We have previously written with approval of Sweden’s approach to prostitution. In 1999, Sweden made it a crime to buy sex but not to sell it. The Swedes removed legal jeopardy from prostituted women but increased it for pimps and johns. After the police were trained in the implementation of the new law, the incidence […]
Debate on the Issues
StopPornCulture! Launches Website; Online Slide Show Available
We welcome the launch of StopPornCulture!’s website at http://www.stoppornculture.org/. SPC is the newest evolution of a longstanding feminist movement against porn: …With the explosion of technology and increased accessibility of pornography via the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, feminists from around the country began to organize meetings to discuss the proliferation of […]
Valley Advocate Website Announces 2008’s “Best” Adult Entertainment Club; Holsopple’s Inside Report on Stripping (explicit language)
If you visit the Valley Advocate website today and click through to their “Best of 2008” page, you’ll see it leads off with “Adult entertainment club”, partly because this category starts with “A” and partly because the Advocate considers this to be just another leisure option, on par with “Art gallery” or “Charity event”… Within […]
Bloomberg Columnist Likes Sweden’s Approach to Prostitution
Ann Woolner applauds Sweden’s approach to prostitution on Bloomberg.com today: Legalize Selling Your Body, Criminalize Buying It: Ann Woolner …de-criminalizing the flesh business encourages human trafficking and boosts the presence of organized crime, according to studies. There is no drop in brutality, either, and some indication it increases. “Anyone contemplating such a move has to […]
The Truth About Lap Dancing: A Performer Speaks Out
Object is a UK group that challenges ‘Sex Object Culture’. They have kindly authorized us to reprint their interview with a former lap/pole dancer. The Truth About Lap Dancing A Performer Speaks OutObject 2007 Comments on this Report This testimonial is prepared from an interview with Lucy Brown, a former lap/pole dancer who approached Object […]
True Freedom Includes the Freedom to Say No (explicit language)
Tree of Finches makes some excellent rebuttals to common pro-porn pro-prostitution arguments about freedom, choice and empowerment. He also notes how liberals will gladly hammer a sneaker company over abusive practices but just can’t see it in the sex industry: Regarding the Sex Industry and “Empowerment”, Part 1 …I’ve been to strip clubs, and I […]
Fourth Carnival Against Pornography and Prostitution (explicit language)
The Burning Times has kindly given us permission to reprint the Fourth Carnival Against Pornography and Prostitution. See the first three carnivals here. Fourth Carnival Against Pornography and Prostitution April 26, 2008 by Debs Hi again everyone, and welcome to the fourth edition of the Carnival Against Pornography and Prostitution! Once again, thank you so […]
Prostitution: “It is high time to expose and challenge the liberal consensus”
Roger Matthews, professor of criminology at London’s South Bank University, has studied street prostitution since 1985. Julie Bindel talks to him about his new book, Prostitution, Politics and Policy, for The Guardian: ‘It’s abuse and a life of hell’ (2/29/08) …Matthews completely disagrees with the notion of legalisation. Instead, he says, the punters should be […]
Dorchen Leidholdt, “Demand and the Debate”
Dorchen A. Leidholdt is the Co-Executive Director of The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Here are excerpts from her speech, “Demand and the Debate”. She provides an excellent history and analysis of the “sex-positive” spin on prostitution. “Prostitution is a job like any other job,” [Wages for Housework activists] insisted. “Some women prostitute their fingers […]
Puncturing Alan Dershowitz’s Delusions about Prostitution
Alan Dershowitz can’t see why people should care about prostitution. Shortly after the Eliot Spitzer scandal broke last month, The New York Times quoted the Harvard law professor as saying: ”Men go to prostitutes — big deal, that’s not a story in most parts of the world…”Prostitutes aren’t victims — they’re getting paid a thousand […]