Länderberichte U.S.A.:

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Verschwörungstheorie Mord statt Selbstmord?

DC Madam Palfrey's Murder: Alex Jones on Geraldo

Youtube
Sunday, May 4, 2008

Related: Overwhelming Evidence Points To Murder Of DC Madam


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt6O0ruFmfE[/youtube]


Fox News' Geraldo has Alex Jones on to examine the evidence that shows that DC Madam Deborah Jean Palfrey was murdered-- despite the official claim that she committed suicide.

Jones points out the numerous statements Palfrey made in refutation of suicide, as well as the criminology that women rarely hang themselves, generally preferring pills.

Geraldo and two co-hosts admit they agree with Alex Jones-- that claims of Palfrey's suicide are "stinky" and suspicious and that the case should be further investigated.

One woman even says that the John's on Palfreys list-- including many high-level politicians-- should be revealed and prosecuted.

Palfrey's hi-rise apartment manager in Florida says he saw Palfrey only days before her death when she told him a contract may be out on her life. Additionally, she made arrangments to secure her apartment for the next six years-- the approximate time she expected to be in prison--seemingly pointing to the idea that she expected to stay alive.


prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/040508Jones.htm





Nachtrag

POLICE
Death of 'D.C. Madam' Confirmed as Suicide

Police in Florida have released a report affirming the finding of suicide in the May 1 death of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam.

The Tarpon Springs Police Department on Thursday released a 48-page investigative report and 400 crime-scene photographs backing the finding. Palfrey, 52, who had been convicted of running a call-girl ring, left suicide notes.

November 1, 2008; Page B04 -- Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03735.html





.

[Hanna]

hmm, das mit dem aufhängen stimmt.
...und man denke an den merkwürdigen Tod von Marilyn Monroe und eine ganze Reihe weiterer...
wenn es stimmt dass die Amerikaner die Römer unsrer Tage sind, dann vielleicht auch in Bezug auf den Mord als ultima ratio der Politik

[Zwerg]

hmm, das mit dem aufhängen stimmt.
...und man denke an den merkwürdigen Tod von Marilyn Monroe und eine ganze Reihe weiterer...
wenn es stimmt dass die Amerikaner die Römer unsrer Tage sind, dann vielleicht auch in Bezug auf den Mord als ultima ratio der Politik

Ein wenig Off-Topic, aber ich würde dies nicht auf die Staaten reduzieren - ich brauche da nur an einen ehem. Verteidigungsminister (in Ö), oder an manche Häftlinge (in D und Ö) denken dessen/deren Tod bzw. Suizid einige Fragen offen gelassen haben - und da fallen mir etliche Beispiele in allen möglichen und unmöglichen Ländern ein.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexarbeiter wg. on-line Werbung hochgenommen



76 arrested on prostitution charges in Craigslist sting

By Monique Garcia | Tribune reporter
6:53 PM CDT, June 14, 2008



Cook County sheriff's police have arrested 76 men and women on prostitution-related charges in a sting involving the popular online classified site www.CraigsList.org.

Undercover officers posed as customers who made dates with women featured in "erotic services" ads on the site. Once an offer of sex for money was made, the woman was taken into custody, officials said.

In two cases, women meeting with clients at local hotels had rented separate rooms where they left their toddlers [Kleinkinder] unattended. The Department of Children and Family Services was notified in both cases.

In addition to responding to ads, officers also posted their own bogus [betrügerische] ads.

One indicated a 15-year-old was looking for sex in exchange for money, an offer that received three responses. One was traced to a registered sex offender who had previously been arrested by the sheriff's department.

This is the fourth such operation the department has launched into illegal activities on the Web site in the last 18 months. Officers regularly monitor the "erotic services" section of the site, which Sheriff Tom Dart has called a "free advertising network for prostitutes and pimps." Since January 2007, the stings have resulted in 149 arrests on charges ranging from prostitution, juvenile pimping and human trafficking, according to a news release.

Dart has called on Craigslist to remove the "erotic services" section of the site, but company officials have refused, the department said. Last week, the site posted a disclaimer stating that human trafficking and child exploitation would be reported to police. Dart called the measure a weak attempt to dissuade such activity.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... ?track=rss

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexarbeiter entwickeln Wahlprüfsteine

für die US-Präsidentschaftswahl






Für Sexarbeiter gibt es einen Wähler-Guide,
der die politischen Positionen der Kandidaten erklärt.





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Domestic Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

Two Cousins Kidnapped and Forced Into the Sex Trade

By ERIC STRAUSS
July 14, 2008


On Wednesday, July 16, Cynthia McFadden takes a rare look inside the dark and violent world of domestic sex trafficking, where American teens are being lured and sometimes kidnapped into sexual slavery by pimps.

It's a problem hidden in plain sight that touches every community in every corner of our nation. The FBI's five-year Innocence Lost Initiative has led to the conviction of 308 individuals on a combination of state and federal charges, and has led to the recovery of 433 child victims, but it's still difficult for most Americans to believe their children are at risk.

Watch "Primetime: Crime" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET

"There are children throughout the United States who are being sold as prostitutes," said FBI special agent Mike Beaver. "It's not uncommon to see 12- and 13-year-olds out. What we've learned is if you have adult prostitution in an area, there's probably child prostitution occurring as well.

[Typisches Argument von Prostitutionsgegnern nach der historisch bewährten Strickart: Alle Homosexuellen sind Kinderschänder,
Unzulässige Erweiterung des Prostitutionsthemas und Vermischung mit anderen Strafdelikten, damit beide gemeinsam leichter kriminalisiert werden können. Anm.]


So it's more of a black market; it's more underground, but it's there."

The FBI estimates that currently there are 100,000 minors in America being forced to trade sex for money. Pimps target the most trusting or vulnerable teens to fill out their stable of working girls, often ignoring their ages.

"Primetime" cameras gained exclusive access to the story of two young victims. Teen cousins Carol, 14, and Kimberly, 15, were on their way to buy milkshakes when they were kidnapped on Toledo, Ohio's, Main Street and forced into a world that demanded sex with men for money.

Viewers will hear firsthand of the terrifying abduction, the militaristic training and period of seasoning, and eventually the dramatic rescue of one cousin and the terrifying journey to save the other. Federal and local authorities explain how these pimps operate loosely held networks, from typical residential communities to the nation's highways.

Watch interviews, 911 calls, interrogation videos, and a truck-stop sting operation as "Primetime" examines the unimaginable world of domestic sex trafficking.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/sto ... 721&page=1




Siehe auch unter NYC:
http://sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=39876#39876





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[Marc of Frankfurt]

Unterschriften-Sammlung für Volksbegehren war erfolgreich.

Jetzt dürfen die Bürger abstimmen,
ob die Polizei vornehmlich Mörder und Verbrecher jagen soll,
oder ob eine moralische Jagd mit Scheinfreiern gegen Sexarbeiter gewünscht ist und finanziert werden soll.



PRESS RELEASE

Prostitution Decriminalization on SF Ballot!
Press Conference Tuesday, 4pm, City Hall (Polk Street entrance)



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 18, 2008

The San Francisco Department of Elections announced today that the
measure prohibiting city officials from spending money arresting and
prosecuting people for prostitution, and mandating equal legal
protection for sex workers, has qualified for the November ballot. Of
500 signatures randomly sampled and checked by department personnel,
80 percent were found to be valid. "This is a happy day for San
Franciscans who want government to focus on fighting real crimes like
homicides and robberies, and are tired of seeing resources wasted in
a futile effort to police consensual sex between adults," said
Starchild, a sex worker activist and spokesperson for the campaign.
"We've cleared the first hurdle." By the Elections Department's
tally, supporters had turned in 12,745 signatures of registered San
Francisco voters on July 7.

The campaign to decriminalize prostitution will hold a kickoff rally
and press conference to formally announce the results on Tuesday at
4:00 p.m. in front of the Polk Street entrance of City Hall, with
speakers to likely include Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who was a
signer of the petition to put the measure on the ballot along with
two of his board colleagues. "It is way past time that the
recommendations of the Board of Supervisors 1996 Prostitution Task
Force were implemented," said the measure's proponent, Maxine Doogan.
"Criminalizing sex workers has been putting workers at risk of
violence and discrimination for far too long."

The prostitution reform measure joins two other voter-submitted
measures on the local Nov. 4 ballot, along with eight measures put on
the ballot by the mayor or members of the Board of Supervisors, with
many others expected to be added in the next several weeks.

Starchild
(415) 621-7932 / (415) 368-8657
RealReform [at] earthlink.net

Maxine Doogan
(415) 265-3302
MistressMax [at] mindspring.com





Polizeierfahrungen von Callboy Starchild:

viewtopic.php?p=21533#21533


Pressespiegel von den nachfolgenden Tagen:

viewtopic.php?p=40332#40332





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[Marc of Frankfurt]

Guter Artikel von der Erfinderin des Wortes: "Sexworker"


Carol Leigh aka Scarlot Harlot schreibt:
"On the Frontline of Sex Wars"

Im Original lesen:
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/july ... 008_10.php
mit vielen Links und
einem Tollen Videoclip über die Geschichte von Sexwork.

aus:
On the Issues, Progressive Women's Magazine

Spezialausgabe Sexwork:
"Works hard for her money
Feminists and Prostitutes"
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/july08/





"On the Frontline of Sex Wars"

Prostitutes are "the only street fighters we've got," wrote radical feminist Ti-Grace Atkinson in her 1974 book, Amazon Odyssey.

The prostitutes' rights movement of the early 1970s evolved directly from the women's movement. As feminists developed an understanding of the mechanics of our oppression, so prostitutes among them recognized the dynamics of our oppression and saw the criminalization of prostitution as another manifestation of sexism and misogyny.

I've been living in this war zone, on the front lines in the battle of the sexes -- and the feminist sexuality wars.
Historical Brushes With the Women’s Movement

The women's movement in the U.S. has always been ambivalent about prostitutes. The historical record has been filled in by scholars like Ruth Rosen, author of the The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America (1982); Judith Walkowitz, author of Prostitution and Victorian Society (1980), and Gail Pheterson, editor of A Vindication of the Rights of Whores (1989). Their research shows that, although the welfare of prostitutes was addressed by 19th century feminists who resisted the invasive medical checks in Britain’s Contagious Disease Acts, early 20th century feminists in the U.S. ultimately promoted repressive prostitution policies. As suffrage was achieved in the U.S., politicians catered to a new female electorate through punitive prostitution laws.

In the 1970s, Margo St. James, founded COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) as the first U.S. prostitutes' rights organization. The prostitutes’ rights movement in the U.S. grew aligned with sex positive feminism and sex radical feminism.

Still, a schism existed. Some feminists considered sex work to be a labor issue. Others, most prominently represented today by the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women, regarded sex work as a form of violence against women. Today, feminists in countries around the world align with these factions to one degree or another. While the former group of sex worker organizers sought to decriminalize prostitution, the latter group of feminists moved to expand criminalization of prostitution and quash decriminalization efforts.


Changing Landscapes

Now, prostitutes' legal status is at another pivotal point. Several ongoing waves of activity are impinging on their lives, and the historic ambivalence among women’s rights activists about prostitution is in a particularly hostile phase.

Increasingly punitive approaches seek to lock up those who turn to prostitution, whether for survival or other reasons, with additional laws and stiffer penalties permitting arrests based on the barest suspicion. For example, in 1986, California made it a crime to agree to receive money for sex. Police decoys may now offer money for sex and immediately arrest someone who agrees to have sex for money, but does nothing more. Previously, the “crime” occurred when the sex worker offered the exchange. The California law extends even further. A person need not even offer or accept a sex-for-money exchange to face arrest. As of 1996, individuals can be charged in California with “loitering with the intent to do prostitution.”

The sex wars are also erupting in policy discussions about anti-trafficking laws, revealing deep rifts among feminists. Some feminists, allied with the religious right and conservative groups like Concerned Women for America, have revived the framework of early 20th century and seek the abolition of prostitution.

Feminist abolitionists, such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, aim to increase the criminalization of the sex industry and to use anti-trafficking laws to target commercial sex in general.

They define “sex trafficking” as encompassing all commercial sex, even if voluntary or consensual, and not limited to those who are forced into prostitution against their will. (See more here)

Other feminist groups advocate for anti-trafficking laws to protect persons forced into any type of labor -- whether farm laborers or sex workers. This broader emphasis on addressing all labor sectors in anti-trafficking legislation was developed by three groups: the Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV), the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), and the International Human Rights Law Group, now known as Global Rights. They prepared "Human Rights Standards for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons" as the basis for an anti-trafficking movement combating all labor exploitation and not simply focusing on “sex trafficking.” A recent GAATW report, Collateral Damage, outlines the violations that have occurred from misdirected anti-trafficking efforts that extend beyond those human rights standards.
Policies That Hurt

The anti-trafficking laws in the U.S. also took another frustrating turn in 2002 when the Bush administration declared that "organizations advocating prostitution as an employment choice or which advocate or support the legalization of prostitution are not appropriate partners for USAID anti-trafficking grants or contracts." This “anti-prostitution loyalty oath” became part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 and was incorporated into HIV-AIDS funding.
Carol Leigh by Annie Sprinkle Carol Leigh by ©Annie Sprinkle

This type of restriction on what policy organizations may or may not do with funding follows the pattern of the “global gag rule” applied by the Bush administration to limit family planning funding. Under the “global gag rule,” organizations receiving funds may not provide or refer for legal abortions; under the “anti-prostitution loyalty pledge,” organizations may not advocate for sex workers’ rights.

The "anti-prostitution loyalty oath" resulted in a severe reduction in services to sex workers and exclusion of sex workers from providing services to their own communities. In 2003, Brazil turned down 40 million dollars in AIDS funding rather than comply with this discrimination.

Finally, the U.S. government has pressured some countries to criminalize all prostitution, a proposal that has resulted in disastrous conditions for women in Cambodia with evictions, detentions and reported police abuse.
Sex Workers Organize

The recent escalation of punitive prostitution policies is taking place at the same time as a growing sex worker rights movement around the globe.

The goals of these sex worker organizations are diverse, focusing on local issues including police abuse, corruption and health advocacy. Cultural festivals and observances, such as International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, are shared by organizations from Thailand to the UK. Rights advocates look toward model laws in New Zealand, receiving high marks in a May 2008 report. for improving the health and safety of sex workers. A self-regulatory system was developed by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a forum of 65,000 sex workers based in West Bengal, India, with a credit union, anti-violence program and a wide range of cultural and political programs.

In the U.S., sex workers organize for decriminalization and regulation based on occupational health and safety standards. Sex Workers’ Outreach Project-USA, a national organization of sex worker rights groups launched a ballot initiative campaign for decrminalization in Berkeley in 2003 and a similar initiative is likely in San Francisco in 2008.

This is a very new movement, struggling against centuries of stigma and mistreatment. These efforts mark the beginning of an uphill battle. Decriminalization is the only the first step towards social justice for sex workers. When sex workers are no longer criminals, we can begin to advocate for rights in the workplace, to fight discrimination, to protect ourselves and find recourse when violence is committed against us.

Of course, it takes much more than decriminalization of prostitution to bring sexual choice and justice. As a sex worker activist, I have come to understand that economic and social justice is an intrinsic part of the equation. It is clear that poverty and violence lead to the most abject conditions in prostitution. Solutions to the violence and abuses in our industries are the same as solutions to ills in society in general: ending war and violence, achieving social justice and economic equity.

Sex for sale is part of the fabric of society, the complicated relationship between genders and the realities of economics on this planet. The moralistic suppression or condemnation of sex work is reductive.
Future of the “Sex Wars”

The sex wars between the feminist movement for sex workers and feminist abolitionists still go on.

THE OLDEST TRADE IN THE BOOK

This spring, I spoke at the Feminism & Pornography Research Cluster at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The young women there were eager to find common ground among feminists, asserting the right of women to engage in sex work if they choose, while still acknowledging the aspects of the sex industry that reflect sexism and misogyny. So what can I say to these women -- pensive and intent -- who are striving to reconcile the feminist “Sex Wars"?

Maybe one of them will help repeal the anti-prostitution loyalty oath. Maybe one will become a labor organizer and fight the corporate bosses who run the strip clubs. Maybe one will keep police and prosecutors from using condoms as evidence against prostitutes.

Yes, there is common history. But, I’ve been angry and miserable that feminism, which had been the source of my strength, was a source of judgment and rejection for prostitutes' rights.

I finally told the young women that the first step toward finding common ground is for activists in the women’s movement to face each other and acknowledge the role that feminists have played in the current criminalization and stigmatization of sex work.

The young women listened: I entertained a glimmer of hope.

Carol Leigh has been working as a prostitute, artist and activist in the sex rights movement in the San Francisco-Bay area for more than 20 years. She performs political satire as “Scarlot Harlot” and is the author of Unrepentant Whore: The Collected Work of Scarlot Harlot (Last Gasp 2004). She is a spokesperson for the Bay Area Sex Workers Advocates Network (BAYSWAN) and the founder and director of the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Video Festival More information here.

See by Carol Leigh: No Mandatory Testing! A Feminist Prostitute Speaks Out On The Issues Magazine, Vol 10, 1998.

Also see: Erotic Laborers Find Outlet in $pread by Nicole Witte Solomon in this edition of On The Issues Magazine





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[Hanna]

Kann Striptease wirklich Kunst sein?

http://nachrichten.alice.aol.de/nachric ... 8827259001

dpa Nacktanzen als Kultur...oder Kunst?Im US-Staat Iowa nutzen clevere Nachtclub-Besitzer eine Gesetzeslücke: Da offizielle "Striptease-Clubs" dort verboten sind, eröffnen sie stattdessen sogenannte "Kulturzentren", in denen die Frauen dann nackt tanzen dürfen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt jetzt trotzdem gegen die "Kulturbetreiber".
Im US-Staat Iowa gibt es keine Striptease-Clubs - wohl aber Kulturzentren, in denen Frauen nackt auf der Bühne tanzen. Wie lange findige Club-Besitzer dieses Schlupfloch im Gesetz über die Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses jedoch noch nutzen können, entscheidet sich demnächst im Fall eines Etablissements in Hamburg, einer 1.200-Seelen-Gemeinde am Ufer des Missouri an der Grenze zu Nebraska.
Bislang geht es lediglich um einen Club, doch wenn der Richter am Landgericht Fremont der Argumentation des Staatsanwalts folgt, hätte das wohl Folgen für sämtliche "Kulturzentren" des Staates mit den speziellen Tanzdarbietungen. Mitte Juli fand die Anhörung statt, nun wartet man gespannt auf die Entscheidung von Bezirksrichter Timothy O'Grady.
Ausgerechnet die Nichte des Sheriffs zog sich aus
Seinen Anfang nahm der Fall vor ziemlich genau zwei Jahren: Ausgerechnet die 17 Jahre alte Nichte des Sheriffs bestieg am 21. Juli 2007 die Bühne des "Shotgun Geniez" in Hamburg und ließ die Hüllen fallen. Clubbesitzer Clarence Judy erhielt deswegen eine Anzeige wegen Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses.
Doch Judy wehrt sich. Er hält dagegen, dass das entsprechende Gesetz nicht angewendet werden dürfe, wenn es sich um "ein Theater, eine Konzerthalle, ein Kunstzentrum, Museum oder ein ähnliches Etablissement" handele, in dem es künstlerische Darbietungen gebe.
"Tanz gilt als eine Kunstform, genau wie etwa auch Bildhauerei oder Malerei. Clarence hat einen Club, in den Menschen kommen und etwas aufführen können", argumentiert sein Anwalt Michael Murphy und zitiert ein Urteil aus dem Jahr 1998, in dem ein Richter Nackttanzen als eine Form von Kunst gewertet und einen Clubbesitzer vom Vorwurf der Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses freigesprochen hatte.
Murphy verweist außerdem darauf, dass das "Shotgun Geniez" eine angeschlossene Galerie habe, in der Poster zum Sammeln und andere Kunstartikel verkauft würden und Besucher außerdem Zeichenblöcke erhalten könnten.
"Unsinn“, sagt Bezirksstaatsanwältin Margaret Johnson. Ein minderjähriges Mädchen habe nackt in dem Club getanzt, und das sei strafbar. Als die Abgeordneten die Ausnahmeregelungen für das Gesetz über die Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses verabschiedet hätten, hätten sie damit sicherlich nicht den Schutz von Minderjährigen aushebeln wollen.
Das Gesetz solle vielmehr ermöglichen, dass in Theatern oder Kulturzentren Filme gezeigt werden dürfen, in denen es kurze Nacktszenen gebe oder dass Galerien Aktzeichnungen ausstellen dürfen – nicht aber, dass eine Gruppe Zwölfjähriger in den Club komme und sich ausziehe, sagt Johnson.
Zutritt erst ab 18
Besitzer Judy lasse nur Gäste über 18 Jahre in sein Etablissement, hält Anwalt Murphy dagegen. Einer Gruppe von volljährigen Mädchen sei es jedoch gelungen, die 17-Jährige in den Club zu schmuggeln. "Als sie drin war, hatte sie Lust zu tanzen, ging auf die Bühne und zog sich aus. Das Problem ist doch, dass sie die Nichte des Sheriffs ist", sagt Murphy.
Staatsanwältin Johnson weist das zurück. Die Verwandtschaft des Mädchens mit dem Sheriff habe keine Rolle in dem Fall gespielt. Die Eltern der 17-Jährigen seien vollkommen entsetzt gewesen, als sie vom Auftritt ihrer Tochter gehört hätten. Der Sheriff selbst wollte sich nicht zu dem Fall äußern.
Bislang geht es nur um das "Shotgun Geniez" in Hamburg. Doch ein Einspruch gegen die wie auch immer geartete Entscheidung von Richter O'Grady würde dem Fall eine neue Dimension geben. Johnson hat bereits angekündigt, bei einer Niederlage vor das Berufungsgericht zu ziehen, möglicherweise sogar vor den Obersten Gerichtshof von Iowa. Das würde den Fall dann zu einer bundesweiten Angelegenheit machen und auch Dutzende anderer Clubs in Iowa betreffen.
Zuletzt aktualisiert: Montag, 28. Juli 2008, 21:48

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Prostitution:

To Legalize Or Not?


Posted by: Amelia | Filed in: Sex
1:00PM, Wednesday July 30th 2008
Comments (13)


After last week’s post about proposed legislation in San Francisco that would decriminalize prostitution and our poll that indicated that 73% of you not only supported decriminalization but legalization as well, we decided to take a more in-depth look at both. After the jump, we break down the differences and the pros and cons of both. There may be a soap box moment from yours truly as well.





DECRIMINALIZATION
does not legalize sex-for-hire work, but it does instruct local police departments to treat these cases as a low priority, similar to the way in which marijuana laws are enforced in the State of California. Essentially, law enforcement looks the other way, allowing prostitutes to have the peace of mind to report crimes against them, or other crimes they’ve witnessed, without fear of arrest. In some decriminalization proposals, the money spent on enforcing prostitution laws is redirected to social service organizations.

* Proponents of decriminalization say doing so gives sex workers rights they wouldn’t have otherwise (rights that are impossible to have when your workplace is “illegal") and offers prostitutes regular STD tests and pelvic exams, without fear of being turned in. When Berkeley, California, considered decriminalization a few years ago, Carol Leigh, a spokesperson for COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics), a San Francisco-based sex workers rights organization, said, “Generally, there is a distrust of the police among prostitutes. If you are raped, you don’t go to the police.” The theory is that decriminalization would make sex work safer--for sex workers.

* Opponents of decriminalization say that it would increase crime and attract sex workers and johns from other areas where sex work is criminalized. As a result, law enforcement in these areas would be under an even greater burden. Additionally, opponents say decriminalization might as well be legalization, since the laws are not actually actively enforced.





LEGALIZATION
is what it sounds like. A few counties in Nevada have legalized prostitution--primarily, prostitutes work in brothels with managers or madams. The brothels pay taxes, are regulated by the local government, and are an integral part of the local economy. In addition, brothels require monthly blood tests of sex workers [not visitors, Anm.], so as to safeguard against the spread of HIV and other STDs.

* Proponents of legalization ultimately believe that outlawing prostitution violates an individual’s civil liberties and one’s freedom to do what one chooses with one’s body. Like those in favor of legalizing drugs, proponents of legalization of sex-for-money argue that everyone benefits when sex work, which will go on regardless of legality, is monitored and regulated by the government. As a consequence, the spread of STD’s would lessen, as would violent crimes against sex workers. Proponents point to Nevada’s relatively successful bordello system as evidence legal prostitution can work.

* Opponents of legalization believe prostitution contributes to high crime rates, rates that would only increase if prostitution were legalized. Many opponents believe sex work is amoral, a so-called profession that shouldn’t be on a par with CEOs or school teachers. Legalization, in opponents’ eyes, will lead to the downfall of American morality.





Since prostitutes must engage in sex work in a clandestine fashion, identifying the number of American women who engage in prostitution isn’t easy. Most calculations range between 230,000 and 350,000, but some estimates run as high as 1.3 million. Some women who go into prostitution do so out of desperation. Some women do so for reasons that have nothing to do with victimization.

When I was in college, I wrote an article for my school paper about sex workers. One of the women I interviewed, who worked in a Nevada brothel, came from an upper-middle-class family, was a graduate of a prestigious university, and became a prostitute because she liked sex and found the profession empowering. That’s not always the case for women who prostitute themselves, but the fact of the matter is that making sex work illegal has done nothing to deter men from soliciting or paying for sex.

The focus should be on keeping prostitutes safe, from abuse, assault, rape, and murder, as well as from sexually transmitted diseases. And if sex workers should be required to get regular blood and STD tests, so should the clients who see them. Whether these two protections--against violence and against disease--come about through decriminalization or legalization depend upon the letter of the law. Ultimately, I believe sex workers shouldn’t be treated like drug dealers, violent criminals, or pimps who exploit women for monetary gain.

Do you think prostitution should be decriminalized? Legalized? Should a woman have a right to sell her body for sex if that’s her choice? We want to hear your thoughts in the comments!

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-prost ... ze-or-not/





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

TV-Interview-Lehrstück:

Die wohl prominenteste US-Sexwork-Interessenvertreterin Carol Leigh www.baySwan.org kämpft sich durch ein hochgradig unfaires Interview zur aktuellen Sexwork-Legalisierungsdebatte in San Francisco




Fox News Channel, O'Reilley Faktor News Show mit Gastgeber Bill, 7-23-08


Die Prostitutionsgegner kämpfen mit unfairen Argumenten und Forderungen. Sie verlangen von einer Legalisierung und Entkriminalisierung der Prostitution, die zunächst nur die Frauen vor Gewalt und Ausbeutung schützen soll, solle gleichzeitig die Lösung aller sozialen Probleme zu Drogenmißbrauch, Minderjährigen, Gewalt- und Zwangsverhältnissen nachweisen.

Der Reporter leugnet die Vergleichbarkeit der U.S.A. mit NZ grundsätzlich (let's stay in a real world), ohne die Details der dortigen Legislation und Evaluation anhören und würdigen zu wollen.

Ihre 30jährige Lebensleistung macht er nieder: You are wrong.

In seiner bevormundenden und belehrenden Gestik zeigt sich deutlich eine patriachale Ablehnung für entkriminalisierte Sexarbeit, die von Frauen selbstverantwortlich und frei organisiert werden kann.

Eigendlich scheint Bill alles zu wissen. Warum läd er sich eigendlich einen Interviewgast ein? Oder kann man so mit Ex-Prostituierten umspringen?

Hier die Studien von Neuseeland, die sie anspricht, wo die Ent-Kriminalisierung nach 5 Jahren staatlich begutachtet und für gut befunden wurde:
http://sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37403#37403





Wehret den Anfängen in Europa:
www.sexworker.at/protest
(In wenigen Wochen wird im EU-Parlament entschieden)





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[Zwerg]

Habe die Episode auf unserem Server gesichert (dort ist sie auf alle Fälle länger abrufbar) - ist wirklich sehenswert (und lehrreich)

[movie]http://sexworker.no-ip.biz/sw/Decrim-Le ... ill467.flv[/movie]

[Hanna]

es ist wirklich erstaunlich wie ein Journalist so total seinen Job vergisst! Statt vernünftige Fragen zu stellen liefert er die dummen Antworten frei Haus!
Da kann ich Marc nur beipflichten was unfreiwillig komischeres hab ich selten gesehen.
und es zeigt sich wieder wie dieses Thema die Gemüter hochputscht!

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Bezirksregierung von San Francisco
genehmigt einen Volksentscheid
über Ent-Kriminalisierung von Sexarbeit:

Proposition K


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AruVP9ZSTZo[/youtube]7 Minuten
The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC)
discusses and VOTES to endorse a November 2008 ballot measure
that would decriminalize prostitution.

Video by FogCityJournal.com, 8/13/8


Reden von Sexarbeitern und SW-Interessenvertretern vor der Bezirksregierung.
Video from the last visit to the DCCC:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6867470242
(47 Minuten)

San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee endorses the decriminalization of prostitution ballot measure August 14, 2008.





Proposition K
a historic human rights initiative by the Erotic Service Providers Union,
will be before the San Francisco voters November 4, 2008
Proposition K will increase worker and public safety by decriminalizing prostitution.

Over 12,000 San Franciscans placed Proposition K on the ballot to ensure that basic and fundamental human and worker rights are extended to all members of society.

Proposition K
decriminalizes, but does not legalize, sex-for-hire work.

Proposition K
simply de-prioritizes the enforcement of laws against prostitution. This would remove the legal barriers which deprives sex workers of the right to seek safer working conditions and prevents sex workers from reporting violent crimes committed against them and.

http://espu-ca.org/wp/wp-content/upload ... erview.pdf
(1 Seite)





http://www.espu-ca.org
Erotic Service Provider Union - California

Lokalberichte San Franciso:
http://sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=40332#40332





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[Marc of Frankfurt]

SW interviewen Bürger in San Franciso:



Hier das erste Interview

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFfMYB2G6wU[/youtube]





Siehe auch SW im MoMA SF:
viewtopic.php?p=43125#43125





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[JayR]

Von Carol Leigh, www.bayswan.org , kommt die Nachricht, dass die Prop K leider abgelehnt wurde.

You probably heard that Prop K didn't win, but we are very proud that 89,833 people (counted so far) voted for us and we secured over 42% of the votes.

The tally as of Wednesday morning, Nov 5, is:

Yes 89,833 votes - 42.44 %
No 121,815 votes - 57.56 %


In a crucial way we are winning, because we clearly demonstrate that sex workers are part of the political process. In 2004 Measure Q in Berkeley secured 36% of the vote, so as you see we are ascending! It is clear that in the long run sex workers rights and participation will be central to prostitution law reform. Decriminalization is happening!

Thank you to all our donors and supporters. This meant so much to all of us! You kept our spirits us and allowed us to mount this campaign!

There was an amazing response from sex workers and sex worker groups and allies (such as the Woodhull Freedom Foundation) around the country, contributing, emailing, fundraising phone calls, and rooting for us! We had wonderful volunteers from all quarters, and we made many new friends who will be supporting us in the long run.

Our Board of Supervisors went in a liberal direction so that portends good support for new plans. What next?! Of course SWOP is organizing a National March for Sex Worker Rights for December 17th, International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers. http://www.swopusa.org/node/167

[sixela]

Mir gefällt die positive Grundhaltung der Initiatoren dieser Initiative! Hierzulande würde man wahrscheinlich nur jammern und Wähler- und Medienbeschimpfung betreiben.

In den USA läuft es nach dem nun modernen Motto YES WE CAN! Und auch wenn der neue Präsident wohl leider nicht für die Legalisierung der Prostitution eintreten wird, so wird hoffentlich durch seine Wahl ein Strom gesellschaftlicher Liberalisierung das Land durchfluten, der es eines Tages möglich machen wird, dass paid sex between consenting adults etwas ganz normales sein wird.

YES WE CAN! Ein gutes Motto auch für Europa und Österreich.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Werbeverbot bzw. Identitätskontrolle Sexwork


Craigslist to crack down on prostitution ads

40 states make deal with Craigslist to crack down on ads for prostitution

AP
Nov 6, 2008

(HARTFORD, Conn.) The Web site www.Craigslist.com says it will crack down on ads for prostitution. It is doing so as part of an agreement with attorneys general in 40 states.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the deal will require people who post "erotic services" ads on Craigslist to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card. The Web site will provide that information to law enforcement if subpoenaed to do so.

Craigslist has also agreed to sue 14 software and Internet companies that help people who post erotic service ads circumvent the Web site's defenses against inappropriate content and illegal activity.

Craigslist will also begin using new search technology in an effort to help authorities find missing children and victims of human trafficking.

© 2008

Mehr:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/167888






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[Marc of Frankfurt]

Artikel eines Ex-Sexarbeiters und mehrfachen Buchautors


How to Fix the Economic Meltdown and Stop Terrorism: Legalize Heroin and Whores

von:
David Henry Sterry

• "Prohibition will work great injury... for it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

If you don't know who said that, I promise I'll tell you later.

Selling sex for money is a multi-billion-dollar business. Apparently tens of millions of people want sex so bad they pay through the nose for it. And in that shadowy, shady, underworld, there are many different kinds of economic transactions. At one extreme are coercion, victimization, and exploitation. At the other are consent, empowerment and economic independence. I personally know many people from either extreme of this Bell curve. But both these exchanges are called prostitution. To say these exchanges are the same things is like saying that working at Bloomingdale's and being forced against your will to work 20 hours a day in a sweatshop are the same thing.

Many people claim that if you make sex for money legal, it will be easier for predators who exploit adults and children alike. Of course, just the opposite is true. We know what happens during Prohibition. Gangsters control the means of production. Al Capone, quintessential American criminal/pop icon, was created by Prohibition. Just as the American Pimp has become the new superstar gangsta, and slithered his way into our culture. Pimp my Ride. Pimp my Crib. Pimp my Wife. It is much easier for predators to hide in an illegal industry. And when you make criminals out of industrial sex technicians, which is what I call people who work of their own free will in the sex business, they have no recourse when things go bad. And things go bad alot in this business. So people all over the Bell curve get raped, robbed, and beaten. Not only by clients. By law enforcement. When one of the recent whores serial killers was caught, he said he killed whores because it was easy, and he knew no one would miss them.

If you take all the money spent on the war on whores, on true industrial sex technicians, and focused it on actually tracking down traffickers and predators, you could take the bastards down. You can find these people if you want to. But there are great economic forces at work in America, and throughout the world, that want desperately to keep things the way they are. Because there's so much money involved.

But the bottom line, economically, is that there is a big beautiful sexy cash cow to be milked here. With a reasonable rate of taxation, people who choose to work in the business could make a very good living wage, get health insurance, and even have a retirement plan, if that's what they choose. It's all about choice. Everyone should have the choice to do what they like as long as they pay their bills and don't hurt anyone. Isn't that the whole idea behind America? And with some of that money, we could help people who want to leave the sex business get the skills necessary to transition. Apply the rest of this cash flow to paying teachers a decent wage, making sure no one goes hungry or homeless. Arts and sports in the schools. Music classes for every kid in America! What a revolutionary idea.

As for heroin, since you're a basketball player, I'll put it in your vernacular. It's a slam dunk. In USA Today recently, right on the front page, in very small words, it said that the Taliban is making its money from buying and selling heroin. If you make it legal, like tobacco and alcohol, and package it nicely, you take away the Taliban's cash flow. And again, you get to control this huge beautiful dopey goose that keeps laying big golden eggs. And why stop at heroin? Consider the hundreds of millions generated by the wacky weed industry. The trade in opium has been brisk for centuries. Hashish. Ecstasy. Speed. 'Shrooms. Cocaine. Acid. Imagine the fun Madison Avenue would have. Orange Sunshine, the LSD with Vitamin C. Willy Weed, the only dope Willie Nelson smokes. Harry Potter's Magic Mushrooms.

It's not drugs that are the problem. Humans have used hallucinogens, intoxicants and in inebriates for as long as anyone cares to remember. Even when they've imbibed so much they can't actually remember. It's people's behavior that's the problem. Every time I've been in a room with people shooting up, they just lay there with silly grins on their faces, and their heads nod up and down like bobble head dolls. It's when they run out of the drugs that the problems begin. If heroin was legal, like cigarettes and alcohol, addicts wouldn't need to rob and pillage. Cigarettes and alcohol kill a lot more people than marijuana and heroin. But we say, go ahead, smoke and drink all you want, booze it up until you're dead, if that's your pleasure. We make money from taxing these products. We control the means of production and distribution. Again, isn't that what America is all about? That we can do what we want as long as we mind your own p's and q's?

Take the money we spend on the war on drugs, and actually go after the Taliban, as well as gangsters in South America and Asia (many of whom are financed by the drug trade) after their money source has been cut off. Instead of declaring war under false pretense and trying to set up our own militia government so we can make millions for military contractors and their cronies, while ensuring that we are more hated every day.

There it is. Economic turbo-boost, predators and traffickers hunted down, Taliban and international gangsters crippled. All with the blessing of Abraham Lincoln. That's who gave that great shout out about prohibition.

Original mit Leserkommentaren:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-hen ... 42348.html





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[Marc of Frankfurt]

US TV Serie

"Dirty Money: The Business Of High End Prostitution"


Trailer-Excerpt 2 Min
featuring Carol Leigh aka Scarlot Harlot
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrrX2fGBwk8[/youtube]




Homepage:
http://dirtymoney.cnbc.com/

Infotext:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27324127





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