The Week in Links: March 16

The Ms. Magazine blog gave us a shout out in a post this week about sex work organizations. Thank, Ms!

Rick Santorum’s new pet social issue: the “pandemic” of pornography. He has stated, if elected, that he’ll work toward a ban on hard-core pornography (in addition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and the “absolute” separation of church and state). He says, “[Porn] contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking,” in addition to “profound brain damage in children and adults.”

Dita Von Teese debuted her new line of lingerie at the Melbourne L’Oreal Fashion Show in Australia last weekend.

Breaking news: Prostitutes use the internet. (Seriously, how many more times will someone unveil this “new” phenomenon?)

A computer hacking group targeted porn site Digital Playground this week and stole the login and credit card info from 72,000 of the site’s users. The hackers have stated that they won’t publish the subscribers’ personal info, because they “do this for the love of the game, not for profit.”

A study has shown that female sex workers in developing countries are 14 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general female population.

Vince Neil (of Motley Crue) spilled some more details of his new strip club, Girl, Girls, Girls, which will open tonight inLas Vegas: “It’s going to be the only place in town where you can listen to rock music, have a cocktail and look at boobs.” Hm, you sure about that, Vince?

A Southern California Little League team turned down a $1,200 donation from a local strip club.

In light of Rush Limbaugh’s disastrous recent debate with law student Sandra Fluke, Moonlight Bunny Ranch Owner Dennis Hof is jumping at the chance for some extra publicity. While Limbaugh has lost dozens of advertisers after calling Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” on air, Hof has pitched a $1 ad campaign. “[Limbaugh] said some bad things about prostitutes which we’re not happy with,” said Hof. “We’re going to let him redeem himself by being nice to legal prostitutes.” … We think if he comes out now and supports the Bunny Ranch and real prostitutes, legal prostitution, it might make him look good.”

A narcotics commander from Pleasant Hill, Calif., is on trial for allegedly protecting a local brothel from police raids in exchange for payment.

We’re happy that Shawn Loftis, a Florida substitute teacher who lost his job due to a past career in gay porn, will soon be allowed to return to work. In January 2011, the principal of Loftis’ school “came across his past work on the internet;” consequently, Loftis lost his job and was told he couldn’t return to the district for five years. Now the decision has been reversed. But what was the principal doing “coming across” internet porn in the first place, if it’s such a horrible thing to be involved in? Producing it (in the past) is a fireable offense for a teacher, but consuming it (now) is perfectly ok for his principal?

Rapper Fabolous made it rain pretty damn hard at Atlanta strip club Diamonds.

According to this piece from the Huffington Post, porn is a “major source of sexual information” for gay men. However, studies show that men who prefer to watch unsafe sex on screen are no less likely to use condoms.

The mama of 3-year-old Paisley Dickey has begun dressing her daughter up like a slightly-less-slutty-than-the original version of Princess Leia, rather than a hooker. Baby steps!