Without Demand There Would Be No Supply: How Men Can End Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Wednesday, March 3, 12:00 - 1:30pm
Targeting Women in Armed Conflict: Trafficking, Prostitution and Pornography
Friday, March 5, 10:00 - 11:30am
Mass Marketing Prostitution: Sexual Exploitation as Entertainment
Friday, March 5, 12:00 - 1:30pm
Without Demand There Would Be No Supply: How Men Can End Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Lead Sponsor: UNANIMA International
Wednesday, March 3, 12:00 - 1:30pm
Panelists Include:
Aaron Cohen, Author, Slave Hunter| Catherine Ferguson, UNANIMA International
Agnete Strøm, Women’s Front of Norway | Teresa Ulloa Ziaurriz, CATW - Latin America and the Caribbean
Anas Aremeyaw Anas, The New Crusading Guide
Moderated By:
Esohe Aghatise, Associazione IROKO Onlus
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Targeting Women in Armed Conflict: Trafficking, Prostitution and Pornography
Friday, March 5, 10:00 - 11:30am
Panelists Include:
Rachel Eapen Paul, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) | Yanar Mohamed, Organization of Women’s Freedom
Jean Enriquez, CATW – Asia Pacific | Teresa Ulloa Ziaurriz, CATW - Latin America and the Caribbean
Jimmie Briggs, Author, Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War
Moderated By:
Malka Marcovich, CATW – Europe
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Mass Marketing Prostitution: Sexual Exploitation as Entertainment
Lead Sponsor: Maryknoll Sisters
Friday, March 5, 12:00 - 1:30pm
Panelists Include:
Gail Dines, Stop Porn Culture| Malka Marcovich, CATW - Europe
Dorchen Leidholdt, CATW International| Jonathan Walton, Poet/Activist
Anas Aremeyaw Anas, The New Crusading Guide
Moderated By:
Norma Ramos, CATW International
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All panels will be held at the International Social Justice Commission of the Salvation Army
221 E. 52nd Street (between 2nd & 3rd Avenues)
For more information about CATW, please visit our website at
www.catwinternational.org
A Guide for Mothers, Grandmothers, and Others, for Helping a Girl Caught in Prostitution or Sex Trafficking. download manual
Guía dirigida a madres, abuelas y otras personas para ayudar a jóvenes atrapadas en la prostitución o la trata. download manual
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Did Missing DNA Thwart Hunt For Serial Killer
posted by Elisabeth Rainsberger, blogger for Prostitution Research & Education
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Article link below
"We don’t want to look under the rock that was Jackson’s real life. As with so many other things, we don’t want to know."
Herbert article here
Check out readers' responses to Herbert's notion that many people insist on fantasy, adamantly refusing to know what is painful, sexist, and racist in the world. here
Excerpts from a few comments are listed below.
104. On all levels there has been an abdication of ADULTHOOD,...In the name of cultural, social and sexual freedom,...we have instead opted for preying on the most vulnerable members of our society and across the board we have gorged on a culture of cheap consumerism....A chronic, impulsive abdication of all responsible business practices that led to the complete financial meltdown we live with today
163. The predations of Michael Jackson are simply a manifestation of the 'it's all good', 'who are we to judge', and 'hey, I just wanna have fun' mentality that is propogated by the entertainment and media industries. Chickens. Home. Roost.
173. here is a man that bleaches himself, basically buys white children and we're supposed to regard him as a symbol of black america…To paraphrase spike lee from a few days ago-black folks had better not hear anyone speaking bad about michael jackson. come again?? Really?? Barack Obama is the leader of the free world, but black america still feels the need to rally around michael jackson as its champion? Come on, that is insulting.
176 "We don’t want to look under the rock that was Jackson’s real life."
To be fair, we don't want to look under the rock that is OUR real life.
-- Sanctimonious political blowhards who talk about "the sanctity of marriage" and "family values" who turn out to be the most egregious hypocrites.
-- Congress being commanded to stand in silence in respect for ... MIchael Jackson?!!! Understandable, when you consider a national holiday for the horrific Christopher Columbus.
--Our delusional trust in "free markets", the "financial system", alleged "regulators", bought and sold elected officials and investment charlatans.
--Belief that "God" is a violent real estate agent (MIddle East), speaks to gay bashers, domestic and foreign terrorists, et al and tells them whom to hate and maim, demands institutionalized inferiority of women and has, apparently, all the needy and dysfunctional qualities of a very troubled pre-adolescent boy in need of psychotherapy.
We are not yet able to conduct our business as non-delusional adults
191. How do we respond to Herbert's thesis? Unthinkable as it may be in our society of where fast trumps thoughtfulness, one should reflect on how we might see our nation's reality as it truly is; and make daily personal choices to get a grip on how much we feed the cancerous growth of a culture which rewards mindless, adolescent behavior cloaked as acceptable social interaction.
239. Whatever his tremendous talents were we should not be praising and idolizing a pedophile. There's something quite repulsive about all the crying and all the adulation from these fans.
247. Is it really that weird or odd that in the United States, a rich young Black man might grow up to feel he would be better liked, considered more successful, but most of all, safer in a white-skin than a Black one?
Yes, he was trying to step outside of and leave reality behind. But I ask you, what exactly was the reality being offered to him as a young Black man? We want Black boys to head towards manhood with full macho-ness, while society has made clear that once they embrace that manhood, they will be targeted for violence and death.
We want to pretend that children can be repeatedly physically and sexually abused, and then expect them to grow-up to be adults who are completely at ease with their bodies and sexuality. If that’s not an entire society living in a fantasy world, then what is? And we want to pretend that they then won’t turn around and hurt others in exactly the same way they were hurt. Instead of seeing their actions as a cry for real help, all we do as a society is condemn.
260. Americans by their nature don't like the truth, truth inherently causes pain because just as in life not all news is good news so much of the time the truth is told it makes people uncomfortable.
Be it Michael Jacksons sordid life or the fact that Ronald Reagan was not a great President the people don't like the truth. The people never wanted the truth about New Orleans and how many people really died through government failure or the inability to if not repair New Orleans at least to clean it up.
Michael Jackson is just a microcosm of our society as a whole, they just don't want the truth.
270. "We" are all responsible -- each and every one of us. Because every day we look the other way while horrific injustice and abuse takes place: around the world, and right next door, and perhaps right in the next room.
… "We" are all Michael Jackson in a way: terrified of the world, self-loathing, trapped in our fantasyland, yet fascinated by the glitz and the parasitic hype that surrounds us…. We deify the ethically and psychologically deformed, glorify the hypocrite, mouth empty moralisms, kowtow to money and influence, regardless of its source. We want instant gratification, and we undermine serious, honest attempts at dialog, growth, and reform. And, for most, when the time comes to stand up and be counted for something worthwhile, we turn away and melt into the herd, hoping there is safety in numbers
294. Justice was the roadblock that careened his existence off the landscape- and was the failure of our society. As a society everyones needs would be better served if he was in jail right now.
330. One word can be applied to what you describe...narcissism. The root cause of the greed, excess, and avoidance of reality you describe comes from a culture which has over-indulged self-love and extreme individualism; Michael Jackson, the spectacle of reality TV, the rise of celebrity culture.
363. This is a seminal moment in human history. The Roman Empire relied too much on a standing military abroad, slaves at home, lead-tainted wine, and feeding Christians to the lions to dull its citizens to the long-term consequences of their unsustainable lifestyle. Rome's empire lasted half a millennium. Ours will be lucky to last half that long. Either we get it right now or we moonwalk our way into civilized oblivion.
373. What is good about Herbert's piece is that it does not make the mistake of blaming our decadence as a society on a loss of "family values," but rather on a tendency to indulge our fantasies about the potential for greed and unrestrained capitalism to shield us from reality. When did the American dream become a bubble designed to keep us hiding from our obligations to one another?
394. Our corporate MSM seems to be saying: "Michael Jackson was a really great entertainer and a good guy. Except for all of those children he molested."
427. The fact that he named ALL of his children after himself, girl included, is also a clue to his narcissism.
448. Michael Jackson was exploited as a child and as an adult. He in turn exploited children and some adults. He acquired 3 children by paying for them, lied that they were his biological children, and kept their heads covered so no one would know. His closest associates apparently never knew right from wrong and were unwilling to tell him "no". If he really weighed 112 pounds at death he should have been in a hospital. Obviously nobody really cared about him.
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
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
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
Proposition K conceals the inhumane nature of prostitution and cripples the efforts of law enforcement, human rights groups and social service agencies to assist those who seek escape from sex-traffickers.
See the DA's full statement here and join local and national opponents of Measure K, keep up with press coverage and breaking news. We encourage you to support No on K: Committee to End Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation.
]]>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/opinion/23sat2.html?ref=opinion
The Federal Trafficking and Victims Protection Act of 2000 was an ambitious attempt to rescue women and children who are smuggled into the country as sex slaves and to step up prosecution of the pimps and traffickers who drive this ghastly business. It has fallen short on both counts.
The law is now up for reauthorization, and Congress must strengthen it and extend protections and services to victims born in the United States.
The legislation provides federal funds to local trafficking task forces made up of prosecutors, law enforcement officials and social service groups. The social service groups are supposed to help identify victims and then provide them with the guidance and support they need to rebuild their lives.
According to federal estimates as many as 17,000 people — most of them women and children — are brought into this country and forced to work in brutal and inhumane conditions, often as prostitutes. The 42 federally funded task forces that have been set up have only been able to identify a small fraction of those victims.
There are many reasons for this. Traffickers are experts at moving people around without being detected. They also train the women they exploit to fear the police. The task forces are often understaffed, with too few investigators to do the job effectively. That needs to change if the country is going to get at this problem.
Prosecutors are also having a hard time making cases against traffickers and pimps. Even victims who are not too terrified to testify, must meet a very difficult standard. They must prove that they did not consent to become prostitutes and did so because of “force, fraud or coercion.”
The House reauthorization would help prosecutions by adding the Mann Act’s somewhat easier-to-prove standards that calls for prosecution of pimps who “persuade, induce, entice” women into prostitution. The Senate should add that language as well.
The social service groups that help prostitutes on the streets have zeroed in on another serious shortcoming: the government’s failure to protect and support sexually exploited women and children born in this country. The House reauthorization requires the Justice Department to conduct a study of domestic victims so that there is at least an understanding of the scale of the problem. That would be a start but is not enough.
Congress was right to take on the problem of sexual trafficking. Now it needs to pass a more effective law; one that will provide real protection and help for all exploited women and children.
]]>And - no surprise - both countries have progressive laws on the books that focus on buyers and sellers of women in prostitution, rather than criminalizing the women themselves.
See August 11, 2008 article about Republic of Korea's Minister of Gender Equality signing a statement against violence against women, which includes mention of a comprehensive action plan to prevent prostitution as one aspect of eliminating violence against women. click here
The United States needs a Minister for Gender Equality. We could learn a lot from Sweden and Korea.
Melissa Farley
]]>The US military has used psychologists to assist in the practice of torture, now it's funding psychological research on the use of mind control as a weapon of destruction. This is nothing new - similar research was conducted in the 1950s-1980s. The American Psychological Association has miserably failed to oppose these practices, while other groups such as Physicians for Human Rights and Psychologists for Social Responsibility have taken far more ethical stands against psychologists' participation in torture and mind control.
The National Science Foundation, through Project Minerva (they love being perverse. She's the goddess of wisdom) is offering $50 million to fund psychological counterinsurgency programs that further military goals of the United States. For a chilling analysis of this program, please read Tom Burghardt's Militarizing the Social Sciences click here For those of you who know the ways that pimps use mind control, this will be all-too familiar.
Melissa Farley
]]>This prejudice of pimps, johns, and their sympathizers against the poorest women and against those who are addicted is sickening and hypocritical. I think it's especially important for all of us to watch out for class-based arguments that ignore the fundamental human rights violations in ALL prostitution, whether she is a scrub girl, a junkie whore, or a so-called high-class escort. Once she's in the room with a john, it's all the same oppression.
Melissa Farley