It’s better to be shameless than the victim. – Gabriela Leite
Whenever Mira Sorvino feels neglected by the media, she vomits out a slew of idiotic fables for credulous reporters: “…this has grown into a highly profitable international business that rakes in $500 billion a year.” Yes, that’s a “B”; Mira claims “sex trafficking” brings in 25% more than the entire GDP of Sweden (even UNODC only claims $32 billion). But to a mathematical retard who believes every single whore makes over $250,000 a year and every pimp about $1.5 million, and that there are millions of “trafficked slaves”, I guess $500 billion seems credible.
Another runaway clown car of unintentional hilarity:
…prostitution in Richmond [Indiana]…[is like] abandoned and unsafe housing…It’s not clear that stepped-up law enforcement can eliminate the problem…any more than it can stamp out abandoned and hazardous structures. But what…Richmond Police Department Capt. Bill Shake does so well…is give lie to the notion…that prostitution is a “victimless” crime. “It is a public safety disorder issue and a quality of life issue…We had three women come to us and complain that they had been approached by men seeking prostitutes. These are just women…walking to work”…these innocent women…are victimized because their sense of security has been violated.
Local businesses and homeowners…are likewise victims of the sheer brazen starkness of the problem. But…Shake makes a victimhood case even for the [prostitutes and] Johns…“These ladies need help, and the men need intervention,” he said…
TL;DR version: “Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop! Nyah nyah nyah!”
This guy sounds like a dangerous criminal:
A brothel manager…tried to help a worker in his massage parlour get the morning-after pill…Staff at the pharmacy called police…[because] the woman…was Romanian…No evidence of trafficking was found, but police [stole] £1,200 cash on the premises, plus another £25,000…at Jones’ home…[his lawyer] said…“The police had visited [the parlour] a number of times…and [said]…as long as there were no drugs or trafficking he would face no action”…
Unfortunately, xenophobia, hysteria and snitching are not crimes.
License To Rape (June Updates)
A woman who…was sexually assaulted by…San Diego Police Officer Anthony Arevalos…settled a lawsuit against the city…for $795,000…Arevalos…was convicted of sexual battery and…in February 2012 was sentenced to almost nine years…the city has paid out $2.3 million in claims [altogether] from Arevalos’ misconduct. One more case is still pending…[several of the cases alleged] that a culture of covering up officer misconduct permeates the department and allowed Arevalos to harass women for years…
The Eye of the Beholder (June Updates)
The UK’s most prohibitionist paper in a rare moment of lucidity
…a 28-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman [were] arrested for [consensual, noncommercial] sex…Kelcey Nicholas…married [Lataura] Jarrett’s mother…when police [broke into] Nicholas’s house…to bust him on another charge, they…found [him having sex]…with Jarrett. The two share no genetic…relation, nor did Nicholas ever legally adopt Jarrett. But…the law in West Virginia defines stepdaughters as daughters…[they were] charged with…incest, a felony…[threatening 15 years in] prison…
Big businesses woo valuable employees with (halfway) whores. Yawn.
…when college sports programs…need…to convince young…men to choose their school, they…use…“hostesses”—college women with pretty, smiling faces…[to] assist high-caliber potential student-athletes when they visit campus…according to Deadspin, [they] “answer questions, and…provide entertainment.” College football is big business…but…NCAA [rules state that]…programs cannot give recruits “any financial aid or other benefits,” including cash, clothing, or merchandise. In place of these…programs use the recruits’ official 48-hour visit to show them a good time, an implicit promise of what their years on campus will be like…Even though [former hostesses insist]…that no one…tells hostesses to “lead on” recruits, programs are well aware of how instrumental these women are in helping them land top athletes…
Because Everyone Knows That Laws Deter Streetwalkers
The power to see abstractions must be useful:
Cleveland City Councilman Eugene Miller… [proposes] to toughen penalties for prostitutes, pimps and johns…[saying] he has grown tired of seeing prostitution in his…neighborhood and believes that more severe punishment is the only way to ameliorate the problem…however…Judge Ronald Adrine said…mandatory jail time would contribute to overcrowding…“Are we looking at…a severe problem…Or is this…a solution…looking for a problem?” Adrine compared the issue to fighting the so-called “war on drugs” with harsh jail sentences. “We have not been able to incarcerate ourselves out of that problem,” he said…
Kudos to Judge Adrine for having the balls to talk sense.
Cathy Young’s “Is the Patriarchy Dead?” is well worth reading in its entirety, but here’s a sample:
When writer Hanna Rosin recently published an article on Slate.com stating that “the patriarchy is dead,” much of the feminist response amounted to “burn the heretic!”…Ironically, the feminist tendency to shoot the bringer of good news was the very topic of Rosin’s essay…In its present form—as a secular cult that should call itself the Sisters of Perpetual Grievance—feminism is far more a part of the problem than part of the solution. It clings to women’s wrongs and turns women’s rights into narcissistic entitlement. It is far too easily prone to bashing men while painting women as insultingly helpless…
What real help for streetwalkers looks like:
…Becca Stevens offers [them an]…alternative working for the cosmetic company she started called Thistle Farms. The women make soaps, oils, and other products to sell nationwide…the program…offers free housing, eliminating the worry about paying rent…75 percent…have stayed off the streets.
No cops. No cages. No shaming or brainwashing. Just a fair offer they can choose to accept, or not.
[Maryland] and federal agents raided Jade Heart Health…and charged its operators with prostitution and human trafficking…Di Zhang…has…[an extensive] real estate portfolio…and part-ownership of a…company that reports…millions of dollars of business in China…federal authorities have launched a civil-forfeiture case to seize five buildings…[worth] nearly $2 million…
…in Brazil…a bill…called the Gabriela Leite Law (in honor of the prostitute and activist who founded the NGO Davida)…[proposes] to [clarify] sex work [law]…Leite…[says] it is necessary to consider prostitution as a profession and avoid the cliché of the prostitute as a victim…The bill…defines a sex worker as any person who is at least 18 years old and able to voluntarily provide sexual services for remuneration. It proposes to regulate the houses of prostitution, to prevent exploitation…[to] set…a ceiling [on income taxes for sex workers and to]…establish…a retirement option…
First They Came for the Hookers…
If prohibitionists really want to “rescue” sex workers, why do they keep trying to stop us from getting other jobs?
…it’s become increasingly difficult for former adult stars to conceal their past from their employers…[but] employee discrimination cases involving sex workers are usually…“very difficult to win,” says adult entertainment lawyer Michael Fattorosi. Under current discrimination laws, there are no protections for former sex workers, and…an employee who…failed to disclose a porn past…would be compromised even further; the employer could argue that the employee had been hired under false pretenses…
I doubt we’ll ever know the truth about the so-called “teen girl pimps”:
The 16-year-old plead [sic] guilty to…three counts of human trafficking, and one count each of robbery, luring, and making child pornography…The 18-year-old…to human trafficking, robbery, uttering threats, and breach of recognizance…the Crown [claims]…the girls, who were 15, 15, and 16 at the time…recruited…teen girls through Facebook…and [forced] them into prostitution…The third accused, the so-called ringleader…is on trial for…making and possessing child pornography, human trafficking, forcible confinement, procuring…criminal harassment, and uttering threats…
Though the persecution of a Florida family for homeschooling (including arrests and threats to abduct their children) is reprehensible, it’s unfortunately too common to be newsworthy. What I find interesting is that because the mother is “the founder of a non-profit organization that rescues and restores victims of sexual trafficking”, it didn’t take long for the peanut gallery to ask, “Is it possible that this is…retaliation from those who are involved in sex-trafficking?” because “the human trafficking forces are far more powerful than most of us know and certainly do not want to believe.” Since it’s the state of Florida itself that is harassing them, the implication is clear; this hysteria is tracking right on the same course as the Satanic Panic, whose adherents also began to imagine their bogeymen as part of the government shortly before the whole thing imploded.
The head of Bangkok’s Children and Women’s Protection Unit has defended the role of prostitutes in society, saying their work helps reduce the number of sex attacks. Pol Col Napanwut Liamsanguan said…without sex workers there would be more…rape…“This is not something disgusting; it is basic human nature…we can’t deny that sex workers are part of our society”… Chantawipa Abhisuk…of the Empower Foundation…said there was no correlation between prostitution and rape…and…Surang Janyam…of the Service Workers in Group Foundation…said she was disappointed to hear a police officer offer such an opinion…
Obviously, the opinion that we’re lazy, superfluous criminals is much better.
This reporter’s details are very confused; were these boys or transgirls? And if they were already prostitutes, how could they be “forced into the sex trade”?
Paris police have reportedly broken up a major transsexual prostitution ring…Andrea Chichi…is suspected of having forced nearly 90 transsexual prostitutes into the sex trade. It is alleged he also threatened them with black magic if they refused to obey his orders…“He recruited young boys from…Argentina…and suggested they get plastic surgery from an accomplice”…[a police] source said, noting that the threat…was…commonly used by Nigerian pimps…
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #42)
Another good anti-Swedish model essay from Dr. Graham Ellison:
…[the client criminalization bill] is premised on a…narrow abolitionist view of sex work, grossly overestimates the extent of “demand” in Northern Ireland, and is out of line with policy developments occurring elsewhere in the United Kingdom and…continental Europe…In spite of the exaggerated claims…there have been only two prosecutions in the past decade…[and] the degree of coercion…is debatable in at least one of these cases…“trafficking” is [a] slippery concept that has been progressively devalued by exaggerated usage…debates about trafficking…can also be read as proxy debates about immigration and…racist sentiments have been embedded in anti-trafficking discourse…
It Looks Good On Paper (TW3 #311)
The Orwellian language in this article about a “sexual exploitation recovery program” (i.e. scheme to brainwash hookers) is especially chilling: “Selah Freedom expects the new…program to fill quickly and has partnered with the Sarasota and Bradenton Police Departments to bring victims into their care…” The casual reader probably wouldn’t even realize “bring into care” means “arrest and cage”. This story is also notable for its oddly-humble “King of the Hill” entry, which only claims the Tampa Bay area as the third-largest “trafficking hub” in Florida rather than in the whole US.
Reporter Maria Arkouli just couldn’t resist turning the rather pedestrian story of a whore arrested for practicing prostitution without a license into “sex trafficking” hentai: “Famous singers…are consigned to prostitution by a ring in Athens which has spread its tentacles throughout Greece and over the Internet…”
The Mote and the Beam (TW3 #332)
When a reporter says something is “surprising”, you can bet it actually isn’t to anyone raised outside of a convent:
Top law enforcement officers…[who] are pushing Congress for greater authority to go after a booming online industry that hosts ads for child sex traffickers…are encountering opposition from an unexpected source — conservative…lawmakers who fear a government clampdown…A coalition of…lawmakers and businesses has drafted a…resolution that…urges Congress to deny state prosecutors the…power they seek…warning that it could discourage investment in new Internet services…
It would do more than that: it would utterly destroy the internet as we know it, because no website would risk criminal charges for user-generated content like this blog or reader comments on tens of thousands of others.
“College Sports Programs” … heh … that’s a timely article that one. My nephew plays college football and his coach is constantly giving out his cellphone number to girls so they can call him.
Apparently it’s known, that girls who are interested in certain guys can go to the coach and he’ll give out their number.
I thought … “Damn, this guy thinks a lot like me!” Only cell numbers are kind of considered private – so I doubt I’d hand them out to girls – especially if i didn’t know whether or not they were psychos.
I do remember when a enlisted female Sailor in Hawaii posed for Playboy – and the Navy started processing her for discharge immediately. I thought it was pretty unfortunate – she was in IT and was stationed in Hawaii – and we were like … 50% manned to that rating in Hawaii – so it seemed a waste to lose her. But then I thought – you know, what was really a shame is that we could have used her in RECRUITING!! Recruiting sucked donkey dick back then – we couldn’t put enough guys in the Navy to save our asses! We had 5,000 Navy recruiters on the streets of America – that’s enough to man an Aircraft Carrier! A platoon of hot female Sailors I thought would surely help us meet goals when not a fucking thing else was working.
And by the way … female Sailors … that’s the “Myth of the Wanton” come to life! They were all so naughty … brrrrrrr … I get shivvers just remembering my times with some of them. They often weren’t very good looking – but I didn’t give a shit! They sure were fun!!! I had one girlfriend and every day for lunch I’d meet her in her barracks room – she’d open the door naked and we’d go from there! If one of her roommates walked in we just pulled the covers over our heads and kept going at it! I remember I was taking a Navy class on Pearl Harbor Naval station – and it ran late into lunch one day. I told the instructor … “You DO know you’re making me late for getting laid right?” And the class laughed and so did he … they thought I was joking! LOL
>A woman who…was sexually assaulted by…San Diego Police Officer Anthony Arevalos…settled a lawsuit against the city…for $795,000…
Wow. I wish I could have made that much form one session….
I thought the same thing. Is that wrong?
I’m on furlough … I don’t bat on both sides of the plate but for $800K I’ll let a 300 pound Samoan have his way with my ass if he wants it! LOL!!
I WAS a Submariner, after all. 😀
Laura Lee: very impressive woman. What’s the “Hist?” (Google couldn’t tell me.)
I’m not sure; I’ll ask Laura to come explain.
EDIT: She’s out & about right now, but says she’ll pop by later. 🙂
It is the name of the debating society 🙂
For me, the best way to understand why neofeminists will never let the Patriarchy Myth die is Sinead O’Connor’s open letter to a famous female pop star. Now, this famous pop star did what a lot of young pop stars do, whether male or female, and used her sex appeal in her act.
Now, I have just about zero doubt that this pop star was doing this because it was fun for her and also because it was appealing to the crowd. The crux of Ms. O’Connor’s letter was “The message you keep sending is that its somehow cool to be prostituted.” This is very typical. First, it’s comparing the multimillionaire pop stars exuberant performance in a show to the “prostituted woman” kidnapped off the street by evil pimps and forced to service men sexually. Secondly, it wasn’t saying “that’s what happened” but that “the message” she was sending would encourage young women to think it would be cool to be kidnapped and turned into sex slaves.
Um… what? If someone is kidnapped and enslaved, what does a “message” matter?
Miley Cyrus, of course, feeling her power lately, mocked Ms. O’Connor for her bizarre assertion (in a tweet, rather than a Marxist style open letter) which caused O’Connor to respond with a furious, “How dare you?” (In another open letter. Of course.)
Of course, maybe it’s a kefabe publicity stunt, like Andy Kaufman’s pro-wrestling days? You never know.
Oops, mispelled kayfabe… sorry.
Yeah … just when i thought Miley Cyrus was about to implode – along comes that old battle-ax Sinead O’Connor to SAVE her! LMAO!
I saw Cyrus do her thing at the video awards with Robin Thicke – and it looked forced and uncomfortable to me. It wasn’t sexy to me. A lot of other’s agreed because “zoom ins” on her ass started popping up the next day on the internet which showed how her butt and crotch was all “distorted” by the tightness of her little pants. I get hounded for working out in the gym in WWII style UDT diver shorts – them baby’s be SHORT and TIGHT – but I think Cyrus needed a “blood pump” to get some circulation in her legs her shorts were sooooo tight!
The wrecking ball thing was okay – would have been awesome had it not occurred in the wake of that embarrassing performance at the video awards.
O’Connor is certainly a Marxist – and an unattractive person. I was turned off to her when she tore up that picture of the Pope on SNL all those years ago. It just seemed forced and mean-spirited.
Had she left all that other neo-feminist catechism out of her letter and just restricted it to … “Hey girl, being naked doesn’t make you a better singer or artist in the MUSIC industry …” Well I think that would have been an appropriate and spot on message.
Then again … I don’t think Cyrus really cares about her image as a singer or artist – she’s going for the “Pop-Culture Icon” trophy – which is what most of these idiots are pursuing these days. Same with Katie Perry and all the rest. Katie Perry makes me harder than a steel rod – but I’m not EVER going to confuse one of her songs with “Let It Be” or “American Pie”.
Why did I even comment on this shit in the first place? I consider all this to be nothing more than a side-effect of the suicide of Western Culture – I normally try to ignore these idiots.
O’Connor is certainly one to talk though – for mixing politics with an art. A reporter once asked Paul Stanley of Kiss what he thought of politics. Stanley told him …
THAT is what O’Connor should have always remembered. Her political views are no more relevant or insightful than a New York City cab driver’s views. In fact – I’ve met many a cabbie who had some interesting ideas on politics but they didn’t have the PLATFORM to spew out their views the way O’Connor, Cher, Springstein, Nugent, and John Cougar do (and yeah – I call him “Cougar” because I know it pisses him off).
So O’Connor is a tired old bitter celebrity – who’s claim to fame is being a “one-hit wonder” and tearing up a picture of the Pope.
Amazing thing is – she actually THINKS she’s significant enough to PREACH to others!
It’s an epidemic, I tell ya. People using politics to advance their art, or art to advance their politics. It’s in the water. Culture warriors know when the tipping point of public opinions arrives. It’s astonishing and kind of sad.
O’Conner was actually a pretty girl trying very hard not to be. Check out her facial bone structure… beautiful. She was working as hard to NOT have sex appeal as Cyrus is working TO have sex appeal.
Hi Joe, thanks for your kind comment. 😀 The Hist is the name given to the College Historical Society at Trinity College Dublin, More info here – http://thehist.com/
It’s a pity the clip is so short, I should really have spoken for longer but I got into my stride when challenging the anti’s on their speeches, which hasn’t made it to You Tube. Still, we won, and that’s the main thing.
Thank you! The watermark was on the YouTube video,with words around the outside, but they defeated my aged eyes (and monitor).
Why are the only two options available “police approved rape surrogates” or “disreputable criminals”?
So, is a job a “theft surrogate”?
Well, yes, but I don’t think you were actually asking that question seriously.
If the “worth” of SWs is socially constructed as being down to their capacity to stymie the animalistic urges of men and thus protect a separate class of innocent women, I’m not sure that’s a particularly good thing either for SWs or for that society. Certainly it feels unhelpful when it comes to defeating the whole “SWs can’t get raped” stigma, because it essentially frames clients as potential rapists getting out their rape urges with the SW already.
So, it’s not OK that the social worth of cooks, caterers, etc is largely due to their capacity for satisfying human’s animalistic urges for food? Sex is a need, not an option; businesses have arisen to fill that need just as businesses feel the need for food, drink, shelter, clothing, etc. Unlike many people, I don’t pretend that sex is a magical behavior different from every other human need. Obviously, not all men will rape if they get too frustrated, but then not everyone will kill for food, either.
Aside from the very real differences between sexual need and food (you can survive without sex, no matter how unpleasant it may feel) I don’t think people working as caterers are framed as being important to society because they keep the aggressively hungry from violently raiding our larders.
They also aren’t stigmatized, and nobody denies they serve a necessary social function.
It is similar to being homeless; a condition that is far from ideal, but is not immediately fatal. Few would use this to ignore the need for shelter.
Sex workers contribute to society being freer, happier, safer and cleaner. They can provide very useful information, advice and comfort. Additionally they also contribute to economic development.
Sex workers provide pleasure, without hurting anybody to do it. No other justification is needed. There may be others, in fact I believe that there are, but none other is necessary. But because it’s dirty, dirty sex, they can use all the justifications they can get. So the value of sex workers as a “steam valve” is just one more.
Make Up Your Damned Mind!
Of course, if hookers didn’t have to pretend that they’re not hookers in order to avoid arrest, women who are NOT hookers wouldn’t be mistaken for… hookers pretending that they’re not hookers in order to avoid arrest. Besides, we don’t use this argument for anything else: “The reason we need to crack down on credit card fraud is because innocent people are being mistaken for credit card fraudsters!” “The reason we need to crack down on arson is because innocent people are being mistaken for arsonists!” No, things like that are crimes whether or not a woman walking to the store is mistaken for one.
Because Everyone Knows That Laws Deter Streetwalkers
The judge has big balls indeed. I hope the next election or round of appointments (however you get judges in Cleavland) doesn’t kick him in them.
To Spite Their Faces
Cathy made some very interesting points, for a girl. Yes, I’m joking. Really, you can let go of my balls now…
The Widening Gyre
While this is certainly awful for the family involved, it’s a good sign for the end of this particular moral panic, because of the parallel you point out. I hope it ends up taking down fewer innocent people when it’s over..
Dysphemisms Galore
Mmmm, tentacles!
And of course nobody is going to recognize a famous singer, and there’s no way a famous singer could appeal to a client for help. It’s not like there’s a chance in Tartarus that he’s, you know, a FAN or anything.
We’re all iced in here. I’ll have to do grocery shopping NEXT weekend. Fortunately I bought groceries in November as if it were any other month, not taking the Oklahoma Thanksgiving trip into account. Thus, I have plenty of food and even soap, razor blades, and such to hold me until next week.
The Public Eye (TW3 #324)
You tell ’em! Tell them that you DO exist, that you ARE a person, and that when it’s time to pass laws which affect a particular group of people, it might just be a good idea to ask those particular people what they think.
Good luck, Laura Lee, from a man in a country that can’t seem to get it right.
And BTW: the one woman in white, to the left, with the dangly earrings? YUM!
The Mote and the Beam (TW3 #332)
And THAT would kill the main freedom-enhancing effect of the Internet: the ability of ordinary nobodies like me and some of the other folks here to put their wonderful, horrid, uplifting, insulting, glorious, or hideous views out into the world for all the other nobodies (and occasional somebodies) to discover.
OK, onward. I don’t think I’ll be caught up by Christmas, so lets see if I can be by my birthday. No promises (because I hate breaking a promise). But we’ll see. My birthday is in February.