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Archive for the ‘Feminism’ Category

BINDEL TALES…

Posted in Campaigns and Groups, Escorting Lives, Feminism, Gaze Review, In the Media, IUSW, Julie Bindel, Organisations Comment, Politics, sex worker politics, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on 21 April, 2013 | 7 Comments »

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Julie Bindel, bless her little cotton socks, is “managing editor” of a magazine not owned by her or Paul Burston, called “Gaze – A Modern Review”. One of her leading articles is called “An Unlikely Union” which naturally, as expected, is a vicious attack on the IUSW (International Union of Sex Workers) and the sex workers trades union branch of the GMB. What was surprising to some people however was that a few so called sex worker rights campaigners, notably Thierry Schaffauser, was not only critical of his fellow activists but was even praised by Julie Bindel and was then described as a “young and handsome Schaffauser”. In contrast Catherine Stephens who is the branch secretary of the sex worker GMB branch and active in the IUSW was described as a bully and her personal appearance criticised in a very personal attack which bordered on misogyny. I was referred constantly, in the article, as a pimp/manager and as a disruptive and almost malign influence, responsible for “sex workers” leaving the IUSW and the GMB branch.

The whole article was full of untruths and distortions, as one would expect from Julie Bindel who hates the sex industry and advocates for its demise. It was an article designed to hurt the IUSW and its reputation and to divide sex worker rights activists.

Anyone who knows anything about the sex worker rights movement knows that, like any group, there are varying opinions. Sex worker rights is not a cohesive movement politically, the only thread that holds activism together is a desire for social justice for sex workers and a desire for decriminalisation. Sex work is varied, multi layered, nuanced. It is work that is often transient and secretive. Sex work is stigmatised and criminalised. Activism carries risks both legally and socially. The result of this is that there are few activists prepared to put their heads above the parapet to be shot at by a hostile media and wealthy abolitionist groups. This is why it is important that those few who get involved in activism, regardless of personal political allegiances or understanding of our industry or how we would like to see decriminalisation delivered, should support each other. There is more that unites us than divides us but it seems that for some activists their voice is the only voice that must be heard, should be heard and if that means joining the enemy to hurt your fellow activists then they will happily oblige.The forwarding of a confidential email from myself to other IUSW activists explaining my reason for leaving the “confidential” IUSW list to Julie Bindel, who then used it in her article, explains why some activists are very cautious of others in the movement. Such actions undermines confidence and trust both in lists and in fellow activists. Who ever did this should be ashamed.

For those who have read the article I would like to correct inaccuracies made by Julie Bindel.

Catherine Stephens the bully

Catherine Stephens advised myself and others against giving an interview to Julie Bindel because she feared that our words may be twisted. No one was forbidden, least of all Thierry Schaffauser. She has never bullied me or anyone else to my knowledge. Catherine Stephens has however been the target of persistent bullying by Thierry and friends at branch meetings.

Inaccuracies in reporting the court case.

With regard to the court case. The legal technicality that led to my acquittal (and my partners) was that the police had pre-prepared statements, in advance, for the escorts to sign. One escort brought this to the attention of our legal team, after refusing to sign it, who then informed the judge of these findings. The judge then heavily criticised the police for their conduct and lack of professionalism. I am sure any journalist could obtain the public court record, should they investigate it fully. In subsequent twitter exchanges Bindel claims to have seen police records pertaining to myself. I am not a criminal so what records could she see and if they did exist how did she access them?
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The last person to access police files on myself was a lady called Victoria Thorne. She was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court almost 3 years ago, which is in the public domain and at the time I was interviewed by Northumbria Police who informed me that an individual had, on a number of occasions tried to access personal data. Perhaps Julie Bindel could clarify her twitter comment and how she obtained Police information. I have no criminal record and therefore wonder what police records she’s been reading and how she obtained them.

The infamous competition my partner ran.

The competition giving a free appointment to the winner, with an escort of their choice did not mean that the escort did not get paid nor that she/he had no choice in whether to accept the appointment or not. It was simply a sales gimmick agreed at a meeting between my partner and the escorts he represented. They were paid in full for any competition appointments and were never out of pocket.

There is no overwhelming evidence of me being a manager.

In the documentary there was no overwhelming evidence of my involvement in running the agency. I never once answered the telephone, arranged an appointment, interviewed any escorts, or involved myself in any way other than counting out some money for theatrical purposes. At the end of the documentary I was also filmed composing profile descriptions to accompany some photographs. This was simply my partner bouncing ideas off me, which I am sure many partners do in their comfort of their own home. Julie Bindel insists on calling me a pimp and a manager, both in the article and on twitter. I have called her a liar and will continue to do so until she desists or takes me to court where she can prove I am not a sex worker who sells sex.

My partner using the GMB kite mark

With regard to using the GMB/IUSW kite mark on my partners agency site. It is a hardly noticeable kite mark. He does not use it in advertising and the reason it is there is because I, as a sex worker joined the GMB branch as did several other escorts and all escorts who join the agency are told about the GMB branch. It is up to them if they join or not. It is not used to promote or advertise anything other than the GMB branch itself. The agency is not advertised or mentioned in any GMB literature or websites. The logo is there simply to promote the branch and let escorts and clients see that there is a trade union for sex workers. There is no other agenda where this is concerned.

Inaccuracies regarding Thierry

Thierry Schaffauser was never the president of the IUSW. The IUSW is separate from the GMB branch. He was president for a time of the GMB branch during which time he was heavily criticised and a number of accusations of bullying were made formally against him.

Sleazy Michael and others leaving the branch/IUSW

Sleazy Michael did indeed leave the IUSW list and quite possibly the GMB branch, as did some others, because they were tired of the arguments over my membership. Those arguments were driven by Thierry and his friends. Sleazy Michael, like Thierry and others knew that I was not a manager. Thierry disapproved of my politics and my notoriety on the internet promoting the IUSW for which I raised (with others) in a short space of time some considerable funds. Thierry and friends however wanted the GMB branch to be the dominant vehicle for sex worker rights. Myself and others pointed out repeatedly that the GMB branch was governed by GMB rules and could not be used as a political tool unless strict GMB procedural guidelines were followed and they were often limiting. The IUSW in contrast had no such restrictions.
Thierry and his friends seemed unable to accept this and the nonsense about managers being in the branch is just that. I was not a manager and as far as I know there were no managers who were members of the branch. I also did not involve myself in the branch. I was a member but I am not a socialist so the internal politics of the GMB were mostly irrelevant to me. I eventually left the branch when I read that a branch meeting had decided to affiliate to a republican group. It was totally undemocratic.

Those who left the IUSW/GMB branch

As far as the claim that people left the branch because of me the truth is this. A small number of extreme leftists did leave the GMB branch and the IUSW list. As far as I am aware they set up X talk, SWOU etc and became involved with the ECP (English collective of Prostitutes) to the extent that all three are now interconnected and mutually supportive. Using me as a scapegoat is disingenuous. The reason was that the IUSW (which has to produce its own reply) from my understanding did not wish to be pressurised into an extreme leftist position but rather wished to remain an inclusive group representative of all views and opinions within sex work. The GMB branch equally had its own rules and regulations put in place by the GMB. These were obviously not flexible enough for Thierry and his friends who as the article suggests are now preparing to establish a sex worker union that will reflect their own political agenda. It is up to the GMB to reply to the Julie Bindel accusations and to those made by Thierry. I am no longer a member and have little interest in the branch although I remain supportive of those who do wish to join and who believe in it. The strippers who left the branch to join Equity did so for good reason. I would join Equity if given a chance. As a sex worker I have a closer affiliation with actors than with boiler makers. Equity, however does not accept sex workers into their union.

My relationship to/with the IUSW.

I remain supportive of the IUSW although I resigned from the list, I was not thrown out, as Julie Bindel suggests. My reasons for leaving the IUSW list are:

1) I was very disappointed with changes made to the IUSW constitution (which I partially wrote). I wanted a strong IUSW with elected officers and with a membership that paid a nominal amount and who were involved democratically in decision making. I lost that argument and I was hurt by it.

2) I objected to the IUSW becoming a closed list with membership only by invitation. As the one inclusive and welcoming sex worker organisation the IUSW could become I argued an enormous force for positivity and support for all sex workers. I lost that battle. I accept that. You win some battles and loose others. It proves however that I am not the dominant manager Bindel presents me as.

3) I was exhausted with fighting a small but quite vicious group who for their own motives targeted myself and the IUSW. I now want to have an independent voice, supportive of the IUSW but able to concentrate on other projects while being useful and helpful when needed.

In conclusion I was not surprised by the article or by the accusations made primarily by Thierry. I am a sex worker. If I were a manager I would happily say that I was. I am supportive of managers and the role they play in our industry. There is no stigma in being a manager in my eyes. If you are a good manager then you should be praised just as any good sex worker should be praised and supported. We all need to be supportive of one another if we are to achieve decriminalisation and establish a good industry in which all sex workers can have a free choice to work as independent or through third parties. As a recent academic paper “HERE”reveals, third parties, managers are important to our industry and we must support them equally along with migrant, street and indoor workers

Finally ……. Punters

Errm where is the reference to them. For a front page article, claiming to mention them, Julie rarely features them in the entire article.

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How To Be A Feminist Ally to Sex Workers | The Life and Works of Olive Seraphim

Posted in Campaigns and Groups, Feminism, tagged , on 2 April, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

This is something that was inspired by the diatribe of bullshit I have dealt with from non sex worker feminists as of late. To be honest, I have all but given up on feminism. Feminism doesn’t want me or people like me, people who refuse to allow them to appropriate our realities in support of their own ideology. Although I am very close to discarding this identity label altogether, I am hoping that at some point feminists are going to get their shit together about sex work and stop deliberately pushing us out when we won’t play by their rules. That is why I wrote this little ten point list. This is by no means comprehensive but hopefully it is a starting point for a true pro sex worker feminism, with space for us in it.

Identify yourself as a non sex-worker

This is such a common tactic of feminists who want to silence sex workers, but in addition to silencing us, it forces us to identify ourselves which puts us directly in harm’s way – just for wanting to make our voices heard in supposedly feminist spaces. What the women who do this fail to realize is that we are risking our relationships, our jobs (particularly if we are studying or work a second non-sex worker job) and even custody of our children for disclosing our sex worker status. This is not something that non-sex worker feminists need to face. The only reason a non-sex worker feminist has for not disclosing her status is that she wants to speak over those who actually have lived experience in sex work. A true feminist space must insist that everyone participating in a discussion about sex work identify as a non sex-worker upfront and allow actual sex workers to participate without their disclosing their status; the assumption being that unless one states that they are not a sex worker, they are. This allows us to participate while having our direct experience acknowledged without forcing us to actually out ourselves and risk having our whole lives ruined because of it.

Read More

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Criminalising clients has nothing to do with gender equality.

Posted in Feminism, tagged , , on 23 February, 2013 | 5 Comments »

This is part of a longer work talking about gender equality and how it is being used by some feminists to justify the criminalisation of clients and the stigmatisation of men as misogynistic. I would be interested in thoughts on this subject.

The ideology promoted by some feminists and which has become law in some nations, specifically Sweden, that stigmatising and criminalising specifically male clients of female sex workers will create gender equality is a dangerous lie. The use of stigma and of the law to engineer societal change is not new. We already live in a society where stigma and law collude to create alienation. Whore stigma exists not because whores are bad people but because society has targeted sex workers as a scapegoat. Societal contempt and alienation of the sex worker is a clear warning to women that this is how society deals with female sexual autonomy. Female sex workers threaten directly the ideal of womanhood within traditional patriarchal society. Men also are not free from societal conditioning with regard to their sexual behaviour. Society already prescribes men to assume behavioural traits that are often mistaken as misogynistic conveniently for some feminists who deliberately inflate that mythology to justify their ideological motivation. Feminists who target men specifically and who encourage their stigmatisation and that that stigma be reinforced by law are not interested in gender equality. They use gender equality as a gesture to justify moralism. What truthfully lies behind this so called feminist ideology is a quite blatant revaluation of age old patriarchal notions of proper moral behaviour repackaged to accommodate the linguistics of modern political debate. A deviation of feminism has reinvented patriarchal moralism to accommodate a modern language of sexual tolerance that poses as something it is not.
Morality of course is always questionable. There is public morality and there is private morality. Both are abstract in that they reflect the influences of spiritual and temporal authority as passive and violent modes of behavioural control. Morality as an idea that influences personal behaviour can be benign but when morality is enforced by the state it can also become the most effective instrument of state violence. It is the latter that pretend feminism promotes when the benign idealism of gender equality becomes their excuse to encourage the state to stigmatise and criminalise specific sectors of society that do not conform to their moral critique of right behaviour.
Patriarchal moralism, despite modern notions of equality, still expects traditional taught behavioural norms to govern how society interacts. Homosexuality for example has become acceptable once it has been normalised to conform to patriarchal notions of family.
Yes these so called feminists insist they want rights for women but it is rights for women contained within an ideological notion of right behaviour and that includes right sexual behaviour. That right behaviour would not be unfamiliar to their Victorian predecessors who also set out to save fallen women, and part of that process was the shaming of men

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Rape Is A Human Right

Posted in Feminism, VAW, tagged , , , on 1 February, 2013 | 39 Comments »

Reblogged from ann tagonist:

Click to visit the original post

An investigation was launched today after a care home admitted inviting in purchasing prostitutes women to offer sexual services to be raped by disabled male residents.

The street workers women regularly meet with vulnerable guests men for sex sessions to be raped– known in the home as a ”special visit”.

Staff have been ordering the prostitutes women by phone who then visit disabled residents at Chaseley, a nursing home caring for 55 people in Eastbourne, Sussex.

Read more… 1,222 more words

This is the most hate fill post I have read in a long time. Conflating sex work with rape. Does this person hate all men, she most definitely hates sex-work, and I would also consider she hates us sex workers. She makes no distinction between consensual sex-work and rape. She devalues what rape actually means by these stupid, sensationalist diatribes. Her supporters are as bad as her, and I would hope the Chaseley Trust sue the author. We support the non judgemental attitude, of the Chaseley Trust.  Its such a shame that news papers are so sensationalist about sex, and I sincerely hope the provision of sexual services from sex-workers has not be in anyway been curtailed.

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17th December, International day to End Violence against sex workers.

Posted in Escorting Lives, Feminism, Government Brutality, Human Rights, Safety, sex worker politics on 17 December, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Today was international day to end violence against sex workers. Sex workers exist in every culture and in every nation. Sex workers, male, female and trans work in a diverse industry and in many different environments. Sex workers represent every socio and economic and academic strata within society. The media and governments present sex workers as stereotypes but the truth is there is no stereotype of who a sex worker is or any shared reasoning for why anyone becomes a sex worker. Every story within sex work is unique just as every client has a unique reason for why they use the services of sex workers.
Once, long ago, sex workers were respected within societies that rejoiced in pleasure but now sex work has become an easy target for moralists, often posing as feminists and for lazy governments eager to prove they care, especially about women. Their eagerness to show how much they care however has resulted in discriminatory laws that harm sex workers. The truth is that every sex worker who is beaten, raped, murdered is the direct result of governments who claim they have created laws that will protect the vulnerable, protect women, and protect sex workers. These laws more often than not represent an ideological and aggressive understanding of sex work rather than reflect the realities of sex workers lives and experiences. They are laws that infantalise women as incapable of autonomous thought and behaviour and which perpetuate myths and untruths about sex work.
Sadly existing injustice toward sex workers is to be made worse if proposals to criminalise clients presently being presented to the governments of Ireland and Scotland become law. Sex workers and the public must now unite to tell government in clear terms that state violence toward sex workers in the form of laws that deny sex workers their basic human rights will no longer be tolerated. Sex workers are mothers, daughters, sons and brothers; they are human beings, workers, citizens who require the full protection of the law. Politicians must listen.


Dr Brooke Magnanti, formerly known as Belle de Jour, wrote this article about the 17th of December campaign, which appeared today in the Telegraph.

You can access the full article with links “HERE”

The event calls attention to crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe. (Don’t worry; you don’t have to get me a card. Cards Galore isn’t stocking any for this yet.)
It was created by legendary sex goddess Annie Sprinkle in memorial for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington.
The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers encourages people from around the world to come together and organise against discrimination and remember victims of violence.
In particular I would like to remember Michaela Hague, a woman in Sheffield who was brutally murdered in 2001.
At the time I was a student there, not yet a sex worker, living in student accommodation in an area of the city that had once been well-known as a red light district. During that time the city began a crackdown on kerb crawling and street prostitution that drove sex workers out from the well-trafficked, well-lit and policed city centre to the industrial fringes of the city.
Related Articles
Scotland’s proposed sex bill ‘won’t protect sex workers’ 10 Dec 2012
Plan to criminalise buying sex from prostitutes rejected 20 Apr 2010
It’s no surprise students are turning to the sex trade 14 Dec 2012
It was in this time that Michaela was attacked. Stabbed multiple times, her killer got away unobserved. She died far from where anybody could have been alerted to her distress in time to save her life.
I became aware of the crime because I was working in the city’s mortuary the next day (as my doctorate was with the Forensic Pathology department). I saw a woman who in her life had been not just liked, but loved. A daughter, a mother, a friend. Michaela’s murder had a profound effect on me: it seemed clear to me that her death was the result of a policy that cares more for the appearance of propriety than for the welfare of sex workers.
Michaela’s murderer has never been found.
Sex workers talk about what we want, in terms of rights and treatment. We want a say in the policies that directly affect us – almost none of the legislation currently grinding its way through the UK and Ireland has consulted sex workers in any meaningful sense. We want acknowledgement that widespread attitudes against sex work make things more dangerous for the people involved. Some nod towards the reality that not all sex workers are the same wouldn’t go amiss. And we want people to realise that behind the highly publicised and politicised images are people, not just prostitutes.
Throughout this week sex worker organisations and their allies will be holding vigils to raise awareness, not just of crimes against us, but of the laws that aid these crimes. Laws that criminalise sex work thus preventing sex workers from reporting violence. The stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by the prohibitionist laws makes violence against us acceptable. Thankfully I never experienced any attempts of violence against me while I was a sex worker but I am all too aware of the scale of the problem.
Please join with sex workers around the world and stand against criminalisation and violence committed against our communities.
Like I said, it’s a pretty new holiday, so you don’t have to get me a card or anything. But a donation to a local sex work outreach programme surely wouldn’t go amiss.

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Sexual Entertainment Venues and managing risk

Posted in Campaigns and Groups, Feminism, Government Reviews and Change, lap dancing, Law, Research on 9 December, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Harlots is pleased to announce the initial finding of research into attitudes toward adult entertainment venues and an assessment of their influence on nuisance and safety in areas where they exist. The research is being carried out by the university of Kent and was financed by the Economic and Social Research Council Shaping Society.

Please note that these are the initial findings and that further updates and the final research data will be available

“HERE”

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Sexualisation, nuisance and safety: Sexual Entertainment Venues and the management of risk
Start date: 31 December 2011
End date: 30 December 2012

In the last decade, around 300 dedicated clubs have opened in England and Wales where the live display of nudity is regularly offered. Such venues have been accused of offering exploitative and degrading forms of entertainment which compromise the safety not just of female performers, but all women who live and work around such venues. However, there is no existing academic research documenting this. This research accordingly aims to collect such evidence, performing a grounded analysis of the impacts of such venues on surrounding businesses and residents. This will be achieved through an examination of the impacts of venues in a small town, a large town, a small city and a regional capital, chosen to represent the diversity of club styles and settings. The research will combine analysis of objections to club licensing, guided walks in the vicinity of clubs and an extensive survey of local residents.

This project is grounded in social science literatures on the sexualisation of society, fear of crime and the regulation of the night-time economy. The findings will be of interest to stakeholders in licensing, town centre management and community safety, as well as audiences in sociology, criminology and geography.

Aims

To date, there has been no academic research on the impacts of lap dancing clubs on the communities in which they are
located. The purpose of this research was therefore to explore how local authorities can best achieve the aims of licensing – i.e. maximizing public safety, minimizing public nuisance, and reducing crime and disorderin relation to SEVs. More widely, the aim is to explore whether SEVs have a place in England and Wales. The specific aims were:

1. To examine local residents’ perceptions of Sexual Entertainment Venues in four case study locations selected to be
representative of different styles and settings of clubs.

2. To explore the ways that SEVs change peoples’ experience of the night-time city, paying particular attention to
questions of gender.

3. To contribute to emerging academic and popular understandings of the anxieties that surround adult entertainment as it becomes more visible in the night-time economy of British towns and cities.

In the last decade, venues where the live display of nudity is regularly offered have opened across England and Wales. This ESRC-funded research collected evidence of the impacts of such venues on surrounding businesses and residents. Some of the key findings were:

• There are 241 licensed premises regularly offering lap dancing or striptease in
England and Wales. Nearly half (43%) of those applying for a Sexual Entertainment
Venue (SEV) license have received no formal objections.

• A survey of residents in towns and cities with lap dance clubs suggests that around
one in five were not aware there was an SEV operating in their town or city. Fewer
than one in ten identified an SEV as a particular source of local nuisance, and in
some locations this was considerably lower.

• Women, those over 40, those who have lived in their current home for over 5 years
and those with children are most likely to argue there are too many lap dance clubs
in their town. Women, those with children and the over 40s are least likely to
suggest that striptease is harmless entertainment and most likely to suggest it
attracts criminal elements and promotes sexism.

• Around one in ten in our survey suggested there is no suitable location for lap
dancing clubs. Very few believe clubs are suitable near schools, though the majority
(55%) regard town and city centres as appropriate locations.

• Walk-along events were used to gauge the impact SEVs had on the night-time
economy in four case study locations. These suggested that SEVs were not the
most significant source of fear or anxiety for participants, with most instances of
antisocial and rowdy behavior being associated with other venues, notably pubs.

• Women were more likely than men to pass comment on SEVs and express un-ease
or anxiety about them. None argued that SEVs were a major source of antisocial
behavior, or were able to cite any instances of harassment, noise or violence
associated with such clubs: concerns appeared to coalesce around the
normalization of male-oriented sexual entertainment and the encouragement of
sexist attitudes among younger people. This suggests moral anxiety and disgust,
rather than fear, may underpin many objections about SEVs.

• SEVs which were discrete in terms of their signage, naming and exterior
appearance appeared to generate least comment or concern. Sexist imagery and
names were objected to by many of our participants.

Conclusions

Opposition to SEVs appears mainly based on perceptions that clubs normalize sexism and promote anti-social behavior rather than any direct experience of crime. Those who have children in their home appear significantly more likely to describe existing SEVs as a source of nuisance, while women are most likely to argue for fewer SEVs. However, not all clubs are perceived to have similar impacts on their locality, and some communities seem more accepting of SEVs.
Some clubs are judged to be better managed, and some locations as more suitable. This implies the need for
considering each application on a case-bycase basis. Irrespective, current approaches based on excluding SEVs from residential areas or near schools appear to be widely supported. However, few regard SEVs as a major threat to
children’s safety, suggesting concern is primarily about the normalization of particular attitudes towards women
among young(er) people.The implications here is that licensing needs to take seriously its commitment to Gender
Equity and Equality, and that objections based on grounds of sexism and morality might be considered when determining
licensing applications given these might have implications for the appearance and naming of clubs (noting most people first become aware of lap dancing clubs in their city by seeing them on their streets).How to get further information

Outputs and summaries of the research findings are available online at:

https://researchoutcomes.rcuk.ac.uk/grants/ES.J002755.1/details

Please contact P.Hubbard@kent.ac.uk for further details of the methods and findings.

Editors note

These initial findings are preliminary and only a small part is published here. Harlots will be happy to publish the complete research paper which will help in creating evidential based policy in the future. And policy based on evidence is especially needed to combat the hysteria that is often generated around this topic by parties ideologically opposed to such venues.

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Evangelicals, Feminists, and The Rescue Industry

Posted in Anti Sex Work, Campaigns and Groups, Feminism, Government Brutality, Religion, sex worker politics, Uncategorized on 22 September, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I came across this interview on an excellent sex worker rights FB page called Coyote which you can support “HERE” . It is an interview where Melissa Gira Grant who talks about the relationship that exists between Evangelicals, so called feminists, and the very lucrative rescue industry. I think some people still find it difficult to understand how some feminists became so corrupted that they now comfortably works alongside the religious right to encourage the police and governments to persecute women who work in the sex industry regardless of their choice to do so or not. This interview, from mainly an USA perspective, describes the unhealthy relationship that now exists and the history of that relationship which has financially and also in terms of political influence, been a very beneficial relationship for some (so called) feminist organisations.

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“Are they bad girls or brilliant?”A Harlots review of a brilliant book by Aphrodite Phoenix.

Posted in Escorting Lives, Feminism, Government Brutality, Human Rights, In the Media, Law, Organisations Comment, Religion, Safety, sex worker politics, Uncategorized on 10 May, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I was delighted to be congratulated by Aphrodite Phoenix on a paper that I recently presented at the Brunel university sexual cultures conference.

Aphrodite asked me if I would be interested in reading and possible reviewing her book “Are they bad girls or brilliant?” I was delighted to be asked and agreed at once.

The book is actually two books in one. The first is entitled “A personal journey” and book two is called “18 audacious essays”.

The first book primarily details her experiences working as an escort in the USA. Aphrodite tells us about her reasons for joining the business, her family life, illness and tragedies and joys and also about her intellectual journey and her spiritual awakening through her work as an escort. In book two Aphrodite gives us her thoughts about feminism and sex worker activism through a series of essays. She includes an idealised manifesto for a sex worker future where sex work is once again revered and understood as a positive force within society.

I found myself agreeing with so much in this book which reaches out both to the public and academics. It is an easy and enjoyable read that is also insightful and positive.

Aphrodite’s experiences as an escort in many ways resembled my own experiences. Her thoughts about her work, her views on activism and about feminism also mirrored in many instances my own thoughts.

Her book intriguingly is titled “Are they bad girls or brilliant?”. She used the question mark because she wants her book to answer the questions that an outsider to the sex industry may want to ask in order to understand why someone like her would enter the sex trade. She leaves the answer to the question posed in the title however, to the reader.

This is a journey that we can all empathise with in so many ways. Aphrodite, for example, describes in an early chapter; entitled, “Just an afternoon of terror and joy”, the mixture of excitement and terror that escorts in the USA, where prostitution is a criminal offense, feel when meeting a new client. That excitement is however tinged with a real sense of danger. The fear is not that the client may be dangerous but rather that the meeting may be a police sting. The danger, the fear felt by the escort is also experienced by the client who is equally fearful of a police sting on him, because in the USA the client also is criminalised. The sense of relief felt by both the escort and the client as they hug and discreetly frisk each other for hidden wires is palpable. It is a story of two people in danger, not of criminals.
At the end of that chapter Aphrodite gives an early explanation for why she is prepared to risk arrest. She writes:

“I walk back through the bustling housekeepers. We resume all those sweet wordless greetings. My heart goes out to them now. I think of all the cleanings they have to do, and how, as with me, their work is performed for strangers. They purge away dust, lint, litter, loose hairs. Used sheets, semen-streaked towels like the one I’ve just left behind, tub scum, toilet filth…I consider their low pay. I consider how awful some people think my work is. How much “worse” it must be for the maid’s.
I think of the pleasure I give. I think of the stress I relieve. I think of how I do it all-naturally. Not Toxically. Not pharmaceutically.
And I think of the money I make.
I feel so good I could shout.”

I think this just about sums up how most sex workers feel about their work when criticised for their choices. I am sure the public will also sympathise with the fear and ask; where is the crime?

I also felt a personal resonance when Aphrodite describes how sex work has had a positive effect upon both her physical health and mental well being. She understands this as part of her personal awakening to an awareness of Goddess worship. She describes (with many references) the fact that healing once was the preserve of women and that part of that healing process was sexual healing. The sacredness of sex as practiced by priestesses who were also sacred prostitutes resonates through out the book.

Aphrodite describes her life as an escort as a learning experience, a journey of discovery. It is an experience in which she learns not only about herself but also about the human condition. She writes:

“I INTUITED RIGHT FROM THE ONSET, THAT SEX WORK CAN BE HEALTHY BECAUSE SEX WORK CAN BE SPIRITUAL”.

Aphrodite goes on to say:

“I was a mother, homemaker, gardener, exerciser, healer, writer and whore. All were seamlessly, wholly, my path”.

“Are they bad girls or brilliant?” is a revelatory vision of a woman’s journey of discovery. It is the story not of a “Happy hooker”, and many will try and dismiss her as such, but of a real woman who falls in love, is arrested, brings up children, is a mother, who copes with illness and loss and does all of this while also being a sex worker.
This is a story of an intelligent and well read woman whose intellectual and emotional journey has resulted in the writing of a book that will become a classic.

This book is available exclusively as an ebook from Aphrodite’s web site “HERE”.

The book will also be available in good old fashioned print very soon. Details will be available on Aphrodite’s web site and also from Harlots Parlour.

I genuinely recommend this book….enjoy and please write and leave reviews.

Both myself and Aphrodite will be speaking on the Charlie Spice show tonight at 8pm UK time. We will be discussing the book and coming out as a sex worker activist.

Please join us: “HERE”

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Catherine Stephens and Douglas Fox talking on the Charlie Spice show on May 7th.

Posted in Escorting Lives, Feminism, IUSW, sex worker politics, Uncategorized on 8 May, 2012 | 2 Comments »

I was delighted to appear with Catherine Stephens on the Charlie Spice radio show yesterday (May 7th). It was, as usual, an interesting discussion about sex work in the UK. For those who were unable to catch the show, a link is available below that will allow you to listen to it again.

I will also be appearing with Aphrodite Phoenix this coming Thursday May 10th to discuss her new book “?” in which, she discusses her life and experiences as an escort in the USA. Phoenix, also talks about her spiritual awakening as well as other issues related to her life as a sex worker. We also hope to talk about coming out as a sex worker and as a sex worker activist. I am sure it will be an interesting conversation.

My personal review of Aphrodite Phoenix’s book will be on Harlots very soon.

Please listen in and if you can please contribute and support the Charlie Spice show. It is so important that sex workers have a media space that is theirs; where they can discuss the reality of their work rather than being spoken about in the usual stereotypes that is so common in the general media.

Please spread the word.

Enjoy.
Play in your default player: “HERE”
Download podcast: “HERE”

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Sex work,pleasure or rebellion. Paper presented at Brunel University 21st April 2012.

Posted in Anti Sex Work, Campaigns and Groups, Escorting Lives, Feminism, Organisations Comment, Religion, Research, sex worker politics, Uncategorized on 23 April, 2012 | 5 Comments »

This is my paper that I presented at the Sexual Cultures Conference held at Brunel University in April 21st 2012.It seemed to be well received. They are a collection of comments taken from a manuscript that I am working on for publication.
Comments are welcome.

My name is Douglas Fox. I am the editor of Harlots Parlour which some of you may know. For those who don’t Harlots is a pro organic human, sex worker and supporters blog featuring a number of writers. Some of the writers are academics; others like my self are sex workers and activists while others are supporters of sex worker rights.

I am also a Pagan, which I mention because it has a direct relevance to how I understand my work as a sex worker and also how I relate to sex worker rights as a political experience, as a form of rebellion far more dangerous than the sword or the gun or the written word.
The work I am referencing today forms part of a manuscript that reflects partly disillusionment with some of the sex worker rights establishment but also a positive reappraisal of the heritage of the prostitute and the positive image of prostitution that is rarely referenced.

For I am the first and the last
I am the honoured one and the scorned one,
I am the whore and the holy one…
Excerpts from “The Thunder, Perfect Mind”, (1)

This excerpt from a very powerful piece of writing which formed part of an early Christian gnostic library which perhaps references an early non orthodox Christian fusion with a Pagan understanding of the sacred feminine, of the Goddess, as the great whore.
For me this encapsulates the position of the prostitute within society today, who is the scapegoat, the foil, equally for outrage, disgust but also love, as an inspiration for artists and poets and also of compassion in a society where even thoughts are not just dangerous but criminal.

Sex workers present powerful images of rebellion against prescribed behaviours and of pleasure with out responsibility. Sex opens a Pandora’s Box of personal freedoms and possibilities for individual expression and aspirations.

The sexual imagination naturally aspires also also to commercial possibilities that will pander to the sexual fantasies of societies fearful of and yet perversely yearning for sex that is not prescribed.

Within populist culture however the prostitute has become emblematic of failure or depravation, a victim of this thing that some feminists and other so called progressives equally refer to as the patriarchy, of men, of crime, of class, of poverty.
The prostitute has become symbolic of social and individual failure, the perpetual victim.

This mythology of the prostitute and prostitution is a far cry from the real and original heritage of the prostitute as a positive image, the prostitute as civilising.

In Babylon situated in Mesopotamia, which many understand as the cradle of civilisation there was once an inscription to Ishtar the great creatrix, the great mother Goddess. The inscription read “A prostitute compassionate am I”.

Think for a moment about the power behind those words and the understanding they express of the prostitute as something extraordinary.
These words provide a positive heritage that is rarely referenced within the sex worker rights debate which has mostly failed to challenge an orthodox context in which the prostitute is confused with other social/fixable problems.

The empathic nature that these words reference and which is the basis of our humanity is in danger therefore of being lost. Empathy with others can not exist with out an understanding or self. The words” compassionate am I” refers to a choice and choice itself has become a contentious word within sex worker rights.

Civilisation is a reflection of on going individual choices. We accept for instance that an individual must be educated and of a certain age to think through political issues before they can vote but we neglect the essential basis of human society which is the education to compassion which prostitution as sacred once provided.

Prostitution reflects a compassionate and empathic relationship that is offered unencumbered by commitment which makes the prostitute a unique reflection of celebration rather than of duty, of the exploration of self.
With out being aware of ourselves and comfortable with all parts of ourselves; including our sexual self, how can we have true empathy with others or communicate honestly within society?
The triumph of orthodox monotheism and the integration into our very language an understanding of the sexual as dangerous is reflected in how we now understand and how we reference the prostitute.

As progressives, libertarians, as liberals, as intellectuals and as activists we have to reconnect with the prostitute as a symbol of compassion and hope and understand the prostitute as a symbolic image of rebellion against orthodoxies that prescribe which of our human experiences are valid. Sexual freedom, sexual imagination, fantasy is not a corruption of power or liberty but true freedom that transcends into every minutiae of our lives.

Why does society have a hypocritical and often violent attitude toward the prostitute?

You see because of our taught societal fear of sex our language has adopted an often hypocritical and violent attitude toward the prostitute. This fear of sex reflects how authority has manipulated the emotional and physical relationship we have to our sexual needs and fantasies, burdening them with guilt and shame. That manipulation, that corruption, has allowed authorities power over how we think and how we behave within a personal and societal context.

Sexual freedom and prostitution collide equally with conservative and so called leftist liberal ideologies because both are uncomfortable with sexual liberty.
Both conservative and the Marxist theory equally; for example, desire the subjugation of individual sexual freedom, for the assumed redemptive hope of personal and societal well being which necessitates sacrificing the individual. Both idealise notions of brotherly, comradely love which negates the individualism of the sexual act as undesirable. As the sociologist Max Weber wrote, “The brotherly ethic of salvation religion is in profound tension with the greatest irrational force of life; sexual love” (2).
I argue in agreement that even within our so called modern, tolerant, secular and allegedly permissive society to have sex not sanctioned by the state or in the west not preconditioned by the at least the nominal notion of “love” undermines centuries of societal compliance to an orthodoxy that understands sex in terms of ownership and control.
By this I refer to a conservative, patriarchy that subordinates both women and younger men to dominant male authorities and is intolerant of individualism and equally the modern so called rational, liberal, leftist idealism of gender equality and supposed egalitarianism which also subjugates individualism to the authority of the state.

While the focus of authority may have changed to accommodate alleged egalitarian notions, the context and the language of power remains the same. (Quote)As C Wright Mills observed “In modern relationships woman is the darling little slave of the male and the man her un weaned dependent”(3).

The prostitute in contrast, represents and offers sex with out these corrupted ideals that subjugate both men and women equally into values and morals that exist not for their benefit but for the convenience of authorities temporal and spiritual, conservative and so called liberal. The ex prostitute and activist Nicki Roberts noted in her book Whores in history, “Until the whore archetype is honoured, there will be whore stigma”(4).

The patriarchal sex guilt trip, the legal penalties that enforce prescribed sexual behaviour represent more than a desire to contain unchecked libidos. They represent repression of the spirit and the body and the mind.

Sex for sale, Sex as organised labour in the context I have discussed therefore threatens prescribed social cohesion endorsed by the orthodox politics equally of both the left and the right. Both have responded with increasingly punitive legislation that endangers the prostitute who fulfils a role of easy scapegoat, villain and perversely also victim within a populist culture ill at ease with human sexual expression. The result is that hysteria and mythologies about prostitution and prostitutes over and over again replace factual evidence. We see this in the responses of governments who marginalise research evidence methodically evaluated and peer reviewed in favour of their own self produced, prejudiced hysteria. The dying days of the last Labour UK government exemplifies how whipped up government hysteria drove through legislation. The policing and crime bill 2008/9(5) that was almost universally condemned by academics and sex workers for making sex work more dangerous is an example. This view view was further recognised when even the association of Chief Police Officers called for the reform of prostitution laws, which they did in December 2010,(6).

“Our responses to anti sex legislation however are doomed when argued within orthodox contexts”

Today we have a conversation about prostitution where the prostitute is at best marginalised and more often silenced. Our positive voices are hijacked by governments, by the rescue industry and even by some sex worker activists. The discussion is then reframed as a problem solving exercise that understands the prostitute and prostitution as victim or abuser and as a solvable, fixable societal problem.

This ultimate aim to get rid of the prostitute has created an understanding of prostitution and indeed all aspects of sex work as at odds with the joy of sex, the aspirational qualities within a modern context, or the spiritual heritage that belongs to the prostitute.
Instead prostitution especially has become confused with other social and political issues and with ideologies which effectively confuse and even silence voices of sex workers who want to talk about the prostitute as a positive figure rather than as a victim. The vociferous anti sex language of leftists, some so called progressive feminists and conservatives has colluded in reaffirming a language that reflects a patriarchal understanding of sex as a problem and as a result the debate has become about the degrees of toleration and control rather than about freedom.

Even within parts of the sex worker activist establishment the arguments about who is or who is not a sex worker, who is privileged and therefore not representative, who is white, middle class, a happy hooker stands opposed to who has worked on the streets and who is a real migrant worker, who has “suffered”, what ever that really means.
This has effectively marginalised voices that do not agree to a politicised perversion of rights which are in fact about controls and creating and maintaining divisions within sex work. The negatives of sex work have perversely become virtues within parts of the sex worker activism agenda and the term “Pimping the poverty” increasingly sums up aspects of the current sex worker rights movement which shares a close familiarity with the rhetoric of the rescue industry.

So what are the positive, aspirational and spiritual language that will create a context in which sex workers can appropriate sex and prostitution as once again being a creative experience that is at once positive and exuberant.

Well as activists we have to understanding that the language used within debates that presents sex work as a societal problem has to be reappraised and the emphasis adjusted to recognise the aspirational and spiritual nature of sex work. Words like “choice” must not be a dismissed word because by doing so you judge the prostitute as different, none human and with out any understanding of self or personal autonomy. Choice is an affirmative word that recognises our shared human experience regardless of our socio economic situations. We all have limited choices, yet a limited choice for a prostitute means for some in the prostitute debate, no choice.

Then we have to revaluate an increasingly entrenched position where activism is confused with social work. We have to emphasise that social problems that may affect prostitutes also affect others within society and therefore those issues such as addiction, homelessness, migration or simply chaotic lifestyle choices must be addressed when referenced to prostitution as a shared social problem and not as issues specific to prostitution.

Prostitution is world wide but how prostitution reacts to and integrates within a multitude of cultural identities has to be acknowledged and understood. The prevailing consensus that there is one shared identity to the prostitute has to be re-evaluated. We have become used to talking in global terms and about global solutions.
We cannot however neglect the intricacies and intimacies of cultural nuances to prostitution and how the prostitute understands his or herself.
Decriminalisation as a rallying cry is meaningless for example unless it is a product of its indigenous culture.

Prostitution is after all a business that responds to markets that are often multidimensional and increasingly multinational and international and this is something we need to celebrate.

And the most important thing for activism to promote is the prostitute as a unique expression of joy which in societal terms allows individuals and society to explore a language and form of Dionysian exploration that is natural. The prostitute rather than being understood as chaotic must again be understood as the bridge that allows the healing of the individual and by doing so society. Sex worker activism has to rejoice the role of the prostitute as the restorative conduit between the rational mind with the ecstatic, the natural physical material world and the spiritual.

And for those who only understand the prostitute as a societal, fixable problem and equally those who reference prostitution in terms of a politicised world view, then both equally totally misunderstand the rebellious nature of the prostitute which is necessarily, eternally dissident to their world views.

The prostitute is a symbolic eternal rebel from the constraints of prescribed behaviour which makes the prostitute the eternal subversive, the eternal critic, the eternal rebel.

END
IMAGES USED.
Image 1. Harlotsparlour jpg. Original artwork.
Image 2 http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html The Nag Hammadi Library.The Thunder, Perfect Mind.Translated by George W. MacRae
Image3. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/sex-and-sexuality-19th-century/ image of Male anti-masturbation device, 1880-1920.
Image 4. Ishtar source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ishtar_goddess.jpg
Image 5. http://www.chinahush.com/2010/07/29/prostitutes-paraded-through-streets-causes-debate-responsible-police-suspended/ From ChinaHush website July 29th, 2010 by Key | Posted in News |
Image 6. Sticker handed out during the European conference on sex work – 2005, Source: http://www.rodedraad.nl
Image7 Extract from presentation by Douglas Fox Brunel sexual cultures conference 2012
Image8 Henri Matisse, The Dance I, 1909, Museum of Modern Art, New York taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_art.

Quotes:
(1) http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html
The Nag Hammadi Library,The Thunder, Perfect Mind, Translated by George W. MacRae.
(2)Max Weiber. Essays in sociology edited, with an introduction by H.H.Gerth and C Wright Mills. (Routledge and Regan Paul. Page343, 7 the erotic sphere.
(3) C Wright mills. The socioloogical imagination 1956 (in (penguin book copy, p17 1975)
(4) Nicki Roberts. “The whore in history” quote noticed on Elizabeth Cunningham Sacred prostitution by http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/other_news/ishtar.htm
(5) http://www.criminaljusticealliance.org/policy%202010.htm.

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