thefeministhub:
Submitted by corruptpolitics
Police walk into a shady club full of women “dancers,” including at least one minor, being paid next to nothing, forced to make up selling quotas with sex acts, without proper immigration documentation. They arrest the 81 women and aim most toward deportation proceedings, while the club is free to hire replacement dancers and continue its illegal and exploitative business practices. The club is obviously happy, and the police are happy, because they get to claim usefulness with a mass arrest. The only people not happy are the women. Oh, and people who care about sex trafficking.
A recent raid on Club 907 in Los Angeles was ostensibly to investigate club management’s illegal behavior, as Lauren Markem points out on Immigrant Rights, it ended up being nothing more than an excuse for an immigration raid, which law enforcement would not have been allowed to conduct. The people arrested as “criminals” were the dancers, while the patrons were sent home, and the club management left free to hire replacement dancer, despite police uncovering cocaine, unauthorized alcohol, and evidence of illegal prostitution.
As Amanda Kloer writes on End Human Trafficking, this incident gives off clear red flags for sex trafficking. The 17-year-old missing girl, first off, cannot be a criminal, because of her age, and is automatically a sex trafficking victim if engaged in prostitution. And an illegal brothel front full of vulnerable undocumented women kept as essential slaves because the “owe” the club a certain amount of money each night before they can get paid, women who have no idea of their rights in this country or ability to escape the forced labor or sex, should inspire police to charge management with human trafficking like a red flag in front of a bull.
Unfortunately, it’s far easier for police to pursue an open-and-shut case of immigration violations against dozens of exploited women than to look into the probable human trafficking violations and find some real criminals: the people who enslaved and exploited immigrant women for forced labor and sex. That might require some actual investigative work on their part, rather than munching donuts as they file the dreaded immigration infractions. But sex trafficking comprises one of the top crimes that we want to be devoting resources to stopping.
Tell L.A. police to stop arresting victims and start investigating traffickers by signing this petition. Ignoring modern-day slavery and sex trafficking just isn’t acceptable.
What’s even more disturbing? I know where this club is. I used to drive past it all the time when I lived in LA. I hope the LAPD changes their tune when dealing with these clubs and arrests the pimps but also helps the sex slaves seek asylum and aid.
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WOW this blog is amazing! I'm female, straight, and here to rant.
The current image of a 'perfect woman' disgusts me. This popular figure in porn has no pubic hair to speak of, a teeny tiny neat vagina, and is as skinny as a rake. This is NOT an image of a woman, it's an image of a VERY young girl. I feel like I'm one of the few people who sees something so wrong with this. It's not only degrading to women everywhere, but to men as well - to say that this is what should be sexually gratifying to them is just plain offensive.
I realise this rant is from a very heterosexual point of view - but so is the porn industry.
Rant over, keep up the good work!
Preaching to the choir here, sailingisfine.
Porn is a complicated issue for me. While I see nothing wrong with performers enjoying their work and choosing to be in the industry, I do agree with you about the image it can project. Jessica Valenti has a very in-dept chapter about this predicament in her book, The Purity Myth. Check it out if you can. She can explain, defend, and ponder the situation much better than I.
And by the way, you’re amazing, my lovely lamb.
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I’ve written before in support of porn actors wearing condoms while working, and Derrick Burts’ recent HIV-positive diagnosis gives me even more reason to champion this cause. Think about it, employers are always trying to ensure the safety of their workers (at least they should be). If an injury occurs on the job, worker’s comp can help the employee get the medical attention they need and provide assistance while they recover.
After reading this article, it sounds like Derrick Burts is not so lucky. Following standard STD testing procedures for all sex workers, Burts went to the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM) in October where he was tested positive. Burts alleges AIM promised to set him up with a doctor and treatment but never followed through. Frustrated, he went to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (a favorite non-profit of mine) and came forward to the public with his story.
Burts also tested positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes early on in his career. Now the former gay and straight porn performer is speaking openly about his ordeal and the necessity for all pornography actors to wear condoms.
I hate that Derrick Burts is now HIV-positive, but I hope his experience can finally show the adult entertainment industry needs to change its way.
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Anonymous
I am so sick of all of this porn where a man pulls out and cums all over the girl's body. I want to see him finish inside of her. It's infinitely hotter.
Just sayin'.
Mainstream porn is a male-dominated form of media. Having a man come on a woman’s face is dominating and shows power. It’s not my bag either.
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“When they first mentioned prostitution, I thought I would go crazy,” Yumi told me. “I was thinking, ‘how can this happen to someone like me who is college-educated?’ ” Her voice trailed off, and she added: “I wanted to die.”
She says that the four men who ran the smuggling operation — all Chinese or South Koreans — took her into their office on 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan. They beat her with their fists (but did not hit her in the face, for that might damage her commercial value), gang-raped her and videotaped her naked in humiliating poses. For extra intimidation, they held a gun to her head.
Please read this op-ed piece. Sometimes we as Americans think slavery ended with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Sadly, human trafficking has proved it hasn’t. Like Nicholas D. Kristof says, “…the critical step is for the police and prosecutors to focus more on customers (to reduce demand) and, above all, on pimps.”
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Anonymous
I'm a 18 year old stright female. I'm a virgin. I have masturbated a few times to porn, but it makes me feel kinda guilty. What do you think about this?
You’ve been brainwashed by contemporary American society that teaches women to be ashamed of their sexuality and think only guys masturbate and watch porn. You really have no reason to feel guilty masturbating considering 1) you’re not at risk of getting pregnant or contracting an STD/STI 2) it is/should be fun and pleasurable 3) porn is entertaining and 4) it’s part of developing a healthy sex life.
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"I think that the greater problem is homophobia, transphobia, and bi-phobia in the straight adult industry. This is really disheartening and ignorant. We are all working and living on the sexual fringe and need to be unified in education and not ostracizing groups within our industry."
Tracy Clark-Flory
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The press salivates over the supposedly shocking tale of a teacher who is reassigned over her sex worker past
Sadly, I’m not at all surprised by her dismissal. For some reason, Americans hold teachers to a much higher standard than other working professionals. (Won’t someone think of the children?!) I don’t have kids, but I like to think I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass if they were being taught art by a former stripper and sex worker. Her past also shouldn’t discredit her teaching abilities as well.
But I feel like I’m preaching to the choir here.
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“The company shuts down its “adult” section, but posts offering erotic services abound”
You may have heard already that Craigslist closed their “adult services” section on Saturday in an attempt to stop the solicitation of sex workers on their website. Whether or not this closure will be a good thing remains to be seen.
Opponents have been pressuring lawmakers and Craigslist to stop advertising sex for quite sometime — and often with good reason. Some lowlifes were using the site to traffic and exploit women and underage girls against their will. Others were offering “sensual massages” at hourly or block rates to lonely business men.
I am all for arresting sleazy men pimping their wives via Craigslist and stopping crazy Craigslist Killers, but I am also open to a public forum where honest and professional sex workers can advertise their goods. People are going to pay for sex with or without Craigslist’s help. If the site can act as a facilitator by allowing clients and patrons to interact and discuss business, then I don’t see anything wrong with that.
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Take vaginal rejuvenation, the fastest-growing form of plastic surgery in the United States, and probably the best example of how women are expected to be girls—not just girls, but virginal girls. (After all, how much more obvious can the virginity fetish be when woman are obtaining a surgery that makes their vaginas younger?)
The surgery, touted using feminist rhetoric—”Women now have equal sexuality rights!” says one press release—claims to give women’s vaginas a “youthful aesthetic look.” Virgin vaginas, ready to order!
Rejuvenation, which costs anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000, can include a labia trim, liposuction on the outer lips, tightening the vaginal muscles, or a hymenoplasty (in which the doctor constructs a fake hymen). And although the risks are serious—infection, hemorrhaging, loss of sensitivity, scarring, nerve damage, painful intercourse, and disfigurement—women are lining up to get surgery.
Why? Well, in addition to the “youthful aesthetic,” many women seem to believe that their genitals aren’t normal. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that most women don’t understand the size and shape of genitalia correctly, and that physicians performing vaginal surgeries may be leading women to have “misguided assumptions” about what is normal. The ACOG even went as far as to release a warning about the surgery, noting that it is “deceptive” for doctors to give patients the impression that these procedures are “accepted and routine surgical practices.”
But “normalcy” in this regard is hard to define, given our porned culture. The Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute, for example, says on its website that “many women bring us magazines such as Playboy” to show the doctor the aesthetic they’re looking for. “Normalcy” is no longer defined by women—it’s defined by porn magazines and movies that feature younger girls and uniform-looking vulvae.
— Jessica Valenti, The Purity Myth (p. 73-74)
I felt like posting this excerpt since I believe many women are concerned about the size and shape of their labia. Once again, there is no “normal” when it comes to the appearance of the female genitalia.
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I’ve wanted to post this article ever since the AIDS Healthcare Foundation brought it to my attention. While I am not opposed to porn in the slightest, I love the idea of requiring actors to wear protection. It is just plain smart. Despite industry heads requiring monthly tests, the actors are still putting themselves at risk for STDs/STIs.
Once a month, actors take the PCR-DNA test, which can detect HIV within two weeks of infection. Since 1998, the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation has reported five HIV cases among actors in straight porn. That’s a relatively low number, industry insiders point out, given the cosmic amount of condomless sex that has gone on in that time — but many, myself included, are disturbed by the idea that five infections over 11 years is considered adequate…
I hope the “pure” porn audience can get over their hangups on watching actors go at it sans protection and realize the health of their favorite star is far more important than see a naked and sheathed penis on screen.
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