A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every profession has its superstitions, and those falling under the general heading of entertainment – acting, sports, music, sex work and others – are among the worst. Athletes have various taboos about their equipment and some won’t change their clothes during a winning streak; actors won’t say the phrase “good luck” or mention the play Macbeth backstage for fear of drawing down disaster; musicians often have lucky charms or pre-show rituals. Since one of the greatest harms which can befall a whore is to be arrested, there are a plethora of magical rituals, formulae or prohibitions which are used by the superstitious to ward off that probability. Not one of these has even the slightest basis in reality, but many swear by them and cannot be convinced that they do absolutely nothing to reveal a cop, prevent arrest or serve as a defense in court.
Probably the most common of these superstitions is the “cop test”; many hookers believe that there are certain things a cop is not allowed to do (such as take off his shoes, display his penis, feel her tits, etc), and therefore if a man will do one of those things he isn’t a cop. Probably the most absurd of these is also the most common: it is believed (by many drug users as well as whores) that if a cop is asked the question “are you a cop?” or “are you affiliated with law enforcement?” or whatever, he has to answer truthfully. These tests are doubly ridiculous because even if they were true in the first place (which they aren’t), a cop could still simply lie in the police report and in court to say he didn’t do whatever it was he wasn’t supposed to do. This is why that other common ritual, the payment ceremony, is just as useless as the cop test: if you let a cop in your door or walk into his, it doesn’t matter whether he hands you the money in an envelope or a roll, whether you count it in front of him or not, whether you pick it up or leave it lying on the nightstand, or even whether he gives it to you at all; the police report will say you agreed specifically to perform certain sex acts for a set sum, no matter what you actually did or said. As the expression goes, “you can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride”; if you meet a cop and he wants to arrest you he will do so, even if you aren’t even a hooker, and no magical formula will prevent that.
The notion that certain rites, gestures and words will protect those who use them from malevolent beings is an ancient one, as is the complementary idea that these creatures cannot do perfectly ordinary things that humans can do with ease. Vampires cannot pass running water, go out in the daytime or enter a house without permission; they are revealed by mirrors and repelled by crosses and garlic. Devils cannot pass through certain magical inscriptions and must abide by the letter of any pact to which they agree. Fairies are repelled by salt and iron, and can only gain power over mortals who venture away from known paths or break certain rules. Why do people believe these things? Why were the monsters of folklore not basically unlimited and virtually unstoppable like those in so many modern movies, and why do people insist on believing that the power of modern villains is bounded by these same kinds of mystical geases and taboos? It’s because we need to sleep at night. Vampires, devils and faeries were very real to our ancestors, unlike the fictional villains of modern movies; you know very well that Jason and Chucky and Freddy Kreuger and the alien aren’t real, so it doesn’t matter if there are no limits on their power. But if you believed that they were real, and you lived in a thatched cottage that wouldn’t keep out a determined dog (much less a werewolf), you had better believe there were rules the monsters had to follow and wards to keep them away, or else you’d live in a perpetual state of fear.
Modern harlots are like those peasants of earlier times; we are surrounded by powerful predatory fiends lying in wait to pounce on the unwary victim in order to drag her off to their lair. So it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that many of us choose to believe that there is a mirror or incantation that will dissolve their disguises and reveal the corrupt beasts beneath, or a charm that will offer protection to the one who knows how to use it. Unfortunately, we are at a disadvantage in comparison to our ancestors: while their magical wards never failed because the monsters they were intended to foil never truly existed in the first place, the threats to our freedom and safety are very real…and the magical formulae to which we cling are utterly powerless against them.
Miyamoto Musashi, the Japanese sword-saint observed: “Pay your respects to the Gods and the Buddhas but never rely on them”. That statement can also be read in reverse–Don’t rely on Gods/Buddhas but still pay them respect.
The beliefs that some sex workers hold are not magical, merely mistaken. A small amount of research would put them right. And to compare cops to unstoppable monsters does also seem invalid. Cops are all too human.
What if sex workers got together and put some of their (often substantial) income into a common project to retaliate against cops and their political/bureaucratic masters. Many cops are on the take or corrupt in other ways. And the levels above the cops make the Augean stables smell sweet. An effective force of paid PIs could make life hell for cops and their masters who harass sex workers by exposing police crimes. I know that the present trend is that malefactor cops get a few weeks paid holiday and then back to work but, with massive and wide-spread exposure that is very likely to change. Lots of people have a strong and increasing aversion to the state’s costumed gang and an ongoing campaign could have a substantial effect. The main reason cops pester sex workers is because they can with near impunity. Bad consequences might well de-motivate the law’s finest and it certainly will the political/bureaucratic dross regardless of their initial level of anti-sex (for others) zeal.
They can go after the PIs hired to investigate them but that is just more corruption to be recorded and exposed. Enough money will recruit people to do any job no matter how dangerous. Again enough cash will induce individual cops to turn on and expose their “brother” officers. Such an enterprise could make a great change happen in a short time.
Force is all that matters, and cops have it. Really can’t blame cops entirely, because even if they prefer to ignore prostitution prosecutors or feminist groups regularly demand crackdowns for political reasons. This is with the full support of the people, so cops really are just doing their jobs
In other words, they’re only following orders. That’s always a convenient excuse for evil.
Cops rarely “work to rule” anyway. Cops may have the legal right to confiscate your car, for example, but they have no requirement to taunt you about it. That’s glorying in the rough exercise of power.
Maggie’s description of her arrest is full of examples of cops enjoying themselves at her expense. Also, since they lied about the bust, they didn’t even care about the law.
(Among other things I’m a police brat, which means I learned contempt for officers of the law at my father’s knee. And I do love my father, imagine what I think of the ones that aren’t him.)
I see that the notion that prostitutes make enormous amounts of money and are generally rolling in cash is alive and well.
For the very reason you stated, nothing would be done to the cops, no matter what was exposed. They get away literally with murder, in the USA these days. Besides, there would be repercussions. While in the long run, your suggestion might provide some benefit, in the short run to real people there would be great disadvantage.
I love this long scene about this on Breaking Bad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eVez_EpeuM
Badger doesn’t come across as very bright here…
I will say this though, depending on the situation cops may be shocked if you can rustle up a good lawyer. They may have been expecting an easy bust, and they may not be prepared for someone who will actually fight. We live in a demi-police state, the Constitution is a dead letter, but sometimes you can rely on sloth to get they through, if there is easier prey elsewhere.
As far as counteracting the cops goes, I have a vague and entertaining mental idea of secretly recording such a bust and releasing it — *after* the cops’ perjury is on public record.
Then I realize setting up such a thing would entail recording genuine clients too. 🙁 Bah.
I’ve worked as a private investigator, or rather, for a private investigation outfit. I don’t know if they were atypical or not, but the vast majority of their money came from working for big corporations that wanted to cut down on their disability payment expenses and in doing background checks on people who had applied to work in prisons. The PIs were not tough guys, far from it, in fact, the guys who owned the firm seemed to live in a perpetual state of fear that they would run afoul of the law. Believe me, they would have folded like a cardboard box if any law enforcement agency so much as growled at them.
I do some free-lance work for a PI here in Louisiana – well, he also provides body guard services and the few times I’ve worked for him that’s what he had me doing. I’ll tell you right now – that guy and everyone he employs is a bad ass.
But you ARE right – most of his work is in busting guys and gals collecting disability. He doesn’t do divorces and the reason he doesn’t is he’s had too many divorce clients “turn” on him.
He’s not worried about the cops, they are all friends of his – he’s a former cop who had to leave the service because he was dirty. Try as they might – they could not bust him in the courts because he KNEW everyone. Even a change of venue resulted in him getting a prosecutor that he had worked with and she dropped all charges.
One day I’m going to sit down with him and talk about prostitution and his years on the JP police force.
Actors refer to Macbeth as “the Scottish play”, and opera singers call La forza del destino “the Spanish opera” for the same reason…it’s terribly unlucky.
I don’t know why there is such an automatic bias that cops MUST tell the truth, like Superman. They are as fallible, sadistic and lie-prone as the rest of us.
Exactly. It has been comprehensively proven that, even with the best of intentions, memories are fallible and easily mistaken; and, furthermore, we have a tendency to remember things the way that’s most favorable to ourselves.
And that’s assuming good intentions, which shouldn’t be assumed. The police are, unfathomably, assumed by many to be impartial, even though every incentive of their job encourages them not to be. Arrests and convictions aid their careers. Property confiscated often goes towards the department’s funding. So do fines, albeit a little less directly. They are lauded for punishing people.
The temptation to lie is huge; no wonder many cops are not exactly truthful.
Add to that a police culture where everyone covers for everyone else, and truth-tellers are blackballed and driven out of the force, and it’s no wonder.
But it seems that a particularly vile kind of cop is drawn to vice work. Busting whores and clients isn’t really that much fun in itself, I feel, so two kinds tend to get drawn to it: the corrupt and the sadistic. Or both at once, it seems.
I tell my friends who are all “police are always right” to go read a week’s worth of Radley Balko’s posts. That usually cures them.
It’s out of control and you’re only highlighting the tip of the iceberg. The disease here is the addiction Americans have to empowered, overpowering government.
Hell, every fatal shooting by an FBI agent in the last 20 years has been found to be “justified” by internal FBI “investigators”.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-06-19/news/os-fbi-shooting-orlando-investigation-20130619_1_ibragim-todashev-fbi-agent-executive-director-hassan-shibly
We’re a nation of pussies who can’t wipe our asses so we’ve handed over all power to our “betters” in the oligarchy – which is chock full of the most dimwitted idiots on the planet. They couldn’t pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the bottom but they DO know how to manipulate government for their own ends. They’re damn good at that.
Why are people perfectly willing to allow Obama’s own boys to investigate the wrongdoings of the IRS? Why are they willing to allow his own cronies to investigate the wrongful collection of phone and email records by the Justice Department? Fuck me, I’ve seen any number of liberal talking heads on TV saying that Eric Holder is the PERFECT person to investigate ERIC HOLDER!! While so-called “journalists” like Juan Willams and Chris Matthews agree!!
Would that have “played” a few years ago with someone saying … “Oh yeah, let’s let Dick Cheney investigate himself – he’s totally trustworthy!!”
Joe McCarthy = Bad / IRS targeting liberty-minded groups = Not so bad
????
Which is another problem – the fact that MANY Americans only insist on justice when THEIR party is out of power. When their party has the stage – Katy bar the door and fuck everyone that doesn’t agree with us – Constitution be damned!!
It’s the world turned upside down and we Americans are going to get the screwing we deserve.
By the way … superstitions. On a certain “deep diving” submarine I was on – I would always tie-wrap my hat in the bridge whenever we did a deep dive to 4,000 feet. I left it there to ensure we made it back to the surface. When we did – I usually took the first bridge watch and would go up – cut loose my hat and wear it until I got relieved – about six hours later. I had to wear that wet cap the whole watch – that was part of the ritual. It wouldn’t work unless I wore it the whole watch.
You left out the other magic formula that many women use: don’t dress sexy, don’t act sexy, don’t go out drinking, etc., that way you won’t get raped. It’s another magic formula that people use to protect themselves from a different variety of monster. It has the unfortunate side effect of shifting the blame to the victim, but the psychological mechanism is very clear.
Seems more like magical thinking to go out looking for sex with strangers, relying on the incantation “no means no”, or in the case of being rendered mute by intoxicating spirits, on the miraculous intervention of guardian angels or sprites to control the situation.
Part of it is that it’s self-reinforcing just like other superstitions are. Use a ritual and didn’t get arrested for 500 dates? The ritual must have worked!
As usual, a plethora of thought-provoking comments. Everything I’d even thought about saying was already said. Bravo!
The concept of magic is interesting. It is often confused with the idea of a human sixth sense, for which there is at least some scientific evidence (Read the book “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” but also watch the movie if you need a good laugh).We know from quantum physics that the experimenter influences the experiment from his own expectations, so I don’t know? I’ll go with Shakespeare’s answer, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet, Act I.
PS–Maggie. in case you haven’t seen it here is a url on a story from CNN about the WHO on the prevalence of violence against women, especially rape. I am curious about your reaction?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/health/global-violence-women/index.html
The experimenter’s expectations don’t influence the experiment. The way the experimenter measures does influence the experiment.
If expectations could mess around with outcomes, magic would be the most intensely studied branch of physics.
Incantation seen on an escort post on Backpage yesterday:
Please Note: Money exchanged in legal adult personal services for modeling is simply for time and companionship. Anything else that adults of legal age and is not contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for in any manner.
This is not an offer of prostitution. Fees charged are for our time spent only. I do reserve the right to decline appointments as I feel necessary.
By contacting me you agree to these terms and hereby agree that you are not part of any law enforcement agency using this advertisement for entrapment or for arrest. This is a contract you agree to by contacting me.
CrazyGuy, would that be legally binding?
It’s exactly as legally binding as if I posted a notice in the right column saying, “by reading this blog you agree to pay me $100”. In other words, not at all. And even if it were, it wouldn’t apply to on-duty cops just as most other laws don’t.
So it really is an incantation then. 😉
Not only is it not legally binding (misses at least two of the basic elements of contract and fails the public policy test), it wouldn’t have any effect even if it were legally binding.
Because a contract is a matter of civil law, the only thing that could be sought for breaking a contract is financial damages. The law doesn’t consider a legal arrest, the lost opportunity to engage in prostitution, or loss of costs incurred in preparing to engage in prostitution cognizable injuries. So even if it were a legally binding contract, all she could recover is some de minimis amount ($1 or the like).
Another reason to put limitations on monsters, and heroes for that matter, it that things get kind of boring if there’s no way to stop Dracula or Superman.