Backpage [is a]…bête noire for…misguided meddlers—a symbolic entity on which to project all their moral- and techno-panic concerning prostitution in the Internet era. – Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Rough Trade
In the US, she would’ve been arrested when she reported the rape to cops:
A man who raped a sex worker in a brutal knifepoint attack in Leeds has been jailed for ten years…Anthony Riley…dragged her to the ground by her hair and punched and kicked her before putting a knife to her throat and raping her. He ran off after the attack, taking two mobile phones that had fallen out of the victim’s bra [with which he was later found]…
A Tale That Grew in the Telling
Dude claims that 1% of the world’s population is “enslaved” and says he runs a top-secret organization of nuns who pose as whores to infiltrate brothels. I am not making this up:
An army of religious sisters who rescue victims of human trafficking by posing as prostitutes to infiltrate brothels and buying children being sold into slavery, is expanding to 140 countries…John Studzinski, an investment banker and philanthropist who chairs Talitha Kum, said the network of 1,100 sisters currently operates in about 80 countries but the demand for efforts to combat trafficking and slavery was rising globally. The group…estimates one percent of the world’s population is trafficked in some form, which translates into some 73 million people. Of those, 70 percent are women and half are aged 16 or younger. “I’m not trying to be sensational but…this is a world…where dark forces are active,” said Studzinski…He [fantasized aloud about] one woman…who was locked up for a week without food, forced to eat own her faeces, when she failed to have sex with a target of 12 clients a day…
Just curious, John; do the nuns have sex with clients while “infiltrating brothels”? If not, why aren’t they locked up and forced to eat shit? Or is that just a clever metaphor for what you’ve tricked Reuters reporters into doing in this story?
The Pro-Rape Coalition
Long-time readers will remember that I’ve made similar points in the past:
Third-wave feminists are the best friends a rapist could ask for. With their promotion of the idea of “rape culture”—the notion that images and culture propel men to hate and harm women—they have done more than anyone to diminish rapists’ responsibility for their foul crimes. And the evidence suggests rapists are really grateful…30 years on from Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon’s scaremongering over porn and its impact on the putty-like male mind, feminists are still depicting porn as the instigator of criminal activity. And in the process they’re excuse-making for criminals…In the New Statesman, Sarah Ditum argued that…men are almost possessed by porn…[which] takes hold of us…and drives us, automaton-like, to evil…
The Mote and the Beam
Previous Senate hearings of this same ilk have included the ones against communists, comic books and “dirty” music lyrics:
Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer is refusing to participate in the U.S. government witch-hunt against his company, and for that he may face criminal charges. Ferrer failed to show up on Capitol Hill [on November 19th] despite a subpoena to testify before a Senate committee about Backpage’s alleged involvement in sex trafficking. Now a…group of senators is calling for his head…Ferrer’s attorneys told legislators that he would be out of the country and unable to make the hearing. Were he to attend, they added, he would likely invoke his fifth amendment right not to self-incriminate…
The Crumbling Dam
It’s strange that Washington, which is so regressive on sex work, is moving forward so quickly on drugs:
Safe drug sites—places people can use illicit drugs under medical supervision—are coming to Seattle, advocates say…Dr. Caleb Banta-Green…[of] the University of Washington…says such locations are a public-health no-brainer…This matters, he says, in a city where 70 percent of injection-drug users are infected with hepatitis C. The site would be the first of its kind in the United States…Every single member of the incoming City Council…say they either support or are open to safe drug sites. Mayor Ed Murray also says he’d consider [them]…Vancouver, B.C., has had a “supervised injection facility” for over a decade…InSite…consists of little stalls where people can prepare and inject their drug of choice, with medical staff standing by in case of overdose and to connect people with treatment services if they want them…A 2011 study in The Lancet found that InSite’s creation correlated with a large drop in drug deaths in the surrounding neighborhood. And while it’s seen more than a thousand overdoses…there has never been a single fatality…InSite also reduced public injecting, lowered syringe sharing, and increased participation in addiction treatment—all without any discernible negative side effects. It even seems to save taxpayers money…
A Broker in Pillage
Once again, the British government displays its dedication to literally robbing sex workers of their life savings:
A former prostitute and brothel keeper…may have to sell her house after a judge gave her six months to hand over [£50,000]…under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Lucy Whelan…was convicted 10 years ago of running a brothel in Gloucester but at that time she had assets of only £300…Last week, however, she was back before the court after the prosecution discovered that subsequent to her conviction her parents had bought her a house in Bristol to help her get back on her feet…Judge Michael Cullum…gave her six months to pay and said if she does not she will go to prison for 18 months…
Note again the weird “pay back” euphemism; the money wasn’t taken from the government in the first place, so it can’t be paid “back” to the government. This is just a means of making armed robbery seem like compelling a debtor to pay money she legitimately owed.
Above the Law
These are the people “feminists” want in charge of sex workers:
On March 20th, a female inmate was being transported from Brooklyn to Rikers Island when she claims she was brutally sexually assaulted by one of the [jailers] on the bus. The attack, which lasted more than 15 minutes, was witnessed by another guard who did nothing to protect the victim but stayed to watch…the attack…occurred after she and a male inmate had had consensual sex on a bus during transport. The male inmate…paid the guard to leave the two of them alone [but] when the guard returned…he decided he wanted a turn, too…[the prisoner] says she begged the guard raping her to wear a condom. He ignored her…
Above the Law (#47)
Scotland Yard “apologizes” for letting cops create fake identities, seduce women into thinking they were having real relationships, get them pregnant and then vanish without any concern about child support:
Scotland Yard has settled legal claims from seven female activists who said undercover police had formed “intimate sexual relationships” with them while investigating protest movements. The police apologized Friday for the “totally unacceptable” behaviour of a number of undercover officers in the now-disbanded units. The financial terms of the settlement are being kept secret…The women claimed they were traumatized by the deception, which in some cases lasted for years…two of the undercover police had fathered children with women from the groups they had infiltrated…a criminal investigation and a misconduct investigation is continuing…
Gregory Katz of the AP says they only “claimed” they were traumatized. Just imagine how you would feel if your partner, with whom you had a child, suddenly vanished and you later discovered he or she was a pig spying on you in an attempt to chain and cage you and all of your friends. Imagine how that would affect your ability to form new relationships in the future, then tell me they only “claimed” they were traumatized. Fuck you, Mr. Katz.
Monsters
Trans people have been hanged, stoned to death and even killed by their own parents, according to a new report. It highlights the tragedies of 271 trans and gender-variant people…who were murdered in the last 12 months. Thirty-seven were 21 years old or younger. Brazil (118 murders) and Mexico (34)…lead the list…The USA has seen 27 killings of trans people, an increase of 17 from last year…But even these…are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Media organizations…are often guilty of misgendering the victims…making it even more difficult to get a real sense of the problem…
Available Weapon
As long as these laws exist, amateurs will be harmed by them as well:
Southern California authorities have apologized to a South Carolina nurse who was incorrectly charged with prostitution and had to fly across the country to clear up the paperwork mix-up. Kendra Dawn Speed, 37, was told by her employer…that a background check revealed she was wanted on a warrant out of Riverside County, California…Even though she’d briefly lived in Los Angeles, Speed had never set foot in Riverside County — and had never been a prostitute. After being told the issue couldn’t be resolved over the phone…[she] hopped on a flight to California the next morning [and] appeared in Riverside County court, where a judge issued a new warrant for Kendra Michelle Speed, born in 1981, not Kendra Dawn Speed, born in 1978…
Lying Down With Dogs (#427)
What wonderful company the US is in!
The Tajik Parliament wants to abolish sex work. They are introducing harsher measures…hoping this will deter sex workers…sex workers caught breaking the law for the first time will be required to pay double what they paid in the past. If the same sex worker breaks the law a second time, they will face up to 15 days in jail. Under Tajik law, sex work is not a criminal offense. However, sex workers in Tajikistan are penalised…in the form of fines….[the law] is used by police to target sex workers for extortion under threat of fines, arrest, and detention…In most cases when sex workers are arrested, they are brought to a police department where there is an “investigation”. Sometimes sex workers are subjected to gynaecological exams for sexually transmitted infections, which is a humiliating procedure that violates their human rights…
Full of Themselves (#535)
What is it about massage parlors that brings the puritans out of the woodwork?
Work permits are being handed to foreign massage therapists at a rate of one a week, prompting concerns that a number of massage parlours are serving as a front for prostitution…In all, 508 employment licences for female massage therapists were issued in the past 10 years, going up to 93 permits last year from a mere 23 in 2006. A Chinese former massage parlour worker told The Sunday Times of Malta that “some ladies who come here as massage therapists are sex workers…in Malta, they earn at least €4,000 a month, but they declare some €700. Some pocket much more, especially if they are young,” she said…police sources said their experience supported her views that a substantial percentage of massage parlours did in fact provide sex services…
Traffic Circle (#569)
Glenn Kessler does it again:
…Throughout 2015, The Fact Checker has dug into dubious statistics concerning sex trafficking, so this recent speech by Attorney General Lynch caught our eye…Lynch spoke of “hundreds of sex traffickers” and the FBI release only mentioned “more than 150 pimps.” How does that math work?…a DOJ spokesman…blamed an editing error when Lynch’s speech was written…Neither DOJ nor the FBI can provide evidence that “hundreds of sex traffickers” have been arrested through [all years combined of] Operation Cross Country — unless one plays fast and loose with legal language. The FBI…used to reveal exactly how many people were rounded up through Cross Country, essentially exposing the fact that the effort to find exploited children also led to the arrests of hundreds of adult prostitutes and their customers…The FBI [pretends] no one under the age of 18 is arrested…after 2010, the “others” arrested was dropped from the news releases. Instead, officials only listed the number of juveniles recovered and “pimps” arrested…FBI officials [pretend] they no longer report these numbers because this is a matter for local jurisdiction…government officials appear to believe they can boost their success rate by slapping the word “sex trafficker” on adults who have been arrested even though such charges have not — and could not— be brought in a court of law…
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November is a month chock full of holidays and other special days. Besides The Day of the Dead and Thanksgiving, I always do special essays for Guy Fawkes Day (“Sic Transit Gloria Mundi“), Armistice Day (“The Angels of Dien Bien Phu“) and the official opening of the Christmas season on the day after Thanksgiving (“The Giving Season“), and this time I also did one for Election Day (“Honored in the Breach“). Once we add regular columns like Q & A, the fictional interlude (“The Screening“), the harlotography (“Calamity Jane“) and the then-regular favorites column (“My Favorite Things You May Never Have Heard Of“), the bulk of the time that doesn’t consist of news and links columns is gone. Many of the remaining ones this time were on topics relating to “sex trafficking” myths (“Texas Tall Tales” and “The Source“), 
the tyrannies which use it as an excuse (“Presumed Pimps“, “All the Difference“, and “Train Wreck“), and the cultural distortions the moral panic has caused (“With Friends Like These…” and “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang“). That left only five others: a look at a most unusual shrine in Java named “Gunung Kemukus“; an explanation of the difference between morals and mores (“O Tempora! O Mores!“); a condemnation of a sleazy dodge governments use to protect bad laws (“Genetic Fallacy“); an examination of whence my “Inspiration” comes; and a compilation of whore songs, entitled “Money Changes Everything“.
