(This was originally posted at SWOP-East’s blog here.)

Singapore is a tiny country in SE Asia one day ahead of the US. The US is a big country known the world over for many things. The two countries actually have an ongoing and amiable relationship. Their militaries, finance sectors and tourism are intertwined. Each country also has relationships with other countries, of course. It’s just one relationship among many for both countries.

The US is well-known for criminalizing prostitution nation-wide (the exceptions being the 30ish legal brothels in Nevada — not much of an exception). While prostitution itself is criminalized at the local and state levels, there are plenty of federal laws regarding prostitution: when the arrangements cross state lines, when a minor is involved, when money crosses state lines and a few variations on these themes.

Singapore has a more tolerant view of prostitution. It has a licensed red-light district (Geylang and a street in Chinatown) and local hotspots known for easy pickings if you’re looking for a sex worker. To be honest, the entire island is a prostitution hotspot. The predominant Chinese culture and other Asian cultures in Singapore all have a wide-open view of prostitution. Prostitution is ingrained in the male Asian culture. Singapore is not really a sex-tourism destination because it’s considered way too expensive. The vast majority of the business is supported by locals, not tourists. (Which is why the vast majority of the business occurs in non-tourist areas.) Recently it was discovered that online prostitution exists in Singapore too!

Singapore/US relations got a bit strained earlier this year when the US hit Singapore with a Tier 2 ranking as far as sex trafficking is concerned. Apparently Singapore wasn’t prosecuting enough people for sex trafficking to make the US happy. Singapore made its reply to the US. I wrote about that here.

A Short History of CraigsList Erotic Services in the US

Back in the US, CraigsList has been getting pounded. For the past several years, sex workers who advertised on CraigsList get arrested by the dozens. The big reason is that they’re obvious targets and low-hanging fruit for cops who discover the Intertubes (there are other reasons as well). Or rather, the public slowly discovered that sex work exists online and made a big stink about it. Wholesale arrests of consenting adult sex workers wasn’t good enough (I remember one sweep that busted 70+ sex workers in one night). The anti-traffickers/save the children fanatics waded in. Despite zero evidence, they began braying that CraigsList gave a forum for sex traffickers. Arrests stepped up. And yes, sometimes minors (those under 18) were arrested as well, giving rise to the idea that CraigsList was a haven for sex traffickers. If it was indeed a place where sex traffickers post ads, then it was situated as the ideal honeypot to find and arrest these people.

Instead, it was the ideal target for a crusade. Few real victims were ever found, much less rescued. Even fewer sex traffickers/pimps were arrested. But thousands of consenting adult women and a few hundred adult clients were arrested and their lives ruined by the anti-trafficking hysteria brewing. CraigsList felt incredible political and social pressure to do something. So, to the animosity of all sex workers, it capitulated and agreed to start charging money to place an ad in its newly-created Adult Services category. Credit cards and verified phone numbers were now required, and a team of people personally vetted each and every ad submitted. All the collected info could be turned over to the authorities at any moment upon request.

Sex workers who relied on the site to make a living had no choice but to comply. There were still clients to be found off CraigsList. Ironically, rip-off agencies had no problem getting their ads approved and posted, yet independent sex workers who didn’t want to turn over their info to various Attorney Generals couldn’t get past the new guidelines with prepaid credit cards (which did not give their real info). CraigsList wanted real info, endangering the fabric of the lives of consenting adult sex workers who have been targeted from the site from the very beginning.

CraigsList and the Adult Services section moved forward. Imitation sites sprung up but none really took off. Sex workers had to find new ways to advertise online because those new to online advertising discovered it was not only more lucrative but safer than working offline. CraigsList collected money from the ads, vowing to give all the funds collected from the Adult Services section to charity. Anti-traffickers watched closely. One year after the Adult Services section was created, it was announced that CraigsList made $36million off that section of the site alone. All of it from the US, by the way. No other country has an Adult Services section – but we’ll get to that.

Now that CraigsList has these millions, they try to do what they promised and give the money to charities. Several charities make a big public stink about handing back the “tainted” money. As a sex worker – fuck you very much for thinking the money I physically earn to pay for things is “tainted.” But that’s another issue for another day.

So what can CraigsList do? I was not a fan that they crumbled in the face of bellowing from old feminists who were never sex workers. Yet now that CraigsList has done what everyone in power told them to do, these people turn around and call CraigsList a pimp. Guess we should’ve seen that one coming. I feel sorry for CraigsList now. (There was a silly little CraigsList protest a couple months ago, I covered it here and here.)

Since this wasn’t enough, the anti-traffickers paid thousands of dollars (maybe from some charity they’re associated with?) to have ads placed in the Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle featuring two sex-trafficking victims pleading with Jim Buckmaster to remove the Adult Services section because their pimps used CraigsList to exploit them. One of the victims was forced to work at a truck stop – I hope that truck stop is shut down and every trucking company whose trucks passed through there is investigated for contributing to her exploitation.

I’m not being cold-hearted but CraigsList is a fucking website. The person responsible for the pain of these girls are the men who physically did it to them. Are those men in jail? Apparently not. Presumably because they’re a lot harder to catch than Jim Buckmaster. The people responsible for sex trafficking are sex traffickers. Not hotels, not websites, not fast food outlets. Sex traffickers are responsible for sex trafficking victims.

CraigsList Worldwide

Now that we’re all up to date on the drama of CraigsList in the US, take a quick look around to every other country that isn’t the US. CraigsList’s Erotic Services are going strong.

While I hope like hell I’m not causing trouble for CraigsList, I would like to point out that a) either the US is the only country in the world where teens are sexually trafficked via CraigsList or b) other countries don’t have strident, moralistic anti-traffickers riding roughshod over the online sex worker populace like the US does. Additionally, prostitution is legal or decriminalized in many of the countries where CraigsList has listings. Anti-traffickers can’t get a foothold to complain in situations like that – thank god.

It’s also important to keep in mind that CraigsList is simply a website. In other countries, one can post an Erotic Services ad with just an email address – the way it used to be in the US. Why? Because it’s a website filled with user-generated content. It’s not a nanny and it’s not a sex trafficker. Neither is it an “online brothel.” You know why? Because it’s a bloody website. If CraigsList is an online brothel, then newspapers that run escort or “massage” classifieds are print brothels. Same concept, right? Do I need to explain the difference between a brothel and advertising?

CraigsList is a website.

CraigsList in Singapore

Singapore’s English tabloid published a two-page spread about the evils of CraigsList this weekend. (The full text here, along with some amusing commentary from the peanut gallery.) Singapore was moved and alarmed by the ads in the US of the two teen trafficking victims. Then it suddenly realized that CraigsList was in Singapore too! Oh no! There’s prostitution online in Singapore – where you have to know where to look to find it (as opposed to the usual Singaporean method of bumping into sex workers at the local open-air cafes or hanging outside Hotel 81s).

Today I noticed the Erotic Services section is gone from CraigsList Singapore.

I’m guessing that CraigsList ran afoul of Singapore’s censors after the newspaper article. “Face” is a Chinese concept but in this case I don’t think there needs to be much translation.

What makes me so angry, why I’m writing this post, is that prostitution is semi-legal in Singapore. Selling time as a social escort is completely legal. And yet the crusading anti-traffickers of the US have managed to reach across an ocean and change the local scene of an industry they know nothing about, have not visited, do not live in, do not work in, and have zero evidence of wrongdoing. Their crusade is far more anti-prostitution than it is “save the children” because again and again, it is consenting adult sex workers who pay for the zealots’ beliefs. Granted, this is not the reason why the section was pulled – I and everyone else in Singapore recognizes this. But these anti-trafficking extremists still have managed to affect a situation they know nothing about and aren’t even involved in.

Have their efforts saved one child in the US or Singapore? Did those newspaper ads save a life? I doubt it. Instead, I expect some arrests in Singapore and lots of arrests in the US because of this. Adult lives ruined with a police record and all the ripple effects from that. No children saved.

Supporting CraigsList

I’m a sex worker and I support CraigsList in their fight against censorship and hysteria. I’m not saying I think CraigsList is perfect but I am finally, completely angry at what’s going on. This shit has gotten way out of control. Rein it in. Focus.

If you want to fight sex trafficking, go find sex traffickers and put them away. Be my guest. I don’t know a single sex worker who will stop you from doing that. But…harassing, arresting and otherwise getting in the way of consenting adult sex workers is not fighting sex trafficking. Anyone who tries to say otherwise is lying.

Anti-trafficking = anti-prostitution. It has nothing to do with actually saving those who need help.

One can read plenty on CraigsList’s own blog, particularly the comments here

This blog showcases the views of many sex workers during CraigsList’s descent into sexual infamy

If you search the SWOP-East blog for “CraigsList,” you’ll see all the arrests I’ve noted and other little stories I’ve written here about this very topic

All of the keynote speaker presentations for this year’s Desiree Alliance Conference are now live and available for viewing on the Desiree website. Included are Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Women with a Vision’s Deon Haywood, ISWFACE’s Norma Jean Almodovar, Kirk Read, SWOP-USA’s Robyn Few, Tim Barnett, and Nina Hartley.

2010 Keynote Speeches

Posted on behalf of Maxine Doogan

To the Washington Post in response to this Article published | 08/07/2010
Sex-trafficking opponents fight Craigslist’s ‘adult services’ ads  <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080606376.html>

Washington Post would do better to concentrate on reporting instead of urging free speech oppression.

The Washington Post would do well to inform itself,  to catch up to  what the rest of us already know; that online classifieds like Craigslist have taken a huge chunk of revenue out of news papers like theirs and the SF Chronicle.  It’s clear to see that in reporting or in this case, repeating on Craigslist, your paper has motivation to not report facts.

Craigslist has taken the profit out of the print presses’  classified sections and that threatens yours sustainability.   Then media repeaters like CNN,  who have traditionally relied on your type of publications to come up with all the facts, have no ability to fill these kinds gaps since they’ve never had to do so before.  The best they can do is create media sensation out of themselves and then report on it http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20012671-501465.html and get you to repeat it.

The fact is that the press must have a whipping post and the adult industry has always been that, so now it’s Craigslist by extension.  The photos of women the obligatory in high heels…short skirts. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080801654.html Sex sells, even for your publication.

This leads me to question the credibility of  two girls’ stories featured in the paid ad San Francisco Chronicle.   http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/MN2K1DHDV9.DTL Upon pain of death they violated Craigslist’s terms of use http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use by saying they were of age and then again by posting for illegal services.  Then allowed their stories being cooped by the poverty pimps who’ve paid themselves how much to blame Craigslist, in a ½ page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle? A phone call got a quote of $16,000 for that ad.

And then repeating that paid piece of press is supposed to be an excuse upon which to oppress our free speech to force the rest of us adult advertisers out of work?

Media outlets like the Washington Post, as well as politicians already know that adult advertisers don’t cause child abuse, sexual assault or forced child labor.

Craigslist has come a long way in educating themselves and reaching out to community members, like no other classified ever has before, why not follow the new industry’s standard.

Repeating paid ads in the WP to urge politicians to violate everyone’s free speech  must be like signing a media outlet like your’s death warrant.  I want to see reporting on how these groups are funding their free speech.  Many of these groups get their funding through various US government agencies http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/fs/2009/121358.htm who have over estimated the actual http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-825
victims to justify over funding these anti trafficking groups.  I call on  Mr. Eric Holder investigate that and media outlets like the WP should too.

I urge all media outlets to stop sensationalizing sex by any means necessary and stop trying tos hold the wrong person(s) responsible harm because in the mean time,  somebody is getting away with a very violent crime.

Maxine Doogan
Erotic Service Providers Union
San Francisco California
8/11/10

Melissa Ditmore discussing the ramifications of PEPFAR’s anti-prostitution policy on sex workers over at the Global Health Magazine blog.

Since we’re on the subject, especially in light of the amazing protests at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna last month, this is not a bad time to suggest you review the amazing short film “Taking The Pledge”

Do the prohibitionists realize, or care, that their campaign to “end prostitution” actually ends rights?  A recent very poor experience with a client could have had a different ending.   Or perhaps not happened at all had there been sex worker human rights.    With sex worker rights and full decriminalization, I could have gone to the police and charged him with physical assault, sexual assault, probably a couple of other things.

Does handcuffing an unwilling participant and putting a trash bag over my head to use as leverage for negotiation count as a crime?  Or making me  eat a used condom?  How about forced anal sex while I was focused on asphyxiation?  Perhaps if we had sex worker rights and full decriminalization, he wouldn’t have done what he did at all.   Does the concussion count?   How do I explain how this happened to the doctor?  To my non sex work employer?  Oh, and why am I doing sex work?  Because I can’t live on the wages of my “straight job”, and they won’t post the schedule until 24 hours before it is valid.  Making most straight jobs impossible.

Thanks prohibitionists, you’re doing such a great job saving us………..

Citizens Against Trafficking, the brainchild of Donna M. Hughes and Melanie Shapiro state on their website:   CAT (Citizens Against Trafficking)  believes decriminalized prostitution in Rhode Island enabled the expansion of the sex industry, an industry vulnerable to trafficking.  Decriminalized prostitution meant that we were unable to identify and assist victims of trafficking.  We were unable to use some federal laws or participate in federal initiatives to combat trafficking.

So what trafficking victims were assisted Ms. Hughes and Ms. Shapiro?  North Carolina is a state where prostitution is fully criminalized.  Yet it is still here.   Where are the trafficking victims being saved here in North Carolina?

Back to the original point.  Federal initiatives?  The perpetrator was a federal law enforcement employee.  And please don’t tell me I have “rights”.  I’ve seen that process before.   You can not take on the federal government.

Thank you Donna M. Hughes, Melanie Shapiro, you made a difficult situation so much better with your “work”  Either of you ever been bagged and shagged?   Or are you safe at URI making decisions for others?

Since this year’s conference is going to be a week-long event, I know that many sex workers/conference attendees will be Tweeting/blogging/whatevering about their time in Las Vegas. For those who want to follow what’s going on from their own computer, I encourage everyone who is attending DA and publicizing it to add their names and links in the Comments section below.

By Monica Shores. Cross-posted from $pread magazine’s new blog. Check it out!

When, in response to charges of pedophilia, Belgian police conducted search and seizures in Church offices and the home of a former bishop, the Vatican released a statement expressing “shock” and “indignation” over the act. To make the situation even more surreal, Church officials claimed, “there are no precedents for this, not even under communist regimes.”

This is awfully strange, since the Catholic Church has been and is a proponent of raids in response to human trafficking concerns. In 2002, one Catholic-run Northern Indian ashram carried out 10 raids. When it comes to activity in the United States:

“Catholic Institutions are increasingly involved in the identification of trafficking victims and intervening on their behalf […] Of the approximately 300 victims of trafficking identified in the U.S. since the passage of the legislation on trafficking, the Catholic Church brought almost 200 of them to the attention of U.S. authorities.”

A discussion of the many problematic aspects of raids took place on the $pread blog in its earlier incarnation, and hopefully those posts will be available again soon. In the meantime, Furry Girl recently plucked a great quote that illustrates one of the many issues with raids-as-rescue-tool:

“The problem with raids is that you have the people who want to rescue women and children who are in prostitution, using the oppressive arms of the state – the most oppressive arm of the state, which is the police – to conduct this ‘rescue operation’ through a raid. [...]  The community is never ever going to respond to anybody who is bringing in the police to rescue them, because they do not view that as a ‘rescue’.  They view that as another oppressive thing that’s done to them.”

According to Pope Benedict, raids are “deplorable”—but apparently only when the Church itself is on the raided end.

-Monica Shores

Authorization to repost granted, except if material is used to replace an actual interview with one sourced by this.

Prohibitionists’ comparing sex work and straight work: they are dead wrong. There are people who believe ending sex work (abolishing prostitution, pornography, and other forms of erotic labor) will end harm being done to women in these fields. These sex work prohibitionists coolly assume that jobs in the “straight world” are safe, protected, equitable—all the things they believe sex work is not.

They are wrong. Many of these people are a certain breed of feminist academic elite, comfortably ensconced in their Ivory towers. They may be well intentioned. As I know some of them like Donna M. Hughes myself, I’d even say they are genuine in their desire to advance constructive social change.

But reality can shatter even the best of intentions.

My journey into and out of sex work is unique. My first experience in sex work lasted 3 years. I was (literally) a sex slave: no safe words were needed, and I didn’t even know safe words existed. I was coerced.

The coercion was the true injustice I endured, as millions of Americans suffer the injustice of coercive workplaces that have nothing to do with sex work. That’s the reality “end the sex industry and get a real job activists” routinely and tragically dismiss.

10 years after I was trafficked, I returned to sex work as a stripper. While I worked occasionally at clubs, I mostly did outcall bachelor’s parties. The agent got 40 percent, I got 60 percent. That’s 60 percent more than when I was a sex trafficking victim.

Later still, I gave up on stripping and went to work on my own as an independent escort. I was my own boss and there were no comparable problems. No one hurt me, I set my own boundaries, I got paid what I asked for—all 100 percent of it.

While it wasn’t the greatest job in the world, it was work; it was nothing like my coerced experience. Anti-trafficking activists like Donna M. Hughes, anti-pornography activists like Gail Dines and Shelly Lubben, anti-prostitution activists like Melissa Farley willfully ignore this fact: there is a world of difference between being a sex trafficking victim and being a sex worker.

Make no mistake: ending sexual slavery is a great thing. Ending sex work is not. The two are entirely distinct. Conflating them is deadly for trafficking victims and for sex workers.

Now, let’s talk about the reality of “straight jobs.” I’ve worked a bunch of them in many different industries, usually as an entry-level employee. A lot of my experience is in the air travel industry.

I’ve been assaulted by airline customers more times than I can count. I’ve been kicked in the face while trying to screen a passenger’s leg while working for the TSA. I’ve been spit on. The list goes on.

The result is always the same: the company sends the customer on their way without reprimand because they don’t want to lose business or risk the bad press. In other words, I get told: let it go, or get fired.

I’ve had 6 surgeries from injuries suffered at work. In my State of the Union (North Carolina), workers comp is highly regulated in favor of the employer. That means you can’t pick your doctor, and so you have to see the doctor the carrier chooses. Needless to say, you get biased doctors. You also get a “nurse case manager” (appointed by the carrier) who joins you at every appointment and diligently argues with your already-biased doctor to avoid any expensive diagnostics, medicines, and other treatments, and also reminds the doctor that you are to be returned to work immediately.

When I was working as a valet parking attendant, I was sent back to work for 10 days with a fractured knee, torn MCL, and two torn menisci (one in each knee). The job required running three-tenths of a mile. Three-tenths of a mile for each customer. Three-tenths of a mile for each customer in the 95 degree heat of North Carolina’s Summer.

Why did I take that job? Why did I run three-tenths of a mile on a fractured knee for 10 days at the behest of my “nurse case manager” in my mid 40’s? Because, thanks to the emphasis misguided activist academics like Donna M. Hughes have placed on “rescuing” trafficking victims, the police are so indiscriminately arresting sex workers in my area that running on fractured knees as a valet parking attendant was actually safer than working as an independent escort. Safer, perhaps—I don’t need a jail sentence—but not better.

By the way, it took 6 months for the workers comp carrier to approve surgery to repair the fracture. Oh, and given the recession, it took me 10 weeks just to find that valet job.

When I worked for the TSA, my job entailed lifting 100 pound bags all day because it was more cost effective to have employees do it than to have a conveyor put in. Unsurprisingly, I was struck with repetitive injuries. Surgery was ultimately needed for these injuries, too. The TSA paid nothing as they didn’t feel it was “work-related.” I could appeal that decision, of course, in which case my motion would be decided by the TSA’s appeal board. The TSA’s appeal board, in case it isn’t clear, works for the TSA and, naturally, sides with their employer.

So after working the straight jobs, many times I’ve ended up just like the worst experiences in sex work: no rights, no food, and in a lot of pain.

Go beyond the economic coercion embedded in this capitalist system, however, and you’ll find that straight jobs are not, in and of themselves, safer for women sexually, either.

Back at the TSA, I was sexually assaulted on a federal checkpoint by a male co worker. The assault was filmed by a security camera tape and there were 6 witnesses (5 male and 1 female). They all went to court with me to support my restraining order efforts against my workplace harasser. Now, it isn’t often that men will side with a woman in situations like this, but these 5 men did. The harasser plead no contest—all but an admission of guilt.

However, the TSA management were buddies with the Greensboro Police Department and Guilford County Sheriffs Department, the agencies that would enforce the restraining order. The same day the restraining order was issued, a Greensboro PD officer told me he didn’t believe my claims, and that filing a false police report was a crime. He threatened me with arrest if he or the department could find any proof I was lying. (They never found any.)

Neither the Greensboro PD or Guilford County Sheriffs department enforced the restraining order, the TSA management assigned me to the same work station with my harasser and when I attempted to transfer, that motion was blocked. The manager that supported me was terminated. Same with the supervisor that supported me in court. My other supporters were moved to other stations or had their careers stalled—passed up for promotion time and again.

I went to DC and filed a formal complaint with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). However, the TSA has its own EEOC. Needless to say, they sided with the TSA. I pressed on, eventually speaking to Internal Affairs, but I quickly learned their role is risk management (damage control), not justice. My harasser, who I learned had confessed to Human Resources was terminated a month later for sexually assaulting a third woman; I was the second. And his confession? The audio tape failed because the HR investigator “failed to push the record button,” and the video tapes of the assaults “could not be located” by the airport police.

Now I work at a job in which I have no breaks regardless of the length of my shift (no lunches either), and an expectation that I will never be sick, injured or need personal days or I may be terminated. Yes, this is all legal in North Carolina. I could go on, but I think this makes my point.

To anyone who believes that ending the sex industry and forcing sex workers to take on straight jobs is some great achievement, please look at the reality. The devil is in the details. Ask those of us who have gone from sex work to straight jobs what really transpired.

Please, do continue to rescue trafficking victims but stop conflating sex trafficking with sex work. Start focusing on realities rather than just mass-rescues that do us real harm, that hurts and kills sex workers, and often has no real basis in the reality of the lives of those involved.

I have been far more harmed by “straight jobs” than I ever was as either a stripper or an independent escort.

Who feeds me when injuries knock me out for weeks and I have no more income? Does Melissa Farley’s Prostitution Research Education provide these services? Does Donna M. Hughes’ Citizens Against Trafficking? Does Gail Dines’ Stop Porn Culture? Does Shelly Lubben’s Pink Cross?

Melissa Farley, Donna M. Hughes: where is the justice you promise to bring us trafficking victims? Do you even care about us?

Since the opening plenary for the International AIDS Conference (IAC) on Sunday, July 18th, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) has been a vocal and visible presence at the conference. NSWP members have challenged both policy makers and funding agencies to break with the status quo, which perpetuates institutional violence and violation of sex worker’s human rights that lead to a higher rates of HIV infection and death.

On Tuesday, July 20th, NSWP organized sex workers and allies to disrupt a speech by United States Global AIDS Coordinator Dr. Eric Goosby to demand justice for sex workers harmed by PEPFAR’s discriminatory anti-prostitution loyalty oath.

Download the NSWP press release about the protest, a one page English PDF, here.

Here are some reports from NSWP activists who were there:

“On Tuesday, July 20 sex workers’ rights activists marched through the IAC conference centre to protest the PEPFAR Anti Prostitution Pledge at a session at which was to be a presenter. Eric Goosby cancelled his speech to avoid the sex workers and instead held a press conference in the media centre. Sex worker activists followed him there, where we loudly accused him of murdering sex workers and preventing the crucial funding for sex workers. Everyone was upset and challenging him to be responsible and support human rights for all. I sat on the table with my red umbrella and screamed that he was a murderer, and everyone was chanting “SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!!” He tried to escape and fell from his chair, and then he was helped to his feet by security and escorted out. The media stayed in the room and sex workers were venting their issues of concern. For example, in Uganda the only funding is for rehabilitation and there is NO money for condoms. In Kenya there is no funding for necessary sex worker support services, only rehabilitation. All who receive money from USAID’s PEPFAR fund have to sign an anti-prostitution loyalty oath. We left chanting, “sex workers united will never be defeated!!! PEPFAR kills sex workers!!!”

–Cheryl Overs, Paulo Longo Research Institute, Asia and the Pacific Region

Watch a video of the protest, featuring some of the sex workers’ chants and impassioned speeches from Kyomya Macklean, of the Ugandan sex worker group WONETHA, and John Mathenge, a male sex worker from Kenya.

“After we chased Goosby out of the press conference room, sex workers from around the world took over the microphones and held their own press conference while the whole world was watching and declared that we will follow Goosby to every presentation he makes until he answers for the crimes of PEPFAR’s anti-prostitution pledge.”

–Will Rockwell, Global Network of Sex Work Projects, North America Region

“The protesters toured the Center for Media, carrying red umbrellas and placards with slogans. One of the interviewees was the prostitute [Kyomya] Macklean, Uganda: “We want respect, recognition, social inclusion, and dialogue with our political leaders. And we can’t do all this without funding. “

After a few minutes, everyone was ushered out of the Center for Media, but continued to move through the wide corridors of the Convention Center, moving in the direction of the Global Village. The group celebrated the impact of the action at the booth of the Global Network of Sex Work (NSWP), which promoted the protest.

Sex workers from around the world demand that the U.S. funds to fight AIDS, via USAID’s PEPFAR program, do not discriminate. It is essential to support sex worker organizations in order to strengthen HIV prevention.”

–Flavio Lenz, Davida, Latin America Region

Editor’s note: Flavio’s statement is based on a rough translation using the Google translate tool. Click here for the original version in Portuguese.

Four years ago in 2006, at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, NSWP member Melissa Ditmore and journalist Erin Siegal collected footage and interviews for a short film on PEPFAR and how it harms sex workers – not much has changed. Watch the thirteen minute film, Taking the Pledge, here.

Svenska Dagbladet, a major Swedish newspaper, published an opinion piece by me and Louise Persson on Thursday, critiquing the government evaluation of its anti-prostitution law. This is not an ideological rant but a social-scientific analysis demonstrating that the evaluation was so poor it proves nothing about the law. This is important given the international media’s acceptance of the Swedish publicity claim that the law is a great ‘success’, especially at combating trafficking and organised crime, so the fact of its publication should be disseminated. As an editorial the piece was limited to 600 words. I translated it to English on my website.

Svenska Dagbladet original here.

Laura María Agustín
Border Thinking

Wherever I go, wherever I live, I always meet people with critical, original and non-conforming views, and Sweden is no exception. Today’s special post comes from Louise Persson, whose book on ‘classical’ feminism came out last year and who has been blogging at Frihetspropaganda since March 2004. Her allegiance is to libertarianism, and she likes to call herself an activist. A longtime critic of the Swedish law criminalising the purchase of sex, Louise wrote the article below about the report on the government’s evaluation of the law, which was published on Friday. Links to numerous other Swedish critiques of the inquiry and report are at the end: many Swedes don’t like the law, but, since the government treats it as a symbol of Swedishness, these voices are rarely heard in public forums. Remind anyone of other governments we know? Re-posted from Laura Agustín’s Border Thinking.

Behind the happy face of the Swedish anti-prostitution law
Or, the success that is the Swedish sex-purchase law, or maybe not . . .

Louise Persson, 3 July 2010

‘We don’t work with harm reduction in Sweden. Because that’s not the way Sweden looks upon this. We see it as a ban on prostitution: there should be no prostitution‘, said governmental inquirer Anna Skarhed smilingly to the journalist attending the press conference on the release of the report on an inquiry meant to evaluate the effects of the sex purchase law but not to question the law itself. And later: ‘Harm reduction is not the Swedish model.’ (long English summary pp 29-44, or key excerpts in English ).

Skarhed went on to say that prostitutes – women – are not marginalized. There are some who claim that, but ‘We don’t see that’.

The statement about harm reduction is highly interesting. A harm-reduction framework stands in opposition to moralistic laws, but Skarhed refused to acknowledge the law’s moral character, presenting it as merely a ‘ban’ on unacceptable behaviour. It isn’t really true either, that there is no harm reduction here. Sweden may be restrictive and repressive against users of illicit drugs and buyers of sex, but there are some pragmatic – harm reduction – programmes in Sweden. One might imagine that an expert on law appointed by government as an independent researcher would have some insight into the difference between pragmatism and ideology. You cannot assess the effects of the law without any understanding of harm reduction, it’s like assessing everything but the effects on the people involved.

The report’s claim that sexworkers are not marginalized is bafflingly arrogant, ignoring what many sexworkers say about how the law increases stigma and therefore their marginalization in society. See this video with Pye Jakobsson of Rose Alliance, as an example.

As a longtime critic of the law, I had low expectations, but this I didn’t expect: An astounding absence of objective and unbiased guiding principles, a lack of solid evidence and a confusing methodical picture that could mean outright guesswork. All the report’s conclusions are therefore questionable. I was prepared to focus on the fact that Skarhed wasn’t allowed to freely criticise the law, but the report itself is a worse problem. Now-familiar self-congratulatory references to Sweden’s higher moral ground compared with other countries are not missing: here the law is ascribed an almost magical power to eradicate patriarchy and sex trafficking, both.

‘Sources’ are mentioned, but absolutely nothing is explained about methodology. Sources mentions persons and organisations talked to, including ECPAT (although the child aspect of the law evades me) but there is nothing about how interviewees were chosen, why they were relevant, what questionnaire was used or how interviews were analysed.

Sexworkers themselves are listed as sources, but they seem to have been forgotten until quite late. They are called, in a discriminatory manner, ‘exploited persons’ (p. 126-127). A total of 14 persons from two organisations filled out a questionnaire: about half were active sexworkers from Rose Alliance, the other half former sexworkers from PRIS. The findings from this research were a foregone conclusion anyway: active sexworkers are said to be unaware of their own exploitation and former sexworkers to be happy with criminalisation. The similarity is striking to the feminist idea that all women in prostitution need to be rescued and liberated. What Skarhed doesn’t mention is that PRIS’s very few members had already declared themselves in favour of the law. Rose Alliance, also a small organisation, have been critical of the law, but at least they made the questionnaire available online to any sexworker who wanted to participate. Few found it worthwhile, unfortunately.* The issue here is that it is inappropiate to take two small, local organisations and claim they represent all active and former sexworkers.

Maybe suspecting the report will be taken as the ridiculous rubbish it is, Skarhed chose to publish a long, personal, heart-rending ‘story‘ of one unhappy former prostitute. The implicit (ridiculous) rhetoric aimed at anyone criticising the law is ‘Hey, are you in favour of this suffering?’ But this strategy won’t hold up, because Swedes know that all sex workers are not miserable. Where the text says ‘people with experience of prostitution have complex needs’ (p. 93), Skarhed actually refers to this single story, as if all sex workers can be lumped together as miserable victims?. The text itself was written by PRIS, another indication of the report’s political agenda.

Moreover Skarhed claims (in chapter 4.3) that, on the one hand, they haven’t a clue about how many sexworkers there are in Sweden, and, on the other, that the law has successfully reduced street prostitution by 50%. But she also said the increase of services offered on Internet sites is no different from nearby countries’, from which she concludes fuzzily that this shows that the law has not contributed to any increase in ‘hidden’ prostitution. This is clearly an attempt to head off arguments from the law’s critics. The only actual conclusion is that the decrease of street prostitution in Sweden is a real decrease resulting from the law. Causation by confusion? It is indeed remarkable what conclusions can be drawn based on not having a clue, i.e any figures, a point already noted in another government assessment of prostitution in Sweden in 2007 (Socialstyrelsen-National Board of Health and Welfare).

Maybe there is a state of mind that can explain this. Skarhed stated at the press conference that the conclusions were obvious and the material gathered justified drawing them.

I think that these are quite obvious conclusions. But the important thing for the inquiry has been to try to, so to speak, get the basis for being able to draw them. And this is how we have worked.

That is a statement which in itself should raise serious questions about the methodology and empiric usefulness of the inquiry. The report also says (and this is the closest we get to a discussion of methodology):

The empirical surveys that have been carried out have, in some cases, had limited scope, and different working procedures, methods and purposes have been used. In light of these and other factors, there can at times be reason to interpret the results with caution. However, despite these reservations, we still consider that it is possible to draw conclusions based on the material to which we had access, and the results we are presenting based on this data give, in our view, as clear a picture as is currently possible to produce.

Another explanation lies probably, and most importantly, in the government’s original directive to Skarhed: the objective was to evaluate whether the law has had any deterrent function, which was the original ambition behind the law, and to recommend how it could be strengthened to meet that ambition. The directive stated that the law is important and that the inquiry could not suggest, or point in any direction other than, that buying of sex should be criminalised. Therefore, whether the law has been up till now a failure or a success, the only possible conclusions were either strengthening enforcement or leaving the status quo.

Academic work criticising the law from Susanne Dodillet in 2009 is merely mentioned in the reference section; nothing is noted about her findings in the report itself. The same applies to Petra Östergren, who pioneered a critical study and book in 2006 about the sexual moralism surrounding the kind of feminism that lies behind the Swedish law. Both are indirectly brushed off in a comment saying it is irrelevant to distinguish between forced or voluntary prostitution (p. 15). By including these books in the reference list but not actually addressing their criticism the report can, of course, feign impartiality without actually bothering to be impartial.

The evaluation’s task was to suggest possible changes to the law, and that is accomplished by proposing to raise the maximum penalty for clients of sex workers from 6 months to one year of imprisonment. Another suggested change was to grant sexworkers compensation as victims, which is currently not the case.

These changes in penalties would bring the law into line with those applied for violent crimes such as beatings, fitting exactly the radical feminist ideology that prostitution is a form of violence against women. The idea to compensate sexworkers as victims of violence was originally Catharine MacKinnon’s, thus far only supported in Sweden by the Swedish Feminist party (they published on newsmill together with MacKinnon in 2008; my Swedish response here).

Skarhed’s recommendations raise serious questions about her status as an objective observer. The fact that the quality of the inquiry was so poor makes it even more important to raise them.

With all that said, the inquiry does have one more point of interest that should be addressed.

It is claimed that trafficking for sexual purposes has been affected by the law. Yet again, this is based on the ‘notion’ (what people think and claim) that Sweden is not attractive to traffickers. This may very well be true, but the report does not ask how the law might have had this impact, with some historical comparison, since we don’t know whether Sweden ever was attractive before. The same kind of question applies to prostitution, but that would raise the need of hard figures, not easily obtainable in a country where prostitution is, in practice, criminal.

The inquiry now goes into a referral process, to get different opinions before making any decisions for a change of law. I hope the organisations, experts and authorities who are to assess the report see it for what it is, an ideological work in compliance with a preordained political stance (to ban a phenomenon), not a sound and helpful instrument for assessing the real effects of the law.

* I asked Pye Jakobsson, president of the Swedish sexworker organisation Rose Alliance, about her contact with the inquiry. She says they were sent a questionnaire last January and put in online, but very few sex workers took an interest in filling it out, because the questions were ‘idiotic’.

Other critiques in Sweden so far

An academic project on prostitution, NPPR, published a careful assessment of the report (in English), calling it endless fodder for proponents and critics of the ban alike to continue trading claims and counter-claims as to what the ban has (and has not) achieved since its implementation. A perhaps needlessly neutral way to say that it isn’t that hard to see the flaws. Other independent views from Hanna Wagenius, Niklas Dougherty, Sanna Rayman, Per Pettersson, Greta, Magnus Brahn, Hans Egnell, Emil Isberg and undoubtedly others as the days go on. Best title is Helena von Schantz’s: Practically Evidence-Free Inquiry.

I’m posting this on behalf of Lailah. She recently commented on my personal blog, telling me about her arrest. I encouraged her to write her story and submit it to be posted here. Since the general public looks at this blog, I would like them to see what an arrest feels like from the perspective of a consenting adult sex worker — the most common kind of sex worker, BTW. I’m very proud she took me up on my offer.

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Lailah (not my real name). I’m a single mama, a business owner (businesses NOT adult oriented), and a professional escort. I spend my spare time cleaning house, tending children, and being a soccer mom, just like every other mother across the country. I started escorting in early May, 2010. And I stopped in June, 2010. I loved it. I absolutely loved escorting. I couldn’t see a downside to it. I like sex and money. My clients liked sex and money. They were willing to give me money to spend time with me (admittedly, we spent that time having sex), so we both got what we wanted and went away happy.

I started escorting because of the single mom thing. I’d spent my whole life (I’m in my early 40s) being the perfect, taxpaying soccer mom. I owned a business — but it went south when the real estate bubble burst. I got another job, but it didn’t pay my bills. Escorting did. I often earned $500 or more a night. Good heavens, you can’t beat that with a stick! I became more and more concerned about law enforcement, though. I started choosing upscale hotels, thinking that most hookers would be in the downscale motels, and a more upscale location would protect me a bit. And then the shoe dropped. I was in my room with a man who, unbeknownst to me, was an undercover police officer. Now, even if he’d told me he was a cop, that might not have set off any of my alarms. I’d already fucked a former FBI agent, several off duty cops, and a CIA agent. We discussed prices, and I emphasized that my prices are for my time. When he seemed ready to go to the next level, I told him that what he paid for was my conversation, and if he wanted me to have sex with him, then the part of the appointment he paid for was over and any further activities would only be between consenting adults. So we started talking about what we liked to do in bed. I thought he was a little reticent, but I’d had nervous guys before, and I thought that was the case here as well. I tried to break the ice by telling him I like receiving oral. He asked if I would also give oral sex. I said yes, that sounds like fun. I began to slip my clothes off. He asked me again. “So, you’d let me eat you out and then you’d give me a blow job?” Sure, sounds like fun! And then I heard a beep, followed by a pounding at the door. I peeked out the peephole and saw several people in POLICE t-shirts, with one holding up a badge. So I opened the door before they broke it down. This was a 4 star hotel. I didn’t want to freak out the other guests. Keep in mind that at this point, I’m in my bra and panties. No shoes. AT LEAST 10 police officers entered the room. I got hustled back to the bedroom (I was in a suite), shoved against the wall, and searched for weapons. Where the bloody fucking hell did they think I had a gun? Shoved up my pussy? They didn’t look there. A male cop threw my clothes at me and told me, with disgust in his voice, to get dressed. He had a ski mask on and refused to remove it. Then they told me that they were there for credit card fraud. I kept asking, “What’s wrong with my card?” But they wouldn’t answer my question. I asked, “Am I in trouble?” but they wouldn’t answer that either. They did, however, proceed to tear my room apart “looking for weapons.” They told me they wanted information on a friend of mine who ran an escort service. I’d worked for him for a few days before I struck out on my own. They read me my rights, but then they told me that if I didn’t “cooperate” I would be booked into jail. If I “cooperated” I would just be cited. They started talking about money laundering charges, and making me spend the weekend in jail. I decided to ignore the little voice in my head and opted for the citation. I talked. I told them what they wanted to know about my friend. A female cop wanted to know if these men ever disgusted me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from making a smart remark. They asked me over and over who I was at the hotel with, and seemed not to believe me when I told them I was there by myself. I was terrified. I’m in my 40s. I have a boss, a business, and children. A reputation that didn’t mean much in my early 20s could be destroyed, my children taken from me…I told them what they wanted to know. And they weren’t really interested in me, except to ask me about the positions I used with my clients, how often I had sex, did I give or receive oral, etc.

They got the information they wanted, wrote me a ticket, and left me alone. I packed up my things, crying and sobbing, checked out early, went home, threw up a few times, didn’t sleep until sunrise, and then took a couple sleeping pills, and slept the rest of the weekend. When I woke up, I woke up crying, took a shot of whiskey, and went back to bed.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. When I called the police after being beaten by my first husband, they refused to protect me. In fact, they blamed me for his drinking and womanizing. Even after the doctors told the cops that I was one blow from having my skull shattered, they blamed me. When I was brutally raped on a date rape, kicking and screaming, and went to the police, they did nothing. They blamed me because I’d been drinking. And, you know, for being female. Great. So now I’m happily making money, stimulating both the economy and the gentlemen of the area, and here they are banging down my door. Like the Gestapo. They told me they were “protecting” me. From what? As an escort, I could afford condoms, blood screens, regular medical checks. Gentlemen who are willing to pay for sex are, in my experience, much more respectful than the ones who expect it for free. The ones who raped and battered me were getting free sex. The ones who paid, were kind and respectful. Besides. I have 3 children. I’ve been married and divorced, more than once. This is not my first rodeo. I knew what I was dealing with as far as my mental, emotional, and physical health were concerned. That was on a Saturday. On Monday evening, my boss sent me a terse text. “We need to talk.” He’s also my best friend. And I own a share of the business. I called. “I got a call from the police.” I almost fainted with terror. They had told him what they had gotten me for, which would have lost me my job if I hadn’t been such good friends with my boss and/or owned part of the business. Bless his heart, he wasn’t upset about me screwing around. Or the adult nature of the work. He was mad because it’s ILLEGAL. And he was afraid they would drag him into it. And I was mad because this was my legitimate job. My long-term plan wasn’t to be a whore, it was to build up this business. And, if I had had a “regular” job, I would most definitely have been fired. Which would have forced me to escort again. Which would have gotten me in trouble again. What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? What gave them the right to call my boss and tell him ANYTHING until after a trial? I’m in love with someone. We’re not in a relationship, but I didn’t want that getting to him. What if they called him? And he’s a former cop himself. He hates cops now, because of the sick mentality they have. As of right now, I am trying to get the charges dropped. I believe the police violated my constitutional rights. But I’m not quite sure how things will turn out yet. Anthony Comstock would be so proud…

I get asked a lot about street work, or as I like to call it Outdoor work.  These are my experiences and understanding, and may not be the same as someone else’s.

Briefly my experiences:  I’ve worked outdoors for a while, once while homeless, and more recently I’ve worked in front of grocery stores and the like.  I have done the ‘stroll’ type work, but only in small cities and towns, never in larger cities like LA or SF.

Experiences in larger cities, I can only speculate on, or share from friends/family that have done that type of work.  Also, I’m trans* not cisgendered, and that makes a difference in experiences as well.  I’m not trying to say these conclusions or thoughts below are always correct, but that from my perspective at this time, they seem correct.  My goal is only to help people realize that:

1) Not all outdoor work is unsafe (and that you can do any work safely)

2) It’s not like the stereotypical 3am drug addicted street walker who spends their entire career trying to avoid rape and get high, while avoiding physical abuse from their pimp, like in the movies.

YAY! On to the show and tell then:

Outdoor or (street) work is a very WIDE and BROAD subject, just like indoor work is.  People just assume the worst whenever I speak of outdoor work. First, while 3AM walking the street in the worst neighborhoods does happen, it’s not as common in street or ‘outdoor’ work as one might think. (it’s much more common in BIG cities), but in smaller cities and towns it’s much less common.  (I’ve only worked in smaller towns and cities). So, in outdoor work, there is homeless work, where you are always working, and your clientele is of the lower income variety.  (I’ve done this work), it’s mostly a lot of trade for sex work, and not a lot of actual cash. Another type of work is opportunity work, i.e. someone hits on you while you are out doing your normal routine.  Most every woman has had the beginnings of this experience but few turn it into an opportunity to make money. Another type is daytime work.  This can be waiting where people tend to congregate. Malls, grocery stores, big chain stores, stuff like that.  (I like grocery stores myself).  Obviously this is only valid during the day, and evening.  Trying to work from these places at 3AM is pointless as there is no foot traffic. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the varied outdoor work environments. As for safety, some types of outdoor work can be unsafe, especially if you don’t know your fellow workers.  But to last out there you form relationships with as many as you can, and try to create a safe situation for yourself and others. Also the other difference is you get to look the client in the eyes, well before you agree to anything.  (unlike with indoor work)  All types of work require a ‘screening’ as we call it. Where we check the client over and get a feel for them as a person.  Some people do this better in person, and may be better situated for outdoor work, vs people doing this via email or telephone.  So I wouldn’t say that it’s a LOT less safe, I would just say it’s a different type of safety. For me, I love being outside, and would spend time out there anyway, so if there is an easy way to make a few dollars while hanging out outside, why shouldn’t I take the opportunity?

I’ll just wrap up and say one more thing about outdoor work (but also important in any work), boundaries are crazy important.  Think about and set hard firm boundaries of what you are willing and not willing to do.  Your boundaries WILL get tested, and you WILL get asked crazy ridiculous things.   Will you do Anal? Will  you do blowjobs? Condoms? Fluid Barriers for blowjobs or facials? These questions are the tip of the iceberg.

If you have experience (directly or indirectly) I’d love your thoughts and comments on what outdoor work is like for you.  I think the better we can share our experiences, the more people will come to think of street or outdoor work as not something ‘BAD’, but just different.

New video from Red Light District Chicago podcast…

On June 15, 2010 the New York State senate passed a bill that, effective as soon as Governor Paterson signs it, enables survivors of human trafficking to vacate their convictions for prostitution-related offenses. This amendment to New York State Criminal Procedure Law grants those who were trafficked into commercial sex the opportunity to start over with a clean slate.

The Sex Workers Project (SWP) worked closely with Assembly Member Richard Gottfried to draft and introduce the bill in April 2009, which is also sponsored by Senator Thomas Duane. Supporters include the New York City Bar Association, the New York Anti-Trafficking Network, and Sex Workers Action New York.

The new legislation empowers survivors of trafficking by allowing them to move on with their lives, and function in society without the stigma of past exploitation. Survivors have a better chance of escaping re-victimization or further coercion when they do not have criminal records that often prevent them from obtaining work, getting stable housing, and adjusting their immigration status.

Who does this affect?

Over the past eight years the Sex Workers Project (SWP), a legal advocacy and services organization housed by the Urban Justice Center, has given legal assistance to many people who are in the sex industry by choice, circumstance, or coercion. As they assisted survivors of trafficking in accessing their rights and attaining safety, security, and a better future, it became clear that there was a need for a legal remedy that would allow survivors to move forward with their lives.

One client, “Carmen,” was trafficked from Mexico, and was beaten, abused and forced to do prostitution. She was arrested over 10 times during this nightmare, but her fear of the police made it impossible to inform law enforcement that she was being exploited by a third party. “Stacey” is a United States citizen who was trafficked into prostitution as a teen when she ran from an abusive home. She recovered with help from service providers, but has had trouble getting a job because of her prostitution conviction. As a result of the passage of the vacating prostitution convictions legislation, Carmen will no longer be blocked from immigration status because of her prostitution record, and Stacey will no longer have to inform potential employers of her record.

Why is this good?

People who are coerced into the sex industry and are then convicted of prostitution are handed a raw deal. In addition to being survivors of abuse and coercion, they saddled with lifelong stigma by the criminal justice system. With a prostitution conviction on their records, survivors of sex trafficking have a difficult time moving forward. This is not justice; it is harmful to survivors and can lead to re-victimization if they are unable to secure legal status in the United States and in the workforce.

The passage of this bill has shown us that it is possible for sex workers rights advocates to have their say, and that there are state legislators who will listen to our concerns. This gives us hope for changing a system that so often institutionalizes violence and discrimination against sex workers.

What’s next and what can I do about it?

If you live in New York State, this is a really great opportunity to make your Assembly and Senate representatives’ acquaintance. Send your representatives a letter (feel free to use the sample text below or write your own).

• Find out who your Assembly member and Senator are here. Call or write to them to express your thanks!

• To make it even easier, we’ve set up a form you can submit. Sign a “Thank you” petition on Change.org – which will automatically be sent to your representatives –  here.

There is, of course, more work to be done. There is another bill making its way through the legislature right now that, if passed, will stop police and prosecutors from using possession of condoms as evidence that people are engaging or intending to engage in prostitution. Right now in New York people who are profiled as prostitutes, very often trans women, often have their condoms confiscated as evidence of prostitution. In addition to thanking your representatives, you should urge them to support New York State Bill A10893/S01289A.

Sample letter:

Dear ______ ,

Thank you for voting in favor of New York State Bill A7670/S04429, which enables survivors of human trafficking to vacate their convictions for prostitution-related offenses.

I live in your district and I support the human rights of people who are in the sex industry by choice, circumstance, or coercion. The reasons a woman, transgender woman, man, or transgender man may enter and continue to be in the sex industry are complex and are often tied to economic instability and inequalities faced by women and LGBT people.

As you know, an advocate’s work is never done. Currently, bills A10893/S01289A are making their way through the legislature. If passed, this bill will stop police and prosecutors from using possession of condoms as evidence that people are engaging or intending to engage in prostitution. This practice affects public health initiatives promoting condom use and distributing condoms to at-risk populations. Please support this bill and remove the fear of carrying condoms among our most vulnerable populations.

Sincerely,

NAME

Address

I’m not a New Yorker. How can I advocate against harmful policies in my state?

Ask most people about government and they tend to talk about their federal representatives, the White House, or maybe their Mayor. But the state government may have the most significant impacts on our daily lives, particularly in the realm of criminal justice. Although the process from bill to law varies widely state to state, there are some common strategies sex worker advocates can take.

• Familiarize yourself with the current laws that affect sex workers.
  • Criminal Law– find out what crimes sex workers are arrested and convicted for – it could include prostitution, solicitation, loitering, or others. Talk to sex workers in your community who have been arrested and ask them about their experiences with the law.
  • Civil Law – find out if sex workers can be evicted from their homes, denied custody of their children, or lose their jobs.
  • Exotic dancers, pro-dommes, porn actors, and others – Find out if there are laws that discriminate against these workers.
  • Ask a friendly lawyer for help!
• Look for current bills that make changes to these laws – for better or worse. Try a search on your state’s legislative webpage for key words like “prostitution.”
• Make allies – research local organizations that may be allied with your goals. Try LGBT orgs, public health orgs, harm reduction orgs, civil rights orgs. These organizations may have legislative advocacy staff that can help you get oriented.
• Develop your platform. Think small – look for concrete objectives that can be accomplished with adjustments to the law. Any of these New York bills could be used as “model legislation” to make similar changes in your state. Your platform may include opposing bad bills that increase penalties for sex work.
• Research your local representatives. Identify potential allies and opposition to sex workers rights.
• Write, call, and meet with your legislator once you have a clear ask (“I would like to ask for your support on bill XXXXX” or “I have an idea for a piece of legislation that would accomplish…”). Assume they know nothing about sex work and may be surprised to hear from a sex worker/ally constituent.
• Register to vote, and vote in local elections!

Sigh. Anyone feel like helping out over at “Hope for the Lost”? The following is Victor Malarek’s response to Pye Jacobssen’s video criticizing the Swedish Model. He wrote “The Natashas” and “The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men who Buy it”.

“The pro-prostitution organizations…which are basically individuals used as fronts by the sex industry (which is only interested in making huge amounts of money), will come out of the woodwork and vociferously attack any group that fights legalization and decriminalization of the flesh trade.

The arguments put forward by the pro-prostitution groups are specious and full of lies and propaganda. The fact is that wherever legalization has been implemented, it has led to a monumental failure in all aspects of the so-called trade. It has always led to more and more women trafficked, and has not led to an improvement in the condition of women ensnared in the trade.

The pro-prostitution groups’ position against trafficking is a ruse. Their attempts to separate trafficking from legalization are a divide and conquer tactic…they know full well that huge numbers of trafficked women make up the trade. To see how bad the situation is where legalization has been implemented, read ‘The Johns’ and what has happened in Amsterdam! Moreover, the legal and illegal brothels in several Australian states which have legalized are filled with Southeast Asian women. These women do not speak English, they don’t have any money. They don’t have the business acumen to set themselves as business contractors.

It is interesting that in ALL my talks in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Britain, Ireland, Copenhagen, Madrid, Helsinki, Kiev…reps from the pro-prostitution orgs come out in force to take me on, and after my speech, not a peep! Because they know I know B.S. when I hear it and can challenge their claims with ease.

My issue here is one of social justice for the vast majority of women who are forced into the sex trade fiasco…not the minority of twits who yell and scream on behalf of the sex industry!”

You can go here to comment: http://www.hopeforthesold.com/author-victor-malarek-responds-to-swedish-sex-workers-statements/

Are you ready to take Las Vegas by storm with edgy public performance art that they can’t get with a buffet or vacation package in the casinos?  Are you ready to tell American tourists on the Vegas strip that indeed, prostitution contrary to popular belief in Las Vegas and in most of the U.S is still illegal?  That is the theme of our groundbreaking public performance which will take place on Thursday, July 29 from 8-10pm.  Some of you that attended the first Desiree conference in 2006 remember how the whores did a spontaneous parade on the strip that year!   The arts and entertainment committee of Desiree Alliance 2010 is using KICKSTARTER to raise all of our funding for artists and entertainers included in the conference and all the week’s happenings which include scheduled performances during the conference, the public performance, the closing party and more!  WE HAVE ONLY 16 DAYS TO REACH OUR GOAL OF $2500 so that we can make this ambitious and cutting edge stuff a reality.  PLEASE VISIT our official link at kickstarter and help us reach our goal!  Copy the link and post it on your FACEBOOK!  We need all the help we can!  ART is the best way to communicate to the masses!

Mariko Passion photo by Jenny Price 2006

Are you interested in supporting sex worker rights? Go to
http://kck.st/96VUMQ. We are seeking supporters to pledge to donate as
little as $5 to support the 2010 Desiree Alliance conference
scholarship program and performance art event “If it happens in
Vegas… it’s still illegal.” The performance “IF IT HAPPENS IN VEGAS…
IT’S STILL ILLEGAL” will be our most visible event during the
conference and will reveal that not only is sex work unjustifiably
subject to law enforcement across the United States that the same
applies in the “wild” “party” town of Las Vegas.

Donors will not only get the pleasure of supporting sex workers in a
cool way but also get exclusive access to a bunch of
photos and video about the conference/performance and event via a
passcoded website. People donating $25 or more will be able to access
a special blog where we spill the beans about how we organize and
strategize. Other supporter premiums include the Soixante-Neuf package
(for donors of $69, we send you our underwear!) and the Art Lovers
Special ($100 or more, we send you movies made by sex worker advocates
and a CD from Mariko Passion).

We have to raise $2500 in total by Friday June 18. Donations are also
tax deductible.

July 25-30, 2010
Las Vegas, NV

Conference to Unify and Educate in the areas of: Academics & Policy; Activism;
Arts, Entertainment & Media; Business Development; and Harm Reduction &
Outreach!

REGISTER NOW!
Space is limited and WE WANT YOU!
No on-site registration will be permitted so ACT NOW!
Don’t forget to book your hotel…conference participants pay $25!!

Who is Desiree Alliance?
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.

How do I fit in?
Desiree Alliance is a forum for people who have experience of sex work (this
could mean working as an escort, sex worker, prostitute, street worker, massage
worker, exotic dancer, hustler, living with the support of a sugar-daddy or a
sugar-mama, having sex for housing / food / clothing, drugs, or having sex to
get the money needed to survive) and allies of sex workers. Desiree Alliance is
committed to support for representation and inclusiveness of people from varied
backgrounds including different cultural, racial, economic, age, size/figure,
sexual orientation and gender identities.

How do I sign up?
You are required to send an introductory email to
desiree2010@desireealliance.org with “Introduction for Registration” as the
subject. Please include the following:
• Name, email address and contact phone number (including best time to call);

o You may use any name or pronoun that you identify with when applying for
the conference and while attending.
• How you found out about the conference;
• Why you would like to come;
• If you are a student (you will be required to provide 2009-2010 student ID)

What are the conference fees?
NOW – July 15, 2010
Registration Fee: $250
Student Fee**: $200
Group Fee*: -$10

*Group fee: When 10 or more registrations are made and paid for from the same
source
**Student fee: Must provide proof of enrollment for school (student ID)

Registration fees for the conference include: Attendance at any or all of the
workshops, presentations and sessions; name badge and registration packet;
Welcome Reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (July 25, 6pm); Continental
breakfast (July 26-29); Lunch (July 27 & 29); Farewell Brunch with keynote
speaker (July 30); and a significant discount on lodging (please note that this
location will not be disclosed until registration is complete);

Registration fees do NOT include (though we wish it could): Transportation;
lodging; lunch on July 26 and 28, dinner; Fundraiser After Party (you will have
the option of purchasing a ticket during registration); dinners, souvenirs,
extra-curricular activities or personal expenses

Who can I contact for…?
Program Advertising / Tabling / Vending (click link for details):

http://www.desireealliance.org/conference/tabling.htm#Program_Advertising

Media: Please direct all inquiries to serpentlibertine@gmail.com

General Inquiries: info@desireealliance.org or 866-525-7967 (Toll Free)

A flash-mob dance-team and marching band infiltrated the Westin St. Francis, in San Francisco this past weekend.  Organized by Pride at Work, One Struggle One Fight, and the Brass Liberation Orchestra, queers and activists call for the support of hotel Boycotts.

As sex workers, we need to tell our clients to also boycott these hotels.  Spread the word!

<table style=’font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5′ cellpadding=’0′ cellspacing=’0′ width=’360′ height=’353′><tbody><tr style=’background-color:#e5e5e5′ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com’>The Colbert Report</a></td><td style=’padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;’>Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c</td></tr><tr style=’height:14px;’ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;’ colspan=’2′<a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/308752/may-05-2010/alpha-dog-of-the-week—george-rekers’>Alpha Dog of the Week – George Rekers<a></td></tr><tr style=’height:14px; background-color:#353535′ valign=’middle’><td colspan=’2′ style=’padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:360px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right’><a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/’>www.colbertnation.com</a></td></tr><tr valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:0px;’ colspan=’2′><embed style=’display:block’ src=’http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:308752′ width=’360′ height=’301′ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ wmode=’window’ allowFullscreen=’true’ flashvars=’autoPlay=false’ allowscriptaccess=’always’ allownetworking=’all’ bgcolor=’#000000′></embed></td></tr><tr style=’height:18px;’ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:0px;’ colspan=’2′><table style=’margin:0px; text-align:center’ cellpadding=’0′ cellspacing=’0′ width=’100%’ height=’100%’><tr valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/’>Colbert Report Full Episodes</a></td><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.indecisionforever.com’>Political Humor</a></td><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/video/tag/Fox+News’>Fox News</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table>