The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
Posted on 10/21/2004 12:09:37 PM PDT by NYer
At the polling booth this year, Berkeley residents will have a unique voting choice: Yes or no to the decriminalization of prostitution.
Decriminalization means the repeal of measures that outlaw prostitution, soliciting, pimping, pandering, and brothels. Although the vote will take place only in the city of Berkeley, the decriminalization campaign's ultimate goal is the repeal of California state laws on prostitution and related offenses.**
Decriminalization is a more extreme measure than legalization. Legalization would mean the regulation of prostitution with laws regarding where, when, and how prostitution could take place. Decriminalization eliminates all laws and prohibits the state and law-enforcement officials from intervening in any prostitution-related activities or transactions, unless other laws apply.
If Measure Q, as it is called on the ballot, passes, Berkeley will have to do the following: 1) make enforcement of prostitution laws the lowest priority for the Berkeley Police Department; 2) set the city of Berkeley in opposition to state prostitution laws and direct the Berkeley City Council to lobby for the repeal of prostitution laws in the state of California; and 3) require the Berkeley Police Department to report semi-annually to the City Council and Police Review Commission on the enforcement of prostitution laws.
The decriminalization campaign is being led by Robyn Few of the Sex Workers Outreach Project. Few was arrested by the FBI and pleaded guilty in 2002 to a federal charge of conspiracy to promote prostitution in connection with a multi-state prostitution ring. At the time, she was also working for Americans for Safe Access, a group advocating the legalization of marijuana. Few said at a recent conference entitled "Prostitution, Sex Work, and the Commercial Sex Industry" that she was shocked and hurt that marijuana activists subsequently disowned her; after all, she thinks both activities should be decriminalized, so why should one group of people involved in illegal activities discriminate against another? She said she got her revenge by marching topless in a San Francisco gay parade with a sign that read "Sex Workers for Medical Marijuana."
Few's personal background is, tragically, typical for a woman in the sex industry: incest, child abuse, runaway (at age 13), high-school dropout, domestic violence, rape, and stripping — all before she entered prostitution. Few presents herself as a sex worker and an activist for sex workers' rights, but there is one little problem: Her conviction wasn't for soliciting, it was for a federal pimping offense. It therefore stretches credibility to say she is working on behalf of women in prostitution.
Few and her friends have received guidance from a visiting adviser from the Australian sex industry, where prostitution is legal in several states. The Australian activist is helping groups in various cities in the U.S. organize efforts to decriminalize prostitution. They selected Berkeley as their first venue, not only for its liberal voters but also because they needed just 2,100 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Few said that only one out of twelve people they approached signed the petition, but they had great fun "being irreverent" and setting up tables decorated with "balloons with boobs on them."
While Few and friends may be giddy from their in-your-face politics, city officials worry about what the effects of Measure Q would be if it passes. The city manager prepared an impact report that states that if the ordinance passes it will likely increase crime and community complaints in the following ways: 1) Berkeley could become the Bay Area's prostitution center, attracting prostitutes and "johns" (the men who pay for sex acts); 2) the number of robberies, sexual assaults, thefts, batteries, and disturbing-the-peace calls would increase, as would the amount of litter; 3) the exploitation of women and children would increase; 4) rates of sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and hepatitis would increase; 5) the police department's enforcement activities would be limited; 6) the quality of life in neighborhoods of increased prostitution would decrease; 7) drug activity in houses that cater to prostitutes and pimps would increase; 8) the incidents of violence against prostitutes, such as assault, battery, rape, robbery, kidnap, and murder would increase; and 9) businesses in commercial districts whose customers would stay away due to increasing prostitution and crime would be harmed. The impact report was a sweeping condemnation of decriminalization.
Campaigners for Measure Q try to sell the initiative as promoting women's rights, claiming that decriminalization will end the stigma against prostitutes and enable them to integrate into society as "sex workers." This is utopian thinking that has no basis in the reality of the lives of women in prostitution — women who are defined by how men can and do use them.
What Measure Q activists don't talk about is the impact of decriminalizing the activities of "johns," pimps, panderers, and brothel owners. At a recent conference on prostitution at the University of Toledo, decriminalization advocate Norma Jean Almodovar of the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education said: "I don't want to arrest clients. They give me money!" Almodovar is another activist who claims she is working for the rights of women, but like many decriminalization activists, she too is protecting the money stream flowing from customers to the pimps and bosses of the sex industry.
Supporters of Measure Q claim that decriminalization of prostitution will decrease the violence against prostitutes. Women and children in prostitution do suffer from extreme violence. Research I've done with Janice Raymond of the Coalition Against Trafficking Women found that the majority of women in prostitution have been physically assaulted and raped, often multiple times, by "johns" (86 percent were physically assaulted, 80 percent were sexually assaulted, and 65 percent had weapons used against them). Removing the penalties against pimps and men who purchase sex acts will not cause them to be less violent.
Presently, prostitution is on the rise in Berkeley, as it is in many cities and towns across the U.S. The impact report says that from 2002 to early 2004 there was a 57-percent increase in calls for police service regarding prostitution. Police data show that Berkeley police are arresting an increasing number of underage girls for prostitution, some as young as 13. Decriminalization would escalate these trends.
Women and children in prostitution do need assistance. According to research by Melissa Farley, a clinical and research psychologist and director of Prostitution Research and Education in San Francisco, 89 percent of women in prostitution want out, but are trapped by violence, addictions, and hopelessness. Decriminalization of the sex trade will do nothing to help them escape; instead, it will ensnare them more tightly.
Passage of Measure Q will make Berkeley a prostitution capital and a destination city for sex tourists and trafficked women and children. Defeating Measure Q will send a clear message that prostitution and the harm it does to women, children, families, and communities are not wanted in Berkeley. Doing otherwise would send a troublesome one.
**Measure Q aims to repeal portions of the following Sections of the California Penal Code: 266, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266h, 266i, 315, 316, 318, 647, 653.20, 653.22, 653.23 and 653.28, which criminalize prostitution-related activities among or between adults.
— Donna M. Hughes is professor and Carlson Endowed Chair in Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island.
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
Already is legal. The Supreme Court has done away with sex laws (at least for those over age of consent). Constitutional privacy concerns keep the government out of the bedroom. Regulation would only place a government official in there.
If a babysitter can come over to your home in violation of child labor laws, payroll taxes, and licensing requirements, two consenting adults can have sex for money.
The adult entertainment industry and pornographers have endorsed John Kerry as their candidate for the presidency, and one pro-family advocate has gone to some lengths to find out why.
>>Few's personal background is, tragically, typical for a woman in the sex industry: incest, child abuse, runaway (at age 13), high-school dropout, domestic violence, rape, and stripping — all before she entered prostitution.
I think that with the new permissiveness of society, this common profile will change.
It's already acceptable for people to engage in amateur porn. Young women are having sex with both men an women -- and it's promoted as being "cool".
It's not hard for many of these women, who don't fit the typical mold, to make the leap from free sex to paid sex -- especially while they work their way through college.
And if a woman is beautiful, the money is severly tempting. Some [beautiful] escorts make $30,000 per month having sex with as little as 20 johns. Many quit for periods of time, try to go straight, but when money get's tight they jump right back into it. They simply cannot earn the same amount of money any other way.
I think that in five years, the majority of [non street walking] prostitutes will simply be women who hold the idea that it's all simply business. (Note, I'm not talking about druggie street walkers, I'm talking your "higher end" prostitute -- paid escorts/amateur porn starts).
My evil side says "let this pass". Then let the conservative documentarians go in and record the stupidity of such freedom. Again, on the evil side, this would be a great wedge issue for the next election cycle.
How many junked cars do you have in your front yard. I'm not insulting you, just wondering.
My ex-postal carrier got married and with her husbands knowledge took a part time job working in a strip club. Her average wage for two evening was $1,000.00+. In three years they were able to afford a luxurious home....cash. One more year and they had a substaintial investment account.
That was when they decided to have children. They now have two beautiful boys whom she stays home to care for. They intend on homeschooling the kids because of their distaste for the public system.
Never in the seven years I have known her has she ever used foul language or behaved like a slut. Her and her husband have attended the same Catholic church as my wife does.
I am giving this example because while I wouldn't want my wife or daughters to do it, it certainly put them 15 years ahead of others who prefer to work the normal tracks of our economic system.
There is financial advantages for those who decide to take the scorned paths in our society.
I am not defending her actions, just giving an example that I am personally aware of.
>>Few's personal background is, tragically, typical for a woman in the sex industry: incest, child abuse, runaway (at age 13), high-school dropout, domestic violence, rape, and stripping — all before she entered prostitution.
I think that with the new permissiveness of society, this common profile will change.
It's already acceptable for people to engage in amateur porn. Young women are having sex with both men an women -- and it's promoted as being "cool".
It's not hard for many of these women, who don't fit the typical mold, to make the leap from free sex to paid sex -- especially while they work their way through college.
And if a woman is beautiful, the money is severly tempting. Some [beautiful] escorts make $30,000 per month having sex with as little as 20 johns. Many quit for periods of time, try to go straight, but when money get's tight they jump right back into it. They simply cannot earn the same amount of money any other way.
I think that in five years, the majority of [non street walking] prostitutes will simply be women who hold the idea that it's all simply business. (Note, I'm not talking about druggie street walkers, I'm talking your "higher end" prostitute -- paid escorts/amateur porn starts).
>Never in the seven years I have known her has she ever used foul language or behaved like a slut
You haven't paid her to strip, and you haven't been behind closed doors with her. You don't know what you don't know.
How could socialist Berkeley legalize prostitution as it would encourage free enterprise and profit? It would be more in keeping with Berkeley to to make it legal to give away sex or have it provided for the common good by the government, but make it totally illegal to profit from it. I suppose they could justify the action if the workers (i.e. the prostitutes) totally controlled the means of production (sex), but outlawed pimping as that would be worker exploitation by capitalists seeking to make profits from the labor of others.
Prostitution (and drugs) should be legal (however, I don't partake in either). It is a personal responsibility issue. For "The State" to dictate what I do in my own home (or with a consenting adult) so long as I don't hurt anyone else is an infringement on my freedom.
Prostitution is the "world's oldest profession" for a reason and it isn't going away. You can now shop for a call girl online and as an earlier poster mentioned, it's now a business (a friend of mine worked vice and they just googled "Escort" and the city). Even an "average" call girl can make minimum of $5k a month with 20 johns (yet another reason for scrapping the current tax system and going to a national sales tax).
I'd suggest for those of you that believe government should be the moral arbiters of society, that you worry more about what goes on in your home and less about what goes on in your neighbor's home.
I am not advocating the legalization of prostitution. I am just giving you a taste of what the activist Supreme Court decision on sodomy meant.
A pimp is not an employer. He's more of a slave owner. The women give him ALL the money.
In return, he gives them clothes, a place to stay, promotion, and legal/medical coverage until he decides otherwise (or another pimp takes one of his women). He will track down a girl who leaves his pool.
Amateur sex starts with webcams at home and trips to "Mardi Gras" type celebrations. "Girls gone wild" is considered "acceptable" by the mainstream media now.
How many reality shows have shots of contestants giving a lap dance (clothed) to one another?
Agreed. Prostitution should be regulated.
...and does your co-pay cover the cost of all the vaccines, herpes treatments, aids clinics, thousands of illegitimate children, divorce courts, lawsuits, et al? Nooooo, the GOVERNMENT will cover it.
Why are you wasting your time here when your skills as a clairvoyant are so urgently needed in other places?
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