Your typical “good feminist” engages in “sex-positive activism” by assuring one another that they are bold “revolutionaries” for watching punk porn or buying buttplugs…mainstream feminists know that you don’t change the world with a Hitachi Magic Wand. – Furry Girl
Melissa Gira Grant presents an excellent short history of the first 200 years of prostitution in America, “When Prostitution Wasn’t a Crime”; New Orleans is of course prominently featured, but is by no means the only city covered. Grant looks at how whores were often the first women in colonies, how cops and politicians harassed us before our trade itself was criminalized, and how the social purity movement established criminalization as the American norm.
Most California cities can no longer afford to persecute hookers, so San José has had to fall on that reliable fund-raising technique, lying: “…San Jose Police…acquired a human trafficking grant from the federal government…[which funded] a very successful…sting operation…[arresting] johns and pimps…is extremely important, because they are the ones who…force these women [into] illicit activity…”
Sex Workers Against Trafficking
…sex workers from Nashik [Maharashtra] saved a 14-year-old girl from being sold by…an acquaintance…Vijay Dive…lured her with a trip…[and] told her that he would buy her new clothes…Dive [instead tried to sell her to]…some brothels…[but] sex workers…[informed] police…
Life Imitates Artifice (March Updates)
It’s good to see Russians using “sex trafficking” hysteria as propaganda; let’s hope the Islamic theocracies follow their lead:
The US Department of Justice reported that every two minutes a child is trafficked for…sexual exploitation in the United States…Parents, stepparents or guardians force their children to perform sex acts in exchange for money or items of value…a sex victim who was abused throughout her childhood [says] “Normally it’s in places where there’s lots of people, anytime when there’s a ball game”…child sex [traffickers] are ordinary people…[but] force their children to take addictive drugs and usually threaten them…In 2011 the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) revealed a study that showed there were more than 100 cases reported of child sex trafficking in Knox County…Tennessee…
I described reading neofeminist hate-sites as “like opening the viewing window into a padded cell.” Well, a Tweeter named Caprica collected this group interaction from the recent “RadFem 2013” convention; the specific focus of this malice is transgender people, but there’s plenty for men as well. Warning: don’t look if you are easily disturbed by vile, psychopathic, literally genocidal hatred.
Interestingly, the phrase “sex trafficking” appears nowhere in this story:
The madam of a nationwide Korean prostitution ring…was sentenced to [two years for] immigration fraud…Miyoung Roberts, 42…arranged illegal immigration for more than 24 Korean women who…[worked] at…nightclubs…[and] counseled…[them] on how to avoid detection by immigration authorities. She set up apartments…and supervised some of [their] prostitution…Roberts…gained U.S. citizenship through a fake marriage…
Washington state puritans continue their bizarre persecution of coffee stands: “…Three bikini baristas have been arrested…in Everett…for allegedly selling strip shows to customers…at two Grab-N-Go stands, which is where several baristas were charged with prostitution…in 2009…The arrests came after a two-month undercover investigation…”
The redoubtable Furry Girl presents a devastating critique of sex-positive feminists’ insistence that theirs is the only true feminism:
…sex-positive, pro-autonomy, anti-victimhood feminists are a small minority compared to all the other feminists they…dismiss as “not real feminists.” Large national feminist organizations and women’s studies departments are not run on “good feminist” principles, they are run by the oppressive and anti-sexuality feminists who represent mainstream feminist values. “Good feminists” aren’t the ones being brought in as experts by governments to write new anti-sex worker and anti-porn laws…Feminists who have any shred of influence invariably use it to be “bad feminists,” whether it’s criminalizing indoor prostitution in Rhode Island or holding tenured women’s studies jobs so they can terrorize impressionable young women into feeling victimized by the world around them…
A new study suggests that the possible reason women tend to be more talkative than men (20,000 words per day vs. the male average of 7000) is that our brains tend to “have higher levels of a ‘language protein’ called FOXP2”. Jezebel, of course, exists in a different reality than the rest of us and so DENIES that women tend to be more talkative than men, going on and on and on about it…
The unholy alliance of nuns and SOAP fanatics continues to harass hoteliers in the American Midwest while spreading its extreme version of the “gypsy whores” myth:
…the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus [Ohio] have joined forces with SOAP…[in claiming that] human traffickers…flock to major sporting and other public events. Their current focus is the Arnold Sports Festival and Fitness Expo…[they] call and visit hotels to alert them to the potential for prostitution and trafficking…and…distribute bars of soap…with the phone number of a…trafficking hot line…
A new bill…in Hawaii’s state senate would expand asset forfeiture to include petty misdemeanors…the Hawaii…ACLU posits that [this]…could lead to all sorts of ridiculously-cruel consequences. Homeless people could lose their property if they camp out in a park after hours. Protestors could have their signs, petitions and other assets seized—a chilling effect on the First Amendment. The bill is backed by Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources as a way to protect “natural, cultural, historical and recreational resources”…Hawaii County Prosecutor Mitch Roth has lambasted [SB 1342] as “draconian“…state Sen. Russell Ruderman called [it] “outrageous,” [saying] “we should have more safeguards, not less, to protect people from forfeiture abuses.” The Institute for Justice gave Hawaii a D for its atrocious…forfeiture laws…
You’ll be shocked at the identity of one of the biggest supporters of this tyranny:
The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery (PASS) supports SB1342…[as part of a campaign to] stiffen penalties for patrons of prostitution…This bill…would be very beneficial in ending the demand for prostitution in Hawaii and would provide another deterrent for patrons who buy humans for sex…
This letter from a group of Indian feminists in response to the incredibly patronizing behavior of Harvard do-gooders is a perfect example of what Southern ladies call “vinegar pie”: a dish so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. I have read it three times now and enjoy it more each time.
The ACLU’s “nightmare scenario” of drone-enabled universal surveillance is about to become a reality: “ARGUS-IS…is…a super-high, 1.8 gigapixel resolution camera that can be mounted on a drone. As demonstrated in this clip, the system is capable of high-resolution monitoring and recording of an entire city”:
ARGUS produces a high-resolution video image that covers 15 square miles. It’s all streamed to the ground and stored, and operators can zoom in upon any small area and watch the footage of that spot…it’s the culmination of the trend towards ever-more-pervasive surveillance cameras in American life. We’ve been objecting to that trend for years, and many of our public spaces are now under 24/7 video surveillance—often by cameras owned and operated by the police. But even in our most pessimistic moments, I don’t think we thought that every street, empty lot, garden, and field would be subject to video monitoring anytime soon. But that is precisely what this technology could enable. We’ve speculated about self-organizing swarms of drones being used to blanket entire cities with surveillance, but this technology makes it clear that nothing that complicated is required…
Legal Is as Legal Does (TW3 #20)
The gradual closure of…state-run brothels is emerging as a controversial tactic in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s declared war on prostitution. While Erdoğan’s supporters denounce brothels as a form of “slavery,” sex workers fear the campaign poses risks to their health and safety. Closing…brothels “will not keep men from visiting prostitutes,” explained 48-year-old Istanbul sex worker Berna, “but it will push even more women into illegality and the back streets, where they will be without protection, and without any rights”…Several state-run brothels around the country reportedly already have been closed down – with official reasons including proximity to a new mosque and the nearby discovery of historical artifacts – and others should soon follow…
Johanna in Tits and Sass on “Why Anne Hathaway Should Go-Away”:
In last year’s Les Miserables…Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, a single mother [who]…turns to prostitution…Hathaway…[made] various comments…[about] “the lives of sex slaves”… and her attempts to “honor” the experiences of women who are “forced to sell sex”…Much media attention has also been given to the work on her own body Hathaway did to prepare for the role…[including] hair-cutting and drastic weight loss…What seems strange to me…is that Hathaway and the lady bloggers who love her apparently can’t see any similarities between her use of her body in work…and the experiences of sex workers. Like sex workers, Hathaway’s physicality is central to her job. Like sex workers, Hathaway has to make decisions about how to deploy her body…but somehow, when she diets to the point of frailness (her words), we call that work; when women in a film give hand jobs, we call it “the darkest place imaginable.” Fantine cuts off her hair for money and we cry. Hathaway cuts off her hair (also for money) and we nod admiringly…
The logical end result of “human trafficking” rhetoric:
Employing females as cashiers is a form of human trafficking like sexual exploitation, forced labor and organ trafficking…Objectifying women comes in different forms, such as exploitation in media, advertising, flight attendants, receptionists, and supermarket clerks or cashiers, argues…a graduate research paper at the Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University…Mohammad al-Bogami…writes that Muslim scholars consider it human trafficking if the goal of hiring women is to use their looks to attract customers…
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #43)
The view on the Swedish model from inside Norway, with references to Penny Gelder and the play I linked before:
An increasing number of people in Norway are starting to see through the evil…It is in the nature of a moralist a desire to remove something he or she doesn’t like. Recently, this moralistic mind game has become more and more unmasked…Did you know that children and young people in Norway grow up in a society in which they learn that consensual sex is prohibited?…More and more people are becoming extremely angry and feel that their private sphere is violated. It is very easy to explain, in a factual and logical way, why this law is one of the greatest assaults on humanity ever…So, why doesn´t Amnesty International or the United Nations take solid action, demanding the Sex Purchase Law to be removed immediately?…The Sex Purchase Law violates absolutely all citizens in a country where it is in effect. Not only sex workers, because any kind of sex is in fact a trade or transaction. Thus, any consensual sex would logically be illegal…
For Those Who Think Legalization is a Good Idea (TW3 #136)
Indian sex workers triumph over an attempt at back-door criminalization:
The government has decided not to treat voluntary sex workers above the age of 18 years as victims of trafficking…Following objections by human rights and women organisations, the government is set to delete the term “prostitution” as one of the forms of exploitation which constitutes the offence of trafficking…which…stated that “…the consent of the victim is immaterial”…Justice JS Verma panel…clarified that amended law ought not to be interpreted to permit law enforcement agencies to harass sex workers…and their clients…
Dr. Brooke Magnanti on the fantasy that porn prohibition via internet censorship will somehow work in Iceland (despite the fact that it can’t even stop physical contraband like drugs), and the even more farfetched fantasy that it could work in the UK (because, like Iceland, it’s a magical island kingdom separated from the evil, evil world by floating rings of fire).
Maggie, Re the women talk more than men myth: I did my own scan of the relevant information a couple of years ago and came to the same conclusion as Jezebel. My blog post on the subject here: http://amazingwomenrock.com/do-women-really-talk-more-than-men
And yes, I too go “on and on,” just as you do on other issues ;P One must often do so to debunk myths (as you well know).
X Susan
Hi Susan, tried to post this on your blog…
Your March 2, comment at The Honest Courtisan brought me here.
“My current best guess is that a marriage counselor invented this particular meme about 15 years ago, as a sort of parable for couples with certain communication problems,”
Not that i expect a linguistics professor to be very familiar with couples’ counseling research, but this “meme” has been popping up over decades of study. Among the junk science and advocacy research there are some credible and consistent findings – not inventions, but reports of objective observations of couples interacting.
Although i don’t know enough to disagree with findings re how women talk in public – within the confines of domestic relations and in general, women do “seem to think quicker and speak faster” than their male partners.
If you check the source, you will see that Language Log actually found some evidence that women talk more, 45% more words.
I would be very surprised if this stereotype turned out to be completely without basis in reality (i.e. false), because most stereotypes are true. But it might be that popular versions of the stereotype are exaggerated, like those 3-1 claims.
Speculating on just how women talk more, I think it is because they devote more time to and have a larger interest in social interactions, where talking is common.
fantine.never got that character.shes supposed to be a paragon of virtue,yet she initially has no problem losing it out of wedlock.to be fair Hugo paints her as in love with the childs father and heart broken later,but still for that era a ”virtuous”woman would have the same feelings towards sex out of wedlock as prostitution.
What is the deal with neofeminists and transsexuals? Trannies are different but they don’t hurt anybody by being different. Why the hate? Is it because they dress in drag and wish to use the women’s restroom?
My opinion is that neofeminists hate transgenders because they are living proof that “social construction of gender” is total bullshit. A transgender woman is born anatomically male, raised as male, subjected to male “construction” and granted male “privilege”…and yet turns out psychologically female, because none of that “socialization” has anything to do with gender identity (only social roles, which are a different matter). And that makes neofeminists crazy.
Yeah, but they seem to focus on MTF transpeople rather than FTMs.
I tend to think that neofems animosity towards MTFs stems more from their view of men as over-privileged and women as perpetual victims of this over-privilege, and MTFs giving up this supposed over-privilege doesn’t fit into the narrative too well.
What it shows is that “privilege” goes both ways, and now that women are a protected class, the true sexists/elitists want to make it impossible for anyone to join it voluntarily — because if somebody does, it gives the lie to their whole pose as victims.
They tend to pile on where they can do the most harm, and they don’t accept transwomen as womyn.
They attack wherever they see vulnerability, and who are more vulnerable than transwomen? Especially, among what they see as the male population (they count transwomen as males.).
Think of them as jackals following a gazelle with a limp…
Because transsexuals still have the dreaded, ebil, “Y” chromosome. No matter what they do – they can never get rid of it.
That’s it in a nutshell.
What amazed me in all the vitriol projected towards transwomen is that no one takes 10 minutes for a Google search and read the scientific investigations on the subject. When I found myself attracted to MTF transgendered people, the first thing I wanted to do was learn etiquette and investigate what was known about the subject. Anyone who has to scream as loudly as these numbskulls clearly has nothing to say. That, and they fall into the same pit as fundamentalists: their beliefs are more important than the facts.
Johanna in Tits and Sass on “Why Anne Hathaway Should Go-Away”:
I have always held that prostitution is literally no different from any form of employment.
In general, an employer is allowed to tell his or her employee what they must do with their body, when they can and cannot eat or drink, when they can talk to others, what they say, what they must wear, and how they must behave. Often employees are openly selected for physical attractiveness.
How is this in any way different from prostitution? Especially when you consider that prostitutes often not even required to perform actual sexual intercourse.
As an aside, I suspect that most moralists have terrible sex lives and are simply motivated to make other people equally miserable.
You just described the military — PERFECTLY. Even the last part about physical attractiveness. A BIG part of military success is “looking good” in uniform and they promote that to the max. The guys in my boot camp company who had acne problems were required to undergo specialized treatments from dermatologists because … quote … “Sailors with acne don’t look good in uniform.”
I’ve long held that every bad thing you can say about prostitution – can be directly applied to military service too – that includes ALL of the trafficking rhetoric too!
Re: A Fantasy of Hate
A Saturday morning with a batch of new fallen snow to keep the boys busy provided an opportunity to not only read the blog but to link to most of the full articles. So despite your warning on the degree of animosity wanted to see what the ‘ladies’ had to say, and after reading all of the entries would like to share some thoughts.
Initially there was surprise at the degree of hate these women have not just towards trans people but all men to the extent of multiple comments on plans to cull the species (of humanity) in order to have a female controlled world. What have I done, or what could possibly have happened to them to result in such a sick mindset was quick to follow. It is as if they have become jihadist activists without even the excuse of religion, unable to see that in spite the differences between the sexs we are still a joint species.
After some more thought and consideration what is left would seem to be mainly a sorrowful pity that these people force themselves to go through life being consumed by so much hate and anger. And by allowing this inability to forgive to steal whatever joy or happiness it is possible to take from this world and our lives. By this don’t take it to seem that it is in reference to religion, just someone that has lived long enough to realize the balance that is required for any person involves some type of karmic equality in that you can only take or receive from life as much as you are willing to put into it.
Let’s leave it that my hope is that someday these ladies are able to receive some joy into their lives so that in turn they can make their own contribution to the positive rather than continuing the negative angst that does no good for them or anyone else.
As far as “the old days” go—I have read (in Groucho Marx’ Playboy interview, among other sources) that in former times it was pretty much an open secret that many of the maids in hotels were by no means averse to relieving the loneliness of gentleman travelers for a cash consideration. At a lot of hotels, a word with the bellboy would be all it took to get service—she’d be knocking on your door shortly.
If prostitution were legal, or at least, as legal as porn now is, I’d bet there’d be a lot of hotels that offered this service, albeit discreetly (it might appear on your bill as some sort of extra under an innocuous name.)
It’s offered at all the luxury hotels … well I’m talking the really upscale ones with consigliere. You can get anything from those guys. I saw 7 guys get tickets to the Ozzy Osborne concert in San Antonio, TX – AS GUESTS OF THE MAYOR! Just by asking the consigliere for tickets.
Don’t fuck with asking a cab driver where the girls are – that’s hit or miss … but you can always ask a consigliere and he’ll find you a cabbie who knows where they are!
Don’t expect to get this level of service from the girl at the reception counter at the Holiday Inn Express though.
I think you mean “concierge”. A consigliere is a Mafia boss.
Oh Christ! I just shot my cafe sua da and pho ga out my nose at Heidi’s Pho restaurant. LOL. Consigliere!!! Wtf Krulac?
LMAO!! I hope you never mistook me for someone who was very smart! 😛
LOL … that too!!
It’s also the pragmatic, kindness embodied by CrazyGuy’s correction that’s touches the funny bone. You and i didt find that type of kindness in the Navy. And I thot for a moment you mite have been talking about NAVSTA Sigonella!
The Lion and the Ox – The same Sunni religious types that denounce honest employment promote deliberate deceptions such as Mesyaf, where a rich Saudi travels to poor Muslim countries like Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc, arranges a fake marriage with a local and then takes off after a few weeks.
The hypocrisy is sickening.
The ubiquitous surveillance wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t combined with universal criminality and the constant push to “get tough” on every crime (and “crime”) imaginable. I mean, do I care if some cop looks at a drone video and sees me picking my nose in a parking lot? Well, if picking my nose means my car can be asset forfeitured and sold at some auction, then yeah, I care.
If this thing is flying over Honolulu, will somebody’s coin collection be confiscated because he stuck a dime in his ear?
Maggie, the link in your “A Fantasy of Hate” section is no longer working. But I think this might be the content to which you are referring, or a reasonable facsimile:
http://theterfs.com/2013/03/02/terf-quotes/
Scary as shit stuff, and it is truly frightening that we are sharing oxygen with these types of degenerate humyn beings (sic, sick)
That is exactly the content; I guess she decided to delete the “Twitlonger” page. I’ll update the link.