If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s actually human trafficking these days. – Elizabeth N. Brown
A profession as old as human civilization, but it’s somehow always “growing”:
…a growing army of men…hire beautiful young women to accompany them on dates and public appearances. Sometimes they are businessmen, both foreign and [from Thailand], who require a pretty woman to be on hand when a contract is signed. On other occasions they are hired to fill in as girlfriends at family functions and have even been employed by psychologists to go on dates to build a person’s self esteem. There are thousands of young women taking advantage of the new trend, supplementing their daytime incomes and paying off student debt with part-time work as non-sexual escorts. Some of these women come from successful families and act as contact points to get their dates introductions to the right business people…
This is kind of like “legalizing” prostitution; as long as a consensual act is criminalized to any degree, the cops have power to annoy, harass, brutalize and otherwise harm that person via arrest, publishing mug shots, stealing property or even murdering him for “resisting arrest”:
A bill making its way through the Kansas legislature would change most sexting offenses involving teenagers from felonies to misdemeanors…Any defendant obviously would prefer the lighter penalties, but their availability might make prosecution more likely. Forced to choose between felony charges and no charges at all in a case involving teenagers sharing pictures of themselves…any decent prosecutor would pick the latter option, as prosecutors in Colorado and Michigan recently did. But when a misdemeanor option is available, it may be tempting for prosecutors intent on teaching kids a lesson. The Topeka Capital-Journal paraphrases an author of the Kansas bill as saying “the moderated sanctions would permit prosecutors to intervene with young people who commit these acts”…
…The idea that an unknown serial killer might be terrorizing the women of Anchorage [Alaska] was raised in a 2009 story by Andrew Holland of America’s Most Wanted, who wrote of the horrific murder and dismemberment of [sex workers] Desiree Lekanoff and Michelle Rothe…Robin Vansickel, Jeri Brommels, Samantha Kent, Tracie Vicent and Kelly Sue Dunn–are [other missing sex workers]…each of these unsolved cases [may be] unrelated, but the possibility that these women have disappeared at the hands of…someone who sees sex workers as easy targets…must not be discounted…Robert Hansen and Robert Pickton…flew under the radar as they killed scores of women…[because] they were held up as…above reproach, while the women they murdered were…denigrated, devalued and dismissed…the monsters were believed and excused because society considered them upstanding businessmen, whereas sex workers they hunted and preyed upon were dehumanized…
Cops sexually assault domestic violence victims almost as often as they do whores:
Portland [cop] Jeromie Palaoro has resigned from the force and pleaded guilty to official misconduct, eight months after a woman visiting from Las Vegas said he arrived at her…hotel room to follow up on her domestic assault complaint, stripped naked and ordered her to give him a massage…He will receive 18 months of probation…Roni Reid-James…[said] Palaoro [threatened her with] his [gun] before taking off his clothes…[he] groped her and [demanded] sexual favors, then warned her not to tell anyone because he was writing the report on her assault complaint…
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?
Ted Cruz’s…campaign…pulled a commercial…because one of the actresses had previously appeared in pornographic films…Amy Lindsay…described herself as a Christian conservative and a Republican…[and] tweeted her displeasure that the video was pulled from the airwaves…campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said Lindsay had responded to an open casting call for the ad…”Had the campaign known of her full filmography, we obviously would not have let her appear in the ad”…
Another sex worker who subverts hijab:
Nadia Ali, a 24-year-old porn star and first-generation American from Pakistan…doesn’t mind pushing religious boundaries in the name of XXX entertainment. Oh, and she’s also a practicing Muslim. Ali is often filmed wearing her hijab—and little else—while engaged in various hardcore sexual activities…And since homosexuality is technically illegal in Pakistan, which is trying its damnedest to ban online porn altogether, she intends to film plenty of girl-on-girl action this year, too…
Child sex trafficking is a growing problem in Onondaga County [New York. Prohibitionist]…Erin Yeager…says it’s crucial to break the stereotype of what we think human sex trafficking is. The basic definition is exchanging sex for something with value; that could be anything from clothing to a place to stay…
Actually, that’s a basic definition of prostitution, demonstrating how utterly devoid of meaning the term “sex trafficking” has become.
The magic word appears herein only in a description of a phone number:
For two years, a 38-year-old nanny wasn’t allowed to wash her hair, take hot baths, or eat anything but leftover scraps…If her bosses didn’t like how she dressed their children, she was slapped and dragged by the hair. Now a Texas couple is facing prison time for allegedly holding their Nigerian nursemaid hostage, forcing her to work 20 hours a day and tormenting her in…suburban Houston…Chudy [and Sandra] Nsobundu…[face] charges of forced labor, visa fraud, withholding documents, and conspiracy to harbor an alien. If convicted, they face up to 60 years in prison…the Nigerian-born husband and wife—both naturalized U.S citizens—allegedly lured their nanny into household slavery and physically and verbally abused her before she escaped by calling a human-trafficking hotline…
It’s always “gangs”. Because you know women are too stupid to use AirBnB for ourselves:
…Human traffickers are using hotels and guest houses across the Lake District as “pop-up brothels”…Crime gangs have trafficked refugees to use as illegal sex workers…and…exploiting “human misery for financial gain”…[pig mouthpiece] Nick Coughlan…[fantasized that] most of the women involved are victims of human trafficking who have been forced into prostitution…Hoteliers, apartment owners and cleaners were being asked to [spy on renters] and [snitch] to the police…
Liz Brown tries to assess the toll in human lives from Swanee Hunt’s latest pogrom:
…FBI and vice cops nationwide conducted a coordinated series of prostitution stings in conjunction with the latest Super Bowl, yielding hundreds of arrests for “would-be sex buyers.” Known as the National John Suppression Initiative, the stings—which took place in 14 states and involved 23 different law-enforcement units this year—start with police decoys offering commercial sex…At the end of the January 17 through February 7 operation, 552 people were arrested for trying to purchase sex, and officials expect to collect a minimum of $187,000 in fines from them…Across all operations, 10 teens were discovered…Though almost exclusively referred to as “children” by police and press, one recovered juvenile was 14 years old and the other nine ranged from ages 15 to 17…the Contra Costa Times…reports that “sex workers who were arrested were offered a wide array of services, such as food, clothing and shelter”…
But of course they were: food and shelter in a jail, and a lovely new orange jumpsuit.
Swanee’s brother. Need I say more?
Billionaire oilman Ray Hunt, one of [Dallas’] highest-profile property owners, emailed the…City Council…asking them to vote…against allowing a porn convention to open shop at the city-owned convention center…Hunt, who owns more than 30 acres downtown…says he believes Exxxotica “constitutes an activity that runs totally counter to the values, mores and beliefs of the vast majority of the citizens of the City of Dallas.” And, he [pretends]…allowing porn stars to peddle their wares on city property is a violation of the section of the Dallas City Code that licenses sexually oriented businesses [even though city attorneys have told the council that law does not apply to conventions]…Exxotica came to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center last August over the objections of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and several women’s advocacy groups, chief among them the Dallas Women’s Foundation…Rawlings said at the time he was “particularly worried about the message that our playing host to this convention might send regarding our city’s position on the sexual exploitation of women”…
The United States Senate and the online advertising site Backpage.com are headed for a legal showdown, after a Senate committee voted unanimously…to hold the site in civil contempt for not cooperating with a probe into how it screens sex ads for illegal trafficking of minors*…it would be the first civil contempt declaration by the Senate in more than 20 years, according to its sponsors, Sens. Claire McCaskill…and Rob Portman…A lawyer for Backpage said the company welcomes the contempt citation, and that the company has been for months calling on McCaskill and Portman for a legal test of Congress’s authority to probe the actions of a company that…has First Amendment protections…another lawyer for Backpage – Liz McDougall – last year accused McCaskill and Portman of engaging in the same tactics of the Cold War era Sen. Joe McCarthy…
*As opposed to what, legal trafficking of minors?
The owner of a [Wichita, Kansas] massage parlor…is facing federal sex trafficking charges…60-year-old Samir F. Elias employed and provided housing for a Chinese woman working as a prostitute…the woman…worked daily with no formal massage training and has been convicted of selling sex…She paid Elias a portion of the fees collected for giving massages to patrons — $10 or $20, depending on the length of the appointments…Elias is charged with transporting and harboring an unlawful alien, harboring an alien for prostitution, and two counts of money laundering…
re: massage parlors, there’s been a lot of posts on Polaris recently about getting LE to target massage parlors, and they’re citing that legit massage ppl are allegedly being assaulted and harassed:
“The victims working in these fake massage businesses are not the only ones who suffer for this crime. For many female professional massage therapists, the pretense of “happy endings” can mean that they are repeatedly subjected to requests that range from subtle to intimidation. Some massage therapists have even experienced outright assault.
In November, Polaris hosted a first-of-its-kind convening of national massage and bodywork boards and several state boards and associations. Many of them confirmed that they or their constituents had experienced some form of harassment or assault.”
from: https://polarisproject.org/blog/2015/12/21/challenging-reality-human-trafficking-illicit-massage-businesses
And in general, these massage parlor busts seem, based on what I’ve read, particularly lucrative for the cops. Easier to bust than any sort of organized ‘escort service’ or advertising site, but still lots of lucre to be had via civil forfeiture, especially compared to the low-profit backpage-type stings of independents.
Here in San Rafael, California, the city hired a code enforcement officer (CE) to work on closing down the massage outlets where it was assumed extra services are being offered. Interestingly, he believes in the right of women–or anyone, for that matter–to engage in sex work as work. He’s noted no trafficking. Having gotten to know him, he’s a great guy. Very lenient.
His only tool–couldn’t find a better word–for closing down the outlets which offered extra services is the state business code, which was mixed in with some city requirements. That code and the massage code do mention touching of genitals and draping. But out of 300 or so violations, only 2 have to deal with sex in any way, and of the 300 or so violations and citations, maybe 5 had to do with sex. As an example of lenience, one outlet and was cited for a “naked girl” running down the hall is still open.
It’s noteworthy to note that when he started, there were about 25 outlets out of 80 which perhaps offered extra services. Now there are about 10. That means the businesses were not operating as well as they could–among the violations were: they weren’t clean in a hygienic sense, mislabeled bottles, people lived onsite, and lighting was too low. I know for a fact that the outlets which were closed down–yes, Asian women worked there—were not targeted nor were they harassed, but they did attract attention.
There’s an economic factor behind this: the CE has a contract, and the contract says $180,000 will be paid to the CE with the expectation that $30K of citations will defray that cost. That’s not going to happen, unless they start harassing the Asian outlets as well as the 60 or so other outlets they consider legit.
I’ll keep you all posted as to developments.
A few thoughts on your links:
1. I’m not suspecting that this whole “target the johns” campaign isn’t because they REALLY find men paying for it distasteful. This was a relatively recent development in the anti-whore campaign. I think it’s because johns are more likely to snitch than hos. A working girl with confidence and experience is more likely to take an arrest like a champ and take her business elsewhere and adjust her strategy accordingly. A guy getting busted is likely to panic and throw everyone under the bus to save his own butt. (as if the arrest mugshot and fine won’t show up on public record anyway…dummy)
2. The more I read about this Hunt woman the more disgusted I am. The level of narcissism is galling.
3. I also saw this recently I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned it
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25325361/louisville-investigating-allegations-that-former-staffer-paid-for-escorts
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/10/2/9442861/louisville-sex-scandal-basketball-recruiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ0Ee5QBXgo
The more I read on the current events in the Biz the more I realize this is a pervasive natural part of human nature. I’m genuinely surprised people are still shocked that consensual adults choose to be intimate with $ as part of the deal. The scandal about coaches in college bball including escorts and strippers to entice the recruits made me yawn.
Deals like this happen in Cwhoreporate america every day! I think people outside of the Biz are either naive about this or just blinded by ignorance.
4. I’m at the stage of my life where I’m positively biased towards sex workers. If I meet a woman and find out she used to be in the Biz my first assumption is that she’s creative, smart, and willing to play by her own rules. It could be because I’ve been doing this too long but the outrage and anti-hooker hoopla just seems dumb to me.
5. Your blog is awesome and has been a positive beacon of light during my lonely tours on the road!