Thank you!!!

You’ve moved Melissa’s book to the top of my next purchases, and hopefully for others as well.

I’ve been investigating local groups here in Denver which are faith based and working in tandem with law enforcement. It’s truly sickening what they are allowed to do and of course they are not being monitored. AND they are getting more and more funding as the rescue industry grows.

Having to stand up in front of a church congregation when you ‘graduate’ from their treatment program after being arrested for sex work, with church ladies feverishly praising Jesus- is disturbing. There are many questionable factors involved. You have very young interns (primarily those who have attended Jesuit schools) who are in no way equipped to handle the circumstances going on in the lives of the sex workers they come into contact with.

Witnesses have reported how the skinnier attractive younger clients of the program are obviously treated with contempt, if a client doesn’t want to read the bible it can be equated with not complying with the program. Take your meds and come to Jesus.

Church ladies from the various funding sources (churches are among the funding sources) get to regularly walk through the facility doing what amounts to ‘touring the whores’. There isn’t a concern for the privacy of the clients. A witness described how she observed when a new client arrived into the program she was herself, but by the time this client had graduated this faith based program, six months later, the young woman was dressed like she was Amish- with a long sleeved buttoned up shirt (buttoned to her neck), and a skirt down to her ankles, as if she dared not show any part of her body. The comment was “it’s like a cult, they try to brainwash these young women”. Regarding the treatment programs graduation at a church a witness stated: “I watched as women in the congregation praised Jesus with a fever in their eyes like they were possessed. The clients were paraded before the entire congregation”.

When you are at the mercy of the state after an arrest, you are vulnerable. These organizations are taking advantage of these women when they are in a wounded vulnerable circumstance. These organizations do need to be held accountable and be brought into check! It makes more sense when you look at their budgets and where the money goes. When over half the budget goes to paying the executive board member, rather than for services for the clients, well you do the math. So YES, I like the idea of policing the policers!!

Well, I know your handbook was invaluable to me, even though I’d already been working for at least five years when I read it. Can’t imagine how helpful they must be to someone who’s new to the biz. And yes, that’s one reason I think _Playing the Whore_ is so genius–it’s an analysis of those who analyze us, turning the tables on them and making them the subject of research and speculation.

The thing that struck me the most here was “The sex workers’ rights movement has only just begun to monitor those who monitor us…”. This is something I’d like to hear more about, both on the simple how-tos as well as from those who are actively doing it. This is an idea whose time has come, as both you and Melissa discussed. I’m reading the links Melissa provided.