Valerie Scott | TEDxToronto 2015
Valerie Scott always wanted to be a sex worker and has extensive experience in her chosen profession. She is a founding member and legal co-ordinator of Sex Professionals of Canada, a sex worker rights organization. She has been a passionate advocate for her colleague’s human, civil, and legal rights for the past 30 years. She has testified at Canada’s Senate and at several Parliamentary committees. She has spoken at numerous community meetings, colleges, universities, and conferences about the humanity of sex workers and the need for full decriminalization of adult sex work. Read more
Also see Canada (AG) v Bedford, She Does The City, and Bill Hicks Bar
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What a sex worker can teach us about human connection | Nicole Emma | TEDxSaltLakeCity
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Second year law student, Christine Reade quickly finds herself drawn into "The Girlfriend Experience" world, attracted to the rush of control and intimacy. The new STARZ Original Series from Executive Producer Steven Soderbergh, "The Girlfriend Experience" premieres Sunday, April 10. Christine Reade (Riley Keough) is a second year student at Chicago-Burnham Law School and a new intern at the prestigious firm of Kirkland & Allen. Working hard to establish herself at the firm, her focus quickly shifts when a classmate introduces her to the world of transactional relationships. Known as GFEs, they are women who provide "The Girlfriend Experience"—emotional and sexual relationships at a very high price. Juggling two very different lives, Christine quickly finds herself drawn into the GFE world, attracted to the rush of control and intimacy. Read more
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My Roommate’s an Escort follows the misadventures of Heather, a non-confrontational, small town girl from Sault Ste. Marie, as she tries to figure out whether her new roommate Kesha is an escort.
My Roommate's an Escort
Wikipedia
My Roommate's an Escort is an original Canadian comedy web series created, written by and starring Katie Uhlmann and Trish Rainone.[1] All 11 episodes of the first season are directed by Uhlmann, and the series premiered on YouTube on April 3rd, 2017. Rainone plays a non-confrontational, small-town girl living in Toronto who suspects her new roommate Kesha, played by Uhlmann, is a call girl.
Background: My Roommate's an Escort was written by Katie Uhlmann and Trish Rainone. Uhlmann and Rainone met at a mutual friend's party and bonded over similar ideas about creating "strong female-driven content." The series went from concept to completion in twelve months.[2] A preview for the series debuted at the 2017 Toronto Short Film Festival.[3]
Plot: Each episode opens with the same intro, establishing the house where most of the series is set. The same music plays for the intro and outro. Heather, a girl from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, now living in Toronto, finds a new roommate online, Kesha, who may or may not be a private escort. Heather passive-aggressively tries to find out more about Kesha, unintentionally getting dragged into her world and the sketchy characters who inhabit it. In each episode, Heather retreats to vent at her one place of solace, a tattoo shop. Read more
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New York Post
By Kerry Warren
December 7, 2017
Jane Taylor* has a lot of things to worry about when her husband is deployed. Will he come home alive? Will her kids see their dad again? But until last month, "Will he slip up and sleep with a taxpayer-funded sex worker?" wasn’t one of them.
Like many military wives, Brisbane, Australia, resident Jane was horrified to read Australian army Capt. Sally Williamson recommending prostitutes be sent to the front line to help "relieve stress" in serving troops.
In an essay titled "Sex and War – A Conversation Army Has To Have" published on an official Australian Defence Force website last month, Williamson suggested the army "contract Australian male and female sex workers to service troops in forward operating bases and air bases."
Williamson said sex on deployment could help ease the stress of "loneliness or prolonged absence from family, friends, partners and spouses" as well as make it easier to cope with living and working in a war zone.
"Improved intimacy and sexual interaction can help combat veterans with PTSD recovery," wrote Williamson, who is currently serving in the Middle East.
In Australia, it should be noted, sex work is legal, although each state in the country regulates it differently. Read more
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| Jerene Dildine |
ABA Journal Daily News
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Posted May 16, 2017 10:57 am CDT
Jurors in Denver have awarded a woman $1.7 million in damages in her privacy invasion suit against a Colorado lawyer who exposed her secret life as a prostitute.
Suspended lawyer Sean Saxon was found liable for revealing Jerene Dildine’s work to her family members and classmates, CBS 4 reports.
Dildine told the television station that she began working as a prostitute when a divorce and a cutback in her work hours created financial problems. Saxon became one of her clients in November 2013, and soon they became romantically involved.
But Saxon didn’t like Dildine’s work as a prostitute and he became angry and violent at times, Dildine said. Dildine said she broke off the relationship, but Saxon stalked her and threatened to expose her. Eventually he carried through on the threat.
Saxon says she was depressed and considered suicide. She contacted lawyer Tom Overton, who helped her file an ethics complaint against Saxon and filed the civil suit on her behalf.
Saxon had represented himself in the trial and claimed his revelations were protected by the First Amendment.
Saxon was fired in 2014 from the Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell law firm, where he handled pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, after the firm learned of Dildine’s allegations, according to a report by an ethics hearing board. He pleaded guilty to violation of a protective order in January 2015 for continuing to send texts to Dildine and was sentenced to two years’ probation.
"The evidence is irrefutable," the hearing board concluded. "Dildine suffered considerable injury—emotional, physical, and reputational—at [Saxon’s] hands."
The hearing board imposed a three-year suspension in November 2016, and Saxon appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Saxon provided this statement to CBS 4: "I am deeply sorry I became involved with Jerene Dildine, most of all because I betrayed my family. I profoundly regret much of the language I used in my communications when I exposed Ms. Dildine as a prostitute to people who know her. All the material I sent was true and was taken from Ms. Dildine’s own marketing materials that she placed on the internet and sent to her clients to promote her business. I am appealing the jury’s decision. I do not believe that Ms. Dildine should be allowed to recover damages because of embarrassment over having her illegal conduct exposed."
Headline updated to clarify that it was a verdict. Read online
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| Jerene Dildine |
CBS DENVER 4
By Brian Maass
May 12, 2017 10:00 PM
DENVER (CBS4) – A Denver district court jury awarded a former escort $1.7 million in damages last month after concluding that one of her clients, a high end Denver attorney, was guilty of outrageous conduct and invading the woman’s privacy by "outing" her to her family, friends and colleagues.
"I just feel like this was the final battle and I won," said Jerene Dildine, 44, who agreed to tell her story to CBS4 hoping it helps other women in similar situations. "I almost killed myself over being ashamed. I want other people to know you don’t have to die from shame."
The attorney who was found liable in the Dildine case, Sean Saxon, told CBS4 he plans to appeal the jury verdict.
Dildine told her story to CBS4 in a series of interviews. She was a teacher working in area public school systems, primarily teaching Spanish. But in 2013, with fewer teaching hours, rising housing costs and a recent divorce that hurt her financially, she said she began searching Craigslist for part time work and decided to try bikini modeling to supplement her income. On one modeling job, she said the client asked her if she would exchange sex for money.
"I did it," said Dildine. "And it was a very easy transition into that."
Using an alias, she created a profile on a prostitution website offering sex for $300 per hour. Read more
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For the Justice Network
Sex workers are human beings not so different than you. It is time to legalize, regulate and tax the escort/sex trade. Let’s make these folks legitimate workers in our society. If you ever watched porn, you hired sex workers. Think about that. Sex workers need a living wage, healthcare, workers comp insurance, and retirement benefits, just like other workers. It is time to end the moral panic. See "Someone you love could be a sex worker", by Valerie Scott, on TEDxToronto. For Florida prostitution laws, see the Florida Statutes, Chapter 796 Prostitution.
Capitalism
Wikipedia
Capitalism is an economic system and an ideology based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3] Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system, and competitive markets.[4][5] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investment are determined by the owners of the factors of production in financial and capital markets, and prices and the distribution of goods are mainly determined by competition in the market.[6][7] Read more
- American Capitalism’s Great Crisis Time.com
- What is Capitalism? WorldSocialism.org
- Capitalism at the Crossroads Hernando de Soto
- Capitalism.org Ayn Rand site
From YouTube: "Everyone has an opinion about sex work, but what does sex worker Juno Mac think? Juno takes us through four different legal models addressing the sex industry and explains why they -- and sex workers around the world -- believe decriminalization and self-determination are the only way to keep sex workers safe. An activist with the Sex Worker Open University, Juno campaigns for better working conditions by fighting criminalization and is involved with public education projects around issues relating to sex worker rights."
Note: While this information deals with legal issues, it does not constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions related to the information available here, you are encouraged to consult an attorney who can investigate the particular circumstances of your situation. I am not a lawyer; I am not licensed to practice law; and I did not go to law school. Read my disclaimer.
From YouTube: "Valerie Scott is a Sex Worker & Advocate. Valerie Scott always wanted to be a sex worker and has extensive experience in her chosen profession. She is a founding member and legal co-ordinator of Sex Professionals of Canada, a sex worker rights organization. She has been a passionate advocate for her colleague's human, civil, and legal rights for the past 30 years. She has testified at Canada's Senate and at several Parliamentary committees. She has spoken at numerous community meetings, colleges, universities, and conferences about the humanity of sex workers and the need for full decriminalization of adult sex work."
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9th Circuit upholds prostitution ban in constitutional challenge
American Bar Association
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Posted January 18, 2018, 9:13 am CST
A federal appeals court has upheld a California law that criminalizes prostitution in a First Amendment challenge.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the prostitution ban Wednesday in a suit claiming violation of First and 14th Amendment rights to freedom of association, a 14th Amendment due process right to earn a living, a 14th Amendment due process right to sexual privacy, and a First Amendment right to free speech.
The Recorder, the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle have stories; How Appealing links to additional coverage and the unanimous panel opinion.
The suit was filed by three prostitutes, a potential client and an advocacy group for sex workers called the Erotic Service Provider Legal Education and Research Project. They had cited the 2003 Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas that struck down a criminal ban on sodomy.
The 9th Circuit said sex for pay isn’t the kind of intimate conduct protected by Lawrence v. Texas, a case that did not involve prostitution.
Freedom of intimate association extends to "highly personal relationships," and not to the transactional relationship between a prostitute and client, the court said. Nor does prostitution qualify as protected commercial speech, according to the court. And there is no right to engage in illegal employment, the court said.
The court cited several justifications for the law, including a link between prostitution and trafficking, violence to women, illegal drug use and sexually transmitted diseases.
The suit’s claims "may yet convince the California legislature to change its mind. But this court cannot change its mind for them," the court said in an opinion by Judge Jane Restani.
Restani, a judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, was sitting by designation. Read more
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What is Human Trafficking?
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By Scott A. Bonn Ph.D.
Wicked Deeds Jul 20, 2015
Moral panic is a situation in which public fears and state interventions exceed the objective threat posed by an individual or group who is/are claimed to be responsible for creating it. Central to the concept is an argument that public concern or fear over an alleged social problem is mutually beneficial to state officials, politicians, law enforcement and news media. Read more
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| The New York Times - NYT |
The NYT, The Opinion Pages, August 26, 2015
Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal
The NYT, By Rachel Moran, August 28, 2015
Should Prostitution Be Legalized?
The NYT, Letters to the Editor, September 7, 2015
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| Meter for Sex Workers, Germany |
The New York Times, By Ginger Thompson and Philip Shenon, April 12, 2008
In Germany, Sex Workers Feed a Meter
The NYT, By Nicholas Kulish, Aug. 31, 2011
Attorney Pleads to Prostitution Misdemeanor, Gets Court Supervision, ABA Journal, June 20, 2012
Lawyer Is Charged with Prostitution, Allegedly Tells Police She Gave It Up After Passing Bar, ABA Journal, By Debra Cassens Weiss, June 2, 2011
ALTERNET
By Katie Edwards / The Conversation
April 5, 2016
The women of the Bible are far more than just characters of ancient stories. They help to reflect and construct our ideas and attitudes about femininity and female sexuality.
The much-maligned Magdalene
Like Eve, the New Testament character Mary Magdalene has been the subject of centuries of bad press. Magdalene is often believed to be a prostitute although there’s no suggestion of it in the biblical text. Academics have argued that the early Church developed Mary Magdalene’s repentant prostitute persona as a bid to deny women a proper position in the church hierarchy.
Since then, a number of attempts have been made to "rehabiliate" the character from her reputation as a fallen woman. Melvyn Bragg, for example, has certainly put some time into discovering the "real Magdalene", presenting a controversial Good Friday documentary in 2013 and a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year. But despite the reams of research and hours of media coverage, including the heightened interest in the Gospel of Mary following the success of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, our fascination with the "penitent sinner" remains.
The discussion around Mary Magdalene, however, says more about cultural attitudes to female sexuality than anything about the biblical character. The persistent idea that sex workers are "fallen" women who should be rehabilitated or repentant has only relatively recently been challenged and the controversy surrounding Mary Magdalene speaks to centuries of the dominant ideology that shapes values around female sexuality and stigmatises sex workers on a moralistic premise.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
"On the other hand, Mary, Mother of Jesus, is considered by many Christians as the "ideal woman". As a virgin mother, Mary has the ultimate appeal to female respectability, combining the most culturally valuable female roles. But discussions surrounding the "ideal femininity" of Mary, Mother of Jesus, are inextricably linked with the control of female sexuality evidenced in attitudes to Mary Magdalene. The construction of "female virtue" is a cultural dividing practice to reinforce the social boundaries between respectable and unrespectable groups and classes." Read more
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| Swedish singer songwriter Lykke Li |
Wikipedia
"Get Some" is a song by Swedish singer and songwriter Lykke Li from her second studio album, Wounded Rhymes (2011). Produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, it was released on 22 October 2010 as the album's lead single. During an interview for The Guardian on 13 December 2010, Li said of the song:
"A lot of people think it's about sex. [...] But it's about power. I was reading the Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, where she goes into this guy's mind by making him fantasize about her, so it's kind of like powerplay. As soon as a woman does anything, they seem to hit a nerve and it's back to sex. At least men seem to think that."[4] Read more
Lyrics - Metrolyrics Get Some Lykke Li
Read more: Lykke Li - Get Some Lyrics | MetroLyricsDon't pull your pants, before I go down
Don't turn away, this is my time
Don't make demands, I don't take none
Just say a prayer that it gon' get done
Don't pull your pants before I go down
Don't turn away, this is my time
Like a shotgun needs an outcome
I'm your prostitute, you gon' get some
Like a shotgun needs an outcome
I'm your prostitute, you gon' get some
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Welcome to Paradise, Stuttgart, Germany
The Telegraph, By Nisha Lilia Diu
When Germany legalised prostitution in 2002 it triggered an apparently unstoppable growth in the country’s sex industry. It’s now worth 15 billion euros a year and embraces everything from 12-storey mega-brothels to outdoor sex boxes. Nisha Lilia Diu visits some of them to find out who won and who lost. Read more
Germany's mega-brothel left me cold
The Telegraph, By Nisha Lilia Diu
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| The repurposed ambulance dubbed "Sexelance" |
Thomson Reuters Foundation
By Lin Taylor
Thursday, 18 May 2017
"People think less of girls who are prostitutes. But when you're a street prostitute, they think even less of you"
COPENHAGEN, May 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a dark tunnel in Copenhagen's red light district on a freezing night, Annika gasped for air as the stranger who agreed to pay her for sex started suffocating her with his bare hands.
A friend nearby heard her muffled cries and helped the 25-year-old Dane break free from the man's grasp. Annika, who declined to reveal her full name, said it was the fourth time in a year that she nearly died at the hands of her clients.
"If you don't give them what they want, even though it is not what you agreed in the beginning, some just snap," said Annika, who sold sex for nearly a year to pay for her drug addiction but quit the industry eight months ago.
"People think less of girls who are prostitutes. But when you're a street prostitute, they think even less of you," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on a street corner in Vesterbro, Copenhagen's red light district.
Studies show that sex workers in Denmark are violated or threatened by customers about 31 percent of the time while working the streets compared to only three percent in brothels, according to the Danish National Centre for Social Research.
For while prostitution is legal in Denmark, it is illegal to profit from other people selling sex, such as pimping, or to rent rooms to sex workers, which means prostitutes can end up having sex in places like parks, alleyways, behind parked cars and telephone booths.
This can put sex workers in danger from some clients and passers-by, according to rights groups, who are concerned that migrant or trafficked women are especially vulnerable as they are often afraid to report violence or assaults to the police.
A 2009 study by TAMPEP, the European Network for HIV/STI Prevention and Health Promotion among Migrant Sex Workers, estimated migrant workers make up about 65 percent of sex workers in a list of European countries, including Denmark, where there are high numbers from Nigeria and Thailand.
Annika said she reported her attack to the police but they dropped the case because she had no visible marks on her body.
"It made me feel like I didn't matter to anyone," she said. Read more
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Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD), CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
For Florida Public Health laws, see the Florida Statutes, Title XXIX, Public Health
Florida Department of Health - Florida Board of Medicine
Florida Department of Health - Florida Board of Medicine
Genital herpes is a common STD. Tens of millions of ordinary people in the United States have genital herpes. Most people with genital herpes do not know they are infected. (CDC).
Herpes simplex is a viral disease caused by the herpes simplex virus. (Wikipedia).
Sexually transmitted infection. (Wikipedia)
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) WHO - World Health Organization
Sexually Transmissible Diseases Chapter 384, Florida Statutes
American Sexual Health Association (ASHA). ASHA was founded in 1914 in New York City, formed out of early 20th century social reform movements focused on fighting sexually transmitted infections (known then as venereal disease, or VD) and prostitution. Now, more than 100 years after its creation, ASHA remains America’s nonprofit authority for sexual health information. Read more. ASHA on Wikipedia
The Herpes Resource Center (HRC) ASHA
How Does Herpes Testing Work? (PDF) ASHA
Managing Herpes: Living & Loving with HSV (PDF) ASHA
Managing Herpes: Living & Loving with HSV, by
Charles Ebel and Anna Wald, M.D., M.P.H., is an essential resource for
anyone looking for more information on herpes. An estimated one million
people in the U.S. are infected each year with genital herpes. Though
most are initially unaware of the infection, those diagnosed may face
difficult questions about how they acquired herpes and how to manage it.
Managing Herpes provides a balanced perspective on medical and emotional issues. Read more
The STD Project is an independent website and progressive movement eradicating STD stigma by facilitating and encouraging awareness, education, and acceptance through story-telling and resource recommendations. We are taking steps toward modern-day sexual health and prevention by advocating for conscientious and informed decisions.
Jenelle Marie Pierce is the Founder & Executive Director of The STD Project. Read more
Jenelle Marie Pierce is the Founder & Executive Director of The STD Project. Read more
Male Condoms Trojan Brands Website
Female Condoms 1 Condom Depot Website
Female Condoms 2 Condom Depot Website
Super Male Men’s Clinic (Impotence/ED)
CBS SF Bay Area
November 9, 2016 8:44 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Voters rejected a ballot measure requiring actors use condoms in all porn movies made in California.
Proposition 60 lost 54 to 46 percent early Wednesday with 99 percent of more than 8 million votes cast.
The so-called Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act would have also required that porn producers be licensed by the state and pay to have their actors regularly tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
It also held anyone with a financial interest in a porn film responsible for violations, with fines ranging from $1,000 to $70,000.
Any California resident who witnessed a violation could have sued a filmmaker if state officials didn’t act promptly on their complaint.
Much of the U.S. porn industry is based in Los Angeles, and some prominent producers have said passage of the measure would force them to leave the state. Read more
- The Doctors: Adult Film Condom Requirement…Rejected!
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| Ela Darling on condoms in porn |
Rolling Stone.com
By Katie Van Syckle
October 28, 2016
Proponents say the statewide condom law would curb STD rates among performers, so why are so many porn stars against it?
California's Prop 60 would protect performers from STDs – but will it kill the adult industry in the state?
UPDATE: Proposition 60 did not pass in California, losing 54 to 46, the AP reports.
Thirty-year-old porn star Ela Darling is one of the most vocal opponents to Proposition 60, a new set of California regulations advocating for safer sex in the porn industry. Tall, thin, with long blonde hair and an all-American cheerleader spirit, Darling has appeared in more than 200 adult films. Originally from Texas, she graduated from college, got a masters degree and worked as a reference librarian. Bored, she started appearing in nude bondage photo shoots and realized she really enjoyed it. Not only that, she could make a ton of money. So she moved to California to work in porn full-time.
Now, as head of the company Cam4VR, Darling is one of the leading voices in VR porn community. She sees Prop 60 as another frustrating example of what those in the porn business call "captain save a ho" – when outsiders see adult film performers as victims, and try to regulate the industry without the workers’ input.
"There is this infantilizing rescue rhetoric that they use to imply that we are these hurt, damaged souls that need to be protected from the big, bad producers," Darling says. "But nobody takes better care of ourselves than we do."
Most American-made porn is still filmed in California, meaning the law – which according to a recent L.A. Times poll, 55% of Californians currently support – could have a huge impact on the billion-dollar adult entertainment industry, and the look of modern porn. If passed, Darling warns, Prop 60 could open performers up to new levels of harassment, and even drive the industry out of California. But public health advocates maintain that elevated STD levels among performers mean it's time for the state to step in and start actually regulating adult-entertainment shoots.
Since the 1970s, L.A. County's San Fernando Valley has been home to America's billion-dollar adult film industry. And following a state court case in 1989, porn production is considered legal to film in all of California. But despite its legal status, the business has rarely been subject to any state or federal regulations.
But then in 2003, after an L.A. Times article exposed health risks for adult film performers, many in the public health community became invested in preventing the spread of STDs on porn sets. Following a heated political battle, in 2012, voters in L.A. County passed Measure B, a law that explicitly states that performers are required to wear condoms in adult films and register their shoots. Backed by the AIDS Health Care Foundation, a public health advocacy group, the law also makes L.A. County responsible for enforcing the rule. Read more
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CNN - Cable News Network
By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent
May 19, 2011 9:23 a.m. EDT
While hooking up with a new co-star can provoke some anxiety, there's one thing they're usually not anxious about: getting a sexually transmitted disease from their co-star, since both get tested for STDs at least once a month.
"Before you start shooting, you go online to see the other person's test results," Wylde explains. "Or sometimes on set, before you start, they show you the results on paper."
Such diligence about STDs is a good idea for anyone having sex with a new partner, even if you're not a porn star, says Dr. Craig Strafford, director of clinical research at the Holzer Clinic in Gallipolis, Ohio. Read more
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