tagged w/ Sex Workers
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“At barely more than 100 small (four and a half by seven inch) pages in Andrew Bromfield’s excellent English translation The Hall of the Singing Caryatids succeeds both as a novella of ideas and as a science fiction work of fantasy, and is recommended to all readers enamored of thought provoking fiction.”“At barely more than 100 small (four and a half by seven inch) pages in Andrew... more
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Using human rights and harm reduction approaches, the Sex Workers Project (SWP) protects and promotes the rights of individuals who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion. In addition to providing direct legal and social services to over a hundred individual clients a year in immigration, criminal legal, civil, and police misconduct matters, we offer "know your rights" trainings for sex workers and people who have been trafficked, and conduct training and outreach to service providers and community organizations who may come into contact with trafficked persons or sex workers.Using human rights and harm reduction approaches, the Sex Workers Project (SWP)... more
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In a multi-year survey of 270 New York sex workers, Wired has determined that 83% of the prostitutes involved have a Facebook page and actively use it for recruiting customers. Compared to 2003, Facebook has exploded in the sex marketplace, taking a substantial bite out of other venues — such as escort agencies, strip clubs, and Craigslist.
The above graph, from Wired’s article, shows the sources of sex workers’ regular clients. What’s surprising is the rapid adoption of Facebook, which launched in 2003 but was not opened to the public until 2006. That means that in just two years, Facebook has claimed 25% of the traffic.
Also remarkable is that while sex workers were using Craigslist prior to Facebook, its use was limited and has almost completely vanished as a source. One likely theory is that Facebook has a more positive image, making customers feel safer. Also, it is less anonymous than Craigslist, giving sex workers some leverage over their clients. This may be bolstered by Wired’s observation that sex workers prefer BlackBerrys, since it gives them a professional, almost business-like appearance — perhaps the same sense provided by Facebook.
The near 50% reduction of strip club traffic and 10% reduction from escort agencies may indicate that sex workers are moving more and more from a face-to-face industry, to one with little actual personal contact in the negotiation process.
Currently, Facebook’s terms of use do not explicitly ban the solicitation of sex, though there is a blanket ban on unlawful activity, and prostitution is currently illegal in every U.S. state except Nevada. From the terms of use:
You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
Craigslist, conversely, has famously removed the adult services listing from its site, creating something of a defacto ban on using the website for prostitution. How or if Facebook responds to this new data will be especially interesting to industry observers.
Though interesting, the results from Wired are problematic. Firstly they represent the responses of only 270 participants, compared with over 100,000 sex workers operating in a $14 billion dollar industry. Furthermore, the study is geographically and economically limited. Though New York is large and varied, it is only one slice of America.
Though a nearly universally banned practice in this country, prostitution has always made use of legitimate, public spaces to advertise. Whether it’s street walking, or ads in the newspaper, it has been active in places were people can find it. In this light, the move to Facebook may not be so surprising.
If, and it’s a big if, these results can be regarded as representative of the sex market in the U.S. as a whole, it might indicate large shifts in the sex working landscape. America has always had a difficult relationship with the practice, begging the question: How will the nation respond if social media becomes the choice realm for prostitution?
http://www.geekosystem.com/prostitutes-use-facebook-to-find-customers/In a multi-year survey of 270 New York sex workers, Wired has determined that 83% of... more
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In honor of LGBT Pride month, Bryan Safi honors gay sex workers and their grace under fire. Unlike their straight counterparts -- whose reactions to the world's oldest scandal is to head straight for the media and a book deal -- the escorts implicated in recent gay scandals are downright close-mouthed.
Every day this week, infoMania's Bryan Safi, host of "That's Gay," will release an exclusive web extra about some of the reasons he's so proud to be gay.
Then tune into Current TV on Thursday at 10/9c for Bryan's special infoMania segment about Gay Pride -- or, as he likes to call it, Gay New Year. It's time to take a long, hard look at the last 12 months and ask ourselves: Just what are we so proud of?
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Ben Hoffman, Bryan Safi, Sergio Cilli and Erin Gibson, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV.In honor of LGBT Pride month, Bryan Safi honors gay sex workers and their grace under... more
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It’s the oldest game in the world and plenty of women are on it. From the drug addicted working women of London’s back streets to expensive West End escorts. Most disturbing of all are those unfortunates who have been ensnared by the people trafficking racket of the sex trade. It can be described as the very embodiment of capitalism yet it is regarded as a criminal activity, forcing its workers to operate behind closed doors. A spokesperson from the Poppy project, a North London organisation that provides accommodation and support for trafficked women, elaborates, “It has been said that we are never more than six feet away from a rat in London. Apparently, something similar applies to brothels.”It’s the oldest game in the world and plenty of women are on it. From the drug... more
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;_ylt=ApD7zSkShZjqTP5gUAc6B8qs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFkaTk1dWsxBHBvcwMxNTAEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9oZWFsdGgEc2xrA25ld2hpdmluZmVjdA--
New HIV infections are increasing among homosexuals, drug users and prostitutes who don't seek help because of laws that criminalize these practices, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency said Monday.
Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS, said "it is unacceptable" that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing same sex relations among adults, including seven that impose the death penalty for homosexual practices.
He called a proposed Ugandan law that would impose the death penalty for some gays "very unfortunate" and expressed hope it will never be approved.
At a time when UNAIDS is scaling up its program and seeking universal access to HIV treatment, Sidibe said he was "very scared" because bad laws are being introduced by countries making it impossible for these at risk groups to have access to services.
"You have also a growing conservatism which is making me very scared," Sidibe added.
"We must insist that the rights of the minorities are upheld. If we don't do that ... I think the epidemic will grow again," he warned. "We cannot accept the tyranny of the majority."
Sidibe told a group of journalists at a luncheon hosted by the United Nations Foundation that in countries from China to Kenya and Malawi, about 33 percent of new HIV infections are in men having sex with men, a significant increase.
By contrast, he said that in the Caribbean where most countries don't have repressive laws, only between 3 and 6 percent of HIV infections are in male homosexuals.
Even in the United States, where laws are not restrictive and the gay community was the first to tackle AIDS, Sidibe said it is "shocking" that more than 50 percent of new HIV infections last year occurred among homosexuals. And he said in the 19-25 age bracket the infection rate was even higher.
"It seems like we have come full circle" in the United States, he said. "After almost no cases a few years ago we are seeing again this new peak among people who are not having access to all the information, the protection that is needed."
In addition to failing to adequately deliver the right messages about AIDS prevention, Sidibe blamed complacency in a new generation that has access to treatment.
He added that this was not just a problem in the U.S. but in Europe and in Africa as well.
Sidibe said drug users are also getting the HIV virus that causes AIDS in high numbers.
"You have 70 percent of new infections occurring in Eastern Europe and Central Asia among drug users, but they are criminalized," he said. "They don't have access to services. They have to hide themselves and go underground."
Of the 16 million people in the world who are injecting drugs, almost 3 million are HIV positive, and among them less than 4 percent have access to treatment and less than 8 percent have access to services, Sidibe said.
"It's the same for men having sex with men," he said.
In Nigeria, where there are 1,000 new HIV infections every day, over 30 percent are in vulnerable groups — drug users, sex workers and homosexuals, he said.;_ylt=ApD7zSkShZjqTP5gUAc6B8qs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFkaTk1dWsxBHBvcwMxNTAEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9... more
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Think you might get lucky tonight? Well, if you're in D.C., don't bring more than two condoms in your purse, or you could be arrested as a prostitute.
In D.C., police can declare "Prostitution Free Zones" where officers can pick up (I mean, arrest) anyone suspected of prostitution. And they use carrying three or more condoms as proof of intent to prostitute -- rather than intent to spend the weekend getting jiggy with a guy.
But as RH Reality Check points out, the real danger of this law falls to people who actually are sex workers. It pushes them to abandon safe sex techniques, putting their own health at risk as well as that of the general population. Add to this the fear of arrest or harassment that keeps sex workers from seeking health care, and you have a recipe for disaster. Everybody should know by now that the nation's capital has a rampant problem with HIV/AIDS; this backwards law contributes to its spread (at three times the rate that characterizes a severe epidemic). It's not like you can expect the johns to bring their own rubbers.
This law prioritizes making commercial areas look clean and pretty lady-free, not protecting the public's health. But the root of the problem isn't this one law: it's the criminalization of sex work. If you want to criminalize something, stick to pimping -- after all, many of these women have been trafficked unwillingly and subjected to violence. If they weren't so afraid of being arrested for stepping forward to condemn their pimps, we'd have a better chance of finding the true criminals in this situation.
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/dont_carry_condoms_in_dc_--_you_could_be_charged_with_prostitutionThink you might get lucky tonight? Well, if you're in D.C., don't bring more... more
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jmsrmy
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2 years ago
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Resist 2010: 8 Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics, is a short, fast-paced documentary focusing on the negative impacts of the 2010 Games to be held in Vancouver, Canada, and the ongoing resistance by Indigenous & other social movements.Resist 2010: 8 Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics, is a short, fast-paced... more
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Sex and Money uncovers the shocking reality behind recruiting young boys to work as prostitutes in the UK.
Sex and Money is a series of hard-hitting films and real life stories that seek to throw back the sheets on Britain’s sex for money trades. Getting the facts and outrageous stories first hand from the prostitutes, pimps and customers themselves. Covering everything from professional feminist porn producers to amateur online hustlers. Gay and straight, legal and illegal - sex and money brings you the X-rated stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
Sex and Money, Monday 26th October at 10pm, Sky 183 and Virgin 155Sex and Money uncovers the shocking reality behind recruiting young boys to work as... more
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Sex Workers of the world Unite!
From CarnalNation.com:
According to a Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News, sex workers in Turkey are trying to unionize to protect their health and rights. Prostitution is formally legal in Turkey, but the laws are still unfriendly to the safety and health of the workers. According to the law, sex workers have to be registered to be legal, but the vast majority are unregistered. According to Muhtar Çokar, a doctor who serves sex workers, the number of registered sex workers in Istanbul, which has a population of over 12 million, is 126. In Turkey at large, there are 3,500 registered sex workers out of a population of 71 million. Çokar says, "That is too small a number compared to Ankara Trade Chamber, which said there are around 100,000 unregistered sex workers in total in Turkey." Registered sex workers must be single women, work in licensed brothels (there are 18 in Istanbul), and carry a card showing the dates of their most recent health tests.
Buse Kılıçkaya, an activist with the Pembe Hayat Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Association, says that "There is a social consensus that if you are a sex worker then you deserve to be exposed to violence, sexual harassment and discrimination." Assaults on transgendered sex workers by both police and clients are especially common. According to Kılıçkaya, the frequency of attacks and discrimination against transgendered workers, and the need for cisgendered women to remain anonymous to protect their families, has made trans workers especially agressive in fighting for their rights.
As of right now, the meetings on the initiative are closed to the public, and no political parties or NGOs have announced their support.Sex Workers of the world Unite!
From CarnalNation.com:
According to a Turkish... more
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Adam Yamaguchi heads to India to study the subculture of homosexual male sex workers. The population of male sex workers has risen in India, which has also spurred a rise in unsafe sexual practices. Sunil Menon started an organization called Sahodaran Outreach Center which targets male sex workers in India to teach them about safe sex practices and HIV and AIDS prevention. Adam learns about the MSM population, or men who have sex with men and how the Sahodaran Outreach Center is seeking to educate them about prevention and disease prevention.Adam Yamaguchi heads to India to study the subculture of homosexual male sex workers.... more
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Castro Valley, Calif. -- "Boob play," "pics of kitty," "topless housecleaning" and "hypno role play." The list, scribbled in a lined yellow notebook, is followed by a double-underlined figure: $725.
It's 9 a.m. on a Friday and 30-year-old Marie is sitting on her couch clad in Donald Duck pajamas, munching on buttered toast and staring at her cellphone like she can will it to ring. If someone calls in response to the ad she posted this morning on Craigslist, she can add $75 to her projected income for the month.
Five months ago, before being laid off, Marie was bringing in $45,000 a year at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Now, she operates out of two offices: her living room and a regularly changing hotel room. Her uniform is different, too: Instead of conservative business attire, she dons a lace bra and booty-hugging capris. The former corporate supervisor has become a sex worker.
She's applied for every strait-laced office gig she can find -- regardless of hours, pay or whether her University of California degree makes her absurdly overqualified. She went from being a manager to fighting for personal assistant positions. But last month, after innumerable unanswered cover letters, overdue bills and a delay in her unemployment checks, she entered a world of code words and cash wads. It was baptism by -- bodily fluids: She peed on a guy in her own bed for $100. Since then, she's been paid more times than she can count, or cares to count, for sex, blow jobs, hand jobs and sensual massage.
Of course, Marie is far from the only woman pushed into the sex industry by these harsh economic times. Strip clubs, X-rated Web cam companies and escort managers across the country have reported an increase in job applications in the last several months -- ironically, at the same time that business is largely going down. The same phenomenon was seen after the dot-com bust, when out-of-work techies turned to everything from S/M dungeons to porn sets. Both booms saw a series of salacious news items about good girls gone bad, a narrative that is at least as old as the Bible -- but I wanted to know what was unique about this particular cultural moment.
Industry insiders like to say that they're seeing more "normal" people, girls "with good minds." Mike of A&M Studios, a producer of X-rated video chats, says: "A couple years ago, we'd have a lot of strippers or people who might be on meth -- a lot of shiftier people." He continues, "Now we're seeing performers who are more educated and used to working on a regular schedule. There's been a shift to a very different class of people." Much as his phrasing gives me chills, it isn't just a cliché that women with limited job opportunities often turn to sex work.
The difference in these dark days is that middle-class advantages, like a solid college education and professional work experience, don't offer the same level of protection that they once did from being pushed to make such a choice. Not to mention, it's easier now to make the decision because the Internet has bulldozed the barrier of entry into the sex industry. Just a few clicks away from Craigslist's job board is an array of immediate, cash-upfront adult gigs.
Last month, it looked like that might change: Craigslist announced it would replace its raunchy erotic services section with a costlier and human-monitored "adult" section to appease a threatening state attorney general -- but, so far, the only difference is that there are fewer ads and more euphemisms. Instead of hand jobs and BJs, women offer "sweet treats," "pleasure," "play" or, most popular of all, sensual or erotic "massage." Those looking to hire simply put out a call for a "personal assistant" or a "female teacher" under "adult gigs." Craigslist still allows "normal" girls like Marie to easily gauge the going rates, pick up the lingo and become plucky entrepreneurs, soCastro Valley, Calif. -- "Boob play," "pics of kitty,"... more
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The global recession has hit hard in most financial sectors, including sex work. Amsterdam's world-famous Red Light District, where sex workers offer themselves in red-lit storefront windows, is experiencing a dramatic drop in business.The global recession has hit hard in most financial sectors, including sex work.... more
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jpp
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2 years ago
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It's been a lousy few months for sex on Craigslist. First, 40 state attorneys general banded together to demand that the world's biggest classified site take down its "erotic services" (read: prostitution) ads.*(See correction at the end of this article.) Then, in March, right on cue, a man in New York was murdered by a teenager he met through Craigslist. Soon after, Boston cops arrested Philip Markoff, the med student accused of robbing, and in one case killing, escorts he found through Craigslist. Now South Carolina's attorney general is threatening to prosecute the site's employees.
"Just by being good guys, we've created a culture of trust and fairness," the site's eponymous founder, Craig Newmark, once told Wired. Well, sort of—if you don't count the occasional Jack the Ripper wannabe. Nothing spells "bad PR" like a sex and murder scandal.
If Craigslist were a conventional company, it would have a crisis PR firm gunning the engines to get as far away from sex ads as possible. But Craigslist is not. Many outlets have reported that Craigslist would drop its "erotic services" ads, but this is essentially a fiction. It has only reluctantly agreed to vet ads for explicit prostitution offers (ads that euphemistically offer massage or just leave the details of about what to expect are still OK) and replaced the controversial category with the essentially identical "adult services." Meanwhile, the "casual encounters" section—ads for "no strings attached" sex that are often more lurid than the paid-sex ads in "erotic services"—remains as active and unregulated as ever. And Craigslist has even managed to fan the fires by suing the attorney general of South Carolina.
All of which raises an obvious question: Why do the people behind the 13th most visited site in the United States run ads for prostitution and kink in the first place?It's been a lousy few months for sex on Craigslist. First, 40 state attorneys... more
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This was a really inspiring article from the Washington Post about 50 year old Jackie McReynolds.
When Jackie McReynolds found out she was HIV positive, she looked back on her career as a DC prositute. There were such highlights as being gang-raped in an alley by three men, drug addiction and close calls with death. She decided to get out of sex work and got her online degree in human services and learned about issues of abuse and trauma for women.
She then started, The Angels Power Project, a 3 month intensive program that acts as an alternative for a jail sentence for prostitutes where they attend classes every day for several hours (a little like an AA format), have to pass multiple drug tests and learn life skills. McReynolds goes over practical things like how to get a job, how to dress for a job, computer skills, CV writing... all those good things.
While she struggled at first with getting money the program has been relatively sucessful and receives yearly funding.
The Washington Post article reads,
"Nakita Harrison, 34, a sex worker for nearly two decades, was in and out of jail before signing up a year ago. She now rents a furnished apartment from the group and works as a grocery cashier, her first legitimate job.
"She speaks our language," Harrison said. "She knows us and allows us to be ourselves as long as we remain respectful to her and the other women in the group."
Many of these women, ages 18 to 60, are mothers, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. They would blend in easily in a grocery store line or at midweek church services. Their clothes are baggy, not tight. Instead of high heels, many go to work in tennis shoes. Most find their clients on the street, out in the open, with little protection from sexually transmitted diseases, violence and arrest.
Most of the women are trying to support their drug habits, and others are engaged in "survival sex" to pay the bills or buy food for their children, McReynolds said.
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"Putting these women in jail isn't going to solve the problem. They just become repeat offenders," McReynolds said. "They have to change from within." ..........
McReynolds tells the women that low self-esteem is behind their behavior, and she embraces the role of disciplinarian. She hugs a crying woman who says she missed classes to tend to her sick mother but added a month to the woman's required stay. "You have one last chance," McReynolds says. "You can't help your mother if you don't help yourself first."This was a really inspiring article from the Washington Post about 50 year old Jackie... more
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"The tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country to dance in strip clubs, appear in adult movies or pose for magazines like Hustler.
Employers across the adult entertainment industry say they’re seeing an influx of applications from women who, like Brown, are attracted by the promise of flexible schedules and fast cash. Many have college degrees and held white-collar jobs until the economy soured.
“You’re seeing a lot more beautiful women who are eligible to do so many other things,” said Gus Poulos, general manager of New York City’s Sin City gentleman’s club. He said he got 85 responses in just one day to a recent job posting on Craigslist.
The transition to the nightclub scene isn’t always a smooth one — from learning to dance in five-inch heels to dealing with the jeers of some customers.""The tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country... more
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sick of your mundane sexless work days - then this article is perfect for you. god willing you have a partner and your not a married jerk( one hopes)- you can spice work time up while you get paid....legitimately- the paid part. the sex part - pretty sure you would be in hot water if caught - but isn't that the fun for you freaks! :) enjoy!sick of your mundane sexless work days - then this article is perfect for you. god... more
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"The very first actress to win an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences played a woman reduced to prostitution.
On Sunday night, actress Marisa Tomei could take home an Academy Award for her portrayal of a kind-hearted stripper in the critically acclaimed film "The Wrestler." Four years ago, Natalie Portman was nominated for playing a young stripper in Mike Nichols's steamy drama "Closer," and just a year earlier Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her role as a real-life prostitute-turned-serial killer (in "Monster"). In the decade before that, Elisabeth Shue, Mira Sorvino and Julia Roberts all became Oscar nominees (or winners) for playing women who sell their bodies but guard their hearts -- one of Hollywood's longtime fascinations.
Why so many big screen strippers and hookers? Sex sells, and Hollywood has built an industry marketing actors' appeal. Historically, there have been fewer edgy roles for women, and the world's oldest profession -- prostitution -- offers a natural corollary to another time-tested role, the male criminal. Another reason: Inherently flawed characters, who possess what some might see as mental, moral or physical imperfections, make for more courageous acting performances.
Voyeurism certainly plays a starring role in why moviegoers love to watch women bare it all on screen, but there's also redemptive power in many of the women's performances. Seeing ladies of the evening make good represents the universal rags-to-riches story. "You can't help but root for the girl -- it's about wish fulfillment," says Garry Marshall, who directed "Pretty Woman," the hit film about one harlot's attempt at upward mobility which landed Ms. Roberts an Oscar nod. "[Best-picture nominee] 'Slumdog Millionaire' has a lot of the same things going for it."""The very first actress to win an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts... more
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