A tyranny based on…deception and maintained by terror must inevitably perish from the poison it generates within itself. – Albert Einstein
Nassau County, New York has wholeheartedly embraced the evil quackery of “end demand” with the exuberance of a broke hooker going into a multi-hour call with her favorite client. But there the similarity stops; while the latter interaction is a moral, ethical, peaceful, consensual and mutually-beneficial one, the men upon whom District Attorney Kathleen Rice violently forced her loathsome attentions were deceived, brutalized and humiliated, and the only people who benefited were Rice (who scores brownie points with neofeminists), the police department (which scores stolen money and other property), and the individual vice cops (who gain the sadistic joy of harming others and fodder for later masturbatory fantasies). But if Rice and her sleazy accomplices thought they were going to win public praise for their asinine exercise in the victimization of citizens, they were badly mistaken; even the fourth-grade-level “humor” in the name of their “operation” (“Flush the johns”, get it? Get It? GET IT???!!??? DO YA, HUH? GET IT??!!!? HAW HAW HAW YUK YUK YUK!!!!) has received at least some small measure of the universal scorn it deserves from anyone older than ten. Though sex worker rights activists always criticize large “sting” operations, the outstanding malodorousness of this one inspired some outstanding responses from our allies. Jacob Sullum of Reason, whose support is always vocal and unwavering, had this to say:
It is hard to imagine a bigger waste of law enforcement resources than “Operation Flush the Johns,” the month-long sting that resulted in 104 arrests announced by…District Attorney Kathleen Rice…These men, whose names and photos Rice eagerly disseminated, were arrested…[for] a trumped-up version of a phony crime. If anyone committed a real crime here, it was the cops, who lured these poor horny bastards to a hotel room under false pretenses, only to lead them away in handcuffs…[for]…patronizing a prostitute in the third degree. Think about that for a minute. There is no such thing as patronizing a pornographer in the third degree, patronizing a liquor dealer in the third degree or patronizing a race track in the third degree…because New York’s legislators have decided to allow these consensual transactions, even though moralists take a dim view of them, while prohibiting the voluntary exchange of sex for money. That dictate entails some pretty arbitrary distinctions. If two people meet through an online ad, one buys the other a nice dinner and they have sex afterward, they have committed no crime. But if two people meet through an online ad and have sex, after which one of them hands the other $100 so she can buy herself a nice dinner, they may both be subject to arrest…Rice defends punishing these men for words they allegedly said to fake prostitutes by arguing that she is thereby protecting real prostitutes from risk…yet…the prostitution ban that Rice enthusiastically enforces makes sex workers vulnerable to abuse by traffickers, pimps…customers…police and courts…black markets created by such edicts are dangerous places characterized by fraud and violence, in contrast with the honesty and peace that tend to prevail in legal versions of those very same markets…anti-prostitution crusaders…refuse to acknowledge…the role they play in creating the victims they claim to be saving.
Sullum also debated criminalization on HuffPost Live against Michael Shively (who makes a very good living whoring his mad research skillz to Swanee Hunt) and Hall of Shame member Dennis Hof. Yes, you read that correctly: Hof is in favor of client stings and even promotes “pimp” propaganda for the same reason owners of established restaurants want food trucks harassed and owners of taxi cartels favor persecution of internet and smartphone-enabled competition (and yet he still has the nerve to portray himself as an advocate for sex workers). On Sullum’s side (and ours) was also Lane Filler of Newsday, who published this on the subject:
…Why was this suddenly such an important crime to focus on?…[only] 39 people had been arrested on such charges in Nassau County … over the past decade. More than 100 in a month shows a pretty serious change in emphasis, and one that goes beyond this sting, and beyond prosecuting customers. In 2012, 26 cases involving prostitution charges were resolved in Nassau. This year there have already been 140 prostitution arrests…Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice has never shied away from the spotlight. In fact, she…seems drawn to it like a moth to a porch lamp…
And here’s one from the newest “Friend of Whores”, Cathy Reisenwitz:
…I guess the presumption of innocence isn’t a thing in Nassau County? Even if they evade prison time, this arrest will haunt them for the rest of their lives. And let’s not forget that their children and wives have been humiliated right along with them. And for what? The string comes as a result of “complaints about prostitution in hotels”…what business is it of anyone’s if a man contacts a woman…and meets her…for sex?…And while the police and DA are arresting and prosecuting over this victimless crime, they don’t have enough time to prosecute the gang-rape of a young girl with an IQ of 50 in a Nassau County public school…
And one from sex worker Cathryn Berarovich, who takes aim at one pet-peeve-triggering element of the story the non-sex-working allies missed:
…My first problem is the use of the word “John.” In all my years as a sex worker, I have never once heard a hooker call her client a John. I’ve never really swapped tales…with outdoor workers, but I’m not sure if those ladies even refer to clients in such a degrading, dehumanizing way. The only people I’ve ever heard use the term were either anti-sex work civilians or police officers, two groups who generally don’t draw distinctions between the individuals involved in the sex trade, either as customers or providers. I hate the term “John” because…stripping clients of their individuality contributes to the stigma surrounding my profession: if the men who pay for sexual services aren’t individuals with normal human needs, it’s okay to demonize [those]…who cater to those needs…On a related note, it really, seriously bothers me to see these mugshots publicized. People go to sex workers for a number of reasons–because they are ashamed of their desires, because they don’t have time to pursue relationships…because their partners are unwilling or unable to fulfill certain fetishes, because they are too awkward to approach nonprofessional women. Absolutely none of the reasons that motivate most men to patronize sex workers are a cause for public shaming and humiliation…it’s sordid, tacky, and frankly vicious and so far as we know, none of the men pictured did anything to deserve such punishment…
Rice is of course trying to win the votes of moralists and ignorant women; her Swedish-flavored rhetoric casts her in the role of the “savior” of women victimized by men’s dirty, evil lust, and she’s even spoken up against the use of condoms as “evidence”. But fewer and fewer people are buying it, and perhaps this vicious attack on an activity a large fraction of the electorate enjoy from time to time will backfire on her. It’s long past time to flush politicians like Rice, and the brutal repression of human needs and desires they champion, down the same filthy commode in which support for the Drug War is already circling before vanishing into the sewer where they both belong.
Pfft…To keep it simple and leave out all the arguments about abuse etc….:
What the hell is wrong with paid sex?
H.L. Mencken – “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
I notice that cops enjoy juvenile names for their stings (“Operation Flea Collar” also an anti-client sting in FL). One other thing to notice, the Swedish Model, in part, is already here. Of course, I expect that clients in Sweden face a harsher regime, but I’m not sure. Here in the US we have such bizarre innovations as “John Schools” where clients are taught to win the battle over themselves and Love Big Brother. (Incidentally, anybody notice what the main crimes in 1984 actually were? An important element of the treason was enjoyment of sex, called sexcrime.)
While it’s true Rice wants to win votes, I have no doubt she is mainly doing this because she enjoys the sadistic exercise of power. Prosecutors can and will do unpopular things and weather storms, in the hopes that people will still elect them despite their cruelty. In this case, I would say rather than thinking this will win her votes, she believes it won’t cost her votes. She would most likely still do it even if it cost her some votes. she has that type of personality, I’m sure she feels oh so righteous.
Oh, also, I should mention, there’s an old police trick called “strict enforcement.” It’s the police equivalent of the labor movement tactic, “work to rule,” in which you slow down a business by only doing the required work and no more.
Well, strict enforcement is when you strictly enforce laws on the books, for example in this case against prostitution. You just keep using existing laws in a strict, harassing way and you can actually make a de facto change in the law without having to go through the messiness of legislation. This is the way the Swedish Model will most likely start in America, by stricter enforcement of laws already on the books.
Maggie;
The quote (A tyranny based on…deception and maintained by terror must inevitably perish from the poison it generates within itself.) appears to come from Chapter 35 of ESSAYS IN HUMANISM by Einstein
(http://books.google.com/books?id=6NoFIRmg3J4C&pg=PT96&lpg=PT96&dq=A+tyranny+based+on…deception+and+maintained+by+terror+must+inevitably+perish+from+the+poison+it+generates+within+itself.&source=bl&ots=gkGvi7fvJv&sig=rAQcAnKpZ1RdGUHmeVu4gINoxF8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A07AUeskyrvSAfHLgOAL&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ)
It didn’t sound like the Einstein I knew either. Go figure.
It is a sign of the general degeneracy of government these days that a local politician is allowed to publish photographs of accused criminals, in a scheme to punish them, before they have been convicted.
I’ll update the post. Thank you!
I had to look, too, and found it in http://namnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/29289146-ideas-and-opinions-by-albert-einstein.pdf (page 190)
The quote is apparently from 1938. Looks like an interesting book.
Flush the John? It would appear that Rice didn’t make it to the head and soiled her pants with this one.
It’s a mess for her now.
I know everyone gets pissed off when this kind of thing happens – but overreach can be a very good thing.
Rice spent a lot of money and wasted a lot of police assets and bought herself some stiff condemnation. Not a good return on her little “investment”. The pics of the “Johns”, which are meant to humiliate … also highlight the fact that these aren’t the faces of hardened criminals.
A similar bust happened here in Louisiana – Homa, I think it was. They got around 20 guys I think – one was a High School Band Director and I think he was actually single.
If Rice and the police want to highlight to the world what cowards they are – then busting band directors and janitors and construction workers and Walmart and Home Depot employees is one way to do it.
I’m betting a lot of them were old men too – which makes the cops even look more clueless.
The prohibitionists no doubt enjoyed inflicting harm on these people, but all they proved is that clients are a very normal cross-section of men.
I appreciate where Cathryn Berarovich is coming from, but I pay for sex regularly and I don’t mind being called a john. I’m not ashamed of what I’m doing, so I embrace all of the supposedly negative terms.
Ah, the convolutions of Political Correctness. One cycle it is ‘demeaning’ to use the terms for something that have been in common use for a generation or more, the next cycle you are supposed to “embrace” those same terms. And whoever is in cycle one gets to denounce those in cycle two, and vice-versa. And we are so accustomed to the antics of the pillocks who take this seriously that we do it to ourselves, even when they aren’t around.
*spit*
That’s something I noticed the first time I saw Paying for It, but I must admit the term bothers me. I’m not quite on the same wavelength as Cathryn; what bothers me about it most, I think, is that it’s the preferred slur of cops, politicians, yellow journalists and neofeminists. And like Cathryn, I’ve literally never heard it used aloud by a real working girl except when talking about its use by others.
Aha! Kind of the way that it bothers me when you call yourself a “whore”!
Actually – doesn’t bother me much anymore and sometimes I even occasionally use the word myself. But – when I first showed up on this blog I cringed each and every time I read it.
I’ve been reading the book “Sex Work” and in it I saw that there was a streetwalker who used the term “John” to refer to customers. This book is fairly interesting getting an inside view from a variety of sex workers. It’s the first time I’d ever seen anything written by a streetwalker and gotten their point of view. On the other hand I’ve never seen the term used anywhere online by providers on boards like ECCIE. Just a term for the cops and the local tv stations.
I didn’t get the “joke” at first. I was looking at the poster, thinking: “Flush the johns? What an odd choice of words.” No sense of humor, I guess.
It’s a “joke” in the sense that “stop hitting yourself” spoken by a bully who is repeatedly hitting you in the face with your own hand is a joke. (I. E. funny only to him and his cronies.)
Hey Maggie
I randomly found this blog about a week ago, and found your honesty and writing style endlessly fascinating. I have now made my way through most of the posts, and may have some observations that are of interest to you. Having never had any contact with the sex industry (except for seeing a little pornography every now and then), it isn’t something that I ever really thought about. However, after reading a few of your posts, I found the topic interesting and have been spending most of my free time working my way through your site.
I think it has informed my opinions on the matter greatly, as they were admittedly uninformed before. For some reason I never really questioned the common knowledge of the “dirty whore.” I never stopped to consider the way that language is used in so many facets of media coverage and political grandstanding to inform public opinion on the subject. And I certaintly never stopped to think that it might be sexist for me as a man to think that women shouldn’t be in the sex trade. I guess I’m an idiot.
I think that is the thing that I have enjoyed most about your blog; you have made me face some difficult truths in myself. As much as I hate to judge people and consider myself to not be judgmental, in the area of sex work, I have been very judgmental for some reason. I assumed the women were stupid, or somehow broken (and yes, dirty). I would always snicker to myself when I opened the paper to the mugshots of the whores or the johns. I don’t know why I felt that I was superior enough to allow me to take a brief moment of pleasure in the public humiliation of people who never caused me any harm. It’s certaintly not something that I am proud of now.
So thanks for the education, and for providing the catalyst for me to feel the need to face some personal shortcommings that I had not previously recognized. Sometimes seeing a little piece of the world through someone else’s eyes can be a powerful thing.
All the best
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this; it really helps me to know that I’m doing my job. 🙂
Sadly, the Swedish model is gaining popularity in the U.S. Recently, the town I live in, which has generally ignored prostitution, did its first sting. The new police chief has also invited an anti-trafficking group to train the police department and give speeches to raise public awareness about human trafficking.
What makes it especially ridiculous is that there is only one whore in the town who posts on backpage, and she’s college educated and an independent, lol.
“Arresting johns instead, as Nassau County did, punishes the bad guys, not the victims. ”
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/flushing-the-johns-is-a-welcome-change-from-arresting-sex-workers.html#ixzz2WatwAhcl
These sorts of things have been going on for a while. But I’m glad to see it backfire in the minds of the general public. Hopefully it’ll son be something police departments avoid for their own good.
Yes, police departments, for your own good. How do YOU like it, guys?