602 Imaginary Prostitutes Were Arrested in Alaska Three Years Ago

(Screenshot of "Alaska State Troopers, VIce Squad"—a cop wipes a arrestee's hand after she's touched an undercover officer)

In the FBI’s 2013 Uniform Crime Report, released in November 2014, Alaska reported 648 prostitution arrests: 1 juvenile and 647 adults. This number is up from 38 arrests in 2012 and 69 in 2011. How could prostitution arrests have jumped so much in just one year? They didn’t. Alaska maintains a report entitled Crime In… Continue reading 602 Imaginary Prostitutes Were Arrested in Alaska Three Years Ago

Shoplifting Safety: How Civilians Deny The Consent of Sex Workers

Mary Mitchell. (Photo by Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times, via Mitchell's Twitter feed)

Content warning: this piece contains discussion of sexual violence. You may have read the recent editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times, an opinion piece in which Mary Mitchell argues that sex workers who are raped by a client are making a mockery of “real” rape survivors by even considering what happened to them to be sexual assault.… Continue reading Shoplifting Safety: How Civilians Deny The Consent of Sex Workers

How Did Mary Mitchell Blame The Victim And Still Get Published?

(Photo by Flickr user quinn anya)

Content warning: this piece contains discussion of sexual violence. By now, most reading this are probably familiar with Mary Mitchell’s Chicago Sun-Times column in which she editorializes that sex workers are responsible if they are raped, for they willingly put themselves “at risk for harm”—as if the rape of a sex worker is an occupational… Continue reading How Did Mary Mitchell Blame The Victim And Still Get Published?

Who Can We Trust? Vulnerability, Whorephobia, And Fundraising For Heather

One of the more difficult aspects of living as a sex worker is never knowing exactly whom you can trust. Sometimes even allies can say offensive things or break confidentiality. In the wake of such indiscretions, it’s sex workers themselves who are left to navigate that broken trust and the increased vulnerability that comes along… Continue reading Who Can We Trust? Vulnerability, Whorephobia, And Fundraising For Heather

No Victim, No Problem: The JVTA In Practice

These people look very pleased with themselves. (Photo of Speaker of the House Joe Boehmer signing the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, via Boehmer's Flickr account)

This year, Congress decided that the term “john sting” needed a rebrand. What, they wondered, would justify all the wasted resources and manpower under a veil of moral indignation? After they put their collective hive mind together, a new, shinier, more bureaucratic term emerged. John stings are now called federally funded anti-trafficking work. The change… Continue reading No Victim, No Problem: The JVTA In Practice