Yet another AG's fight against online prostitution

[Derec]

This time in Vermont. AG Maura Healey, a Democrat, is going after Backpage just like a number of AGs went after Craigslist several years ago. The trigger is a robbery and murder of an escort (which should obviously be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and they do have suspects in custody) but the underlying motivation is desire to fight against sex work as such. Two points:
- there have been robberies and even murders of people selling non-sex related things on these boards. That doesn't mean selling things such as cars online should be banned.
- pushing sex work further underground is not going to contribute to the safety of sex workers or their customers. Quite the opposite. So the motivation is not to protect people but to fight against sex work for ideological reasons.
Prostitute’s murder fuels AG Maura Healey’s fight vs. online sex ads

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I'm not reading anything they are actually doing about it other than paying lip service.

 

[Derec]

I'm not reading anything they are actually doing about it other than paying lip service.

Well doing anything productive would start with legalizing sex work for consenting adults. But that's not going to happen, not even (or especially) in "liberal" Vermont.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I'm not so sure after reading this consenting adult's story:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33113238

At least don't make the abused the criminal.

When people describe prostitution as being something that is glamorous, elegant, like in the story of Pretty Woman, well that doesn't come close to it. A prostitute might sleep with five strangers a day. Across a year, that's more than 1,800 men she's having sexual intercourse or oral sex with. These are not relationships, no-one's bringing me any flowers here, trust me on that. They're using my body like a toilet.

And the johns - the clients - are violent. I've been shot five times, stabbed 13 times. I don't know why those men attacked me, all I know is that society made it comfortable for them to do so. They brought their anger or mental illness or whatever it was and they decided to wreak havoc on a prostitute, knowing I couldn't go to the police and if I did I wouldn't be taken seriously.

I actually count myself very lucky. I knew some beautiful girls who were murdered out there on the streets.

It's damn dangerous work.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It's damn dangerous work.

Ya, we should shut down the industry and get them all work as fishermen or loggers in order to keep them safe.

 

[fromderinside]

It's damn dangerous work.

Ya, we should shut down the industry and get them all work as fishermen or loggers in order to keep them safe.

Noooooo-ah. Then there'd be a flood in the northwest. I live there. Keep unemployed sex workers out of our poverty pocket.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

It's damn dangerous work.

Ya, we should shut down the industry and get them all work as fishermen or loggers in order to keep them safe.

What does Canadia do?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Ya, we should shut down the industry and get them all work as fishermen or loggers in order to keep them safe.

What does Canadia do?

We give a lot of subsidies to the logging and fishing industries.

 

[Derec]

I'm not so sure after reading this consenting adult's story:

This woman had a messed up childhood long before she started hooking. Her story is hardly representative.
To put it another way, do you think that all jobs where you can find some employees to write a negative account of their experience should be made illegal? Should all legal jobs have the requirement of being "glamorous" or to be exactly as portrayed in movies starring Julia Roberts?

Sex work is a legitimate service and we should strive to make it safer and better rather than keeping it illegal and thus pushing it deeper underground making it less safe for everyone involved.

 

[Jokodo]

I'm not so sure after reading this consenting adult's story:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33113238

At least don't make the abused the criminal.

When people describe prostitution as being something that is glamorous, elegant, like in the story of Pretty Woman, well that doesn't come close to it. A prostitute might sleep with five strangers a day. Across a year, that's more than 1,800 men she's having sexual intercourse or oral sex with. These are not relationships, no-one's bringing me any flowers here, trust me on that. They're using my body like a toilet.

And the johns - the clients - are violent. I've been shot five times, stabbed 13 times. I don't know why those men attacked me, all I know is that society made it comfortable for them to do so. They brought their anger or mental illness or whatever it was and they decided to wreak havoc on a prostitute, knowing I couldn't go to the police and if I did I wouldn't be taken seriously.

I actually count myself very lucky. I knew some beautiful girls who were murdered out there on the streets.

It's damn dangerous work.

The bolded part pretty much says it's dangerous because it's illegal.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I'm not so sure after reading this consenting adult's story:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33113238

At least don't make the abused the criminal.



It's damn dangerous work.

The bolded part pretty much says it's dangerous because it's illegal.

Good point. I don't think legality issue would change this case.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm not reading anything they are actually doing about it other than paying lip service.

Well doing anything productive would start with legalizing sex work for consenting adults. But that's not going to happen, not even (or especially) in "liberal" Vermont.

And the crackdown means all the legal adult jobs on Craigslist show up elsewhere. I was trying to locate one of the nude housekeeper recruiting ads but I'm not finding any right now. Those things belonged in the adult section but there's no adult section anymore.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not so sure after reading this consenting adult's story:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33113238

At least don't make the abused the criminal.

When people describe prostitution as being something that is glamorous, elegant, like in the story of Pretty Woman, well that doesn't come close to it. A prostitute might sleep with five strangers a day. Across a year, that's more than 1,800 men she's having sexual intercourse or oral sex with. These are not relationships, no-one's bringing me any flowers here, trust me on that. They're using my body like a toilet.

And the johns - the clients - are violent. I've been shot five times, stabbed 13 times. I don't know why those men attacked me, all I know is that society made it comfortable for them to do so. They brought their anger or mental illness or whatever it was and they decided to wreak havoc on a prostitute, knowing I couldn't go to the police and if I did I wouldn't be taken seriously.

I actually count myself very lucky. I knew some beautiful girls who were murdered out there on the streets.

It's damn dangerous work.

When you're at the bottom of the pile like that certainly. On the other hand there's the woman who changed from police officer to a more honest profession--prostitute.