sex work

The Most Happy Bordello (Wall Street Journal)

by Viviane on 08/01/2007

in chicago, sex work

Joseph Epstein reviews Karen Abbott’s new book, Sin in the Second City, about the Everleigh Club , one of the best known Chicago cathouses of the early 20th century:

The characters of Minna and Ada Everleigh and their thoughtful way of going about their business are intricately delineated by Ms. Abbott, who, I think it fair to say, views them affectionately and with measured admiration. But her book is ultimately a saga of a clash between the forces of vice and those of reform in the city of Chicago. In this battle, reform has right but absolutely no humor on its side — right, that is, if one assumes that human weakness is easily eradicated through the changing of institutions. (more. . .)

It’s on the reading pile – Cassandra gave this to me for my birthday.

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Crossover in sex work (Dominatrix Next Door)

by Viviane on 05/09/2007

in domination, sex work, sexbloggers, sexblogs

…A common conceit is that clients can pay me for my time and I can do whatever I like. Ugh! I can assure you of two things, one in line with the stereotype and one in opposition. First, at any given time I would probably rather be reading a book in the park; if someone really wants to free up my time from all this terrible, tedious work, research financial slavery. (In other words, give me the money and leave; don’t sit around whining about how you’re not worthy. I’m only too happy to believe you.) Second, the joy I take in domination is closely linked to the joy (or whatever it is that involves all the squealing and begging) that you get from submission.

Never have I had a job where my clients made me feel so weird about respect and compassion. Or seen so much internalized guilt passed off as sexual fantasy.

The most boring session for me is one where I poke at you with random implements and you don’t respond. I might as well be sticking pins in a mannequin for all the sexual thrill I get out of that. I don’t doubt that pain hurts you, or denial frustrates you; my pleasure lies in the fact that you’ve asked me for it anyway. (more. . . )

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Bound, Not Gagged

by Viviane on 05/06/2007

in sex work, sexbloggers

A new blog by, and for, sex workers:

BoundnotGagged is a space for these voices to be heard. It is a place for sex workers to respond to the way that they’re portrayed in the media, the way that sexist laws are used to undermine women’s rights and their feelings about the ethical dilemma of exposing a client list. The issues are deep and broad. The stories are powerful and frustrating.

BoundnotGagged is our way of responding to the injustice and hypocrisy that keeps sex workers’ voices muted and faces hidden. Sex workers may be in hiding, but they refuse to be silent. This blog will give you an inside look at the true inner-workings of this mysterious business.

Members are Holly Knows, Kitten Infinite, Scarlet Harlot, Melissa Gira, and Karly Kirchner.

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Sex Workers’ Art on Display

by Audacia Ray on 04/30/2007

in $pread, art, audacia ray, Events, Fetish & Kink, sex work

nationunderdildosq Sex Workers Art on Display

SOHO. On a rainy Sunday afternoon recently, a dozen young women gathered to transform the tools of their sex work trade into works of art. Over cupcakes and strawberries, they swapped stories as they nailed, glue-gunned, painted, pierced, googly-eyed and gashed variously sized toys. Beads scattered to the floor. “We should get some slave to clean that up,” said one dominatrix, laughing.

Their handiwork will be on display as part of Sex Worker Visions II, an annual art show by sex workers to benefit $pread magazine and the artists.

“Both $pread and Sex Worker Visions celebrate the experiences and cultures of sex workers in hopes that people will be more interested in what sex workers have to say about the industry than in what the mainstream media has to say about us,” said Audacia Ray, $pread executive editor and the show’s curator.

The exhibition aims to highlight 15 skilled photographers, watercolorists and sculptors who — like most artists — must hold day jobs to make ends meet. Even when the work is often by night.

“It’s outsider art,” said Ray, 27. And not necessarily erotic. “Our experiences aren’t always sexy. Quite to the contrary.”

One contribution, “Platforms,” speaks to the perpetual danger faced by sex workers. Created by the Aphrodite Project, this pair of platform shoes has a global-positioning system and 911 panic button embedded in its 3-inch heels. Gallery visitors can try them on and feel what it is like to walk in a sex worker’s shoes, especially haunting in light of the unsolved murders of four Atlantic City prostitutes.

Ray, who’s completing her master’s in American Studies at Columbia University, knows both worlds. “The idea that ‘nice girls don’t’ is part of the stigma of the industry,” she said. “Some of the nicest, smartest folks I’ve met have been sex workers, and many of them are people you would never suspect of being involved in the industry.”

Gazing at her friends’ creations, Ray smiled. She plans on taking the collection to San Francisco’s Center for Sex and Culture this summer. “That’ll be fun for airport security.”

Details:
The show opens tomorrow at Arena Studios, 407 Broome St. , Suite 7A
Opening May 1, 2007 from 6 to 9 pm
Runs through July 28, 2007

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Japanese Researchers Rebut Premier’s Denials on Sex Slavery (NYT)

by Viviane on 04/18/2007

in japan, law, sex work

By MARTIN FACKLER and CHOE SANG-HUN

TOKYO, April 17 — A group of Japanese researchers on Tuesday publicly challenged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s denials that Japan’s military coerced women into sexual slavery during World War II, citing reports compiled by Allied investigators immediately after the war.

The reports, based partly on interrogations of Japanese prisoners, were originally submitted to the Tokyo war crimes trials, which ended in 1948, as evidence of atrocities by Japan during its wartime expansion across Asia. The reports include accounts of Japanese soldiers and sailors rounding up foreign women for use as sex slaves, euphemistically known here as comfort women.

Mr. Abe and other conservatives have repeatedly said there was no evidence that Japan’s military had a direct hand in forcing women into sexual slavery. Many Japanese conservatives have cited the lack of corroborating official documents to dismiss the testimony of former sex slaves, who started coming forward in the 1990s to tell their stories.

While the evidence presented Tuesday was not new, the group’s members said they felt obliged to respond to Mr. Abe’s denials. The group’s public rebuttal of Mr. Abe was a rare protest in a country where the prime minister’s remarks had stirred little outcry. The reaction has been much stronger in the rest of Asia, where memories of Japanese aggression remain raw, highlighting Tokyo’s isolation on war history.
(more…)

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Sex Worker Visions II (Waking Vixen)

by Viviane on 04/16/2007

in $pread, art, audacia ray, audacia ray, Events, Fetish & Kink, nyc, sex work

sexworkervisions Sex Worker Visions II (Waking Vixen)

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One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo

by Audacia Ray on 04/15/2007

in $pread, art, audacia ray, audacia ray, dildo, sex toys, sex work

This afternoon a group of New York City-based sex workers gathered at Arena Studios, the co-sponsor of Sex Worker Visions II, the second annual show of sex workers’ art that I’m curating. New online sex toy shop Vibrator.com generously provided us with a bag full of dildos for us to defile in the name of art, and that is what we did.

One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo
Dildos courtesy of Vibrator.com, razors and knives courtesy of the $preadsters.

One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo
Don’t try this at home. It doesn’t smell awesome.

One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo
Bucking bronco dildo, sheer brilliance.

One Sex Worker Nation Under Dildo
Guts and eyeballs spilling out of a dildo.

In two words, the event was fucking awesome. There was a lot of creativity and hilariousness. Also, it was really nice to be in a room of sex workers who were just chatting and swapping stories, laughing and carrying on – since I’m now retired from sex work, pretty much all the time I spend with sex workers is in some activist or magazine-related capacity, so it was awesome to goof off instead of talking about politics and the movement and all that.

Lots more pictures of the proceedings are on my Flickr.

[cross-posted at WakinVixen.com]

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Accused D.C. madam causes 46-lb. records fuss (CNN)

by Viviane on 04/13/2007

in crime, law, sex work

WASHINGTON (AP) — High-priced call girls always seem to have their little black books. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, accused of running an illegal escort service in the nation’s capital, has 46 pounds of phone records.

And her offer — or threat — to turn them over to the media has some in Washington playing a guessing game as to whether any Beltway movers and shakers are on her list of up to 15,000 client phone numbers.

The 50-year-old alleged D.C. Madam was indicted earlier this month by a federal grand jury on charges of running a high-class call girl ring in the Washington area from her home in Vallejo, California. She has denied the escort service engaged in prostitution.

In court records, prosecutors estimate that her business, Pamela Martin and Associates, generated more than $2 million in revenue over 13 years, with more than 130 women employed at various times to serve thousands of clients at $200 to $300 a session.

Her home was raided months ago, but the case attracted little interest until earlier this month, when Palfrey announced that to raise money for her defense, she intended to sell her phone records to any news outlet willing to pay. (more…)

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Green light for visits to red-light district

by Jessica Gold Haralson on 04/02/2007

in amsterdam, sex work

genImage.aspx Green light for visits to red light district

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Amsterdam’s sex workers came to work early on Saturday to offer a free look at the city’s famed red-light district.

Hundreds of wide-eyed visitors queued in the sunshine to enter the dimly-lit sex clubs and peep shows that draw thousands to the city and to snoop around prostitutes’ neon-lit boudoirs.

“I think the open day is a great idea,” said Love, an erotic dancer at Amsterdam’s Banana Bar, who was on hand to answer questions and pose for photographs in fluorescent negligee.

“It is especially interesting for women. If they learn what we do here they will realize it is not a big deal if their husbands or boyfriends want to come here.”

Organisers staged the open day to counter bad publicity surrounding the 800-year-old district after harrowing reports of forced prostitution, human trafficking and organized crime.

More than 30 brothels are fighting closure after officials revoked their licenses last year over suspected links to money laundering and drug dealing.

But tourism authorities say the district — a warren of narrow alleys and canals lined with sex shops, brothels and neon signs – - is as big an attraction as Amsterdam’s art museums and coffee shops, where marijuana is freely smoked and sold.

Every night visitors throng the streets, agog at scantily clad women sitting behind huge red-lit windows, and who sell their services for as little as 50 euros ($66.58).

“I am here because my wife was interested in coming along,” said 63-year-old Evert Rijnders from Haarlem.

His wife Jos added: “This has been a chance to look behind the scenes, and some things have definitely surprised me.”

Organizer Jacco Wanders displayed a typical prostitute’s bedroom, usually concealed behind red velvet curtains and fitted with an emergency alarm bell in case a client turns violent.

(Read more…)

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$Pread Magazine Reading 2/19 @ Bowery Poetry Club

by Viviane on 02/09/2007

in $pread, Events, Fetish & Kink, nyc, sex, sex work

$pread, the magazine produced by and for sex workers and their allies, is pleased to launch our eighth issue at the Bowery Poetry Club!

This multimedia event takes place from 8 to 9:30pm on Monday, February 19th, 2007. Expect performance, literary reading, slideshows and more, as past contributors, artists and featured people take to the stage. Sarah Katherine Lewis, author of Indecent: How I Make It and Fake It As A Girl for Hire is the featured performer, with appearances by Cristy Road, Diana Cage, Ignacio Rivera, Melissa Ditmore, Molly Crabapple, Nica Jensen, Raven Koch, Sir Loins, Simone Valentino, Virginia West.

Location: Bowery Poetry Club: 308 Bowery @ Bleecker, right across from CBGB’s
Directions: F train to Second Ave, 6 train to Bleecker
Phone: 212-614-0505

Admission: $7 /$5 for sex workers. There will be a discount available at this event for the recent issue of the magazine!

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