Last week, one of my Twitter readers mentioned that as foster parents, he and his wife were obliged to take a “sex trafficking” indoctrination intended to convince them that “pimps” were lying in wait for every foster kid, and the only solution was intense helicopter parenting. Since he reads my writing, naturally he was skeptical and asked if I knew the truth about the prevalence of “sex trafficking” among foster kids; I explained that the problem is that under federal law, any sex work by a legal minor is considered “sex trafficking”, even when (as in 90% of the cases) there is no “trafficker”. The great majority of underage sex workers do it as a survival tool to make it on the street, because the great majority are homeless runaways or throwaways. Most of these kids would be happy to leave sex work if their needs were taken care of by supportive foster parents; unfortunately, the foster care system is by and large a shitshow, and foster parents who are both financially and emotionally supportive are a small minority. The “authorities” know how bad the system is, but their jobs depend on hiding & denying it. So when a foster kid who’s being maltreated, used as a servant, repressed by Christian “spare the rod” fetishists, or even sexually abused says, “fuck this, I know how to make it on the street” and runs back to that rather than endure the abuse, both the state and the abusive foster parents are highly motivated to blame imaginary “pimps” for abducting the kid again, when in reality she’s doing what she needs to survive in the way she learned after running away from her birth parents. Lists of “signs of sex trafficking” are especially vile because they encourage foster parents to engage in exactly the kind of snooping, repression and social control that is most likely to drive an independent teenager back to the street. My advice to foster parents who really, truly want to help is to ignore this BS. Respect this young person you’ve volunteered to help; remember that they’re a young adult, not a “child”, and has probably lived on their own for at least some period of time. You can’t put them back in the nursery, or monitor their every move, or “cure” their queerness (the majority of underage sex workers are LGBT), or spout this “tough love” BS, or they will bolt. Support them, talk to them, trust them to the extent possible and practical, let them know they can be honest with you, and be there for them. And then hope for the best.
Archive for February, 2019
Fostering
Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged adolescence, agency denial, hysteria, LGBT rights, psychology, surveillance, underage on February 8, 2019| 2 Comments »
Beyond the Pale
Posted in Q & A, tagged anal sex, ethics, marriage, psychology, yin and yang on February 7, 2019| 9 Comments »
Last week I saw this question linked on Twitter, and I was rather dissatisfied with the answer the advice columnist gave. So even though it wasn’t directed at me, I am going to answer it in case any of my readers is ever in a similar situation.
My husband wanted to try anal…I let myself be talked into trying. I hated it. We tried again. I hated it. We tried with toys of slowly increasing sizes. I hated it…We try it now every few months at most…and I inevitably cry during and after…I want to never ever do this again or even hear him ask about it, suggest it, or joke about it. He keeps saying he doesn’t want it to hurt, but thinks it’s fair for him to keep wanting it and keep asking for it…thinking of my husband as the man who sometimes pesters me to go through this kind of pain on his behalf has done a lot of damage to my enjoyment of sex and intimacy in general. He says he needs some variety. An open arrangement is not on the table. Is one of us being unfair? Are both of us?…
First of all, I really hate the word “fair”, and this is a perfect example of why. Reality is reality, and it doesn’t change just because one person (in this case your husband) is unhappy with the results. It isn’t “fair” to my friends that I get to claim the front seat in every car ride where I’m not driving, but because of my severe vertigo it’s necessary unless somebody wants to clean up vomit and listen to me crying like a little girl. It doesn’t matter whether your aversion to anal is physical, emotional or something else; the fact is that it exists, and that’s that. You clearly want to make your husband happy, but you’ve made the effort many times with the same result, and he needs to accept that; now it’s his turn to make you happy by giving up this butt obsession before it utterly destroys your sex life and possibly your relationship. You say you don’t want an open relationship, and given his inability to respect boundaries I think that’s wise; however, please recognize that if he’s as obsessed by this as it seems, he may go behind your back anyway, and if that happens you will need to decide if you’re willing to continue trusting him. In any case, stop trying to do something that distresses you so; set a firm boundary and tell him you are done even talking about it.
For the husband: Dude, WTF? I understand you’ve got a fetish for anal, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s plenty wrong with your insistence on repeatedly violating your wife’s consent. It was fine for you to ask her once, and even to wheedle her a bit if she was reluctant. But to continue insisting, begging, haranguing or whatever else you’ve been doing to get her to try something she obviously hates over and over and over is sadistic, and I don’t mean that in a good way. You are harming both her and your relationship, and for what? If you absolutely must experience this, do what ethical men have done since time immemorial and go hire a sex worker who is open to this activity. Do not try to pick up some amateur in a bar, or go on some dumb dating site, unless you actually want to destroy your marriage; find a discreet professional who offers this service and see her as needed. Do not just pick an escort at random and assume Greek is on the menu, because not everyone offers it (and the ones who do may not offer it to everyone, or not on the first date, or some other stipulation) and it requires special preparation (which, judging by your wife’s letter, you seem not to comprehend). And if you do go that route, please be discreet yourself; it’s OK to get your needs met, but it’s not OK to hurt your wife because you’re too damned selfish to think with the big head.
(Have a question of your own? Please consult this page to see if I’ve answered it in a previous column, and if not just click here to ask me via email.)
In the News (#910)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Woman's Point of View, activism, agency denial, Arizona, Barbie, brothels, California, cell phones, cops, Cops and Robbers, end demand, End Demand (updates), fantasy, fascism, hotels, hysteria, illegal aliens, It Looks Good On Paper, law, left-right myth, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Philippines, politicians, prohibitionist myths, psychology, racism, rescue industry, scams, Scrupleless in Seattle, Signs, Something Rotten In Sweden, Stupor Bowl, surveillance, Thailand, The Real World, Top Cop, Vendetta, violence vs. sex workers, Washington (state) on February 6, 2019| 3 Comments »
The state should not be putting people in cages for consensual sex. – Kaytlin Bailey
Yet another story touting bullshit “safe harbor” laws:
…according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1 in 7 runaways are likely child sex trafficking victims…According to Linda Smith, the president of Shared Hope International, children who are forced to in essence become sex slaves in New Jersey may still initially be arrested for the very crime that is committed against them…She said creating a diversion system to deal with minors who have been victimized may not be easy, but it must be done…Shared Hope International is working on specific legal measures that New Jersey could enact…
If prohibitionists really wanted to protect girls, they’ push for decriminalization rather than laws which define young women as legal incompetents who can be jailed indefinitely “for their own protection” and subjected to brainwashing. Also: given that only 0.014% of all “missing children” are abducted by strangers, NCMEC’s claim that “1 in 7 runaways are likely child sex trafficking victims” is not just an exaggeration; it’s a blatant lie.
Prohibitionist uses a story about an exploited hotel worker to promote anti-sex fantasies:
…“A hotel worker was being forced into work by her uncle to clean hotels here in King County,” said Mar Brettmann, executive director of Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking. “One of her colleagues noticed she had signs of abuse and trauma…her paycheck was being taken and she was being abused by her uncle at home. She was able to get out and get help”…Hotel workers can also be the ones who see signs of sex trafficking of young people, Brettmann [fantasizes. Propaganda about]…such issues is what Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking…does…[blah blah, “end demand” nonsense]…
There will soon be a new app to help [persecute sex workers in Eugene, Oregon]…The app was created in a team effort at the…Hack for a Cause event in April 2017. It’s called Emerald Citizen. The goal is to [indoctrinate] people [in] how to recognize signs of sex [work] and…report [them to]…the Eugene [vice squad]…Tamara LeRoy…said because [“authorities” use the word “trafficking” to mean]…so many [things], it [is easy to convince the gullible to spy on virtually anyone]…LeRoy said it could be beneficial to [pigs to] have more community members [spying on and reporting each other]…
The “Emerald Squealer” app contains the helpful categories “buyer” and “victim” so the user need not worry about difficult things like using their own judgment.
Cops are on the same intellectual level as monkeys; that’s why they ape each other’s “sting” tactics:
…[state-employed thugs raided] Angel Massage [in Fresno]…arrested the workers…then took over the business…posing as massage therapists [to entrap adults seeking consensual sex]…Three women…were…booked…for operating a house of prostitution…[cops] are treating them as victims…
They are indeed victims: victims of rapist thugs carrying out a pogrom.
A Woman’s Point of View (#806)
We’re definitely not giving up on New Hampshire:
A national group that advocates for the decriminalization of prostitution has hired New Hampshire lobbyists…and is pushing for a review of the state’s prostitution laws. Representatives of Decriminalize Sex Work appeared before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee earlier this month to oppose a bill that would have toughened penalties against customers…A lobbyist opposing the bill, former Republican Senate majority leader Bob Clegg, said he believes he has convinced the committee to hold the bill for further study, including review of New Hampshire laws addressing prostitution. Stricter penalties against prostitutes and their customers drive the women underground, he said. “It makes it that much more dangerous for the women involved,” Clegg said…Two years ago, the New Hampshire House passed legislation to study a change in the laws. It died in the state Senate…Decriminalize Sex Work is a national organization that is launching its website later this month, said Kaytlin Bailey, the organization’s communications director…She said the national organization kicked into gear after President Trump signed [FOSTA-SESTA]…a California philanthropist provided seed money for a full-time staff and lobbying forms. The staff includes three people active in the marijuana-legalization effort and lobbyists in New Hampshire and Rhode Island…
Something Rotten in Sweden (#812)
California now has its own annual anti-whore pogrom:
Fourteen minors were among the nearly 50 [sex workers arrested]…during a sting across California that netted 339 [other] arrests…Some of the victims [of] law enforcement were as young as 13 [and] [cops also abducted sex workers’] children as young as 6…Among those arrested during “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” were [associates of sex workers whom spokespigs fantasized as] pimps who had put victims up for sale…”Dramatic [masturbatory fantas]ies” of rescues and arrests have been shared between law enforcement agencies…
The rescue industry provides many opportunities for wealthy white folks to play cowboy:
For four-time Olympian Chris Lori, saving children in Southeast Asia from human traffickers feels more gratifying than winning any medal…he…spent the past seven years volunteering with a [prohibitionist] organization dedicated to [arresting young women]…in the sex trade. Initially, Lori helped to fund the group’s operations, but after a few years behind the scenes, he became an undercover [snitch]…“Every time you see these little girls, your heart just breaks,” said Lori…“They are precious little things, totally innocent, and have no idea what’s going on in the world”…Lori participates in surveillance and raid operations in the Philippines for Destiny Rescue…
If you’re interested in what the women Lori infantilizes as “precious little things” in his racist rescue fantasies actually have to say for themselves, try this link for Thailand and this one for the Philippines.
…elevated rates of mental illness are presumed [by amateurs] to signify an inherent problem with the sex industry…because only “broken dolls” would even consider pursuing sex as a career. Furthermore, the industry itself is [fantasized] to be so exploitative and abusive that anyone involved is just setting themselves up for trauma and PTSD…[but] the fact [is] that the high pay and flexible hours of…sex work make these jobs appealing to people whose mental health issues make committing to a 9-to-5 office job difficult…[also] the stigma of being a sex worker isolates people and prevents them from finding competent mental health care…many sex workers who seek out mental health care find that disclosing their line of work often provokes unwanted and unsolicited opinions…the majority of therapists either aren’t aware of the particular issues faced by sex workers or come to these sessions with inaccurate, stereotypical ideas…“Amidst a nationwide campaign about human trafficking, many therapists grow concerned that a patient involved in sex work has been subjected to human trafficking,” therapist Dr. David Ley writes in an essay on therapy and sex work, noting that this assumption can alienate sex-working clients and damage their relationship with their therapist…
Motel 6 gets some comeuppance for its eager copsucking:
A federal judge overseeing the settlement between Motel 6 and a Latino civil rights group said he needs more information on the number of guests who may have been affected by the…practice of giving guest lists to immigration authorities…an attorney for Motel 6 acknowledged that tens of thousands of guests’ information was turned over to [feds]…However, data on Motel 6 guests who were questioned by ICE or deported is in the hands of the federal government, the attorney said – if such data even exists…
The “progressives” have anointed this sleazebag as their new messiah:
…Kamala Harris…is the latest political celebrity to get a mini-me version of herself from the company FCTRY…the…manufacturer announced the release of its…Robert Mueller action figure…[and has] fashioned figurines…[of] Elizabeth Warren…Ruth Bader Ginsburg…Bernie Sanders…and…Obama. The[re’s also]…an “Evil Trump” figure…FCTRY CEO Jason Feinberg [made a number of cringeworthily obsequious comments praising the vile, racist, pro-slavery, police-state goon Harris]…
The War on Whores is also a war on migration:
Myths about sex trafficking at the Super Bowl are rearing their heads once again…Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez…tweeted her desire to “scrap” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after comedian Mohanad Elshieky, who is in the U.S. legally, was detained by border patrol agents while traveling between gigs. Washington Examiner contributor and former…DHS…supervisor Jason Piccolo…responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet by declaring that the congresswoman wanted to abolish “the agency fighting the illegal sex trade at the Super Bowl…Yes, the same ICE synonymous with immigration enforcement will deploy teams of special agents to combat the sex trade in Georgia“…fact-checks have found little support for the assertion that the game doubles as a major sex trafficking event…Still, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies continue to ignore the facts in favor of their own narratives…[about] the mythical problem…
Diary #449
Posted in Diary, tagged blogging, holidays, Louisiana, recipes, Sunset on February 5, 2019| 4 Comments »
I haven’t made gumbo for a long time, and because it used to be the centerpiece of my Imbolc feast I decided to go out to Sunset over the weekend and make some. I remembered to order the andouille from my favorite supplier, Bailey’s in LaPlace, Louisiana, on Monday so it would be sure to arrive on time, and prepped the chicken on Wednesday (see my gumbo recipe, linked above) so on Saturday all I had to do was chop up the sausage & onions, make the roux, combine the ingredients and wait. Well, I also had to make potato salad, which many Louisianians (including Grace) enjoy plopped down right in the middle of the gumbo. I did share my potato salad recipe on Radley Balko’s old Agitator blog years ago, but since that, sadly, is no more, here it is again: cook as many peeled potatoes as you like until soft, and hard-boil one egg per potato. I use small russet potatoes; you don’t want too little egg in proportion to potato. Crush the eggs with a fork as one would for egg salad, then add the potatoes and mash it together with a potato masher. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise per potato, then one heaping tablespoon of prepared mustard per two potatoes, then one heaping tablespoon of pickle relish (I use sweet relish) per two potatoes. You are going to have to fiddle with the proportions a little to get it the way you like it; I usually end up adding more mustard. You’ll note that south Louisiana style potato salad is much creamier than the styles from other parts of the country, which use much less thoroughly-cooked potatoes for a chunkier texture. Oh, and most down there like it cold, though some (including a couple of my sisters) prefer it soon after it’s made, while it’s still warm. Speaking of cold, I headed back to Seattle on Sunday, a day earlier than planned, due to the snow; Seattle drivers in snow are as stupid and dangerous as Los Angeles drivers in rain, and I had no desire to see the effects multiplied by an overnight freeze.
Links #448
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged Antarctica, Australia, cops, Florida, Georgia, imaginative fiction, Maryland, Missouri, Never Call the Cops, prisons, psychology, restaurants, Stop faking!, video, weaponry on February 4, 2019| 1 Comment »
He was being very aggressive. – Juan Lopez-Razo, of a man having a seizure
Last weekend Franklin Harris shared this video of a camera test from The Muppet Movie (1979); the improvisation between Jim Henson and Frank Oz is both brilliant and hilarious. The links above it were provided by Radley Balko, Jesse Walker (x2), Tim Cushing (x2), and Nun Ya, in that order.
- Stop faking!
- Just being Florida man.
- Beware of the shoggoths.
- Cop is a cop is a cop is a cop.
- Stop. Calling. The. Fucking. Cops.
- Too bad most people cops murder aren’t other cops.
From the Archives
- It’s good to see at least a few judges recognizing these fantasies as such.
- Canadian prohibitionists really want to whip up “sex trafficking” hysteria.
- In matters of mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
- Woman does sex work to fund her son’s medical care; Ireland says “So?”
- Seattle “officials” think harm reduction principles only apply to drug use.
- Two white women call tens of thousands of brown ones a “tiny minority”.
- Sex work app developers don’t bother to consult any actual sex workers.
- Oh, honey, I hope you don’t really believe this doesn’t happen in Florida.
- I’m surprised the “forced sex trafficking abortions” trope didn’t catch on.
- Snagglepuss, Ringo, cops, Ikea, tyranny, “hate crimes” and much more.
- Young Liberals have pushed for repeal of this awful law since it passed.
- Hotline calls reflect prevalence of beliefs & paranoia, not actual crimes.
- Why are most people surprised to find out that cops are habitual liars?
- Prohibitionists think women are so stupid they can’t remember “911”.
- The woman who set up a home for retired sex workers in Mexico City.
- Thoughtful people are coming to realize how awful anti-sex laws are.
- Seriously, ladies, y’all really ought to opt for permanent sterilization.
- Sports Illustrated calls the “gypsy whores” trope a debunked myth.
- Who else has arrested people for dancing near public monuments?
- Another attempt to rob businesses using “sex trafficking” hysteria.
- Cops, straws, irony, Star Trek, Quentin Tarantino and much more.
- A constantly-updated spreadsheet of sex worker advertising sites.
- How can street sex workers be controlled without criminalization?
- NYPD “guidelines” say majority of US citizens are “sex trafficked”.
- This was the last club I danced in before moving on to escorting.
- More on the useful idiots who are trying to destroy the internet.
- Naturally, Cassandra McNeill was warning about this years ago.
- It’s a good sign that headlines like this are now fairly common.
- Another of those cases whose reported details don’t add up.
- We’re seeing more editorials critical of the War on Whores.
- As usual, studies prove what we’ve been saying all along.
- Slowly but surely, feminists are coming over to our side.
- Prohibitionists chop down trees to get at sex workers.
- Spitzer is a prohibitionist, so outing him is justified.
- A retrospective of my blogging from January 2015.
- Regulated brothels in 19th-century St. Petersburg.
- We need anarchy to protect us from government.
- Porn isn’t sex education, but Pornhub supports it.
- Sex workers reaching out to the public via art.
- San Diego ramps up its anti-whore pogroms.
- Those who cannot remember the past, etc.
- Back to work after my vacation in Mexico.
- Rapist cops of the week, 2017 and 2018.
- Australian police practice “NHI” as well.
- The real result of “sex trafficking” laws.
- The law is an ass, and so is this judge.
- My two previous columns for Imbolc.
- Back to Seattle after my 2017 tour.
- How long can this scam go on?
- Stop faking!
In the News (#909)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged activism, agency denial, bogus studies, brothels, censorship, comics, dirty, Disaster, fascism, France, hotels, hysteria, internet, language, law, Legislators Gone Wild, Massachusetts, neofeminism, Nevada, On Tape, politicians, prohibitionist myths, psychology, racism, Signs, sporting events, Stupor Bowl, surveillance, Swedish model, The Course of a Disease, Thought Control, Top Cop, Why I Wait, yellow journalism on February 3, 2019| 5 Comments »
The system isn’t in place to help you. It’s in place to keep you where you are. – Sophie
I’ve written on several occasions about arch-censor Fredric Wertham, a prohibitionist busybody who used Melissa Farley-style tactics to lobotomize the comic book industry in the 1950s; here’s a short video (courtesy of Kevin Wilson) showing him in action.
The Course of a Disease (#729)
French sex workers have lodged a constitutional challenge to [the Swedish model]…reopening a debate on whether people should be free to [have consensual sex without government interference]…around 30 sex workers backed by nine associations, including [the prestigious Médecins du Monde], went to the Constitutional Council to argue the law infringed their sexual and commercial freedom and made them more vulnerable to attack…the law…[i]s an infringement of “constitutional rights to personal autonomy and sexual freedom, respect of privacy, freedom of contract and freedom to do business”…
The Course of a Disease (#796)
Rep Kay Khan of [Massachusetts is at it again with]…two [Swedish model] bills…One…n[orm]alizes [the persecution of] young people involved in sex work by [subjecting them to indefinite detention under the pretense of “protecting” them]…the other [pretends] to decriminalize adult sex workers [in order to confuse people into backing a campaign to choke off their income, get them evicted and persecute their families]…The two bills evolved from an earlier bill, HB 3499, which was submitted to to the Massachusetts House and Senate in early 2017…Any step towards decriminalization [would be] a win for sex workers’ rights. But unfortunately, these bills [are not such a step and intentionally] leave in place statutes, language, funding, and institutional infrastructure which…[enables cops to] aggressively pursue…sex workers…
The Swedish model is NOT a step toward decriminalization; it infantilizes women, demonizes men, and defines consensual sex as “violence against women”. That is a giant step away from decriminalization.
The public seems to have finally noticed that hotels are training their staff to harass women:
…Marriott International said it has reached a goal of training 500,000 hotel workers to spot and [harass sex workers]…Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson [said] “By…[indoctrinat]ing our global workforce to say something if they see something, we are [licking the boots of our masters and] protecting associates and guests [from dangerous sex rays]”…It collaborated with [prohibitionist] anti-[whore] groups ECPAT-USA and Polaris to create the program, which has been translated into 16 languages as well as English so it can be taught to employees throughout the 130 countries in which Marriott does business…
…an annual Campaign and Expense…report filed by the End Trafficking and Prostitution (ETAP) PAC revealed…what appears to have been an outrageous abuse of power and conflict of interest by an elected government official…In December 2017, Reno lawyer Jason Guinasso filed a public records request with the Lyon County recorder’s office demanding copies of the work card applications submitted to the Lyon County sheriff’s office by professional sex workers at all four of Lyon County’s legal brothels. He filed the request on letterhead from the law firm at which he works – Hutchison and Steffen – which happens to be owned by then-Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, a political opponent of then-Assembly candidate Dennis Hof, who happened to own all four of Lyon County’s legal brothels…my guess is he wanted to make the addresses public in an effort to shame the adult women who were engaged in a legal business he has personal objections to…A couple months later Mr. Guinasso registered “End Trafficking and Prostitution” as a PAC with the Nevada Secretary of State…to place initiatives on the November 2018 ballot to shut down the legal brothels in Nye and Lyon counties – the two counties, not coincidentally, where Mr. Hof owned brothels…On June 7, 2018 the Lyon County Commission voted to place an “advisory question” on the ballot despite Mr. Guinasso’s failure to obtain enough signatures from Lyon County voters to do so himself…[this] was ultimately and overwhelmingly rejected in November by 80 percent of voters…
As we’ve seen before, crap like this is one of the primary reasons sex worker licensing schemes have such abysmally low compliance rates (below 1% in Nevada): very few women are interested in being on a shaming & stalking list.
Another dumb article about a phenomenon that probably doesn’t even exist:
…In her December 2018 cover story for The Atlantic warning that Americans—Millennials in particular—are having “so little sex,” senior editor Kate Julian soberly framed the drop as a “sex recession”. Drawing from a 2017 study…[and methodologically-poor] evidence from the 2016 General Social Survey…sex for all adults dropped from 62 to 54 times a year, on average…mainly among white, middle-aged, married couples…the fear of a “sex recession” is misdirected. A drop in sexual encounters from 62 to 54 times per year means that the average adult is still having sex more than once a week. Current research suggests that having sex more than once a week does not have any positive impact on relationship satisfaction…
That’s enough to show you the weaknesses in this turd sandwich, which, while skeptical of the worry, is not at all skeptical of the crap evidence itself. Regular readers may recall that, as I’ve written on multiple occasions, the GSS is conducted face to face and is a terrible source for any sexual data (such as “have you ever paid for sex?“) because people simply lie about sexual questions. These surveys don’t find anything about what people are actually doing sexually; what they measure is people’s relative comfort with the question, which is a horse of a different color. The innate moralism of this article is visible in its assumption that the only important factor in talking about sex is “relationship satisfaction” (because obviously everybody has to pair off in vanilla monogamous amateur couples), not to mention the author’s asinine and moralistic statement that “There’s also a bit of a dark side in framing sex as economic given the realities of sex work“; I suspect this dumb bunny wouldn’t know one of the “realities of sex work” if it sashayed up and kissed her on the nose.
There’s very little point in bothering to quote this ridiculous mess because it’s the same garbage we’ve seen countless times: Theresa Flores selling her magical anti-pimp soap (designed to “help” women too stupid to remember the numbers “9-1-1”) and retelling her masturbatory fantasy of ninja pimps who managed to sneak her out of her home to “sell her for sex” every single night for two years without any member of her family ever noticing or any of her teachers wondering why she was falling asleep in class. Politicians posturing so spasmodically one has to wonder how they don’t dislocate something. Prohibitionists lovingly drooling over fantasies of enslaved thirteen-year-olds. The magnification of a few prostitution arrests into an army of invisible “traffickers”. I’m only mentioning it for two reasons: First, note that the opportunists now wait for mere days before the event in the forlorn hope that we won’t have time to debunk them (they used to start crowing about this idiocy as much as a year ahead); and second, that debunking is now so widespread that a refutation of this foofaraw appeared in the very same paper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Tumblr made its bed, and now look who’s lying in it with them:
One month ago, Tumblr made the wildly unpopular decision to ban pornography and adult content from its website. The move was greeted with outrage…and…critics accused the site of attempting to please larger tech corporations…Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio, however, maintained that the changes were made to foster a more “inclusive” community…however…the website is currently littered with pages promoting Nazism, white supremacy, ethno-nationalism, and far-right terrorism. Despite their often flagrant violation of Tumblr’s Community Guidelines, these pages remain largely active and easy to find…
Well, at least Tumblr users are safe from “female-presenting nipples”.
Trump has finally made it acceptable to question “sex trafficking” porn, at least when he spreads it:
…Trump[‘s]…human trafficking hyperbole is barely distinguishable from the melodramatic “modern slavery” narratives put forth regularly by Barack Obama, Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton, and others during their tenure in power. Or the stories stories spun by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) during her time as California attorney general. And none of those stories were any less out of touch with reality…Ye[t]…CNN—which has rarely met a fact-free sex-trafficking melodrama it wouldn’t publish uncritically—ran an article titled “Experts: Trump’s tape-bound women trafficking claim is misleading“…and…at Vox, Dara Lind…reports that a top Border Patrol official emailed agents last week seeking information to back up the president’s claims…Seeking post-hoc justification for wild human trafficking claims is also a bad habit that predates Trump. For many years, numbers spread by Justice Department and administration officials were more or less made up out of thin air, as The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler has pointed out. (See also: “The War on Sex Trafficking Is the New War on Drugs“)…
…any Democratic women who reject the feminist label would kill her campaign before it even started. This may be why it’s especially galling that all four [female] candidates signed a piece of legislation that is making life harder and more dangerous for some of society’s most vulnerable women…SESTA/FOSTA, which was widely advertised by its proponents as a way to fight human trafficking. What the legislation, which was co-sponsored by Sens. [Kamala] Harris and [Kirsten] Gillibrand, actually did was amend the Communications Decency Act, which, until last year, prohibited websites from being held liable for content posted by the site’s users…prominent sex-work marketplaces either shut down voluntarily, like Craigslist’s Casual Encounters section, or, like Backpage, were seized and shut down by the Feds. This is exactly what Harris intended…“from my earliest days as a prosecutor, I’ve led the fight against Backpage and other sex [work advertising] platforms”…There was one group…that has roundly condemned SESTA/FOSTA, and that’s the group most impacted by it: sex workers…
The article, by Katie Herzog of The Stranger, includes interviews with me, my friend Sophie and other sex workers.
Imbolc 2019
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on February 2, 2019| 1 Comment »
May the reawakening of the world bring with it the reawakening of good things you thought gone forever. Blessed Be!
Diversification
Posted in Call types, Diary, Miscellaneous on February 1, 2019| 6 Comments »
As I told you on Tuesday, I’m currently “trying to make arrangements and get things to the point where I let other people who actually know what they’re doing handle the things I’m not good at, so all I need to do to earn a good living is be me, which I’m very good at.” Regular readers probably remember that I’m not at all good at navigating formal systems, which means I tend to experience very high levels of anxiety when I have to deal with such systems; that means I tend to put such things off, with results that can be frustrating for others (such as my readers). But I’ve been talking to my friend Thaddeus Russell about this problem for a while now, and we’re entering into a partnership which will allow me to subcontract the things that frustrate me to his production company. Just Saturday I recorded a video lecture for his Renegade University, for which I’ll also be doing seminars and further video lectures; he’s also going to help me market The War on Whores, and his graphic artist is going to do the cover for The Essential Maggie McNeill, Volume I; that will free me to get started on editing Volume II. There will also be some changes coming on this blog, both to protect it from possible censorship due to FOSTA and to enable me to make some money from it, which I think I’m entitled to do after nine years of doing it all completely for free. I’m not sure exactly what for that will take, but don’t worry; I’m not going to paywall the whole thing or anything like that. It’s just all part of a strategy to make my life a bit easier, with an eye toward less reliance on unreliable third-parties like escort ad sites, social media platforms and the like. If that’s not clear enough, let me put it this way: by the end of this year I want to be in a place where I don’t need to panic if WordPress, Twitter, Eros or any of the other big companies whose owners’ phone numbers I don’t have decide to flake out and delete my presence on their sites for fear of federal persecution. That way I can secure my income, protect my activism and creative output, and keep myself safer from anxiety attacks than I ever have been before. And like so many other things over the past five years, I’m going to accomplish it with the help of good people who like me and respect my work.
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