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.
Bob Herbert
Behind the Facade
New York Times July 3, 2009
Herbert describes US culture, like Jackson, as extremely immature, grotesquely irresponsible, and as refusing to know the truth of things. Herbert sees a misogynist, pedophiliac U.S. of the 1970's through the 1990s as hidden behind a "spasm of the culture opting for fantasy over reality."
"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.
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
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
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
I was listening to San Francisco talk radio on July 28, 2008 and heard both a legal Nevada pimp and a caller refer to women in street prostitution as "scrub girls." A few years ago, I heard a similar prejudice expressed. A proponent of decriminalized prostitution referred contemptuously to "junkie street whores."
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
A post about a woman who'd been brutally assaulted as part of a production at kink.com in San Francisco appeared on Luke Ford's blog www.lukeisback.com on January 10, 2008. There were 18 responses, including my own. After 5 days, the thread was removed from his site. I have reason to believe that this account is substantially true. What is really going on at kink.com? What can we do about it?
Melissa Farley
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WARNING If you open the red torture photo link directly below this paragraph, you will see two photographs of people being tortured. One is the widely-circulated photograph of a hooded figure with electrical wires of man being tortured at Abu Ghraib. At the same link, you will also see a photograph of a woman being tortured. This photograph of torture is from the website kink.com. The woman's face is masked and unrecognizable and she has on a thong that covers her genitals. Her breasts are concealed here. She is shackled by the ankles and hung with her arms tied to the wall over her head. The woman is being electrically tortured by someone off-camera with what looks like a cattle prod. All you can see is his arm with the cattle prod. There is also what appears to be an electrical outlet or battery in front of her. |
kink.com is a torture pornography production company. In January 2007 kink.com purchased a large building in San Francisco, in the Mission District, a community that is in need of affordable housing, that has many at-risk youth, and that for many years has been identified as the Latino heart of San Francisco. In February 2007, the Mission Armory Community Collective demonstrated against kink.com's use of a large and valuable piece of San Francisco real estate - for torture pornography production. Instead of using the block-long building for torture pornography, the Mission Armory Community Collective has proposed that we use of the Mission Armory for affordable housing, a community center, and a space for community nonprofits.
Torture and humiliation are commonplace in pornography. Kink.com is where women and some men are filmed for pornography named Men in Pain, Wired Pussy, Hogtied, Water Bondage, Ultimate Surrender, Fucking Machines, Sex and Submission, and Whipped Ass. Pornography like that on kink.com is real action taken against real women. Observing the making of torture pornography at kink.com, author Stephen Elliott commented: " This is not fake. Satine and Donna are truly in role. Satine is feeling submissive and Donna is definitely on top. Donna is hurting Satine; Satine is being hurt."
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/02/07/kink/
kink.com advertises filmed prostitution. Prostitution is advertised online on sites like kink.com where it is indistinguishable from pornography. Pornography is a specific type of prostitution, in which prostitution occurs and, among other things, is documented. The women whose prostitution appears in pornography are prostituted women. The Internet is one way that women are trafficked into prostitution.
Another reader of Elliott's Salon.com article said the site was reminiscent of African women's genital mutilation. Why is there such a great silence regarding the torture of women in prostitution during the making of pornography? Here in San Francisco some embrace torture pornography as hip, sexy, liberal. Lots of folks are afraid to criticize pornography for fear of being labelled fundamentalist, antisex, or homophobic. "Yet when we criticize McDonald's for its unhealthy food, environmentally destructive business practices, and targeting of children through manipulative advertising, does anyone ask whether we are "anti-food"? Of course not, because no one conflates McDonald's with food; we recognize that there are many ways to prepare food, and it's appropriate to critique the more toxic varieties. The same holds for pornography; pursuing a healthy sexuality does not mean we have to support toxic pornography." Bob Jensen and Gail Dines http://www.alternet.org/story/47677
The existence of state-sponsored torture is decried by social critics on the Left, yet the identical treatment of women in prostitution is ignored by those same analysts. Many view torture by the United States of prisoners at Abu Ghraib with shock and horror, yet at the same time consider the identical acts perpetrated (and photographed) against prostituted women to be sexual entertainment. Condemning the Bush administration's tolerance for torture in the war on terror, one journalist noted the gleeful sadism of guards at Abu Ghraib. Yet political pundits maintain silence regarding the same gleeful sadism of men toward women and gay men like that seen at kink.com.
Specific acts commonly perpetrated against women in prostitution and pornography are the same as the acts defining what torture is according to international conventions: verbal sexual harassment, unwanted sex acts, sexual mocking, physical sexual harassment such as groping.
Continue reading "KINK.COM in SAN FRANCISCO: Women and Gay Men's Abu Ghraib" »
Maggie Hays in Glasgow has put up a new website. Check it out!
Go to www.againstpornography.org
It's great to have this new site up, especially considering that Myspace just kicked 29,000 registered sex offenders off their site.
Go to www.foxnews.com
Don't you wonder how many UNregistered sex predators are still hanging out at Myspace?
Go to click here
This site is a sweet firecrackerish 4th of July present. Here's to freedom from pornography and prostitution.
This site really DOES have 101 great, creative, fun, subversive action plans.
Here are the first 10 out of 101:
1. Don’t buy or use pornography or have any form of it in your house.
2. Don’t support companies that sell pornography. (I.e. Video stores that sell it, or hotels that rent or sell it. Porn-free hotels are listed at CleanHotels.com.
3. Don’t allow your partner, children, or anyone in your house to use pornography. If your partner won’t stop using pornography and it is clear they have no intention of doing so, end the relationship. (See information regarding children at the end of this list.)
4. If your partner is willing to consider ceasing to use pornography but is having difficulty doing so, and you want to salvage the relationship, insist that they get professional help. They must understand how it harms them, you, your relationship, and women. Make it clear why they need to stop and that they must do so or you will end the relationship.
5. To help ensure that a partner does not use pornography, or that they are held accountable if they do, you can use Internet filters such as the ones listed at TopTenReviews.com, and/or accountability software such as X3. If the professional help, an Internet filter, and/or accountability software doesn’t result in your partner ceasing to use pornography in a reasonable amount of time, then end the relationship.
6. If you are dating, bring up the issue of pornography early on and make it clear that you won’t tolerate a partner using it and why.
7. Don’t allow others around you to joke about pornography. Call them on it and make it clear the harms of pornography are no joke, and it’s not OK with you for them to make light of them.
8. Take the NoPornPledge, let others know about it, and encourage them to take the pledge themselves.
9. Encourage strict enforcement of rules concerning access or use of pornography in your work environment, or propose and get guidelines implemented if none exist. Solutions for filtering and monitoring pornography in business environments are available from ContentWatch.com.
10. Educate yourself about pornography so you can better educate others about its harms, and more effectively take action against those harms. (See educational resources and links throughout this list and at the bottom of it.)
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
http://www.caase.org/
1. Work to help women gain supportive housing and jobs that pay a living wage
2. Advocate for shelters and clinics equipped and staffed to offer medical and psychological treatment for women
3. Educate young girls and boys on the harms of prostitution and how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual exploitation
4. Challenge society’s sexist views of women. Fight against pornography and other forms of media that continue to objectify women
5. Change language- stop using words such as “pimp”, “ho” and “whore” and challenge your friends when they use similar language
6. Support legislation aimed at stopping sexual exploitation and expanding options for prostituted individuals
7. Make sure the needs of sexually exploited individuals are being addressed in the domestic violence community, the sexual assault community, among homeless rights advocates and among individuals working to fight substance addiction
8. Pressure local CAPS and police enforcement to go after those purchasing sex instead of those selling it
9. Hold media and financial institutions accountable in regards to the ads they run that promote prostitution
10. Raise public awareness! Host book clubs, film screenings and art projects to raise awareness about the issue. Also join in local awareness raising initiatives such as the upcoming Rescue and Restore campaign.
There’s a lot to be said for looking at prostitution and trafficking through the eyes of a 5th grader. Here is comedian Betsy Salkind talking about gentlemen’s clubs.
Go to click here
Then scroll down to the May 7 entry, underneath “Bush calls Queen a Mother” and you’ll see Ethel’s comments about gentlemen’s clubs. Here's her startup:
"There are a lot of billboards on the way to my school that advertise Gentlemen's clubs. They all have pictures of women who are dressed up like prostitutes and look like they are on roofies. I don't think these men are gentlemen, but I guess gentleman really means a man who likes to pay for women to service him...."
It is not possible to separate prostitution from trafficking, or prostitution from other kinds of violence against women. Incest usually precedes prostitution, pornography teaches men how to treat women, and johns try out on prostituted women what they later subject their wives to. Since johns like "something new," they buy trafficked women. This article by Bob Herbert connects the misogyny in US popular culture with the murders of schoolgirls in Pennsylvania.
Response to Duke lacrosse team sexual assaults
We are outraged by the commercial sexual exploitation and brutal gang rape of a young African-American woman student by white European-American members of Duke University's lacrosse team, who had hired her as an "exotic dancer” on March 13, 2006.
We deplore the ignorance or bigotry of those who describe the gang rape of an African American woman by white European American men as "complicated." Sexual exploitation and rape are not complicated-- they are acts of sexual violence and violations of human rights. Racism and class prejudice are an intrinsic part of men’s sexual assaults against women and are also intrinsic to commercial sex businesses. We must understand this crime for what it is: simultaneously a violent crime and an egregious abuse of sex, race, and class privilege.
The Durham community has held vigils and public protests against these horrific sexual assaults. There have been outpourings of support and rage at North Carolina Central University (the victim’s school), and at Duke University (the lacrosse team’s school). The district attorney seems to have taken the victim’s testimony seriously, and has threatened to charge Duke lacrosse team members with obstruction of justice for keeping silence to protect their brothers.
Charges were finally filed against two of the perpetrators of the crimes against the victim on April 17, 2006. The assault against this woman is both a race hate crime and a sex hate crime. Will there be justice in Durham North Carolina for this young woman? Will she ever heal from this nightmare? To sign on, email mfarley@prostitutionresearch.com
Jon Stewart's comment at the Oscars was accurate: a song valorizing pimps' lives mainstreams them as culturally hip. But few are saying anything at all about the lives of the women and kids they beat, rape, and exploit-to-death.
Today, the Black Pimp has replaced the Black Panther as role model. “Gangsta pimpology” in the USA permits the formerly colonized/enslaved man to vent his fury on the women and girls of his community. The image of the cold, in-charge pimp with his stable of ‘ho’s' has been accurately described as “toxic cultural product” that perpetrates ongoing harm (Abu-Jamal, M. (2001) Stolen Culture, http://awol.objector.org/mumia/stolenculture.html).
Before I post the words to the song about pimping that won the Oscar in 2006, here are some words from the brilliant actor, rapper, and performance artist Sarah Jones:
Title: your revolution - Sarah Jones
Release date: 2000
Credit: Words - Sarah Jones, Image - Christoph Wilhem/& Tobias Geye
Link: http://www.sarahjonesonline.com
your revolution
your revolution will not happen between these thighs
your revolution will not happen between these thighs
the real revolution
ain't about booty size
the Versaces you buys
or the Lexus you drives
and though we've lost Biggie Smalls
your Notorious revolution
will never allow you to lace no
lyrical douche in my bush
your revolution will not be you
killing me softly with Fugees
your revolution ain't gon' knock me up
without no ring and produce little future MCs
because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
your revolution
will not find me in the
backseat of a Jeep with LL
hard as hell
ya know, doin' it & doin' it & doin' it well
ya know, doin' it & doin' it & doin' it well
your revolution will not be you
smackin' it up, flippin' it, or rubbin' it down
nor will it take you downtown or humpin' around
because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
your revolution will not have me singin'
ain't no nigger like the one I got
your revolution will not be you
sending me for no drip drip VD shot
your revolution will not involve me feeling your nature rise
or helping you fantasize
because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
and no, my Jamaican brother, your revolution
will not make you feel boombastic and really fantastic
have you groping in the dark for that rubber wrapped in plastic
you will not be touching your lips to my triple dip of
french vanilla butter pecan chocolate deluxe
or having Akinyele's dream
a six-foot blowjob machine
you wanna subjugate your queen;
think I'ma put it in my mouth
just 'cause you made a few bucks
please brotha please!
your revolution will not be me tossing my weave
making believe I'm some caviar-eating, ghetto mafia clown
or me givin' up my behind just so I can get signed
or maybe have somebody else write my rhymes?
I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
your revolution makes me wonder, where could we go
if we could drop the empty pursuit of props and the ego
we'd revolt back to our Roots, use a little Common Sense, on a Quest
to make love De La Soul, no pretense...but
your revolution will not be you flexing your little sex and status
to express what you feel;
your revolution will not happen between these thighs
will not happen between these thighs
will not be you shaking and me faking between these thighs
because the revolution, that's right, I say the real revolution, you
know the real revolution, when it finally comes, it's gon' be real.
***********############**************############***************############***********#######
On the other hand, here are the reactionary words to the Oscar winning song,
It's hard out here for a pimp:
You know it's hard out here for a pimp (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to get this money for the rent (you ain't knowin)
For the Cadillacs and gas money spent (you ain't knowin)
[1] Because a whole lot of bitches talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
[2] Will have a whole lot of bitches talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
[Djay]
In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in the streets
Gotta couple hoes workin on the changes for me
But I gotta keep my game tight like Kobe on game night
Like takin from a ho don't know no better, I know that ain't right
Done seen people killed, done seen people deal
Done seen people live in poverty with no meals
It's fucked up where I live, but that's just how it is
It might be new to you, but it's been like this for years
It's blood sweat and tears when it come down to this shit
I'm tryin to get rich 'fore I leave up out this bitch
I'm tryin to have thangs but it's hard fo' a pimp
But I'm prayin and I'm hopin to God I don't slip, yeah
[Chorus]
[Djay]
Man it seems like I'm duckin dodgin bullets everyday
Niggaz hatin on me cause I got, hoes on the tray
But I gotta stay paid, gotta stay above water
Couldn't keep up with my hoes, that's when shit got harder
North Memphis where I'm from, I'm 7th Street bound
Where niggaz all the time end up lost and never found
Man these girls think we prove thangs, leave a big head
They come hopin every night, they don't end up bein dead
Wait I got a snow bunny, and a black girl too
You pay the right price and they'll both do you
That's the way the game goes, gotta keep it strictly pimpin
Gotta have my hustle tight, makin change off these women, yeah
[Chorus]
