Denying that sex work is work means…talking over the very people who are most knowledgeable about their industry. – Tara Msiska
Methinks Mr. Hendricks typed this one-handed:
…David Hendricks [said]…”we see…torture that we would see at a POW camp…the tattooing of victims…sends a message to other pimps, ‘This is my property’…” Hendricks went onto explain that every facet of a…trafficking [victim’s life] is controlled, including if they can eat, when they can return home, and who they can communicate with. A growing sector of the sex workers in Long Beach—largely affiliated with gangs…are usually in a group of about a half-dozen women under one dominating male, who then requires a set amount of dollars to be made per female, typically in the range of $500 to $700 per day…
Take a look at the claims above, and compare with the reality: “The 24-year-old Hungarian woman [willingly worked but]…when she told Istvan Toth she wanted to return to Hungary he…threatened her, causing her to fear for her family’s safety. So she began recording conversations and taking photographs, and…confided in two of her clients, who offered to pay for her to stay in a hostel…” So much for barcode tattoos, evil clients and “controlled communication”.
This week I received Christopher Lee’s Omnibus of Evil as a late birthday present (delayed in customs) from Kevin Wilson, and The Weird as an early Christmas present from Daz. Thank you both so much!
Remember those low-caste Nepalese women who were criminalized at the urging of prohibitionists in order to “save” them?
…The government-pledged alternative livelihood programme…was never implemented…Badi women continue to work as sex workers. Many of them go to India…“If the government cannot provide us jobs, education and health services then it could at least lift the ban on prostitution,” said Soni Badi, adding that they would vote [for] the candidate ready to legalise…
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #36)
If only American celebrities were so principled:
The singer Antoine brought together over seventy [French] celebrities around a “simple statement to moderate tone…Without condoning or promoting prostitution, we reject the criminalization of…prostitutes and those who use their services, and ask to open a real debate without ideological bias…Why does the Special Committee…include so many abolitionists? Why do they not consider…prostitutes’ choice?…It is time to give them the same rights as other workers”…
Here’s more criticism of the proposed law from Reason and Al-Jazeera.
…on June 14, 2012, Rio’s…Police…rounded up prostitutes, staff and the owner [of Centaurus, and]…seized $150,000 in cash…police filmed the raid, threatening to leak the footage to the local media thereby exposing the women’s identities unless they handed over more money. Thaddeus Blanchette, an anthropologist who has documented prostitution in Rio since 2004, is not surprised by this. “Blackmail accompanying raids is not uncommon,” he reveals. “It is one of the reasons why I am skeptical of using the police as neutral agents in the combating of trafficking.” Centaurus was one of over 20 popular sex venues to be shut down in the period surrounding the Rio+20 Conference…Raids continue…as Brazil steps up its image-cleansing campaign ahead of the World Cup…despite the fact that exchanging sex for money is legal in Brazil and prostitution has been recognized as an official occupation…since 2002…
Texas is so angry at claims it’s behind Georgia, California and New York in “sex trafficking” that it’s unveiled a new strategy to ensure its #1 position: claiming a bogus fraction of all “sex trafficking victims” rather than a mere ranking:
With an estimated 25 percent of the nation’s sex trafficking victims hailing from the Lone Star State, Texas [congressmen] John Cornyn and…Ted Poe led an effort…to punish “Johns” as harshly as “pimps”…proposed legislation…would impose penalties of 15 years to life on convicted customers…of sex slaves younger than 14 years old…Poe…[claimed] 300,000 sex trafficking cases [are] prosecuted each year….the proposal would [net the government] $15 million…a year from convicted traffickers’ seized assets and fines…
There haven’t even been 300,000 “trafficking” prosecutions in the entire world since the panic started a decade ago; of course the reporter couldn’t be bothered to fact-check that. An Illinois politician is also on the bandwagon, but all he can say is that his state is “a hub”, which is pretty pathetic if you ask me. Still, he did inflate 3% to 33% and 14% to 62%, and insert a bogus “safe harbor” provision into the bill, so I suppose we should award him a little gold star for effort.
…[American] public schools—even ones that teach comprehensive sex education—invite religious abstinence speakers to come in…and…spread [disinformation]…one…said, “If you take birth control, your mother probably hates you” and claimed she could tell which teenagers are promiscuous by looking at them…she also asserts that the HPV vaccine “only works on virgins”…[another] said…that if a guy gets sperm anywhere near a girl’s vagina, it will turn into a “little Hoover vacuum” and she will become pregnant…
More anti-guest-post-spammer genius from Popehat:
…[Teaching] children…to love and cherish and squeal over ponies…is like teaching [them] that whirling sawblades taste like Strawberry Quik…Children love games, particularly video games with eerie bug-eyed avatars and art styles out of the methadone nightmares of Japanese pornographers, so…in…our proposed dress-up game — tentatively titled PONIES LAUGH WHILE THEY KILL EVERYONE YOU LOVE…players could choose amongst different outfits suitable for a post-pony-apocalypse, including gnawed tatters, wretched tear-stained shifts, and gowns slick and dark with the blood of their cherished grandparents…
…no criminal charges [will] be filed in the death of Alyssa Brame, who was arrested…for allegedly offering to perform a sex act…for $40 and died of alcohol poisoning in a jail cell. The five [Massachusetts cops] who [arrested]…her…claimed she did not appear…overly intoxicated, but by the time she was taken to the police station she couldn’t walk on her own, and cops there debated whether she was too drunk to be accused of offering sex for money…
Another example of the “limited hours for massage parlors” fad:
…”We’ve been able to identify in excess of 200 victims of human trafficking…in the massage parlors”…said Sgt. Curt Chastain…the new ordinance would…[force them] to provide a…license from the California Massage Therapy Council…it would also limit hours of operation from 7am to 9pm, prohibit doors from being locked during business hours and require visibility from the street into the massage parlor…
The City of Fresno claims to have “identified” more “sex trafficking victims” than several huge operations were able to find in the entire United Kingdom.
Another claim that disasters cause harlotry:
…an aide to…Britain’s international development secretary…said…”After previous emergencies…we have seen an increase in…the trafficking of girls”…after the earthquake in Haiti…sexual abuse and exploitation were widespread…because women and girls could not obtain the goods and services they needed to survive…during the 2011 drought in…Africa, families married off daughters…as young as nine to pay their dowries…before their livestock died…
So we have the conflation of survival sex with rape and child marriage, all boxed up together and tied with a “trafficking” ribbon.
The lawyer…for the…champagne club…closed…on suspicion of procurement of prostitution…has accused the Reykjavík police of entrapment…police reportedly spent ISK 800,000…in champagne and time with the women and offered them money and cocaine in return for sex but to no avail…
Remember, taking money for sex isn’t illegal in Iceland, but offering money is. So the cops broke the law and spent $6,600 (€4,900) trying to entrap women into doing something that isn’t illegal.
Husbands who like to watch pornography on the internet will have to confess to their wives and ask for permission, David Cameron said today. Under Tory “moral guidelines”, people who want to view pornography…will need to actively “opt-in” with their internet service providers…It is not just pornography…but also…material related to alcohol, drugs, smoking, and politically extremist material – in what many are describing as the Great Firewall of Britain…politicians and civil servants will decide what is pornography and…what political views are “extremist”…In order to push…censorship, Cameron has continually conflated…child pornography with legal adult material…[despite the fact that child porn is] shared on the “dark web”…and therefore…this erosion of digital freedoms will have no effect on the very problem it is being proposed to solve…
The worst part about loathsome ideas, though, is that politicians learn from one another: “Joy Smith hopes to emulate…David Cameron’s web censor plan…and…is…suggesting a great Canadian internet filter…”
When will guys learn cheating hookers is a really bad idea? And when will hookers learn to get the money up front?
…a…[Malaga] man…went to a…brothel…[and] decided to engage in an orgy with three prostitutes…[Afterward] the women demanded €70 each…but the man refused to pay one of them…[she then] pulled out a knife and slashed the man’s genitalia…“Everything went well but doctors told me I was very close to dying or being impotent for the rest of my life…”
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #341)
Another example of the real and ugly motive behind the Swedish model’s pretense of “protecting” women: “The mayor of Oslo has called on the Norway’s new government to look at making prostitution illegal, after women were reported to be selling sex outside the parliament building…”
Social Autoimmune Disorder (TW3 #342)
“In Sanford, Florida, police are already sending…notices…[to] owners of cars that cops see ‘lingering in areas known for prostitution.’ The goal here isn’t to arrest would-be Johns…[but] to embarrass these guys should their wives open the letters. That gets a lot easier with license plate scanners…” And as Radley Balko explains, it gets much worse from there.
The San Antonio Four are free at last:
Three women who served more than a decade in prison for allegedly molesting two girls were set…free…after…recent scientific advances undermined medical testimony pivotal to their convictions. Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Elizabeth Ramirez were…released on bond…pending a decision…on whether to grant them a new trial. If that happens, the…District Attorney…will decline to prosecute them, and their convictions would be overturned…
The fourth, Anna Vasquez, was already out on parole.
Delusional Scottish officials imagine that raiding saunas will force dirty whores to take menial jobs: “A job club for sauna workers is being launched – to help women find work…the…proposal…is designed to cater [to] an expected flood of women away from the industry…”
Think of the Children! (TW3 #345)
Another criticism of “sex ray” idiocy:
…For every…case…in…the press, there are many [former sex workers] who are fired…without us ever hearing about it…people…have been fired for camming, pro-domming, stripping and] phone sex [work]…people…[don’t list] sex work…on their CVs…because employers…don’t see sex work as work…by firing people for previous or current sex work, employers are making them unemployable, and actually forcing them to return to the very industry they have moral scruples against…
The More the Better (TW3 #345)
This follow-up to Business Insider’s quasi-review of Sheri’s Ranch is about as awful and tone-deaf as it’s possible for an anti-criminalization article to be; it leads off with the usual “heavily regulated” garbage that (as regular readers know) never works as intended, continues with the vile “whores are too stupid and criminal to take care of their own health without being forced to by their betters” trope, and even throws in a “rent out their bodies” for good measure. But at least they’re trying, and I suppose that’s something.
By the time last week’s TW3 had posted, Al-Jazeera had censored the article which was harshly critical of Arizona’s horrible treatment of sex workers; it was later replaced with this puff piece dishonestly back-dated to pretend it was the original. Fortunately, nothing ever completely vanishes from the internet; I found a cached copy of the original and took this screenshot of it for posterity. I guess it’s one thing to criticize bad data and a wholly different thing to question a police state, unless it’s France.
In my experience – RARELY does a hooker check the envelope up front. Now – once they’ve seen me once or twice, sure – I would expect they trust me and know the cash is indeed there – but the first time, shouldn’t they check?
I did recently have one check it. I laid the envelope down (I actually use colored “magical bags” – as I call them) … and I excused myself to go to the restroom JUST to give her an opportunity to check the bag. To my surprise … when I came out of the bathroom she was grinning from ear to ear and said … “Whoa thank you for that!”. I didn’t think it was really appropriate for her to comment on what was in my “bag” but, she was new to the business and anyway … she really did a bang up job during the session after she saw that tip I put in it.
My Russian courtesan – first time I met with her – she LEFT the “bag” in my hotel room! LOL … I had to run her down in the parking lot and give it to her again! She was getting on her bicycle (wearing a little black dress and a jeans jacket – with absolutely no underwear on – I LOVE COPENHAGEN!! LOL).
Hooking is legal in Copenhagen so I had no fear of LE when I handed the bag to her in the parking lot.
I always leave a good tip and I’d rather they check the envelope up front – so they don’t just treat me like any other guy. If I have a good time – I’ll come back. If the girl doesn’t know the tip’s in there and gives me a standard “ho-hum” … well she’ll be excited when she eventually opens it but by that time I’m off – never to return.
Also – when they don’t check the bag – I get paranoid. I count the money like five times before I go into the session – and then I seal the money in a special ziplock – so none of it “escapes” onto the ground or someplace else. So I end up leaving the session thinking … “Goddam I sure hope I counted right!”
It would be easy if I could always get $100 dollar bills … but I can’t. So it’s usually a big stack of mixed bills (100’s / 20’s / sometimes 10’s too)
The really good girls will “text” you after the incall though – with something like … “I had a great time and thanks for your generosity!” … That tells me everything is cool. One time my ATF didn’t text me though – and I was like … “WTF? Maybe I didn’t put enough in?” She told me later – “Nope, I got busy with my daughter and forgot to text you.”
And one more thing on clients cheating hookers. My ATF told me I’d be shocked by the number of guys who try to slip out of a condom. She said that “smaller guys” can slip out of condoms and they know it – so they’ll maneuver in a manner that they will.
Now – she’s on the ball – she has some “super tight” condoms for smaller guys … I don’t know what kind those are though – I’ve never seen “CONDOMS – SMALL SIZE – 1 EACH” … and I’m not sure they’d be big sellers since most guys wouldn’t want to go to the checkout girl in the pharmacy with a handful of them!
She plops magnums on me – but that’s overkill with me – I think. Japanese condoms – now those tend to be super thin and super tight – so maybe that’s what she’s talking about.
There’s a story from WW2 about (normal sized) condoms and psychological warfare. Apparently, the UK supplied Russia with a large consignment of condoms. On the specific orders of Mr Winston Churchill, the condoms were marked “extra small”.
I always, always checked if the guy put the money in an envelope, and counted it either way. I would ask, “Is it OK if I count this?” and only rarely got a face that signified displeasure; after it was all there (and the number of times it wasn’t are too small to mention) I would smile and say “Thank you!” and put it in my purse. If there was extra, I’d always ask if he meant to include it; on the rare occasions when the answer was an embarrassed “no” I gave it back with a smile and “I wouldn’t want to cheat you!” Considering my popularity & high number of regulars, I hardly think very many minded my checking.
>Hendricks went onto explain that every facet of a…trafficking [victim’s life] is controlled, including if they can eat, when they can return home, and who they can communicate with.
Reminds me that maybe, one time, I did have a “Pimp”. These people found me work, and took a share of my earnings. But they didn’t call themselves pimps, but a temporary employment service, and it was after I left the sex business.
And yes, believe it or not, I was”told when I could eat” (We had a defined lunch break), “when I could go home” (I had to work my shift) and who I could communicate with (No chatting with friends on the phone) pretty much like 95% or so of the other workers out there. Makes me wonder about all the people who see those conditions as so unusual.
Excellent point!
Ah, but that was all legal, even though the exact same thing was involved.
If we are so much against pimping, someone profiting from the labor of others, how can we continue being a capitalist nation?
It’s always different when sex is involved!
Try Navy boot camp – they micromanage when you can shit, shower, and shave.
I wonder if Mr Hendricks has ever actually been to a POW camp, or if that metaphor was like the rest of the horseshit that flows from his mouth?
When I read that – THIS immediately came to my mind …
From the movie … “Last of the Mohicans”
You know – I kind of consider myself to be the master of my own universe – so I don’t really get too much into this “male victimization” stuff like Beta Males like David Cameron do.
But let me tell you – I’m not seeking a woman’s permission to look at porn … or to jack-off, or approval from her regarding WHO i THINK about whist jacking off (here’s lookin’ at you Flora – you tea sipping minx!).
To say that a man needs permission from his wife to view porn when a wife doesn’t need permission from a husband to have an abortion is quite the beta male admission, Mr. David Cameron.
I’m not saying that men should “lord” over women – not at all. I think the male / female dynamic in it’s primitive form works quite well. All the girls in my life (except my daughters of course) open their kitty boxes for me – and I open my wallet for them (or fix shit for them – or move furniture … you get the point). If my wife feels so strongly about something we don’t agree on – oh yeah – she will cut me the fuck off. Then it becomes a test of willpower – to see who caves first. It’s usually me of course, in a matter of hours – and it’s a good thing she doesn’t use this “nuclear option” that often. But it’s yin and yang and sorry … but David Cameron, or more accurately HIS WIFE, isn’t going to have a say in my relationships. 😀
Too bad more women don’t watch porn with their husbands. It can be lots of fun.
“Husbands who like to watch pornography on the internet will have to confess to their wives and ask for permission”
Mmm… hmmm….
This is that old Victorian “Angel in the House” idea that the woman is the protector of household virtue. Pre-sexual revolution stuff.
Mom knew about Dad’s porn viewing (she didn’t approve but didn’t stop him), Sis knows about my brother-in-law’s porn viewing (she warned me in advance when I had to fix his computer). (I end up knowing about everybody’s porn habits because people are always getting viruses…)
I hate to break it to Mr. Cameron, but the woman I “live in sin” with is probably more depraved than I am. She would certainly not be his enforcer, even if I lived in Britain.
However, if I were some pathetic shell of a man who had to ask “Mother may I” of my wife when I wanted to do something, I’m pretty sure I could defeat his Internet filter with a tiny shell script, if necessary. (Thousands of teenage boys will be working on cracking that one, anyhow… lazy people can just download when ready.)
Of course, I have no idea if said teenage boys will be sent to juvie for hacking when they write said script… but I sure hope not. That seems to be the kind of world we live in now though.
Juvie? Doubtful; such a Serious Crime would demand their being tried as adults and sentenced to at least 20 years in solitary.
I have a friend who’s an Apple Genius. He describes a guy who brought a MacBook with a problem in – and each time it booted a huge picture of his girlfriend doing naughty things to herself popped up during the boot. Every boot – the picture was different. And he says this guy is just watching the pics light up on the screen like it was pictures of the Lincoln memorial – not a care in the world! “Naw, don’t touch it that pic will go away by itself in ten seconds … that ain’t the problem!”
Everything I know was taught to me by basically one very dirty-minded girl. I remember also taking her to the post office weekly to mail out a dirty letter to Penthouse – none of which was published but, in fact, each letter was more grounded in things she and I really did – than most of the letters Penthouse printed.
“[…] Under Tory “moral guidelines”, people who want to view pornography…will need to actively “opt-in” with their internet service providers…It is not just pornography…but also…material related to alcohol, drugs, smoking, and politically extremist material – […]”
“Politically extremist material”? Well… knowing Cameron and his gang, I guess that it will block any web page containing “extremist” concepts such as “negative growth”, “planned obsolescence”, etc. What disappoints me the most is that this stupid idea got strong support by the NSPCC (the national society for prevention of cruelty to children). I was giving them a monthly donation as I thought that the money was used to man a helpline for abused children, I realised that my money was used to lobby the government to “ban porn” because “porn is bad for children”. Well, live and learn, no more donation from me to those twisted liars.
Anyway, I am not with a big internet provider so I don’t care 🙂 I’ll keep having my daily ration of “extremism” 😉
Re “If only American celebrities were so principled” –
The debate is going on in France about that – there is now a long list of declared “prohibitionists” and “anti-prohibitionists”, with surprises on both sides. See http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2013/11/22/sanctionner-les-clients-de-prostituees-qui-est-pour-qui-est-contre_3511571_3224.html for more info.
Note that in this article the ministry of interior Manuel Valls (the big boss of the police, who has lately posed as a very nasty populist) has declared that “it will be very difficult to have any proof of a paid relationship”, as this is “only very rarely public, very rarely caught and it is likely that the prostitute would protect her customer”. Translated in common language: this law will not be applicable. And it’s the big boss of the police saying that!
A funny input from the “comments” section of that article: “so when a woman marries a guy for his money, will the husband get arrested?” 😀
The French celebrity story–
Is that the same Antoine who sang Les Elucubrations? I’ve loved that song ever since I stumbled across the video on Youtube a few years ago. If that’s the same guy, I have even more reason to admire him now.
Yes, that’s the same one. “Oh yeah!” 🙂
I have an idea: Let’s turn the tables. Let’s identify the cops who are doing this, do an Internet search and get names and photos, and post on the web that these people were seen “loitering in places known for malicious busybodyism.” Maybe even print a few posters and circulate them, too. When the busybodies start having trouble finding a store that will serve them, maybe they’ll take the hint and get honorable jobs.
[…] Snowden revealed); similarly, the license-plate readers which were first used in the Drug War and “end demand” operations against sex workers’ clients were recently revealed to be employed in vast numbers to build a nationwide database of all […]