Contribute to the fundraiser to help porn performer Cytherea get back on her feet after being the victim of sexual assault during a traumatic home invasion here.
Jiz Lee will be guest editing a future issue of the Porn Studies journal on Porn and Labor. They’re soliciting submissions from now until July.
Wired explored the impact of the MyRedBook raid on Bay Area sex workers.
The Philadelphia murder trial of a woman who gave illicit butt injections continues. Her attorney sounds like a prize:
In questioning Saunders and King, Rudenstein stressed that they sought out Windslowe and the injections.
“What happened to the rope?” Rudenstein asked Saunders.
“What rope?” she replied.
“The rope she tied you down with to do this to you,” he said.
The online market for sex and sexualized services is growing, and it has nothing to do with the Superbowl or any other sporting events, as this Arizona State University study discovers.
Three California massage parlors were raided on suspicion of trafficking and then, though no evidence of trafficking was found, they were shut down anyway because of poor record keeping, especially around workers’ compensation. This incident once again raises the question: is this about protecting vulnerable people, or shutting down sex businesses?
An assault in the West End of Vancouver has police warning sex workers to be on alert for
Mark Stacy Spelrem, 45…wanted in connection to the assaults. He’s described as a white male, 5-feet-11 with a slim build, with short dyed blond-orange hair “that is spiked at the front and balding at the back.”
More on the survival of Dongguan’s sex industry, which continues because women continue to make more as sex workers than in less stigmatized jobs.
While a lot of technology has allowed sex workers to create screening and other safety measures for themselves, the much-heralded police body cams have real and severe drawbacks for us.
Kuala Lumpur is experimenting with the “hire a stripper for private parties” gig and finding it very exciting.
The Urban Institute studied homeless queer youth and found that many of them engage in survival sex work. In news that will surprise absolutely no sex workers,
more than 80% said there were positive aspects to sex work — notably helping to meet their basic needs and in some cases fostering a sense of community.
‘It’s not as bad as sleeping under the bridge, it’s not as bad as going without food,’ said a 19-year-old respondent identified as a Spanish and black, bisexual female.
LGBTI youth make up an estimated 20% to 40% of the homeless youth population, but only 5% to 7% of the total young population in the US.
More on that, from City Lab.
The owner of Nevada brothel Sheri’s Ranch is fighting the real enemy, whom he appears to have identified—somewhat bewilderingly—as not the government or even the actual competition posed by independent escorts, but popular sugar baby site Seeking Arrangement.
And on that note, Forbes asks the terrifying and totally unnecessary question, Why is there no Uber for prostitution? What, the financial exploitation of sex workers around the world and across the board wasn’t enough, you think there needs to be an app for that?
Female sex workers in Bangladesh are organizing for their rights.
Andrew Morrison-Gurza, an actual person with disabilities, speaks up on the growing popularity of the gold-hearted-hooker-helping-disabled-people-have-orgasms narrative.
Sex work is a hot topic on campus this week: Missouri Western State University is having a forum to debate “legalizing prostitution” and Illinois State is hosting David Glisch Sanchez’ lecture Unfortunate Victims or Sex Revolutionaries? Trans* Latin@s, Sex Work, and Complex Personhood.
More on the software that supposedly helps comb through escort ads to pinpoint the traffickers.
Devon Delacroix mulls over how much he should charge for sex, and why.
Sex Criminals, my second favorite series by Matt Fraction starring my second favorite comic book sex worker, Jazmine St. Cocaine, is being adapted for TV.
March 3rd, International Sex Workers Rights Day, is coming up, and sex work is still work, as Derek Demeri thoughtfully reminds everyone.
That ASU study (link 5) is LAUGHABLE, and no surprise, because it’s run by Roe-Sepowitz at the McCain Institute. Their conclusion that the sex industry as a whole is growing because posts on some websites increased is an absurd jump in logic, but these are the same people using ‘provider seems racist’ as a measure of likelihood that she is controlled by a pimp and therefore trafficked. I just…. I don’t…. ugh.
Am I missing something, or is this just as crazy?
“Roe-Sepowitz said these indicators included posting a phone number with an area code that’s not hidden (signaling vulnerability)”
In regard to the Forbes article on why there’s no Uber for prostitution, the article is actually about a technological and legal framework for prostitution described by Scott Peppet in an article in a legal journal. It turns out that the legal part involves criminalizing street-based prostitution while allowing prostitutes who have the knowledge and money to access web services to work legally. According to Angus McIntyre’s article on London in the Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, this legal approach of criminalizing low income prostitution while leaving higher income prostitution undisturbed goes back to Edward I in 1285, and has been in effect more or less continuously since. I’m not a historian, but I suspect earlier examples can be found in various countries. At any rate, low income people of color are the most likely to be arrested for prostitution here in the U.S., so while Peppet’s proposal may change the details, it doesn’t change the overall legal regime.
What Peppet’s legal article shows, entirely unintentionally, is that internet technology has made prostitution safer by overcoming the restrictions created by enforcement of prostitution laws. For example, when police enforce laws against street prostitution, they make it harder for street prostitutes to gather and exchange information and gives them less time to assess clients. Web forums make it possible for sex workers to exchange safety information, and internet booking gives prostitutes time to assess clients. To date, one of the few prostitution related sites closed by authorities has been myRedBook.com, which allowed lower income prostitutes to exchange information and assess clients without pressure from police.
Ahem, excuse me… Vancouver, Canada is not an American city in CA/California… We are a real country.
Thanks <3
Hugs from the syrupy 51st State…