Monica Jones’ latest court date is today. Jones, an Arizona State University student, was targeted for arrest after she attended a SWOP-Phoenix protest against an oppressive diversion program, Project ROSE, backed by her own social work program. She was set up on charges of “manifesting prostitution”, but the ACLU constitutionally challenged her case at her last court date on March 14th. Check out SWOP-Phoenix’s twitter feed throughout the day to follow events, and view this Tits and Sass interview with Monica, as well as this interview with SWOP Phoenix activist Jaclyn Moskal-Dairman, to get more background on her case. Read up on more positive social work interventions with student sex workers in this piece we posted earlier this afternoon. UPDATE: At 4:30 PM, SWOP-Phoenix tweeted, “Judge unjustly rules Monica guilty. The fight for trans and sex worker rights continues.” Monica stated, “I’m facing 30 days in jail, this shows how unjust the justice system is. Because I was out there walking…The only thing that needs to be changed is the system. If they come for me in the morning they’re coming for you in at night…As an African American and as a woman, the justice system has failed me.”
The Somaly Mam Foundation has launched an independent investigation into claims that Mam lied abouut sex trafficking. Allegations that Mam lied about her own experiences and coached others to lie about theirs have dogged the Foundation for a couple of years.
Ruth Jacobs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s report on sex work entitled “Shifting the Burden”: the Swedish model is a failure, the Merseyside model is not, criminalizing client will not prevent human trafficking. She draws from from her own experiences: “Women in the sex trade who are injecting drug users are the worst hit by their sex purchase ban. No harm reduction (condoms, lubrication etc.) for sex workers or drug users (needle exchanges) is provided in Sweden as it is erroneously believed to encourage sex work and drug use. That was me, an intravenous drug user who sold sex, and I am the same person I was back then and I am the same as other women selling sex and shooting up their drugs, and I will fight for those women. They matter to me, and they should matter to every person who cares about human rights and every person who claims they want to end violence against women. And if you don’t care about the women in the sex trade like me who shoot up drugs, if you care at all about human rights and are against violence against women, then you should be against the Swedish model, which is violence against women.”
Is it really such a big deal that a nursing home hired a male stripper to entertain its residents?
Three dancers died when their club caught on fire. Why didn’t the owner inform the first responders that dancers were still trapped in the building?
The Blue Diamond Society is working to give transgender sex workers in Nepal help if they need it.
Oh, yay. One conservative MP in Canada is still vying to legislate a “Canadian-style” version of the Nordic model. She’s pushing for an education campaign that will “denounce the purchase of sex as contrary to Canadian values.” Good luck with that, lady.
Apparently strippers aren’t the only workers that experience the misclassification paradox.
“Reducing the demand for prostitution is important to the safety of the prostitutes themselves, law enforcement officials say.” Uh, what? One county is California is publishing convicted clients’ mug shots on the District Attorney’s website.
SPOILERS! Several porn actors have been cast in Game of Thrones.
The only redeeming quality of this editorial is its use of the word Pecksniffianism.
Behold, a bunch of hipsters being auctioned off on Wall Street. This human trafficking demonstration is horrifying, idiotic, and completely dehumanizing.
PayPal bullied Patreon into flagging and sometimes freezing adult content.
Well, of course the Dongguan region of China will suffer when the backbone of its economy – the sex trade – practically gets dismantled.
Speaking of China, police use condoms as evidence against sex workers over there too.
Dan Savage gives an older client some pretty obvious advice about his penchant for escorts: DON’T TELL THE WIFE.
The BBC talks to men who sell sex, and discovers that lots of women would consider buying it.
Should gay charities be doing more to help support sex workers?
How much do you have to hate sex workers to protest a mere discussion about decriminalization?
The anti-trafficking movement and the sex workers’ rights movement should have an alliance. Yet, as we all know, we’re not there yet. How can the two movements work in partnership?
In Ireland, one labor leader has an interesting idea about sex work: that it is not actually considered labor. HA. We have an interesting idea about that labor leader: what an asshole.