Come children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out. – William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
As regular readers know, the chief organization crusading for imposition of the Swedish model on Ireland is Ruhama, the new mask worn by the orders of nuns who for centuries enslaved many thousands of women in the horrible Magdalene laundries. Just barely over a year ago I published “Puppet Show”, in which I shared information from Irish and British activists exposing Ruhama’s chief puppet, Justine Reilly, as a convicted “pimp” with a long history of “reframing her experiences” to transform herself from ruthless businesswoman to naïve hooker to pathetic victim of “pimps” herself (whichever was most profitable at the time). But soon after that column appeared, Ruhama unveiled a new star, Rachel Moran, whom they paid to present herself as the author of a fabricated memoir entitled Paid For. I say fabricated because over a year before it appeared a correspondent wrote to me saying that during a bad time she had shared her own unfinished memoir with people from Ruhama and had reason to believe they had photocopied much of it and would in the near future build some tragedy porn around it; when this book appeared she confirmed that much of it was plagiarized from her manuscript. But while Moran’s pantomime performance as victim-turned-author seems credible to True Believers and ignoramuses, it is utterly unbelievable to those involved in the tiny and close-knit world of sex work in Dublin. For months now, activist Gaye Dalton has been “tweeting” about the holes in Moran’s story, and on February 26th she actually filed an affidavit swearing to that testimony. When I expressed an interest in publicizing the affidavit Gaye kindly provided me with both scans and a transcription; I have combined the scans into a PDF for your perusal (her address and phone number have been pixilated to preserve her privacy), but here’s the heart of the document:
I sold sexual services on Waterloo and Burlington Roads in Dublin…between approximately June/July 1987 and March/April 1993…I worked there 5 or 6 nights a week…usually [arriving] at about 9:30pm and [working] until at least 2:30am. I spent most of my time on the streets either walking or in two places:
- At the top of Waterloo Road by the corner of Wellington Lane
- Near the corner of Burlington Road outside Dublin Institute of Advanced technology
In cold or wet weather I might also sit in my car either at the top of Waterloo Road, or on Burlington Road looking out on to Waterloo Road. The sex workers and regular clients were a small community that could be compared to the regular clientele of a pub, we all knew each other, at least by sight and were very much aware of new people, unusual occurrences, or any form of crime or abuse. Every woman I knew at that time worked independently, for herself, apart from two women who were in personal relationships that would have been abusive and coercive in any environment…Anyone who seemed underage was prevented from working, sent home if possible and reported to Gardai. Many of the women had teenage children of their own and were not easy to fool in this respect…Drug abuse was extremely rare and many women were actively involved in the “concerned parents” movement in their local communities.
At no time did I ever see, or hear of “Rachel Moran” author of Paid For and founder of “Space International” nor anyone resembling her, working in that area. In her book she claims to have worked near the corner of Wellington Lane from early evening until “the small hours”, which would have placed her within 15 yards of me for several hours most nights. I have asked several people…from that time and nobody else can remember her, or anyone like her, not only there but in any form of sex work indoor or outdoor, at any of the times she claims to have worked, between 1991 and 1998. Beyond this, in her book Paid For and…blog The Prostitution Experience she has described several people, but not one of them even resembles anyone I ever met or heard of. Like any small community of people there was gossip…we knew plenty about each other’s lives and were familiar with the known details of any abusive, awkward, or even interesting clients. She does not allude to anyone recognisable to me at all. At no time does she show any awareness of the terminology we used, nor even the material realities of our work. She has also, at times, claimed to have been arrested for soliciting before 1993. Not only was this impossible, but also, one of the first things you would be told as a sex worker at that time is that you could not be arrested for soliciting. She did not even know that.
Rachel Moran is making money from her book and speaking engagements as well as…making significant input into Justice Committees both sides of the border through totally misrepresenting herself and that entire community and time. Meanwhile real sex workers are denied all…self representation to refute [her claims]…I understand that it is unlawful for a person to obtain financial advantage from deceit, but I am personally more concerned with the damage to vulnerable, voiceless people that Rachel Moran will do with her lies. The idea of anyone so unscrupulous having any degree of control over sex workers’ lives in future…absolutely horrifies me. Justine Reilly, her partner in “Space International” (all reference suddenly removed from website in past few weeks) was discovered to be a convicted pimp in February 2013, after…putting herself forward in the media as a helpless victim. I have never observed her to show any remorse towards the women she exploited, while at least one of these same women has been openly chastised by Ruhama for “disrespect” for alluding to her convictions. During consultations in both North and South of Ireland genuine sex workers have been treated as animals who cannot think and speak for ourselves while dishonest persons such as these have been put forward as speaking for us. Genuine sex workers have been abused, intimidated and excluded while blatant lies are treated with the greatest courtesy and respect…
I wish that I could believe that this affidavit will help to undermine Moran’s credibility with the Irish government, but I have little hope for that considering the obsequious deference it has rendered and continues to render to the Magdalene orders, both on the issue of compensation to their past victims and the issue of their current attempts to bring sex workers under their control once more. But I can and do hope that it has some deleterious effect on her credibility with the Irish people; each revelation like this one adds to the growing heap of evidence that Ruhama, like all prohibitionists, is a pack of sociopathic liars who will stop at nothing to subject all human sexual behavior to police and institutional violence.
I have been aware of all this for some time. I am happy to see Gaye Dalton has come out publicly with this information. Piece by piece Moran’s lies need to be deconstructed.
You linked to that piece of crap on Amazon – and I almost attacked the review section.
It’s amazing to me how people just buy into any story without the slightest shard of evidence. I can tell my life’s story – and even the parts that I took great care to keep out of sight of others – I can still prove them with hotel receipts, dinner receipts – even witnesses who don’t really know me – but know my face.
If she says she was arrested … where’s the police report? Where’s the other girls she worked around?
It’s just crazy that human beings are so bullshitable.
The review section on the Amazon page is pretty disgusting. Although there are a few reviewers who pick up on the fact that the book is written as more of a political screed or thesis than an actual factual memoir.
I kind of feel it’s incumbent on a few of us to at least alert people (by writing reviews) on the Amazon page to the possible fraudulent nature of this book. Unfortunately that means I’d have to support the author by shelling out three bucks, and then wading through the thing… ugh.
One advantage of the Kindle is the ability to read a ‘sample’ of the book, and this is what I did. I only got a little more than the first chapter, but I was struck by the writing; it’s very repetitious, something noted by amazon’s reviewers.
And if you compare this sample with, say, the ‘memoirs’ (or are they novels?) by Belle de Jour or Tracy Quan, the difference is remarkable; not just the content, but the style, the prose are so much better. And, even if these memoirs have been ‘novelised’, they are believable, they have that certain ring of truth.
If it’s not a ‘misery memoir’, antis seem to be those of extreme ‘feminist’ positions; and, commonly it seems, they use manipulated or fabricated statistics. I find it hard to know if they really believe what they write, or if it’s an ‘ends justifying the means’ type of argument.
So, a question: can anyone suggest an anti blog, pamphlet or book which relies on rational, reasoned argument (without dubious statistics) to make the case why whoring/harlotry/prostitution is per se a bad thing, and should be abolished?
No. It’s ALL about “the feels”. Even those that do attempt to use reason or evidence fall back on feminist theory, which is in turn a bunch of made-up junk about “the feels”.
It’s not necessary for sex prohibitionists to make a rational argument. Prostitutes are historically an unpopular group so all politicians and prohibitionists require is some sort of rationalization to the general public as to why we need to continue to persecute this particular minority.
This is GD …one thing that brought it home to me ABOVE ALL ELSE was reading Ruth Jacobs “Soul Destruction” (a fictional thriller). The book took me straight back to the same place, ten years earlier (without the drug involvement). It was so eery.
I also had Karin Ward’s old Memoir of Duncroft before the scandal blew and the first few chapters of description were like a trip in a tardis.
But Moran got it ALL wrong from the very first blog post. She knew nothing about the cultural groups among sex workers. She doesn’t know the terminology we used, or the material realities of sex work itself.
At firs I only knew for sure she had never worked waterloo of Burlington Road, not I am convinced she was never a sex worker anywhere.
Readers, Gaye forwarded me a copy of this email she sent to Sarah (of Ruhama) on October 14th, 2012. “Free Irishwoman” was the name Moran was using online until her real name was revealed a year ago.
Rachel Moran was on Woman’s Hour on Monday morning (BBC Radio 4). You can hear what she said on their site. The presenter Jane Garvey was completely taken in by her. Someone should tell Jane Garvey about this because this propaganda is going to have an effect on the public debate about introducing the Swedish Model into Britain.
All the participants on Monday’s Woman’s Hour were talking about the lowest level of prostitution, that is ‘streetwalkers’. Before you rush to say that it’s all fantasies, I suggest a visit to any A&E (Emergency Room) late on a Friday or Saturday. You will be horrified/amazed at just how dreadful some people are. Once you’ve witnessed this, nothing that people will do to others will surprise you.
Meanwhile, the beeb is bound by its charter to be ‘balanced’; today’s programme had three sex workers from Glasgow; and a woman from Sweden who was against their model. Unfortunately, the Swedish woman was very difficult to understand; not because of her English, but because the phone connection was bad. None of the Glasgow girls sounded local; in particular, ‘Molly’ talked a lot of sense, and had a very pleasing accent.
I don’t think anyone says it’s all fantasies … just that it may not be representative of the situation as a whole.
If you’re an air conditioning repairman – you’re only going to be looking at broken air conditioners. This doesn’t mean that the vast majority of A/C units are pieces of shit though.
Excuse me Korhomme *I* (Gaye Dalton) was a “lowest level” (ex KEHS B’ham ex Duncroft Staines and I still ain’t hard on the eye either) streetworker during the decriminalised period 1983 – 1993. My reason for that choice being that street work can be the most completely independent sex work, and that is what *I* needed, a livelihood completely independent of ongoing relationships with co-workers etc, and the clients expect less which suited me fine, I hated sex work but preferred it far more than any other option I had.
I am telling you everything Moran says is pure fantasy.
Even in the very worst of London, or Paris, (where I have also been a street worker)
Curiously I have spent a staggering amount of time in Dublin’s largest A&E recently and the only thing that horrified me were the innocent, sick and injured people left waiting 15 hours or more for the simplest care because HSE money is being syphoned off for cottage NGOs like Ruhama to waste on junkets to the UN in New York to claim to speak for a user group that, in truth, literally hate them.
Come on, that can’t be. We’re told in the United States that you guys have a WONDERFUL health care!
But honestly – the only time I’ve ever had to wait excessively long was in an Army ER (i.e. government run) when I was passing a gallstone. I waited 15 hours – then got up and told the attendant … “I’m going home to die!”. The squadron medical doctor saw me in his office every day and gave me bags of IV fluid to keep me running. He didn’t know what was wrong and didn’t have the stuff to diagnose anyway. Two weeks and 40 lost pounds later – my eyeballs turned yellow and he figured it out! The gallstone passed shortly after! LOL
The health systems in the North and South of Ireland are different, if similar; both have similar problems today.
Have you had the rest of your gallstones (and gallbladder) removed?
I told the docs to leave my gallbladder intact. Yes I have stones – but I’ve only passed two that I noticed. The last one was a year and half ago. I felt it coming on when I boarded a plane in the arctic (but I was not about to stay and go to hospital). The ride home took over 24 hours and I was sweating in misery the whole time. When I landed back home – I drove right to the ER. They kept me overnight but again – the stone worked loose. So it’s like babies man … the first one is the hardest – LOL.
Incidentally – the first one took two weeks to pass and they didn’t recognize it until my eyeballs turned yellow – then they diagnosed me with “hepatitis”. That happened whilst I was at sea – they knocked me out and woke me up to get on a small boat into shore – and took me to the hospital. First diagnosis … “You seem to have pancreatic CANCER!” LOL – like I loved hearing that! My pancreatic enzymes were off the chart. Then doc tells me … “It’s a gallstone – sure thing – your pancreas is DIGISTING itself”. I had severe pancreatitis. They wouldn’t feed me or do anything to excite my pancreas – for three days (I ate through an IV). But I am a Klingon when it comes to healing and my enzymes got steadily better. I walked out of the hospital three days later feeling like a million bucks. Three days earlier – I just knew I was gonna die.
Nurse told me that pancreatitis is pain on the level of having a baby – so I got that experience going for me too! Especially since this baby took two weeks to birth! LMAO!
krulac, you are one thrawn sob! 🙂
Krulac,
IF ONLY someone could have given me IV fluid I needed a couple of weeks ago. It was literally a situation where the wait in A&E was more dangerous than the dehydration.
Our health service is a nightmare, and the money it needs gets thrown at cottage NGOs like Ruhama, to pay themselves huge salaries to junket all over the world. Sarah Benson of Ruhama is in NYC today at a UN conference, ALL ON PUBLIC MONEY.
The idea of a hierarchy of whores isn’t mine, I’m merely picking up on it. And I’m not doubting what you say about Rachel Moran.
Still, I’d think that outdoor and indoor workers have differing experiences, and different reasons for entering, though ‘penury’ might be a common starter.
I’ve only a peripheral experience of Dublin’s A&Es; in the North, and the rest of the UK, security screens now ensure the safety of the reception staff; assaults on them, and on nurses, have become alarmingly frequent. And, have you ever experienced a full-scale riot in an A&E? In a hospital which might be thought of as neutral territory between the warring sectarians.
And yes, I’ve worked with people stacked up on ‘trolleys’ in the corridors of A&E; it’s just awful; sometimes they stayed for days there.
Whores invented the hierarchy of whores and, having approximately the same DNA as actual human beings they conduct it the same way, every perceived group looks down on every other perceived group and, frankly, it is bl**dy ridiculous snobbery.
I, honest to god, cannot see any real difference between the street workers I have known and the indoors worker except that the indoors workers tend to be more “people people”.
I have *BEEN* stacked up in corridors (last year) then warned THIS year “it is not so easy since you were last her”.
I am only surprised the UK isn’t in all out revolt…but I do not see what that has to do with copperfastening the lurid fantasies of fake “low class” street workers.
FYI a street worker can expect to meet a similar level of abuse to a night cab driver and street clients have far simpler and less elaborate expectations. They are usually the shy ones, the ones who can only go through with it on the spur of the moment.
Indoor clients were always way too demanding for me.
Well … YOU are fascinating and I wish you would comment here more often. You make extremely articulate points that even I can understand and … I get to learn new Irish phrases like “copper fastening”!
AWESOME!
Groveller…but thanks :o)
I’m not trying to get at you; sometimes, though, my messages can be rather clumsy. And if we all have very similar DNA, our experiences (our nurture) differ.
I seriously HATE all forms of snobbery…and I can’t take ’em seriously because the way I was raised and schooled I was at least 35 before I was prepared to look at the possibility OTHER PEOPLE might be my equals.
Honestly, it is just different ways of doing the same job, like ebay v car boot sales, both have their pros and cons, both suit different people, and different clients.
I found indoor work really heavy going, it would gross me out to get genuinely aroused at work, and there was no way I could cope with faking all that stuff. The street clients don’t expect it. So it suited…I understand a lot of mums find the incredible flexibility of the hours useful too.
Can we reblog this on whorephobia?
It’s fine with me, and I think Gaye wants as much attention to it as possible.
Yes please…LOADS OF ATTENTION is the order of the day…does anyone notice the only pro Nordic Model “survivors of purrostitution” Auntie Beeb can dig up are from Ireland?
THESE LIES MUST END.
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Just something I want to point out is that almost all the women I knew on the streets Moran pretends she worked were “clean and sober” even if two of them had drug problems and a few more had drink problems, in their free time.
It was a part of our culture to take ourselves seriously as working women and responsible adults whatever anyone else said about us, and however much some of us hated the work. We all admired enterprise and effort in ourselves as well as each other.
Of course we were privileged beyond most street workers wildest dreams in that we were effectively decriminalised in Ireland between 1983 and 1993.
To give you an idea of the kind of people we were there was one woman who would arrive at the top of Burlington Road and stop to chat all the way round, usually about home improvements. For some reason she got into the habit of just continuing the conversation with the next person she spoke to…as a result, most of us will NEVER know what colour she finally tiled the bathroom.
Ran into her shopping a few years ago…she didn’t look a day older.
Until now I thought Moran was simply misguided, unable to see that her bad experience doesn’t justify condemning all of sex work. Yes, I tend to be a bit naive, and yes, I’ve been kind of living under a rock until recently.
After reading this – and I have not the slightest reason to doubt Gaye – I’m furious. I could kick myself for even giving this woman the benefit of doubt. This is what Honeyball used to coerce the EP into voting for her report – I thought it was bad, but it’s a lot worse than I imagined,
Thanks for making this public.
Just adding a codicil here…too busy thinking about my own perspective to see other people’s, but Moran is obviously from the Travelling Community, her accent is unmistakable.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it is a terrible insult in terms of the travellers culture to effectively, accuse them of letting one of their own sell sex on the street for years.
Like most minorities the travelling community are far more tolerant of the difference of other cultures but within their own culture to leave one of their own selling sex is like standing by and watching her get murdered. Travelling women of my own age who did not judge me in any way, have told me that for them, selling sex would be worse than dying.
(Remember that in most traveller families, even a young widow will never remarry, that is the cultural context here).
I was very close to a travelling family I have know for years in 92 and 93. If any traveller girl was selling sex in Dublin they would have expected me to put as much effort into finding her as they did.
(I think if that had happened I would have tried to find her first and offer her the free choice between going home or getting the ferry because unless she did one or the other she would be a huge problem to herself and others.)
Fortunately that situation never arose.
Thanks Silke,
Believe me the sheer filth and corruption of this whole consultation has staggered me. I did not think people could be that bad, and I have always thought of myself as a fairly extreme cynic.
[…] Lee asked me to upload these links for you all to read. Played Out | The Honest Courtesan LAURA'S DIARY: How do you solve a problem like Ruhama ? Very informative article, Laura […]
Something else occurred to me in the past few days.
Moran isn’t just misrepresenting sex workers and clients, she is misrepresenting EVERYBODY involved not only in the sex trade, but in the areas she pretends to have worked.
To give you an example, she is very specific about where she worked on Wellington Lane. I happened to know the person who owned that house. This was a very intelligent and streetwise person (I can’t specify too much, but all was for legitimate reasons) who definitely would not fail to spot a very young girl working outside the door, but also would have taken it upon themselves to pester the women until somebody did something about it.
Moran has written a whole book predicated upon the assumption that person would walk on by, blind, indifferent or both, and that so would the young Policeman who lodged with them.
Speaking of police, because of traffic lights at both ends of Waterloo Road it was usually easier for them to cut down Wellington Lane, either on patrol or on a call. They were not blind, deaf and stupid, yet Moran claims they were unaware of not one, but half a dozen underage girls (while in the next breath claiming that if clients can find sex workers so can the police, because the Swedes say so – so which is it?)
Are we to believe that the Ruhama van, usually under the command of Sr Jennifer McAleer also failed to notice or report to Gardai the existence of half a dozen under age girls selling sex?
What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Here’s a lame joke:
What’s the difference between an agent for a tribute band and Ruhama?
One will book a fake for you, the other will fake a book for you.
This joke may need some re-work.
Ruairi Quinn asks various organisations if they think anything is missing that should be included in the new school curriculum for children aged 7-9.
-Concern’s reply is : “Agriculture”. Children don’t understand where food comes from and its importance in the 3rd world.
-The Trocaire spokesman suggests : “The water cycle”. Children don’t understand the importance of sanitation for example.
-The spokeswoman for government funded NGO Ruhama says : “Prostitution awareness”
Be careful what you joke about.
Today the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Justice, Equality and Law reform that refused to listen to or heed adult sex workers at all took instruction on sex work and legislation, from well coached anti-trafficking school kids who suggested a course in trafficking (by which they mean TORL propaganda not facts)should be part of the curriculum.
This comes 3 weeks after the Committee informed me “that it has concluded its consideration of this topic” when I sent them the above affidavit. The level of bigotry against and contempt for sex workers as human beings is staggering.
I will add link to transcript as soon as it is available.
This really happened; I watched part of it. Brain-washing starts early.
That’s shocking. It’s a glib assertion, but I believe that children should not learn about the imperfections of adulthood too soon. Utopia, prince charmings, human achievements, father christmas, fairies under the bed, clean water, good food, silly games, loving parents, even pure maths and astronomy etc are the stuff of childhood, and wherever possible children should have a childhood.
Here’s another weak 2-liner:
A Ruhama spokeswoman believes that a man who has ‘paid for’ sexy time is not a real man.
Which is an ironic claim because the memoir ‘paid for’ is not actually a real memoir.
And another gag:
Why is Rachel Moran like Bill Hicks?
In 1993 Bill riffed about the enemy in the first Gulf War, saying:
they went from
‘the Elite Republican Guard’ to ‘the Republican Guard’
to ‘the Republicans made this shit up about there being guards out there’ we hope you enjoyed your firework show
In 2013 Rachel’s book went from:
‘Paid For: My Journey Through Drugs and Prostitution’, to simply
‘Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution’, to now that she’s been challenged to corroborate her tale
‘This Prostitution shit I made up has paid for My Journeys’, to enjoyable places like the United States and Norway.
[…] Weitere Infos dazu: http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/played-out/ […]
The Justice Committee in Stormont Strike back:
http://mymythbuster.wordpress.com/myth-the-justice-committee-in-stormont-treat-all-with-equal-respect-and-courtesy/
The Report of the Justice Committee is here:
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/Assembly-Business/Committees/Justice/Reports/Report-on-the-Human-Trafficking-and-Exploitation-Further-Provisions-and-Support-for-Victims-Bill-NIA-2611-15/
It is over 1300 pages long, but much of that is the minutes of the committee and submissions.
The sessions in committee where the members took evidence from interested parties are on YouTube. You don’t have to watch much to see just how baised some members were—particularly Mr Jim Wells.
One of those who gave (attempted to give) evidence was Dr Susann Huschke who attended with Dr Ellison—who was ‘hijacked’ by Mr Wells. I met Dr Huschke recently, and felt obliged, on behalf of normal people in N Ireland, to apologise for the behaviour of some of the members of the committee.
What I will say is that if ONLY they had published some of my emails about the DUP to Newsletter “journalist” Phil Bradfield it would have been worth letting them publish my credit card number and security code too!
I have met Susann myself and she is a lovely, self effacing girl who did not merit bullying on any terms, in any circumstances.
Personally I can’t stand Ellison (for reasons not even touched upon by the committee…I guess *real* issues are too unpredictable to use that way? Might get out of control. So you have to make stuff up.) but the way he was treated was off the wall. The whole thing devolved into a tribunal of enquiry into the justification for Graham Ellison’s existence in the end.
FINE…by all means criminalise “being Graham Ellison” (with my full support – for different reasons) but they were supposed to be discussing sex work…
But I do not live in a street full of people…I live alone in the middle of nowhere and I am too fragile to be around people in any normal way.
Quite objectively (I know I am not popular with the sex work lobby or humanity in general either…I am too alien, they can’t work me out) at the end of the day what they did to me was the least justified and most dangerous abuse of all.
If they had done that to someone, anyone, else they would be answering to me face to face RIGHT NOW…and if they do not think I mean that JUST TRY IT!
I don’t care if people care about me, I have to be that way because there will always be more people who want to take me down on both sides than anything, and there is nothing I can do to change that, but exposing me as they have done is one of the most stupid political mistakes I ever saw anyone make.
My life is over, either way, because of it don’t worry…that bell cannot be un-rung…but for chrissakes use what they have done to me the same way you would if I were a likable person who qualified for full human status – to stop them harming anyone else.
That should override everything.
I’ve never met Dr Ellison, and I know next to nothing about him. But the ad hominem attacks from the Justice Committee only reinforced my view that they have little interest in even the apparent appearance of impartiality or fact finding; they, or at least some of them, have ill-conceived ideas which are totally resistant to reason, logic, argument or discussion. With such belief comes the absolute certainty that they are right.
Maybe this sounds weird but when I am utterly furious with someone and I know why, and I see someone else manufacture a preposterous, irrelevant excuse to attack that person it makes me sit bolt upright faster than if I supported that person.
Because then you *KNOW* it is all about control, not facts at all.
What Ellison says in his private emails about the DUP is (neat, but) utterly irrelevant to the issue of sex work. So why was it mentioned? His research concerned statistics not political analysis (however accurate). Unless they are claiming to be sex workers any opinions he might have expressed on the DUP are completely irrelevant.
It was more like a Monty Python sketch than serious governance and legislation.
Following their “argument” (for want of a better word) through to it’s logical conclusion would they vote against clause 6 if Ellison had sucked up instead?
Every now and then a rarity comes along who excels at something they haven’t experienced. The deaf composer who cannot hear the beauty of their notes, or top football coach Andre Villas-Boas who uniquely won Europe’s UEFA League title despite never playing the game professionally, or Rachel Moran who wrote a lecturing book about her prostitution experience despite never being a pro.
Erm, something doesn’t fit there.
Talking and writing about prostitutes despite never having been one is actually exceedingly common.
[…] that she is in fact simply a mouth piece for Turn of the Red light. You can read more about this here and […]
[…] perhaps I have to make a couple of things clear, yes there are people making a good living from the misery memoir circuit. There are others who have been completely outed as frauds. I am not talking about these. There is […]
And another lame gag:
Rachel Moran walks to the shop, passes a punter in conversation with a pimp asking who’s the youngest girl he’s got, passes the local supplier of cocaine to 15 year olds, crosses the council car park where a prostitute is on her knees giving a bj to a grand-dad still in his driver’s seat. She walks past a police station, across the supermarket car park where the trolley supervisor gives a wolf-whistle and shouts ‘nice heels love’. She goes in, buys some sour cream and the Enquirer. Then ponders what she’s seen and heard and reports the lecherous/admiring trolley guy to the store manager.
Are u saying that trafficking survivors like Rachel Moran, or Marita Veron (Argentina) and Somaly Mam (Cambodia) are liars? Why the hell they should do that?
Good old fashioned “fame and fortune” – people have killed for a lot less than Rachel Moran has got out of this sick travesty…
Rachel Moran went on BBC radio and said that 127 prostitutes were murdered in the Netherlands in the 15 years since legalisation. This is a false statistic, most of them were killed before legalisation not after. Laura Lee found the true statistics. In Moran’s book she says that prostitution ‘plummeted’ in Sweden after the law criminalising punters. She mentions the 2010 Skarhed report. The report makes no claim that there has been an overall reduction in prostitution. So she is saying things that aren’t true. Does that make her a liar? Either she is or she can’t be bothered to find out the truth. Either way she doesn’t give a damn about the safety of women.
The only reason I don’t believe she made it all up is because if you were going to make something up it wouldn’t be that. It’s a completely different book from Slave by Anna. It contradicts so many of the beliefs of the ‘abolitionists’. The woman who banked £10k, the middle-class women she encounters, the fact that for the first 2 years as a sex worker she chose not to have vaginal or anal penetrative sex, and only rarely after that. She said they did it to pay for a roof over their heads and to make a ‘half-decent living’ not handing over money to pimps or dealers shows the abolitionist ideas are false.
Just adding in an update with more details about the world Rachel Moran never set foot in in case anyone is interested https://mymythbuster.wordpress.com/fanny-by-gaslight/
Rachel Moran was peddling her organization and book and agenda on National Public Radio (NPR) in America today. You can tell immediately that she is a parrot, which is how I discovered this post upon researching her name in depth. This information needs to be spread more widely. NPR is a huge radio network and has a lot of influence on people who listen. This kind of authoritarian (and overtly anti-male) nonsense is disgusting and needs to be stopped before it can spread like a disease.
I am always relieved when people see Moran for the fake she is just from listening to her. .
She isn’t even pleasant to meet, very sullen and sly…she never looks anyone in the eyes. A body language specialist would have a field day with Moran and those who have something to gain by affecting to support her. I have no idea how people like Swanee Hunt even keep a straight face pretending to believe her.
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Hey, thanks so much for exposing her. It’s important to call these people out. 🙂
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There is always just a little bit more – Moran is fond of touting around a clip of film as “evidence” that she was really a sex worker (see her twitter feed) here is how that works out in the real world:
https://mymythbuster.wordpress.com/dm-reality-bites/
But there is a tiny bit more, as soon as we got a new Justice Minister and Police Commissioner, I had two cops on my doorstep in connection with a cold case enquiry concerning an incident that happened after 1998 (not specifying out of respect for those involved, it would be like seeing someone use a tragedy to clear a parking ticket if it came up on google). They were trying to interview everyone who might have been “on the street” and my name kept coming up as someone worth talking to with various cops, taxi drivers and sex workers, despite the fact that I hadn’t been there since 1993, Moran claims she was around until 1998 – they had never even heard of her…but it doesn’t end there. The cop verifying Moran in the video clip headed up that same cold case enquiry until recently and has a book out with the same publisher as Moran.
You couldn’t make it up.
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