Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation follows a biracial girl named Little Miss So And So, from age 4 into adulthood. Told in a series of prose poems by Christine Stark, Nickels' lyrical and inventive language conveys the dissociative states born of a world formed by persistent and brutal incest and homophobia. The dissociative states enable the child's survival and, ultimately, the adult's healing. The content is both heartbreaking and triumphant.
'Crime After Crime': Documentary on Debbie Peagler
Debbie Peagler was serving a life sentence for her involvement in her boyfriend's murder - a boyfriend who was abusive and had forced her into prostitution.
Her case was picked up pro bono by two San Francisco area lawyers, Joshua Safran and Nadia Costa, after a law was passed in 2003 that allowed incarcerated women who were victims of domestic violence to introduce new evidence.
Berkeley filmmaker Yoav Potash spent years chronicling the case, and the result is the documentary "Crime After Crime," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, played recently at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and opens in theaters Friday. It has also been picked up by the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Potash, Safran and Costa sat down with The Chronicle at the SFJFF screening at the Castro Theatre.
Potash: You meet (Peagler), and you can immediately tell she'd been through hell with all the abuse she's suffered, all the injustices she's suffered, and yet she's an inspiring, uplifting person to be around.
Costa: We thought it would be 3 to 6 months; 7 1/2 years later, here we sit!
Potash: There's a lot that we'd like to see in terms of domestic violence laws in America. (The laws) are an outgrowth of the women's movement, which itself is not that old of a phenomenon. California is the only state that has this particular law that allows incarcerated survivors of domestic violence to present their evidence to the court proactively. New York state has a similar resolution that's been proposed; hopefully that will be passed, and with California and New York the models, other states will follow suit. So what we're engaged in is a nonprofit project called "Debbie's Campaign," where we're using the film to help reduce domestic violence, to reduce unlawful incarceration and to support full and fair consideration of those kinds of laws.
Costa: Abuse against women and children today exist because as a society we want to look away. As long as we do that, it will continue.
Starts August 5, 2011 at San Francisco area theaters.
Continue reading "Must-see film about prostitution and the criminal justice system" »
Candice Trummell is Co-Director of Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking. She was the Chair of the Nye County Commission. Trummell cooperated with the FBI, wearing a wire and despite danger to herself, obtained evidence that resulted in legal pimp Joe Richards' confession to having bribed her regarding zoning of his brothel. Years later, the county commissioners appear to have been paid off and are willing to let him continue to operate a brothel even though he admitted to bribing a politician.
Wherever legal prostitution happens, this kind of corruption of public officials is commonplace.
Neither candidate for US Senate has made a public statement about legal prostitution in the state.
- Melissa Farley
Continue reading "Link between political corruption and legal prostitution" »
Kathleen Barry's new book celebration sponsored by Code Pink
Sunday October 24th 2:00pm
The Women's Building Audre Lorde Room, 2nd Floor
3543 18th Street San Francisco, CA 94110
$5-$10
Barry previously wrote Female Sexual Slavery, Prostitution of Sexuality: Global Exploitation of Women, Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist, Vietnamese Women in Transition
"How can we end war if we don't understand the makings of war? Kathleen Barry's Unmaking War, Remaking Men is a remarkable blend of history, current war-making and soul-searching that unravels the very structures of war. Her fascinating questions--ranging from "Why don't the Geneva Conventions protect the rights of combatants?" to "Why are women in the peaceful nation of Costa Rica subjected to outrageous levels of masculine violence?"--lead to her analysis that the unmaking of war requires the rehumanization of men. Read it, get energized and join us in Barry's ultimate challenge: replacing the paradigm of war with a paradigm of shared human consciousness based on empathy."
--Medea Benjamin, cofounder, CODEPINK and Global Exchange
For event information:
(415) 355-0300
nancymancias@codepink.org
A lot! Let me know what you think. Melissa Farley
Step One - 'Us and Them'
Step Two - 'Obey'
Step Three 'Do Them Harm'
Step 4 'Apathy'
Step 5 - 'Exterminate'
May 20, 2010
United Press International
SAN FRANCISCO, May 20 (UPI) -- An advertisement placed in a California newspaper said Craiglist's adult services section is "the choice of traffickers" in sex with underage girls.
The half-page ad, addressed to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle, calls for Craigslist to discontinue its adult services section, which generated $36 million in revenues this year, and included the experiences of two teenage girls who said they were forced into prostitution via Craigslist, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.
Continue reading ""Craigslist is Trafficking Women" open appeal to Craig" »
by Nekome, a survivor of prostitution
February 2010
They say prostitution is a choice? How did I choose prostitution? I didn't choose prostitution, it chose me. Just as child sexual assault and neglect had chose me. I was not a willing participant, but lured into a life I saw as my only option. The words choose means to select from a number of possibilities; pick by preference. Choose is a term loosely used when referring to woman in prostitution, most of the time poverty ignorance or pimps lure women into prostitution by selling them dreams. Most of the times a lifetime of poverty play a role in the choice.
My story is about a childhood cut short, quickly interrupted with sex, drugs, neglect and mental abuse. Some people inherit money, ethics, values or property from their family. I inherited generations of ignorance. My grandmother and mother were uneducated, neglected and abused. Early on the torch was passed down to me. My story is about a child who knew before she could reach the tall shelf in the kitchen, that my greatest asset was my body.
This is an extremely helpful guide available in Spanish and English from Women's Justice Center, Santa Rosa, California.
A Guide for Mothers, Grandmothers, and Others, for Helping a Girl Caught in Prostitution or Sex Trafficking. download manual
Guida dirigida a madres, abuelas y otras personas para ayudar a juvenes atrapadas en la prostitucion o la trata. download manual
Let's clear up a misunderstanding. Men do not go to strip clubs and use prostituted women so that they can have sexual pleasure. All you have to do is turn on the television to know the truth. The often repeated scenario on television goes like this: man is angry with girlfriend or wife, and in response he goes out with the guys to use a woman in prostitution. It makes him feel like he is getting even with a woman he is angry at. Men use women in prostitution including strippers to express their anger at women.
Several times a year we hear about serial killers who kill large numbers of prostituted women, but they are not found until they kill a non-prostituting woman. That's because the murder of women who are prostituting is still a low priority for law enforcement, just as the prosecution of Johns is a low priority. It is law enforcement's failure when they fail to recognize women in prostitution as humans or the men who victimize them as predators. If law enforcement understood the real reason men used women in prostitution, they might be more effective.
In Milwaukee, over a two decade period, 20 women who had prostituted were found strangled. It wasn't until this year that, that police confirmed that a serial killer had been on the loose. The police even had the DNA of the perpetrator, but could not find him until this year. 20 women, human beings, strangled to death, with the perpetrator leaving DNA, and still the police could not find the perpetrator. Let me re-phrase that. 20 women, human beings, strangled to death, with the perpetrator leaving DNA, and the police did not want to find the perpetrator. I know that some police do recognize women in prostitution as human beings, but in this case, it took 20 years for those police officers to appear.
I propose that if Johns were rightfully treated as sexual predators, we would have their DNA, and they would be less likely to get away with numerous sexual crimes without being caught. Law enforcement doesn't like this idea. Why? Because many in law enforcement use women in prostitution including strippers. They don't want to have that taken away from them. It is a conspiracy of men. Men continue to protect each other's "right" to sex from women, even at the cost of women's lives - women who could be their daughters, sisters, mothers and wives.
Did Missing DNA Thwart Hunt For Serial Killer
posted by Jeanette R, blogger for Prostitution Research & Education
The president of City College, Gregory H. Williams has asked Elliot Spitzer to teach a course in Law and Public Policy. Meanwhile, Ashley Dupre, a victim of Elliot Spitzer, blogs about how she finds earning a living difficult because she has been unable erase the stain of scandal from her own name. In response, critics of Ms. Dupre post messages like, "You are nothing but a prostitute".
Elliot Spitzer, you are nothing but a misogynist and shame on City College. The reality is that Ms. Dupre does not have opportunities because she is a woman, not just because she was prostituted. She does not benefit from secret alliances with District Attorneys or College Presidents. If she wants any favors from them, it will have to be in exchange for sex.
posted by Elisabeth Rainsberger, blogger for Prostitution Research & Education
