* Beautiful Asian woman in her underwear wandering around with bloody thighs, collapses splaying her legs beautifully
* She can't remember her rape. So the lady cop says, with no preparation: "you were raped"
"I would never let myself be raped". Lady cop fails to advise that the definition of rape is that it is forced.
* She's looking at her bruises: "You got those bruises when he forced your legs apart". WTF. So far: she has not been offered any sort of on-screen support or counselling. The details of her rape have been thrusted onto her brutally.
* Of course the rape victim seems to be coping okay. Of course! She just seems vaguely puzzled she can't remember anything.
* Ooohh we've got victim-blaming getting nicely set up. She was trading diamonds and went home with a man they're pegging as the rapist. "It looks like a love connection" man cop says.
* Of course we've got the requisite female character providing conflict by suggesting the victim might be lying. It's always a woman.
* Ooh speculation and confusion! Rapists claims she consented, she can't remember - BUT SHE WAS ON HER PERIOD!
* Was under the influence of a drug that makes her compliant but incapable of remembering anything.
* Accused rapist downloads lots of rape porn. Also has a video of his rape of the woman and many many many many other woman, we get to see wonderfully fetishised footage of clothes being torn off.
* RAPEE WANTS TO WATCH HER OWN RAPE VIDEO. SHE HAS TO KNOW WHAT HE DID TO HER.
* Of course rapist has a female lawyer. Of course. TEH EVOL WOMENS BRING THIS ON THEMSELVES!!!!
* MORE footage of fetishised rape scenes.
* HOORAYE THEY'RE GOING TO PLASTER ALL THE VICTIM'S FACES OVER THE MEDIA TO TRY AND TRACK THEM DOWN!
* Oh yay! Slut-shaming! The rapist was using an escort service. Lady cop says "oh yay build a bimbo!" Website even has little input fields. They choose a girl from one video and put in her details. "Cup size?" "C" says one man cop. "D" says another and lady cop looks amused. Seriously, what the fuck?
* Large blown up photos of women's frightened, tear-streaked faces taped up on a board.
* Another vic who can't remember is told: "this man assaulted you". "No way." "Oh we have a video." "No." "You should watch the video."
* Lady cop says showing her vid would make her a victim when she isn't one right now - lack of memory makes it like it never happened. Male cop thinks it is an imperative!!! Otherwise it is THEIR FAULT!
* MALE COP RETURNS TO VIC'S HOME AND SHOWS HER HUSBAND THE RAPE VIDEO.
* HUSBAND WANTS TO KNOW WHY SHE LIED ABOUT WHY THE COPS WERE THERE.
* VIC WALKS IN SEES HERSELF BEING RAPED ON VIDEO!
* Once again lady cop is forced to talk about her own sexual assault. She did this the other week too, when she mistakenly thought one guy was a rapist and then thought she "owed" him an explanation. Whatever the hell.
* Now vic is getting to describe in graphic detail how her memory of the rape is slowly coming back.
* TESTIFY LADY COP SAYS. IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO STOP HIM! ONLY WAY! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!!!
* LET'S SEE IF JUSTICE IS SERVED!
* PORN! IT'S ALL PORN'S FAULT! HIS ABILITY TO ESTABLISH RIGHT FROM WRONG WAS DAMAGED AFTER WATCHING THOUSANDS OF VIDEOS OF WOMEN APPEARING TO ENJOY BEING FORCED!
* Lady cop says there's a connection between porn and rape. Denied by another male cop who enjoys some. YOU SEE WHAT WE DO ALL WEEK THEN GO HOME AND WATCH WOMEN BEING DEGRADED LADY COP SAYS!
* MALE COP SAYS WOMEN IN PORN IS LIKE A WHORE WORKING THE PIMP, STILL DON'T MAKE IT RIGHT!!!
* PORN MAKES NORMAL WOMEN WANT TO EMULATE HOOKERS LADY COPY SAYS
* Ah, we have another female testifying to the increased dopamine caused by watching porn is an ADDICTION that DROVE HIM TO IT!
* WOW! BUT IF PORN IS EASILY AVAILABLE THERE ARE LESS RAPES RECORDED! EVERYONE WHO WATCHES PORN IS A RAPIST, SECRETLY!
* Female doctor says rapist needs rehab not prison!
* WOW. THE WHOLE COURTOOM GETS TO SEE A WOMAN BEING RAPED.
* Hang on. Lady cop is getting blamed for vic remembering when... it was the male cope who took the video over and showed it to her and her husband... ?!?! But then again, why am I surprised?
* YAY! Another vic is forced to make a graphic confession in front of a bunch of strangers. But it's ok cos she's going to testify and he'll go to jail. Or so we assume as the detail of actual justice and punishment is rarely dealt with on this show.
* We are left with rapist screaming: I'M THE ONE YOU'LL NEVER FORGET.
I swear, what is this show? Softcore porn for hardcore misogynists?
I can't watch this show again. That would just be dumb.
Showing posts with label misogyny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misogyny. Show all posts
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
hang up those heels honey
this makes me angry
MORE slut-shaming and reinforcement of stigma. They always choose strippers for these reality TV shows about creating perfect little women, and then spend the duration of the show berating and humiliating and shaming a perfectly normal, lively young woman into being ashamed of herself.
And they choose them because it's "controversial" and "risque" and will get audiences watching. And of course reality TV shows manipulate certain behaviours out of people and cut and edit to create a persona standing in for the true individual. They choose people whose images they can craft to a certain stereotype. Like pro-wrestling, they have faces and heels. Strippers invariably become heels.
And no matter how much she may have loved her job, found empowerment and ownership and fun and freedom in it - she knows what she's expected to say. She's been transformed, she's been rescued, she's been delivered. She's seen the error of her ways and now she's going to toe the line, cross her legs and never, ever wear sequins again.
Oh god, that sounds so awful. I mean, crossing your legs is one thing (apply the right pressure and it can be fun, actually), but never wear sequins again?
Mitchell said she hoped to make a living "like a normal person" now.
Yes, because strippers are abnormal, beyond the fringes of society. Strippers are never mothers or students or artists or anyone who might live next door to you.
What is normality anyway? Why is it that stripping falls outside of it? Strippers pay rent/mortgages, have flat tyres, go shopping, schlub about in tracky-daks on days off. How is this not a normal life? Like any shift-worker they may work "odd" hours, but considering the degree to which stripping is integrated into the modern lifestyle, I don't understand why it's considered such an odd career option.
OH wait, I'm doing that thing again... that thing where I don't buy into societal sexphobia and misogyny. Right. Silly me.
"It's not something I want any more. I don't have any need to go back to stripping, I am happy with my studying and my new life."
If it is genuinely not something she wants - and notice that she says wants, which implies she wanted it before - then that is wholly her decision. I just hate to think she's had that wanting driven out of her by an exploitative system.
But I also note that she says "need" - to me this speaks of an association with brokenness, that a desire or need to strip is related to a fractured or abnormal personality. And this is so stigmatising, considering the huge variety of needs involved in people becoming strippers. Those needs are diminished and ignored by this attitude because it implies that "needs" can be fulfilled simply by living a "virtuous" life and having nothing to do with time constraints, mental health issues, money requirements, studying... none of the varying factors that really do contribute to a fulfilling life and that stripping can aid with.
It was after viewing video footage of herself behaving badly that the penny dropped for Mitchell.
Let me guess, one evening they got all the girls drunk and provoked them. After weeks and months of having "proper feminine behaviour" drummed into her, she was then put into a circle of judgement, forced to watch this footage whilst having horrible, damning words shouted into her ear.
Also, any "bad behaviour" of hers? Not related to stripping, actually. And the idea that it is, is just more othering BS.
You know, Gypsy Rose Lee was a lady too. There IS a gimmick in that shtick, Nicole. You should think about it.
It's my hope she's playing the system, saying what she knows they all want to hear (after all, who else of these ladies have appeared in the media recently?), and in a couple of months she'll land on the cover of FHM or something. I'll toast her when it happens.
(Holy cow, she could make so much money being the "feature dancer from Ladette to Lady! Nicole, c'mon!!! Every strip club in Australia would fall over themselves to have you on their stage! CAPITALISE, GIRL!)
On a side note... I don't always feel functional and I tend to avoid checking my work email when this is so. There's nothing more annoying than finally feeling up to logging back in and realising you just missed, by a couple of days, a hefty couple of job possibilities. Stupid brain.
MORE slut-shaming and reinforcement of stigma. They always choose strippers for these reality TV shows about creating perfect little women, and then spend the duration of the show berating and humiliating and shaming a perfectly normal, lively young woman into being ashamed of herself.
And they choose them because it's "controversial" and "risque" and will get audiences watching. And of course reality TV shows manipulate certain behaviours out of people and cut and edit to create a persona standing in for the true individual. They choose people whose images they can craft to a certain stereotype. Like pro-wrestling, they have faces and heels. Strippers invariably become heels.
And no matter how much she may have loved her job, found empowerment and ownership and fun and freedom in it - she knows what she's expected to say. She's been transformed, she's been rescued, she's been delivered. She's seen the error of her ways and now she's going to toe the line, cross her legs and never, ever wear sequins again.
Oh god, that sounds so awful. I mean, crossing your legs is one thing (apply the right pressure and it can be fun, actually), but never wear sequins again?
Mitchell said she hoped to make a living "like a normal person" now.
Yes, because strippers are abnormal, beyond the fringes of society. Strippers are never mothers or students or artists or anyone who might live next door to you.
What is normality anyway? Why is it that stripping falls outside of it? Strippers pay rent/mortgages, have flat tyres, go shopping, schlub about in tracky-daks on days off. How is this not a normal life? Like any shift-worker they may work "odd" hours, but considering the degree to which stripping is integrated into the modern lifestyle, I don't understand why it's considered such an odd career option.
OH wait, I'm doing that thing again... that thing where I don't buy into societal sexphobia and misogyny. Right. Silly me.
"It's not something I want any more. I don't have any need to go back to stripping, I am happy with my studying and my new life."
If it is genuinely not something she wants - and notice that she says wants, which implies she wanted it before - then that is wholly her decision. I just hate to think she's had that wanting driven out of her by an exploitative system.
But I also note that she says "need" - to me this speaks of an association with brokenness, that a desire or need to strip is related to a fractured or abnormal personality. And this is so stigmatising, considering the huge variety of needs involved in people becoming strippers. Those needs are diminished and ignored by this attitude because it implies that "needs" can be fulfilled simply by living a "virtuous" life and having nothing to do with time constraints, mental health issues, money requirements, studying... none of the varying factors that really do contribute to a fulfilling life and that stripping can aid with.
It was after viewing video footage of herself behaving badly that the penny dropped for Mitchell.
Let me guess, one evening they got all the girls drunk and provoked them. After weeks and months of having "proper feminine behaviour" drummed into her, she was then put into a circle of judgement, forced to watch this footage whilst having horrible, damning words shouted into her ear.
Also, any "bad behaviour" of hers? Not related to stripping, actually. And the idea that it is, is just more othering BS.
You know, Gypsy Rose Lee was a lady too. There IS a gimmick in that shtick, Nicole. You should think about it.
It's my hope she's playing the system, saying what she knows they all want to hear (after all, who else of these ladies have appeared in the media recently?), and in a couple of months she'll land on the cover of FHM or something. I'll toast her when it happens.
(Holy cow, she could make so much money being the "feature dancer from Ladette to Lady! Nicole, c'mon!!! Every strip club in Australia would fall over themselves to have you on their stage! CAPITALISE, GIRL!)
On a side note... I don't always feel functional and I tend to avoid checking my work email when this is so. There's nothing more annoying than finally feeling up to logging back in and realising you just missed, by a couple of days, a hefty couple of job possibilities. Stupid brain.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Kyle Payne is a Rapist
I felt too sickened to post this earlier, but I think it's important.
Kyle Payne is a rapist.
Not only is he a rapist, he is a rapist who has spoken out against rape and rape culture. This makes him not just a hypocrite, but a grotesque hypocrite. His hypocrisy is almost unspeakable as he has capitalised on his male privilege both to position himself as an authority on women's issues and an ally to them, and then to assault and violate and betray the trust of a woman.
I can't even imagine the perversity required to do such a fucked-up thing, but it sickens me to my stomach. And frankly, it makes me wonder about what we don't know about him. The clear fact that a sick fucking pervert rapist has been so outspoken on women's issues, makes me wonder what his motivation in aligning himself with the feminist movement really is.
Furthermore, as someone who has spoken out against pornography, he used the medium of photography with which to commit his crime. To me, there are very clear connections here that speak of some very twisted psychology.
He cannot be trusted. His apology is inadequate and will never compensate for what he did. His return to speaking about feminism and women's issues is arrogance and insensitivity of the highest order.
This evil fucker cannot be trusted.
While I idealogically disagree with many of the core tenants of radical feminism, I have empathy for their anger and where it comes from. Many radfems have had experiences that have shaped and directed their anger. I may not like them as a movement, I may find them hateful as people, but they are women who have been infuriated by a patriarchal world in which rape culture runs rampant over the lives of women.
This fucker has no place amongst them and his aligning himself with them is further violation.
That he is too arrogant and too self-obsessed to acknowledge this abusive behaviour is clear indication he has learned nothing and women are not safe around him.
Although not about Kyle Payne, I thought this article was an excellent and strong statement on the kind of rape culture this rapist has spoken out about whilst participating in, including the misleading characterisation of "rapists" and "non-rapists". After all, who would've thought such an outspoke "femanist" would commit an act of sexual assault, and yet...
No Person is "Born to Rape".
Kyle Payne is a rapist.
Not only is he a rapist, he is a rapist who has spoken out against rape and rape culture. This makes him not just a hypocrite, but a grotesque hypocrite. His hypocrisy is almost unspeakable as he has capitalised on his male privilege both to position himself as an authority on women's issues and an ally to them, and then to assault and violate and betray the trust of a woman.
I can't even imagine the perversity required to do such a fucked-up thing, but it sickens me to my stomach. And frankly, it makes me wonder about what we don't know about him. The clear fact that a sick fucking pervert rapist has been so outspoken on women's issues, makes me wonder what his motivation in aligning himself with the feminist movement really is.
Furthermore, as someone who has spoken out against pornography, he used the medium of photography with which to commit his crime. To me, there are very clear connections here that speak of some very twisted psychology.
He cannot be trusted. His apology is inadequate and will never compensate for what he did. His return to speaking about feminism and women's issues is arrogance and insensitivity of the highest order.
This evil fucker cannot be trusted.
While I idealogically disagree with many of the core tenants of radical feminism, I have empathy for their anger and where it comes from. Many radfems have had experiences that have shaped and directed their anger. I may not like them as a movement, I may find them hateful as people, but they are women who have been infuriated by a patriarchal world in which rape culture runs rampant over the lives of women.
This fucker has no place amongst them and his aligning himself with them is further violation.
That he is too arrogant and too self-obsessed to acknowledge this abusive behaviour is clear indication he has learned nothing and women are not safe around him.
Although not about Kyle Payne, I thought this article was an excellent and strong statement on the kind of rape culture this rapist has spoken out about whilst participating in, including the misleading characterisation of "rapists" and "non-rapists". After all, who would've thought such an outspoke "femanist" would commit an act of sexual assault, and yet...
No Person is "Born to Rape".
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
there goes the neighbourhood
There's so much involved in this issue and I'm not 100% confident I have the brain to express it all. But I'm going to try.
Street-based sex workers have been getting targeted by the general public, the media and predators (I know, I know, it's hard to tell the three apart sometimes...) in Islington, near the Hunter Valley here in NSW lately.
A forty-plus year history of street-based sex work is being called on to be shut down, and no cry of "clean up the streets" is complete without rampant stereotyping, Church involvement, moral outrage and... an increased incidence of assault against the sex workers at the heart of it all.
Yes, that's how the morally upstanding and ethical citizen handles an increased awareness of the hookers in his local neighbourhood: he rapes and assaults them!
What the hell is up with that?
I'll tell you what the hell is up with that: media coverage hysterically denouncng sex workers, dehumansing and condemning them, revealing widespread opinion that they're regarded with disdain and contempt by "normal people" convinces your average revolting predator that these are not people the world cares about and so are fair game. No one will respond if their rights are violated; they won't be heard and so the predator will get away with it. In fact, the predator probably considers he's done society a bit of a favour.
Not that the local conservative press reports anything about the dirty whores being abused though; they had it coming! That's been reported by the outreach worker from the local area - in the past 3 weeks, since the furore has been building, she's heard of four incidents of violent asault/rape and states that she has not encountered such a high level of violence in her role before.
But who cares about them? Worthwhile people are being inconvenienced here!
So inconvenienced how, exactly?
The righteously indignant will assure all and sundry that hookers are frotting in innocent people's front gardens, flinging loaded syringes about willy nilly and assaulting anyone who gets between her and her "trick".
In truth? Most street workers prefer to conduct their work discreetly and generally have places they prefer to take clients that they know is secure and private. As for the accusations of intimidation and harrassment - seriously? We're really expected to believe that?
I find it hard to believe for the same reason I find it hard to believe sexual activity is happening openly:
Sex workers are often the subject of stigma and discrimination.
Stigma and discrimination? Generally makes life a lot harder for people it's targeted towards to go about in a peacable way. Just ask anyone who's had to live with it. People... interfere. They harrass you. They insult you. They disregard you. Sometimes they hurt you.
Yeah, see, I'm not getting a whole LOT of motivation for the street workers of Islington to be all out and in the neighbourhood's faces about their work right there.
There's a disparity of power here, that's probably also integral to the indignant residents of Islington characterising this situation, and that disparity of power is NOT in favour of the sex workers. Do I need to draw comparisons between this and the old "all gays take drugs and have AIDS" or "all black people are violent criminals" stereotypes and similar hysterias around that rubbish that has occured in the past? I mean, are you with me on this? I don't want this to be freaking Marginalisation 101 here.
Newcastle MP Jodi McKay said the meeting was an opportunity for people to put their views on several potential measures.
She said these included setting up a designated sex-work area, increased policing, traffic changes, and improving street safety and cleanliness.
Yeah, GREAT idea there - just stable all the whores together so everyone can further Other and marginalise them and all the predators can capitalise on that and it can become a little tourist zone where all the nice, respectable people can drive through and gawk for Saturday night giggles.
Also, um, did the supposed sex worker in that photo give her consent for that image to be used? I'm going to guess, oh, leesseee.... NOT.
Yeah, memo? That's NOT okay, actually. I realise you see sex workers as subhuman, but it's still nice to get permission.
Behind the house of an Islington family my wife knows is a lane that is used by the prostitutes who work Islington's streets as a toilet. They defecate in the lane - hey, this is a blog - they crap in the lane, and jammed in a gap in a fence is a rag they use to wipe their bum.
Really? You've all gone down there and watched, have you? I hope you paid them something at least, you perverts.
Seriously, this kind of violently dehumanising characterisation makes me sick. Where's his proof?
To me this smacks of the old, tired association of whores with filth. I can already see it - some busybody has heard a few girls sharing a joke in the lane, has gone stickybeaking and has seen a rag jammed into the fence. Hey, there may even have been poop, who knows. It doesn't mater, even a middle-class busy body can add two and two and get five!
There's also a classism here that is really severely detached from the reality of life on the streets. Whilst I really doubt there's a communal rag that just hangs around for anyone to use, people I've known who've lived on the streets either routinely or for certain periods of their life, have openly discussed the fact that whatever materials are to hand will do instead of toilet paper. That's what happens when there's no easily accessible toilet facilities and you don't have a home to go to. Oh yeah, and those materials? Don't get reused.
I'm not saying this is the situation for the sex workers this ass supposes he's writing about, but of course he hasn't considered anything else might be involved here.
Also, I love the way he is associating hookers with deliberately "depraved" behaviour. Yeah, actually, given the choice? Most people, regardless of who they are, will take functional toilet facilities, actually. They're not doing it - supposing they even truly are, and I kinda doubt that - just to insult your wife's friends, mate.
Nearby are the pimps, ferals on BMX bikes often,
Look, Jeff, mate, I hate to out you as a client but it's the only way I can figure you know those guys are pimps and not just part of the local colour.
Seriously, this stereotype is so fucking American. Pimping is barely, barely a presence in the Australian sex industry.
You know, on that, I've yet to meet or encounter an American sex worker with a pimp.
Commenters on the articles (the various ones linked) are indicating the neighbourhood is quite a diverse and alternative one, suggesting to me this moral outrage is actually a symptom of gradual gentrification, rather than their upstanding neighbourhood being overtaken by debauchery. I'd be interested in hearing more about this. Certainly this commenter seems convinced (scroll to comments):
nice one guys....buy a cheap house becuase of the issues, then get rid of the problems and sell a expensive house. How dare you threaten to take money out of my pocket cause that's what you would be doing if you sue the council. You guys knew what you were in for when you bought a cheaper than average inner city home...live with it
But back to my pal Jeff....
As I ride my bike through Islington on some Saturday mornings between 6am and 7.30am they're there, prostitutes and pimps; they're there during the day; and they're always there when I've been driving at night.
OH MY GOD THEY'RE FUCKING IN THE MORNING! BUT THAT'S WHEN CHILDREN ARE AWAKE!!! NO! WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
On another note... Jeff, you're... driving around the hookers an awful lot. Just "when [you've] been driving at night", eh?
You just dig fresh air and late night aimless drives do you?
Wait, am I making assumptions based on vague and cliched data? I am? Well, we can't say you didn't teach me anything in that case.
Thanks, Jeff. It's been real.
Moving on.
She said she had been working with the council, government agencies and sex workers' advocacy group ACON to identify plans to tackle the matter of sex work in Islington.
Well, Islington sex workers may as well roll over now if ACON's on board. They're fucked. Fuck you, ACON AND YOU'RE NOT A FUCKING SEX WORKER ADVOCACY GROUP.
That said, if the outreach worker up there is from SWOP NSW - she seems kinda awesome so with her on their side they may get a decent outcome. I wish her all the best with her endeavours cos I know she's extremely distressed by this situation.
And from the comments on that last article:
This is all a very strange business. Islington is booming, property prices are high, the suburb is so much better than when I purchased my house in about 1980. Prostitution is lower and there are far less issues. The best way to reduce prostitution is to help the street workers with their issues like housing, gambling, education, child management and drugs. The considerable number of residents who are clients should not be overlooked.
Posted by Bigfeller on 5/03/2009 9:34:39 AM
Interesting... still reductionist and marginalising, but at least the crazy pants are off. Thanks Bigfeller.
WE'RE HEADED FOR CHAOS!!!
THE prostitutes in Islington can't work from legal brothels, as they will not be allowed to do so ("Uneasy streets" Herald H2 7/3).
They are either drug- or alcohol-addicted or under-age, and the brothels exclude them, rightly.
Um, you know I hate to keep on asking this but... where's your fucking proof? Seriously. I mean, is Islington a town of detectives conducting impeccable and highly intimate investigation into the detailed lives of these sex workers? Or have they just watched too many episodes of Special Victims Unit?
Also, what the fuck? The brothels will "rightly" exclude them? So what's your solution, genius? You don't want them on the streets and you don't think they deserve to be in brothels. So how are they supposed to work?
I shouldn't have asked...
Alcoholic and drug-addicted mothers have babies to strangers and are allowed to give birth to damaged children. Enforced sterilisation is the only answer.
Hookers and junkies: just like animals, in a way!
I don't even know how to go on, after that.
There is some balm for this gaping wound. An anecdote shared by another worker in response to this issue. Formerly a brothel worker, she noticed walking her way to the parlour, befriending the women and even renting a room from one of them, that the Islington sex workers were making stacks more money than her, chose when and how they worked, had no overheads and never had to deal with stupid brothel owners.
She ended up quitting brothel work and starting anew on the streets.
I fucking love those stories.
Street-based sex workers have been getting targeted by the general public, the media and predators (I know, I know, it's hard to tell the three apart sometimes...) in Islington, near the Hunter Valley here in NSW lately.
A forty-plus year history of street-based sex work is being called on to be shut down, and no cry of "clean up the streets" is complete without rampant stereotyping, Church involvement, moral outrage and... an increased incidence of assault against the sex workers at the heart of it all.
Yes, that's how the morally upstanding and ethical citizen handles an increased awareness of the hookers in his local neighbourhood: he rapes and assaults them!
What the hell is up with that?
I'll tell you what the hell is up with that: media coverage hysterically denouncng sex workers, dehumansing and condemning them, revealing widespread opinion that they're regarded with disdain and contempt by "normal people" convinces your average revolting predator that these are not people the world cares about and so are fair game. No one will respond if their rights are violated; they won't be heard and so the predator will get away with it. In fact, the predator probably considers he's done society a bit of a favour.
Not that the local conservative press reports anything about the dirty whores being abused though; they had it coming! That's been reported by the outreach worker from the local area - in the past 3 weeks, since the furore has been building, she's heard of four incidents of violent asault/rape and states that she has not encountered such a high level of violence in her role before.
But who cares about them? Worthwhile people are being inconvenienced here!
So inconvenienced how, exactly?
The righteously indignant will assure all and sundry that hookers are frotting in innocent people's front gardens, flinging loaded syringes about willy nilly and assaulting anyone who gets between her and her "trick".
In truth? Most street workers prefer to conduct their work discreetly and generally have places they prefer to take clients that they know is secure and private. As for the accusations of intimidation and harrassment - seriously? We're really expected to believe that?
I find it hard to believe for the same reason I find it hard to believe sexual activity is happening openly:
Sex workers are often the subject of stigma and discrimination.
Stigma and discrimination? Generally makes life a lot harder for people it's targeted towards to go about in a peacable way. Just ask anyone who's had to live with it. People... interfere. They harrass you. They insult you. They disregard you. Sometimes they hurt you.
Yeah, see, I'm not getting a whole LOT of motivation for the street workers of Islington to be all out and in the neighbourhood's faces about their work right there.
There's a disparity of power here, that's probably also integral to the indignant residents of Islington characterising this situation, and that disparity of power is NOT in favour of the sex workers. Do I need to draw comparisons between this and the old "all gays take drugs and have AIDS" or "all black people are violent criminals" stereotypes and similar hysterias around that rubbish that has occured in the past? I mean, are you with me on this? I don't want this to be freaking Marginalisation 101 here.
Newcastle MP Jodi McKay said the meeting was an opportunity for people to put their views on several potential measures.
She said these included setting up a designated sex-work area, increased policing, traffic changes, and improving street safety and cleanliness.
Yeah, GREAT idea there - just stable all the whores together so everyone can further Other and marginalise them and all the predators can capitalise on that and it can become a little tourist zone where all the nice, respectable people can drive through and gawk for Saturday night giggles.
Also, um, did the supposed sex worker in that photo give her consent for that image to be used? I'm going to guess, oh, leesseee.... NOT.
Yeah, memo? That's NOT okay, actually. I realise you see sex workers as subhuman, but it's still nice to get permission.
Behind the house of an Islington family my wife knows is a lane that is used by the prostitutes who work Islington's streets as a toilet. They defecate in the lane - hey, this is a blog - they crap in the lane, and jammed in a gap in a fence is a rag they use to wipe their bum.
Really? You've all gone down there and watched, have you? I hope you paid them something at least, you perverts.
Seriously, this kind of violently dehumanising characterisation makes me sick. Where's his proof?
To me this smacks of the old, tired association of whores with filth. I can already see it - some busybody has heard a few girls sharing a joke in the lane, has gone stickybeaking and has seen a rag jammed into the fence. Hey, there may even have been poop, who knows. It doesn't mater, even a middle-class busy body can add two and two and get five!
There's also a classism here that is really severely detached from the reality of life on the streets. Whilst I really doubt there's a communal rag that just hangs around for anyone to use, people I've known who've lived on the streets either routinely or for certain periods of their life, have openly discussed the fact that whatever materials are to hand will do instead of toilet paper. That's what happens when there's no easily accessible toilet facilities and you don't have a home to go to. Oh yeah, and those materials? Don't get reused.
I'm not saying this is the situation for the sex workers this ass supposes he's writing about, but of course he hasn't considered anything else might be involved here.
Also, I love the way he is associating hookers with deliberately "depraved" behaviour. Yeah, actually, given the choice? Most people, regardless of who they are, will take functional toilet facilities, actually. They're not doing it - supposing they even truly are, and I kinda doubt that - just to insult your wife's friends, mate.
Nearby are the pimps, ferals on BMX bikes often,
Look, Jeff, mate, I hate to out you as a client but it's the only way I can figure you know those guys are pimps and not just part of the local colour.
Seriously, this stereotype is so fucking American. Pimping is barely, barely a presence in the Australian sex industry.
You know, on that, I've yet to meet or encounter an American sex worker with a pimp.
Commenters on the articles (the various ones linked) are indicating the neighbourhood is quite a diverse and alternative one, suggesting to me this moral outrage is actually a symptom of gradual gentrification, rather than their upstanding neighbourhood being overtaken by debauchery. I'd be interested in hearing more about this. Certainly this commenter seems convinced (scroll to comments):
nice one guys....buy a cheap house becuase of the issues, then get rid of the problems and sell a expensive house. How dare you threaten to take money out of my pocket cause that's what you would be doing if you sue the council. You guys knew what you were in for when you bought a cheaper than average inner city home...live with it
But back to my pal Jeff....
As I ride my bike through Islington on some Saturday mornings between 6am and 7.30am they're there, prostitutes and pimps; they're there during the day; and they're always there when I've been driving at night.
OH MY GOD THEY'RE FUCKING IN THE MORNING! BUT THAT'S WHEN CHILDREN ARE AWAKE!!! NO! WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
On another note... Jeff, you're... driving around the hookers an awful lot. Just "when [you've] been driving at night", eh?
You just dig fresh air and late night aimless drives do you?
Wait, am I making assumptions based on vague and cliched data? I am? Well, we can't say you didn't teach me anything in that case.
Thanks, Jeff. It's been real.
Moving on.
She said she had been working with the council, government agencies and sex workers' advocacy group ACON to identify plans to tackle the matter of sex work in Islington.
Well, Islington sex workers may as well roll over now if ACON's on board. They're fucked. Fuck you, ACON AND YOU'RE NOT A FUCKING SEX WORKER ADVOCACY GROUP.
That said, if the outreach worker up there is from SWOP NSW - she seems kinda awesome so with her on their side they may get a decent outcome. I wish her all the best with her endeavours cos I know she's extremely distressed by this situation.
And from the comments on that last article:
This is all a very strange business. Islington is booming, property prices are high, the suburb is so much better than when I purchased my house in about 1980. Prostitution is lower and there are far less issues. The best way to reduce prostitution is to help the street workers with their issues like housing, gambling, education, child management and drugs. The considerable number of residents who are clients should not be overlooked.
Posted by Bigfeller on 5/03/2009 9:34:39 AM
Interesting... still reductionist and marginalising, but at least the crazy pants are off. Thanks Bigfeller.
WE'RE HEADED FOR CHAOS!!!
THE prostitutes in Islington can't work from legal brothels, as they will not be allowed to do so ("Uneasy streets" Herald H2 7/3).
They are either drug- or alcohol-addicted or under-age, and the brothels exclude them, rightly.
Um, you know I hate to keep on asking this but... where's your fucking proof? Seriously. I mean, is Islington a town of detectives conducting impeccable and highly intimate investigation into the detailed lives of these sex workers? Or have they just watched too many episodes of Special Victims Unit?
Also, what the fuck? The brothels will "rightly" exclude them? So what's your solution, genius? You don't want them on the streets and you don't think they deserve to be in brothels. So how are they supposed to work?
I shouldn't have asked...
Alcoholic and drug-addicted mothers have babies to strangers and are allowed to give birth to damaged children. Enforced sterilisation is the only answer.
Hookers and junkies: just like animals, in a way!
I don't even know how to go on, after that.
There is some balm for this gaping wound. An anecdote shared by another worker in response to this issue. Formerly a brothel worker, she noticed walking her way to the parlour, befriending the women and even renting a room from one of them, that the Islington sex workers were making stacks more money than her, chose when and how they worked, had no overheads and never had to deal with stupid brothel owners.
She ended up quitting brothel work and starting anew on the streets.
I fucking love those stories.
Monday, March 16, 2009
don't explain
As much as I hate her and everything she stands for (One Nation - the name of that party becomes even more sinister when you consider how many different Nations make up Australia and who populates those nations), as vile and wicked a woman as she is, I just cannot take delight in her exploitation through the revelation of racy pictures she allowed someone she trusted to take of (providing they are, in actuality, of her).
Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks this stuff is hilarious when it happens to hated women. Hahaha, look at the evil bitch's sexuality being exploited and revealed and ridiculed.
I just can't get in on that.
I couldn't get in on it and the Sarah Palin porn, either. Yeah, the latter is faked, but it still relies on the idea of humiliating a reviled woman through sex. By non-consensually exposing her to the entire fucking world through sexual vulnerability for the entire fucking world to laugh at.
It's not rape. It's not even assault.
But it sure is violating.
And it smacks more than a little of sexphobia and slut-shaming too.
I don't like it. I can't support it, any more than I can support those awful woman and their hatred.
Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks this stuff is hilarious when it happens to hated women. Hahaha, look at the evil bitch's sexuality being exploited and revealed and ridiculed.
I just can't get in on that.
I couldn't get in on it and the Sarah Palin porn, either. Yeah, the latter is faked, but it still relies on the idea of humiliating a reviled woman through sex. By non-consensually exposing her to the entire fucking world through sexual vulnerability for the entire fucking world to laugh at.
It's not rape. It's not even assault.
But it sure is violating.
And it smacks more than a little of sexphobia and slut-shaming too.
I don't like it. I can't support it, any more than I can support those awful woman and their hatred.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
you will pay
And, if she really thinks that way, I cannot in the end follow you on feeling sorry for her having had to spread her legs 67 times, per your calculation, to accumulate her £8,000. I cannot imagine that she did this out of sheer necessity. In 21st century England, I do not think that one can still find a consumptive Fantine prostituting herself to provide food and shelter to her daughter Cosette (at least not an English girl going to school … perhaps foreign women brought illegally in the country as sex slaves may still suffer this horrible fate). If this girl really thinks as you make her think in the quote, she made a life-style choice, and the little bit of hard work and unpleasantness that come with the territory is a small price to pay for the financial rewards.
...you know that something is not quite right and would need fixing … not just the attitude of the police and the court, and the acts of the escort agency and its customers, but also the motivation of the girl, which does not appear to be entirely noble, as Fantine’s was.
What. the everloving. Hell?
No. Seriously.
God, please tell me when working for money became such an awful thing? Really. Because this isn't the first time I have encountered this attitude that is not only virulently whorephobic but well, successphobic.
We all need to make money. This is, well pretty much a fact of contemporary life. Money buys things we need.
But god forbid you WANT to make money. More money, that is. God forbid your attitude is in anyway mercenary or desirous or, hell, even greedy!
Especially if you're a woman, and a whore.
Why is it making money is only okay for whores when we're completely fucking desperate (and soon to tragically die) or when we're putting it aside for some "noble, lofty" purpose, like an education or something?
Let me get this right out there: I LOVE MONEY.
Seriously. I really, deeply love money. I love having LOTS of money. I love making lots of money.
Don't get me wrong. I ain't rich. I don't own any property or other similar assets (a car). I'm USELESS with saving - unless I have a specific goal in mind I sincerely haemorrhage money - and I never seem to be thinking about the future.
But hells bells, I love money.
It's part of the reason I work two jobs. Two jobs = more money. And more money is awesome.
Money takes care of my basic needs.
More money takes care of my frivolous needs - the comics I buy in bulk on ebay, the silly collectibles, the endless dresses and pairs of shoes and hats and jewellery, the tickets for shows I love to go to, spa treatments and massages and all the rest of the things I love that rounds out my life.
Money also enables me to buy presents for my friends and family, spot people a few drinks and hell, yes, support charities.
What, on God's green earth, is wrong with that?
Furthermore, how exactly does it differentiate me from thousands upon thousands of other people out there doing exactly the same thing?
The difference is that I make $1000 in less than half the hours of an average 9-5 day.
The difference is that just two hours work nets me more than some people's entire weekly wage.
AND I LOVE THAT.
Do you have any idea how empowering that is?
Why is it what whores do can only be justified if our money is going to some arbitrarily defined "higher purpose"? A purpose that is given meaning by outsiders, defined by what outsiders consider to be priorities? How sexphobic and misogynistic is that shit? Ok we'll let you be whores, but you have to really hate it and only be doing it at great cost to yourself because your money is going towards something we have constructed as significant.
Fuck you.
I love that, even as un-rich and un-assetted as I am, I can order a $2000 costume and know I'll make the money quickly. And always have that opportunity.
But hey you want some higher purposes, try this.
Single mums.
Think about it. She works two days a week while the kids are at school and she has enough not only to support herself, but the kids as well. And not just the necessities, but all the extra curricular activities and awesome toys. AND have time for the kids.
Or someone living with mental illness, for whom the standard 9-5, 5 days a week lifestyle means a severe and unrealistic compromise of self-care. They can work when it fits in with their needs and still make a decent amount of money to support themselves.
That's not a horrible situation to be in. That's empowering.
That's far more empowering than working some schlub job for minimum wage and never seeing your family or forcing yourself to conform to a system that hasn't allowed for your needs.
But you know what? Even discount circumstances like that and there is still nothing, not a damn thing, that makes working for money a bad thing.
Money is good. Money is freedom. Money is power. There's not a blessed thing wrong with money in and of itself.
And wanting money? Does not make anyone a bad person. It doesn't automatically make them evil, or corrupt or twisted or sick.
Very few people work exclusively for the love of it and those who do are having their basic needs cared for within the system they're working in.
When did we start believing it's wrong for us to want to live comfortably, securely, to enjoy life? Money - and remember, I'm not talking massive wealth and riches here, just enough plus a little cream on top - enables that. Money enables necessary payments and all the little extras.
Why are we expected to languish in misery, hating ourselves for the filthy lucre we make?
It's a rhetorical question, of course. I know the answer: because we dirty fucking whores contradict the established place of females. We could at least have the good grace to be miserable while we do it.
Yeah. Thanks, but uh... no thanks!
...you know that something is not quite right and would need fixing … not just the attitude of the police and the court, and the acts of the escort agency and its customers, but also the motivation of the girl, which does not appear to be entirely noble, as Fantine’s was.
What. the everloving. Hell?
No. Seriously.
God, please tell me when working for money became such an awful thing? Really. Because this isn't the first time I have encountered this attitude that is not only virulently whorephobic but well, successphobic.
We all need to make money. This is, well pretty much a fact of contemporary life. Money buys things we need.
But god forbid you WANT to make money. More money, that is. God forbid your attitude is in anyway mercenary or desirous or, hell, even greedy!
Especially if you're a woman, and a whore.
Why is it making money is only okay for whores when we're completely fucking desperate (and soon to tragically die) or when we're putting it aside for some "noble, lofty" purpose, like an education or something?
Let me get this right out there: I LOVE MONEY.
Seriously. I really, deeply love money. I love having LOTS of money. I love making lots of money.
Don't get me wrong. I ain't rich. I don't own any property or other similar assets (a car). I'm USELESS with saving - unless I have a specific goal in mind I sincerely haemorrhage money - and I never seem to be thinking about the future.
But hells bells, I love money.
It's part of the reason I work two jobs. Two jobs = more money. And more money is awesome.
Money takes care of my basic needs.
More money takes care of my frivolous needs - the comics I buy in bulk on ebay, the silly collectibles, the endless dresses and pairs of shoes and hats and jewellery, the tickets for shows I love to go to, spa treatments and massages and all the rest of the things I love that rounds out my life.
Money also enables me to buy presents for my friends and family, spot people a few drinks and hell, yes, support charities.
What, on God's green earth, is wrong with that?
Furthermore, how exactly does it differentiate me from thousands upon thousands of other people out there doing exactly the same thing?
The difference is that I make $1000 in less than half the hours of an average 9-5 day.
The difference is that just two hours work nets me more than some people's entire weekly wage.
AND I LOVE THAT.
Do you have any idea how empowering that is?
Why is it what whores do can only be justified if our money is going to some arbitrarily defined "higher purpose"? A purpose that is given meaning by outsiders, defined by what outsiders consider to be priorities? How sexphobic and misogynistic is that shit? Ok we'll let you be whores, but you have to really hate it and only be doing it at great cost to yourself because your money is going towards something we have constructed as significant.
Fuck you.
I love that, even as un-rich and un-assetted as I am, I can order a $2000 costume and know I'll make the money quickly. And always have that opportunity.
But hey you want some higher purposes, try this.
Single mums.
Think about it. She works two days a week while the kids are at school and she has enough not only to support herself, but the kids as well. And not just the necessities, but all the extra curricular activities and awesome toys. AND have time for the kids.
Or someone living with mental illness, for whom the standard 9-5, 5 days a week lifestyle means a severe and unrealistic compromise of self-care. They can work when it fits in with their needs and still make a decent amount of money to support themselves.
That's not a horrible situation to be in. That's empowering.
That's far more empowering than working some schlub job for minimum wage and never seeing your family or forcing yourself to conform to a system that hasn't allowed for your needs.
But you know what? Even discount circumstances like that and there is still nothing, not a damn thing, that makes working for money a bad thing.
Money is good. Money is freedom. Money is power. There's not a blessed thing wrong with money in and of itself.
And wanting money? Does not make anyone a bad person. It doesn't automatically make them evil, or corrupt or twisted or sick.
Very few people work exclusively for the love of it and those who do are having their basic needs cared for within the system they're working in.
When did we start believing it's wrong for us to want to live comfortably, securely, to enjoy life? Money - and remember, I'm not talking massive wealth and riches here, just enough plus a little cream on top - enables that. Money enables necessary payments and all the little extras.
Why are we expected to languish in misery, hating ourselves for the filthy lucre we make?
It's a rhetorical question, of course. I know the answer: because we dirty fucking whores contradict the established place of females. We could at least have the good grace to be miserable while we do it.
Yeah. Thanks, but uh... no thanks!
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