The Week In Links—March 6

In California, ESPLER (Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project) have filed a lawsuit against the state’s attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, and four district attorneys. The plaintiffs, three sex workers and one client, maintain that their constitutional rights to privacy, freedom of association, and substantive due process right to earn a living are violated by CA’s prostitution laws.

Let’s get hysterical! Where there’s sports, there will be sex trafficking. This time we’re supposed to panic about the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

Seriously though, why is there no Uber for men that ask stupid questions?

The story of how evangelical Christians imported sex trafficking hysteria from feminists is a good illustration of why we should be suspicious of any cause that unites conservative Christians and radical feminists in.

A study led by Leeds University found that the majority of sex workers are pretty darn satisfied with their work, over 1/3 have college degrees, while over 70% have worked in healthcare, education, or non-profit work.

And in response, the Independent asks, “Why should we find that surprising?”

Yet more dancers gear up to go to court over back wages, this time in San Antonio, in Philadelphia, and at Sapphire in NYC.

Tuesday was International Sex Workers’ Rights day, with celebrations around the world. More on that from the always excellent Elizabeth Nolan Brown.

Do you remember the mass face-sitting to protest the porn ban in the UK? Well, the sex worker that organized that, Charlotte Rose, is now running for a seat in parliament.  Her platform endorses the Swiss model.

This is so cute! Finally, a reporter asks a few brothel workers something interesting. What music do sex workers like?

The Black Madam is claiming credit for Amber Rose’s ass-ets.

Despite a lot of press to the contrary, the Indian government declares that it will not legalize prostitution.

If only all activists were as humble and willing to listen as India’s Meena Seshu.

Sounds like this brothel owner deserved to get arrested, but one wonders, what is the fate of the underage sex workers he employed?

How many more rapists do you think would be in jail if police actually listened when sex workers report assaults?

This bill, which would have restricted where street workers in Auckland, New Zealand could work, has been dropped, with Greens MP Jan Logie wisely pointing out what so few people in government seem to realize: there are already laws in place making crimes illegal:

“Our job is to try and create laws that will work, and that aren’t duplicating other laws, and that won’t just tie up the time of Parliament, unnecessarily.”

She added that the bill would simply have been a return to making working conditions more unsafe for sex workers, not less.

On that note, despite what the government said about not legalizing prostitution, here we have yet another official in India talking about legalization so sex workers can access legal protections against sexual assault.

Sasha Washington talks to the Huffington Post about having done survival sex work and the dangers of being a trans sex worker.

The crackdown on the sex industry in Dongguan, China has done nothing for the city’s already struggling economy.

Remember Terra Barrow, the police officer who had a side job as a PSO?  Philly.com checked in with her, and she’s doing okay, rebuilding her life and taking classes and blogging after being publicly outed and losing her job last year.

With a headline that unwittingly echoes some of Laura Agustin’s research, the South China Morning Post finds that women are using whatever paperwork and assets they can to travel, including student visas, paid for with sex work.  You’ve been scooped, SCMP.

This article about the “call girls of Instagram” is actually a pretty good entry in the “sex workers use the internet!” genre. It allows the women room to talk, and though this article is essentially an extension of their marketing, they say a lot of great stuff.

Claire Hayward at the New Statesman argues against using a presentist lens when writing or talking about the past, including applying the label of “sex worker” to the people who traded sex throughout history. (Mentioned in the article is Harris’s List, which Charlotte wrote about a few years ago.)

Steve Williams calls out the flimsy misogyny and transmisogyny of the charge “manifesting intent to commit prostitution.”

Florida Man Calls 911 Six Times in 41 Minutes To Complain About Being Kicked Out Of Strip Club.