Those who would criminalise prostitutes seem oddly keen to eliminate true voices of experience from the discussion. – Brooke Magnanti
…Jonah Falcon was stopped…by the TSA at the San Francisco International Airport…because of a bulging package hidden in his pants…the world’s largest recorded penis…[which is] 9 inches flaccid, 13.5 inches erect…”[A] guard…asked me if I had some sort of growth…I said, ‘It’s my dick’…He gave me a pat down but made sure to go around [my penis] with his hands. They even put some powder on my pants, probably a test for explosives”…
Congress’ new strategy is to enact SOPA piece by piece so it doesn’t attract so much attention; though the Intellectual Property Attaché Act is mostly cultural imperialism like the “Trafficking in Persons Report”, it also creates yet another unelected “czar” with dictatorial powers. Luckily, a group called the Internet Defense League (whose members include Public Knowledge, Reddit, Mozilla and the Electronic Frontier Foundation) was launched on July 19th; its purpose is to monitor threats to internet freedom and then spread the word and organize mass resistance (like the protests that stopped SOPA) whenever necessary.
It’s always interesting to see how closely American anti-whore rhetoric resembles that of nations which are not exactly advanced or Western:
Lusaka Province Minister Gerry Chanda [rejected] calls by some members of the public to legalise prostitution…[because it] is illegal…cannot be tolerated…[and] is alien to Zambia…Inspector-General of Police Stella Libongani described sex workers as a “public nuisance” and warned them with arrest if found loitering on the streets…
So, aren’t vandalism and indecent exposure already illegal for everyone without a special law just for whores?
More than 40 [street sign] poles have been bent, buckled or broken in the past 18 months in one area of south Auckland, New Zealand… “Prostitutes use these street sign poles as dancing poles,” said [a member of the city council. The claim appears in a pamphlet]…detailing frustrations of residents and businesses struggling to cope with [streetwalkers and calling]…on parliament…to give Auckland Council powers to ban sex workers from certain areas…other…incidents [include]…a transvestite [ramming] a supermarket trolley into a woman’s car before lying across the bonnet, and a school-bus full of children observing a transvestite changing her dress…
Considering America’s grotesque inflation of penalties for every conceivable “crime”, what will happen if abortion is eventually recriminalized?
…38 states have passed laws that create a crime for causing the death of a fetus…23 of which apply at the earliest stages of pregnancy. What we have now is a what Professor Angela Davis calls a “prison industrial complex”: a system of for-profit prisons so hungry for more inmates that it drives immigration policy, and pays off judges to fill jail cells with children…[and] so bloated that rural economies have become dependent upon the influx of inmates…since the 1970s, the rate of incarceration for women has increased over 700%. We have lawmakers admit that they believe that women should face “serious” criminal penalties for having abortions. We have so dismantled the right to privacy that state-mandated technological surveillance can literally invade women’s bodies. We have Kafkaesque bedside interrogations and arrests of women who fall down stairs when they admit ambivalence about…single motherhood…two women…are [now] facing murder trials for losing pregnancies…Bei Bei Shuai…[and] Rennie Gibbs…
A new report by two Indian authors has poked holes into the “raid, rescue, and rehabilitation” schemes…targeting sex workers. The report, titled We Have the Right Not To Be “Rescued”…says, “Contrary to the purported goal of assisting women, the anti-trafficking projects…often undermine HIV projects…causing harm to women and girls.” The report alleges that [police raids on] brothels…are often violent. Cases of sexual assault and rape and sodomy have also been reported during such actions…Research from Indonesia and India has indicated that sex workers who are rounded up during police raids are beaten, coerced into having sex [and]…placed in institutions where they are sexually exploited or physically abused. The raids also drive sex workers onto the streets, where they are more vulnerable to violence…
It looks as though an AIDS vaccine is finally within reach:
…a 2009 clinical trial in Thailand…tested Sanofi’s ALVAC, a weakened canary pox virus used to sneak three HIV genes into the body, and AIDSVAX, a vaccine originally made by Roche Holding’s Genentech that carried an HIV surface protein. Both vaccines had poor showings in individual trials…[but] the…combination cut HIV infections by 31.2 per cent…Preparations are under way for a follow-up trial testing beefed-up versions of the vaccines among heterosexuals in South Africa and [homosexual] men…in Thailand…
Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic
Dr. Marty Klein not only explodes the myth of “sex addiction”, but also explains why it’s such a destructive paradigm:
…“Sex addiction” is a special weapon now used…to ignore science…ignite fear [and]…legitimize anti-sex moralism and bigotry. And psychologists, judges, legislators, and the media are buying it…the sex addiction movement…did not arise from…sex therapy or any other sexuality-related field. Rather, it was started in 1983 by Patrick Carnes, who…claims no training in human sexuality. “Sex addiction” has been adopted enthusiastically by the addiction community, and to a lesser extent by the marriage and family profession—the latter historically undertrained and uncomfortable with sexuality…Of course, the media loves it, decency groups love it, and those who identify as some other kind of addict…love it, especially if they’re fans of the Twelve Steps…
If you still think some people are really “addicted” to sex, Dr. Klein suggests you take the Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST). You may be surprised how high you score, but you shouldn’t be; “sex addiction” rhetoric pathologizes normal sexual feelings and behaviors. As Dr. Klein points out, what the test really measures is whether you grew up in a sex-negative culture. The article is well worth reading in its entirety, especially for its debunking of inane claims about “brain areas” and “erototoxins”.
I guess the media must be bored with hooker “scandals”, because this report of T-men paying for women with government funds didn’t make the news; we’re told they won’t even lose their jobs because the activity “didn’t include underage prostitutes or human trafficking.” You know, just like 96.5% of the sex work persecuted in this country doesn’t.
Here’s a trailer for a new documentary named The Mechanical Bride, narrated by the legendary Julie Newmar.
In the process of critiquing a French miniseries about the maisons closes, Dr. Brooke Magnanti has some illuminating comments about the historical reality ignored by the creators of the melodrama:
…Prostitutes moved between brothels and changed names often to avoid detection…the notion that girls…could not, and did not, shop around for management is absurd…the drama is an uncomfortable union of modern agendas superimposed on a historical setting. Since it’s in the past, there are no inconvenient contemporary sex workers to show the complex reality of prostitution and spoil the abolitionist fantasy…
First They Came for the Hookers…
If prohibitionists really want to “rescue” sex workers, why do they keep trying to stop us from getting other jobs?
…Harmony Rose…has been featured in more than 200 pornographic videos…[but] has…left the adult entertainment industry…and [is] training as a volunteer EMT…in Roanoke, VA…Fire Chief Rich Burch learned about Rose’s previous career…[and] contacted the…County Attorney…[who] noted, “Anything that results in public ridicule of the volunteer squads…must be avoided”…[and] that Burch “supports the decision of the volunteer chief if she decides to terminate the membership of [Rose].” The community, however, seems to be on Rose’s side. Of the over 500 comments that appear under the story on WDBJ’s Facebook page, nearly all support Rose’s continued work with the rescue squad…
Metaupdates
For Those Who Think Legalization is a Good Idea in August Updates
As in Canada, Indian politicians feel compelled to defend tyranny by opposing court orders to decriminalize prostitution:
The Supreme Court…agreed to examine [the federal government’s] plea that sex workers should not be allowed to operate…”with dignity” as suggested by a panel…[the] solicitor general [argued]…that any such endorsement…would go contrary to the…Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act which bans prostitution in toto…He also wanted the bench to remove…Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee from the panel…[the defense argued] that the Act only prohibited brothel activities and…pimps…[and that] if a sex worker carries out the activities on her own volition, [they are] not…illegal…
Emi Koyama examines the increasing redefinition of “sex trafficking” into a “gang-related” activity, including this ridiculous “pimp classification” system dreamed up by cops and prohibitionists. She persuasively argues that “What is ignored in all of these discussions of the (racially coded) evils of ‘gangs’ is that many young men…become gang members and engage in its criminal activities for many of the same reasons many young women…[enter] the sex trade: poverty, failure of social and child welfare systems and public education, lack of viable economic opportunities…what is the moral difference between a young woman who is told to go out and sell sex, and a young man who is told to go out and sell drugs? And yet, the mainstream anti-trafficking discourse would have us believe that the young woman is an innocent victim but the young man is an evil criminal…”
Feminine Pragmatism in TW3 (#23)
It’s like watching someone repeatedly hitting her own fingers with a hammer:
Nadya Suleman…allegedly signed a contract…[with] T’s Lounge…in West Palm Beach, Fla…But after some teasing by a T’s staffer on TV, Suleman bailed on the deal, and now plans to make her…debut at a rival strip club instead. That’s grounds for a lawsuit…[because] the…contract…barred Suleman from being booked at any other strip club within 50 miles, 90 days before or after her gigs at T’s…Suleman’s manager maintains the contract was not valid, because T’s never forked over…[the] deposit fee…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs in TW3 (#27)
First Guyana, now Singapore; let’s hope this list gets much longer: “The Singapore government has lashed out at the United States over its human trafficking report…[due to] a number of ‘inaccuracies and misrepresentations’…”
The Course of a Disease in TW3 (#28)
Sex workers aren’t the only ones angry over the French women’s minister’s prohibitionist crusade:
…How disappointing…that Vallaud-Belkacem’s most publicised policy announcement to date has been a pledge to “see prostitution disappear”…cynics would consider Vallaud-Belkacem’s grand plan a naive one, and typical of those that give radical governments a bad name. Working girls in Paris…accused her of trying to drive a relatively well regulated industry underground…[and] Muslims…[hoped for repeal of] the crassly tagged “burqa ban”…Rather than presiding over job losses for…women, Vallaud-Belkacem should be…working to try to improve the lot of all women…
This Week in 2011
“Head Games” describes the ways some clients try to control calls, and “July Miscellanea” featured items on a snooping gadget, another politician’s underwear photos, a woman getting plastic surgery to look like a drag queen & the suspension of the “anti-prostitution pledge” for domestic organizations. “A Girl Who Can’t Say No” explains why I invest so much time in my work; “Social Construction of Eunuchs” examines people willing to sacrifice their childrens’ happiness to “social construction of gender”; “Concubine” is a fictional interlude that you may find a bit disquieting; “Bootlickers” uses a campaign against bikini baristas to illustrate public collaboration with tyranny, and “J’accuse” was my first column on Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
This Week in 2010
“What’s In a Name?” explains the many reasons whores use stage names; it was followed by “Couples” (a two-part column about couple calls), then “Modern Marriage”, which examines the reason for the high divorce rate. “The Trick” was my very first fictional interlude, “The Myth of the Wanton” discusses the belief that women are more lustful than men, and “Just Drawn That Way” looks at the complex motivations behind female sexuality.
I believe that Julie Newmar played a sexy robot in a TV series. I don’t remember the name. This was before Batman. The RealDolls are getting better; they’re now in the Uncanny Valley.
My Living Doll, 1964-1965.
Thank you. I’ll see if Netflix has it.
In re: types of pimps, I am reminded of a scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObbLapUaZd4
That’s a good clip.
Except for one thing. Yes, I know that Batman is awesomely cool. That doesn’t mean I want annotations about him covering up the video I’m trying to watch!
Agreed. In looking at it again, it seems there’s a hidden x to close it on the lower right of the annotation. Still, not an appealing use of annotations and it would be nice if people used them like this less.
No, not . . . Nadya Suleman again, pls Maggie, NOT AGAIN! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Seriously, though, I think the whole Octomom saga is nothing but a performance staged by the Powers That Be to focus hatred away from themselves. If this was real Suleman would have had her kids taken away from her and she would have been placed under state supervision. But then, if this was real, the doctor implanting the embryos in her would have had his license revoked.
None of this is real, folks.
She’s like a train wreck; normally I’m not tempted by such people, but something about her incredible cluelessness just compels me to look.
Good theory, though…
Well, everything about her, as well as her actions, is just calculated to make you hate her. Her over-reproduction, her stupidity, her broken promise not to go on welfare, and her utter disregard for the financial future of her children.
Whoever is scripting this performance is doing a masterful job. Too bad there’s no Academy Award for PsyOps, right?
Jonah Falcon – I don’t care if homeboy has a 9 inch dick he needs to get rid of that gut. Also – he’s a walking fashion mishap in those bike shorts. Yeah – I got a pair, because they keep my thighs from chafing when I’m on the rowing machine. However, I usually row in private and if I suspect someone is going to walk in on me I wear a long shirt. 😀
I also have a “tan through” speedo in animal print that I wear to tan when I’m totally alone – you won’t catch me walking through an airport in it!!
ABORTION – I’m like 12 milliseconds away from being Pro-Choice. At this point – I’m pretty apathetic and willing to allow women to do whatever they want to do. I’ll work to keep it from being a choice WITHIN MY OWN FAMILY though – which I have a right to do. My question is … if circumcising a baby boy is considered by some liberals to be an “assault” on that child – do they really think they look rational by embracing abortion? LOL
AIDS Vaccine – well I’m sure this is causing a lot of breathless meetings over at AHF – as a vaccine would definitely put them out of business!!
I’m not biting that circumcision and “assault” thing again, krulac 🙂
And as far as abortion is concerned: well, it’s illegal in all of Ireland, though in the north there’d be no consequences if there was a medical indication. But in the south, all abortion is illegal, even when performed to save the woman’s life.
I’m a pragmatist. What did Ben Franklin say about life? That the only certainties were death, taxes, prostitution and abortion: if you make abortion illegal, you will drive it underground, it will be the woman with the knitting needle again. And she will kill a few girls, make others sterile: surely this isn’t what you want? And anyway, this isn’t an issue that men should decide: men don’t (shouldn’t) control women, it should be for women to decide. But are so many men so afraid of women, so intimidated by them, that their inevitable reaction is the need to control them?
Yes but I could make that argument with circumcision couldn’t I? I mean, if it’s outlawed, think about all the illegal “clippings” that will be happening with rusty scissors and no disinfectant!
I kid of course …
And – I did say that I’m pretty much “Pro-Choice” now? Prolly not for reasons anyone here would celebrate though. If someone wants to kill their offspring – fine, I’ll let their conscience deal with that and, truth is – I won’t have to pay for the unwanted kids. And something tells me that abortion somehow fits in with Darwinism and survival of the fittest – and I’m all about Darwinism.
But, within my own family – we don’t do it. We take care of the kids – all of us. My niece got pregnant a couple of years ago when she was 17 and we’ve all pitched in to help her. I have four brothers and we all have good jobs and we’ve just handled that ourselves without the government – and my niece just got accepted into a very good nursing school.
Her getting pregnant was a BIG DEAL and caused some in my family a lot of heart ache. Which – that’s something I laugh about because I KNOW that in 10 years everyone will forget about that heartache and celebrate the new life.
How do I know this? I have a 28 year old stepdaughter that my wife had out of wedlock.
No regrets.
Look, krulac, it’s their choice not yours or mine. Neither you nor I should have any say in the matter. I’ve a daughter too, but it’s up to her what choices she makes, not up to me. I don’t control her, she’s a free individual, she does as she pleases. And as for your stepdaughter, isn’t she just lovely? And WTF has wedlock got to do with it? Aren’t you just showing your male prejudices there?
Also … bad news for Krulac …
http://www.recoveryzone.com/tests/sex-addiction/SAST/index.php
🙁
I scored “11” on the graph and it says most sex addicts are diagnosed beginning at “6”.
I need a hug. 🙁
That test is nonsense; I scored a 7 and see my response to Pohjalainen below. It is designed to diagnose nearly everyone as an “addict” so as to provide business for “therapists” and followers for anti-sex cults.
Oh great a whore scored lower on the pervo test than I did! 😛
I hate you!!!
And exactly how does that happen – I bet I haven’t even had half the experiences you have. You’ve prolly had two women and me – never!
I SOOOO FAIL AT LIFE!! LOL
That’s all a joke of course!
I feel so ashamed. I scored so low it said I HAVE NOT MET the score. Then it still said “You’ve taken the test and it confirmed your fears.” Which is probably true. I’m practically a saint. That’s kind of depressing.
That test : a sociopath could be fucking like a bunny on crystal meth and not be a sex addict, because most ot those questions were “Do you have a problem with X” or derivations thereof.
Coupled with some questions that basically anyone should say yes to, being so openly worded as to include almost all sexual activity.
What a load of Shreck’s Gonads* that was.
*flushing sound as bleep machine
Strange. Once I put in that I was male, it went straight to the “you’re a sex addict” screen. 😉
Oh dear, I took that sex addiction test and according to it I do have a problem and there are definite signs of an addiction :D!
As I have said here before, I’m pretty close to being asexual, I was active in my 20’s and early 30’s – and then it was mostly because it’s kind of something expected if you want to count as normal, I was okay with it but could do just as fine without, I have never really felt any kind of need to have sex – and I have been mostly without for nearly two decades now.
So it seems sometimes reading romantic novels and occasionally thinking about it are signs of an addiction, according to that test. Or maybe it was the fact that I classified myself as bisexual? So what would it take to not to be an addict, according to it?
It gave the same result for me, though like you I have no real sex drive to speak of (as I’ve said before, I’m almost purely receptive) and can go years without even masturbating; presumably, my bisexuality and sex work automatically make me a “problem”. And that demonstrates that the so-called “test” is fatally flawed.
i got a five.i watch porn since 14,done one night stands and a couple gangbangs,masturbate often, i have screwd from classmates to people i met in nightclubs to tourists while on vacation,i once made out with a girl for my perv math teacher to watch to get a better grade at a subject i suck,i am currently dating a man who could be my father because hes rich and yet i got a five.of course i answered no to wether i consider my behaviour problematic,i have never seeked help and ive never had any problems other than a damaged reputation.no sexual abuse to speak of, never hurt anyone and never neglected an important matter for sex.i guess my friends are right;im just a huge slut,not a sex addict.
if sex addiction is a myth,though,shouldnt nymphomania,which is the term for women who have sex addiction,be one as well?yet,there are a couple famous examples of nymphomaniacs,one is Valeria Messalina,who was said to be a nymphomaniac and some attribute it to the fact that she was the product of inbreeding and another was saint Mary the egyptian,who was a prostitute but her behaviour tended towards nymphomania,since if men refused to pay her for sex,she would do it with them for free and then earn the money she didnt gain by sex with begging.
So-called “sex addiction” is not at all the same thing as nymphomania and satyriasis, which were at one time valid diagnoses which were so overused they became meaningless (especially in the case of nymphomania). There is a hypersexual disorder, but again that isn’t the same as the imaginary “sex addiction”; it’s really a kind of OCD, like Lady Macbeth Syndrome.
Right, psychologists who know their stuff call it sexual compulsion, not addiction. Lay people who don’t understand the difference between chemical dependency and something more akin to a Pavlovian response don’t understand why the distinction is important.
Here’s a good pedantic article on the subject, by Greta Christina.
Re: sex addiction
In the early Sixties my girlfriend and I, as incipient escorts, paid a Freudian psychoanalyst for five conversations to have our professional strengths and weaknesses objectively analyzed, and learn about people’s sex drive and related stuff.
About sex addiction he said, “I would worry about a man who wasn’t a sex addict, and a woman who wouldn’t want to take advantage of it, whether she is his wife or his whore.”
He was enlightened, smart, and funny.
You know, I started that sex addiction quiz annoyed and got more aggravated. This question: “Have you used the Internet to make romantic or erotic connections with people online?” What the hell kind of question is that? A huge percentage of people now meet online. There’s nothing dirty or addictive about it.
I scored a 5, which supposedly puts borderline. I actually found that depressingly low. Of course, the main reason I didn’t score higher is because of lack of cooperation from the fairer sex. So maybe I should see a shrink after all.
I scored 1 on the test; it just confirms what I already knew. I am a failure 😉
in relation to the article about gangs and trafficking,im sorry but there is a huge moral difference between someone who engages in survival sex work and someone who becomes a criminal in order to survive.a woman who becomes a sex worker because of poverty and lack of education is on par with those that perform manual labour for the same reason.sex workers hurt noone and offer a much needed service,criminals do hurt people.if we get rid of the unecessary taboos about sex,whats the moral difference between a sex worker who is forced to work in a seedy brothel and a mine worker?they both do it due to lack of options,they both do a hard job with bad working conditions.a criminal is another story,even a drug dealer in a place where drugs are legalised still causes death and destruction of life.someone who sells weapons legally as well,he is involved in a business that is responsible for the death of millions.i do agree that its a sad fact that theese people dont have options,which should be given to them,but noone in their right mind who suggests that prostitution be decriminalised says that theft for example should be as well,because poor people with no options do it.there is a vast moral difference.for Brook Magnanti,who is labeled as a privileged sex worker i feel glad,for those drug barons or Donald Rumsfeld,who is a privileged weapon seller,i feel nothing but disdain.