The industry is so much more about providing care and human nurturing than anything else. – Lance Gilman
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher…announce[d] their decision to continue the…DNA Foundation, [which] will [now] be called “THORN: Digital Defenders of Children”…the foundation will focus on battling digital crimes, especially…[child] sexual exploitation. “For the past three years we have focused our work broadly on combating child sex trafficking…technology plays an increasingly large role in this crime and in the sexual exploitation of children overall…We believe that the technology-driven aspect of these crimes demands its own attention and investment”…
In other words, one of their advisors realizes that “sex trafficking” hysteria is on the way out, and suggested they shift the foundation’s efforts toward a crusade with a longer shelf life.
As in the case of Proposition 35, Californians who voted for Measure B really had no idea what they were supporting:
In an article published today…CalOSHA made it clear that when Measure B’s text refers to “condoms,” it is actually referring to the full roster of “barrier protections” set forth in California Code of Regulations…the section labeled “Personal Protective Equipment”…reads, “Where occupational exposure remains after institution of engineering and work practice controls, the employer shall provide, at no cost to the employee, appropriate personal protective equipment such as, but not limited to, gloves, gowns, laboratory coats, face shields or masks and eye protection“…CalOSHA admits that now that…enforcement will not be just about condoms, but will require that no person’s bodily fluids or “possibly contaminated” areas of skin will be allowed to touch the “skin, eyes, mouth or other mucous membranes” of another person—and what that quite obviously boils down to is, there’ll be no sex in sex movies
after Measure B is put into force…
Krulac meant to send me a copy of The Night Walker soundtrack for my birthday, but a mixup in the order meant it didn’t arrive until Monday. That doesn’t matter to me one bit; I’ve wanted this disc for a very long time, and for me horror isn’t limited to Halloween. Thank you so very much, Krulac!
Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a “Christmas gift” to its advocates…Rebecca Kadaga [claimed] that Ugandans were “demanding” the law. Homosexual acts are already illegal…but the bill…proposes jail terms…including a life sentence in certain circumstances. It prohibits the “promotion” of gay rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who “funds or sponsors homosexuality” or “abets homosexuality”. But a clause which calls for the death penalty against people found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” – defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a “serial offender” – is to be dropped…The bill was strongly condemned last year by Western leaders…[and] international donors have threatened to cut off aid to Uganda if the country does not do more to protect the rights of gay people…
Though Kadega claims the law was “demanded” by Ugandans, in reality it has been pushed since 2009 by Christian fundamentalists from the US who have bought Ugandan politicians to advance their agenda of hate.
It’s good to see yet another evil “controlling prostitution” charge defeated: “Marie McKinlay, 40, was said to have employed dozens of high-class escort girls…that made her more than £350,000 between 2008 and 2011…But…was cleared of controlling prostitution for gain over two and a half years after insisting she had been no more than an agent…” Remember, in the UK escort prostitution is legal; only working together for safety or working from a specific place are illegal. However, police often accuse women of “controlling prostitution” so as to have an excuse to rob them under the “Proceeds of Crime Act”.
The British cops who created fake identities, seduced women into thinking they were having real relationships, got them pregnant and then vanished without any concern about child support are now being sued by their victims, and Scotland Yard is trying to force the trials into a star chamber: “the Metropolitan Police…[argue] that some cases should be hard by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal…in secret…”
It takes a kind of perverse talent to fit so many myths into such a small space:
The Florida Classic weekend draws football fans from across the state…but…is also known for attracting another type of tourist: prostitutes…Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation…Director Larry Zwieg [said] his agency launched an undercover operation…to catch the women who are in town to find illegal work — and the men seeking their services. “We’ve noticed a pattern” among the prostitutes, Zwieg said. “They go from city to city, where ever there is a particular event going on”…Authorities say it’s a familiar story whenever there’s a large event…Sometimes, the prostitutes…are…victims of child-sex trafficking…Child-welfare experts say many teens who are trafficked don’t see themselves as victims and won’t cooperate with authorities. The girls are often fearful of their pimp or his associates. The FBI estimates 293,000 children are at risk of becoming victims of sexual exploitation in America…
Let’s see: we’ve got the “gypsy whores” and the cop insistence that they’ve “noticed” something which doesn’t exist; then agency denial, the pretense that all underage hookers are “trafficked”, and the dogma that the reason whores won’t confirm police masturbatory fantasies is due to fear of nonexistent pimps. Then top it all off with a misattribution of Estes & Weiner’s magic number to the FBI instead. Remarkable.
Cambridge historian Mary Beard on the arbitrariness of law, the Shazam! fallacy, and what the age of consent in Great Britain has to do with “white slavery”, “child” prostitution and William Stead, the Victorian version of Nicholas Kristof. Stead arranged to “buy” a girl from her destitute alcoholic mother by telling her that he wanted the girl as a servant for a wealthy family, but then claimed in his series of articles, The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, that the mother had knowingly sold the girl into “white slavery”. Beard points out that the articles were “probably as inaccurate and exaggerated as some more recent newspaper campaigns have been in the area of child sex. But the articles kick-started pressure…so the age of consent was raised, while, with a certain illogicality, the minimum age of marriage for girls remained 12 until 1929.”
The truth of this is buried under such a heap of dysphemisms it’s very tough to sort out what’s really going on here. As I’ve explained before, “money laundering” is a bogus charge used to persecute and loot suppressed businesses; you’ll notice all the other “crimes” they’re charged with are either consensual activities or else vague administrative infractions. Note the anti-Village Voice propaganda and the way these “officials” reduce women to infantilized, passive objects:
Taking action to break up a tri-state, prostitution-based money laundering operation, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly today announced the unsealing of a 180-count indictment charging 19 individuals and one corporation with enterprise corruption and a variety of underlying crimes, including money laundering, falsifying business records, narcotics sales and prostitution…investigators found two women who were the victims of human trafficking…and…brought them to a safe haven…Somad Enterprises…created, monitored, facilitated and employed online (on Backpage.com, for example) and print (in the Village Voice, for example) advertisements and cable television commercials to knowingly and systematically promote prostitution for its clients’ large- and small-scale prostitution businesses – or pimps for which Somad and its employees, as well as the prostitution business clients, profited handsomely…Commissioner Kelly said, “All anyone has to do is open a copy of the Village Voice to get a good sense of how classified advertising and prostitution go hand in hand, particularly in the prostituting of Asian women. Our focus remains the profiteers and johns engaged in promoting prostitution – not the women exploited by them”…
No matter how this turns out, it’s part of the picture which will eventually force people to realize that sex workers are no different from anyone else:
…Mark Suben, the DA in Cortland County [New York]…since 2008…[said] he had lied about his past…”[Reports]…have…[alleged] that I was involved in the adult film industry about 40 years ago…Those allegations are true…I was an actor in adult films for a short period in the early 70s. I was also an actor in…soap operas and commercial advertisements.” He apologized for his actions and said he used “bad judgment” by acting in porn and by lying about it. He…will not resign…IMDB…says Suben…[under the name] Gus Thomas appears in films such as Lecher and The Love Witch…
And though Suben hid his sex-industry past from the voters, Mustang Ranch brothel owner Lance Gilman did not; last week he was “elected…Storey County commissioner by a wide margin…[he] is the first such owner to win election to public office in Nevada since prostitution was legalized…in 1971”. And though he obviously supports legalization over decriminalization because the former benefits him (no surprise), he did make the positive statement which forms today’s epigram.
Not content with the pathologization of maleness and adolescence, quacks have now proposed that throwing tantrums be considered a mental disorder:
…”Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)” [is] a controversial new child psychiatric disorder proposed for inclusion in…DSM-5…kids will be deemed DMDD if they show “severe recurrent temper outbursts that are grossly out of proportion in intensity or duration to the situation”…Pittsburg psychiatrists David Axelson and colleagues have just shown that the…concept is deeply flawed…[the committee introduced DMDD as a replacement for the recent fad diagnosis] “child bipolar disorder” – a disease considered extremely rare everywhere else…
Metaupdates
Think of the Children! (April Updates)
Anyone who really believes that teenage boys are “children” who can somehow be harmed by seeing naked women should seek professional help immediately:
…Parents of a child who was turning 16 apparently hired two strippers…and invited the boy’s friends…the mother of a 15-year-old…[said] she was shocked when her son told her about the lap dances given to teens…Jim Murphy, Saratoga County District Attorney…[said] “a parent…could be charged with endangering the welfare of a child”…the party was in a private room at the bowling alley…[which] could be in trouble with the State Liquor Authority…[and] the D.A. says the strippers could face charges for having sexual contact with minors…
In other words, Murphy sees nothing wrong with trying to destroy the lives of at least five people (possibly more) over something he would’ve given his eyeteeth to experience when he was 16.
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #35)
The government of Denmark has rejected the Swedish model, rightfully recognizing that the scheme harms prostitutes, is largely unenforceable and wastes resources. Though prohibitionists were “disappointed”, human rights advocates and the two-thirds of the Danish population who are opposed to the Swedish evil will no doubt be pleased.
Emi Koyama’s slide presentation at a recent harm reduction conference described how Portland, Oregon’s bad date line, which was started by a sex worker peer organization, changed when it was taken over by social service agencies. Hint: not only didn’t it improve…
This Week in 2010 and 2011
Beside my two previous Thanksgiving columns, two looks at halfway whores, and two indictments of neofeminist “choice” hypocrisy, this week saw essays on wife swapping and French colonial concubines, my very first column on the “gypsy whores” myth and its sequel, and the tale of an angry love goddess. I also compared US treatment of sex workers with that in the UK and a number of repressive regimes, and featured short articles on a TV show’s involvement in “child sex trafficking”, good advice from a newsreader, tips for dealing with cops, Sasha Grey, Escorts.com, the growth of a rumor and a mobile sex worker rights billboard.
Outlawing homosexuality is right up there with Zimbabwe outlawing inflation. My head hurts thinking people actually think this changes anything instead of just a power grab to scapegoat a segment of the population.
Christians AGAINST this ###*** in Uganda need to be talked about:
http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_13476.html
I’m a fundamentalist Protestant Christian who’s against it also. I’d feel this way about it even if I weren’t bisexual. This ###*** these people are pushing isn’t Biblical to begin with. ###*** them! I’ve been doing what I can in regards to this (petitions) and I also know part of that is to show that not all Christians are for this. That’s a very important thing to do because I’m so tired of never seeing the Christians who are against this ###*** talked about and so are my fellow believers who hate this ###*** in Uganda also.
As always, I’m impressed you can get so much material together over the course of a week.
RE: Welcome To Our World Again
I’m not so sure influence from the US is really a determining factor here; homosexuality is wildly unpopular in Uganda (PDF):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Uganda#cite_note-3
If you’re a Ugandan politician seeking election, you’d be stupid not to support murdering gays.
RE: Pathologization
Ugh. Stuff like this is why I rarely do contracts with psychology researchers or clinicians anymore. The whole field has its head so far up its ass that interacting with it, as a dispassionate, scientific observer is almost impossible. If you’re not in on the latest panic-fad you’re obviously a complete know-nothing.
In the long run, I fear that measure B, even if some who voted for it are well intended, will make things worse in the porn industry.
Overall, porn has done a very good job of controlling the spread of HIV among performers. The incidents can be counted on one hand, That’s too many, yes, but it’s an amazingly small number considering the number of scenes shot daily.
Now there are other diseases that do spread, luckily curable, less serious ones. Condoms may address those, but there are other ways too.
I have no experience with AHS, the new outfit doing the testing, but AIM did a pretty good job, (I have had experience with them, they were the testing outfit back in my day) when the performer cooperated. Sure, as in any other business, there are going to be irresponsible individuals, and employers who try to cut corners. This is how most of the HIV transmissions have occurred.
By passing a law that goes way beyond anything reasonable, All California will achieve is driving porn out of the state, and underground. It will still exist.
The anti-sex people are flying in the face of basic biology. Humans are very sexual creatures, and sex is a basic drive. We like to do it, and to watch. That desire is not going to go away. Try to thwart or repress it, and all that happens is that the desire, unable to be expressed in a healthy way, festers and becomes twisted. Look at all the preachers and anti-sex activists who get caught in various sex scandals.
Most all of the evils the anti-sex campaigners assign to prostitution are due to the laws against it, and porn might go the same way. I’m very sad to see that.
“The Night Walker” – well it was my pleasure to send it to you, Maggie! Your tastes are a bit off the beaten path though! 😀
On the 15 year olds and lap dances … come on, tell the truth … would Maggie McNeill the “stripper” have given a lap dance to a 15 year old kid? This kind of falls under the heading “Life’s Tough – It’s Tougher if you’re Stupid!”
My only concern for these 15 year olds is IF they learned something negative from the experience. I had a similar experience with my son when he was a teenager. It was an event that made me feel like his respect for women was severely lacking. Sooo … he got a good lecture on that and now – in his mid-20’s, he seems to be doing fine with girls. I think part of the original problem was that he may have been exposed to some porn – which typically depicts women as sex starved nymphos. This isn’t the reality of women though.
Boys – DO need to have a correct understanding of the “realities” with women. I’m not really sure those kids really understood that what they were seeing was an act – or if they thought all women in the right circumstances would behave that way.
One sentence: “Son, this is her job, just like other people perform other services as part of their jobs.”
The original of “That was the week that was” aka TW3 was first broadcast 50 years ago this weekend.
TW3 was the brainchild of the director general of the BBC — Hugh Carleton Greene (Graham’s brother) — and the producer, Ned Sherrin, who had the brief to “prick egos”.
It was the first satirical programme on “auntie”, the beeb, the BBC, and was a hit from the start, with huge viewing figures.
Each programme began with Millicent Martin performing a song about the events of the past week — a shrill, but pitch perfect voice.
Many of the sketches became (in)famous — for example, the “consumers association” opinion of the “best” religion that money could buy (it was the Church of England), and the “I’m upper class, I’m middle class, I know my place”.
TW3 led to vast numbers of complaints. It ran for two seasons, and was taken off after the Prime Minister (Harold McMillan) complained.
Here’s a brief tribute:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9772000/9772578.stm
Keep up the good work, keep “pricking the egos” and more!
Re: Stripper for 16 year old ( some how my last comment was wiped out )
Someone need to remind this young man that in two years he should do everything in his power legally to destroy the life of Jim Murphy, vote him out of office, disbar him, put liens of thousands of dollars on his property.
Strippers are like nuclear missiles – you have to be careful of how they’re deployed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Finback_(SSN-670)
What IS hilarious though – is FINBACK, which was a 637 class submarine, has long been decommissioned. The ONE THING it remains famous for … the solitary thing ANYONE remembers that it did … was “deploy” a stripper on her fairwater planes!
Oh yeah …
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/LTGunner/catfutchdancesonsub.jpg
Dammit, I hate it when people insert unnecessary words. Let’s clarify that sentence.
Maggie, your weekly links and TWTWTW columns are approaching Agitator-level of angering me! 😉
I’ll consider that a high compliment! 😉
Maggie,
I’m surprised you didn’t note the complicity of the Salvation Army founder Booth in WT Stead’s little Shazam! charade.
Space constraints. I’ve lambasted Booth at length elsewhere. 🙂
Whups,
Forgot that.
The proposed Ugandan law on homosexuality is medieval and should have no place in a civilised society
The Ugandan law instigators are Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Dan Schmierer. Remember these names, they will one day go down in (church) history like Simon de Montfort, Tomas de Torquemada and Pope Innocent VIII.
My poor nephew had to wait until he was eighteen to get a lap dance. Funny thing, though: we HAD to take him to the club with the all-nude dancers. You see, clubs with all-nude dancers in Dallas County aren’t allowed to serve alcohol, but clubs where the dancers wear an itty-bitty G-string are allowed to serve alcohol. Apparently unclothed pussy reacts badly with alcohol fumes.
So, my nephew on his eighteenth birthday couldn’t even go into a titty bar, but a titty and pussy bar? Yeah, he’s old enough for that.