This is not just about sex trade workers…The government’s coming in through the back door…to tell you what you can and cannot do in the privacy of your home with another consenting adult. – Terri-Jean Bedford
Ignorant reporter apparently believes “explain” is a synonym for “rationalize”:
…The purpose of the sting operation was to discourage sex providers and customers from engaging in the illegal transaction, which often is linked to child sex abuse, robbery, assault and drug use, Lt. Det. Cord Wood of the Corvallis [Oregon] Police Department said…“To gauge the number of thefts, assaults and robberies (associated with prostitution) is difficult because I really believe those are under-reported”…
Because obviously someone named for 128 cubic feet of chopped fibrous cellulose must be an expert in a trade he’s never practiced.
The Camel’s Nose (June Updates, Part One)
Just another reminder that though Al Franken claims to be an advocate of liberty, he’s actually a devoted supporter of the police state: “I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people…I have a high level of confidence that this is used to protect us…There are certain things that are appropriate for me to know that is not appropriate for the bad guys to know.” Because tyranny isn’t “bad” as long as you wave a flag while stomping on people’s faces.
“Sex workers and their supporters marched and rallied in several Canadian cities…days before a Supreme Court hearing on whether laws restricting the sale of sex should be tossed out”, and prohibitionists fantasize about replacing criminalization of workers with that of clients. Fortunately this view is unpopular in Canada, and editorials like this one from Catherine Healy and Sandra Ka Hon Chu are not uncommon:
The Supreme Court of Canada’s looming consideration…has led to vigorous debate about the merits of the “Swedish model”…[which] perpetuates…stigma, discrimination and violence…and institutionalizes an adversarial relationship between sex workers and the police. Less discussed is the model of sex work employed in New Zealand….[where] sex workers are covered by legislation that protects them from exploitation while accessing labour laws to promote their welfare and occupational health and safety…
There is no substantiated evidence of trafficking despite repeated efforts by the immigration department…
This week I received a copy of The Art of Not Being Governed from SA. Thank you so much!
Dating and highways cause sex trafficking!
Birmingham [Alabama] residents have voiced concerns over a billboard that suggests young women date a sugar daddy if they’re in search of a summer job. Alexa James…[said] she wants the arrangements.com billboard taken down…”I-20 has now become the superhighway of human trafficking…Make a stand, call the mayor’s office, call your state representative.” The service is an online dating site that facilitates mutually beneficial arrangements…and…has no plans to remove the billboard.
Yet again: As long as government actors have excessive power over individuals, this will keep happening:
…two [Georgia] sheriff’s deputies…pleaded guilty…for their part in a scheme to send an innocent woman to prison…Judge Bryant Cochran solicited sex from [Angela Garmley] in return for legal favors. Shortly after Garmley filed her complaint, she was arrested…and charged with possession of methamphetamines…Since this scandal broke, three women who worked in Cochran’s court have filed a separate lawsuit…claiming Cochran sexually harassed them…
…a…19-year-old Omaha woman…[said] Deputy Cory Cooper made her perform oral sex after pulling over a vehicle containing her and her boyfriend on a marijuana violation…Cooper told the boyfriend to walk to the lake to dispose of the marijuana…then turned his attention to the woman…she said she felt like she had no choice…
Ronald Weitzer speaks on the mythology of “sex trafficking” at Queens University, Belfast; unfortunately, this is audio only.
Crime Against Society (TW3 #14)
The ordeal of those victimized by New Orleans’ sadistic game is over at last:
…a settlement…will remove from the sex offender registry approximately 700 individuals who had been required to register solely because of a Crime Against Nature by Solicitation (CANS) conviction…“The lingering injustice, resulting from over 20 years of discriminatory enforcement of this law at police and prosecutors’ whims, will now finally come to an end,” said Andrea Ritchie, co-counsel to [the Center for Constitutional Rights] in Doe v. Jindal and Doe v. Caldwell…
Though danah boyd’s last article on “sex trafficking” annoyed a number of activists with its ambiguity, this one is much more firmly anti-hysteria:
When most people think of sex trafficking…they immediately think of stereotypical images. Like that of a vulnerable girl exploited by a pimp…But…[it] is more often about young people who are homeless, yet turned away from crowded shelters. About teens exploited by family members (or kicked out of the house for being gay or transgender)…In other words: systemic factors that have little to do with the actions of predators…one group of advocates long clamored for classified-ad sites, like Craigslist or Backpage, to be abolished — holding on to false hopes that eliminating these platforms would eliminate exploitation…the data I’ve seen suggests that this approach is neither effective nor productive…
Lying Down With Dogs (TW3 #29)
Cop threats to persecute travelling whores aren’t confined to the US:
…commissioner…Charity Katanga has warned that police will arrest…sex workers who have…started migrating from Kitwe to Livingstone ahead of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly in August…Mrs Katanga said the laws of Zambia…are clear…“If we do not find appropriate charges to slap on them, we will throw them in jail. If they are migrating to Livingstone, we will also ‘migrate’ so that we can deal with them ruthlessly”…
A profile of activist Laura Lee:
Growing up in a strict Irish Catholic family, Laura Lee was lined up for a respectable career as a lawyer. But after watching a film…she wanted to become a call girl. Aged 19…[she] took on a Saturday job at a massage parlour. Now 35 and mum to a 12-year-old daughter, Laura campaigns for sex workers’ rights…
A year and a half ago sex worker activists wondered if the creation of a single police force for Scotland would be a good or a bad thing. Now the news is in: it’s extremely bad:
Brothels were targeted by…police…who accompanied social workers to help potential victims…Customers and employees were taken onto the street and questioned at seven saunas…officers are pursuing inquiries relating to several serious sexual offences…police said: “Three people…have been charged with drugs offences…and it is estimated that assets worth in excess of £500,000 have been seized”…Since the country’s eight forces came under the single Police Scotland umbrella, regional variations in policy have surfaced…Edinburgh’s apparent sanctioning of prostitution had created a climate whereby city officials had to defend perceived leniency on the practice…
That £500,000 theft gives away the motive, and this demonstrates what I said Thursday about policies vs. laws.
Feminist Ire continues its robust tradition of debunking prohibitionist lies, this time in a guest post by Matthias Lehmann and Sonja Dolinsek:
…Der Spiegel published a…deeply flawed report…about…[sex] trafficking…Prostitution…has been legal in Germany since 1927…the new prostitution law of 2002 changed some aspects pertaining to the legal relationship between sex workers and clients and some criminal law provisions. It recognized the contract between sex workers and clients as legal and introduced the rights of sex workers to sue clients unwilling to pay for sexual services already provided. In addition, sex workers received the right to health insurance and social security…What is misleadingly called the ”legalization“ of prostitution is actually the recognition of sex work as labor. However…some states actually never implemented the new law…Most states…declare…[so many restrictions] prostitution [is] de facto illegal…sex work is not allowed for non-EU nationals…who…are thus…excluded from the law [and] therefore [cannot be protected by it]…
The UK emulates China and the Muslim theocracies:
Internet and telecom companies will be ordered by the Government to block “harmful” content…Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, has summoned the bosses of companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook to a summit…at which she will demand…industry-wide co-operation to prevent the…sharing of harmful material…[including] illegal porn, images of child abuse, material that could incite religious or racial hatred and so-called “suicide websites”…Possible new measures include greater use of online filters; making public Wi-Fi more “family friendly” so children cannot access harmful material…ensuring all companies sign up to industry guidelines and setting up permanent bodies to monitor content…
Because obviously, government is best-equipped to judge what’s “harmful”, and if the filters just happen to block educational and political content, too…well, omelettes and eggs and all.
A rare defeat for control freaks:
The federal government…told a judge it will…comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. The decision ends a years-long fight between…Obama’s administration, which had argued that age limits for the morning-after pill are common sense, and women’s rights groups, which insisted the drug should be made…freely available…
Anti-sex groups claim the decision “takes away the rights of girls’ parents”…to ruin their daughters’ entire lives for one mistake.
Rob Arthur alerted me to the fact that Ricardo Cortés has written and illustrated a short, FREE primer on jury nullification entitled “Jury Independence Illustrated”. Please read it, download it and disseminate it as widely as possible; it’s time people were reminded of their power to overrule the rulers.
Drowning was the cause of death for Terrilynn Monette, the missing…teacher whose body was discovered in Bayou St. John…more than three months after…[disappearing] early on March 2…she…had been drinking, and…told friends…that she planned to sleep in her car for a while before driving to her apartment…
I lived near that bayou for years; there is nothing to stop a tipsy, exhausted woman from driving off the street and into it, without any help from Russian Mafia sex traffickers.
An Example to the West (TW3 #316)
One of Bolivia’s sex workers organizations, Organización de Trabajadoras Nocturnas (OTN), has called for the legalization of sex work in Bolivia and for sex workers to be granted retirement benefits and health insurance…The OTN has 50,000 affiliates, 80 percent of whom work in nightclubs…ONAEM (Organización Nacional de Activistas por la Emancipación de la Mujer), a major national women’s emancipation organization…supports [their] demands…
…Scarlet Alliance…is urging the Federal Government to expand [a] controversial visa to cover foreign escorts…Jules Kim…said sex workers were just as skilled as other workers allowed to fly into Australia on the four-year work visas…The Immigration Department…said sex workers were not considered “skilled” because the job did not require a degree or diploma…but Scarlet Alliance…said overseas sex workers would be vulnerable to…exploitation unless they could apply for a long-term work visa…
In an incident that underlined the harsh treatment often meted out to Chinese sex workers, a…female police officer was “punched in the face” and “dragged” from a hotel room during a botched anti-vice operation…Ms Wang…had been visiting her daughter in…Zhengzhou…when police unexpectedly appeared at the door…she told the men she was also a member of the police…but her pleas fell on deaf ears…
Guest Columnist: Sarah Woolley
As Sarah explained, the Paisley branch of respected human rights group Amnesty International made the bizarre decision to endorse Scotland’s attempt to impose the Swedish model despite clear proof that it harms sex workers. When Wendy Lyon informed Amnesty of this, the organization immediately demanded the branch revoke its endorsement and, as Melissa Gira Grant explains, has now issued (for the first time) a clear pro-decriminalization statement: “What…Paisley Branch have done – perhaps entirely despite themselves – is to push Amnesty International to state their opposition to the criminalisation of sex workers and of adult consensual sex more clearly….sex workers in Scotland and around the world…can now claim Amnesty International in their corner.”
Amnesty International have always been a political organisation, UK readers will probably remember that it was the darling of sleazy Dennis MacShane who when called up about his claim of millions of trafficked sex slaves in Britain claimed his source was from The Mirror (lol) who in turn claimed it was from Amn Int.
Plus according to Gary Larson whenever he drew a cartoon which so much as hinted of dungeons and torture he got a complaint from the bleeding heart department of Amnesty.
The problem with Franken, and others, is that they forget that in a democracy, they are servants, not rulers. It’s up to the people to decide how much protection we want, and in what form. We can’t do that if the activities of the government is kept secret from us.
This paternalistic “It’s for your own good” attitude runs through prohibitions against drugs, sex work, and ultimately gets us spied on. It has to stop if we are to be free.
You gotta be shittin’ me? That ain’t his name!
That almost beats a friend of mine from way back … a Navy E-3 named “Swallow” and the Chiefs were too happy to address him as “Seaman Swallow”! Making Petty Officer was a big day for Swallow I’ll tell you.
New Orleans … Maggie, the thing that upsets me about the reversal of the “Crimes Against Nature” is that although women have been removed from the sex offender database – I believe they are still required to PETITION to have their driver’s licenses restored to normal. Or … did I miss something in this new ruling?
The Scotts … I’ve never understood the drive for modern-day independence in Scotland. Dudes … just deal with it – you’re part of the British Empire (such as it is these days). By the way … I’m heavily Scott Highlander descent and my ancestors repeatedly fought and got their asses waxed courtesy of the Brits. It’s just time to deal with reality, brothas.
The Death of Liberty … This NSA spying thing … I’m afraid it will all go over with a whimper. I am just astounded at the number of Americans who are willing to trade liberty for some dubious bit of a guarantee of “security”. I predict when this is all said and done – the government will feel it has virtually FREE REIGN to do whatever the hell it pleases. Ironically, if we want to do anything about it – we’ll have to elect Repubelicans to office again. Not because they’ll undo any of this (they won’t – LOL – they STARTED it in the first place!) … but at least the National Press will do it’s duty of oversight when it comes to Repubelicans in power instead of the BBBJ’s they continuously reward Dimmocrits with.
I never understood how police stings manage to arrest so many would be clients, because police methods are often so bad that you have to wonder how they fell for it. I mean, convincing men to explicitly agree to exchange sex for money over the phone? Really?
I don’t think these men necessarily belong in jail, but I have to wonder if police are often effectively arresting and sometimes publicly shaming men who are the sort who make ideal scapegoats for their anti-prostitution agenda.
It’s pretty clear that, whatever they say, the Paisley branch of Amnesty are motivated by morality — they are moralising; and Ms Grant may well share this view, no matter what she says. The difference between the “expressed” and the “espoused” position.
There’s also a neat little bit by Oliver Burkeman in today’s Guardian. He’s actually talking about the 5:2 diet, and applying the idea in other areas.
“Then there’s the ‘rebound effect’ that follows many attempts to suppress certain behaviours: it can’t be a coincidence that the US states where the conservative moral codes are the strongest are the ones that download the most porn.”
Here’s an example of the impact of Victorian prudery on the availability of art.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10110223/Lost-painting-of-Pompeii-which-shocked-the-Victorians-to-sell-at-auction.html
“To gauge the number of thefts, assaults and robberies (associated with prostitution) is difficult because I really believe those are under-reported”…”
Translation; “Gun ownership is up, crime is down, and the bottom is dropping out of the Marijuana War. My God, if we can’t gin up a good hysteria soon it’ll be back to walking a beat and getting cats out of trees!”
I found this and thought you might find it of value. Possibly some inspiration.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/these-posters-of-prostitutes-arent-what-they-seem
Yes, I featured one of those last month; I think they’re fantastic.
I agree. Very clever, and it gets the point across.
Just to clarify, Amnesty were already aware of the Paisley branch’s submission when I sent them that Tweet, and had already been in touch with the branch about it. My Tweet was specifically about a Facebook page the branch had also set up in support of the campaign, and it was that page that I was the first to bring to Amnesty’s attention.
I’m honoured that Melissa chose my Tweet to highlight but I think it gives a bit of a misleading picture of what actually happened. Others, such as Nine, got in before me with letting Amnesty know about the submission itself.
Thanks for the clarification, Wendy, and even more for being such a staunch ally! 🙂
It has occurred to me that when I get to a TW3, I don’t have to comment on EVERY SINGLE THING. So I’ll not be doing that. I did read them all, and even followed some links.
I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens in Canada. They already have national healthcare, they don’t have as many murders (though they do have a lot of gun ownership), and they are slowly but surely getting it right in regards to prostitution.
That was well worth the hour. I had to find or make time, but I’m glad I didn’t skip it.
Even if we accept that a life-long offender list is a good idea (most of us here are unconvinced), can we at least limit it to exceptionally bad crimes, like murder? Not things like prostitution and peeing on a tree? New Orleans is moving in the right direction here, if somewhat in staggers.
“If we do not find appropriate charges to slap on them, we will throw them in jail.”
Excuse me; If you DON’T have anything to charge them with? How about you investigate yourself, find yourself blameless… and then throw your own ass in jail anyway? Oh, now it doesn’t sound so reasonable, Mrs. Katanga?
See what happens when you let kids like Laura Lee watch movies? They start to get ideas…
I actually finished this two nights ago, but deleted it by mistake. I shall have to re-create it today.
Across the Pond
Hate asset forfeiture. Hate it. It should be abolished.
Number Puzzle
Come on Germany. You’re getting it right; don’t fuck it up now.
Big Sister
The UK government has demonstrated more than once that they don’t get how modern communication works. Recently they demanded the destruction of hard drives in their country which contained information already sent around the world. So… what did that accomplish? It accomplished making the UK government look both oppressive and stupid, and nothing else.
Oscillation
Thank you! Parents do not OWN their children, much less their teenagers. For obvious reasons parents have a lot of authority over their kids, but it is not, and must not be, absolute. Kids are living breathing human beings, and they deserve a life unruined by parents or anybody else.
The Story Behind the Story
Thank you, again. And, if somebody out there reading this doesn’t want to serve on a jury, print this out and carry it with you, be seen reading it while waiting in that room.
Deafening Silence
I generally consider it a good sign when the jihadis start killing each other, but I’m not sure this counts.
Guest Columnist: Sarah Woolley
Having Amnesty International on your side is a BFD.