The other day while sitting with Justin on a patio taking advantage of the plus 25° weather and drinking dehydrating beverages I became alerted to a woman who was shouting....

Today, the sex worker rights movement can be credited with changing the way we view everything from sexual exploitation to a women’s right to choose. And although many...

Hello, my name is Wendy  and I’m from the Bad Date Coalition of Toronto, which is an organization that advocates for the rights and safety of people who work the...

I read a Cosmo magazine today; I didn’t mean too, it just kind of happened. Oh the shame. I was sitting in a health centre today waiting to get that cotton ball that got...

That’s the what condominium owners, who are calling themselves The Homewood-Maitland Safety Association,  a group of residents have recently moved into the area of...

  Monogamy is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “the practice of marrying only once during a lifetime, or the state or custom of being married to one...

Over the past few decades Canada has taken many steps to improve the safety and rights of women in this country, such as changing the rape laws to laws against sexual assault,...

We all have them (at least most of us), they are the underwear that we least care about, the ones with the rips, the loose elasticity, the granny panties, and the ones that...

I’m trying, I really am. If I understand this correctly, an organic compound is a large (…well as large as microscopic biology can be) group of chemical compounds whose...

In what could become Canada’s first human trafficking conviction in history, four people (3 men and 1 woman) have been arrested for a variety of charges including human...

As promised, a review on some CK underthings I'd recently acquired. No, Calvin Klein did NOT ask Me to review anything. I just want to.

If anyone knows Me beyond just My face on the computer screen, you'd know I have super OCD. Oh yes. Yes I do. And one thing My OCD demands is matching clothes. Especially bra + panties. I am one cranky bitch if whats under My clothes doesn't match. Even if I'm not on stage or in front of a camera, for folks to actually SEE said underthings.

So when I was able to snag this set? Holy balls was I happy! I can match 3 times with 1 bra! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Now, I don't usually buy from CK. At least not their undies. Never really heard much about them to want to shell out what they cost brand new. But then, a new friend of mine started raving about how amazing they are and how great they feel on... and these particular underthings were on sale. So... why not?

Here are the 3 undies and the bra:







Orange usually isn't My thing. I like Hooters and all, but damn. Traffic cone colors don't do it for Me. But these? I liked these. Go figure. And the thong style always struck Me as odd. It's been a new trend for CK thongs... they look like someone cut them out of a big bolt of fabric and never added a seam. It struck Me as odd. It looked unfinished. But I was tempted to try them just because these would match the set.



Holy shit the thong is comfy! I don't like the look of them, so I didn't snap a pic in them, but they are so comfortable I could weep. The cotton panties are very comfy too, but I just can't get over the feel of that Unfinished Thong.

I will also give props to the bra. It's not a push up, which I tend to gravitate towards, but I like it. Feels good, looks good.

All in all, I'd buy more underthings from CK, but not at full price.

And for My usual pervy fans, here's some pics of Me in some of these undies!

Who is reviewing another bit of make-uppy goodness? Me! Oh yes, yes I am. Because makeup is crack. CRACK! So let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

Macy's & Lancome are having a Gift special right now. Buy something of a certain monetary value, get the gift. Pretty straight forward. I've been eyeballing their eyeshadows for a while now, and this was a great opportunity to get the one I wanted most, and get some groovy freebies!

The shadow palette I went with is called Mauve Cherie. I love the colors, love the glitter, and they're perfect colors for My hazel eyes.

Here's the palette with the gift, including the swank bag. I picked, for My gift, the Renergie Lift Volumetry creme, Genifique concentrate, Visionnaire corrector, Aquatique shadow primer in Nude, Juicy Tubes gloss in Moulin Rose, and Hypnose Doll Lashes in So Black!... Squee.



This is the Mauve Cherie palette. The taupe and the black have great glitter in them. Not too heavy on the glitter, but it's there and it sparkles!




Swatches with a flash. The beige, then the mauves, then the taupe and black.



Same swatch order, sans flash.



And here they are on Me. The 2nd mauve is very subtle when put on with the 1st. Not a huge difference between them, IMHO. Blending them together seems to be useless. But I will try a few more times/ways to be sure. I'd like to play with JUST the black at some point, see how it looks alone. Details to follow, probably added to this post.





The beige is super light. I like it, but I dunno if I like how the application guide that come with the palette use it. They suggest using it on the entire lid, up to the brow.. but it might be TOO light for Me in particular. Anyone more pale than I? Might be better for ya.

I like this palette. I like how it compliments and brings out My eye color. I love the shine and the glitter to it. It makes Me squee quite a bit.

The primer is also very groovy. So far it is keeping the shadows still and bright.

I will add to this review for the lip gloss and mascara later on.

All books can be indecent books,
Though recent books are bolder,
For filth (I’m glad to say) is in the mind of the beholder
When correctly viewed,
Ev’rything is lewd.  -  Tom Lehrer, “Smut”

My miscellanea and update columns have always been popular, but I’m getting so many items now that it’s become too cumbersome to organize them on a monthly basis as I have been; since I write most of my columns days or even weeks before they appear, my present format tends to make some of the features “stale” by the time I present them.  So I’ve modified an idea used by SWAAY and Tits and Sass (both of whom present “Week in Links” columns) and by The Agitator (which presents such a list nearly every day) to create “That Was the Week That Was”, a weekly feature which will appear every Saturday (though sometimes shifted by a day where necessity demands).  This won’t just be a list of links; it will look pretty much like my traditional miscellanea and update columns, but combined and appearing weekly.  The first few installments will cover stories from January and early February, but by the end of the month each column will feature only items which came to my attention in the preceding week (even if the actual story is somewhat older).

Incidentally, I’ve borrowed the title as well as the concept.  Readers over 50 (or those who, like me, are fans of vintage television which aired before they were born) may recognize the name as that of a satirical sketch comedy show hosted by David Frost which ran in the UK for two seasons (1962-63) before moving to American television for one more (1964-65).  It satirized current events and did not shy away from controversy; it was thus in a way the ancestor of programs like The Daily Show, Not the Nine O’Clock News and Politically Incorrect…and considering the way I lampoon the writers or characters in many of the articles I cover, I felt it was an appropriate title.  I’ve never actually seen an episode, but I know of it from my reading on the background of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and from the work of Tom Lehrer, who wrote a number of current-event-inspired songs such as “Wernher von Braun”, “National Brotherhood Week“ and “The Vatican Rag” for the American version.

Without further ado, let’s look at a story from Week 1 of 2012:

Update to “Sex, Lies and Busybodies” (January 27th, 2012)

The news about the rescue industry scam run by a group of Australian cops called “The Grey Man” broke on January 6th, but wasn’t mentioned here until three weeks later.  In a perfect example of why this format change was necessary, this follow-up to investigative reporter Andrew Drummond’s initial “Grey Man” story was published on January 7th, yet isn’t appearing here until today.  See what I mean?

The village of Baan Khun Suay in Northern Thailand is populated by people of the Akha Hill tribe.  They earn a living from farming rice, tea, and coffee, and are poor but self-subsistent…they hit the headlines when The Grey Man, an Australian registered charity which boasts it comprises ex-Special Forces men and police officers announced that its ‘operatives’ had rescued 21 children – 13 boys and 8 girls – and saved them from certain slavery and sexual exploitation…[they] also claimed that one of the girls, aged 13,  had also escaped from a brothel and been taken to a police station where she was held for two days and raped by a police officer before being returned to the brothel, and…that [they] had videos of the traffickers fleeing the scene…But our investigation shows that [the children shown in pictures as “rescued victims”]…were going to school as they normally do…

…[After the "rescue" was announced] Trafcord – The trafficking co-ordination unit of northern Thailand – [told Grey Man president John Curtis that it]…was eager to get involved…Curtis [then] wrote to Trafcord saying: “…it seems that we were misreported in the Australian press that we rescued those kids.  Embarrassing for us and I have pulled the story off the net.  It must have been one of the other groups up there.”  This was not true.  The Grey Man  organization had in fact put out their own press statement and the story was covered by [many press organizations and]…websites.  Meanwhile Trafcord had done their own investigations and had confirmed that three grey men, had on two different occasions visited Baan Khun Suay, together with an unregistered American charity called COSA – Children of South East Asia.  They had gathered a group of children together [and] posed with them for a picture, and then returned to photograph individually for the charity’s records and to show they were providing medical assistance and transport to school.

Trafcord reported its findings to [the Thai government]…who issued a statement on December 7th saying that the rescue was a scam…Curtis reacted in anger and issued threats to Trafcord…saying the rescue HAD taken place after all…readers of the Grey Man Facebook page had been getting regular updates at what was happening to the children still allegedly being held in a secret location…

Faced with this massive clash of stories… [Drummond travelled to the village and found it] comparatively prosperous for a hill tribe village…coffee shops can be found throughout Thailand selling their produce.  When [Drummond] asked where the trafficked children were – it was a school holiday – all but one, who posed for [the original picture] appeared within half an hour…The missing person was…from another community.  [Drummond] reconstructed The Grey Man picture outside the house of farmer Jaimuk Laisai who said:  “The three foreigners came to the village…They said they wanted to help kids in the village and asked what sort of help we needed.  We said the kids needed help with the school and healthcare.  There was no talk about prostitution at all.”  [Village elders are upset that] “…Other people are exploiting our children” and the children themselves seemed upset…about the taunts of “prostitute” given by children from neighbouring villages…

… the future for The Grey Man in South East Asia seems limited unless they can now find someone to trust in Thailand and who trusts them.  They claim they work closely with Thai police and foreign police agencies, and [though] that has been true with individual police agencies and even charities in the past…they are [now the] subject of both a DSI investigation and a Thai media frenzy…[which] accused “foreign gangs” of faking the rescue to stuff their own pockets with cash.  The Grey Men were even accused of being the traffickers…

Drummond (who also produced this 15-minute video on the affair) goes on to say that though his investigation indicates it’s unlikely The Grey Man has made any real money from Thailand,

The way The Grey Man presents its information using military and police jargon…and stories it puts out of attacks by men with Molotov cocktails, and bullets ricocheting [off] of cars in high speed chases,  has raised a few eye-brows.  On behalf of organisations in Thailand I myself have gone into brothels and massage parlours to bring out under aged girls.  I am careful about it, but have never seen it as a real risk and don’t normally expect to be petrol bombed or shot at…

Going by the evidence and what we know of the rescue industry, it seems most likely that the Grey Man’s profits come from grants and from their well-meaning supporters rather than from their victims or innocent bystanders in Thailand.  Their real motivation is probably not profit but rather the desire to play hero; as I said in “Schadenfreude”,

…when the speaker dwells lovingly upon lurid details, treats humans as passive objects to be done to (“rescued”, “saved”, kept from making their own choices, etc) instead of helped, arranges as many photo-ops with starving children/trafficking survivors/disaster victims as possible and makes sure that his own name and image are always prominently associated with his crusade, one can be…certain that one beholds a narcissistic “baby person” whose interest in tragedy is his own self-aggrandizement and a paternalistic satisfaction in controlling “lesser” (usually brown-skinned and/or female) people “for their own good”.  The “rescue” industry is stocked to the rafters with such people…

In the next edition of this feature tomorrow, we’ll look at items from the second week of the year.

One Year Ago Today

“A Distorted Lens” is an introduction to Iceland’s particularly nasty variety of the Swedish Model, which has also banned stripping and is now taking aim at porn.

That is not a just government where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties, and free choice of their occupations.  -  James Madison

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been publishing quite a few miscellanea and update columns; since last May, I’ve had about 4-6 columns of that sort every month.  Besides getting more reader submissions than I used to, I’ve also become better at finding articles myself.  So rather than concentrating them together, I’ve decided to spread them out throughout the month.  This will therefore be my last monthly miscellanea column; starting tomorrow I’ll present “That Was the Week That Was” every Saturday, except when it’s bumped to Friday or Sunday by some special circumstance.

Out of the Bedroom

Civil libertarians often say we want government out of our bedrooms, but here’s a politician who wants people out of their bedroom clothes:

…Michael Williams (of Shreveport, Louisiana) doesn’t care to see people in their PJs, at least not at a shopping center, restaurant or anywhere else in public…after seeing a group of young men at a local Walmart wearing pajama pants that revealed one young man’s private parts, he decided to push for an ordinance that would prohibit wearing pajama pants in public.  “Pajamas are designed to be worn in the bedroom at night,” Williams said.  ”If you can’t (wear pajamas) at the Boardwalk or courthouse, why are you going to do it in a restaurant or in public?  Today it’s pajamas,” Williams said.  ”Tomorrow it’s underwear.  Where does it stop?”

…One problem with a possible ordinance is what constitutes pajamas.  Williams said it could be defined as a garment sold in the sleepwear section of department stores, and violators should not go to jail but perform community service…The city of Shreveport [already] has a no-sagging law.  In 2011, Shreveport police reported 31 incidents involving “wearing of pants below the waist in public.”  Most of those were unattached to other more serious crimes, and the offenders were issued misdemeanor summons…

Unsurprisingly, Williams can’t see the irony in his own words:  if we let politicians control the clothes we wear, “Today it’s pajamas…Tomorrow it’s underwear. Where does it stop?”  I personally think pajamas in public are extremely déclassé, but so are sweat pants and nobody’s trying to make laws against them.  Perhaps Williams would be happier in France, where lots of politicians think they have the right to tell people what not to wear.

The Hooker Vote

One day, politicians may actually concern themselves with winning the support of sex workers, but for the present the easiest way to get the hooker vote without losing that of the moralists is to point at that the federal government has no constitutional authority to regulate private behavior:

…Ron Paul can count on support from some members of the world’s oldest profession as he campaigns for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.  Prostitutes at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch…have launched a “Pimping for Paul” campaign for the Texas libertarian, who backs their right to earn a living as working girls…The Bunny Ranch ladies are asking johns to donate money to Paul’s campaign as they leave the brothel, which also backed Paul’s presidential bid four years ago.  Though Paul hasn’t commented on the brothel’s latest drive, his spokesman told the Associated Press in 2007 that “while Paul does not personally condone prostitution, the candidate does not think it’s the role of the federal government to regulate such activity.”  During a 2012 GOP candidates debate in May, Paul said that states should be free to legalize prostitution, gay marriage and marijuana if they choose to do so…U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada’s senior senator, told the state’s legislature last February “the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution,” which Reid said discourages businesses from moving to the state…

While I don’t vote and I’m not going to endorse any political candidate, the civil and sexual rights of American citizens will probably be less endangered under a Paul presidency than under a regime headed by of the other current candidates, especially Obama, Romney, Santorum or Gingrich.

The Mother Learns From Her Children

It’s beginning to seem as though the United Kingdom might be starting to learn something about sex worker rights from two of her former colonies.  Like New Zealand, she may be moving in the direction of decriminalization.  And as in Canada, the reason for the shift is the realization that the laws endanger the safety of sex workers.  This article appeared in The Guardian on January 16th, and came to my attention via Harlot’s Parlour:

A series of gang attacks on brothels in east London has triggered calls for changes to the prostitution laws after victims who reported …robberies said they ended up being threatened with prosecution.  A police investigation has been launched as senior Labour and Conservative members of the London assembly and the English Collective of Prostitutes allege that violent crime is being given a lower priority than less serious sex offences.  The attacks highlight the growing debate over calls for New Zealand’s pioneering decriminalisation of sex work to be considered – an approach recently supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

…a spate of robberies…coincides with an increase in police raids…The first…was in Barking, east London, on 6 December.  A video showing five men…breaking into another house in the area being used by sex workers is also being studied by officers.  The women who made the first complaint allege they recognise some of the gang members from the YouTube clip.  In a third attack, at a different address, a woman who worked as a maid at a brothel is alleged to have been raped by the gang.  None of the victims there reported the offence for fear of being charged…with living off the proceeds of prostitution…The ECP said changes to the law, in response to fears over the forcible trafficking of foreign sex workers into Britain, have made it more difficult for women to work together…for safety.

A letter of complaint sent…[to the police by ECP activist] Niki Adams…[said] “We are receiving reports of incidents where women have been attacked and their attackers have told them brazenly that they know women won’t dare go to the police.”  Adams believes there may have been as many as 20 attacks in the area over the past two years…Last November Simon Byrne, Acpo’s lead officer on prostitution and sexual exploitation, suggested there was a need for a fresh look at the legal balance…”There is a great amount of academic research available, much of which supports the view that an alternative approach is needed,” he wrote on his official Acpo blog.  ”An example would be the decriminalisation and regulation of brothels in Australia and New Zealand, not an answer to all of the related issues but certainly a solution to some.  More of those involved in sex work in Australia and New Zealand can now access health services with ease, whilst maintaining more personal security in an emotive area for policing.”

Another proponent of reform is Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London assembly.  ”The law is framed so as to put women [sex workers] into the most vulnerable position,” he said.  ”The changes brought in by the last government seemed to [be derived from] the view that every single worker in the sex trade was trafficked.  People are not willing to come forward over these attacks.  When they report them, the women themselves have had action taken against them…”  Len Duvall, the leader of the Labour group at the London assembly, said:  ”We need to examine in greater detail information and case studies from those countries that have sought to legalise prostitution, including the model put forward by New Zealand, especially if it provides a degree of protection for sex workers and reduces crimes associated with prostitution…There is also evidence that crimes against sex workers are being ignored”…Tim Barnett, the British-born former New Zealand MP who pushed through his adopted country’s decriminalisation legislation in 2003, was in London before Christmas where he briefed Boff and Duvall…

There’s definitely cause for hope here.  American politicians can ignore New Zealand as an antipodean anomaly, but if Canada and the UK also decriminalize it’s going to be a lot harder for American prohibitionists to convince everyone that theirs is the “normal” view.

One Year Ago Today

“Maggie in the Media” is a description of all the interviews I gave last January, mostly on the subject of nonexistent Super Bowl prostitution booms.

One more time at the beach and I want to savor it, this feeling under my feet, chilly air and then the water, not as chilly as I thought, so soothing the water that little kid feeling yes that little kid feeling yes. I wasn't planning on bringing the computer out on the train, but then they advertised WiFi in the parlor car -- really, WiFi in the parlor car? No, not really. But now I have the computer out.

Thinking about this sinus headache in the recycled air. Thinking about traveling and how it destroys me. Thinking about why. Why? I just want to go home. I don't have a home.

Soon, San Francisco. I'm not looking forward to San Francisco -- a month in San Francisco, what will that feel like? Will it feel like home? I don't have a home. Not now. When?

A month in San Francisco, Davka asked if it felt haunted. I'm not sure yet. I mean I'm sure, but I'm not sure what it will feel like. Staying on the same block where I used to live, a sublet. I did like that block: where I used to live, it felt like home, at least in my apartment, or sitting on the fire escape in the sun.

A relationship with the clouds, that's what I'm developing. What I developed in Santa Fe: hopefully this will help in Seattle. On that fire escape in San Francisco I used to watch the clouds too, so it started before, before Santa Fe. On the beach in Santa Barbara, watching the sky blend with water blend with clouds and then I'm gone, on the train, moving too slowly towards a place where I don't even want to be really. Maybe after I rest? What does that feel like -- rest?

Actually I slept well in Santa Barbara, but every time I check in and think how do I feel: sadness. Sometimes relaxed and sad, those are the good moments. Not usually. Travel: but then the train station with Davka, you see how travel can bring you to these people. To you. To me. To us.

I want to dream, but I am traveling. Travel is the place for dreams, like when the train starts and we are on a cliff overlooking the ocean and suddenly I don't feel so awful. For a few minutes. And then. I feel awful.

Davka says such beautiful things -- about me, about my work, about honesty in a place of pain and I am hopeful. I want to be hopeful. I try to be hopeful. Sometimes I am not hopeful. Davka and I take pictures -- the two of us together, some of them I don't like and some of them she doesn't like and some of them neither of us likes so we delete most of them but now I'm hoping that I still like the one that we liked. The most.

Maybe that's part of the train starting, on a cliff overlooking the ocean and honesty in a place of pain but suddenly everything brightens. And then it's gone.

Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?  -  William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (V,iv)

Today is the ancient festival of Imbolc, celebrated by the Celts as the beginning of spring and the day sacred to Brigit, the goddess of fire and healing.  The Irish drove their cattle between two sacred bonfires on this day in the belief that it would help to keep them free of parasites, and when the festival was Christianized as Candlemas the association with fire and healing remained:  this is the day on which all the candles to be used in the next year are consecrated, and the candles are used tomorrow (St. Blaise’s Day) to bless churchgoers so as to protect them from ailments of the throat.

Due to our continental climate, few North Americans can imagine this day as anywhere near spring; accordingly, we celebrate the beginnings of the seasons on the solstices and equinoxes and perceive the cross-quarter days (Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain…or as Americans call them, Ground Hog Day, May Day, August 1st and Halloween) as the midpoints of the seasons rather than as their beginnings.  Indeed, where I live February is often the coldest month (unlike South Louisiana, where it’s usually very spring-like).  As I explained in my column of one year ago today, the Celtic and Germanic peoples believed that the cross-quarter days could be used as inverse weather predictors for the next six weeks, and though the tradition has been forgotten for the other three days it remains alive and well for this one, so much so that Americans name it after the sacred animal used for the weather-forecasting ritual.

We always celebrate Imbolc with a feast, and since it’s in the middle of Carnival season (Mardi Gras is February 21st this year) the center of that feast is always a big pot of chicken and andouille gumbo made from my sister’s recipe.  Like king cake, the dish is best when the initial stage is completed a day in advance, and since many of you enjoyed seeing that recipe I’ve decided to give you the one for gumbo as well this coming Tuesday (unlike king cake, it isn’t seasonal; gumbo can be eaten any time of year, and some old Cajun ladies still make it every Sunday).  It’ll require a full column, not because it’s especially complicated (it isn’t), but because some of the culinary terms may be unfamiliar to many of my readers and will thus require a bit of explanation (and photos I’ll take today).

I pray that all my readers, no matter what your individual beliefs, find renewal in your lives at this time; I ask that negative things die away like weeds in winter, and that positive things appear and grow for you like leaves in the spring.  Blessed Be!

feature

The Advisory Group offers a greater understanding of the situation of sex workers – an understanding that is necessary to address the abuses they face and to ensure they have universal access to HIV services. Every effort has been made to highlight good practices that enhance human rights protections for sex workers, as well as practices that create barriers to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Year of publication:  2011 Theme:  Economics and Development Theme:  Gender and Sexuality Theme:  Health and HIV Theme:  Human Rights and Law Theme:  Migration and Mobility 20111215_Report-UNAIDS-Advisory-group-HIV-Sex-Work_en.pdf Author:  UNAIDS and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects Relevant URL:  http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/publications/unaidspublications/2012/

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