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Welcome to Genderberg.com
Genderberg is intended to be a website resource for prostitution,
pornography, trafficking and sexual exploitation activists and
researchers like myself, S.M. Berg.
I've been writing and speaking about these issues for a few years so I
finally made a
place to collect the letters, articles, and various bits of
anti-pornstitution activism I've done (the S.M. Berg section) and have
seen done by others (news, resources, and the forums.)
With the contributions of other feminist activists, the Genderberg
forums have developed into an online
community that supports and encourages individual and collective
actions to raise awareness about the very victim-full crime of
prostitution.
Please take what you can use from this website and use it.
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 | News: Revealed: the truth about brothels |
 Revealed: the truth about brothels
A survey into London's off-street sex industry has exposed just how
widespread it is - and documents in disturbing detail the plight of the
women trapped in it.
Julie Bindel The Guardian Wednesday, Sept 10, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/10/women.socialexclusion
When Frank rang a brothel in Enfield, he could hear a baby crying in
the background. When Alan called one in Southwark, he could make out
the sound of a child asking for his tea. And when Mick called another
to inquire about their services, he was told that he could have a
"dirty Oriental bitch who will do stag nights, anal, and the rest." The
men were undertaking research for Big Brothel: a Survey of the
Off-Street Sex Industry in London, the most comprehensive study ever
conducted into brothels in the UK. The project, which gathered
information from 921 brothels in the capital, was commissioned by the
Poppy Project, the only British organisation that offers support for
women trafficked into prostitution. My co-author Helen Atkins and
I recruited male friends and colleagues to help with the research, and
warned them that the work might be upsetting. They were to telephone
brothels, posing as potential punters, with a list of questions
including "What nationalities are on offer tonight?", "Do the girls do
anal?", "How about oral without a condom?", and "What age are they?" We
wanted to look at what really goes on in brothels - how much control
the women really have; whether there is evidence of trafficking; if
local councils are giving licences for saunas and massage parlours when
it is clear that they are brothels; and how the sex industry is growing
and evolving. During 120 hours of telephone calls, we
established the following: at least 1,933 women are currently at work
in London's brothels; ages range from 18 to 55 (with a number of
premises offering "very, very young girls"); prices for full sex start
at £15, and go up to £250; and more than a third of the brothels offer
unprotected sex - including, in some cases, anal penetration. The
lowest price quoted for anal sex was £15. "Come along and bring your
mates," said one brothel owner. "We have a Greek girl who is very, very
young." While kissing used to be off-limits for women selling sex, it
can now be bought for an extra tenner. Of the brothels
researched, 85% operate in residential areas. Almost two-thirds are
located in flats and more than one-fifth are in a house. Wherever you
are in the city, the likelihood is that buying and selling women is
going on under your nose. Our researchers contacted only brothels
that advertised in local newspapers - not those that advertise on
websites or on cards in telephone boxes. Because of this we only
uncovered the tiniest corner of the trade. But we still encountered
brothels in every London borough, with Enfield (a typical residential
area of north London) having a minimum of 54, and Westminster at least
71. We estimated that the brothels we surveyed made anything from £86m
to £209.5m in total per year through newspaper advertisements alone. Although
it is a criminal offence to advertise prostitution services, the law is
not enforced, and this "blind eye" approach serves the pimps and
punters well. Researchers also interviewed women who have
worked in London brothels, and all reported having felt degraded and
violated while selling sex. This tallies with previous research: one
large US study on prostitution and violence found that 82% of women had
been physically assaulted since entering the trade, with many having
been raped. More than 80% were homeless, and a majority, on and
off-street, were addicted to illegal drugs and/or alcohol. UK research
published in 2000 found that prostitutes routinely face sexual and
physical violence from pimps and punters, but have little or no
"workplace" protection. One of the women we spoke to was Naomi,
who, like many prostitutes, has a history of childhood sexual abuse.
When she ran away from home, she met a man who pimped her - first into
hostess clubs, then from a private flat. "It's an unsettling, unhealthy
experience seeing 20 guys a day," she says, "and you don't know what
the next person will be like". A common assumption is that
brothels are safer than the street, and while it seems that women are
more likely to be murdered if they are working on the streets, the
prevalence of rape and other attacks from pimps and punters is also
high in brothels. "The men have up to an hour to do what they like to
you," says Janet, who was pimped into a Leeds brothel when she was 15,
"whereas at least on the street you can always try to run away." Rachel
told us about the reality of how much money the women make, as well as
the inherent danger in the off-street trade. "Flats are set up to be a
rip-off, to be truthful with you, because you're not going to make
money for yourself." Rachel made about £200 a day, but after paying
card boys, rent, the maid, and her "protector" (pimp), she came out
with next to nothing. "And you're not guaranteed security at the end of
the day." Alice brought it home to us just how accepted and normalised prostitution has become.
"You sit in a basque, in a window with your red light on. When you get
a client you close your curtains and turn your red light off. That
starts from eight in the morning." The minister for women,
Harriet Harman, is determined to curb the massive trade in women's
bodies. Last week she released findings from a Mori poll of more than
1,000 British adults on attitudes to paying for sex. It found that the
vast majority of both men and women polled would think it
"unacceptable" if a partner paid for sex; the majority would support a
law that criminalised paying for sex; and around half would back a law
that decreased the number of women being trafficked into the UK. As
our researchers discovered, brothels market women merely as
merchandise. Frank was offered "two for the price of one" if he visited
during "happy hour" (any time before 5pm). One brothel owner offered to
send two women to the punter's home for a £50 delivery charge; another
offered free oral sex without a condom if more than £50 was spent; and
at one suburban sauna, first-time buyers were offered a voucher which
entitled them to 50% off the next visit. We primed the telephone
researchers to look for evidence of trafficking. There was plenty.
Brothels offered women of 77 different nationalities and ethnicities,
including many from known-source countries for trafficking. One
researcher was told by a brothel owner, "For no condom and anal, call
tomorrow. Eastern Europeans promised later in the week." One
punter I interviewed for another research project told me that in
choosing a woman, "I made a list in my mind. I told myself that I'll be
with different races eg Japanese, Indian, Chinese. Once I have been
with them I tick them off the list." Many people are unhappy that
this research has been done at all. The pro-legalisation lobby do not
seem to want the horrors of what goes on in brothels exposed,
preferring to present such places as being similar to an office
environment; simple, clean, consensual workplaces. Punters are also
unhappy about public exposure of brothels. One frequent customer at a
Soho brothel told me, "I don't know why people have to research
prostitution - the army shoots innocent people, fast food poisons
people; no one wants to research them. It's the only job that has no
downside. It only brings pleasure to the customer." Some of the
male researchers had previously been liberal about prostitution. Frank
had thought that legalisation would be beneficial to the women, and
Mick believed that some would be happy earning good money. By the end
of the project, all the men considered prostitution to be a violent and
abusive industry, and perceived the punters as harmful misogynists.
Nigel said that after weeks of talking about sex to third parties in a
cold, clinical way he realised that the women were being used as
nothing more than a product. "The idea of sex started to be devalued
and demeaned, its sanctity lost," he says. Tony was shocked at the
number of brothels. "They're on high streets, down alleyways and in
suburban two-up two-downs." Unless we think about sustainable and
substantive solutions that will eventually eradicate prostitution, it
will continue to grow at an alarming rate - research published last
year found that in just 10 years, the number of men paying for sex in
the UK almost doubled. What Big Brothel shows is that
commercial sex is becoming as normalised as stopping off for a
McDonald's. There are two key ways that the UK can respond. We can
legalise the trade, make the women pay taxes, and declare the pimps to
be legitimate businessmen. Where brothels have been legalised- in
Amsterdam, for instance - the illegal sector continues to flourish.
Since brothels were legalised in Melbourne, Australia, more than 20
years ago, the number of unlicensed brothels has trebled. Few
prostitutes will pay tax, as the act of registering their trade is too
stigmatised, and their lives are often too chaotic. There is no
evidence that legalisation keeps women safe, but there is plenty that
shows it results in an increase in demand for the sex trade. In
Australia, $11.3bn was spent on prostitutes and strippers last year,
and the trade is growing at approximately 8% a year. The other
option is to bring in a law that makes paying for sex illegal, while
helping to educate the public that prostitution is not a victimless
crime. This has worked in Sweden, where such a law was introduced nine
years ago, and 80% of Swedes now support it. Trafficking into the
country is now lower than in any other EU nation. This is the approach
that government ministers Harriet Harman and Vera Baird support. Most
men do not pay for sex. Those who do need educating about the harm that
prostitution causes to women and society in general. Some will only
stop if they are frightened of the consequences, such as one charmer
who told me, "If she isn't crying but says no, I keep on. I only stop
if she is really crying." Others are able to justify to
themselves what they do, simply because it is not against the law. When
I asked why he pays for sex, one regular punter told me: "It's like
going for a drink. You are not doing anything illegal." At the moment,
he is right. Let's hope the government has the courage to change that.
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Posted by smberg on Thursday, September 11 @ 13:15:20 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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 | News: Challenging Men’s Demand for Prostitution in Scotland |
A new report published by Scotland’s Women’s Support Project is titled Challenging Men’s Demand for Prostitution in Scotland: A research report based on interviews with 110 men who bought women in prostitution”. Here is the beginning of entry from UK radical feminist blog At The Root that puts some of the report's findings about johns (aka punters) into context. -Sam
by Debs
Thanks to Jennifer Drew for emailing me information about a report published recently by Scotland’s Women’s Support Project. It is entitled Challenging Men’s Demand for Prostitution in Scotland, and is “A research report based on interviews with 110 men who bought women in prostitution,” by Jan MacLeod, Melissa Farley, Lynn Anderson and Jacqueline Golding.
Reading the report, and especially the quotes from some of the men
(a particularly telling example of which I have used as the title for
this post), I was reminded very much of another post I wrote some time ago,
after I had had the misfortune to stumble upon a site called Punternet,
where men who bought women for sex across the UK gave reviews of those
women, as though they were talking about a used car or a microwave
oven. I mention this not least to show that the types of attitudes
expressed by the men questioned for this report are not peculiar to
Scotland. Also, the “masturbation” quote I have used as a title is
extremely resonant with a comment made by Kiuku in this comment thread,
saying, “It is rape because it is basically men masturbating into your
body,” except the quote in this study is from a man, a punter himself,
unwittingly admitting to the rape of prostituted women.
Here is the quote, along with some others from the report:
“Nothing is going to deter me from masturbation and prostitution is an extension of that.”
“If a guy wants his hole, go and get it done with, get it out your system.”
“They know what they’re there for. You get what you pay for without the ‘no.’”
“It depends on if the woman has track marks on her vagina. That’s a real turn off.”
“I was with a group of pals. We’d been talking about it
for years, I think all blokes do. 8 of us specifically went to get the
puff and prostitutes… It was a rite of passage. We went to prostitutes
three times a day. We were like pigs in shit…”
Another punter was a frequent prostitution tourist in Asia. He
detailed the harsh conditions women were subject to in Thai and
Cambodian prostitution. Exposing his narcissism and his sadism, he
rationalised the commission of sexual violence against women and
children.
“I don’t get pleasure from other people’s suffering. I struggle
with it but I can’t deny my own pleasures. In Cambodia I knocked back a
lot of children; it makes it hard to sleep at night. But I don’t see
the point in making a moral stance.”
“I think it would help a couple if they weren’t happy
and the husband was going with a prostitute now and then – may help
cement the relationship. If the wife doesn’t know, it might make him
happy.”
Just in case anyone was under the illusion that men who use
prostituted women see them as human beings, or something. These quotes
are followed in the report by a woman speaking from the other side of
the ‘transaction’.
“Every day I was witness to the worst of men. Their
carelessness and grand entitlement. The way they can so profoundly
disconnect from what it is they’re having sex with, the way they think
they own the world, watch them purchase a female. I was witness to
their deep delusions. Spoiled babies all of them, and so many of them
called [telephoned] prostitutes. I thought,maybe all men called
prostitutes. It was a terrible thought, but really, what did I care.
There was a system in place that was older and stronger than I could
begin to imagine. Who was I? I was just a girl. What was I going to do
about it? If I had any power I would make it so that nobody was ever
bought or sold or rented,” Michelle Tea, 2004
These men’s contempt for the women they are paying for (and by
extention, all women) could not be clearer. They are deluded,
self-important pricks. They are also rapists, but, hey, let’s not be
too inflammatory here. No, let’s. They are rapists, and “masturbation
man”, who just came right out and said if he’s fed up of masturbating
on his own, he’ll go out and buy a woman to masturbate into, admits it,
whether he knows it or not.
I’m going to spin wildly off-topic for a moment, and bring Johnny Vegas into
the discussion. Except it’s not off-topic at all - it’s pretty much the
same thing, and exactly the same attitude towards women. Unless you
live in a cave half-way up a mountain, you will be aware that lovable,
fat oaf Johnny has distinguished himself this week by sexually
assaulting a woman live on stage as part of his side-splitting act.*
Apparently, this is okay, because Johnny is “funny” and some sycophants
in the audience laughed whilst he did it. According to eye-witness
accounts, he actually fingered the woman through her clothes, which, as
Cruella
rightly points out, means penetration, which means rape. So, well-known
comedian rapes woman live on stage, with, presumably, several hundred
eye-witnesses, but it’s okay because…why? He’s funny? He’s ‘just a
normal bloke’? He lost control for a minute? What? Rape is a criminal
offence (as is the “lesser” offence of sexual assault, which definitely
took place), so, why has Johnny not been charged? Why is he not being
questioned by the police? Why are most people acting like this is
perfectly normal and acceptable behaviour? Because, we live in a rapist
society, that’s why. Because the majority of men hold attitudes towards
women reflected by the johns who took part in this research, and would
cheer Johnny on from the audience, and laugh and think it was a really
good night out. And just as Johnny walks free, and receives pats on the
back from other men, so do the men who use prostituted women walk free,
and are congratulated by their friends for proving what great men they
are.
So, again this proves these types of attitudes are not specific to
the particular men who took part in this study. It is prevelant, it is
the norm - if you are a man and you don’t hold those attitudes, you are
in the minority. Read the rest of the post by clicking here
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Posted by smberg on Friday, May 02 @ 17:54:16 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 1)
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 | News: Feminist Coalition Against Prostitution, new UK activist group |
 Imagine a world where women and girls are not for sale. Now make it real.
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We are a coalition of UK Feminist individuals and groups who believe that prostitution is violence against women:
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We invite all Feminist individuals and groups, from all backgrounds, to join this Coalition
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We are calling for the decriminalisation of all women, children
and men involved in prostitution - and demand that all criminal records
for loitering and/or soliciting be wiped so that survivors are not
barred from employment branded as 'sex offenders'
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We urge the UK Government, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh
Assembly to consider a Swedish style law to make buying sex illegal and
to invest money in exit services such as housing, education &
training, legal advice, welfare benefits and health care
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We believe that prostitution is not inevitable - end demand
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We keep in touch via yahoo groups e.mail group - sign up online at: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/radicalsister
Please note - this list is moderated, membership is moderated.
We are unfunded, we welcome donations to our campaign
to build a world where nobody is for sale - to make a donation to FCAP
please contact for bank details - londonfeminist@yahoo.co.uk
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Posted by smberg on Wednesday, February 20 @ 19:07:53 CST
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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 | News: Iranian child victim of prostitution |
By Julia Rooke
Reporter, Crossing Continents
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7107184.stm
Sold into prostitution aged nine, condemned by an Iranian judge to hang
at 18, Leila was saved by a group of human rights activists.
"I was nine years old when my mother started selling me. I did not understand what was happening."
Today Leila is a young woman of 22. For the past two years she has
been cared for by a private home for destitute young women in Tehran,
Omid E Mehr, which means Hope.
"My mother would say: 'Let's go out to buy things, like
chocolates'. She would actually trick me. I was a tiny girl. She just
took me to places."
Leila still finds it difficult to talk about the past. But we know
that the "places" she speaks of are where she was sold for sex and
raped.
Leila became the main source of income for a family of five.
The lawyer who eventually saved Leila's life, Shadi Sadr, is a
controversial figure in Iran. Although she was imprisoned earlier this
year for taking part in human rights demonstrations, she is widely
respected and frequently quoted in the press.
A girl is considered one of the first commodities or properties
that can be traded or sold in the eyes of a parent who is poor in Iran
Ms Sadr says Leila's story is not unique.
"A girl is considered one of the first commodities or properties
that can be traded or sold in the eyes of a parent who is poor in
Iran," she says.
Ms Sadr says that, in practice in Iran, under the Islamic penal code a father has enormous power over his own children.
"If a father decides to kill his own child he will not be sentenced
to death, he will only be sent to prison for a couple of years."
Temporary wife
Leila lived in Arak, a small town four hours drive south of Tehran
- notorious for criminal behaviour and illegal drugs. Most of Leila's
earnings went on illegal narcotics for her family.
According to the United Nations three quarters of the world's opium
seizures take place in Iran and the authorities acknowledge addiction
is a serious problem.
But there are no such statistics on prostitution. The Director of the Omid E Mehr centre in Tehran says it is a growing problem.
"I have entered many homes in the south of Tehran where young girls
had to go out and sell their bodies to provide for their father's drug
habits," says Eshrat Gholipour.
I have also seen several cases of families chaining their own daughter to the homes to stop them from running away."
Leila's husband began selling her for sex to as many as 15 men each
night. Two months into the marriage, police raided the house and
arrested everyone.
The husband was sentenced to five years in jail for providing a house for illegal sex.
During the course of the criminal investigation, Leila's brothers
had confessed to raping her. They were flogged. For this Leila was
accused of incest. A crime punishable by death.
Leila was in a women's prison when she heard about her own sentence
from the warder: "I am going to tell you something but please do not be
upset. You are going to be hanged."
Ms Sadr says the judicial system is deeply conservative and unfair.
"These male judges have not had any training about sexual charges.
They all have a chauvinistic point of view and they see the woman as
guilty," she says.
Leila's brothers later retracted their confessions. Ms Sadr took Leila's case to appeal and won.
Death sentence
Earlier this year Ms Sadr defended and won the case of 19-year-old
Nazanine, sentenced to death for killing a man who tried to rape her.
Today she too is a free woman.
There will be so many protests... from the human rights activists
that the judges are under pressure not to issue a death sentence"
According to Amnesty International, 177 people were executed in
Iran last year, of these four were women - this year the number is up
to five. The real figures could be higher as executions are not always
reported.
But Ms Sadr and other Iranian lawyers say that constant
human-rights campaigning and publicity is making Iran's judges more
sensitive to public opinion. "There will be so many protests or so much
complaints from the human rights activists that the judges are under
pressure not to issue a death sentence," she says.
Tender hope
Today Leila lives in a small flat with a full-time carer paid for by Ms Sadr and the Omid E Mehr day centre.
When Leila arrived she was illiterate and needed to be taught the basics of life.
"She did not know anything," says Marjaneh Halati, the founder of
Omid E Mehr, "to the point that she did not know that you wear a pad
when you get a period."
Today Leila is learning to read and earning money as a seamstress.
But Ms Halati also knows that by helping girls like Leila - by
boosting their self-esteem and encouraging independence - the centre is
treading a fine line.
"We live in Iran and there are certain rules we have to abide by,
but it does not mean we cannot tell the girls that they are no
different to men. They are individuals," she says.
Today Leila is free and attitudes may slowly be changing. Iran passed its first child protection laws five years ago.
This spring a new bill drafted by human rights lawyers, is expected
to go before Parliament to make prosecutions in child abuse cases
easier.
Crossing Continents on BBC Radio 4
tells Leila's story on Thursday, November 29 at 1100 GMT, her story
will also be told on the World Service programme Assignment on
Wednesday, December 5 at 0900 GMT.
Leila's interview was recorded by the Iranian filmmaker, Hamid Rahmanian for a forthcoming film about the Omid e Mehr.
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Posted by smberg on Thursday, November 29 @ 11:32:20 CST
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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 | News: Israel's fight against sex trafficking |
By Raffi Berg
BBC News, Jerusalem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7070929.stm
Marina rarely leaves her two-room home in northern Israel these days.
She is in hiding - wanted by the Israeli authorities for being an
illegal immigrant, and by the criminal gangs who brought her here to
sell her into prostitution.
Marina - not her real name - was lured to Israel by human traffickers.
During the height of the phenomenon, from the beginning of the
1990s to the early years of 2000, an estimated 3,000 women a year were
brought to Israel on the false promise of jobs and a better way of
life.
"When I was in the Ukraine, I had a difficult life," said Marina,
who came to Israel in 1999 at the age of 33 after answering a newspaper
advertisement offering the opportunity to study abroad.
"I was taken to an apartment in Ashkelon, and other women there
told me I was now in prostitution. I became hysterical, but a guy
starting hitting me and then others there raped me.
"I was then taken to a place where they sold me - just sold me!"
she said, recalling how she was locked in a windowless basement for a
month, drank water from a toilet and was deprived of food.
That part of her ordeal only ended when she managed to escape, but the physical and mental scars remain.
Last year, the United Nations named Israel as one of the main
destinations in the world for trafficked women; it has also
consistently appeared as an offender in the annual US State
Department's Trafficking in Persons (Tip) report.
While this year's report said Israel was making "significant
efforts" to eliminate trafficking, it said it still does not "fully
comply with the minimum standards" to do so.
Like Marina, some trafficked women are brought into the country
legally, while others are smuggled by Bedouins across the border from
Egypt.
In all cases, the traffickers - as many as 20 in the chain from
recruitment to sale - take away the women's passports before selling
them on to pimps.
Sometimes the women are subjected to degrading human auctions, where they are stripped, examined and sold for $8,000-$10,000.
Sanctions threat
Prostitution in Israel is legal, but pimping and maintaining a brothel are not.
The law however is not widely enforced and few brothels are closed down.
In Tel Aviv's Neve Shaanan district for instance, just a short walk
from the city's five-star tourist hotels, brothels masquerading as
massage parlours, saunas and even internet cafes, fill the side
streets.
One such place even operates opposite the local police station.
There are bars on windows and heavily-built men guard the doors, which are only opened to let customers in and out.
Inside, groups of sullen-looking women sit in dimly-lit rooms, waiting for their next client.
Foreign women fetch the highest prices, with trafficked women forced to work up to 18 hours a day.
For years, the absence of anti-trafficking laws in Israel meant
such activity - less risky and often more profitable than trafficking
drugs or arms - went unchecked.
"During the first 10 years of trafficking, Israel did absolutely
nothing," said Nomi Levenkron, of the Migrant Workers' Hotline, an NGO
which helps trafficked women and puts pressure on the state to act.
"Women were trafficked into Israel - the first case we uncovered was in 1992 - and not much really happened," she said.
"Occasionally traffickers were brought to trial, but the victims
were arrested as well, they were forced to testify, and then they were
deported."
In 2000, trafficking for sexual exploitation was made a crime but
the punishments were light and its implementation was poor, NGOs say.
It was only after repeated criticism of Israel by the United States
- and the threat of sanctions - that authorities began to act.
Investigations into suspected traffickers increased, stiff jail
terms were handed down and Israel's borders were tightened against
people smuggling.
Changing tactics
Campaigners say things began to change for the better in 2004, when
the government opened a shelter in north Tel Aviv for women who had
been trafficked for sex.
It marked a change in the way the state perceived them - as victims of a crime rather than accomplices.
There are some 30 women at the Maggan shelter - most from former Soviet states, but also five from China.
"When they come here they are in a bad condition," said Rinat Davidovich, the shelter's director.
"Most have sexual diseases and some have hepatitis and even
tuberculosis. They also have problems going to sleep because they
remember what used to happen to them at night," she said.
"It's very hard and it's a long procedure to start to help and treat them."
Police say their actions have led to a significant drop in the
number of women now being trafficked into Israel for sex - hundreds,
rather than thousands, a year - and they say the women's working
environment has improved too.
"There is a significant change in the conditions that the women are
being held in," said anti-trafficking police chief Raanan Caspi.
"In 2003 we used to find women who were being raped, incarcerated
and suffering violence. In 2007, the situation is completely different
- they get paid in most cases and the conditions that they're in are
much more humane."
Now most trafficking occurs through what people like to call
discreet apartments and escort agencies. But the true picture might not
be so clear-cut.
Campaigners say increased police activity has also had an adverse
effect. Instead of operating openly in brothels, traffickers have
become more discreet, plying their trade in private apartments and
escort agencies, making the practice more difficult to detect.
"We've been keeping tabs on trends, in terms of, for instance,
prices of exploitative services," said Yedida Wolfe, of the Task Force
on Human Trafficking.
"Those prices have not gone up, which leads us to believe that the supply of victims has not gone down.
"While government officials are saying that their efforts have
drastically cut the number of victims in the country, the NGOs on the
scene really don't feel that's true."
Israel might well have turned a corner in its fight against the traffickers, but the battle is far from won.
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Posted by smberg on Tuesday, November 06 @ 15:39:53 CST
(Read More... | News | Score: 5)
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"Legalised prostitution: what sex workers say"
The South African Daily News September 17, 2007
By Troy Martens and Vivian Attwood
Durban sex workers have urged the authorities not to legalise
prostitution in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament in
South Africa.
Making their feelings known to The Daily News this week, a group of
women earning their living through sex work claimed that National
Police commissioner Jackie Selebi "has got it all wrong".
The sex workers were responding to Selebi's idea of legalising the sex
trade during the world soccer event, a suggestion that has angered
many.
'You will still be raped, abused and violated'
"Those advocating legalisation think prostitutes' lives will improve," said Sindy a former Durban prostitute.
"It won't happen, because of the nature of the work. You will still
be raped, abused and violated. The emphasis should be on encouraging
women away from this profession by giving them better options."
She said that legalisation would not mean protection from the law, or improved working conditions.
This week the Daily News will run a series of articles looking at
issues surrounding sex in the city, dispelling many of the current
perceptions about sex work, hearing the real life experiences of the
city's prostitutes, some frank, some shocking, some poignant, others
hopeful.
The South African Law Reform Commission says it is looking at the
experiences of other countries like Germany, the Netherlands and
Australia who have all legalised prostitution, as well as countries who
have criminalised sex work.
'Policing is expensive and a waste of manpower'
Some sex workers believe that legalisation is the way to go.
Vicki, a sex worker at an upper-class massage parlour, said: "I think
it should be legalised or at least decriminalised. It is never going to
go away; policing is expensive and a waste of manpower.
"No little girl sits on her mother's knee, dreaming of her future,
and says, 'When I grow up I want to be a prostitute'. We all have big
hopes and dreams."
Debbie Toughey is a 46-year-old former prostitute who was once the madam at a highly successful Durban brothel.
Having spent most of her adult life in degradation, fear and isolation
as a worker in the sex industry, she is passionately anti legalisation.
"There's been a lot of discussion regarding the subject. 'Let's
dignify the trade', the pro lobby says. 'Let's call them sex workers,
not prostitutes'.
"The bottom line is, it's not a job like any other," she said. "It is
an occupation that dehumanises you and robs you of your womanhood."
Debbie asserted that low self esteem, coupled with lack of a
supportive family structure and financial need, are key reasons why
many women become prostitutes.
"If you had to fill in a CV to apply for a job as a prostitute, the one vital criterion would be poor self-worth," she said.
Why did an obviously intelligent, attractive woman stay in prostitution for so long?
"I only have a Standard 9, and work wasn't easy to find. I started out
trying to earn enough to look after my baby, and then I got sucked in
by a prominent businessman who promised to look after us.
"He had links with organised crime, although his public front was
squeaky clean. He made me the front for a brothel, and gradually and
systematically broke me down until I had no will of my own, and was
absolutely terrified for my own and my son's life.
I suffered daily torture, both physical and emotional, to the point where I had no future, and didn't dare dream of one.
"My entire being was focused on staying alive that day."
Because her pimp controlled members of the police force, Debbie was too terrified to seek help from the law.
"I knew they couldn't protect me, and he had eyes everywhere," she said.
"I started to think that suicide would be my only way out."
Debbie was finally released from the cycle of torment when her abuser
was shot and killed. However, she was so traumatised by her experiences
that she temporarily lost her memory and the power of speech.
These symptoms are common in severe cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with which she was diagnosed.
It has taken her 11 years to claw her way back from the darkness.
Today, Debbie is dedicated to improving the lot of women who are still
in prostitution, and raising awareness of the frequently abusive and
exploitative dynamics at play in the sex industry.
She is a spokesperson for Doctors for Life International, and has been featured on television and radio.
"Don't think for a moment that my story is unique," she said. It is
happening all over the world, every day. The public is entitled to all
the facts about prostitution before a decision of this magnitude
[legalisation] is made."
Doctors for Life International is a non-profit organisation
championing the sanctity of life. They operate 'Life Place', a care
centre for prostitutes and abused women in Durban."
www.dailynews.co.za
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Posted by smberg on Thursday, September 20 @ 11:48:10 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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 | News: Turkey's Brothels Produce Two Election Candidates |
Run Date: 07/15/07
By Nicholas Birch, Women's Enews correspondent
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3240/context/cover/
Two former prostitutes are running for seats in Turkey's July 22
election to raise awareness about the stigma sex workers face in the
nation's Muslim culture. With little chance for political victory, they
say their goal is to change society instead.
ISTANBUL, Turkey (WOMENSENEWS)--Raped by her uncle when she was 9
and sold into prostitution by a man who had promised to marry her, Ayse
Tukrukcu remembers her first day at a state-controlled brothel in the
southern Turkish city of Mersin like it was yesterday.
"There was a song--'Is This Justice, World' by Hakki Bulut--playing
in the shop opposite the big metal gate and a line of men waiting," she
says. "I asked the policeman at the door where I was, but he just
laughed and pushed me in. My world collapsed."
It's been more than a decade since she paid off the $12,000 price
she was sold for. Now, in an effort to draw attention to the plight of
Turkey's 3,000 state-registered prostitutes, she's running as an
independent candidate in parliamentary elections on July 22.
"They talk about domestic violence, but it was the state that beat
us up," she says, in the stuffy, shabby office that is serving as her
Istanbul headquarters.
Frequently breaking down in tears, she goes on to talk about
18-hour working days in the brothel, social security payments withheld,
even murder.
"Serpil, mother of three; Fatma from Diyarbakir; Hatice from Izmir;
all three were killed while I was inside and their deaths passed off as
overdoses," she says. That was the rule for disobedience, she explains:
first, a beating, then rape, then murder.
"We're not here simply to get attention," Tukrukcu says. "We're here so that people know the truth about all these things."
Running for political office from the margins, Tukrukcu is one of
thousands of candidates in an election that has been defined by a
national debate over Turkey's delicate balance between its staunchly
secular state and popular support for a conservative government that
has its roots in political Islam. Analysts expect that women will
double their ranks and win about 10 percent of the seats and the
Justice and Development Party will maintain control of parliament. Its
first task following the election will be to select a president, and
the prospect of a government fully dominated by the Islamic faction has
heightened political tensions over the past two months.
'Labeled for Life'
For Saliha Ermez, who escaped in 2002 from another state-run
brothel in southern Turkey and is now standing alongside Ayse Tukrukcu
as an independent candidate, the worst thing about having worked as a
registered prostitute in Turkey is that you're labeled for life.
She's not just talking about those ex-prostitutes who fall afoul of
this predominantly Muslim country's conservative morals, sacked from
new jobs when their former identity became clear. She's talking about
the way her daughter's hopes of becoming a police officer collapsed
when her mother's record was revealed in a background investigation.
"I haven't seen her for two years and I don't know where she is,"
Ermez says. "All I know is that she refers to me as 'that woman' and
vows to kill me if she meets me."
Hunched over his desk in a tiny office near the historic center of
Istanbul, criminal lawyer Abdurrahman Tanriverdi confirms her story.
A statute passed in 1930 requires prostitutes working in official
brothels to register with the police. Though the records are
theoretically secret, they can be used in cases of national security,
such as investigating the identities of people joining the security
forces.
"It's a disgraceful piece of legislation, really, unconstitutional,
illegal, inhuman," Tanriverdi says. "Above all, it breaches the
fundamental principle of penal law: the criminal alone should be
punished for the crime."
Since 1995, he says, he's represented nearly a dozen former
prostitutes--including Ayse Tukrukcu--trying to get rid of their police
records. Not one case has been successful. While he's as adamant as
ever that the statute needs to be excised from Turkish law, he's not
optimistic.
Islamic Party Led Reforms
The obstacle to change is not necessarily the Islamic government.
Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party has
pushed through some of the most significant legal reforms benefiting
women in the 84-year history of the Turkish Republic. In 2004, a
constitutional amendment guaranteed equality between men and women.
That year also saw major reforms to the nation's penal code that
criminalized marital rape and sexual harassment in the workplace, and
stiffened penalties for honor killings. The government also launched
programs to address domestic violence and improve access to education
for girls.
The problem, as is so often the case in Turkey, lies in a
legislation that is opaque and frequently ignored by state officials
contemptuous of the rule of law.
Hayrettin Bulan, campaign manager for Tukrukcu's and Ermez's election bids, is more positive.
"The people we're aiming to represent are working too hard to
survive from day to day to get involved in politics," he says. "Yet
complaining from the sidelines isn't enough; you need a political
platform."
Founder of Turkey's first-ever shelter for men in difficulty, as
well as the shelter where Tukrukcu and Ermez are now living, Bulan has
been campaigning for the rights of street children, drug addicts,
prisoners and prostitutes for over a decade now. He's a past master at
getting headlines.
In 1997, he locked himself into a cage for 24 hours to protest at
prisoners' living conditions. For years, he had his weekly program on a
local television station about social issues in his home city of Konya.
"We picked Istanbul for the simple reason that all the press is
here. Saliha Ermez is running in the same electoral district as
(Turkish Prime Minister) Tayyip Erdogan."
Running with the slogan "neither left, right or center but
underneath," the campaign has attracted a surprising amount of
attention from the Turkish press. "My vote's for you, Ayse Tukrukcu,"
Engin Ardic, a popular columnist for the mass daily Aksam wrote on June
11.
Public Support, but Not Votes
While both candidates admit they have almost no chance of winning
the 60,000 votes needed for a parliamentary seat, they say they've been
overwhelmed by the support they've received by ordinary people on the
street.
Baskin Oran, a dissident university professor who is also standing
as an independent candidate, says that five years ago Tukrukcu's and
Ermez's campaigns would have never happened without the reforms spurred
by Turkey's bid to join the European Union. "People who before were too
frightened to speak out are beginning to make their voices heard," he
says, "and there are people out there willing to listen."
There are skeptics, though.
A doctor who runs a health and information center for prostitutes
in Istanbul, Muhtar Cokar sympathizes with the story Ermez tells about
her daughter and has heard it from other prostitutes. But he thinks the
two candidates' emphasis on state-employed prostitutes, and their
implication that prostitution should be banned, is an unrealistic
approach to the fundamental problems of prostitution in Turkey.
"In Istanbul, there are 126 registered prostitutes and 30,000
unregistered prostitutes," he says. "The kind of brothels that these
women worked in are disappearing in Turkey because no party wants to
open them."
They don't want to give financial support to projects aimed at
protecting prostitutes either, he says, and that risks causing major
problems as the prostitution trade is carried on without official
oversight.
A freelance reporter, Nicholas Birch has been working in Turkey and the surrounding region for five years.
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Posted by smberg on Thursday, July 26 @ 11:27:28 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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 | News: Fine clients to get hookers off the street |
By IRENE CHAPPLE - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 6 May 2007
A review of prostitution laws will propose fining clients
who buy sex off street workers in an effort to limit the industry to
brothels.
The prostitution industry has been under review by a United
Future-led group and the Ministry of Justice since it was legalised in
2003. Both reports have considered numbers of prostitutes now working,
health and safety issues, and anecdotal stories around women being
brought into New Zealand specifically to work in the industry. Inland
Revenue figures on the number of prostitutes are not available because
there is no industry tax code, but there are believed to be around 6000
in New Zealand. The Prostitution Working Group, made up of
United Future MP Gordon Copeland, former United Future MP Larry
Baldock, and Labour MP Marian Hobbs, was part of United Future's
confidence and supply agreement with Labour. The report will be
released next month and will contain at least three major
recommendations. Copeland said the review group - which had met
with around 243 people representing city councils, residents, and
prostitution and welfare groups - had pinpointed several legal issues
for improvement. Copeland said legalised brothels meant there
was no need for street prostitution, which carried more dangers than
working in a brothel. "We would look to bring in sanctions for buyers on the street... there are people as young as 12 out there ." Copeland,
who voted against the act when it passed by just one vote, said the
group's aim was to get rid of street prostitution. He said Christchurch people, in particular, had raised concerns about the number of prostitutes working there. "People living in Manchester Street came to us in big numbers." Penalties
for buyers would be "an absolute key recommendation" of the report,
which had "huge support" from women's groups. It would also
re-introduce policing of the industry to crack down on underage
prostitution and violent behaviour by clients. Copeland said
the report would also recommend halving the number of prostitutes who
can work in suburban brothels from four to two, and cracking down on
underage prostitutes by getting at least two forms of identification
for brothel workers. However, the Prostitution Law Review
Committee chair Paul Fitzharris - a former police assistant
commissioner - said punishing clients was not necessarily a deterrent
and some prostitutes wanted to work on the streets. Fitzharris
also rejected Copeland's claim that prostitute numbers had increased
four-fold. He said research conducted by his committee - which will
make its final report next year - showed numbers had stayed steady or
decreased. Copeland said he believed young people dressed in
"hoodies" - rather than mini- skirts - were operating as prostitutes
and had not been counted. However, Fitzharris said his
committee's figures, collated by police and the Prostitutes'
Collective, was the most accurate count ever done. Both had heard anecdotal evidence of more Asian sex workers, some brought into the country specifically for the job. Fitzharris
warned against reading too much into anecdotal evidence, but one strip
club owner, Tony Garraway of Firecats in Hamilton, said the phenomena
had ruined conditions for New Zealand prostitutes. Garraway
said women from countries such as Thailand and China were charging as
little as $50 a job and undercutting the locals. He said there were
also health issues because the industry was no longer being closely
monitored. "I blame it on the fact they legalised it and nobody did any research on what was going to happen, they left it wide open."
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Posted by smberg on Monday, May 14 @ 13:49:25 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 5)
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 | News: Anti-pornography conference, March 2007 |
 Conference: Pornography and Pop Culture: Reframing Theory, Re-thinking Activism
March 23-25, 2007
The so-called “porn wars” that were fought over the feminist
critique of contemporary mass-marketed pornography derailed important
academic and activist work. It is time to move on by reframing our
thinking on pornography, especially in light of the important changes
that have occurred in both technology and pop culture over the past two
decades.
In the world of the internet, cell phone porn,
shock jocks and sexually degrading reality TV, the central insights of
the critical feminist perspective are more important than ever. What
was once called soft-core pornography has become the norm in mainstream
pop culture, while hard-core porn has become increasingly accepted and
increasingly misogynistic. What do such economic and cultural shifts
mean for feminist theory and activism, and how can we rebuild a vibrant
feminist movement that addresses the harms of misogynist images that
help define our culture, our visual landscape and our sexuality?
These
issues will be addressed at a national conference on March 23-25, 2007,
at Wheelock College in Boston. Titled "Pornography and Pop Culture:
Reframing Theory, Rethinking Activism," this conference will
- feature recent feminist theory and research on pornography, prostitution and pop culture, and
- provide
space for collaborative discussion on how we can prepare the ground for
building a broad-based, energized and vibrant feminist movement that
can address the harms of pornographic images in the context of a more
general political and cultural crisis.
http://www.wheelock.edu/ppc/index.asp
proposed agenda:
Friday, March 23: Opening Conference Event
7:30-9:30 p.m.--Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture
Saturday, March 24: Pornography and Pop Culture: Reframing Theory
9:15-10:00 a.m.: Not Your Father’s Playboy and Not Your Mother’s Feminist Movement: Contemporary Feminism in a Porn Culture
Rebecca Whisnant Assistant Professor of Philosophy University of Dayton 10:00-11:00 a.m.: Real Men, Real Choices
Robert Jensen, Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin
11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Pornography and Pop Culture: Putting the Text in Context
Gail Dines. Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Wheelock College
2:00-3:15 p.m.: Pornography, Prostitution, and Sex Trafficking: How Do You Tell the Difference?
Melissa Farley, Director, Prostitution Research and Education, San Francisco
Rachel Lloyd, Director, Girls’ Educational and Mentoring Services
3:30-5:00 p.m.: Analyzing the Pornographic Text: Charting and Mapping Pornography through Content AnalysisAna Bridges
Erica Scharrer, University of Rhode Island, U/Mass Amherst
Robert Wosnitzer, New York University
7:00-9:00 p.m.: 'Fantasies' Matter: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships. Screening and Discussion with filmmaker Chyng Sun
Sunday March 25: Pornography and Pop Culture: Rethinking Activism
9:00 a.m.-12:00 noon: Talking about Pornography in a “Pornified” Culture 1:00-3:00 p.m.: Building a new Feminist
Anti-pornography Movement for the Twenty First Century: Goals,
Coalitions, and Strategies to Aim for and Pitfalls to Avoid
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Posted by smberg on Thursday, November 02 @ 15:54:42 CST
(Read More... | News | Score: 3)
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 | News: Prostitution need not always be with us |
 Before we just give up and condemn women and children to this enslavement, why don't we tackle the basic problems?
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, October 07, 2006
It's a terrible indictment of our society that prostitutes are 40 to
120 times more likely to be beaten, raped or killed than the general
population.
It's inevitable. I'm so sick of hearing that about prostitution,
poverty, homelessness and child abuse. I'm tired of people pronouncing
it a fact of the human condition, sighing and then going on about ways
to regulate the misery inflicted on the weak and the vulnerable.
I'd like to blame demographics: Too few idealistic and optimistic
youth and too many worn-out, tired old baby boomers who long ago gave
up on saving the world. But that's too simple, too easy and too damned
depressing.
Besides, when did we suddenly give up on change when so much has been accomplished in the past 50 years?
People once laughed at the idea that women are equal to men and that children have rights.
Twenty years ago, people believed clearcut logging would continue
until British Columbia was as denuded of trees as Scotland or
Switzerland. Nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States
seemed certain. Whole generations grew up believing that the Iron
Curtain would last forever.
So before we ensure that enslaving women and children to the
supposedly insatiable desires of men by legalizing prostitution and
before we condemn generations to desperate measures by not addressing
poverty and abuse, why don't we at least consider that it need not be?
Why don't we consider tackling them with all of the resources of our society instead of making excuses?
Everybody agrees that, with a few exceptions, people don't see
selling their bodies as a career choice. Everybody agrees that at the
root of prostitution is poverty, desperation, addiction and abuse.
Finally, everybody agrees that regardless of the hows and whys of women
and children prostituting themselves, it's a terrible indictment of our
society that they are 40 to 120 times more likely to be beaten, raped
or killed than the general population.
But what's happening in the public debate is that, having
acknowledged those things, almost everyone glides on to talk only about
how to keep the prostitutes safe while they're working.
Pivot Legal Society identified the root causes that people are
entering the sex trade at an average age of 14 in Voices of Dignity in
2004. But in its most recent report called Beyond Decriminalization, it
concluded that "criminal law reform is the first step towards a shift
from the status quo, where sex workers are subject to extreme levels of
violence and social marginalization, to a society where sex workers are
empowered to create safe and dignified working conditions."
The recently released Living in Community report called Balancing
Perspective on Vancouver's Sex Industry didn't make a specific
recommendation on the laws. But sheer weight of words has it leaning
toward decriminalization and legalization as in Germany, the
Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia.
Sweden dared swim upstream against a worldwide wave of legalizing
prostitution. It rejected the inevitability of prostitution and human
trafficking and that women and children would be forever sold as
commodities.
Instead, it criminalized all aspects of the purchasing of sexual
services, saying prostitution is incompatible with gender equity, human
rights and human dignity.
But it was dismissed in a single sentence in Living in Community's report.
"The Swedish move to a more stringent prohibitionist policy follows
a history of the Swedish state enacting stricter laws where other
countries have been more liberal and pragmatic, and less focused on the
moral authority."
Sweden's Violence Against Women Act defines prostitution as a
serious form of male violence against women and children because the
perpetrators are invariably men. And it links legalization and
decriminalization to the explosion in human trafficking worldwide.
To coincide with the act becoming law on Jan. 1, 1999, the Swedish
government increased spending on social services that make it easier
for prostitutes to exit the trade and less desperate to prostitute
themselves in the first place.
Before the law was in place, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 women and
children were prostituted in Sweden. The most recent estimate is that
there are now 1,500 and approximately 400 respectively working on the
streets.
Critics -- including Vancouver East MP Libby Davies who chaired the
parliamentary committee looking into prostitution -- says that the
"prohibitionist approach" has driven vulnerable women and children
further underground.
Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry, a committee member, agrees and has called the Swedish system "hypocritical" and "illogical."
But when Gunilla Eckberg, the special adviser to the Swedish
government on human trafficking and prostitution, squared off against
Davies and Fry at a committee hearing a year ago, she denied that the
number of illegal brothels had increased in Sweden. But she noted that
in Melbourne, Australia, the number of illegal brothels has gone to 400
from 100 after legalization.
The number of child prostitutes in the Netherlands jumped to 15,000 in 2001 after legalization, from 4,000 in 1996.
Eckberg also disagreed with MPs' characterization that she and other Swedes are being "judgmental" of other women's job choices.
"The situation of being a prostitute is the same as being a
battered woman," she said."The violence you experience is normalized.
To live in that situation and to find dignity in being abused, many
women will of course say they have chosen this and that it's work."
It's probably not surprising that, like the parliamentary
committee, both Pivot and Living in Community have played down the
Swedish experience. Both relied on advice from groups like Prostitutes
Empowerment Education and Resource Society (PEERS) and Prostitution
Alternatives Counselling and Education Society (PACE).
But they excluded other women's groups. Many of those groups,
including the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, the
Native Women's Association of Canada, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women
Against Violence Against Women, support the Swedish model.
Talk is cheap and dreams are free. So let's have lots of both from
everyone who's interested before we reach any conclusions. Let's have
lots of facts and research on the table.
And, let's jettison the labels like prohibitionist, moralistic and right-wing that taint the discussion.
dbramham@png.canwest.com
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Posted by smberg on Sunday, October 08 @ 23:35:25 CDT
(Read More... | News | Score: 0)
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| The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers and mental faculties harly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman, at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only reason of a sort--very niggardly in its dimensions. That is why women remain children their whole life long, never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking appearence for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first importance. -Arthur Schopenhauer, "On Women" (1851) |
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| I've got the stretch marks to prove even God didn't anticipate the woman I would become.- S.M. Berg |
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