Another Pre-Super Bowl 'Sex Trafficking Sting' Busts A Bunch Of People Trying To Buy Sex From Cops Pretending To Be Teens

from the sex-trafficking-still-a-relatively-safe-profession dept

Every Super Bowl is greeted with the same breathless stories about sex trafficking. As thousands of visitors descend on the unlucky host of The Big Game™, local law enforcement agencies -- sometimes accompanied by the DHS -- are there to claim there will be a sex trafficking victim for every Super Bowl attendee. Hundreds of law enforcement officers perform sweeps costing taxpayers millions of dollars. And every year, it's the same story: very little sex trafficking found, but a whole lot of sex buyers and sex workers are cited and/or jailed.

Prostitution may be the oldest profession, but it couldn't have been far ahead of "law enforcement spokesperson." Someone is always on the scene to spout meaningless numbers to press stenographers in order to perpetuate the myth that large gatherings = sex trafficking en masse. Few journalists dig into these claims.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown of Reason does perform the due diligence local journalists won't. Following the 2017 Super Bowl, Brown obtained booking sheets to see if law enforcement had snagged dozens of sex traffickers in the 750+ arrests made pre-Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 2017 was held in Houston, which sits in Harris County, Texas. Each day, the county posts its previous 24-hours worth of arrests on the Harris County Sherrif's Office (HCSO) website. The arrest report for February 6, 2017, contains more than 11 pages of arrests, including 12 for prostitution, a lot of DUI and driving-on-a-suspended-license charges, some marijuana possession, several assaults, theft, forgery, driving without a seatbelt, one "parent contributing to truancy," and a few for racing on the highway. The February 7 HSCO arrest log shows three arrests for prostitution. But neither reveals a single arrest for sex trafficking, soliciting a minor, pimping, promoting prostitution, compelling prostitution, or any other charges that might suggest forced or voluntary sex trade.

Maggie McNeill, an actual sex worker, has also debunked victorious pre-Super Bowl claims delivered by police hype men. According to law enforcement, more than "42" victims of sex trafficking were "contacted" during prostitution sweeps prior to the 2016 Super Bowl. But there's not 42 of anything in this mess:

42 potential human trafficking victims were contacted during the three weeks leading up to the big game…More than half of the victims were put in direct contact with an advocate or support group and…the task force arrested or cited 30…alleged clients of possible prostitutes…one “girl” was arrested for prostitution and resisting arrest…another “girl” was cited for prostitution…four people were cited for aiding in prostitution, two were cited for loitering with intent for prostitution, one potential victim disclosed other sex crimes and kidnapping, and two human trafficking cases involved a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old from Sacramento which resulted in a human trafficking arrest…one arrest for violation of a domestic violence restraining order and three arrests for other warrants…

As McNeill points out, the 15-year-old was a runaway with mental health issues -- a far cry from the panicked claims sex traffickers are lurking everywhere to poach teens off the street. As for the 17-year-old, she was apparently being "trafficked" by a slightly-older friend, who was also arrested.

As even McNeill notes, sex trafficking does happen. It just happens far less frequently than government officials claim, even as they use it to justify sweeps that do nothing more than temporarily inconvenience a few johns or, worse, punch holes in legal protections for third-party service providers. None of what's detailed above justifies all of the following, as summarized by McNeill and her inimitable prose:

Vast amounts of hype, blanketing an entire metropolis with pigs, spooks and g-men, millions wasted, thousands of words of anti-whore propaganda bloviated out, and for what? 21 women were given a phone number, 30 guys were tricked by cops with fake ads, two adult and two underage sex workers were arrested, six other people were arrested on bullshit charges, and four people arrested on warrants. The other 21 women were essentially just made up; “potential trafficking victims”? Really? Yeah, well every sex worker in the Bay Area is a potential police brutality and police rape victim, but I don’t see them counting that statistic.

Last year's Super Bowl featured the same stories. Law enforcement officials claimed they had busted 94 men in a "sex trafficking sting." In reality, all they'd done is arrest 94 men for trying to solicit sex from law enforcement officers pretending to be underage girls. Again, a couple dozen "potential victims" were "contacted" and referred to outreach groups, but nowhere in the arrest records will you find an actual sex trafficker, despite 57 officers putting in "20 hour days" for 11 straight days prior to the Super Bowl.

This year's stories have arrived and the numbers delivered by law enforcement again suggest two possibilities: either sex trafficking isn't nearly as prevalent as they believe it is, or the business model has some serious flaws.

Days before the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams are set to face off in Atlanta, 33 people were busted for sex trafficking in the lead-up to the big game, federal law enforcement officials announced Wednesday.

In a press conference outlining Super Bowl LIII safety measures, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the arrests, adding four victims have been rescued.

33 traffickers and only four victims. Sure, the ratio's never going to be one-to-one, but you'd think it would be a lot closer than that. It's unlikely any trafficker is trafficking only one victim. In order for it to be the multi-billion dollar industry alarmists claim it is, traffickers most likely have at least a few victims each just to ensure profitability. Even if these traffickers are cut-and-run experts, you'd think the ratio would be more like three-to-one at worst, rather than ten-to-one.

The narrative about mass sex trafficking -- probably involving large numbers of underage victims -- is already falling apart. The DHS is being willfully vague about the arrests, but statements from local law enforcement agencies point to a bunch of cops sitting at desks pretending to be teenagers. And there appears to be a lack of underage victims, which kind of undercuts the usefulness of playing internet dress-up with pervs around the country.

On Jan. 23 and 24, Homeland Security assisted in a joint operation in Douglas County using undercover officers, social media sites and local hotel rooms, the Douglasville Police Department said Wednesday. Sixteen people were arrested, according to police, and the youngest person involved was 17. The timing of the crackdown was related to the Super Bowl, police said.

I not so boldly predict this narrative will collapse on itself just like it has following every other Super Bowl. The Big Game may draw big numbers. But it's not a sex trafficking mecca, nor is it an almost invisible symptom of a supposedly-billion dollar problem.

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Filed Under: dhs, exaggeration, ice, moral panic, overhype, sex trafficking, sex workers, super bowl


Reader Comments

The First Word

You're passing a whole lot of judgement on buyers and sellers of sex by assuming they all fit the same dynamic of a poor desperate woman prostituting herself to a married man spending the rent money. Sure, that dynamic exists, but it's not the only one, and who are you to judge the actions of consenting adults? Have you ever considered that sex work is not just a last resort to keep the lights on, and is actually preferable to some than service shut off or eviction. Some people make a very good living doing sex work, and enjoy their job. Not all John's are married men running around on their doting wives. Some men are painfully shy and awkward and suffer from loneliness. Some men simply have no interest or time to establish a relationship. And married men have their reasons too, not all of them unsympathetic. All the deterrence of these ridiculous police crack downs does is drive prostitution further underground, creating a greater likelihood of victimization and shame adults who aren't hurting anyone. Just like drug prohibition. And immigration restrictions. We need to stop trying to control people and let everyone live their lives to the extent that it doesn't infringe on anyone else's rights. And while poverty is often a factor in street prostitution, especially when youth is involved, scaling back regulations that have no public safety value would decriminalize poverty, stop impedeing charity from helping the needy, and allow for people to take on more entrepreneurship to provide for themselves as well.

—cattress
made the First Word by Ninja

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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 10:57am

    Cops bust 300+ pickpocketing ring

    method: $20 left unattended in public walkway, 30+ plains clothes officers patrolling in vicinity.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:05am

    Even with all these arrests there was probably still more scoring going on in Atlanta then actually occurred at the game itself.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:09am

    If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiation laws

    I think they need to look more closely at the GOP conversions.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:09am

    Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiation l

    convensions

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:09am

    Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiation l

    conventions

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    MDT (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:33am

    STOP!

    STOP interrupting the fear mongering and self congratulations with your facts and reason, or you may end up on the wrong side of the thin blue line!

    Remember, you're playing in the big leagues now!

    /s (for the sarcasm impaired)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:47am

    Sting operations

    Sting operations seem to be about as close to illegal entrapment as forfeitures by law enforcement seem to be illegal seizure which is to say, exactly the same thing but for no-one to enforce the protections.

    Much like the FBI's entire terror campaign, sting operations seem to be about creating the illusion that there's a problem and the department is solving it (thus needs to continue to be budgeted). Rather than pursuing actual crime, they're manufacturing it from whole cloth.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:47am

    Re: Sting operations

    Dangit, I forgot the email-me check.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Shufflepants, 4 Feb 2019 @ 12:09pm

    If there's any response to this from LEAs, how much you wanna bet they'll bring out the old tiger repelling rock argument.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 12:17pm

    Re:

    I want someone to bring out a new tiger rapelling rock argument. I'm envisioning a Calvin & Hobbes spread, some string, and a pulley.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    carlb, 4 Feb 2019 @ 12:19pm

    rescued?

    "In a press conference outlining Super Bowl LIII safety measures, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the arrests, adding four victims have been rescued."

    That depends. What does a police officer mean by "rescued"? Arrested? Imprisoned? Deported? Branded with a criminal record for life? A government which hunts prostitutes as criminals would have to be pretty arrogant to claim to be "rescuing" these women as they are most often part of the problem.

    If these women are "working" because they need the money, they've only been "rescued" once the underlying issue (poverty) is resolved on a permanent basis. That usually does not happen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 12:24pm

    57 officers put in 20 hour days for 11 days to bust 94 johns? Are you telling me a cohort of police officers worked 12,540 hours to trick 94 people into trying to buy something? That is over 133 hours of combined police effort to get one person to try and buy sex.

    How impossibly inept can you get?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 1:17pm

    Deterrence is not measured by arrests.

    Sex trafficking piggybacks the "sex work" industry.

    What is "sex work" anyway? It's not making clothes-on "porn" that sells for a premium, and the "work" is nothing resembling sex. It's "bought rape" in a way since the sex worker wouldn't consent to sleep with the customer. It's not a business or one that operates like a normal one on many levels.

    The product may cause sexual arousal but it lacks the key element of desire, which results in the customer being a disgusting nuisance that must be tolerated in order to get his (or her) money. It is anathema to building a civilized society since it diverts money from intact families to the red-light district.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Special Asshole Nathan Hopp, 4 Feb 2019 @ 1:27pm

    A useful resource

    Norma Jean Almodovar (my favorite whore *) and a friend of Maggie McNeill, kicked off several police corruption scandals in Los Angeles, most notoriously affiliated with the John Holmes porn star murders, and the Ramparts scandal; and she told me that Heudi Fleiss offered her her black book back in the day.

    N.J. has chronicled sex abolitionist lies and poluce double dipping on this issue since forever, and has been stalked endlessly online by those greedy, lying whack jobs, spooks, and pigs.

    She is always good for a quote, or perspective in these issues.

    She writes at http://www.policeprostitutionandpolitics.com/

    *N.J. prefers to be referred to as a whore, a title she has earned, and wears proudly

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    SA Church Lady, 4 Feb 2019 @ 1:42pm

    Re: civilized society

    Intact families?

    Does that mean a family where the "head ”of the household still has foreskin?

    Or, the “civilized”version, where you chop off part of a babies dick shortly after birth, causing irreversible brain damage?

    Lets get our terms “straight!”

    And red light districts, last I checked, were those places where small minded, small town people set up red light cameras, and run asset forfeiture rackets to feed your version of “intact families ”in your “intact ”version of a “civilized society”while towing the cars, and stealing the cash of immigrants, the poor and the marginalized?

    Yeah: keep your dirty civilization and your “clean mind” out of my pants; and her pocketbook.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 4 Feb 2019 @ 2:21pm

    A useful resource

    Swedish Model v New Zealand model

    Most abololitionists are church people, or gender lesbians who view other womens bodies as “pieces of machinery,"drawing from Karl Marx.

    Then, theres the phenomenally successful New Zealand model, which is not drawn upon the scratch paper of western /Jewish /christian prudery and profiteering, aka white slavery :

    "Frankly, forbidding sex work is impossible and attempts to prohibit this occupation have largely proved unsuccessful. What has been successful is decriminalization, as evidenced by the New Zealand Model in which sex workers are recognized as part of the community. As a result, they can call the police when needed and publish ads without fear of arrest. Even the World Health Organization has praised decriminalization because the countries where it had been implemented have seen decreased HIV and other STI transmission rates among sex workers and their clients.

    Liberal feminist activists often attack libertarian feminists who support the rights of women to choose what do with their bodies. For that matter, sex worker rights are not just about women’s rights–– there are also gay males and transgender individuals who are sex workers. It is time to declare that sex worker rights are human rights. If libertarians stand for freedom, then they should continue to be the biggest allies of sex workers in fighting against the intrusion of the state in the most private aspect of an individual—the control of their own sexuality.”

    https://fee.org/articles/why-governments-always-exaggerate-the-prostitution-threat

    ;

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 2:23pm

    "They wouldn't do it if they didn't need the money"

    This sentiment is true for most of the work force in the United States, especially considering the new positions that account for our current low unemployment rates. A lot of people doing thankless service work for a pittance just to scrape by.

    It seems totally okay to take advantage of desperation of our workers when it doesn't involve fucking. It's perfectly okay to leave them one paycheck away from eviction and hunger in a gig economy being forced to suck some richer-person's dick figuratively if not literally.

    And we've even established multiple times in the last two years how it's acceptable for managers to get free samples from the workers so long as they're discreet about it, so the dick-sucking may be literal at a surprising rate.

    In any case, if it's offensive that prostitutes wouldn't consent if they didn't need the money, it should be equally offensive for those who do the rest of the shitwork our economy offers.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    JoeCool (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 3:00pm

    Re: Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiati

    Third time's the charm! :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    JoeCool (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 3:05pm

    Could be worse

    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the arrests, adding four victims have been rescued.

    And all the rest were killed by SWAT in their no-knock raids.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Rekrul, 4 Feb 2019 @ 4:22pm

    I not so boldly predict this narrative will collapse on itself just like it has following every other Super Bowl.

    It doesn't matter if the narrative collapses because nobody in the general public will be listening to it. All any of them will remember is the initial report. Sensationalist "facts" resonate with people, but actual truth debunking those facts goes in one ear and out the other.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 5:24pm

    Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiation l

    Really? Because what I see is a lot of that on the LEFT. Bill Clinton and the Intern. Don't forget Anthony Weiner. He's another leftist winner.

    But let's say you're right, Oh no, all the while you leftists are all for murdering babies. What's worse?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 6:17pm

    Re:

    I am sure it was fully justified buy the 100 hours overtime per officer. In fact, it was a downright boon.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2019 @ 7:35pm

    Re: Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiati

    You are correct and yet the police depts say the GOP is worse than DNC.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. icon
    ysth (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 8:14pm

    so confused, someone help?

    I don't pay any attention to the Super Bowl, if I can help it. Perhaps because of that, I had never heard of this annual sex trafficking scare.

    Can someone explain the connection between it and the Super Bowl? It has me feeling completely at sea.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 8:32pm

    Re: so confused, someone help?

    In any far from home venue in which you have a lot of high testosterone people, one of the things that those people want to purchase is sex. Also known as, what happens away from home stays away from home.

    Of course, what we are talking about is prostitution.

    The problem is prostitution no longer generates the outrage it used to, among the pro law enforcement taxpayers; half the population thinks it should be legal. We need something more exciting, more urgent, to drive those law enforcement dollars. Sex trafficking is scary and evil and so it serves to get the appropriate political response.

    Or, have I laid the sarcasm and cynicism on too thick?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 4 Feb 2019 @ 9:42pm

    Re: so confused, someone help?

    The roots of it are in feminist sex panic hoaxing, going back to 1993, and using the assaultive tactics of Nikki Craft.

    In 1993, the Super Bowl was one place where these types found a target for their bent propaganda, and the NFL, being an industry, became a target of global -local wrath.

    It followed a pattern of globalist /Andrea Dworkin /Prof. Catherine MacKinnon types who plainly and outrageously lie and deceive to get federal dollars, depending upon blackmailing cops, religious neocons, and others with sex shame.

    Interestingly, Prof. MacKinnons father George sat on the first FISA court, so there is also unhealthy doses of occultist secrecy involved in these conflations.

    It helps to also recall that the Minneapolis sex ordinances, and a host of other absurdities were in play then too, like Kee McFarland, the one -woman FBIs go -to satanic panic hoaxer.

    Lastly, academic gender lesbians found a niche in targeting a primarily male audience with sex shame, and womens social piwer /violence while also asserting themselves as football fans, with a stake in the game.

    Here is Politifacts take on it: https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jan/29/john-cornyn/does-sex-trafficking -increase-around-super-bowl/

    Norma Jean Almodovar covers it very well at her site, linked above, and dates the onset of this moral panic to the 1995 UN Convention on the trafficking in women, which was itself a whole nother can of batshit crazy globalism.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 4 Feb 2019 @ 10:01pm

    Re: "They wouldn't do it if they didn't need the money"

    I have known quite a few wonderful whores, who enjoy what they do, and make great profits, and great investments.

    I have also known a few who hated it for obvious reasons -and those should seek another line of work.

    But for anyone to say that across the board they speak for "all women, " or "all whores, ” what you see there is a pimp/profiteer/panderer in waiting.

    Kamala Harris and her SESTA profiteers is one such example, but there are dozens more.

    What these people are doing is actually attempting to control the sex trade as an industry, much like what is historically called white slavery.

    These same are also literally invested in the prison industrial complex /modern gulags, and the Domestic Violence Industry.

    Here is a look at where these usdues evolved, and with little surprise, we see roots in hypocritical, homicidal bolshevik socialism:

    https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/white-slavery

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    Nice Catholic/Mormon /Evangelical Boy, 4 Feb 2019 @ 10:02pm

    Re: Civilization and its Inco

    Re: civilized society

    Intact families?

    Does that mean a family where the "head ”of the household still has foreskin?

    Or, the “civilized”version, where you chop off part of a babies dick shortly after birth, causing irreversible brain damage?

    Lets get our terms “straight!”

    And red light districts, last I checked, were those places where small minded, small town people set up red light cameras, and run asset forfeiture rackets to feed your version of “intact families ”in your “intact ”version of a “civilized society”while towing the cars, and stealing the cash of immigrants, the poor and the marginalized?

    Yeah: keep your dirty civilization and your “clean mind” out of my pants; and her pocketbook.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. identicon
    Paul Brinker, 4 Feb 2019 @ 10:43pm

    Re:

    A number of customers most likely asked for proof of age, being trained long ago that under age girls are no go land. They can be direct, or just ask the woman to come to the bar with them and let the bouncer handle it but in the end.

    Won't stop cops with "real" fake IDs, but I would love to see the legal gymnastics needed to say a cop was of age, pretending to be under age, but had a fake ID.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. icon
    cattress (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 10:57pm

    Re:

    You're passing a whole lot of judgement on buyers and sellers of sex by assuming they all fit the same dynamic of a poor desperate woman prostituting herself to a married man spending the rent money. Sure, that dynamic exists, but it's not the only one, and who are you to judge the actions of consenting adults? Have you ever considered that sex work is not just a last resort to keep the lights on, and is actually preferable to some than service shut off or eviction. Some people make a very good living doing sex work, and enjoy their job. Not all John's are married men running around on their doting wives. Some men are painfully shy and awkward and suffer from loneliness. Some men simply have no interest or time to establish a relationship. And married men have their reasons too, not all of them unsympathetic. All the deterrence of these ridiculous police crack downs does is drive prostitution further underground, creating a greater likelihood of victimization and shame adults who aren't hurting anyone. Just like drug prohibition. And immigration restrictions. We need to stop trying to control people and let everyone live their lives to the extent that it doesn't infringe on anyone else's rights. And while poverty is often a factor in street prostitution, especially when youth is involved, scaling back regulations that have no public safety value would decriminalize poverty, stop impedeing charity from helping the needy, and allow for people to take on more entrepreneurship to provide for themselves as well.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. icon
    cattress (profile), 4 Feb 2019 @ 11:14pm

    Re: A useful resource

    Shoot, I should have read further down before responding! I'm a libertarian (I disagree with some things like the official position on net neutrality) and I am in favor of more individual liberty. FEE is a great libertarian website! Libertarians and liberals actually have many common goals and ideals, just different ways of accomplishing them.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2019 @ 1:50am

    Re: Re:

    but I would love to see the legal gymnastics needed to say a cop was of age, pretending to be under age, but had a fake ID.

    Plea bargains avoid those gymnastics by using every dodgy thing they can find in a persons life, with no proof required.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. identicon
    Glenn, 5 Feb 2019 @ 2:51am

    The NFL is a bigger problem than "sex trafficking" (and not that much different in "essentials").

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. icon
    Vidiot (profile), 5 Feb 2019 @ 4:06am

    Re: Cops bust 300+ pickpocketing ring

    ... with a string attached, yanking it progressively down the walkway. YouTube hilarity ensues.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. icon
    Vidiot (profile), 5 Feb 2019 @ 4:09am

    Re:

    In other news, Krispy Kreme corporation reported a spike in donut sales in the region...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 5 Feb 2019 @ 5:11am

    Re: Re: A useful resource

    Norma Jean A. is 100% libertarian, and I think Maggie McNeill too.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  37. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2019 @ 5:32am

    Re: Re: If they are looking for violations of sexual soliticiati

    Oh no, all the while you leftists are all for murdering babies.

    Correct!

    The only choice women should get to make is whether or not to own a gun! Amirite???

    link to this | view in thread ]

  38. icon
    nasch (profile), 5 Feb 2019 @ 9:50am

    Re: rescued?

    If these women are "working" because they need the money,

    I wouldn't trust police to get this right, but if they're doing it because they need the money, they're prostitutes. If they're doing it against their will, they're sex trafficking victims.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  39. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 6 Feb 2019 @ 5:43am

    Re: Re:

    Agreed. I'd also go as far as providing well-paid alternatives so nobody ever must resort to prostitution to pay the bills. That'd just leave the ones who actually like doing it.

    As long as they keep it where I can't see it, I don't see any reason to get involved. It's when their activities invite creepy weirdos into places where I live or work that I have a problem with them. See also: health and safety, risk assessment and method statement, i.e. regular health checks, please, and be sure to use protection at all times. One infected John could infect a multitude and if no symptoms appear on anyone, who would know until it's too late?

    I don't have to like it to look the other way if no harm is being done to anyone.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  40. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 6 Feb 2019 @ 5:52am

    Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    Confirmed correct. Some of the feminists I follow seem to go along this route, effectively patronising and dismissing points of view that differ from their own.

    In my personal experience of dialogue with prostitutes, I find the ones I've conversed with are very defensive and unwilling to discuss sexual health issues such as the proliferation of hard-to-treat STIs, which I find problematic. I don't buy the "Happy hooker" trope* but since I can't abide authoritarianism I find I sympathise with those who aren't forced into the sex trade in terms of protecting their rights to personal freedom.


    *Sooner or later issues with abuse, neglect, or wanting to feel valued or special are revealed. The original happy hooker, Xaviera Hollander, is an example.

    Plus, if you're happy you'll be frank, not defensive, if someone has questions.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  41. icon
    Ninja (profile), 6 Feb 2019 @ 8:27am

    Re: "They wouldn't do it if they didn't need the money"

    Not to mention "sex trafficking" is only allowed to truly thrive because we cant help being utter hypocrites and full of prejudice and taboo. If it's included as recognized labor with all the benefits and governmental protections this brings with then people would be safer to offer such thing, it would come out of the dark alleys and into the open where trafficking wouldn't prevail. And cops would be able to invest their money and manpower into catchin what's actually shady behavior instead of normal human stuff that exist since apes started exchanging stuff.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  42. icon
    fairuse (profile), 6 Feb 2019 @ 6:26pm

    Elected Officials + Cops + Streetwalkers

    Everyone knows where to go when buying sex on the street. Cops know what is going on. Women know City Hall is just tolerating business. Nobody wants to make a fuss.

    Runaways? Of course. Drug dealers love them.

    Then Feds go on advertising campaign to wipe out Sex Trafficking. That term is ridiculous. True human trafficking is international problem.

    But sound bite on tv is better than holding city responsible. Cops on corner wave to the women they arrested until the fed pony show arrives.

    Note: I am being a bit glib maybe. Have to because streets are a specific environment. My dead spook father was kicked out of Virginia for "Excessive Force" on important family's adult son after he beat up a girl (rumor said he set her up). Bad cop who knew? Hampton, VA I heard stuff.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  43. identicon
    Special Asshole Nathan Hopp, 6 Feb 2019 @ 9:29pm

    Re: Elected Officials + Cops + Streetwalkers

    The last part of your comment indicates that you have an interesting story to tell.

    Please....more?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  44. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 6 Feb 2019 @ 9:34pm

    Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    Well: approaching prostitutes as if they are animals in a zoo, or bacteria under a microscope is problematic for me., re

    • conversed with are very defensive and unwilling to discuss sexual health issues such as the proliferation of hard-to-treat STI-

    Maybe approach them the same way you approach a plumber, whose job it is to unclog shitballs in your toilet.

    Respect goes a long way towards gaining good service, and trust.

    When was the last time you had a talk with your plumber about typhoid, e -coli, or other heinous diseases?

    I will wait for your response....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  45. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 6 Feb 2019 @ 9:38pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    ALSO:

    I have never known a umber who didnt also have a few issues too, abuse /drug /alcohol, etc.

    But you never hear of abolitionists or other moral panic inducing scum crying out that we need to save plumbers from shit, and even fewer whores choose trade school to learn plumbing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  46. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 7 Feb 2019 @ 2:28am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    My question to them: How do you minimise and manage the health risks you're exposed to, e.g. STIs, bearing in mind that barrier methods are not effective against all of them?

    I don't approach anyone like an animal in a zoo whether I approve of what they do for a living or not.

    My own health risks from my job include RSI, deep vein thrombosis, eye strain, and stress-related illnesses.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  47. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 7 Feb 2019 @ 2:30am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    If we're going to moral panic over anything it ought to be against dishonesty. Start there, and everything else will fall into place.

    I'm not an abolitionist; there's no point in taking an authoritarian approach to a demand-side issue.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  48. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 7 Feb 2019 @ 2:31am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    RE: dishonesty, I'd start with politicians.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  49. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 7 Feb 2019 @ 9:39am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    Dishonesty ? In what context? And isnt that really a form of whataboutism?

    Because first of all -whats your stake in it? How is my case/her case /their case of clap YOUR business?

    Imnn ot trying to be rude, but I sense a bit of ambiguity in your argument, not least because you are neither a client, nor a service provider in that industry.

    But unfortunately, you are arguing from a position of ambiguous authority, in that you are just one petson with an opinion, about something you seem not to know much about, and worse, your main concern boils down to a sort of moral judgement /shame based approach: your main query to sex workers begins with they are pre -judged as “dirty”which has ethical, moral, and, in extrapolation -legal issues.

    Same old, same old.

    I cant speak for the universal, monolithic “sex worker”but I can say from personal experience that all sex entails RISK whether its with your husband /wife /sex worker, etc.

    And: with the exception of a few poor drug addicts and girls with mental health issues ~cum ~prostitutes I have known, the vast majority of sex workers excercise extraordinary measures to stay clean, and use barriers- but also excercise good judgement.

    And, among those (and I have known thousands )these also have an extraordinary sense of who amongst their clients is a risk, and who is clean.

    Vaginas and penises (and the people who have and use them for pleasurable outcomes) are not rocket science, although I understand why some might find the analogy fitting -or find these organic exchanges complicated.

    And of those who find them complicated, these seem to lack not only basic sex education, but also suffer from fallacies and uninformed opinions of all kinds.

    My favorite response I ever heard from a whore to her self -righteous client who asked about whether she was “clean”or not was this: she said “Oh, Im dirty. Please dont come.”

    But really, I would like to know: when was the last time you grilled your plumber about typhoid; or grilled your waitress about HPV and salmonella ; or grilled your medical doctor about the INCREDIBLY high risk of staph infections in his office?

    Because without that type of across the board concern, your questioning prostitutes seems kind of disingenuous.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  50. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 7 Feb 2019 @ 10:00am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: so confused, someone help?

    I just saw this, from your earlier comment:

    -As long as they keep it where I can't see it, I don't see any reason to get involved. It's when their activities invite creepy weirdos into places where I live or work that I have a problem with them.-

    This comment, is, in effect, the sum and total of the disastrous, abolitionist /Fabian approach, aka, the gender-lesbian backed “Swedish Model,”which posits a sort of Utopian -authoritarian -Newspeak can bring harmony nbetween capitalism and socialism, by looking the other way, but in fact, in prostitution issues, renders even the sons and brotherscof prostitutes as pimps themselves:

    https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/25/20040425-102740-9436r/

    The Swedish Model is really a time -thieving bullying of prostitutes, and “out of sight, out of mind” only works as well as the rest of Fabian strategies: like the MIC /PIC /DVIC, it allows the state to attack and violate individuals while no one is looking.

    And, as SESTA /FOSTA and even VAWA have demonstrated, its a win for the unacvountable state, at the literal expense of the citizen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  51. icon
    Uriel-238 (profile), 7 Feb 2019 @ 1:12pm

    Disease control for sex workers

    The situation with STIs is very commonly misunderstood. First of all, the most commonly transmitted infectious diseases through sex are ones that are commonly transmitted through non-sexual vectors. A pro is far more likely to catch influenza from a john than gonorrhea.

    How do we, in our society, protect ourselves from non-sexually transmitted diseases? Not very well. Most of us are not even keen on getting flu shots, and yet we force our infected workers to drug themselves up and come in (and pretend they're not infectious). And very often they succeed in transmitting the disease to everyone who shares their lunch room and every adjacent cubicle, well, we know how those people are going to take care of themselves too. I get to hear often from my wife about bugs that go around the office because people cannot afford to stay home, even on a sick day.

    Curiously, the porn industry has been served well by our overwhelming fear of STIs. Most of our talent go through monthly test batteries (including HIV tests that detect early on). And it's a known and respected part of the industry culture that those who are infected are taken care of while they recover, since we don't want our pornstars driven to desperation to work while infected, thereby putting others out of work as well. It also doesn't hurt that most performers only have sex in narrow windows, a couple days of shooting for one scene, maybe two or three scenes a year. As a result, everyone is tested, has paperwork and is safe.

    Does a similar system apply to prostitutes? In the higher-ends, yes. and this was facilitated in the pre-FOSTA days when hookers could exchange information on line without susceptibility to over eager morality police and law enforcement. A diseased john could be flagged and blackballed much the way a violent john or non-payer john could be. That's all changed thanks to our morality police needing to sweep sex-work back into the dark, killing all the sex-work support sites along with online classified ad sites.

    Now to be fair, we don't actually know how the infection rate of prostitutes regarding STIs measures the the infection rate of the general population. Both are difficult to measure. We humans are a randy bunch and pass our fluids around a lot whether or not we're doing it commercially. (And despite all efforts by the Church to regulate sexuality, which they have totally failed to manage even among their own clergy, let alone their laity.) STIs spread around more in mainstream circles where casual sex is regarded as adulterous or immoral, is hidden more, and tests are received less, rather than in sex positive circles in which casual sex is...regarded casually, and it's considered proper hygiene to get tested every three-to-six months. A lot of healthy sex is going on when we treat sex as healthy.

    Our best option regarding STIs ultimately is to treat them much the way we do I's that are T'd by Non-S vectors, and that's to crack them open and vaccinate the population like it could be the next great influenza if we aren't vigilant. Our failure to take HIV seriously is directly responsible for the AIDS pandemic, which we are fighting to this day (and if we look at our history remains the last great plague of humankind, at 30,000,000 deaths.)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  52. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 7 Feb 2019 @ 9:52pm

    Re: Disease control for sex workers

    Spot on, Uriel.

    “A pro is far more likely to catch influenza from a john than gonorrhea”

    These morality police MAKE sex dirty, not the other way around.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  53. icon
    Wendy Cockcroft (profile), 8 Feb 2019 @ 2:27am

    Re: Re: Disease control for sex workers

    In my line of business I can ask for a risk assessment and method statement from anyone in our allied trades, and they provide it straight up without freaking out or taking it personally. That's a job like any other.

    Every trade has risks, many of which can directly or indirectly affect the public as well as our colleagues. Yes, this includes diseases from leptospiriosis to botulism, etc. I can discuss these risks with anyone in catering, cleaning, plumbing, etc. but I can't discuss it with you guys.

    NOT a job like any other, then.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  54. identicon
    SA Church Lady, 8 Feb 2019 @ 7:58am

    Re: Re: Re: Disease control for sex workers

    Really?

    What line of work are you in -health inspections? I thought you were a webpage designer or something.

    re: “ I can ask for a risk assessment and method statement from anyone in our allied trades, and they provide it straight up Im not trying to be difficult, but I find your answer lacking, and not fully aware of the facts. ”

    And I seriously doubt you ask these others in allied trades if they have STIs. Or if you screen offiice workers for hemmorhoids (a health risk, that entails hand washing habits /ecolu /etc. ) , or quiz roof installers about previous broken backs (a health risk, AND an insurance risk ), or as I stated -do you ask your waitress if she washed her hands,after she tinkled?

    Because, the facts are, that many waitresses are also sex workers too! And lets talk about the other health and beauty industries, while on the topic : filthy hair salons, nail parlirs, massage places, all crawling with bacterias, funguses , expectorants, etc.

    So-something like 20% of men have visited prostitutes, or sex workers, which means that you should also be asking THEM about STIs -but I am certain you dont.

    I think your rationalization of sex -shaming prostitutes,falls somewhere between unfair, and disingenuous, but have noted that you are generally pro -legalisation.

    As I said-and I ask that you verify it -how often do you quiz other workers about infectious diseases?

    But sex work is only dirty in the imaginations of those who fetishize it, rather than comprehend it.

    And its only a “different line of work ”to those who find it to be so; to those who commoditize sex in their own minds, as somehow different than other necessary work.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  55. icon
    bellamy Reyes (profile), 16 Mar 2020 @ 11:46pm

    Qualcomm Snapdragon 865

    Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 comes with 5G technology but adding new chipset, maybe they will embedded it in the upcoming processor snapdragon 865 Plus.
    Check how : https://geekrepublics.com/qualcomm-snapdragon-865-plus-processor/

    link to this | view in thread ]


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