RT talked with some pro-dommes about their profession. Nothing Earth-shattering was revealed, but it’s always exciting to see large news networks cover sex workers in a respectful light. The Oakland-based East Bay Express also spoke with local BDSM pros about their work this week.
A New Jersey man was arrested for impersonating a police officer to extort sexual favors from prostitutes.
A blogger at the Rabble posted a brilliant response to Canadian feminist blogger Meghan Murphy, who’s published several anti-sex work pieces on the same site.
Bethany St. James, daughter of two adult industry workers, argues against anti-sex work stereotypes in the Huffington Post.
Unfortunately, HuffPo also published Harvard College administrator Erika Christakis’ “Case for Fair Trade Porn,” full of goodies like this: “Do porn consumers ever think about where their porn is sourced? … No one wants to hear about drug-addicted runaways or Albanian teenage sex slaves.”
Writer Jill Brenneman argues the difference between human trafficking and consensual sex work, and the risks in sex work versus more traditional employment.
Berlin alternative arts fest Transmediale featured a panel discussion on sex work—an attendee reflects on the intersection of commercial sex, capitalism and consent.
PETA.xxx is just about ready to recruit performers.
Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty for a New York man who assaulted a stripper by hitting her over the head with a gold Rolex.
A Vancouver man is on trial for murdering a prostitute at a brothel during a robbery in 2009.
Porn company Hard Drive Productions is suing a woman for sharing copyrighted material on BitTorrent, but the defendant has claimed that porn can’t be copyrighted at all because it doesn’t fit the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Sex workers and allies in Canada aren’t too excited about a recent program conceived in Saskatoon, which requested that prostitutes register personal info in a homicide registry just in case they get murdered.
Ne-Yo recently spent $5,000 at a strip club in Atlanta, while with his girlfriend Monyetta Shaw.
The Taipei-based Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters is fighting against an eviction from a historic brothel that they had been using as an office and educational site.
Queer porn star Jiz Lee blogged this week about coming out as a sex worker.
Sex worker Kayla Reinfjell is suing Vancouver billionaire David Ho for illegally confining her to his home and assaulting her. A criminal case was already settled, in which Ho was sentenced to a year probation, a $5,000 fine, 45 hours of community service and mandatory drug counseling.
New York State Senator Jose Peralta is trying to re-classify sex trafficking as a violent felony and increase the minimum sentence.
Actor and ex-stripper Channing Tatum referenced his past career on an SNL appearance this week.
Seven men in Indiana and 15 men in Newport News, Va., were arrested in stings this week.
I’m boggling at the Saskatchewan article. Do they honestly expect prostitutes to come in, tell them they’re prostituting (which is still illegal here as far as I know), that they’re doing drugs and what types of drugs they’re using (illegal) and tell them what type of underwear they go for?
Firstly, yes, murders of prostitutes are a huge, huge problem – but the solution is to legalize prostitution and allow prostitutes to feel comfortable and supported when reporting crimes, when asking for protection from STDs, and help with finding housing and other necessities if they require it. Just making it easier for them to find murderers of prostitutes is the essence of putting a band-aid on a problem.
It doesn’t solve anything – it just makes it slightly easier to punish someone after a terrible crime has already been committed. In theory. This would still require them to actually follow these leads and not write these women off as lost cases as in the Pickton case.
Also in regards to the Saskatoon article, it seems ludicrous to spend resources on a just-in-case-you-get-murdered registry rather than on legitimate violence prevention and protection measures. I am reminded though of an article I read a few years ago in some ultra-independent and radical magazine about this place called Saskatoon, which was painted as a very grave and depraved city. It’s a far cry from the image I get from something like Saskatoon’s tourism website, but if they really are up to their necks in crime and debauchery as the article led me to believe, then I could at least be a bit more understanding of such supreme stupidity.
I love Sarah M.’s Rabble blog! Of all the wonderfully poignant things she argues, I find a particular sweetness in this bit: “some feminists want men to stop seeing all women as whores…sex worker advocates want everyone to stop seeing whores as something other than women, other than human. These goals are not the same…” Such a simple idea but one that often gets muddled and swept aside (like countless others!). Do anti-sex work “feminists” really not see that by dehumanizing this entire group of women they are just lending their ironic voices to the equally whore-hating/loving patriarchy by showing them that it’s okay to distinguish between women of worth and women of naught?
whores they are really just lending their voices to the equally whore-hating patriarchy by
Oops, couldn’t edit that double-dip there at the end. That’s what I get for trying to word process on the iPhone.
I was trying to figure out who the hell Channing Tatum is, and why I’ve been seeing him in this like magazines and television lately. Well, good for him.
And the NY guy who beat the Russian stripper with the Rolex: at least we can take comfort in the fact that he already lost a leg the last time he was in trouble with the law for assaulting a woman. +1 for Karma and the justice system!