The wicked envy and hate; it is their way of admiring. – Victor Hugo
One new item, eight updates and two metaupdates.
True Colors
New Orleans charity Women With A Vision has been fighting for the rights of poor women, including sex workers, for years; their efforts were instrumental in bringing down Louisiana’s monstrous “Crime Against Nature by Solicitation” law which was used to place whores (especially black or transsexual ones) on the “sex offender” registry. Apparently some hateful person was angry about this or their other work, because on the night of May 24th he broke into their office and set a fire which destroyed it and virtually everything in it.
There’s no way to know whether the arsonist was motivated by hatred of prostitutes, black people, transsexuals, or some other disadvantaged group for which WWAV fights, but this action demonstrates the true colors of those who would deny rights to others, no matter what rhetoric they use to rationalize their position. WWAV is desperately in need of help: New Orleans area readers could donate time, women’s clothing, computer equipment, office supplies, etc (call 504-301-0428 to volunteer), and readers anywhere in the world can donate to WWAV at their site. My readers have been very generous to me with presents, but for the next few months I ask that you spend that money helping WWAV instead; if you want it to be a present for me, just make the donation in my name. Any help you can give will mean a great deal to me!
A similar incident occurred in China last week:
An outspoken advocate for sex workers reopened her office…after it was trashed by eight men who punched and threatened her life last week. Ye Haiyan, 37, is the founder of Chinese Women’s Rights Workshops, an NGO that promotes sex workers’ rights and helps raise awareness of HIV/AIDS…Ye said the men did not look like gang members and she suspects that local authorities might have had a role in the attack…Earlier this year, she was also threatened over the phone and told to shut her office…
Updates
Lying Down With Dogs (November 24th, 2010)
Another example of an African country whose anti-whore rhetoric strongly resembles that of the US, right down to the ludicrous euphemisms:
The Liberian government…disclosed that a campaign named…“Operation Save Our Future” has been launched…[to] minimize prostitution as well as sexual exploitation and abuse against girls…the operation will also tackle indecent dressing…Minister [Julia] Cassell said the prostitutes will be rehabilitated through basic skills including baking, sewing, hair dressing, and pastry…She urged the public to dress appropriately because the “government is now after them.” She called on those involved into commercial sex working to desist from the illegal act and put their hands to use in a positive direction.
Because working independently for good pay isn’t a “positive direction”, but working in a sweatshop or doing other low-paid work for someone else is; that’s especially loathsome rhetoric in a country founded by freed slaves. Note also that Liberian “feminists”, like their American sisters, are unable to recognize that the road from criminalization of prostitution to criminalization of “indecent dress” is a very short one.
Neither Cold nor Hot (April 6th, 2011)
Jezebel has attacked evolutionary psychologists like Satoshi Kanazawa (who, incidentally, has a new book out) on a number of occasions, and now they’re fighting back: Kanazwa’s colleague Barry Kuhle sharply criticizes the site for embracing the neofeminist “social construction of gender” dogma in his article “Giving Feminism a Bad Name”. He examines the logical fallacies used by “gender feminists” (Christina Sommers’ term for neofeminists) to attack scientific findings, and blames them for the word “feminist” having become an insult. Kuhle’s an interesting writer; I also enjoyed his recent column on why the ever-increasing alphabet soup used to describe sexual minorities (now LGBTQIH and still growing) is ridiculous and should be replaced by a more manageable acronym.
Welcome To Our World Again (January 20th, 2012)
President Robert Mugabe yesterday clashed with visiting UN human rights chief Navi Pillay after she appeared to suggest that legalising prostitution and homosexuality could go a long way in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS…Mugabe…swore that this would happen OVER HIS DEAD BODY…police in Harare have intensified a blitz on prostitutes and women found in pubs claiming they are trying to stop crime which is being promoted by prostitution…Mugabe…has previously described homosexuality as “worse than dogs and pigs”…MP Tabitha Khumalo…[said] “[Prostitution] is here to stay and we need to bite the bullet. PLEASURE ENGINEERING…did not begin in…Zimbabwe. It all began in the Garden of Eden and one of those PLEASURE ENGINEERS was Eve”…
In a sense, bigots like Mugabe are more consistent and less hypocritical than certain Americans who are very vocal in demanding their own sexual rights, yet support persecution of whores. Also, I think I’m going to write MP Khumalo a fan letter.
The Rape Question (April 4th, 2012)
This article about “brothel” raids in Ireland (actually, most were private flats in which women worked together for safety) is full of the usual agency denial and “sex trafficking” mythology, but I was especially struck by one passage: “Mary Crilly, Director of the Sexual Violence Centre (SVC) in Cork [said], ‘I welcome the raids. We need to end the demand for prostitution, as long as there are men who are paying for sex there will be a demand. Prostitution isn’t about sex, it’s about money and exploitation’.” This is of course the old “rape is asexual” dogma, but it does demonstrate how completely out of touch with reality these women are.
Feet of Clay (April 5th, 2012)
The death-spiral of Nicholas Kristof’s reputation continues:
The Brooklyn prosecutor who had a starring role in…Nicholas Kristof’s expose of Backpage…has resigned amid charges she sat on evidence that would have saved a sex-crimes suspect from spending 11 months in jail. The New York Daily News reported this week that prosecutor Lauren Hersh quit after two black men charged with serially raping an Orthodox Jewish girl since she was 13 were released because the alleged victim had recanted her claims the day after she made them. Hersh…failed to share [the recantation] with the grand jury or defense lawyers…Hersh was also cited in Kristof’s story about Backpage back in January, “How Pimps Use the Web to Sell Girls”…Kristof cited a case prosecuted by Hersh involving an underage prostitute, without disclosing the fact that Hersh only was able to track down the perpetrators because Backpage turned over identifying information…
Unfortunately, Fisher is a mealy-mouthed moralist who denies women’s right to sex on our own terms; he seems more concerned with the fact that Backpage is singled out than the fact that whores are persecuted. But that makes his attacks on Kristof (his natural ally in moralism) all the more indicative of the latter’s fall from grace.
Little Boxes
(April 29th, 2012)
As I’ve pointed out many times, it is impossible to draw clear lines between female sexual behaviors, and sugar babies are part of a continuum stretching from wives to professional harlots. But while I usually demonstrate the strong resemblance between sugar babies and hookers, Helen Croydon makes the equally valid point that they are a lot like traditional “low maintenance” lovers, and defends such arrangements as sensible and rewarding:
…These models of relationships are an honest way of withholding commitment…That may not be appealing to everyone. It certainly isn’t the route to finding a soul mate. But not everyone wants one of those at every stage in their life. Is it so wrong to underpin the foundations of a relationship with something other than 100% devotion and exclusivity?…payment…doesn’t necessarily have to exclude affection…“compensated relationships” are far more honorable and rewarding than meaningless, vulgar, no-strings sex encounters. Yet we give more respect to the latter. These days relationships can only be rubber stamped if they are all encompassing, full-time, cohabiting and long-term…
Whorearchy (May 10th, 2012)
Until the mid-19th century prostitutes and actresses were members of a single profession, and we still haven’t diverged much. But one wouldn’t know that from listening to actresses – including those who have played sex workers – insisting that they’re better than we are:
Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is demanding an apology from a Hong Kong newspaper after it published claims she had sex with disgraced Communist party official Bo Xilai for huge sums of money…the star of ” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Memoirs of a Geisha” [allegedly] slept with Bo at least ten times between 2007 and 2011…[and] negotiated similar deals with several other powerful men…she [supposedly] earned around $110 million from prostituting herself…
Traffic Jam (May 20th, 2012)
Reason posted a video of 20/20‘s 1985 report “The Devil Worshippers”:
…It may help, as you watch this, to know that the bodies of the alleged sacrifice victims never materialized, that the statistic of two million missing kids was a wild exaggeration, and that Mike Warnke, presented here as an expert on Satanic rites, was later exposed as a fraud. But really, anyone able to think critically should be able to see through this without the benefit of hindsight. What’s interesting is that so many people took it seriously at the time…Even if you ignore the actual misinformation in the program, this is as pure an example as you’ll find of how a scattered group of unconnected crimes can be presented as a grand, malevolent movement, particularly when they’re combined with anxieties about the influence of popular culture…
Here are the links for Part Two and Part Three.
Metaupdates
What a Week! in October Updates (Part One) (October 2nd, 2011)
Another advantage to decriminalization: access to the legal system.
A plan to build Australia’s largest brothel is poised to overcome local government opposition in a victory for Sydney’s sex industry over creeping regulation. The $12 million, three-storey extension to the Stiletto brothel…can be approved once client numbers are capped…Even after being decriminalised in 1995, NSW brothel owners are increasingly turning to courts to reverse rejections by councils opposed to the industry…”Research usually shows brothels are not a problem in a community,” said Wayne Morgan, a lecturer specialising in sexuality-related law at the Australian National University. “Staff are usually very discreet, and clients, by their very nature, are very discreet. This was partly the point of legalising brothels in the first place – to take out the criminal aspect”…
Counterfeit Comfort in TW3 (#8) (February 26th, 2012)
Louisiana’s recent attempt to further destroy the lives of people who urinated in public or had consensual sex with their high-school girlfriends is not the only one to be defeated lately; those condemned to the American pariah caste are fighting back:
Registered sex offenders who have been banned from social networking websites are…successfully challenging many of the restrictions as infringements on free speech…Courts have long allowed states to place restrictions on convicted sex offenders who have completed their sentences…but the increasing use of social networks for everyday communication raises new, untested issues…Ruthann Robson, a professor of constitutional law at the City University of New York, said the bans could eventually be taken up by the Supreme Court…”If we think that the government can curtail sex offenders’ rights without any connection to the actual crime, then it could become a blanket prohibition against anyone who is accused of a crime, no matter what the crime is”…
One Year Ago Today
“June Updates (Part Two)” reports on San Diego’s excuses for rapist cops, Mira Sorvino’s declaring Sacramento the “leading destination for sex traffickers”, and yet another guy playing BDSM games with strangers without a signed contract.
…“compensated relationships” are far more honorable and rewarding than meaningless, vulgar, no-strings sex encounters.”-WOW! What a great way to talk about relationships with no commitments, etc. Unfair stereotypes are alive and well! Funny, but for SOME reason (eyeroll) men are way less sexually frustrated from these relationships. The men who are poor in $’s and/or don’t want to see whores and/or sugar babies get the attention and sex they deserve as much as the men with $’s also. How vulgar! How meaningless! There’s no honor at all in these things. The fact that at least some people who have no commitment friendships, etc., conduct them with honor (take no part in cheating, lying, hiding) isn’t mentioned. Of course! Can’t mention that because those things ARE honorable and that wouldn’t fit this snob’s ###***. I guess it’s also vulgar and meaningless that not only the men benefit from these things. The women who are in these things get higher self-esteem, etc. (like I have from it). Why in the world is that? I wonder if this snob even bothered to talk to women who have these types of relationships. Probably not because that would have contradicted this ###*** stuff. What a sad state of things. This is another example of how the women who have the type of relationships described by this SNOB have work to do as far as speaking out, fighting the ###*** lies about us, etc. Same old thing: nothing good ever talked about. Only negatives mentioned.
Laura, originally I was going to say you misunderstood Croydon because I didn’t think that she was actually trying to smear the kind of relationships you’ve defended so often here with a lot of passion.
But then I tried to think about exactly WHAT kind of relationships she was describing when she says … “meaningless, vulgar, no-strings” … and the only kind of sexual encounters I could think of that might meet her description are the kinds the Manson Family were famous for – and even those can’t be described perfectly as “no strings”. In the end – they certainly weren’t “meaningless”. I will maintain they were “vulgar” though – not for the specific sexual acts they engaged in but for the way the women were treated and taken advantage of.
And – even if she was talking about Manson Family type sexual weirdness – she goes on to say that we respect those relationships more than compensated ones? Uhm – no, I don’t think so.
I have no clue what the hell she’s trying to say there.
However, I wouldn’t overreact to her comment – it’s pretty clear to me she was trying to make a point about the positivity of compensated relationships – but she went overboard in her contrasting rhetoric toward non-compensated ones. This is something we all have to be careful of – because she damn sure nearly destroys the point she was trying to make to begin with. She certainly “lost” more readers with her embellishment than she needed to.
She’s talking about one-night stands, which are the only kind of sexual encounters besides quasi-marriages that many “feminists” will approve of. Since those kinds of encounters are typically sought by men and not women, many “feminists” encourage women to indulge in them even though they’re emotionally harmful to many. To these “feminists” the health and happiness of individual women are less important than their collectivist fantasies of making women into men with vaginas.
Well I agree that may be what’s she’s talking about – but I would not use the word “vulgar” as a descriptor for such encounters and she severely distracts from her (very valid) point when she describes one-night stands that way.
I mean – I hope she realizes that about 90 percent of the people she’s trying to convince have involved themselves with one-time sexual encounters on at least one occasion. And she’s just labeled them as “vulgar” – not a good way to get a foot in the door imo.
She was making a good point in the earlier part of the article, that compensated relationships are better than relationships based on deceit; that would have been a better route to take than (apparently) criticizing all amateur promiscuity.
Dear Krulac, I’m curious: do you think the relationships I defend need defending? Also, you asked me a few questions on here a while back. I’ve bookmarked those to answer before I quit posting here. Thanks for your patience. I make the effort to answer older things as I can but then see newer things that get me riled up, etc., so want to answer those before I forget…lol. Speaking about the relationships I defend, this is 1 of my new “causes”. Since I’ve fully “come out” as what I call a “wild woman” I’ve starting reading up on that online and have been totally disgusted/angered by some of the ###*** I’ve found. It’s the same pattern I’ve found with my other “causes”: education is needed badly with certain things. I’ve reached people with my work with other things so hope to accomplish the same with this 1.
Maggie – I literally leave for Japan tomorrow morning before sun-up or I’d be down there in New Orleans helping WWAV rebuild. 🙁
As it is – I’ll have to send a donation. I’ll be back in a month though and will contact them to see what I can do to help.
By the way – the Paypal link doesn’t seem to be working – but there’s a button up on the WWAV site that is.
This is depressing news. 🙁
Also Maggie, Please lay off Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Guy is a genius and has balls … he shit all over the UN about their suggestions for legalizing prostitution – and that was right after the UN declared him … “A World Leader for Tourism”!!
http://krulac.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/fuckin-a/
I’m not sure why that Paypal link screws up like that; it works when I first post it, then stops soon afterward. So I’ve just replaced it with a link to their home page, on which the “donate” button is fairly prominent.
Hey, Maggie,
I’m trying to interact with Taslima Narsin at her blog at the Free Thought zone; alas, she appears to be a hard-core de-rigeur abolitionist. She’s impervious to any argument of any kind; she makes Farley look like an intellectual.
If you could assist, or at least clarify, it would be great.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2012/05/30/men-hate-womans-body/
I have no idea why anyone so clearly devoid of free thought was given a blog on a site called “Free Thought Blogs”; it makes no sense at all. She simply repeats neofeminist propaganda without thought as a parrot would, and no rational argument will have any impact on her (though Athena knows you’ve tried, and so have many others). There’s even a mini-campaign to have her ousted from the site, which would certainly repair its credibility somewhat but would just make her a martyr in her own mind; she’ll never understand that her beliefs do not constitute “thought”, free or otherwise, until and unless they basically destroy her life (as happens to reformed religious fundamentalists, etc).
So how did she get her position, generally?
She’s as much as come out and said, simply, “I refuse to believe X, therefore it’s not true, and you are a misogynist.” She has no inclination to listen to anyone. I’ve never seen the most de rigeur 1980’s totalitarian neo-feminism, so patronizing and judgmental, not to mention prudish, as I’ve seen it from her. it’s as if she’s read every book published in the West on this topic, and yet only those from the Approved Canon of Anti-Sex Feminists.
It really is remarkable. I can almost recognize the specific books she’s read from what she writes: She offers nothing unique or original at all. Her blog posts are little more than relatively amateurish screeds and poster slogans, a la some 20-something-year-old college group circa 1985.
It really is that backward. I suspect she’s losing serious amounts of currency in the feminist movement, generally. It must be disappointing for those who assisted her in her struggles in India and Bangladesh.
Since translocating to the West, she’s turned out not to have made a very good transition.
I feel stupider for following that link.
An article about the police raids in Ireland in today’s Irish Independent:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-target-people-who-profit-from-prostitutes-3126443.html
A quote from it:
“Gardai (police in the Republic) disagree with claims by Catholic and feminist groups that there are high levels of human trafficking involved in Ireland’s sex trade.”
Thank you! Added to TW3 #23. 🙂
The raids are also referenced on FeministIre:
http://feministire.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/human-trafficking-in-ireland-part-2-and-about-those-brothel-raids/
About WWAV (First I’ve heard of it by the way)- It’s vital for society that uppity whores, who stand up for themselves and refuse to be kept down, who are independent women get slapped down.
Otherwise, women might think there’s another way, apart from marriage, and working for the capitalists, and then what? We do a lot of the low-level work in the world. What if women walked away from that? Why, society, at least the patriarchal , capitalist society we’ve got now would collapse.
We can’t be having that.
(I”m trying to suss out what the H in that acronym stands for…)
He explains it in the article; it’s apparently a “third sex” (biological males living as women) in some parts of India.
I recall something my grandma said to me; “Lee, behind every great man, there is a woman”.
So if the feminist postition is a fight against Patriarchy, aren’t they really fighting… other Women?
Other women being the Gynarchic voice of Whore Stigma, in fact?
Maybe they’re fighting… the wrong enemy by fighting men?
Or have I totally missed the point?
i dont agree with the putting down of no strings attached sex either,if she wants to defend the value of copensated realationships,she should find another way. by pointing out how meaningless she thinks one night stands are she wont make a form of prostitution seem legitimate to the general public.also, i think its fair to point out that there are women who like and prefer casual sex,without finding it harmful .i really dont like the idea of a serious relationship at 19,i want to have fun.about the radical feminists i see different opinions,some think that if a woman seeks out sex for her own pleasure,shes fine because she doesnt do it to serve a man(thats their argument against sex work)but others think that they are collaborators,who please men and make women look like sex objects(the funny thing about this ideology against sex work is that if you use your body to make a living,youre a piece of meat in the eyes of men,but if you work for big capitalist companies, which see people as machines and numbers,you are a truly liberated woman,a feminist icon. )
Exactly. I’ve always thought that was a completely bizarre, wholly irrational concept which demonstrates the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of those who embrace it.
What’s wrong with one night stands? I’ve had some great experiences, just in passing. Does the brevity somehow demean the quality? I don’t think so. Just because you smell a beautiful rose only briefly, doesn’t make it smell any less wonderful than if you inhaled it constantly.
And really, does sex always have to have a “meaning”? Does a nice bath, or a good night’s sleep have to have a meaning? Can’t it just be pure physical pleasure?
I can tell you this- As a sex worker, I felt way more independent, way more free, way more self-determined than I do now, working in the corporate world. I think that most of the people who make those kind of statements don’t really know both options. The freedom is the thing I miss most.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with one-night stands – as long as the girl wants to do it and knows what she’s getting into.
The problem is – when you meet a girl the first time, under the circumstances you normally meet them for “one nighters” – then you really have no clue as to whether the girl REALLY wants to or just thinks she wants to because she’s hoping for some kind of “bigger” relationship. As a stupid guy, you don’t know and the reason you don’t know – is because, often SHE doesn’t even really know.
I just have a serious problem hurting a girl for any reason whatsoever – so I usually stayed away from “one nighters” unless the girl picked me up and was obvious as hell about doing so. I won’t lie and say this happened very often – it only happened three times. LOL – once in a bar with a girl who said I was so drunk I should come home with her for safety (I had had one drink); once with a female Sailor who pounded on my door and claimed she wanted to “hide” in my barracks room during a fire drill … and, amazingly – almost the same circumstance when I was living in an apartment and a girl I knew claimed she had locked herself out of her apartment and could she stay with me?
Personally – I think guys come up with better pickup lines, and the ones we come up with suck quite hard.
Women don’t have to have good pick-up lines. “Hey, you wanna fuck?” would be quite effective coming from a woman.
Reminds me of GoGo Yabari, salior… IIRC that didn’t end well for the hapless male. 😎
In relation to the whole debate in Ireland, which the pro-Swedish criminalisation model side are winning, I had my first time seeing an escort yesterday. As a young and sexually inexperienced man, it was wonderful and there was certainly nothing exploitative, or particularly demeaning to women about it as I hold the utmost respect for the woman involved, and was incredibly grateful.
It really shows that a particular agenda on the part of some groups isn’t matching up with reality, and I’m glad the gardai have come out with the statement indicating their belief that there is a relatively low level of criminal human trafficking involved in sex work in Ireland.
As to Zhang Ziyi, I don’t know that she’s trying to say she’s better than a prostitute. I think she’s just trying to avoid the damage that would happen to her if people believe these rumors to be true.
It’s not the bravest stance she could take, but what’s happening with Bo Xilai has the elements of a witch hunt. If I lived in Salem and I was a witch, I’d deny it pretty fiercely, and I’d also deny it fiercely if I wasn’t a witch.
But I want to point out I don’t actually have a problem with people actually being witches (defined as worshiping gods other than Jesus in Christian cultures). It’s just that being tortured and hanged doesn’t appeal to me, nor does being involved in the fall of a formerly powerful Communist party official. I mean later down in the article they say, ” Some reports said the authorities in Beijing prevented her from leaving the country while they investigated the claims.”
The government of China is currently a nasty authoritarian dictatorship. Incidentally, I think that if she had been accused of practicing Falun Dafa with Bo, she’d be in even worse trouble. (And would have every reason to deny that, as well.)
By the way, I wasn’t sure if you had seen this article: http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-unfuckables/
Tina Fey is quite the neofeminist piece of work, isn’t she?
if what this woman does is comedy you need better comedians over there.i mean what i have watched of her is not even funny.snl for the most part is not funny.if she thinks shes being satirical,even worse,that is not satire.if she wants to see what real satire is,she should should start reading Aristofanes and stop being a self important bitch.
>”Amy Poehler’s character finds redemption after the Fey character shows her how to be less “working class” and “trashy,” two inexorably linked traits in the Fey slambook.”
I know it means something different in the UK where I was raised, but I’m proudly working class. I come from a long line of working class people, people who got out there and supported themselves, who grew food, built things, repaired things, did business, not a bunch of nobs who sat on their asses collecting rents, and backstabbing each other.
My people dug the canals, laid the bricks, built and ran the railroads, made the mills go. They, not the owners.
I’m working class, and proud of it.
>”You could be the woman who cures cancer and you would still be up against some skank, rocking giant veiny fake boobs where the nipples point in different directions like an old Buick. Seth, the world has always been full of whores.”.
But Tina Fey, you’re not the woman who cures cancer. She’s not on TV. You’re an actress, a profession that not so many years ago was considered equal to mine. But you’re wrong, the world isn’t, and hasn’t always been full of whores. In times past, whores were the independent women. Most women weren’t like that, they hadn’t the nerve. They bought into the line you’re selling.
exactly,her putting down the working classes pisses me off most of all. real comedians make fun of the upper classes and support the working classes,because as you stated we are honest people who work for a living and deserve respect.
“You could be the woman who cures cancer and you would still be up against some skank”
Whereas men who spend their lives in a lab working with test tubes are just chased after by so many women!
We have yet something else in common, Maggie: Opium perfume. Grand-maman wore it and it’s one of the ones I started wearing as an adult because it reminds me of her. 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed both of those articles by Kuhle. The alphabet soup deters more allies than it attracts, unbeknownst to that crowd who’d rather turn around and call intimidated allies “homophobic” or “intolerant” than understand that it isn’t letters or terms that matter so much as intent. And his article on feminism is right on the nose and reminds me a lot of Furry Girl’s and Brooke’s posts on why they each left feminism or stopped referring to themselves as such. Of course, the same feminists who give the movement a bad name and complain about women not identifying as feminists are the same ones who don’t want to hear that they are the cause of that problem.
With both the crack and sex trafficking panic, there is this pervasive undercurrent of fear of the other, fear of nonwhite and poor people, fear of them infiltrating us and ruining everything “we” built. The crack epidemic was about fear of poor, urban Blacks and Latinos, mostly young men who might be in scary gangs. The sex trafficking epidemic, when not about stealing your children for sexual slavery, has the more subtle racial component of a fear of migrant workers sneaking into “our” country and doing morally distasteful things with our husbands, our dads, our brothers, corrupting us, tearing at our family values, and making us impure by association.