The cost of noticing is to become responsible. – Thylias Moss
Last Thursday, everybody suddenly noticed that cops think it’s all right for them to rape sex workers before arresting us. Of course, nobody used that word; all the stories said “have sex”, as though the interaction were consensual…despite being accomplished via deception for the express purpose of harming the victim (which qualifies as rape in my book, and no I don’t want to debate it). The immediate cause of this sudden revelation was that Hawaiian cops took the unusually-blatant step of asking politicians to explicitly grant them the right in state law, rather than leaving it implicit or officially tolerated as in the other 49 states:
Honolulu police officers have urged lawmakers to keep an exemption in state law that allows undercover officers to have sex with prostitutes during investigations…Authorities say they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act…they made assurances that internal policies and procedures are in place to prevent officers from taking advantage of it…
I’ll give you a moment to recover from choking after reading that last line.
…A…bill cracking down on prostitution…was originally written to scrap the sex exemption for officers on duty. It was amended to restore that protection after police testimony…advocates were shocked that Hawaii exempts police from its prostitution laws, suggesting it’s an invitation for misconduct…
The fact that Melissa Farley is described as an “advocate” will give you ample description of the rest of the article. But as I’m fond of saying, even a stopped clock is right twice a day; the Farley quote, “Police abuse is part of the life of prostitution,” is missing only two words to make it true: “under criminalization”. Since that’s as close to the truth as Farley ever gets on this subject, we’ll let it count as “right”; it’s far truer than the ideas of most of those commenting on the story, who seem to be laboring under the delusion that this is somehow unusual. Let me make it clear for y’all: This is standard operating procedure everywhere in the United States, and the only thing unusual about Hawaii is that it’s spelled out in law. Just in case you’re a new reader or have a short memory, here are three examples from just last year: Indiana, Florida and Pennsylvania are all especially shameless in their defense of government-authorized rape, excusing it by claiming that sex workers are “sophisticated” (while simultaneously being pathetic, infantile victims). As long as prostitution is criminalized this will keep happening every day all over the country; one of the reasons New South Wales decriminalized was to put a stop to such behavior.
Sex worker activists have labored for forty years to get the public to notice this kind of revolting thuggery, and for the past few years it’s happened with increasing frequency. But I think it has less to do with our efforts than with “sex trafficking” hysteria; ironically, the crusade to pretend a normal, everyday activity is part of an international criminal conspiracy has resulted in the media paying much more attention to what was once widely viewed as a ho-hum non-story fit only for inclusion on a slow news day. And when reporters shine light upon police interaction with sex workers hoping to find stories of brave heroes rescuing crying (and half-dressed) underage “sex slaves”, what they often find instead is cops arresting women for carrying condoms, wearing attractive clothes or walking down the street; sometimes they even find them committing rape without the excuse of a “sting operation”. So thank you, “trafficking” fetishists, for your unwitting help in exposing cops’ vile behavior. And thank you, media, for at last beginning to notice; I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I ask what took you so long.
Absolutely true.
I was sharing a flat in Darlinghurst in the early 80s with an ever changing line up of sex workers and I can tell you some real horror stories from that time.
I’ve only personally known one girl forced into prostitution against her will (not at first but when she tried to get out of the game) and it was cops who raped her while she was working then her kid sister (who was never a sex worker) when she tried to stop working who kept her at it for years after she wanted to stop.
thepetitionsite.com/353/765/986/hawaii-dont-let-undercover-cops-have-sex-with-prostitutes/ … -Petition to go against this evil. Thanks in advance for signing this.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/353/765/986/hawaii-dont-let-undercover-cops-have-sex-with-prostitutes/ -hope the link feature works this time, re: petition to sign to go against this evil.
There is also another poll that is still open on the same site:
Decriminalize Prostitution in Toronto
I signed this, or at least I think I did. It wanted unfettered access to my Facebook account, and I wouldn’t give it that. But you signed it, right? And you don’t have a Facebook account. So…?
Legal or not, it happens commonly. I wonder if the general public will ever see their “protectors” for what they are.
I doubt anytime soon. When both MSNBC and Fox News regularly present shjows about the evils of trafficking and their commentators promote the same, you have to figure the misinformation is widespread and nonpartisan. If it became a political football it would be different, but no politician, left or right, dares advocate for legalization of prostitution.
And of course, the entertainment media that reinforces the misinformation: procedural cop shows, especially the 50 varieties of Law & Order that are on the air.
Yeah, I think that’s why I’m so strongly drawn to ‘realistic’ cop shows like “The Wire”, “Blue Murder”, “Scales of Justice” and “Bellamy” even though I generally hate TV.
When you see something of your real world reflected on the screen instead of a completely counterfactual concoction it’s more than just a breath of fresh air.
BTW, aspasia, I was just reading this less than half an hour ago and for some reason in the middle I was struck with the strong thought “aspasia would like this”. I have no idea why that thought occurred.
You don’t watch science fiction then I guess?
We expect science fiction to be unrealistic (and sometimes fly in the face of current science). We expect fictions set in our time and places to be realistic, though, and that makes all the difference.
I don’t really agree.
We expect sci-fi to be internally consistent. We’d probably have felt let down if Luke Skywalker destroyed the Deathstar with a magic wand. But The X-files are set in our time and place and some people seem to like it.
The main reason I avoid mass media is because so much of it is so obviously using bullshit to flog the agenda of a vest interests (e.g. ‘cops are benevolent and competent’, ‘the world is full of evil people and you must grant authorities the power they need to protect you’). Even when it’s an agenda I support I hate being propagandised about it.
When I was lecturing forensic science most of the students watched ‘CSI’ and bought into the bullshit of the near infallibility of police lab evidence even though they were studying all the things likely to go wrong (or at least some of them – there was no warning in the curriculum about how much pressure they’d come under to misrepresent evidence in court).
Hmm, my previous reply seems to have gone missing. Strange. I can’t imagine Maggie would have moderated it out.
What I said was that you’re pretty much right krulac. I haven’t lived with a TV or gone to the movies since the 1980s. But I have enjoyed one science fiction flick on DVD relatively recently – the rotoscope of Philip Dick’s Through a Scanner Darkly – because it spoke authentically to my own experience of the dynamics of shared households, the paranoia that comes from knowing you’re a specific target of surveillance and effect addiction can have on social relationships.
Not sure what happened; it isn’t in moderation, the trash or the spam folder. 🙁
This is the line that got me …
They want the exemption retained – and yet will NOT SAY if they’ve even ever used it. This is a bit like Obama refusing to say how many people have actually PAID for an ObamaCare plan – pure arrogance – as if it’s none of our business even though we’re paying for this shit. “Just trust us” … “We’re the government and we GOT this!”
How exactly does that work? I would like to see the mechanics of that. If I join up with Honolulu PD and apply to the vice division – do I have to sign a waiver saying I’m willing to have sex with hookers in the line of duty? Even “fugly” ones? Or …
Since hookers are so “dirty” … what kind of controls do they have to prevent STD’s? Do I have to sign a waiver saying I won’t sue the police department if I get one?
What the fuck mind of “occupational safety standards” are applied to THIS shit!? LOL … I don’t think they’re covered under standard labor safety practices!
Are all the vice cops SINGLE? Or do they all have to have very “understanding” and “supportive” wives?
Is there an “exemption” for cops to shoot up heroin or smoke pakalolo in order to arrest dope dealers?
When I lived in Hawaii – I thought all the cops were awesome – they always were smiling. Now I know why!
“Hey brah … why you no arrest da hookah?”
“Cuz she no hookah, brah … she California tourist … focked me for no money! Nice teeties! High five!”
Shit man … and the funny thing was … when I first visited a “health spa” in Hawaii, the “mamasan” of the place had me fill out a form (no shit) saying that I wasn’t associated with anyone in law enforcement. Guess she didn’t know that was a complete goddam waste! LOL!
But let me tell you something – those married vice cops are getting the shit beat out of them by their wives now! Cuz – there’s NO WAY those women knew their husbands might have to do this in the line of duty!!!
“I no have any sex with hookahs babe!”
“You LIE – I know how much you like dah punani!!”
Also …
(Shit, I’m having TOO MUCH fun with this).
Are the cops expected to fuck Mahu prostitutes? Maybe that’s how the new vice recruits prove their dedication to the force … having sex and arresting Mahus.
Or …
Is there like a “Take One For The Team” roster that rotates that duty among all the cops? 😛
So, police can claim compensation for genital warts contracted in the line of duty? Sounds fair.
It isn’t rape; it’s RAPE AND. I don’t know the term for the AND, but it amounts to fundamentally corrupting the very nature of their duty to abuse those they are supposed to protect. Similar to child abuse by Priests. Setting aside the Rape charges (which should be heavily punished as well) the AND in these cases should be punished by (to quote Gilbert & Sullivan) “something artistic but lingering”.
Are there army ants in Hawaii? And while we’re at it could we feed any politicians who vote for these swine to the ants, too?
There was an old Hawaiian punishment – I can’t remember the name of it.
But the victim stood and placed his hand on an elevated log … he was not bound in any way.
A guy with a BIG club stood in front of him and slammed the shit out of the victim’s hand with his club. This would shatter the entire hand and produce crippling effects for life (back then).
The victim had to accept the punishment – he could not move his hand out of the path of the club. If he did – an executioner stood behind him and would take his life.
The term for ‘AND’ is ‘aggravated’.
You’re welcome.
http://forcechange.com/113195/end-police-exemption-from-sex-trafficking-laws/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=end-police-exemption-from-sex-trafficking-laws -Another petition that’s worded better. I didn’t write either of these and noticed later the wording on the first one could have been way better. I apologize for any upset that caused.
“despite being accomplished via deception for the express purpose of harming the victim (which qualifies as rape in my book, and no I don’t want to debate it)”
If a woman has sex with a man in order to (for instance) get into his home and steal from him, does that also count as rape in your book? I mean, obviously it’s theft, but is it also a rape? If she does so specifically to get pregnant and saddle him with a child he did not want, claiming to be using contraception when she knows that she is not, is that rape? I mean, we can all agree that it’s reprehensible, but is it specifically rape?
It’s these kinds of stretchy definitions that give us that “one in four” trope.
Sorry, I missed that last bit, that you don’t want to debate it. My bad.
Cops, judges, politicians.. They all got 1 thing in common.. Too much power for an human being to handle..
I say: No more wars, no more guns, no more money, everyone gets even, nobody has to steal, deal or kill.
Spread love not war !!
Peace and Love
[…] this respect, Michigan’s status quo closely resembles one in Hawaii which scandalized reporters and readers three years ago. The legislature tried to repeal a 1970s-era immunity clause for cops engage in prostitution […]