. Still, migrant Filipina entertainers see servitude abroad as a much better option than their other choice of immobility in the Philippines…
Regular readers will recognize not only Laura Agustín’s point that migration for work is nearly always freely chosen even when the conditions of employment are less than ideal, but also my mantra (and that of other vocal whores) that being paid for sex is empowering and being denied the right to be paid is harmful. The second part of Parrenas’ article is longer and goes into detail about the clubs, so you may be interested in reading it in full. But I want to call attention to this part:
…[At] first…I…struggled to meet hostesses willing to participate in my study of their conditions. My visits to clubs as a customer had not provided any solid leads…Even hostesses whom I befriended had always declined my request for an interview. I had assumed that they had experienced emotional distress from the stigma associated with their occupation. I had come to Japan believing claims by other academics that “hostess work” was a euphemism for “prostitution”…[but] after I began working as a hostess, every person I approached agreed to talk to me…I had entered an unfamiliar sexual world…[which] has been condemned…for “crimes against humanity.” Japanese hostess clubs…have been labeled by the U.S. Department of State as hotbeds of sexual trafficking…women are not just endlessly harassed, but supposedly also held against their will, forced into prostitution and made victims of sexual violence by lecherous Japanese men. What I discovered, in fact, was that these women come to Japan voluntarily and gratefully, knowing what their jobs will be. Very few engage in prostitution, and if they do, they do so willingly…hostesses view themselves as modern-day geisha…
This is a very important passage because it demonstrates the critical problem with the “rescue industry”; as long as “rescuers” remain outsiders, forcing their own ignorant and patronizing judgments on sex workers, they remain dangerous nuisances to those they claim they want to “help”. Only by entering their world and sharing their experiences can feminists hope to understand sex workers…and once they do, the scales fall from their eyes.
…the “dohan” [paid date]…requires that a hostess spend some time with a customer outside the club…[and] guarantees at least one hour with the hostess inside the establishment…Most hostesses do not think a “dohan” harms them; they told me it was unlikely to mean coercive sex, though it might involve voluntary prostitution…hostesses on a “dohan” are sometimes envied, because they are often taken to a Filipino restaurant. Yet the U.S. State Department cites the “dohan” as an indication that Filipina hostesses are sexually trafficked in Japan…[which] prompted Japan…to reduce the number of visas for Filipina hostesses by 90 percent. Anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution crusaders counted this a triumph. But no trafficking and very little prostitution was stopped, and 81,000 Filipinas lost their livelihoods.
Unsubstantiated claims of the forced prostitution of Filipina hostesses are morally charged, and divert attention from the need for regulation and protection of sex workers. For Filipina hostesses, the goal should be job improvement, not job elimination. What’s needed are laws to prevent abusive behavior by middleman brokers…Hostesses don’t need to be rescued. They need the empowerment that comes from being independent labor migrants. Only then can they remain gainfully employed…and have full control of their own lives.
Parrenas arrived in Japan believing prohibitionist dogma, and left a wiser woman who is now in a position to do sex workers some real good by speaking out. She found that more than 10% of all women labeled as “trafficked” by prohibitionists are nothing of the kind; does anyone doubt the same can be said of most of the other 90%?
$32 BILLION dollars. That’s what I was told was the per year value of worldwide trafficking in persons (TIP).
But the thing is – if you drill down into the issue, you will find that the TIP “alarmists” are including such things as child soldiering, illegal aliens migrating across borders for work, just about all prostitutes, and even some horrific crimes like child sex tourism and selling the virginity of little Indian girls to the highest bidder.
When I was in Bahrain and Jebel Ali – I met a lot of taxi drivers from Bangladesh – I’m sure those guys are included in the TIP numbers somehow. And their wages are probably figured into that $32 billion calculation. However – those guys were HAPPY to be in a place where they could work and make money – because they couldn’t in Bangladesh.
It’s really the child sex tourism that got to me. That’s all you have to do is press my “Dudley Dooright button and away I go until some sane event brings me back to reality. I don’t know how extensive the problem of sexual exploitation of children really is – but it’s the kind of problem that someone like me can read about and then get all worked up into a lather over the whole TIP issue. Classic obfuscation and propaganda. You’re told that if you hire a 40 year old escort you’re contributing to the demand for trafficked persons – even if you pay her $2,000 for one night – and she’s a legally documented resident of the country you’re hiring her in. However – if you’re in Denmark where prostitution is legal and her home nation is Russia – she’s TRAFFICKED baby! And you … are a bastard contributing to the demand of human trafficking!
And then – since you are contributing to that demand – you’re also somehow contributing to the sexual exploitation of little girls by hiring that 40 year old escort – who probably drives a nicer car than you do and is in NO WAY – a trafficked person.
But it makes perfect sense doesn’t it? You hire a 40 year old escort … therefore the next guy that calls up to hire her can’t – because she’s in your room, or you have her in a Michelin Star restaurant for a nice dinner. Somehow this then forces the escort agency to call up some human trafficker in the Philippines to import a 12 year old girl for that customer pronto!
And it’s all because you paid for sex from a 40 year old escort! LOL
Enjoy your time in hell buddy!
Jesus – I hate these guys. And the thing is – they almost get me every time with these sob stories and disconnected logic.
And there are many, many people like you; they even manage to confuse some escorts. The problem is that most people are by nature trusting; they don’t expect “authorities” to blatantly LIE to them, despite ample proof each post-election year. So they believe all the “for the children” nonsense, never considering reality. That’s why I feel my work is so important, and it’s what keeps me writing a full essay every day. I seem to have been granted the ability to help people open their eyes on this subject, so even if it’s only a few new people every day maybe some of those people will be in a position to spread the word even farther. Just one small crack in the dam, but they eventually add up and the hysteria collapses just as the White Slavery hysteria, both Red Scares and the Satanic Panic did.
Well thanks to you … you provided the “sane event” that snapped me back to reality.
I also found out from my “training” – that it’s now illegal for military servicemen to pay for sex and they can be prosecuted under the UCMJ for violations. Of course, the reason for this is that paying for sex contributes to the “demand” for TIP … and also because prostitution is “demeaning and dehumanizing”.
I … just don’t know when this thing is going to blow up. I was a senior enlisted leader on an Aegis cruiser – with a male and female integrated crew. You know how much work it is to keep 18 – 23 year old Sailors in a mixed gender environment away from things like “sexual harassment”? You know how hard it is to keep them from “falling in love” on a long deployment? Any sex within the lifelines is prosecuted under the UCMJ. I had two pregnancies conceived on that ship – and those happened even when my Master At Arms was crawling around on deck at night with night vision goggles looking for people screwing.
Pull into Bahrain … take your girlfriend behind the trash dumpster behind the club because that’s the only way you can get privacy – legally? Oh no – because there are security cameras HIDDEN all over that base and you and your girl are going to be caught on camera by security personnel. How do I know this? Because the security guys called me up to look at the tapes to identify these people. Of course – I just said they weren’t my Sailors. 😀
(Interesting tapes though. 😛 )
And now – a Sailor pulls into Perth, Australia – he can’t take a local woman to a movie for a date without bringing a “buddy” with him. And – he can’t go to a brothel with his buddy because, if he pays for sex – then he’s contributing to the evils of TIP.
We’ve shut down every constructive outlet for frustration they have. Something’s got to give eventually.
I don’t need to tell you that it’s already giving; I’m just wondering how long it will be before total collapse. Something in my brain keeps saying 2025 for the collapse of “sexual harassment” and the beginnings of legalization, but I suspect the “trafficking” hysteria will peter out between 2017-2019.
Professor Parrenas is a good example of what a researcher is supposed to be, how they should approach situations. Complete objectivity is almost impossible (we all have biases), but the honest researcher realizes this and understands that they must put those aside when conducting their work. Most importantly, accepts that these biases may be challenged. She learned from her experiences and her views reflect this.
I’m a first generation American from a family from a third world country (Ethiopia). I can tell you about the experiences of immigrants who move from third world countries to Western countries. The educated/skilled immigrants usually find work in their field. The uneducated/unskilled immigrants will do WHATEVER it takes to survive and improve their financial situation. Hence some of the women engage in sex work.
Sex is the currency of female survival in the third world. Whether a woman is a wife, or mistress, or prostitute, or employee who gets and keeps a non-sexual job by having sex with her employer, one way or another, she uses her sexuality to survive. The idea that sex is always supposed to be an expression of love or lust, and never simply a means of material gain, is a luxury third world women do not have; it is a totally alien concept to them, a white women’s weird idea.
Third world people live almost in a state of nature. The survival conditions and pressures which stimulated evolution, still exist in less harsh forms in the third world. Third world women relate to men in much the same way as the prehistoric cave woman who chose sex with the strongest man who could kill the biggest animals for her to eat.
You want to talk about exploiting third World immigrant women, let’s talk about all the ones who work as nannies and housekeepers earning less than minimum wage with no benefits, or as migrant farm workers who live in tents. The female anti-prostitution activists almost all come from relatively privileged backgrounds; they think a woman having sex with a large number of men is a one of the worst possible ordeals because they’ve never experienced a REAL terrible ordeal like being homeless or literally starving.
Marla, thank you so much for this; it’s a truth I wish I could inject directly into the skull of every privileged middle-class white woman who’s never even been within shouting distance of the real world.
Ironically, only a day or two ago I was on an abolitionist blog where “pro-prostitution feminists” were coming under attack for being all white and middle class (which I think describes the majority of self-identified feminists anyway, at least in the Global North) and having no idea what it’s like to have to choose between selling sex and starving! I pointed them to some websites run by and for inner city African-American and Latina sex workers, which prompted one commenter to describe them as “tokens”.
I totally agree about feminism largely being a white perversion. I had long suspected that because I had never met any feminists of color (except, to turn that commenter’s idea around, a few tokens like Alice Walker); then I met a black female M.D. who explained to me in no uncertain terms why every black woman she knew, educated or otherwise, considered feminism a white middle-class women’s pastime. I internalized that lesson, and you’ll see it appear in many of my columns on the subject.
Speaking of Alice Walker, when black women are feminist, they usually use the term Ms. Walker coined, “womanist”. This blog is a good example of it.
BTB, regular readers: I was especially struck by Dr. Parrenas’ photo not only because she’s lovely, but because she bears a strong resemblance to my old friend Philippa, whom I have mentioned often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3QYgJsUZl0
Once aGAIN Maggie is right(not sure if this is the right column for this)
Meaning, that when women need cash/resources/economic advancement, they sell sex. Period. Even Ana, the show’s host, who’s always spouting off on how she’s above all of that is the biggest cocktease I’ve ever seen.
I’ve never seen high school girls doing a bikini (or nearly bikini) car wash outside of movies from the 70s and 80s. I’ve seen high school students doing car washes to raise money for band uniforms or something, but never in bikinis or near-bikinis.
Believe me, I would remember. And I would talk somebody I know with a car into getting it washed. With me in it.
The cost of a college or university education is higher than it used to be. Way higher than the general rate of inflation. It’s too high, and it’s too high because my generation and our parents are stingy.
Hey Boomers and Gen X’ers! You want social Security to be there for you? You better make it a little easier for you children and grandchildren to make a living, and in today’s world that often means college. Don’t give me “I paid into it! It’s mine!” That money went to your grandparents when they retired. Your payments will come from the people who are working while you are retired.
“Man need not to be spared the truth” – Ingeborg Bachmann
That is a quote regarding to the fascism and nationalsocialim, which means that if you don`t see the truth and confront yourself with it, you will be eternally repeating the same mistakes and wrongdoings. It is regarded to the people “who intentionally look away”.
It might only be slightly related to yet another wonderful article of the wonderful sapiosexual Honest Courtesan i admire so much, but it just crossed my mind when i read your quote above about the Illusions
Two things to say:
Now THAT is a REAL researcher!
Japanese culture has always been an interest of mine, so I already knew (without having been to such a club… was not old enough when I visited) that hostessess are paid for their companionship, encouragement, and emotional support (the GFE if you want a good umbrella term) with or without sex ever becoming involved at some point (generally privately negotiated with the woman in question; it’s strictly against the policy of the club in almost all cases).
Even in “Soapland” there are many businesses that (officially, much as above) only offer massage by a nude woman, possibly with handjob, as their complete service package.
I remember hearing, even as far as 10 years back, about high school girls in Japan going on “enjo kosai” or subsidized dates. No sex is offered or expected (they’re underaged, of course) just a date with a cute young Japanese girl. Technically that’s not prostitution, but carries a similar stigma among a girl’s peers, ergo, discretion is usually employed. (Call it whoring on training wheels, if you like. ^_^)
Basically, there’s lots of sexual… or to state it more accurately, companionship-related services offered and in demand in Japan which do not, in fact, include actually having sex. And as noted, that has been widely understood and accepted in Japan for hundreds of years, Geisha being a prime example (they were usually thrown out of the “brothel” if they DID have sex with someone).
American woman (in general; neo-fems and their enablers in the public at large) can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that men would be willing to pay significant amounts of money for a woman to just be NICE to them!
Why would they? How much is a cup of water worth in the middle of a desert?
Ooo! Ooo! An excuse to tell my favorite enjo kosai story (again).
There was this middle-aged man who had a teenage daughter, and she wouldn’t talk to him. When he tried to talk to her, she complained (accurately) that he didn’t understand people her age. So he hired one of these enjo kasai girls, a girl his daughter’s age. There was never any sex or any kissing or hugging or even flirting. Instead, he quizzed her on what it was like to be fifteen, what music was considered cool, what slang words meant, what it was like to be in high school.
I don’t know if all of this brought him and his daughter closer together, but you can’t deny, the man was trying.
I’ve been on many professional dates where the client wanted me to mostly answer questions about women, give him pointers in bed, that sort of thing.
It makes sense. Somebody who needs to be good in bed if shes going to pay the bills should be able to give some pointers.
Its ironic that men and women of any age really need to have to pay to learn all the ins and outs of sex, pleasure and sensuality. In my imagined ideal world there would be sex education schools where males and females can go to get factual information and instruction in some form that is not about body shaming or abstinence only.
I am of the opinion that when you can answer all the questions a male or female will have about sex and sensuality and how to give and receive pleasure then the desire for sneaking around and hiding what you do goes away and in some cases might actually lessen the curiosity and need to “do it now”.
It again in my opinion may lesson STD infection rates and unplanned /teen pregnancy rates. Now I am completely aware that this is a fantasy and will never happen in the excessively uptight and rigid conservative viewpoints in the world
But if it did come about i might start to think that society is actually starting to get better.
I really can’t let that go by without pointing to this: groups.yahoo.com/group/Future_Sx_Coach_Michaels/
Just let the moderator know you want in; he approves everybody so it won’t be a problem. I know him pretty well (since it’s me).
These videos follow a similar vein as Parrenas’ essays that hostesses and hosts are not being exploited. I wonder how radical feminists would spin these
https://youtu.be/QS2QdRaW3Qs
https://youtu.be/LN65u8Fh-1s