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The Week In Links—May 16th

By
suzyhooker
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One of the images Red Umbrella Project used in their campaign against the use of condoms as evidence. (Art by kd diamond, image courtesy of Red Umbrella Project)
One of the images Red Umbrella Project used in their campaign against the use of condoms as evidence. (Art by kd diamond, image courtesy of Red Umbrella Project)

Go Audacia Ray and Red Umbrella Project!!! The big news this week is that the NYPD has finally ended the policy of confiscating condoms from suspected sex workers to use as evidence! The change still leaves a loophole, however: they can still seize and use condoms as evidence in sex trafficking and promotion of prostitution cases.

There were several really great pieces this week deconstructing the trafficking conversation and calling for labor and human rights for sex workers: Georgina Orellano, with the Argentine Sex Workers Association, “is adamant that women who choose the sector to make a living should be given the same labour [sic] rights as everybody else.” Orellano is consistently brilliant at shutting down the interviewer’s hand-wringing attempts to make sex work into some kind of metaphysical violation; especially gratifying is her distinction between men who pay to have sex with kidnapped women (criminals), and the clients of sex workers.

Also satisfying: Anne Elizabeth Moore takes apart the racism and imperialism of the anti-trafficking movement and Christian “anti-trafficking” organizations (shady as always). Like many of us recently, she needs clarification about the concept of women “trafficking themselves.” THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT THIS! Also: “Arguing that, in an ideal world, no woman would willingly sell sex, abolitionists aim to eliminate the industry entirely. Sex workers, when asked, note the absence of this illusory world.” High five!

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Texas Can Tax Twerking Contests, And Other Pole Tax News

By
Bubbles
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paynopoletax​This weekend, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Texas pole tax​ against an appeal that charged the tax was an improperly utilized “occupation tax.” Officially known as the Sexually Oriented Business Fee, the tax requires strip clubs to pay $5 per patron to a fund for victims of sexual assault. While similar taxes have been passed in other states, Texas was the first to pass one in 2007, though it’s been continuously challenged in court.

Just last week, Comptroller Susan Combs said she’d start aggressively pursuing clubs​ that weren’t paying the tax, although she did not mention whether she would be going after the other businesses it targets. The tax is supposed to be collected from the door of any premise hosting adult entertainment.

From the Texas Administrative Code:

(3) A business that holds occasional events described in subsection (a)(3) of this section, but does not habitually engage in the activity described in subsection (a)(3) of this section is liable for the sexually oriented business fee for those occasional events. For example, a nightclub that hosts a wet t-shirt contest is liable for the fee based upon attendance during the event.

The bar manager at the Palm Street Pier on South Padre Island said that while they’ve had wet T-shirt contests in previous years, they didn’t have one in 2014 because “no one showed up.” She said that they have never been asked to pay the SOB fee on previous years’ contests. I’m waiting on a reply from Austin club ND as to whether they were asked to pay it for nights they held “Twerk For A Stack” contests. One club that isn’t a strip club, Tony’s Corner Pocket in Houston, appears on the comptroller’s rolls as having paid each year the tax is in effect. They have occasional amateur strip contests and it appears that this is what they’re paying on, making them the most scrupulous bar in the state, since no other non-strip club appears in the payment records. 

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I’m Special, Baby: The Sex Worker Edition of #notallmen

By
suzyhooker
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Not all clients are totally predictable.
Not all clients are totally predictable. (image via twitter user @a_girl_irl)

Just as the rallying cry of men defending themselves from those mean, mean feminists seems to be, “Not ALL men!” so does the sex work client object to generalizations about him. In fact, the one thing all sex work clients have in common is that they all think they’re different, special, and  not like those other guys. So, when they throw out that tired line you’ve been hearing ever since you started working, they think they’re being clever. We asked escorts, street workers, strippers, pro-dommes, cam-people, and phone sex operators to get on Twitter on #notallclients and tell us all about it.

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Don’t Forget: We’re Recruiting!

By
suzyhooker
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Val was so edgy.
Val was so edgy.

Here’s your reminder: Tits and Sass is searching for a co-editor. Are you the one? We will be accepting applications until June 1, 2014. We will have made our selection by July 1, 2014.

Potential candidates should:

– understand the fundamentals of journalism
– have a strong grasp of the English language
– be able to use Google Docs and WordPress
– have an interest in sex work and its reflections in pop culture
– be politically astute
– have at least ten hours a week to devout to the site
– be a sex worker
– know how to tap dance

We’re especially interested in non-white and/or non-cis applicants from outside the US.

And since we have your attention, please note that we’re also always looking for new contributors. Pitch us something! Got an almost-idea? We’ll help you turn it into a total-idea! We’re especially interested in book, television, and film reviews, coverage of local activist events, and commentary on current events. Contact us here or contact one of our editors on Twitter; Caty handles activist news and book reviews, Josephine is happy to talk about popular culture of all kinds, and Susan (fka Bubbles) wants to hear about policy and labor issues.

The Week In Links—May 9th

By
suzyhooker
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Mexican sex workers march on May Day to tell people what they should already know—work is work. (Photo via Vice Magazine)
Mexican sex workers march on May Day to tell people what they should already know—work is work. (Photo via VICE Magazine)

“I just want them to stop fucking with us.” VICE  talks to Mexican sex workers participating in a May Day march for labor rights in a piece acknowledging the economic appeal of sex work: “Inflation has caused Mexico’s minimum wage to decrease over the years, and many of the country’s citizens have turned to the streetwalking sector to make ends meet.”

Remember how Prince George’s County was going to live-tweet a prostitution sting? That didn’t happen! Whew! Apparently, the police officers got concerned that their identities would be compromised. I know, right? What a bummer that would be. Additionally, no arrests were made. How much do you think the threat to match every live-tweet with a donation to sex workers’ rights organization HIPS had to do with this decision?

Opposition to the Swedish model got even more pointed this week: interviews with Nordic charities, women’s rights activists, and sex workers themselves all indicate that the effects of the law actually make sex workers’ lives more dangerous. Whomp whomp.

A former Portland State University student who also worked in bondage porn is suing PSU for more than a million dollars after some blatantly inappropriate and unethical behavior on the part of her former advisor, associate professor Marcia Klotz. Klotz displayed a boundary violating interest in the student’s sex work career and history of sexual trauma while overseeing her work  in the McNair Scholars program. When the student began working with another advisor, Klotz accused her of plagiarism. It reminds us of a few different episodes of Elementary, but like, way more painful.

The ACLU is investigating Project ROSE. Thank goodness someone is! We can’t really tell what’s up with this article though: “Not only is there an apparent problem with organizing busts to send people to a church-backed charity program…” Is this snark or sincerity?

Italy’s scariest serial killer, the Monster of Florence, is probably not back (despite the sensational headline), which just means yet another serial killer is murdering sex workers. Local residents often hear screams coming from the area where the murdered women are found. Calls concerning the noise saved one woman’s life, but no one called about Andrea Cristina Zamir, who was murdered on Monday.

Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, came out in support of sex workers and of decriminalization.

Confronted with clients who will pay double for unprotected sex Kenyan sex workers are accessing post-exposure prophylactic treatment for HIV.

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