Traffick Jamming

This story was all over the U.S. press in late June. No one seems to be noting what is obvious.
MAYBE SHE WAS HUNGRY. Why was her name and photo released but her john stays invisible? Why was she fined but the john was not fined? Has anyone noticed that she is one of the people who are most hard-hit by the triple whammy of sex, race, and class in the sex industry? Where are the social justice activists who could speak out in support of her? There's a deafening silence out there.

Woman pleads no contest in chips-for-sex case
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 (Associated Press)

A woman has been fined $1,142 after pleading no contest to prostitution charges after she was accused of accepting a box of chips for sex. Police said they arrested 36-year-old Lahoma Sue Smith in southeast Oklahoma City after finding her in her car with a man who told officers he knew he could find a prostitute in the area.
Smith told officers the man said he didn't have any money so she agreed to accept a $30 case of chips as payment.
The man was not charged and his name hasn't been released.
Information from: The Oklahoman, www.newsok.com
article here

Posted by mel at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Jackson Katz

Two excerpts:
One need not argue that boys and men who listen to Eminem will become rapist-murderers in order to maintain that misogynous music and lyrics play an important role in legitimating men's mistreatment of women by making it culturally acceptable and even "cool" for men to express sexist rage against women and then hide behind the pretense that "it's only a joke" if anyone takes it too seriously. That argument has long been discredited when it comes to racism. What's the difference when the oppression in question is sexism, or heterosexism?

In domestic violence advocacy, there is a term used to describe a situation where people contribute to an abusive man's behavior by their conscious actions, by their minimization of his crimes, or by their silence. It is called "colluding with the batterer." It is hard to avoid the conclusion that a society where radio stations continue to play Eminem's records, people continue to buy them, and critics continue to write about them while leaving out any condemnation of their vicious sexism, is a society that is in profound collusion with the batterer.

full article here

Posted by mel at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sydney Morning Herald

June 6, 2009

A Japanese software industry body has decided to ban computer games in which players simulate sexual violence against females, a spokesman said.

The industry move came after a Japanese computer game maker attracted furious protests from US rights campaigners against the game "RapeLay," which lets players simulate stalking and raping young girls.

In the game players earn points for acts of sexual violence, including following girls on commuter trains, raping virgins and their mothers, and then forcing them to have abortions.

US online retailer Amazon in February took RapeLay off its websites, but the game's Yokohama-based maker Illusion brushed off the protests, saying the game was made for the domestic market and abided by laws in Japan.

full article here

Posted by mel at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)