Article, LA Times Sunday- High Tech Hooking

LA Times Sunday- High Tech Hooking. I forgot to post this last month. There were 6 drive by shootings of non gang members in LA in the last 3 weeks and this is how the City utilizes it’s funds and limited resources.

LA Times, Sunday March 16,2008
L.A.’s streets move online
Modern call girls now turn their tricks on Craigslist.
Steve Lopez

March 16, 2008

Midafternoon on a workday, and what am I doing? 
Surfing the Internet for hookers.

But it’s not what it sounds like, I swear. The Eliot Spitzer scandal back East made me wonder how a lonely politician might get into trouble here in the land of milk and honey. So I’m with the vice squad at a downtown Los Angeles police station, tracking suspicious ads on Craigslist and other websites.

Yes, Craigslist, which offers much more these days than used sofas and 1997 Subarus.

“College Girl Available for Naughty Fun All Day And Night,” says one ad.

“Independent Hottie,” says another, one of hundreds in Los Angeles offering something for every conceivable gender and sexual preference.

“This is the new age of streetwalking,” says Officer Manuel Ramirez, who answers the ads and sets up sting operations with his colleagues. “It’s not as conspicuous as standing on a corner.”

Jody “Babydol” Gibson, the Hollywood supermadam who served 22 months when her Hollywood operation was busted, told me the job she and Heidi Fleiss used to perform has been made obsolete. Her new book, “Sex on the Internet,” is a guide to the websites the cops now peruse.

“There’s no need for a madam or a brothel today,” Gibson said.

Some of the ads on those sites are fairly discreet, while others let it all hang out, so to speak, complete with photos no mother or child should ever see.

“Hung Hot Guy” shows the proof, for instance.

“I want to give you some early morning satisfaction,” says Jessica, who posed without her britches. She lists the price of a good time at $80 for 15 minutes, $120 for 30 minutes or $180 for an hour.

Some of the ads are a little more legally savvy and the prices can soar into Gov. Spitzer’s high-roller territory. Take Alysha, for instance, who advertises on another popular website that she takes “donations” ranging from $500 for an hour to $3,000 for a “naughty night.”

Some of the most expensive hookers in Southern California have been known to work the hotels near LAX, said LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith, where they might sidle up to traveling businessmen at a bar.

But there’s no doubt, the vice cops tell me, that the bulk of sex industry business is now conducted on the Internet.

“I kind of think of Craigslist as the pimp,” Capt. Jody Wakefield said when she walked into the vice room and saw her officers at work.

That’s one way to look at it. On the other hand, Craigslist and other sites are providing thousands of good leads to cops, and maybe helping to expose sociopaths.

Craig himself, last name Newmark, e-mailed me to say that he has cooperated fully with police in Los Angeles and elsewhere, helping with “forensics” to “pursue Internet crime.”

Even so, I thought it was only fair to ask why the vice squad is working the Internet on the trail of what is often referred to as a victimless crime, and a misdemeanor at that.

Legalize prostitution, some argue, and redeploy the cops to go after car thieves, burglars and gang-bangers.

Smith had an answer. Prostitution investigations aren’t just about selling sex. They often lead cops to crimes involving drugs, child exploitation and assault.

The working girls and boys are “sometimes on drugs, they’re beaten up, they get their teeth kicked out and get into a huge downward spiral,” said Smith. Some who work the ritzy downtown L.A. hotels have ended up addicted and desperate on skid row, he added, where assaults and even the murder of prostitutes is not uncommon.

The vice team of Sgt. Dan Gonzalez and Officers Ramirez and Jose Contreras has been hitting expensive downtown hotels of late. Typically, the officers said, a prostitute will check into a hotel room for a few hundred dollars a night and immediately post an ad on Craigslist, saying she’s available.

“I’ll pamper you and take care of you head to toe!” claims an ad by a blond named Porsche. “Come visit me in my hotel room . . . I’m waiting.”

The pros don’t name a specific hotel, but list a phone number or an e-mail address. The vice squad recently answered one for a 19-year-old woman, set up a rendezvous, and knocked on a hotel door to find a 14-year-old who was booked for prostitution and taken to juvenile hall.

It’s common, the cops said, to find someone other than the girl in the photo when answering an ad. The 14-year-old was no exception.

“She looked like she was closer to 12,” said Officer Ramirez. A pregnant older companion had apparently rented the room earlier that day, and the 14-year-old claimed to have already earned $1,000 from clients paying about $200 apiece.

The officers tried to talk some sense into her, but the angry young prostitute told them to mind their own business.

“She said, ‘The money’s too good,’ ” and boasted of $2,000 days, said Ramirez.

The same vice unit also arrested a 15-year-old female hooker and a 15-year-old boy recently. In the latter case, hotel security called police to say there was loud screaming coming from a room. Police found the 15-year-old boy and a man in his 40s in bed, and the 15-year-old, who was drunk, told them he had advertised his services on Craigslist.

While I watched the officers work the phones, Gonzalez scanned Cityvibe and Craigslist, printing out ads for his officers to check out. There’s no fetish that can’t be serviced, and there was no shortage of pregnant women ready for action, including a brunet who called herself “showing and glowing.”

“Sweet, sexy and worth every penny,” said an ad by Carmen, who listed a 310 phone number.

Contreras dialed and got an answering machine.

“Hey, Carmen, this is Alex,” he said. “I just saw your picture on Craigslist. You look delicious. Give me a call.”

He left a message for Jenny too, who offered a massage at $200 an hour. Contreras said he was in town for the Pac-10 basketball tournament, and had some free time before watching his alma mater, Arizona State, play USC.

Less than a minute later, Jenny called back.

“Yeah, hi, this is Alex,” he said.

The trick is to get the suspect to agree to a sex act for a dollar amount. But experienced marks avoid such details over the phone, and Jenny cut Contreras off when he broached those subjects.

“I’ve gone to these places before and it’s a totally different girl,” he told her.

“Well, I’m the girl in the picture,” I could hear her say as Contreras held the receiver close to my ear. “I’m not fat,” she went on. “It’s not like I’m a model.”

Jenny told him to call back later and she’d tell him where to meet her in South Pasadena. He said he would, but that’s beyond the LAPD’s jurisdiction.

So the police went back to working the darkest alleys and corners of the Web galaxy, where the oldest profession is using all the newest tricks.

Related Link: Link to latimes.com

 

LAGent4TS has attached this image

 

Red Light District Chicago on Can-TV This Saturday!

SWOP-Chicago’s own television show, RedLightDistrictChicago will be airing this Saturday night, May 10 at 10PM and every Saturday night in May (17, 24) at 10PM on CAN-TV Channel 19 (Chicago Cable only). Check out episodes 1 and 2 which feature our on-the-street interviews about the Elliot Spitzer scandal and interviews from our Orgia party earlier this year!

 

Some men say using prostitutes is an addiction

Here’s a piece that unfortunately ignores the voices of sex workers and assumes, like the men “studied”, that sex workers are a faceless, voiceless commodity.-jane brazen

http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/chi-sex-trade-studymay06,0,7659645.story

 

Some men say using prostitutes is an addiction

200 take part in study about motivation

By David Heinzmann

Tribune reporter

 

May 5 2008, 11:27 PM CDT

 

As anti-prostitution groups try to thwart sex trade by going after customers, they said they have faced a big problem: researchers have only the crudest grasp of why men buy sex.

 

Even scholarly understanding of prostitution demand has been colored by a boys-will-be-boys attitude toward sex, activists said.

 

To get a better understanding, a group of researchers—most of them young women—invited more than 100 Chicago-area men who frequently use prostitutes to talk about their attitudes and experiences.

 

They were overwhelmed by the response. More than 200 men answered the ads the researchers placed in local sex-service classifieds and were willing to sit down with strangers to discuss at length their illegal sexual practices.

 

While the survey, which is not peer-reviewed, is likely to draw criticism from some academics, the project offers a window into the attitudes of men who buy sex in Chicago.

 

The results, to be made public Wednesday, show men are often deeply conflicted about their behavior, said Rachel Durchslag, director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, which conducted the survey in Chicago with the Evanston-based Justice Project Against Sexual Harm.

 

Though most of the men interviewed said they believe there is nothing wrong with prostitution, a large majority, 83 percent, view buying sex as a form of addiction, according to the study.

 

Most men said they believed women entered prostitution freely, but they acknowledge that the sex trade is devastating to the women involved. A large percentage of the men, 57 percent, suspect the women they pay were abused as children, and nearly a third said they viewed women’s relationships with pimps as harmful.

 

About 40 percent of men said they are usually intoxicated when they buy sex.

 

According to one man who was quoted anonymously in the report, “For a small second after I buy sex, I feel happy, and then it’s over. It’s so fleeting. There’s frustration beforehand, and depression afterward [because] it’s so quick. Those feelings are always there. They’re associated with buying sex.”

 

Nonetheless, most men said they viewed their interaction with prostitutes as a business contract in which payment entitles them to treat the women any way they like. Women surrender the right to say no to anything once they accept a customer’s money, many said.

 

“Prostitutes are a product, like cereal,” said one man. “You go to the grocery, pick the brand you want and pay for it. It’s business.”

 

The survey was designed by anti-prostitution activist Melissa Farley, who is controversial because academics have accused her of tilting previous research to support a political agenda. The Chicago study is part of an international project that includes surveys in Scotland, India and Cambodia. Critics of the Scotland survey called Farley’s methods unscientific.

 

Durchslag is aware of the criticism of Farley but said she feels confident in the relevance of the Chicago survey. Although Farley created the survey questions, she was not involved in reporting the results, Durchslag said.

 

“We have always said this was an exploratory study, and I feel very confident with the way the questions were asked.”

 

Durchslag said she was stunned by the large response from men, and their willingness to talk to strangers about such a taboo subject. The men who answered questions represented a variety of backgrounds. A majority were college-educated, and more than half were either married or in a committed relationship, according to the study.

 

Her team of researchers anticipated feeling angry at their subjects, which happened frequently as some of the men talked freely about their attitudes toward women as sex objects, she said. In one case, a man gave answers that basically acknowledged he had committed rape, she said.

 

But there were also many interviews in which they felt empathy for the men and their confusion about their own sexuality.

 

“A lot of us felt really sad for a lot of these men,” she said. “It’s more complicated. We were all surprised by the number of men who said, ‘I’ve never had a chance to talk about this.’ “

 

Still, the goal of the research is to push for harsher criminal punishment for men who buy sex from prostitutes, she said. Nearly 90 percent of the men said that they would stop if they felt there was a likely chance they would be caught and prosecuted.

 

Men expressing conflicted feelings and frustration “is the good news,” said Farley, who is based in San Francisco. “That they are conflicted. They do have deeply mixed feelings when someone takes the time to really inquire.”

 

dheinzmann@tribune.com

 

 

The Pink Scare: Of Ms. Palfrey and Sex Panic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE
Dylan Wolfe - Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), swank@riseup.net
Michael Bottoms - Sex Workers Outreach Project - New York City (SWOP-NYC),
swop.nyc@gmail.com
Susan Blake - Prostitutes of New York (PONY), pony@panix.com
Desiree Alliance, info@DesireeAlliance.org

The Pink Scare: Of Ms. Palfrey and Sex Panic

New York, NY - The activists at Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), Sex
Workers Outreach Project New York (SWOP-NYC), Prostitutes of New York
(PONY) and the nationally-based Desiree Alliance are saddened that Deborah
Jeane Palfrey, also known as the D.C. Madam, passed away on May 1st in an
apparent suicide. We - prostitutes, strippers, pro-dommes, porn stars, sex
experts, and allies - extend our sympathies to all of those hurt by this
most recent chapter of the “Pink Scare,” in which oppressive legislation
and social stigma partner to generate hysteria around what, for us, can
prove to be simply a decent way to make a living.

The circumstances surrounding Ms. Palfrey’s death suggest that Americans
reconsider the current state and federal policies that govern sex work, as
well as the stigmatization and sensational treatment of those who
participate in this industry.  From New York to California, daily reports
of Pink Scare-fueled police busts, e-stings and raids, even at legal
venues like strip clubs and dungeons, have reached a fever pitch. These
oppressive patterns regularly marginalize and terrorize our communities,
with barely a headline to show for the mass arrests. In contrast, coverage
of high-profile cases include yellow journalism exposés published at the
expense of sex workers’ privacy, dignity and livelihood. In an interview
with Lori Price, it was Ms. Palfrey who said, “Without question in my
mind, escort and adult service businesses. . . are being used as the new
weapon of choice in American politics.”  The public figures implicated in
this type of case often receive little more than a slap on the wrist and a
second chance from a forgiving public.  Ironically, among the exposed we
regularly find the very same lawmakers and other insiders who claim to
protect people from vice through moralizing legislation.  Former State
Department official Randall L. Tobias was a Palfrey patron, though he
implemented the abstinence earmark in programs such as the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and, with it, the
“Anti-Prostitution Pledge” that has resulted in diminished funding for sex
worker-run organizations. Annually, our government spends millions in
taxpayer money to apprehend and prosecute participants in the sex trade,
while more effective policies like harm reduction-based approaches,
including the multiplication of living wage alternatives, are dramatically
under-utilized.

In both the highly-publicized scandals and under-documented daily
struggles, many sex workers now face financial ruin, emotional hardship
and social opprobrium at the hands of the Pink Scare simply because their
work, though it takes place between consenting adults, may be illegal and,
to some, may be offensive.  In two instances associated with Palfrey’s
case, Ms. Palfrey and her former employee, Ms. Britton, oppressive laws
and stigma cost the implicated their very lives. Why did Ms. Palfrey die?
In response to this question, an activist with the International Union of
Sex Workers wrote, “Whether she died by her own hand or her suicide is a
cover for murder, she has been killed by the state.”  Given the highly
political nature of these events, SWANK, SWOP-NYC, PONY and the Desiree
Alliance call for an independent investigation of the circumstances
surrounding Ms. Palfrey’s untimely death. Furthermore, we, as activists
and advocates, would like to stress in this instance that the
criminalization of sex workers and our labor only drives us further
underground, making us and our dependents more vulnerable to client and
police violence, and even death, as we are further isolated. The
unfortunate events of the D.C. scandal bring many of these broader issues
into sharper focus. It is high time that we challenge the morals and laws
that harm so many, so deeply, with so few gains and so many lives
destroyed.

 

2008 Desiree Alliance Conference in Chicago-Registration is Open!

~Desiree Alliance Presents~
In partnership with BAYSWAN, Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA, SWANK, H.I.P.S. Different Avenues, COYOTE, Best
Practices Policy Project, $pread Magazine, St. James Infirmary, Harm Reduction Coalition, PONY, SWOP-Chicago,
SWOP-Las Vegas, SWOP-Los Angeles, SWOP- Northern California, SWOP-Arizona, SWOP-Portland, & SWOP-EAST
“Pulling Back the Sheets: Sex, Work and Social Justice”
July 16-20, 2008 Chicago, IL
REGISTER NOW!
The Desiree Alliance is a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of organizations,
communities and individuals across the US working in harm reduction, direct services, political
advocacy and health services for sex workers. We provide leadership development and create
space for sex workers and supporters to come together to advocate for human, labor and civil
rights for all workers in the sex industry.
This convergence will create space for dialogue between hundreds of sex workers and their allies
to share their personal experience and skills, identify workers’ most pressing needs, share
training and networking skills for developing solutions, and to collaborate on strategies for social
and political change on local, state, national and international levels.

Some of the scheduled workshops include:
• “Safety for Sex Workers Through personal Privacy – Legal and relatively simple ways for
working and living out of harms way”
• “Tantra: How it can uplift the plight and struggle of sex workers and clientele”
• “Self marketing and self branding: How to run a profitable (and more safe) sex worker
business”
• “Safety 411″
• “Falling Through All the Cracks: Young adult transgender sex workers”
• “Challenging Discrimination Among Sex Workers: Reconstructing ’sex work’”
• “Bad Date Line: How to start, run + maintain a dam good project”
• “Sex Workers Against Rape”
• “Sex Workers Rights and Direct Services in Urban Los Angeles”
• “Adult Entertainer’s Guide to Disabled Customers – 2008 Edition”
• “We, Asian Sex Workers”

The Desiree Alliance is a diverse, volunteer-based, sex worker-led network of
organizations, communities and individuals across the US working in harm reduction,
direct services, political advocacy and health services for sex workers. We provide
leadership development and create space for sex workers and supporters to come together
to advocate for human, labor and civil rights for all workers in the sex industry.

www.desireealliance.org
Desiree Alliance is a Project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Conference registration fees are $150 if you register by June 1st, and $200 if you register
between June 2nd and July 10th. All participants must register no later than July 10th. Fees
include registration materials, admission to the opening reception, breakfast and lunch Thur-Sat,
admission to the after party on Sat and brunch on Sunday. To register for the conference visit our
site and submit the registrant screening form. After you submit this form, a registration packet and
payment information will be sent to you.
For more information on registration scholarships, contact: Liz Copl at hdfemme@gmail.com
If you have registration questions please contact: tara@birl.org

 

From the AP: Deborah Jean Palfrey commits suicide.

My heart goes out to her, those close to her, and any sex worker who has been touched by suicide. Stigma kills.

May 1, 2008

‘D.C. Madam’ Kills Herself, Police Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:00 p.m. ET

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — A woman police believe to be convicted Washington escort service operator Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide, officials said Thursday.

Police said the body was found in a shed near Palfrey’s mother’s home Thursday morning. There was a suicide note, but police did not disclose its contents or how she killed herself.

Police said they were trying to confirm the woman’s identity, but did not immediately have additional comment when reached by telephone. Palfrey’s attorney, Preston Burton, did not return a telephone call and e-mail message.

The District of Columbia U.S. attorney’s office, which spent years investigating and prosecuting Palfrey, was aware of the media reports and was awaiting confirmation from law enforcement, said spokeswoman Channing Phillips.

Police did not immediately have additional comment when reached by telephone. Palfrey’s attorney, Preston Burton, did not return a telephone call and e-mail message.

Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington’s political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.

She had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.

She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. Palfrey faced a maximum of 55 years in prison and was free pending her sentencing July 24.

Prosecutors said Palfrey operated the prostitution service for 13 years.

Her trial concluded without revealing many new details about the service or its clients. Vitter was among possible witnesses, but did not take the stand.

Vitter, a first-term senator who is married and has four children, has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey’s escort service and has apologized for what he called a ”very serious sin.” But he avoided commenting further.

One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial.

Last year, Palfrey said she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: ”I guess I’m made of something that Brandy Britton wasn’t made of.”

 

SWOP Chicago Public meeting on Tursday May 8

This is the revised flier…

 

Article, Prostitution looks chic, but truth is ugly — chicagotribune

4/28/08 10:49 AM  chicagotribune.com 

Prostitution looks chic, but truth is ugly 

Real face of sex trade is pain, not profit 

By Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo 

April 27, 2008 

The problem with much of the coverage of the Eliot Spitzer scandal was not just the pulp fiction-worthy headlines (”Bad Gal!” “The Love Gov!”) or the endless loop of commentary about why married men cheat. It was that the media delivered a basic untruth. This was not a love (or even a lust) story: The now-former New York governor wasn’t stepping out on his wife with a consenting “other woman.” His was an illegal and dehumanizing business transaction, one in which a man of great privilege purchased the sexual services of a woman of far more limited means. 

But instead of treating Ashley Alexandra Dupre—who has said she was abused and once homeless—as a victim, the media have turned her into a vixen. Why address the oppression that is prostitution when we can serve it up as a form of sexual self-expression (or as a savvy career move) instead? 

It’s tempting to blame it all on “Pretty Woman,” the wildly successful 1990 film that launched Julia Roberts’ 

career, and the myth of prostitution as a way to get the guy (and the designer wardrobe). 

But that film’s wrongheaded celebration of the redeeming possibilities of sexual servitude seems almost quaint in comparison with the “Prostitution Chic” of today. ”Pimp and Ho” nights have become a staple at downtown clubs and uptown benefit parties. “Turning Tricks” pole-dancing classes are offered at Crunch Gyms. 

Hit shows such as HBO’s “Entourage” and “Cathouse”—where a Nevada pimp and his “girls” are portrayed as one big, happy, sexually uninhibited family—are an ode to the joys of being sexually serviced by women. The Top 40 success of the Pussycat Dolls—part predictable pop music, all bump and grind—hasbrought the burlesque back to the mainstream. 

And here in the Windy City, the Discovery Center’s Sex Tour brochure promises to take tourists to the ”freaky and little-known locations of Chicago’s sex industry.” 

The new vogue of voyeurism substitutes prostitution for the carnival freak shows of old. The trend is not unprecedented; respectable Victorians also took prostitution tours. But it reinforces the modern-day, market- 

driven perception that those working in prostitution are merely indulging their own bent for 

entrepreneurialism and sexual self-expression. Make no mistake: Our cultural fascination with and glamorization of pimping and prostitution do not make for a kinder and gentler sex trade. 

“Every reliable study of women working in prostitution finds that more than 90 percent have been victims of childhood sexual assault,” said DePaul University College of Law researcher Jody Raphael. “Most entered the sex trade in their teens, after fleeing abuse and having no other way to support themselves. Many are alcohol and drug dependent. 

“People talk about this as sex between two consenting adults, but it is hard to talk about this as a ‘choice’ when we are talking about women who entered into prostitution when they were so young,” Raphael said. 

The painful conditions that drive girls and women into the sex trade often pale in comparison with the dangers they face once they become part of what people far too blithely refer to as the “world’s oldest profession.” 

A comprehensive 2004 mortality study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the American Journal of Epidemiology, shows that workplace homicide rates for women working in prostitution are 51 times that of the next most dangerous occupation for women (which is working in a liquor store). The average age of death of the women studied was 34. 

Some have argued that those working for “high end” escort services, as Dupre was, cannot be compared to the “average” woman working in prostitution. But the $1,000-an-hour escort of today will often become the woman on the street of tomorrow, as age, alcohol and sexually transmitted diseases take their toll. 

Much has been made about the “benefits” Dupre may enjoy as a result of her newfound celebrity. But her short-term economic gains merely distract us from the reality of the institution of prostitution, making us less critical of the grave damage it does to millions of women and girls. Yet the glamorization of prostitution continues, unabated by the facts. Nowhere was this more clear than on a recent edition of “Larry King Live.” During an interview with Natalie McLennan, the woman who allegedly trained Dupre at the escort agency New York Confidential, King asked, “Do any hookers ever marry their johns?” ”They do!” she exclaimed, telling King the tale of a fellow “girl” who “went on a date with a client and then we never saw her again. It turns out that they met and they fell in love and she never returned. It’s a real sort of Cinderella, ‘Pretty Woman’ story, you know. Which is I think . . . just a fantastic story—every girl’s dream.”

For the vast majority of women working in prostitution, however, the reality is less fairy tale, more grim fable. But who wants to let that get in the way of a good story? 

 

Jacque Melody over at I Hold These Truths has this response to the New York Post.

Before I go on to write in an eloquent, well-thought-out fashion I just want to say that the NY Post is a despicable publication and Cathy Burke is a douchebag for writing this article: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04222008/news/regionalnews/hookers_laid_bare_on_show_107500.htm” about the woman who was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on 20/20 about Prostitution in America.

First of all, “hooker” is a derogatory term. It would be completely unacceptable for a reporter to write a story about a certain race, culture, or group of people using a parallel term (i.e. “fags” in an article about gay men). Why should we, the society that reads these publications and enforces these values daily, allow this? Unless you are a hardcore hater of sex workers (in which your opinion is invalid to rational discussion as the opinion of homophobes warrant no basis in the LGBT movement) you should be angry about this. You don’t have to agree with the idea of sex work, you don’t even have to have an opinion either way (Americans seem to love wallowing in apathy), but it’s very important that you pay attention. Pay attention to what is being fed to you. Think for a second, would you want to be portrayed in the media in such a harsh, black and white context without even being given the dignity of proper terms appropriated to your job/culture/race/gender/etc.? In this article the word “hooker” is used to describe Debauchette (the name she uses to identify herself on her public blog) four times. It alternates throughout the story with “blogger” and “she”. The correct term would be escort if she was specific about the work that she does, otherwise “sex worker” would suffice.

For those unfamiliar, the story broke out when Debauchette blogged, in her personal public blog, that she was in fact the woman in the Diane Sawyer interview. That even though she was hidden in shadow with her profile and voice manipulated, her mother recognized her.

Okay. Take a moment and think about this, why is this news? Why is the mainstream media even printing articles about this? America’s obsession with “scandal” is ridiculous. The culture appears to feed off of it, therefore the media dishes it out as fast as possible and completely disregards the notion of truth or the act of discretion. Certainly one could argue that Debauchette put it out there in a public medium. Well, that’s just it. She broke the story in her own words in her own space. Beyond that, what goes on between her and her mother is private and why should anyone even care to know the “juicy” details?

Because people want to know about sex workers. Because people are fascinated by the subversive. Because people get a thrill out of living vicariously through those who live outside of the system. Because people like to know when others will or will not be accepted, especially when they aren’t quite sure themselves what is and is not acceptable.

Finally, regardless people’s salacious “need to know” mentality or our society’s fucked up viewpoints, this was just a downright shoddy piece of journalism. Not only did they reinforce a derogatory term, they made assumptions about the content posted in the blog. By publishing those assumptions they turned them into false facts. The article quotes; “The unfortunate revelation didn’t quell her passion for the job, however.
‘Later in the day, I saw Gabriel . . . He told me to take my clothes off, and this made me smile . . . While we undressed, I thought about how good this is,’ she blogged.”

She never stated that Gabriel was a client, they assumed this. In a later post she clarifies this point and expresses that he is not. Perhaps Cathy Burke and the NY Post didn’t even consider that a sex worker would have intimate relations outside of their job. They also completely skewed the content, perhaps because “pro-slut” isn’t appropriate for a public paper. The exact quote is; “And later in the day, I saw Gabriel, another blissfully pro-slut individual. He told me to take my clothes off, and this made me smile, which made him smile. While we undressed, I thought about how good this is, even if I have to battle my urge to shut down.” I’m curious as to why they took out “which made him smile”. Perhaps I am incredibly cynical, but I think it’s because they wanted to continue to show her as this one-dimensional self-obsessed sex-obsessed hooker (she doesn’t even deserve to be considered a woman).

So great job Cathy Burke for furthering the puritanical judgmental asinine culture that America is wrapped up in. I hope you enjoy your work and life as much as Debauchette enjoys hers, even if she may have to fight some battles and deal with some hardships that you couldn’t even begin to imagine.

 

En Espanol!

*DECLARACI?N DEL COMIT? INTERNACIONAL DE TRABAJADORES SEXUALES SOBRE
REDUCCION DE DA?OS *

Preparado para 19? Conferencia Internacional de la Asociaci?n Internacional
de Reducci?n de Da?os (IHRA, por sus siglas en ingl?s) de 2008

Barcelona, Espa?a, mayo 11 a 15 de 2008

El Comit? internacional de trabajadores sexuales para reducci?n de da?os es
un grupo de trabajo conformado por trabajadores/as sexuales y defensores de
sus derechos, empe?ados en promover su participaci?n y la de sus
organizaciones en las discusiones sobre reducci?n de da?os. Nos complace
presentar a los delegados y participantes en Barcelona los siguientes temas
de discusi?n en relaci?n con los derechos de los trabajadores sexuales:

* *Los derechos humanos de los/las trabajadores/as sexuales:* Para la
promoci?n de la salud y la seguridad es esencial reconocer y garantizar la
protecci?n de los derechos humanos de los/las trabajadores/as sexuales.
Asegurar el pleno disfrute de estos derechos y mejorar el acceso a los
servicios sociales y de salud es la manera m?s efectiva de reducir o
eliminar la discriminaci?n y el abuso a que con frecuencia ?stos/as se ven
sometidos/as.

**Los/las trabajadores/as sexuales son parte de la soluci?n:* El liderazgo y
empoderamiento de los/las trabajadores/as sexuales son esenciales en la
lucha contra el VIH y la discriminaci?n. Los trabajadores sexuales cuentan
dentro de s? mismos con los mejores recursos y en tal sentido deber?an estar
al frente del desarrollo e implementaci?n de programas y pol?ticas que
afectan sus vidas. S?lo con el poder de ser sus propios voceros y con el
desarrollo de su propio liderazgo se detendr? el estigma y la violaci?n de
sus derechos.

* *Apoyo a la manifestaci?n de experiencias y cultura de los/las
trabajadores/as sexuales:* Las comunidades y organizaciones de
trabajadores/as sexuales cuentan con una tradici?n cultural rica y variada a
nivel mundial que se expresa en literatura, cine, presentaciones online,
festivales, danza, etc. Con el fin de celebrar nuestras propias
manifestaciones sobre el t?pico del trabajo sexual, daremos inicio este a?o
en Barcelona al primer festival de cinematogr?fico sobre trabajo sexual y
reducci?n de da?os. Las expresiones culturales hacen m?s comprensibles las
metas del movimiento por nuestros derechos a aquellas personas que no est?n
muy familiarizadas con la realidad y las experiencias de los/las
trabajadores/as sexuales.

**El trabajo sexual es trabajo no “da?o”:* El trabajo sexual en s? mismo no
es inherentemente da?ino. Las razones que llevan a una persona a elegir este
tipo de trabajo son amplias y variadas, al igual que lo son para cualquier
otra persona cuando se decide por un determinado trabajo. Muchas
organizaciones que trabajan en pro de la salud y los derechos de los/las
trabajadores/as sexuales al referirse a las necesidades de estos/as
trabajadores/as se acogen al marco de reducci?n de da?os. Otras sostienen
una relaci?n m?s distante con este marco dado que en ocasiones “da?o” se
identifica de manera equivocada con el trabajo sexual o con los/las
trabajadores/as sexuales. Nosotros consideramos de manera decidida que
cualquier da?o relacionado con el trabajo sexual es el resultado de
ambientes represivos dentro de los cuales el trabajo sexual no se reconoce
como trabajo, as? como de la carencia de derechos humanos b?sicos y del
acceso a servicios adecuados de salud.

* *Derechos laborales para los trabajadores sexuales: *El trabajo sexual
deber?a reconocerse como trabajo de manera que pudiera garantiz?rsele
seguridad y condiciones apropiadas. La carencia de derechos laborales somete
a los/las trabajadores/as sexuales a condiciones de vulnerabilidad que
propician el abuso y condiciones inadecuadas. El trabajo sexual no deber?a
ser “sobre regulado” o sujeto a restricciones especiales por causa de
temores discriminatorios frente a este tipo de trabajo y sus
trabajadores/as. El trabajo sexual deber?a ser considerado como cualquier
otra forma de trabajo.

Adicionalmente, posterior a las consultas que tendr?n lugar durante la 19?
Conferencia internacional sobre reducci?n de da?os de 2008, quisi?ramos
afirmar que los/las trabajadores/as sexuales constituyen elemento clave en
la promoci?n de los derechos humanos y la reducci?n de da?os, y nos complace
que en esta posici?n nos acompa?en aliados que comparten nuestra filosof?a y
compromiso con la justicia.

“Nada sobre nosotros sin nosotros”