Decriminalize Prostitution's topics - tribe.net

Programme on the sex industry

2008-07-23T20:48:08Z

I have just been asked to take part in a sky-virgin tv programme about `sex & money`(UK).
Its on current tv...but sadly have had to decline.
I mused this invite over in my mind, weighing out the pro`s & con`s. Though I was assured that this programme would be a balanced view of the sex industry, I have my doubts.
Here was my `assurance`:
`The show is a serious and hard hitting look at various aspects of the Sex Industry aimed at 18 – 34 year olds. The show will comprise of a number of short films made by our producers which we will show to the audience and ask for comment and debate upon afterwards. We in no way aim to ridicule any aspect of this subject. There may be some lighter comment as some of the films deal with subjects such as sex toys for which the debate will be lighter than after the films which talk about prostitution etc. But the show as a whole is of a serious tone and aims to provide a balanced view of the sex and money industry in the UK.

I am in negotiations with various people at the moment but the studio audience is likely to be made up of some of the producers of the films we will watch, people who work in the sex industry, including some of those who appear in the films, and also those who campaign against or have strong views opposing the industry. A balanced audience to provoke conscious and informed debate`.

So taking in mind the above, I was concerned that this was yet another `seek the whore` campaign..or `seek the victim` campaign..rather than an intelligent look at the sex industry & its pro`s & con`s. I just felt that I would be spending most of my time..with others maybe..fending off the ignorant & niave. Wasting worthwhile air time explaining myself & justifying my rights in my choice of being a sex wroker. This tires me now..spent too many years doing that. would instead like to spend some time tackling any real issues at hand & discussing the positives & worth of sex work..we all know the shit..but until we stop talking about the shit, we`ll never recognise the good things & the value we as sexworkers have had to offer societies. Any opinions?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 6 replies

12,763 signatures submitted; prostitution measure expected to qualify for November ballot in SF

2008-07-16T04:23:35Z

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 12,763 signatures submitted; prostitution"

12,763 signatures submitted; prostitution
measure expected to qualify for November ballot

------------------------------------------

Around 2:00 p.m. Monday July 7, 2008, after posing outside San Francisco City Hall
with our cartons of petitions for a few photos, backers of the
measure to defund enforcement of prostitution laws in San Francisco
delivered forms bearing 12,673 signatures to the Elections Department.

Given that the required number of valid signatures we needed to turn
in was only 7,168 and we were shooting for 11,000 in order to have a
reasonable margin to cover signatures ruled invalid, we believe we
are in very good shape. Barring some truly unexpected occurrence,
this measure will appear before San Francisco voters on the November
4 ballot.

The Elections Department has up to 30 days to check and verify the
signatures we've submitted, and will inform us when they are ready to
begin this process, which we will have people observing.

Meanwhile, we plan to plunge ahead with the campaign to get this
measure passed. At least a handful of vociferous opponents are
determined to have the city government continue wasting taxpayer
money to the tune of around $11.4 million a year arresting,
prosecuting, and "re-educating" San Franciscans who choose to engage
in consensual sexual activities.

This could be the most important fight for sexual freedom in SF since
Proposition Q, the Libertarian Party's daring 1979 measure to abolish
the vice squad.

http://espu-ca.org/wp/

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

wheres our voice?

2008-07-13T12:18:16Z

i`ve never really been what you may call a techno minded forward thinker, insomuch, I have always dug my heels in when it comes to technology, preferring instead to met & talk to people...but the internet for all its bad shit..& does`nt everything have a minus side...has brought many sexworkers both together & with others outside of the usual sexworker domain. Sexwork can be & has been, certainly for women like myself who are older now, a lonely place, & not much room for expression outside of work. I know this is a bit long winded but bare with me. As a Dom & never an ex-Dom, despite age. I have been always trying to express my life career choice & fighting its corner now for eons; despite living in a complacent country, despite living, now, in an out of the way area, & despite having no sexworkers whatsoever within miles to talk to...but thankfully at this time in my life...the internet appeared, bringing more of us together from wider areas, both geographically & types of work.
Which has got to be a step in the right direction. Add to this I have been head-turned into viewing you tube on occasions & it seems to be the video market place for art, thought & entertainment made by ordinary folks, at times.
But, & this is my whinge, I cannot find one video clip that is pro-prostitution, made by a sexworker herself, with all the positive aspects of sexwork in any of its forms! Not one intelligent, well thought out clip.
Am I missing something?
maybe I have`nt just looked right, but if I have...it reflects the `lack` of good documentary pro-prostition/sexwork material there must be out there. If I had all the right techno stuff...I`d be doing it myself. I & am sure you have all always known about the down side of sexwork...but no different to any other profession in the same circumstances, if they were illegal too.
I have spoken in my diary of my thoughts around sexwork issues, so my views are open, & hope sometime this year to set up a web-site for sexworkers..it would be the first one in the UK (as I realise most of journals viewers are probably USA or Canada based...am I right?).
You have all your pro-prostitution meetings/marches..but outside of London here in UK...its a desert, believe me.
Why are`nt we globally more pro-active? I can be off-line for the next 12 months & all the sites, all the news are what seems to be repeats..if you get my drift..please put me right, hit me, or just direct me...I`ve always been so desperate to see change..at least in my lifetime.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 7 replies

Why are people so frightened of sex?

2008-06-20T05:20:00Z

Even here on Tribe pornography is supposed to be taboo. Pornography is merely materials that are sexually explicit and intended to cause sexual arousal. What is so wrong with becoming sexual aroused? What about sexual arousal frightens you or people you know? If people were less afraid of being aroused would they be less afraid of prostitution?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 25 replies

helping people with lifes shit.

2008-05-17T23:02:31Z

Firstly regards my sexwork either now or in the past, I have always felt strongly that our own inner learning sex psychology should be in higher acclaim &/or awareness. When I was first a Dom back in the seventies, I just thought control, a damn good beating (if they asked for it)& get them (clients) out of the way as fast as possible, was the rules of sexwork in this area of work...how naive I was...& if only I had someone to tell me different may have helped..but..as the years & experience passed by, I began to actually understand my clients, their fears, their dilemma`s, their desires & where they could possibly originate from. I spent some time away from sex work & looked after badgers in a captive environment on Dartmoor..this was also another catalyst. I saw the behaviour of animals that are normally very social, change! & in some cases even become cannabalistic & aggressive. I began to make a conscious study of this. I saw the correlation to people who are forced to live homes with no space or any un-natural environment, even to those who are incarcerated in jails. How this affects the `nature` within was profound!
later on in my life for some years I then became a counseller...going back to the `street` from a different perspective..this affirmed my suspicions & also added to my sense of helplessness, tied as I was to `system`, during that time. I was asked to give talks about my amazing work with the street people of Plymouth (UK). I used this opportunity to `turn the mirror` on my audience (usually officiando`s). I told them about how valuable the work of sex workers is & could be even more potentially powerful in its affect on sexual issues of society...who else gets so close to the clients?...who else has full view of the `child within`, I said. I also used this opportunity to discuss my thoughts about drug users. Which is another bottomless pit of controversy..blaming this, blaming that.
I felt in all the love & hate for & against drugs in this world, that we were potentially missing vital opportunities & learning about ourselves. As I have always been open about my life in sex work, I have always been open about my views on drugs. I feel that drugs are not the problem..it is a mixture of what people feel about themselves & what they feel about others doing something they disapprove of.
Shamanically drugs have huge potential..done with reason in mind, in the right environment & with the right person/people...ritual is always important!
I have had a huge interest especially in psychology, mythology (not in a pagan sense though),sex & drugs/plants. So bearing this in mind I was given this link...(I have read PIKHAL by Shulgin..who this is about).
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3850302.ece

As a `promise on the horizon` I still think we as sexworkers will one day have a great right reinstated to us, as invaluable citizens of this world...once they give us the right to be heard in a positive & worthy manner.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

So Tragic. D.C. Madam Kills Self.

2008-05-02T21:49:23Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080501/ap_on_re_us/escort_list;_ylt=AtkW4GWjQMufBEvxlqsyn7as0NUE

"A woman convicted two weeks ago of being the "D.C. Madam" hanged herself Thursday, apparently making good on her vow never to go to prison for running a high-end Washington prostitution ring.

The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found in a shed near her mother's home about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said the 52-year-old Palfrey left at least two suicide notes and other writings to her family in a notebook, but they did not disclose their contents.

Palfrey apparently hanged herself with nylon rope from the shed's ceiling. Her mother discovered the body..."

________________

I had contact with her lawyers because I helped do legal research for a motion for a high profile local resident accused of soliciation. This fricken breaks my heart. Fuck the politicials and the prosecutors in this case. Why did anyone care about this? Why? Who was she hurting? They are all murders.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 6 replies

First Offender Prostitution Program Punishes Victimless Crime

2008-04-05T00:59:20Z

http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-03-05/news/first-offender-prostitution-program-punishes-victimless-crime

First Offender Prostitution Program Punishes Victimless Crime
By Benjamin Wachs
Published: March 5, 2008

Subject(s): Wachs on prostitution law
San Francisco's First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP) has been copied in more than a dozen municipalities nationwide. But Supervisor Jake McGoldrick says we may need to make sure our own house is in order. He's accused the program of potentially mismanaging city funds, and has proposed that the Board of Supervisors' budget analyst examine what may be a government boondoggle: "Scarce details are available on the guidelines that direct offenders to the program," his proposal states. "There is very little public information on the fiscal workings of the program, including accounting for the funds generated by offender fees," and "there is no data to ascertain whether the program is meeting performance standards."

FOPP, McGoldrick says, is in desperate need of an audit. Okay. Will a two-year, Department of Justice–funded independent review work? Because one is about to be released.

Michael Shively, the primary author of the study conducted by Abt Associates, says that while no program is perfect, preliminary results show that FOPP is "very effective, the design makes sense for the outcomes they're trying to produce, and they're doing what they say they're going to do."

FOPP is run by nonprofit Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) in conjunction with the district attorney's office and the SFPD. It uses fees paid by first-time "johns" who choose to attend a class instead of facing a criminal trial and conviction, so the money involved isn't taxpayer dollars. Last year's budget came to about $168,000, split among the three partners. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office says they are confident that the money is being handled appropriately, and Shively notes that the federal report determined that FOPP is cost-effective overall.

So where did McGoldrick's accusations come from? Through a spokesman, McGoldrick says he wants an audit to reveal "a whole picture" — a "more holistic social-economic approach to the issue of sex work in San Francisco," instead of just how effectively FOPP prevents repeat offenders. His staff referred me to "volunteer" Rachel West, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Prostitutes Collective. West had scant details on FOPP, but wanted to spend lots of time — lots and lots of time — explaining why prostitution should be legal. That appears to be the central argument against FOPP: It's trying — quite successfully — to reduce prostitution rather than legalize it.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Spitzer and prostitution...

2008-03-30T19:24:49Z

for those of us that have sold it, i think it sad that in our puritanical society a man's sexual adventures are thought more immoral than another than has started a war that has cost the lives of >600,000 people.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 7 replies

Here is a rhetorical question...

2008-01-05T17:43:47Z

If I go out in the tenderloin, and get picked up for prostitution, what do the P.O.'s genderally do? Charge you with an infraction, or a misdemeanor? Do they arrest, or just cite?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

2007 Hookers Ball

2007-10-31T05:02:18Z

Margo St. James & Robyn Few Present
the 2007 Hooker's Ball

Wednesday, October 31st, Pier 23 Cafe in San Francisco
Music by Macy Blackman, N'awlins Rock & Soul

8 pm to midnight

Tickets $10.

The Hooker's Ball is an Annual Benefit to support
The St. James Infirmary and Sex Workers Outreach Project

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 5 replies

THEY'RE NOT MAKING HARLOTS LIKE THEY USED TO.

2007-06-30T03:05:40Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8YvR9eL8Q

i used to party with TKC, nice to see we have had an effect on each other...

take care!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Slightly O.T. - Lawyers Petition to Defend Habeas Corpus

2007-05-18T04:36:29Z

Are you a lawyer?

As a member of the legal community, you have the opportunity to join former Attorneys General Janet Reno and Nicholas Katzenbach, and thousands of other lawyers to restore habeas corpus.

Reposted from: actforchange@workingassets.com

Last year Mr. Bush convinced the Republican-controlled Congress to eliminate the fundamental right of habeas corpus for many prisoners. This right allows a prisoner to demand a hearing before a judge. And rest assured that prisoner abuse is going on.

After all, this is the same Administration that administered Abu Gharib, sent CIA prisoners to other countries for torture, spied on Americans without court approval, and fired U.S. Attorneys who refused to suppress the minority vote. It is literally now up to George Bush to imprison anyone he wants -- indefinitely.

The Bush Administration simply cannot be trusted, and the ancient right of habeas corpus is often the only barrier to even worse abuse.

Restoring habeas corpus in Big Jeopardy

Essentially every major newspaper and legal organization across the country supports the restoration of habeas corpus. But so far, our representatives in Congress are afraid to even bring it up for a vote.

Right now the Senate leadership is deciding whether to vote on legislation introduced by Sen. Leahy, a former prosecutor and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator Dianne Feinstein's support is crucial to ensure that the Senate restores habeas corpus. We need your help.

Are you a lawyer?

As a member of the legal community, you have the opportunity to join former Attorneys General Janet Reno and Nicholas Katzenbach, and thousands of other lawyers, law student, law professors, law school deans, retired judges, retired prosecutors and retired public defenders to restore habeas corpus by clicking the following link and signing the petition:

http://www.lawyersforhabeas.com

Those who sign the petition will be invited to lawyers-only meetings with critical senators or their staffs in two weeks.

Can you tell any lawyers you know about the petition to restore habeas corpus? It is critical that members of the legal community deliver a powerful message to Congress about the importance of restoring habeas corpus, and we can't spread the word without your help. We need to spread the word about this petition to every member of the legal community in California.

http://www.workingassets.com/lawyersforhabeas/taf.aspx

Please share this message with anyone you know in California who cares about restoring habeas corpus.

Thank you for working to build a better world.

Will Easton, Manager
ActForChange.com/Working Assets

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

en

2007-05-03T19:21:10Z

This is a very exciting duo of classes I'm teaching in the next month. First it's about developing your energy for power exchange play. The second class is a Reiki certification class. Both are suggested, but it is not necessary to attend both in order to attend one. All are welcome. * Reiki Master Teacher Rebecca Wilcox

POWER PLAY: Energy Development Workshop
At the SF Citadel [www.sfcitadel.org]
May 22nd
8 till 10pm (doors open at 7:30pm)
Admission: $20.00

As kinksters we often talk about the energy exchange that happens when we play. Did you ever wonder about what that means or how you can control or develop it more? The energy workshop does just that. Explore energy from the perspective of a variety of disciplines. Discuss what energy means to you. Participate in energy developing exercises. Hone your skills as a player while having a good time with other players. This is a participatory workshop that also engages in the ethical considerations concerning energy exchange.

Madam Rebecca Wilcox
Reiki Master/Instructor1999
REBECCA has been a Reiki practitioner for 14 years, massage therapist and health educator for 11 years, massage therapy and massage business instructor for 6 years, and has been writing curriculum and presenting a variety of workshops for 9 years. She brings her love for the energy dynamic to the forum and encourages others to engage in full self-expression and compassionate relationships in all that we do

Coming Soon:
REIKI I Certification Workshop
At the SF Citadel
June 2, 2007
10am – 6pm with an hour lunch
RSVP required for class materials
$40.00
Admission at the door without class materials
$30.00
RSVP to
devils_vixen36@yahoo.com
subject line should read ...
Reiki RSVP

Reiki (pronounced Ray-Key) is a method of natural healing based on the application of Universal Life Force Energy (the name literally means Universal Life Force Energy). It is currently one of the most widely known energetic healing systems in popular use today.
This certification course provides a solid foundation for working with energy and applying it to all aspects of your life, not just kinky play. Becoming certified in Reiki helps strengthen your personal energy and contribute to the health and welfare of others. People who receive Reiki treatments report similar benefits to receiving massage therapy.
An Affirmation:
I invoke the Healing Buddha and the Master Spirits of Reiki. I ask that my channel be pure and clean, without fear, and with honor and love for all

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

A dream

2007-02-25T04:59:27Z

I dream of a world where people are more afraid of war than they are of sex. Where people selling war mongering have to hide to sell their wares in the shadows and sex workers have TV shows.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 7 replies

Yummie massage...

2007-02-22T05:08:12Z

I had a really nice massage the other day. In addition to working my body, she also jerked me off while finger fucking my asshole.... It was really nice ;)

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

God Virus

2007-02-21T21:25:32Z

>:)

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 5 replies

If we decriminalize prostitution....

2007-02-21T21:18:50Z

won't we take the edge away from a business and thereby cost sex workers money? And I heard that there is an event coming up, showing a coupla films, one of which is about how legalization sux in the Nevada brothels.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 7 replies

is there a blacklist for johns anywhere?

2007-02-20T21:51:16Z

I'm having drama with a wannabe john who's physically threatening me, and it occurred to me- is there a place online where we can check out emails or something, and see if there are any positive/negative reviews of johns? Sort of like the redbook thing they have for escorts.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 11 replies

St. James Infirmary Resource Manual Needs Assessment

2007-02-05T02:27:09Z

Hello Colleagues and Friends-

As some of you aware the St. James Infirmary provides a variety of health and safety services for sex workers here in San Francisco. An important early project of the clinic was developing a resource guide for sex workers. Our resource guide includes information on where to go for services, as well as practical information of use to sex workers. The guide has seen two fabulous incarnations and is ready for a third. (to download the second edition please see: http://www.stjamesinfirmary.org/Uploads/RG1_2.pdf )

The guide has always attempted to reach beyond the needs of our home community in order to be of use to a variety of sex workers and their allies including other service providers and activists.

To that end we are conducting a survey of all of our immediate community (including participants, staff, volunteers, and board members) as well as our allies in the larger world. You can help us make sure this edition of the resource manual reflects the needs of everyone in our community by going to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=830453250655 and filling our our on-line survey.

Please help us spread the word by forwarding/posting this message!

Best Regards

Catherine Swanson and Blake Nemec

PS. The survey is anonymous!
PPS. please forgive us if you've seen this post elsewhere!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

prostitution will NOT just go away..article by Toronto Star

2007-01-26T02:05:17Z

November 13, 2006
Rosie DiManno
Sex is a primal urge. Yet libido rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

Most humans have sex, sometimes with love, just as often without. In marriage, outside of marriage, as a side dish to marriage. It's not ours to judge.

But if you pay for it — or charge for it — a kind of atavistic wrath, from a disapproving society, will fall on your head.

Prostitutes are just about the last breed of people who can be publicly excoriated for what they are, in a language of loathing that would be intolerable if applied to anyone else. It's the argot of shaming. And the attitudes that lie beneath — their lesser status as human beings, because they trade in flesh — is precisely what permits the widespread abuse of women and men who retail their bodies, such that even their murders can pass without vigorous investigation.

In the antiquated semantics of policing and criminal code legislation, sex is still a vice. Merchandising it is a crime, soliciting it is a crime, purchasing it is a crime, in all but the most narrowly defined circumstances. But using sex to sell product — that's advertising. Using sex to titillate — that's entertainment. Using sex to snare a partner — that's courtship.

It was interesting to read an investigative report on the front page of Saturday's Star, detailing what was described as "brothels-in-the-sky'' — prostitutes working out of residential high-rise buildings in Toronto, a phenomenon that is clearly bugging the snot out of many fellow tenants who, presumably, get their own sex by more conventional means. Bully for them. Others don't have sex so close to hand. They have to go looking for it. Fortunately, there are plenty of sex-trade workers willing to provide the service. That doesn't make either prostitute or customer a monster.

The prostitutes and their clients were portrayed with ripe descriptors, variously derided for their provocative clothing, their cheap cologne, their contaminating presence. A property manager likened them to "cockroaches.'' One morally upright resident said she felt like bathing her kids in Lysol after elevator encounters with the whores. Is this because of exposure to their moral depravity? Or the toxic aura of the stigmatized sex they make?

Insofar as any of this is a genuine quality-of-life urban issue — and I do understand the discomfort zone created by overt sexual entrepreneurship, although I don't share the repugnance — it was created by a circle-jerk dance of the deviant: The forces of good shutting down pseudo "holistic centres'' operating as de facto bordellos. Two decades ago, it was massage parlours.

Only to arise anew, this time burrowing more deeply into residential neighbourhoods. Whence, it should be noted, come their clientele. Those are your husbands and sons and brothers, looking to get laid. And what of it? Maybe sex is just an uncomplicated grunt with a stranger for them. Maybe they strike out in bars. Maybe they come from cultures where dating isn't permitted, much less sexual intimacy. Maybe they're not getting any at home.

There's no point trying to figure out motive. The groin wants what it wants. And there's even less point trying to smother biological imperatives. It's bred in the bone, if steeped in hypocrisy. Righteous preachers who bible-thump about sin get caught with their pants down. Cops who arrest johns coerce hookers into giving them freebies. Politicians who promote "family values'' fall victim to honey-traps.

Even in our sophisticated, judgment-neutral society, there is a resistant puritan streak that thinks it can and should control lust. Apart from creating a sexual bureaucracy— the vice squads that arrest them, the Crown attorneys who prosecute them, the lawyers who defend them — nothing has changed. The sex is still there. It will always be.

Over the years, I have covered countless commissions and task forces and public consultations on prostitution. Inevitably, somebody will propose creating red-light districts — sex ghettos — where prostitutes can operate legally, under a stern regulatory eye, subject to health inspection, taxation, and otherwise treated with odious paternalism. The implication is that prostitutes require looking after, as if they were children or morons, and the rest of us need to be protected from them. They have to be segregated.

This is so palpably not the way to go. But nobody listens to the core pleading of sex-trade workers that prostitution be "decriminalized" so they can work safely from their homes, without threat of arrest, in control of their environment and their patrons.

"Here's the major problem,'' says Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada (founded 1983, née Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes), and a practitioner for decades. "The existing legislation sees what we do as a vice. It doesn't see it as a legitimate business.''

Bawdy house rules make it illegal to work from their homes. "Living off the avails," intended to curb pimping, isolates them. "That criminalizes all of our healthy and normal relationships. We're not allowed to have a lover, a spouse, a roommate. We're so dirty, so morally bankrupt, that anyone who associates with us should be in jail. If I send a Christmas present to my parents, technically even that's illegal, because it comes from the profits of prostitution.''

This is what happens in most jurisdictions, such as Amsterdam, where prostitution has been legalized: The house gets 50 per cent, the government takes 25 per cent, the women work 10-hour shifts, they're not permitted to decline a client, and the brothel operator commonly extorts sex for himself into the bargain. Dutch women on the game won't accept those conditions so they work illegally. "Those women in the windows? All foreigners, from Eastern European countries,'' says Scott. "They're the only ones willing to put up with that level of extortion.''

The international trafficking in sex slaves, that's an entirely different problem and should not be conflated with prostitution as a legitimate career choice. "If there's extortion, charge their handlers,'' says Scott. "Assault, intimidation, coercion, forcible confinement — charge them. If prostitution is decriminalized, it will make it a lot easier for those girls to get away. Deal with it as an immigration matter. As it is, we can't get to her. She's terrified of the police, of being deported."

Scott is equally contemptuous of the perception that prostitutes are unclean and need to be monitored up the wazoo. In fact, health studies in the United States have shown that sexually transmitted diseases are far less common among prostitutes than the general population. "I don't see anybody demanding that our clients be tested for STDs. See, they're morally clean. But prostitutes have been taking care of their own sexual health since before the invention of penicillin. And if the state tries to go poking around in my vagina, I won't allow it.''

It was Pierre Elliott Trudeau who famously declared that the state doesn't belong in the bedroom.

It doesn't belong in a prostitute's $-spot either.

http://www.thestar.com/article/154014

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

Eros.com Lawsuit

2007-01-22T08:56:48Z

If you are a woman and have ever bought an ad from Eros.com check out this post from another forum. It has important info for you.

Apparently they charge women but not men and it turns out that is illegal, and the woman who filed the suit won, not only for herself but everyone!

www.mypinkbook.com/dcforum2...2984.html

Feel free to repost wherever you feel it is appropriate.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 5 replies

Prostitutes, smugglers boost Greek economy

2006-10-11T02:32:20Z

Official: Illicit businesses to be added into country's gross domestic product

ATHENS - Prostitutes and smugglers will give the Greek economy an unexpected boost as their illicit activities will now be counted in the country's official ecomomic output, a senior official said this week.

Under pressure from the European Union to cut its deficits, Greece is revising its gross domestic product to include part of the booming black economy, boosting its output by at least 10 percent in 2006, the country's chief statistician told Reuters.

"The revised GDP will include some money from illegal activities, such as money from cigarette and drinks smuggling, prostitution and money laundering," National Statistics Service (NSS) chief Manolis Kontopyrakis said in an interview.

Greece’s economic output was 180 billion euros ($228 billion) in 2005 and is estimated at 194 billion euros this year, while the black economy is estimated at about 40-60 billion euros a year.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

I love N.Z.

2006-08-09T04:02:34Z

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A lunchtime parade of topless porn stars down the main street of New Zealand's biggest city has been given official approval — as no laws will be broken.

The parade later this month will feature up to 30 porn stars riding on the back of motorcycles or in open cars through Auckland's CBD to promote an erotica exposition.

The bare breast drive has been held informally since 2003, but this is the first time permission has been sought, and given, by Auckland City Council.

Organizer Steve Crow said it would promote an erotica expo that opens in the city Aug 25.

Several city councilors opposed to the parade were surprised to find it had been given a green light without them being consulted.

They learned of the approval from a council memo from events and promotions manager Annabel Lush, which noted that it was not against the law to go topless on the city's Queen Street.

They also were told police had approved the parade and would be in attendance to ensure road safety.

Councilor Noelene Raffills said the parade would be too distracting for a central shopping district during the busy noontime.

"It is not like a television set you can turn off or a book you can shut," Raffills was reported telling The New Zealand Herald newspaper Tuesday.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Interview With Mega-Brothel PR Rep

2006-08-07T08:11:07Z

BERLIN - For a while now, the cat and mouse game between law enforcement, the sex industry and the sex trade has gone on without abatement. The suggestion in some jurisdictions is that the ultimate act of gender equality exists in the form of the global legalisation of prostitution - giving women the ultimate control over their own bodies in order to create the proper institutions and infrastructure to build safe methods to promote sexual health and wellness.

http://globalsecurityreport.com/article.php?story=artemis-owners-mega-brothel-management

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

"We're Not Dead Yet"

2006-08-05T17:48:01Z

Thought this may be of interest to you all. I know I'll be there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ONSIX GALLERY PRESENTS
http://www.onsixgallery.com/pages/schedule.html

WE'RE NOT DEAD:
A Benefit for the San Francisco Needle Exchange and Homeless Youth Alliance
Friday, August 11th, 2006
7:00pm - 2:00am

MUSIC:
look back and laugh
outraged
never healed
mindless mutant

ARTISTS:
Carl Auge
Amanda Beane
Freddy Corbin
David V. D'Andrea
Eve Ekman
Blas Espino
Chris Fitzpatrick
Jana Flynn
Jeff Gleason
Mary Howe
Camille Johnson
Ben Lovejoy
Jeanne Lydon
Jason Mcafee
Shay Nowick
Kyle Ranson
Jason Roberts-Dobrin
Moses Saarni
Paul Schiek
Sham
Stefan Simikich
Jill Stortzh
Scott Sylvia
Ed Templeton
Alison Tharp
Amy Thompson

onsix gallery
60 sixth street san francisco, ca
7pm - 2am $10-$10,000 suggested donation 21+

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posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

New sexworker website & forum.

2006-07-31T10:00:35Z

Check out this website. Though its being going for a while, it has a new forum addition..I have been writing for this site for a while now & am a moderator on forum.
http://www.thestormproject.org/

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 3 replies

Seeking New Place to Live

2006-07-21T18:49:30Z

I rarely post to any of the tribes I belong to...but I decided to 'hit them up' in my time of need.
I am a single woman, 33, no pets,non-smoker,fully employed @ UCSF as a social worker .Currently I am in a roomate situation that I've lived in for 3yrs.The Owners are now selling this building. I am clean, resourceful, friendly, easy going, and relatively quiet.The goal is to rent in an area close to public transportation. My credit isn't immaculate(school loans and an eviction in 93, unfortunatley) but I can provide personal and work references as well as proof of income.

If you know of anyone looking for a roomate,a sublet filler or own property with studios/one bedrooms, please send me an message.

Have a Fab day and enjoy your weekend!
G.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Sex/ Human Trafficking in the Bay Area

2006-06-25T18:52:17Z

I really want to educate myself about the issues regarding human trafficing, partuclarly how it effects sex workers locally. It seems like a super-complicated issue, but one that I feel it is my responsibility to know more about.

Any leads on resources, classes, info, zines, books, anything would be greatly appretiated.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 5 replies

An Idea born in the 90's

2006-06-09T10:25:38Z

Back in the late 90's I was looking for a way that the local Johns could tell
hookers from cops. Maybe a piece of custome jewelry. Then it hit me.

What is the one thing so sacred the goverment fears to directly attack it?

Answer Religeion!

So I set about creating this Sex Cult like thing. Toss a dab of this a dab of that.
Just enought to make it look real enough to get NPO status. THe Internet was farely
new at the time So I stumbled upon a few sites... Then it happened....

I believe the site Hooker Heroes was the first ... I discovered That there really WAS Temple
Prostitution & I began studying Paganism baught a copy of CAW's Green Egg, A Book titles
The World's Oldest Profession. Read & Researched & Read some more. The longer I
researched the more I learned.

As I researched I wished I could travel to see the Greek & Roman Temples, The Zugarats, & other
Temple sites. Then I though why the hell go there when they can be built here?

Why not inlist the local colleges to have the engineering students & Archects draft & build a NEW Temple
just like they had in the old days. An EXACT duplicate. Then have folks perform rites, Rituals, Fesivals
& Ceremonies as they were done in that period.

Unfortunately much was lost over time...

I then discovered Scarlet's Site. I started reading about the reality prostitutes face. I got to know the
local girls by name (some have died others moved on others retired). Again the Fantasy shed away &
a more realistic vision was born.

It's current form a tribe I call Temple of Ishtar. Yes it still is about Johns meeting Prostitutes BUT it's
MORE than that.

It's a place where sex workers can work & live in a safe place. Recieve the services they wish & give
back to the comunity by providing an educational expirience.

It would be a GREAT honor Scarlot if you would join my tribe. You've taught me much of the reality
& guided me in this.

Here is what I've etched out so far.

Ive decided that Castes are the Main funtionaries of the organization. Guilds are the one that keep the
Organization running. "Orders" are the Frats & Sororities of the Organization.

What I have is this.

God/ Goddess Caste. This caste is pretty miuch self explanitory A Person with
Good Looks & Charisma (Neither I have) Sits at Rites, Rituals, Festivals & Ceremonies.
Each representing a seperate culture.

Elder Caste... This group is made of retired Sex Workers, Caste & Guildmenbers. They act more
as Teachers & Mentors plus they run the organization.

Oracle/Prophetess Caste. This is a Female Only Caste & self explanitory in what they do.

Priest/Priestess: These perform all the rest of the work like Sacred Sex, Massage, Handfasting,
Rites, Rituals, Fesivals, Celebrations, Initiations. They are the Clergy in every way.

Finally the temple Security. This is also women only a goup of sister protecors. I obviously chose
Amazons as the name of this caste for the women warriors of antiquity.

Then there are the Guilds one for every type of job or Hobby type.

Finally The "Orders" this is a sub-cluster... This would alow for those in the guilds to denote
Heirarchy or rank. Maybe seperate groups Need a Doctor then go to the healer's guild.
Want a bread for dinner see the Epicurean Guild for a baker.

Servivices I see offered... GED/Diploma Classes. University projeects, Clinical Health Care,
Counsuling, food, shelter, clothing needs. Whatever other services a Sex worker would need.

It's goal ultimatly would be to get a street prostitute or anyone else a hand up. If they choose to leave
then fine they shoose to stay then that is fine as well. Where they go will be up to them not a Pimp,
"Boyfriend", Politician, Judge or Fundamentalist .

I hope many of you will join and help me get this up and running.

TIA

Ike

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 3 replies

conference to decrim prostitution in Las Vegas

2006-05-29T04:51:41Z

http://www.desireealliance.org/Conference.htm
I'm on the diversity committee for this thing--please go on to register. There are scholarships available for all sorts of diversities, and though it is past the deadline, there's a possibility you could squeeze through. Luminaries like Scarlot Harlot, Veronica Monet, Leslie Bull, and Jeanette Angell will probably be coming. Affinity groups will be formed--etc etc etc
Plus, it's all in Vegas, baby, vegas. I myself will be lecturing on psych incarceration; forced drug treatment; the conception of pros as pathology even though it's obviously a socioeconomic phenomenon; anti-pros groups like Children of the Night and their complicity with jails and prisons; anti-trafficking groups that muddy it for everyone--sex workers in forced labor who can't reach out for help b/c they make immigration laws harsher and are complicit with INS, pther forced labor workers who can't get attention to their plight b/c the newsmedia would like something sexier to tittilate their audience, and workers who choose their sex work who are presumed to be brainwashed slaves; and finally, john schools, classes tricks are forced to go to during the rare occassions they get caught, where an incarcerated prostitute is dragged out and forced to tell them how they exploit women.
Neeedless to say, it's going to be fun, and you can all say your own mouthfuls during your affinity groups.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

current policy on sex work in US?

2006-05-21T16:56:06Z

I need quick bullet points, and I have this:

*Prostitution (sex acts for money) is illegal

*Massage is legal, unless you massage the genitals

*Professional domination is legal, as long as there is no sexual interaction

*Pornography is legal as long as you have documentation of age

*Exotic dancing is legal, lap dancing is legal, but only under certain restrictions (ex: nude establishments must prohibit sale of alcohol)

I wanted to focus on those areas for this part, but I want to make sure I have the laws right. Anyone?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 13 replies

Sexual abuse

2006-05-14T06:57:17Z

Hi everyone, I'm Daisy. I was a prostitute for 23 years, but no longer see it as an option for me. It used to be something I could always fall back on, but not anymore. Now I'm interested in seeing into the truth of things. I too used to call myself a "sacred whore" and thought I was empowering myself by taking back my sexual choices and making money from it. I held that belief for a long time.

I don't quite see things the same way anymore. So, I want to ask a question that I haven't heard anyone here ask yet. How many of the prostitutes in this tribe were sexually abused or raped? I would really like to know. All the women I stripped with and all the women I hooked with were all survivors. So, whats so sacred or glamorous about acting out sexually in this way? It's about manipulation, and power, not healing or even sex.

I have no objections to decriminalizing prostitution. People are going to do it whether it's legal or not. I do have objections about prostitution being glamourized and even given politically correct descriptions like "sex trade industry" or "sex worker". Ask the junky whores on Capp street what they call themselves. They'll say, I'm a ho. That's the truth of it.

The bottom line for me is, if a person values themselves, prostitution is not an option. I'm spending alot of time and money in therapy to heal from what others have done to me, but also what I have done to myself.

I don't expect any of you to agree with me, or like what I say, but I felt called to tell my truth and give my thoughts and opinions on the matter. AND, it would be great if you all could answer my question and have an open and honest discussion about what you do it for without getting defensive or blaming me.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 16 replies

Decriminilization In SF?

2006-05-12T17:41:48Z

This Appeared in SFWeekly

Erotic Service Providers Union

Last Friday, the founder of the Erotic Service Providers Union marched down
to the Cat Club, petition in hand, to catch revelers at the Mondo Porno Party. Maxine Doogan expected the sex 'n' rock party to be fertile ground for her political crusade. One year into her drive to organize sex workers, Doogan is already determined to take it to the next level, and is collecting 10,486 signatures to get an initiative on the November ballot to
decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco. Doogan went through the law enforcement wringer herself in Seattle, where she was charged with running an escort service and eventually pled guilty to a misdemeanor. She says the current system in San Francisco hurts sex workers by making them unlikely to report violence and unsafe working conditions to the police.

But in the petition's fine print, there's a clause that feels less like a
blow against exploitation and more like good intentions run amok. Not only
would the ordinance end the arrest and prosecution of prostitutes and johns,
it would also prevent the city from spending money on social services for
both prostitutes and their clients.

"Why in the hell would they want to do that?" asked Linda Klee, an assistant
district attorney who channels many arrested women into social service
programs.

It's a natural question. The city funds a number of award-winning programs,
most of which are administered in cooperation with the nonprofit Standing
Against Global Exploitation. SAGE offers programs on life skills, therapy,
drug counseling, and career training to women and girls who are directed to
the organization by the courts, as an alternative to jail time; the group
also runs a program commonly called the "Johns School."

All these programs are part of the D.A.'s focus on restorative justice, says
Klee. "The idea is to get people out of the cycle. Rather than have them go
through the jail process, they can go through these programs, if they
choose, to get off the street."

To Doogan, however, the programs look like moral condemnation. "Those
so-called rehabilitation programs are always exiting strategies," she says
indignantly. "It's like being given a pink slip ‹ you're out of work. That's
nothing to celebrate, that's nothing to be given an award for. That is
despicable." Doogan says it all stems from the assumption that prostitutes
are clamoring to leave their jobs and take up new lines of work, an
assumption she heartily refutes.

"There's this whole cottage industry that has sprung up around prostitution
programs," she continues. "Interrupting the market, targeting the clients,
trying to suppress prostitution, and it never works. Prostitution is always
gonna be here. All those programs do is profit from the criminalization of
our occupation." Essentially, Doogan wants these programs to get out of the
way of her own profit-making. She explains that she's a current worker in
the sex industry; she gives no more details, but her phone sure rings a lot.

Doogan reserves a special ire for the SAGE project, and it seems likely that
her personal vendetta played a role in the initiative's proposals. Although
the initiative doesn't mention the group by name, SAGE is clearly in the
crosshairs. In the budget for fiscal year 2005 to 2006, the nonprofit
received about $734,000 through contracts with the District Attorney's
Office, the Department of Public Health, and several other offices. If
Doogan's initiative makes it to the ballot and San Francisco voters actually
say aye, all that funding would disappear.

So it's no wonder that Norma Hotaling, founder and executive director of
SAGE, gasps in shock when she hears the details of the petition going
around. She quickly regroups, saying that sex worker activists have
condemned her group many times in the past. But although the former sex
worker clearly hates the dynamics of the sex industry, she says that doesn't
bleed over into a judgmental attitude toward workers. "We do not in any
circumstances require women to get out of prostitution as a condition of
services," Hotaling says. "Most of the people that come to our program are
women who walk or run through the door voluntarily, begging to have help to
get off the streets and to stay alive. We save lives on a daily basis, and
we give women real choices, and they ask for that."

While this scrap over sex worker services is relatively new, the Bay Area
has been debating decriminalization for a decade now. In 1996, the San
Francisco Task Force on Prostitution recommended the decriminalization of
prostitution, but nothing more came of it than chatter and outrage. In 2004,
several activists put a decriminalization initiative on the Berkeley ballot,
but it was defeated. Doogan is not deterred by these previous failures,
saying that the time is now right for a paradigm shift. "I think we have a
great shot," she says. Should the initiative succeed, Doogan says sex
workers can still get the kind of social services provided by SAGE simply
from programs that cater to the general public.

Perhaps she's right: Maybe the neediest women would struggle through the
bureaucracy to receive medical care, counseling, and drug treatment. But it
seems more likely that while Doogan's decriminalization initiative might
help them stand proud on the street corner, it would also leave them out in
the cold.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

essay on prostitution

2006-05-10T10:36:01Z

The Politics of Lust: Prostitution Undressed

Whore. It's a current hot-button word, bringing to mind high heels, short skirts and heroin junkies. It brings to mind the kind of girl you see on the TV show COPS, getting arrested on a street corner, barely aware they're going to jail. These women are victims of society, probably on one drug or another, raped and beaten by pimps and johns, likely to live fast and die young. So then why would radical feminists be calling for prostitution, the cause of these dire situations, to be legalized?
Because that's a small, inaccurate piece of what prostitution really looks like.
Prostitutes range wildly from the stereotypical street hookers to classy San Francisco “geishas”. Some call themselves “sacred intimates”, going the path of a sensual high priestess. Others are trained massage therapists. Many prostitutes (who also call themselves “escorts” to avoid legal problems) are well-educated girls and guys who are just out of or putting themselves through college, their classes ranging from Business to Fashion, and have talents ranging from languages to computer repair. There's thick prostitutes and Glamour magazine models, nymphets and mature older women. And in case that wasn't enough variety, there's men and transsexuals to spice the escort world up a bit.
While their stats may vary, almost all of them come with a disclaimer-
“Money exchanged in legal adult personal services for modeling is simply for time and companionship. Anything else that may or may not happen is a matter of personal choice and personal preference between two or more consenting adults of a legal age.” (Eros San Francisco: Nadia Kai)
This disclaimer is necessary for any and all escort advertisements, since escorting is illegal in most of the United States. By stating that the money is for time and companionship, a prostitute may get around the actual exchange of sex for money. Many are careful with their words and actions, using euphemisms such as “professional companion” for what they do. Others work under the guise of massage parlors or strip clubs. The Internet has been a popular place to post advertisements, making street prostitution an unnecessary and dangerous alternative. Since most of the prostitutes who are arrested are street prostitutes, this firewall can be an invaluable protection.
Considering police are always on the alert for prostitutes, and are eager to arrest them, this precaution can be the difference between jail and freedom. The police get almost too much freedom on what they can do to a suspected whore. A St. Paul, Minnesota government website (Prostitution Arrest Photos.) shows photos of women and men arrested for engaging in prostitution; one glance shows you that most of the women are black, and the two johns are older white men. I'm unsure as to the point in displaying photos of these people, along with their full name and stats. A few towns insist that their officers engage in sex acts before making an arrest, such as the publicized Spotsylvania, Virginia case. In some areas, this tactic works against the officers, causing the cases to be dropped. But in others, such as Spotsylvania, this abuse of power causes the prostitutes to be convicted of felonies (Associated Press). The hypocrisy of arresting women for prostitution and requiring that a police officer use their services in order to do so is an obvious abuse of power. Many officers who arrest prostitutes abuse the women, refusing to read them their rights and using force. One woman, recounting one of her arrests, said she had never even agreed to any sexual services, but just accepted money from an officer:
“In a few seconds he flashed a brown wallet and tells me I'm under arrest for prostitution.
'No, I'm not. I didn't do nothing. I did not agree to anything verbally.
'Get up against the wall. You're under arrest.'...
He grabbed me. Since I did not get a clear look at any type of badge, I got scared and thought I was going to be raped and robbed (note: something which happens a lot on the street- rapists pose as police)...he grabbed me by my hair and slammed me against a brick-building wall...He grabbed me by my hair and forcibly dragged me for about three meters. He then called for assistance... the other officer kept telling me that he would like to take me north somewhere and he would beat the shit out of me and leave me for dead. He then told the other officer that the next person who resists would be shot, and I told him to shoot me and just get it over with.” (Leigh, 2004)
Her story is only one of many that express the same sentiment; police officers more likely to abuse you than clients are, and if you get raped while on the street, you're helpless to get legal help.
The statistics of the actual arrests are also skewed wildly, and express incredible accounts of racism. A disproportionate number of prostitutes arrested and sent to jail are women of color, although a minority of prostitutes are ethnic minorities. 85-90% of those arrested work on the street, yet street work accounts for approximately 20% of prostitutes, though the figures may vary from state to state. (Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics). While many who oppose prostitution feel that street prostitutes are a danger to neighborhoods and children, they fail to recognize that street hooking is only one form of prostitution, and that many other forms exist under the radar. Claims that drug use is a problem among prostitutes rarely proves true in statistics; half of the escorts who use substances did so before they became prostitutes, and most of those who use drugs are on the street. Prostitutes who are inside, whether it be in massage parlors or incall/outcalls, are much less likely to engage in substance abuse. (Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics). Instead of trying to decriminalize prostitution and allow these women and men a safe place in which to conduct their business, these opponents of decriminalization choose to increase police and legal action, which neither solves the underlying problem of why women become prostitutes or protects them once they become prostitutes.
It's interesting, too, that the government feels the need to crack down on what happens between two(or more!) consenting adults, simply because there's a cash exchange for sexual encounters. Other forms of bodywork are acceptable in our society, as long as they don't give genital pleasure. Working as a masseuse is perfectly legal, until they include genitals in their massage; one woman felt shame about her work at an erotic massage parlor, simply because she included the male's penis in her touch. While giving someone's body pleasure is a legal profession, it stops being acceptable if the pleasure is sexual. Another ridiculous example of this antisexual stigma is the professional Dominatrix. These women beat clients for money, a type of sex work that is legal as long as they don't provide sexual satisfaction, leading one to conclude that paying for pain is acceptable, but not pleasure. Prostitution's illegality is irrational, and is really an indication of a greater issue- our deeply rooted problem with sexuality in general (Ince 222-232).
Some people dislike the concept of prostitution, not because it's sexual in nature, but because it “victimizes women”. While it's foolish to ignore that some prostitutes are victimized by pimps, clients and domestic abuse, it's also crazy to ignore that this is in part because we have no job perimeters for prostitution. In areas like Europe, where prostitution is decriminalized, there are areas one can go to find that activity. By shutting down motels, brothels and massage parlors, US police force the activity into the street, where neighbors are unwillingly exposed to it. To call these women “victims” because of the sex work they do ignores the fact that arresting women for sex crimes can render them unemployable, thereby making them more likely to abuse drugs and begin criminal activity. These women are made victims more by government practices than by their clients. The crime rate has lowered in Nevada, where brothels are available and sex work is legal in certain places. In fact, while many people work in the sex industry because they cannot make ends meet any other way, other sex workers simply enjoy the work and receive both income and personal satisfaction from it. One such sex worker wrote: "All in all prostitution has been good to me and I have been good to it. . . . I don't really have to work anymore, but I love the business, so I still see my regular clients" (Sommer). Contrary to media's portrayal, many prostitutes are independent contractors, able to decide on the clients they want to see, when they want to work and how much they want to charge for their services. This independence allows for a happier work situation that may offer them the time needed for school, taking care of children, or another job.
Feminists have long split over the issue of prostitution. Traditional feminists see prostitution as reenacting gender roles, making women into commodities to be bought and sold. One extreme example is Andrea Dworkin, who states that prostitution is like gang rape, punctuated by a money exchange (Ince 229). Sex-positive feminists, in contrast, believe that prostitution is a job like any other, and that the stigma has to do more with our problems with women being sexual beings than with the buying and selling of services. Margot St James is credited as saying “In this prostituting society, we all have to hustle, and I'd rather suck cock than kiss ass!” I believe this points to the fact that our society is based on the buying and selling of goods and services, and that to some extent or another, every member of our society has to whore themselves out for some reason, whether it be to go further in the business or get a better offer. Perhaps the type of prostitution isn't sexual, but even job sites recommend you learn how to “sell yourself”. They ask, why is it more acceptable for a woman to be a brownnoser in a business than it is for her to work for herself as a prostitute? Both sides have excellent points, and I believe the answer will be found somewhere in the middle of both.
Prostitution is often called the “world's oldest profession”. While that may or may not be true, we do know that sex work was initially something that sacred temple priestesses did as a service to bring followers closer to the goddess. Its criminalization came along with Christianity and its subsequent criminalization of everything sexual and feminine. I believe that we need to look back to where the selling of sex moved from sacred to profane, and pick apart the problem from there. I don't think it's as simple as whores are victims or whores are empowered... I think society has woven a web around sexuality that is far more complicated. I believe only when we can step back, and look at how we criminalize all types of sexuality and desire, can we truly begin to create a solution to prostitution that validates sex workers and the clients that visit them.

Associated Press. "Sheriff Defends Detectives Allegedly Having Sex To Bust Prostitutes." NCB4.com News 13 Feb 2006. 27 Feb 2006 <http://www.nbc4.com/news/7001168/detail.html>

"Eros San Francisco: Nadia Kai." San Francisco Women for Couples, Female Adult Entertainers for Men and Women in San Francisco, CA. Eros Guide. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.eros-guide.com/sections/w-couples.htm>.

Ince, John . The Politics of Lust. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2004.

Leigh, Carol. Unrepentant Whore: Collected Works of Scarlot Harlot. San Francisco: Last Gasp, 2004.

"Prostitution in The United States - The Statistics." PENet: Prostitution Issues: Statistics. PENet. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.bayswan.org/stats.html>.

"Prostitution Arrest Photos.." This Week's Prostitution Photos--Saint Paul Police. 13 Feb 2006. St. Paul Police Dept.. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.stpaul.gov/depts/police/prostitution_photos_current.html>.

Sommer, Joseph C. Legalize Prostitution. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.humanismbyjoe.com/prostitution.htm>.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 3 replies

Guatamala`s murdered women/en masse.

2006-05-09T16:00:16Z

Has anybody either seen the programme on TV or read about all these women being murdered in Guatamala?
http://web.amnesty.org/wire/June2005/Guatemala
I was horrified to hear that there are about 600 or more women murdered there every year, for the past few years...apparently there is factions that because of previous wars with Guatamala decided to cull at source their future possible warriors...so they murder the women who are at the most fertile times of their lives, under 30yrs old, usually.
Their methods are brutal to say the least...decapitation & dissection of their bodies...the authorities are not dealing with this terrible crime of misogny & their stance is one of impunity & disorganisation to say the least.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

Whores in society.

2006-05-02T11:46:21Z

I have been reading a fascinating book by Nickie Roberts, a UK ex-prostitute, called `Whores in History`, & thought you may be interested also in this para:

`The United nations figure that women do two thirds of the worlds work & recieve 10% of the worlds income & own 1% of the worlds assets; this spells out the truth about prostitution.
Women work at least twice as hard as men, get much less income; therefore we are the sellers to men who are the buyers.
This shows the impossibility of eradicating prostitution. Every attempt to do so by absolutists monarchies, moral vigilantes & police states have met with failure, there are simply too many positive factors motivating women to sell sex: compelling reasons for economic survival & personal independence above all, as the above testifies.
In light of this to debate the morality of prostitution is meaningless when the fundemantal issue of womens poverty is not addressed; & yet this is what has happened over the years.
Commentators & moralists of all persuations have simpkly by-passed economics & focued instead on womens supposed sexual immorality as an underlaying factor which disposes them to prostitution. But in a society which is dominated by the marketplace & which the vast majority of people have to sell their labour in order to survive, it is inevitable that some women-& men-will continue to provide sexual services.
legislation against the sex trade historically go hand in hand with intolerance of sexual freedom in general & womens sexual freedom in particular. Whores have always been prime targets of this repression. The whore is seen as dangerously free: her financial & sexual autonomy strikes at the very roots of patriarchy, threatening the interests of male moralists & legislators, some of whom are her best customers. And the whore if free in the sense she does not bind her sexuality to any one man; on the contrary, she openly challenges the notion of female monogamy. many women identify & recognise their own acive sexuality as `whorish` in their fantasies; but dare not identify with prostitutes publicly shows the extent to which this last, unexplored aspect of sexuality has yet to come out of the closet.`

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 9 replies

Whore's College '06?

2006-04-11T22:15:07Z

I am new to sex work within the last year or so. I went on Bayswans site a few weeks ago to see if there was any sort of organization for events or such and I ran onto the "whores college" of 2005. I thought it was 06 and started planning for it, then I re-read it and noticed it was an old post.

Does anyone have any info as to why there is no Whores College this year? Is there anything in the makes. I wish this world didn't have to be so sneaky and covert. Are there any events going on for Whores rights?

Thanks to all that read and reply!

CHeers!
Madeliene

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 5 replies

Exciting! 52 Members want to discuss Decrim

2006-04-09T20:27:40Z

I created this a while ago and looked to see people have joined.
My latest little rant is that Gloria Steinem came out in opposition to decriminalization of prostitution, endorsing the opposition to our Berkeley campaign. Angela Davis endorsed decrim and our resolution...

So I ask folks:
"Are you an Angela Davis feminist or a Gloria Steinem feminist?"

People are shocked that Gloria is against decrim...

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 12 replies

ESPU-CA Petition To Decriminilize Prostitution In San Francisco

2006-04-06T23:34:46Z

There is a petition floating around San Francisco to put an initiatvie on the ballow to decriminilize prostition. Anybody know anything about it? I think the ESPU-CA is doing it.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 2 replies

http://www.myadultspace.com/signup/

2006-03-19T22:25:39Z

no one under 18 allowed there!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Looking to interview sex workers for paper

2006-03-18T19:16:20Z

I'm going forward and creating an 8-10 page paper on prostitution for one of my classes by juicing up the paper I posted earlier.
I'm hoping to get a few interviews in with some sex workers, male, female, trans, etc.... what's the best way to go about doing that?
Thanks!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 3 replies

Re-Posted from another forum

2006-03-16T21:10:48Z

Daytona Prostitutes are Hunting a Serial Killer

and what are the cops doing? hunting the whores...

www.local6.com/news/7977302/detail.html

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

I am horny

2006-03-03T22:24:18Z

how $$$ ?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

My show on prostitution.

2005-12-01T04:42:23Z

http://www.berkeleycomposer.com/SexandtheHomeless.mp3

Stay in touch to hear more of my show in my blog.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Old Prostitutes Find Work in Rural Australia

2005-11-29T16:28:19Z

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Prostitutes as old as 70 continue to work in rural Australia, pushed out of the cities due to strong competition from younger and more attractive sex workers, the author of a study said on Tuesday.

Brothels are legal across most of Australia, but states have strict laws against soliciting and running brothels in residential areas, and near churches or schools.

The research, by John Scott of the University of New England, examined prostitution in rural areas of New South Wales state. He found the sex industry has flourished in rural towns, with many prostitutes making regular visits.

"I've likened some of them to traveling musicians, in that some of them might be based in metropolitan centers and they go out and travel -- they tour the bush," Scott told Reuters.

He said a sex worker might pass through a country town every couple of months, but would advertise in advance and book up appointments. He said sex workers in rural areas tended to be older, and provide more companionship than city sex workers.

"In a business that is based on looks and age a lot of the time, it became increasingly hard for workers as they progressed in age," Scott said.

"If they had been in the business for 20 or 30 years, as a couple were, they found themselves increasingly working further away from the metropolitan centers."

Scott examined ads in rural newspapers and talked to sex workers for his study. He said the oldest sex worker he spoke to was 58 years old, but those interviewed reported working with older women in their 60s and one as old as 70.

Scott said rural clients tended to be more polite, and be interested in company as well as sex.

"A lot of the time these blokes just want a bit of a cuddle, or to talk," he said.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

Re-visioning Prostitution Policy - Conference in Las Vegas July 2006

2005-11-19T00:08:45Z

I'm just posting this for someone else. If interested please contact them through the information provided. Thanks

__________________

The Desiree Alliance presents
"Re-visioning Prostitution Policy:
Creating Space for Sex Worker Rights and Challenging Criminalization"
July 9-12, 2006 Las Vegas, Nevada
Sponsored by the Desiree Alliance in conjunction with
BAYSWAN, SWOP-USA, COYOTE, Best Practices Policy Project,
in collaboration with
University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
Department of Sociology and Department of Women's Studies and the
Women's Research Institute of Nevada
Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2006 Please send submissio
ns to: lvprost@unlv.nevada.edu

Call For Papers and Workshop Proposals:
A coalition of sex workers, social scientists, professional sex ed
ucators, health professionals and their supporting networks announce a c
onference in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 9-12 2006. You can join the conferen
ce organizing group and participate in the process by emailing Stacey Sw
imme staceyswimme@yahoo.com
This conference will bring together sex workers and sex worker
advocates and allies interested in working toward decriminalization of
prostitution in the U.S., to provide training/networking resources for a
dvocates, to create spaces for dialogue among workers, supporters, academ
ics and policy makers, to identify workers' most pressing needs and to c
ollaborate on strategies for social and political change on local, state
, and national levels. The focus is to develop strategies and leadership
skills for ending the criminalization of sex work and sex workers. The
goal is to empower sex workers and their advocates/allies with the knowl
edge, strength, confidence, and capacity to put these practices into act
ion. We invite paper submissions and proposals for workshops addressing
social, cultural, economic, political and strategic issues regarding the
decriminalization of prostitution.
Specifically we invite papers addressing:
• Analyses of existing policies surrounding sex work and their s
ocial, cultural and economic affects
• Social, cultural, or economic analyses of alternatives to crim
inalization of sex work internationally
• Analyses of, and experiences with, alternatives to criminaliza
tion of sex work including variants of decriminalization and legalizatio
n
• Demographic analyses of existing forms of prostitution in the
United States
• Workplace issues relevant to sex work, including unionization,
professionalization, licensing, health, customer relations, dealing wit
h employers
• Negative impacts of prostitution policies on workers including
stigma, stress, fear and impact of arrest, violence, burnout
• Public opinion polls on prostitution and other strategies to d
evelop voter support for alternatives to criminalization
• Strategies for working with property owners, the public, and p
olicy makers to develop political allies
• Alternatives to criminalization, current trends, pitfalls and
progress, framing the discussion
• Working with the criminal justice system on alternatives to cr
iminalization
• The effects of punitive policies which target clients (John sc
hools, shaming and billboard campaigns, curb crawler policies, etc.)
• Specific current issues such as mandatory HIV testing, the 'an
ti-prostitution loyalty oath' regarding funding in the context of traffi
cking and HIV prevention, efforts to increase criminalization of commerc
ial sex in federal law and other issues
We're also accepting proposals for practical workshops includi
ng, but not limited to the following subjects:
•Advocacy and Outreach: How to build local networks of S
ex Workers and supporters. How to identify and participate in existing n
etworks. How to represent the broader voice of a marginalized segment of
society. Peer-based outreach. How to set up Know Your Rights and Advocac
y trainings in your region. Court Support. Empowering under-represented
communities within the sex industry.
•Fundraising/Grant-writing: How to raise money for projects that
aim to decriminalize prostitution. How to get funding for an existing o
rganization. How to get seed money to create an organization.
•Self-Defense Training
•Protecting Our Families: Custody rights, legal guardianship, ha
ving an emergency plan, and other family issues.
•Health/Safety Issues for Workers: Drugs, safe-sex, personal cho
ice, mandatory STD screening
•Direct Services: Identifying and serving the needs of our local
communities.
•Legal/Political strategies for decriminalization: Grassroots or
ganizing models. Methods of political reform. Strategies for social chan
ge.
•Labor Organizing: How unions work, benefits, strategies, how-to
, etc.
•Lobbying: Who to talk to. What to say. Lobbying packets. How it
works. How to dress. Where to go. When to go. Lobbying campaigns.
•Media Training: Who should talk to the media? How to wr
ite a press release. Creating a press list. Creating talking points and s
ound bites. Know your audience. Organizing press conferences.

Please include with your proposal:
Your name and affiliation (if any)
Background/Experience (One paragraph summarizing your interest in
or experience with the sex industry)
One paragraph summary of research/workshop
Outline of research/workshop

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Mandatory STD testing, yes or no?

2005-11-18T00:58:25Z

A question that oftn comes up is mandatory STD testing. Are you against it or for it?
I personally am against it!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 9 replies

sex work rights merch?

2005-11-17T20:19:58Z

I'd like to add some t-shirts to my wardrobe that express my support for sex worker rights, but can't find anyone selling any. :/ Any ideas?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 6 replies

data on sex work?

2005-11-14T01:25:18Z

i'll be doing a report for my class on sex work, and how it benefits society. any data people know of to share, or websites to delve into?

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 3 replies

The way MOST people( not only the rightwing)veiw prostitution

2005-10-29T19:05:29Z

My thoughts on why I believe that most people in society are totally turned off by the idea of legalized protitution are formed through conversations and research ive had on this subject. Here are some...I remember when that measure was trying to be passed in Berkeley and people were in an uproar about it,even those who considered themselves liberals or open-minded. A typical ignorant arguement was 'that women were being exploited or that if Berkeley were to pass this law that the steets would be over run with street walkers and pimps = drugs,violence,disease ect...' People always think of the worst of the worst when they streotype on subjects that they are not informed in(mostly all TABOO), it happpens with prostitues,junkies,different races and many more. As far as the general misinformed veiw goes with prostitution, it seems they immediately think of cracked out whores spreading STD's and shooting up in alleys- Hey, I know that maybe the case with some but I do not think this is the majority like most. I think they have this image imbedded in their heads because when they drive around the city that's what they happen to see, what they don't see is that their are many women and men(if not most) that always practice safe sex(unlike most people that cheat on their partners with random friends), and that many of these women do not consider themselves violated and exploited but actually enjoy their profession with the perspective that two consenting adults are equally benifiting through their meeting , many of these people are responsible,educated,productive and stable people. Like I said before I am aware that there is a dark side to this profession as there is in most professions,I don't think anyone is down with the idea of children involved except for the obvious sicko pervs outthere and I don't like to see movies or some music glamorize the dark aspects of this trade such as the whole pimp'in and hoe'in shit because i believe it just further adds to the stereotypes. Even dominatrixes get a bad rap from being in the indrustry,even if some doms do engage in sex-SO Fuking WHAT?! Prostitution only happens to be the oldest profession in the world, forget the dictionary-Look at the Bible! It all is greatly frustrating to me that people are so fucking stoopid especially those who claim they are open-minded, I mean- ingorance is expected from the small of mind in socity but it's dissapointing that even intelligent folk's feed into the taboos.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 15 replies

Decriminalize prostitution - Let's discuss it

2005-08-30T18:35:43Z

Of course. How can this be against the law? This crminalization is definitely exacerbating the violence against women, trans and men in this business. We are making an effort to start decriminalizing in Berkeley with an initiative to tell Berkeley City Council to lobby in favor of repeal on the state level, instruct the police department to submit semi-annual reports about all prostitution law enforcement activities and make prostitution law enforcement the lowest priority (same level as marijuana.)

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 23 replies

Newbie Sacred Whore

2005-08-12T14:34:20Z

Hi all. I am a prof Dominatrix & Sacred Whore with 30 years exp. Also writer & artist for the empowerment of sexworkers internationally. As well as moderator for prostitute Warriors. Good to be here!

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Why does NO ONE here care about abused women?

2005-08-06T15:37:02Z

That are married...it's been proven that
50% of prostitutes clients are married men cheating.
- Cheating = abuse of marriage agreements
finances...and possible sexual abuse by the wife
getting sexual disease.

Please do not post about non married people cheating
this is about SO MANY not giving a crap about the
wife at home who's husband is cheating...got that?
respond to that.

50% of clients are cheating = why is there
absolutely NO concern for these women?

What happened to feminism? or Caring for ALL WOMEN?

I guess prostitutes are same as Far RIGHT WING
money makers in ignoring the social issues when
making money.

If I was a prostitute I'd at least have the balls
and compassion to post on my prostitution web ad
something like "don't abuse women".

It's obvious that many prostitutes don't accept
minors for clients...so on some level you are
using your MORAL compass.

why does your MORAL COMPASS have to STOP with
so many married men cheating/abusing their wives
emotionally and finacially (kids too in the family
of the cheating men)

Just why do SO MANY prostitutes that claim to be
feminists and superior thinkers IGNORE the fact
that so many of their clients are MEN abusing
their wives???

I just don't get it.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 23 replies

I just want to have flings that arent "illegalized"

2005-07-22T06:26:58Z

I mean its liek you take a pretty girl out. You give her gift, and cash. Instantly your commiting a crime. I mean, she is 18, independent, free-thinking, open-minded, and slightly better off than she was before. What is the problem? With people making "trade" to satisfy respective demands. We live in a service based economy. We shouldnt criminalize personal services, when it is how we all make our living in one form or another.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 7 replies

Is it illegal to Pimp?

2005-07-21T17:03:49Z

Is pimpin a crime, cause if it is I am a got life in prison.

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 0 replies

Madam What??

2005-06-07T19:33:29Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk./2/hi/americas/4612401.stm

An 80 year old Madam has been arrested in New Jersy & is resting well with her walker & oxygen tank..........

posted in Decriminalize Prostitution - 1 reply

Decriminalize Prostitution's topics - tribe.net

Programme on the sex industry

12,763 signatures submitted; prostitution measure expected to qualify for November ballot in SF

wheres our voice?

Why are people so frightened of sex?

helping people with lifes shit.

So Tragic. D.C. Madam Kills Self.

First Offender Prostitution Program Punishes Victimless Crime

Spitzer and prostitution...

Here is a rhetorical question...

2007 Hookers Ball

THEY'RE NOT MAKING HARLOTS LIKE THEY USED TO.

Slightly O.T. - Lawyers Petition to Defend Habeas Corpus

en

A dream

Yummie massage...

God Virus

If we decriminalize prostitution....

is there a blacklist for johns anywhere?

St. James Infirmary Resource Manual Needs Assessment

prostitution will NOT just go away..article by Toronto Star

Eros.com Lawsuit

Prostitutes, smugglers boost Greek economy

I love N.Z.

Interview With Mega-Brothel PR Rep

"We're Not Dead Yet"

New sexworker website & forum.

Seeking New Place to Live

Sex/ Human Trafficking in the Bay Area

An Idea born in the 90's

conference to decrim prostitution in Las Vegas

current policy on sex work in US?

Sexual abuse

Decriminilization In SF?

essay on prostitution

Guatamala`s murdered women/en masse.

Whores in society.

***Whore's College '06?***

Exciting! 52 Members want to discuss Decrim

ESPU-CA Petition To Decriminilize Prostitution In San Francisco

http://www.myadultspace.com/signup/

Looking to interview sex workers for paper

Re-Posted from another forum

I am horny

My show on prostitution.

Old Prostitutes Find Work in Rural Australia

Re-visioning Prostitution Policy - Conference in Las Vegas July 2006

Mandatory STD testing, yes or no?

sex work rights merch?

data on sex work?

The way MOST people( not only the rightwing)veiw prostitution

Decriminalize prostitution - Let's discuss it

Newbie Sacred Whore

Why does NO ONE here care about abused women?

I just want to have flings that arent "illegalized"

Is it illegal to Pimp?

Madam What??

Whore's College '06?