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A new report issued by Prostitution Research and Education found that men who pay for sex- including paying prostitutes for sex acts, lap dances at strip clubs, and pornography- tend to commit more crimes and generally act like shitheels at a greater frequency than men who do not buy sex. Researchers found that sex buying men tend to have less empathy for women, among other things- More »
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An international study on why men visit prostitutes revealed some disturbing attitudes about sex trafficking, rape, and the difference between prostitutes and "real women." More »
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There is a bill that will be on the ballot this fall in San Francisco, backed by the Erotic Service Providers Union [ESPU], which seeks to end the criminalization of prostitution and solicitation. Newsweek quotes a statement released by the ESPU's Maxine Doogan earlier this month: "Criminalizing sex workers has been putting workers at risk of violence and discrimination for far too long," Doogan said, and added that criminalizing prostitution is "a futile effort to police consensual sex between adults." Mayor Gavin Newsom and the SF DA Kamala D. Harris don't really buy what Doogan's selling. Harris said, "To suggest that this is somehow an issue that only involves consensual adults, that's just not true. No matter how these girls and women are packaged for sale, the reality is that for many of them, their life experience is often wrought with abuse and exploitation." More »
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In Montana, former cathouses and bordellos are now tourist attractions, where, according to the Economist, Big Sky Country enthusiasts can dream of the notorious Madam Ida, who "distributed gilt neckties to favoured customers." (No doubt against a backdrop of crushed red velvet and giant, filigree mirrors.) Americans harbor "enduring fondness for the turbulent world of unfettered freedom and vice," the Economist reasons, and prostitutes are a pivotal part of that fantasy world. Pop culture is also littered "happy hookers" stereotype, in films like Pretty Woman, Mighty Aphrodite, and in documentaries like HBO's Cathouse, which focused on Nevada's Bunny Ranch brothel. Brags the cable channel: "...the Bunny Ranch is a tightly-run ship where johns are 'clients' and prostitutes are 'working girls' with their own private rooms and weekly doctor visits. [The] Bunny Ranch is a welcome retreat for men — and women — who enter the door with a good attitude and money to party." More »
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In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert tells the story of a Queens police detective, Wayne Taylor, and his girlfriend, Zalika Brown, who are accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and forcing her into prostitution. Allegedly the couple told the girl that they had purchased her for $500 — like a slave — and forced her to have sex for money. Herbert uses this anecdote as a jumping off point to discuss a change needed in the way sex crimes are prosecuted. Even though in this scenario, police acted positively towards the girl, Herbert argues, "What's needed is a paradigm shift. Society (and thus law enforcement) needs to view any adult who sexually exploits a child as a villain, and the exploited child as a victim of that villainy. If a 35-year-old pimp puts a 16-year-old girl on the street and a 30-year-old john pays to have sex with her, how is it reasonable that the girl is most often the point in that triangle that is targeted by law enforcement?" Is prostitution prosecution in need of an overhaul? [New York Times] More »
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