Former porn star Coco Brown is training to be an astronaut. And no, journalists, it is not so she can have sex in space.
In “Thank God” news, a Washington judge permanently blocked a three-time felon and current inmate’s request for personal information attached to the licenses of over 200 area strippers. The inmate described himself as a “an advocate for the industry” who needed the info in order to make the women famous through his use of social media. Yeah, Asshole, that’s exactly what a lot of sex worker stalkers want to do: out them to the world, permanently, online.
Atlanta is working to ban prostitutes and their clients from areas of city once they’ve been convicted of multiple arrests. Georgia’s Supreme Court has a history of allowing such bans if they’re “reasonable, or aimed at rehabilitation.”
The recent arrest of Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth has reignited controversy over the way his business is run. (It’s not the first time the issue has come up.)
Sasha Grey on why she left porn: “I just knew that it wasn’t a smart business decision to keep working for other people.”
The independent contractor vs. employee battle continues to be waged in strip clubs across the country with a Kansas court providing the most recent landmark of ruling that strippers are entitled to unemployment insurance. The strip club will not appeal.
Also in Kansas, police are trying to find the man responsible for the murder of at least two prostitutes and the attempted murder of a third.
An audience of women turned into an angry mob when the male stripper they paid to see was replaced with a far less impressive specimen. Said one attendee, “It was immediately obvious he was no stripper.”
Partners of sex workers, please listen to James Deen: “There is a huge difference when you’re at work having sex with somebody or when you’re at home.”
In Uganda, medical counselors work with HIV positive prostitutes to provide care discreetly at their homes without alerting others of their health status. A giant Tits and Sass kiss to you, TASO Tororo.
Sadly, elsewhere in Uganda, a man was murdered when he tried to intervene in the attempted gang rape of a prostitute. In a sick, completely unsurprising development, police arrested the prostitute in order to “help the investigation.”
A short but useful overview of sex worker rights advocacy groups in Thailand, Myanmar, Fiji, and Nepal. And check out this amazing Philipines-based NGO, WHORE (Women Hookers Organizing For Their Rights and Empowerment.)
In 2006, India unsuccessfully tried to criminalize the purchase of sex. Now, riding on the wake of the country’s outrage over the infamous December gang rape and murder of a (non sex working) woman, Indian officials are at it again.
Melissa Gira Grant on a culture “obsessed with the behavior of sex workers” and putting focus back on “the cops, the feminists, the anti-prostitution people.” And while you’re at Guernica, check out their recent interview with former dominatrix Melissa Febos: “The frustration of being marginalized often gets misdirected at the most visible members of one’s own community.”
Our own Charlotte Shane was taken to task for daring to write and be sex worker. The internet adorably rejected the assertion that because one is a prostitute, one is also illiterate, except for a lone john who agreed they tend to be uncredentialed and dense.