Thinking About Cyntoia And My Black Body

Cyntoia Brown. (Via Youtube)

Content warning: this piece contains accounts of child sexual abuse and violence against a sex working minor as well as discussion of structural violence.  I spent my teen years selling sex on the internet. I grew up on the Craigslist Erotic Services section, finding men who would pay me for something I didn’t take seriously… Continue reading Thinking About Cyntoia And My Black Body

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Beyond Victims And Villains (2016)

When I got arrested recently, my copy of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Beyond Victims and Villains by Alexandra Lutnick came along with me to jail. It’d be fair to blame me, as well as the boys in blue, but I think it’s unlikely that this is the last time this publication will see the inside… Continue reading Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Beyond Victims And Villains (2016)

Who’s The Victim: The Tragedy of Latesha Clay

Latesha Clay cries at her sentencing. (Screenshot from MLive video of the sentencing.)

Content warning: This piece contains general discussion of child sexual abuse. Reading about the plight of Latesha Clay, the child in Grand Rapids, MI sentenced to nine years in prison after being used as live bait in a robbery scheme, the thing that struck me was the use of the word “victim.” Of course, referring… Continue reading Who’s The Victim: The Tragedy of Latesha Clay

The State Is A Trafficker: Why Alaska Arrested Amber Batts

Amber Batts, AKA, Miranda (Photo by Tara Burns)

On April 4, 2014, Anchorage Police Department officers responded to a report of a “hysterical female.”  The woman reported that she had lost her purse and she believed her coworker had taken it.  In response, she’d threatened to tell the police about the “prostitution ring” they were involved in, and her coworker had threatened to… Continue reading The State Is A Trafficker: Why Alaska Arrested Amber Batts

A Tunnel, Not A Door: Exiting Conditioned, Generational Sex Work

One of Lime Jello's ancestors? (Image via Wikipedia Commons)

This piece is adapted from a December 17th speech the author gave this year. “You’re so lazy, you’ll never be anything but a whore. And you won’t even be a good whore because nobody wants to fuck a girl with a book in front of her face.” When I was about twelve, as I lay… Continue reading A Tunnel, Not A Door: Exiting Conditioned, Generational Sex Work