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Grade A
Yes, Minister
Ashley Dupré Is Not Your Average Prostitute


08/20/09
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@Flackette Goes Retro: I blame it on this...
08/20/09
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08/20/09
world: the picture of average teenager in the states is more than likely never found in any single solitary depiction of american teenage life in films or television. okay, except for 'joan of arcadia'.
07/08/09
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07/08/09
And someone went in Number 10 on official buisness and a horde of 11-year-olds charged in after them. The teachers were mortified, the policemen couldn't stop laughing afterward.
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My mother was one of the secretaries in the "100 Club" which meant 100 words per minute on a manual typewriter - and for that, she received a framed certificate in the mail and a fifty dollar bonus. Huge day in our household.
07/08/09
11/19/08
if drinking, drugs and a sexual assult are the "start to life as a sex worker" -- then at least 90% of the women I know would be working girls.
non-trafficking sex work and trafficking sex work are not the same thing. Comparing Dupri with a law in the UK about trafficked sex workers is so fucked up. this language needs to be distanced if any harm reduction is going to be done.
11/19/08
Unless the man trafficked the girl himself, it seems pretty hard to prove that he knowingly engaged with a trafficked girl.
It seems this is more a feel good law rather than one that is actually enforceable.
11/19/08
1. Woman A was trafficked / has a pimp
and
2. This man paid for sex with Woman A,
then you have a crime. You only have to prove knowledge for the rape conviction.
11/19/08
"In addition, it will no longer be a defense that a man unknowingly had sex with a trafficked woman, and such men will face stiffer fines and penalties than ever before. If a man is found to have knowingly had sex with a trafficked woman, he won't face prostitution charges - he'll face rape charges, which is frankly, the only right legal response. "
Is it just me or is that saying two opposite things or is at least a non sequitur.
As I read your comment I would say yes you have a crime - engaging in prostitution unless the john knew the girl was trafficked, then rape.
If it is actually that any john can be charged with rape, even if he has no idea she is trafficked then it seems like it could be very.... controversial. (not sure of what word exactly to use.)
11/20/08
@preetalina: Not exactly, but close. In the speeding scenario, you're pleading ignorance of the actual law. And "ignorance of the law is no defense." But in this scenario you're pleading ignorance of an element of the crime - you knew that sex with a trafficked woman is illegal but you didn't know she was trafficked. The law is strict liability, which makes it clear that there will be no defense on the grounds of ignorance of that element. A closer comparison is a common strict liability crime in the US, statutory rape. You can't say "he looked 18" or "she told me she was in college" and get off - sex with minor = crime, whether you knew he was a minor or not.
Sorry for the late replies. Got outta work early yesterday!
11/19/08
11/19/08
Recent immigrants who work the SHIT jobs that wear out their bodies and put them in dangerous situations aren't exactly making a "choice," either. So why is sex work so special?
11/19/08
Aren't you essentially pimping yourself for any job you don't like? I've worked shitty restaurant jobs and been treated horribly, stolen from and degraded by bosses. I also worked in the sex industry and NEVER had any of that happen.
I don't understand why people put sex work into a special category...I've never been abused etc so perhaps I don't understand that angle. But not everyone values sex in the same way.
I've done freaky weird crazy shit for money but have no qualms about it. Other people, yeah they might be appalled but they also might be appalled by all the bs that went into working in nightclubs in NYC too...
11/19/08
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11/19/08
And many of the people in those crappy, dirty, dangerous jobs are more "trapped" than she'll ever be.
I'm not sure who is mistaking "sex" for "love" in a prostitution transaction. Probably the same number of people who would confuse "coal mining" and "love."
11/19/08
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11/19/08
On the other hand, I do think that capitalism and patriarchy go hand-in-hand, at least in the U.S.and there are many parallels between those who are privileged and those who are bottom-barrel under both.
11/19/08
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11/19/08
The average sentence served for rape in the UK is under 8 years.
I applaud the thought behind this but without actually enforcing the laws it will simply be ignored...
11/19/08
Any sex workers want to chime in on taxes, hypothetically, of course?
11/19/08
11/19/08
D'ya think she's withheld enough to cover the back taxes?
I mean, even if she's been a smart cookie and put some cash away, that would be under scrutiny, and it's probably not like she can divest her 401k to cover it with the market like this...