Traffick Jamming

Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia. Photo by Fernando Llano/AP

Prostitution hurts women in it, including the women in Cartagena's legal brothels. NPR's Scott Simon has been rethinking his understanding of prostitution - it's heartening to hear that while he previously thought it was harmless, now he sees prostitution as exploitive and frequently a result of desperate poverty, coercion, and trafficking. Janice Raymond points out these same connections and wonders why, when the US has a policy against military use of women in prostitution - the Secret Service appears to be exempt. While there has been extensive coverage on the US Secret Service scandal and its connection to terrorism, the potential danger to Obama, and the harms to the careers of the men involved--there has been no mention of the harms to the women in prostitution used by the agents.

Raymond and Simon ask why aren't the cases of the prostituted women being investigated for evidence of trafficking? Why is an international summit being held in a place where the exploitation of women is considered a normal activity? How is it that half of the people involved in the scandal are being ignored by the government, the media, and the public at large?

If the United States is serious about ending human trafficking, we should enforce existing policy. Swedish law, which understands that all prostitution - whether legal or not - is violence against women, would arrest the agents, probably fire them, and return them to Sweden. The challenge for us right now, as Simon and Raymond point out is to recognize the harms intrinsic to prostitution and then to take the next step--apply the laws to the sex buyers.

Kudos to Scott Simon and Janice Raymond for these excellent articles.

Take action: Call President Barack Obama and call on the U.S. government to implement a government-wide zero tolerance policy on the demand for commercial sex that fuels sex trafficking.

Phone: (202) 456-1111
Fax: (202) 456-2461

Click here to read complete articles

Posted by Melissa Farley at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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

Posted by Melissa Farley at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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'

Posted by Melissa Farley at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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" »

Posted by Melissa Farley at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Continue reading "How Prostitution Chose Me" »

Posted by Melissa Farley at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

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

Posted by at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)