theguardianuk--2019-01-19--Beautiful Boy review screamingly cliched view of drug addiction

Beautiful Boy review – screamingly cliched view of drug addiction

‘Blue, blue, electric blue,” sings David Bowie’s voice as freelance journalist Dave Sheff (Steve Carell) Googles “crystal meth”, the highly dangerous, highly addictive cerulean rocks that his teenage son, Nic (Timothée Chalamet), has been using. This is the level of subtlety present in Felix van Groeningen’s awards-y drama, based on the memoirs of the real-life father-son duo. Mimicking the relapse-recovery cycle of addiction, the film’s timeline moves in unsatisfying narrative circles that stall the already shallow stakes.  “A few weeks ago you told me you’d only done crystal meth once. The story has to be bigger than that, right?” Dave asks his son (because he’s a journalist). Except it’s not: the reasons for the clever, handsome, well-looked-after Nic’s slide into addiction remain opaque. Character detail is replaced by screamingly cliched pop-culture signifiers (Nic reads a Bukowski poem in earnest, claiming the writer saved his life “more than a few times”); the exposition is numbingly blunt (Dave discovers Nic’s sketchbook, filled with creepy doodles that read “I can never give them up”).  Carell plays the concerned father, but his angry outbursts never quite land; it’s unfortunate that when he shouts, the actor’s serious register becomes indistinguishable from that of Michael Scott, his character in The Office. Still, it’s not entirely unmoving. A diner scene that sees Dave sad-eyed and aware of his own powerlessness is devastating; what I’ll call the Chalamet giggle is deployed to great effect, the actor’s cocked head and crinkly grin telegraphing the kind of sweetness that demands a second chance (Neil Young’s Heart of Gold plays as a clean Nic announces that he wants his parents to be proud of him, in case it was unclear). Yet Chalamet’s likability is almost a problem. “It’s as close to a miracle Nic survived,” says a doctor after an overdose, but in this universe, rich, white men get infinite chances to start again. If Beautiful Boy is meant to be a critique of artsy, moneyed liberals’ complicity regarding their privileged, addled offspring, it kneecaps itself with an onscreen message that ends the film. “Help is out there,” it insists, but only if your parents can afford it – and only if you’re a beautiful boy.


theindependent--2019-07-04--Druggie zombie junkies and the language battle at the heart of our attitudes towards addiction

Druggie zombie junkies, and the language battle at the heart of our attitudes towards addiction

Confidence and self-belief are fragile states. For most of us they can either be nurtured or destroyed by the way others describe us. So consider for a moment what terms like “junkie”, “crack-head” or “zombie” do for the self-esteem of people who develop problems with drugs.  Even the less colloquial phrases – like drug-abuser and getting clean (or dirty) – are loaded with judgement. It would be unheard of describe a person with diabetes as having “dirty” blood results but this description is still used for positive drug tests.  The solution seems easy. We should just avoid using loaded language and derogatory terms to describe people who find themselves in this situation. After all this is not a niche group, hundreds of thousands of people have problems with drugs and alcohol, so a change in vocabulary could have a significant impact.  The stigma associated with problem drug use is likely to have deterred many from seeking help as they either don’t recognise themselves as fitting with a stereotype or are perhaps too ashamed to speak to anyone.  But even if every one of us suddenly changed the way we describe people who have problems with drugs, there is no guarantee that our underlying beliefs would have altered. I suspect that we merely learn what’s acceptable to say, rather than change how we really think. Adopting a more acceptable vocabulary to artificially signal acceptance and tolerance might be worse: it would give the false impression that our negative attitudes have changed.  The roots of stigmatising language lie not just in fear but in judgements we make about other people. Many people view problem drug use as self-inflicted or an individual error of judgement. On one level this is understandable if you are using your own life to judge the decisions others have made, even if their experience bears no resemblance to your own.  Addiction and dependency don’t develop randomly, key ingredients are needed to amplify the risk. Trauma, mental health problems, poverty and social disadvantage all contribute. You may accept that, but until this is witnessed first-hand, it is difficult to fully appreciate the way drugs mitigate these problems and make survival possible.  This proximity acts as a powerful agent of attitudinal change. Knowing someone or coming into contact with an individual who has problems with drugs challenges many of the preconceptions that we hold.  They appear like you and I, they dress like you and I. There may be no outward sign that sets them apart, contrary to the image you have in your mind of someone who has a problem with drugs; teeth missing, dishevelled and with the thousand mile stare. Some will fit this image but the majority don’t. There isn’t an easy way of discerning who has a problem.  Understanding and knowledge can help change attitudes and therefore the descriptions we all choose to use. In turn, this collective change has the potential to improve treatment funding and uptake, as those impacted adversely by drugs feel less embarrassed about seeking help and there is somewhere for them to get that support.  So unless there is a change in our attitudes and language it is easier to justify an environment where drug treatment and support is shrinking – which it is at an alarming rate. But it also holds back the adoption of evidence-based treatment. Viewing people with drug problems as unimportant or as a group that only exists in areas of deprivation reduces the political priority given to them.  We know that drug consumption rooms save lives, as does the availability of Naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of opiate overdose, but these life-saving interventions are not funded as they should be.  So in that sense language does matter. Descriptors based on a genuine empathic understanding would signal acceptance and help move people from a status of inhuman and unworthy to one of value. Reversing the record numbers dying as a result of problems with drugs relies on us all reflecting on how we describe our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and others we love and live alongside. Language and the attitudes they represent are deeply powerful, and that grants us far more power than we realise.


themanchestereveningnews--2019-02-26--Drug addiction centre placed in special measures by health watchdog after failing to ensure sexual

Drug addiction centre placed in special measures by health watchdog after 'failing to ensure sexual safety of clients'

A drug addiction treatment centre has been criticised by health watchdogs for failing to ensure the sexual safety of its clients.  The Lighthouse Project in Longsight has been put into special measures after being inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  Inspectors, publishing their findings in a report, said staff at Lighthouse did not follow basic procedures to protect service-users from harm.  Inspectors said the centre had no taken ‘no action’ to ensure the sexual safety of clients in a service that accommodated men and women, including those who might be vulnerable to sexual exploitation.  Men and women used bedrooms on the same corridor and had to pass opposite gender bedrooms to get to a bathroom.  “Managers had not ensured that the building that accommodate the clients was safe,” the report said.  “Staff did not risk assess the environment in relation to risks to clients, especially in relation to managing a mixed sex environment.”  Staff did not have a system for checking clients as they went in and out the building on Farrant Road.  Inspectors pointed out that if there was a fire, workers would not know who was in the building.  Self harm risks at Lighthouse, such as potential ligature anchor points, had not been properly assessed.  “This is important for a service that admits clients with a dual diagnosis of substance misuse and mental health problems,” the report added.  Inspectors did find strengths at Lighthouse, praising the ‘compassion and respect’ staff showed the people who used the service.  “Clients reported good relationships with staff and told us that someone was always available if they needed to talk,” inspectors wrote.  A spokesman for Lighthouse said action had already been taken to address the concerns raised in the CQC report.  “Following the CQC inspection, we took immediate action to address the challenges they have highlighted and we have made very positive progress since,” a spokesman for Lighthouse said.  “The wellbeing of everyone we look after are our main priority and we take all feedback from the CQC very seriously.  “The report recognises that we are caring, and we will continue to work hard to ensure positive outcomes for the people who use our service.  “We continue to work closely with the relevant authorities to make and sustain improvements, and we are confident we will have made significant positive progress by our next inspection.”  Lighthouse will be inspected by the CQC again in six months.


thetorontostar--2019-06-28--Malaysia plans to decriminalize drug use to battle addiction

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia’s government plans to drop criminal penalties for the possession and use of drugs in small quantities as a way to battle addiction but stresses it’s not legalizing drugs.  Malaysia harshly penalizes drug possession. Anyone found with 200 grams of cannabis, 40 grams of cocaine, and 15 grams of heroin or morphine face being charged with drug trafficking, which carries the death penalty.  Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said in a statement Thursday that the proposal for the “decriminalization of drug addicts and addiction” will be a significant game changer.  He said addicted people will be treated as patients, not criminals. He said drug addiction is a complex, relapsing medical condition and throwing an addicted drug user into jail will not cure them.


birminghammail--2019-01-19--Handsworth gripped by 247 prostitution - this is what the community is doing about it

Handsworth gripped by '24/7' prostitution - this is what the community is doing about it

"Shame the drug dealers, the kerb crawlers and the pimps - but don't embarrass the girls."  That is the message from a new community group hell-bent on stamping out Handsworth's '24/7' prostitution.  Be it night, afternoon or even morning - the sex workers of Soho Road are selling their bodies in what has become an all-day, everyday problem.  They roam the notorious mile-stretch through Birmingham and its back streets searching for 'clients' and in most cases, their next drug hit.  But, it is not them who should be ashamed, says Tariq Rashid - co-ordinator for Handsworth Community Action Group (HCAG).  Some of the women and girls have turned to a life of prostitution because they have been raped, stabbed or worse, he says.  And now working on Handsworth's main drag, which sees thousands of commuters pass every day, they are reportedly 'manhandled', raped, robbed and forced into non-consensual gang sex.  Those are just a couple of the horrific tales Tariq and his team of 30 volunteers have heard as they offer support to sex workers trapped in a 'vicious circle'.  He told BirminghamLive: "Everybody just seems to be turning a blind eye to them.  "But it's a 24/7 thing, it used to be it would only be at night. Now, you see them in the day, during the night, and people see them in the morning.  "A lot of them have got complicated lives and a lot of them are into drugs and need a fix. But when you talk to them, your heart bleeds. If you spoke to them, your heart would bleed too.  "They've been stabbed, they've been raped and because of the world they're into, they have no one to turn to.  "They'll use the drugs, when they run out, come out on the road, go to the dealers, buy the drugs then they're out again in a vicious circle that never ends. That's the sad thing to see.  "It's easy to label them, but who knows what their background is? Some of them have been in such harrowing situations that trying to get them off the drugs is a nightmare.  "I don't want them to move away from Handsworth because that's not resolving the situation. We need to take them off the streets and into a normal life."  The group is in talks with outreach charities and homeless organisations to support the prostitutes, but says kerb crawlers will not be 'tolerated'.  Since starting the community initiative and spending 290 hours patrolling Handsworth's streets, the volunteers have seen dozens of kerb crawlers in the act with prostitutes.  Some of whom were caught just meters from the busy main road or in poorly-lit parks.  Worrying images taken by the group capture the state of Waverhill Park, littered with remnants of the area's drug and prostitution problem.  Plunged into darkness after the park's lighting failed, condoms are often strewn across the grass, along with syringes and empty alcohol cans and bottles.  Tariq added: "You've got families living on Holiday Road. Can you imagine young children walking through the park and finding all these things?  "Imagine if your kid walked around and picked up something like that, what they could catch from the harmful substances left around."  While the parks have become a common meeting place for kerb crawlers and sex workers, other men reportedly lure the vulnerable women back to addresses - where a whole gang of them lay in wait.  "Some of these people are using and abusing the girls, one guy will come out speak to a girl and take her back. And there's about four, five guys waiting," Mr Rashid added.  And it isn't just prostitution which has the 'challenging' inner city area gripped.  Discarded knives, regular flytipping and drugs are just some of the separate issues the HCAG are battling.  "Handsworth is a challenge, believe it or not," explains Mr Rashid.  "On the first day it just opened our eyes, we didn't think the problem was that bad.  "Within the first 20 minutes, we had police with us, someone came running to us, someone had discarded a knife, not a kitchen knife but a weapon.  "Officers said if you guys hadn't come out, we wouldn't have patrolled this area. The knife was taken off the road.  "We've done 290 hours in the last two months and over that time we've got 190 issues. They range from kerb crawling and flytipping to drugs and vulnerable people."  Tariq has pleaded with any residents who wish to make a difference in the community to come forward and volunteer.  His vision to fix up the area includes some 100 volunteers -  an addition of 70 to his current team.  "If I had 100, I could run operations throughout the night, I could clear Handsworth within a month.  "I could get everybody involved, make more complaints, make sure our streets are clean, the word would be spread faster, we could run more street watch operations.  "We need more women too, we only have three ladies. We need more to come out with us and speak to the women."  If you would like to get involved in the HCAG, please contact Tariq Rashid on the Facebook group.  In July, Insp Iftekhar Ahmed, in charge of Handsworth neighbourhood policing, said: “We’re aware of the issue with prostitution in and around the Soho Road area, and our neighbourhood policing teams have taken a proactive approach to tackle it.  “We’ve been engaging with the women involved to educate and support them so that they can move away from that life.  “In terms of persistent offenders, we’re taking action such as civil orders, written warnings and arrests.  “We’re working closely with other agencies, such as the Soho Business Improvement District, to divert women away from prostitution, which can leave them vulnerable to robbery and sexual assault.  “We recognise it leaves them vulnerable to robbery and sexual assault, and continue to work with them, while carrying out uniform and plain clothes patrols to tackle the issue.”


birminghammail--2019-03-19--Survival sex inquiry launched as Universal Credit forces women into prostitution

'Survival sex' inquiry launched as Universal Credit forces women into prostitution

Women are turning to prostitution because cuts and delays in their Universal Credit are leaving them desperate for cash.  That's the claim of charities and support organisations who have warned of a rise in 'survival sex.'  And it does actually seem to be happening.  In October 2018, we reported on one man who revealed his wife had taken on sex work when they were left without any money to live on.  He said: "The second time that we needed to pay the rent was when she decided to take on sex work.  "It was a very hard decision - but we had absolutely nothing left to sell.  "We had sold everything, taken out Wonga loans - it is not something we wanted to happen, it felt like we were in Victorian Britain."  He added: "She did it for a couple of months before I eventually got my payment, it left her very shaken.  "It was only because of that work my wife was doing that we could eat and pay the rent at that time."  MPs have now launched a probe to find out the extent of the problem.  The Work and Pensions Committee is calling for evidence about the possible link between the Government's controversial welfare scheme and so-called "survival sex".  It comes after reports from charities and support organisations indicated increasing numbers of people, mostly women, have become involved in prostitution as a direct result of benefits policy changes.  Frank Field MP, chairman of the committee, said: "We have heard sufficient evidence, and are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs.  "This is an investigation, and we do not yet know what we will uncover.  "But if the evidence points to a direct link between this kind of survival sex and the administrative failures of Universal Credit, ministers cannot fail to act."  The committee has identified aspects of Universal Credit that may lead to difficulties in claimants meeting survival needs, including delays to payments and sanctions.  MPs are asking for written submissions about how the scheme might drive people into "survival sex" by April 29.  The committee will later hear evidence as it seeks to determine how widespread the problem is and to what extent any increases can be directly linked to Universal Credit.


birminghammail--2019-09-30--How evil sex traffickers are using pop-up brothels to force victims into prostitution

How evil sex traffickers are using 'pop-up brothels' to force victims into prostitution

EVIL sex traffickers are opening pop-up brothels in the West Midlands where victims are forced to sleep with multiple men every day.  The seedy sex dens are advertised online, open briefly so the traffickers make money, but are closed down before the police can raid them.  Then they open somewhere else, and the sordid business in human misery starts all over again.  Punters make appointments via call centres, usually outside of the UK, and the women are treated as a commodity.  The case of a pregnant woman rescued by a quick-thinking taxi driver on her way to a house being used as a brothel in Coventry has shone a spotlight on the sickening new threat.  She was saved from a life of prostitution when cabbie Tahir Mehmood picked up on her distress and alerted the police.  Trafficker Robert Enescu, 26, had lured the hotel worker from his Romanian homeland after she answered an advert offering UK work as a masseuse.  She bravely gave evidence against him and he was detained – but he is now on the run after jumping bail and ripping off his tracker tag.  Detective Inspector Wes Martin, who led the investigation through West Midlands Police’s Public Protection Unit, says women are often lured from abroad with the promise of a better life in the UK.  “The victim in this case was working abroad in an Austrian hotel,” he told the Birmingham Mail. “She responded to what she thought was a genuine advert.  “She thought she was going to work as a professional masseuse, not a sex worker.  “The victim travelled to the UK with two other women. We believe those women knew they were coming in to be sex workers.  “They got picked up from Luton Airport and at that point things rapidly went wrong for her. She was taken to a flat in London where she said she was kept for a couple of days, locked in the flat.  “She was met by a third party who was instructed to take her to a specific address where there were other people.  “That’s when she said she was kept against her will in a room. She told us that there were other women present in the block of flats.  “We subsequently issued a warrant after we’d identified the address – and it was an active brothel.  “There was an ‘alpha female’ there who was sort of managing the sex work and our victim said she was taken into a room which was sparsely furnished and had no access to a toilet.  “There was a bed, a wardrobe and locked windows. She said she was forced to use the bucket as a toilet.”  He added: “It becomes apparent through the investigation that there’s some trading of her between Robert Enescu and a couple of other people we believe are abroad.  “Enescu travels down to London where he picks up the victim and brings her back to Coventry where he holds her against her will.  “She is kept in a couple of addresses in Coventry for the best part of 36 hours and then she’s told that she’s going to be made to work in a brothel.  “Robert Enescu phones the taxi driver who comes to pick her up, and Enescu gives an address to take her to. Fortunately the taxi driver was really proactive.  “The taxi driver’s actions are what initiated the investigation.”  The fact that the victim was three months pregnant may have saved her from a worse fate, the detective said.  “I believe that could be part of the reason she was split up from the other two women,” he explained. “It sounds awful to say, but to the traffickers, her value as a commodity was less due to her being pregnant.  “Perhaps they felt she wasn’t as marketable as other people. However, Robert Enescu decided he could materially gain from her and she could still be sufficiently exploited.  “She was married in Romania. The desire was to move to a more prosperous country and try and get a better way of life to support her family back home.”  The hunt is now on for Enescu, who had a string of criminal convictions in Romania, some for violent offences.  After arrest, he was detained for six months before being given bail with a condition he wear a tag and adhere to a curfew. He initially complied but later fled after removing his tag. Police believe he is now abroad.  Meanwhile his victim is slowly rebuilding her life - with a new arrival.  “She’s given birth,” said Det Insp Martin. “She’s gone through a significant lifestyle change as well as the trauma that she had.  “All the time we worked extensively with her, we made sure she had specialist support services.  “We used a Romanian-speaking officer who’s fairly young in service, and she heavily supported and kept in touch with our victim.  “As you can imagine there were numerous times when she didn’t want to engage and so had to be reassured, but she got through it.  “That has been a tremendous amount of hard work from my team to make sure we got the case to trial.”       ***********************************        THE  emergence of pop-up brothels has added another dimension to police dealing with sex traffickers.  “It’s a problem that’s escalated nationally over the years because there’s now a greater prevalence of websites that enable sex workers to work from their own home,” explained Detective Inspector Wes Martin.  “Pop-up brothels is not simply a problem that’s linked to foreign nationals, it’s a problem that’s grown exponentially over the best part of a decade.  “Locally, I think we have some good intelligence around where this is taking place, and I think we’re better at finding it now.  “Call centres, perhaps based outside the UK sometimes manage the appointments, and that’s where the victim is very much treated like a commodity, to be used and abused.  “The websites are often based abroad. I know the Government is looking at those type of websites but at the moment they’re based outside the UK.  “We’ll obviously test visit so we’ll go on the website, we’ll find out who is advertising locally then we’ll make arrangements to visit.  “Then, when we turn up, that’s when we present with partners and we try to test what’s going on. But obviously we can’t do every address listed on these websites.”  So what can be done to tackle the websites advertising the brothels?  “It’s difficult to legislate when this is a worldwide issue,” said Det Insp Martin. “You can take down websites but you take down a website and another will be created.  “For me it’s about the people who are using these websites, understanding exactly that some of these women aren’t there of their own volition.  “We have had reports nationally of clients who have been to these type of brothels who realise that the girls are perhaps not there voluntarily – and have then shared information.”  * People can contact the Public Protection Unit, based in Coventry, by calling 101 or via Live Chat at WMP Online. Alternatively, call independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.


breitbart--2019-12-21--France: Youths Charged with Forcing Children Into Prostitution

Four young men have been arrested and indicted in the French city of Rouen on charges of forcing at least four underage girls into prostitution.  The suspects aged 16 to 22 were arrested on Sunday and are believed to have formed a pimping gang and forced the underage girls, whom they had kidnapped, to engage in as many as 15 sex acts per day, radio broadcaster Tendance Ouest reports.  “One of the accused was already in pre-trial detention and the other three have been placed under judicial supervision,” said Rouen public prosecutor Pascal Prache.  The four suspects are accused of forcing the underage girls, whose identities and ages were not disclosed, to be sexually abused for money for several months, with as many as 15 acts per day at an average price of 100 euros.  “The cases started in apartments located on the Hauts de Rouen before also taking place in an accommodation in downtown Rouen. The victims were young girls who ran away or lived in foster homes. At this stage, there are at least four,” a police source said.  Investigators say the gang had been active since the start of 2019 and that the investigation that led to their arrests started in February when an alleged victim testified at the Le Havre police station.  The arrests come just days after five men in Chaperon-Vert Gentilly, a suburb of Paris, were arrested after they kidnapped a 16-year-old and forced her to engage in as many as 200 sex acts in a five day period.  The suspects in the case were also young men, aged 17 to 22, and were previously known to police.  Child sex abuse and child prostitution have become a pressing issue in areas like Seine-Saint-Denis, a “no-go zone” suburb of Paris.  A report released last month claimed that a third of the underage prostitutes in the suburb were under 15, with some of them as young as just six.


breitbart--2019-12-22--Italy: Nigerian Mafia Forcing Girls as Young as Twelve Into Prostitution

According to testimony from a teen girl who escaped sexual slavery at the hands of the Nigerian mafia in Italy, the organised crime syndicate has forced girls as young as twelve to become prostitutes.  The testimony comes from a 15-year-old Nigerian girl who told prosecutors in the city of Bologna that she had been sold to the mafia by her father in Nigeria and smuggled illegally into Italy through the Mediterranean migrant route, Il Giornale reports.  One in Italy, the young girl was put under the control of a so-called “Maman”, an older woman who has often been a former prostitute themselves.  Intercepted phone conversations between a Maman and others revealed that the Nigerian mafia prefers to use illegal migration to bring in young girls rather than air travel due to the lack of oversight and regulations.  The woman, who is said to be 26, also claimed that she knew of a 12-year-old girl who had been forced to prostitute herself.  She later complained about the 15-year-old who ran away to Italian authorities, telling the young girl’s father, “I bought her a 300 Euro phone too, but nothing has changed. She doesn’t respond, she’s unruly.”  The report comes just weeks after dozens of Nigerian mafia members were arrested across Europe in a joint operation between police in Italy, France, Germany, Malta, and the Netherlands.  The two main groups of Nigerian mafia that operate in Italy are the Supreme Eye and the Black Ax and are linked primarily to prostitution and to drug trafficking.  The organisation has expanded dramatically in recent years and is now actively competing with local mafia groups ion various Italian regions for dominance over illegal drugs and prostitution.  The group is also known as being ruthless by many criminologists such as Alessandro Meluzzi who labelled them, ” the most ruthless mafia in the world” and added than cannibalism was a routine practise among members.


drudgereport--2019-05-31--Prostitution Next Vice to Be Decriminalized

Prostitution Next Vice to Be Decriminalized?

Ms. Mathieson and others who work with women in the sex trade say that supporters of decriminalization gloss over a raft of gruesome details about the profession, including rape, physical abuse by clients and pimps, commonplace drug use and an often ravaging physical toll of multiple sex partners, sometimes in the span of a few hours.  “They have accepted a kind of myth about the sex industry of the happy hooker and victimless crimes,” said Dorchen Leidholdt, the head of the Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services at Sanctuary for Families in New York, adding, “It’s a fantasy perpetuated and accepted by the media.”  While decriminalization is unlikely to pass in New York this year, a pair of bills dealing with elements of prostitution appear to have a greater chance of passing, including one that would vacate nonprostitution-related crimes, like drug charges, from the records of victims of sex trafficking.  It recently advanced out of a Senate committee. A second bill would repeal loitering for the purposes of prostitution statute, a law that advocates say leads to unfair arrests of people — often transgender — for wearing skirts, carrying condoms or even “walking while trans.”  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, has offered no opinion of those bills or of decriminalization, saying only that he would review such proposals.  The United States trails many other developed countries in considering the effects of decriminalizing prostitution, which is legal in such European countries as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and in other parts of the world.  The results of such reforms are mixed: In New Zealand, for example, which decriminalized prostitution in 2003, a 2012 study found that “the vast majority of people involved in the sex industry are better off” with decriminalized conditions. But the report also added that “many sex workers were still vulnerable to ‘exploitative employment conditions’” and that some sex workers were being forced to take clients “against their will.”


hitandrun--2019-02-26--Kamala Harris Wont Denounce Federal Law That Harms Sex Workers but May Support Decriminalizing Pro

Kamala Harris Won't Denounce Federal Law That Harms Sex Workers, but May Support Decriminalizing Prostitution

Since Sen. Kamala Harris (D–Ca.) announced her 2020 presidential campaign, she's been criticized by sex workers, activists, and media over her long history of advocating policies that harm sex workers. That includes the shutdown of websites where sex workers advertise, like Backpage.com, and the disastrous 2018 law, FOSTA, that made hosting web content that "facilitates prostitution" a federal crime.  Now, Harris appears to be trying to counter that critique by suggesting that she would be open to the decriminalization of prostitution.  In a video interview with The Root published today, Terrell J. Starr asked Harris about her support for FOSTA despite sex workers saying that it puts their lives in danger. Instead of answering, Harris pivoted to her history as a prosecutor. Harris claimed that all the way back in 2004, as district attorney for San Francisco, she was insisting "that we have to stop arresting these prostitutes."  However, as Harris pointed out, she also supported an increase in crackdowns on "johns," a.k.a. the clients of sex workers. This is what's known as the "Nordic Model" or the "End Demand" strategy. It's focused on arresting people who pay for sex but not those offering paid sex. Both sex workers and human rights groups like Amnesty International oppose this strategy.  Under the Nordic Model, sex workers are still subjected to police surveillance, stings, and raids meant to catch their customers. Meanwhile, crackdowns make customers more squeamish about sex-worker screening practices and other measures that can help keep them safe. That perpetuates the need for third-party involvement that at best cuts into potential earnings and independence, and can result in exactly the kinds of exploitative and controlling situations that End Demand advocates say they're fighting.  FOSTA and federal crackdowns on advertising platforms also create these problematic conditions. Online ad platforms, escort-review forums, hookup apps, and other staples of the digital era allowed people to engage in sex work without middlemen, to screen customers, and otherwise to take control of their working conditions in unprecedented numbers. Without these digital tools, people aren't abandoning sex work. Victims aren't suddenly safe and free. And police have lost a valuable method for helping them find and prosecute the cases of actual abuse and exploitation.  If Harris and law enforcement authorities want to target bad actors who exploit these tools to commit harm, they should target the bad actors themselves, not go after online venues that vastly more people use to positive effect. Harris supported FOSTA and targeted Backpage, twice, but was stopped by a judge both times. In the process, she supported actions that disproportionately punish the vast majority of users who fall into the "consenting adult" category Harris claims she doesn't want to target.  Eventually, in The Root interview, Starr asks Harris outright if she thinks "sex work should be decriminialized."  "I think so," Harris replied. "I do. I think that we have to understand though that it is not as simple as that."  Harris reiterated that people who do harm in the commercial sex arena should still be punished. That's certainly true, but that's not what's on the table. Advocates for ending the illegal status of prostitution aren't arguing that people who use violence, fraud, threats, or teenagers in sexual activity should be decriminalized.  But this is a space full of weasely language, and it's common to find people professing that they only want to go after those who engage in exploitation and harm, yet include in those categories any person who simply pays for sex or for sex-related activities.  Before the interview moved on, Harris told Starr "we should really consider that we can't criminalize consensual behavior." Harris has a worrying track record on this issue, but I'm glad to hear she's at least considering it.  Prostitution isn't a federal crime, so this actually comes down to reforming local and state laws. There's currently a push for decriminalization in New York, and hopefully more to follow elsewhere. Getting support from high-profile politicians like Harris could go a long way, so let's hope this nod of support from her wasn't just a fluke—and that more 2020 candidates will follow her lead.


newyorkpost--2019-01-04--Sicko pleads guilty to forcing teen into prostitution

A Queens man forced a teenage girl into prostitution and beat and threatened the victim into having sex with strangers out of a borough senior citizen residence, officials said Friday.  Joseph Gilbert, 26, of St. Albans pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of attempted sex trafficking in connection to the case involving a 16-year-old victim, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced.  Gilbert will be sentenced to up to eight years behind bars on Jan. 25.  “In pleading guilty, the defendant has now admitted to coercing a teen girl — just 16-years-old –into prostitution,” Brown said. “The youngster suffered greatly, but managed to escape the clutches of the defendant. She will, however, have to live with the memory of this experience for the rest of her life.”  Prosecutors say from December 2016 to March 2017, Gilbert forced the teenager into having sex dates with strangers.  Gilbert also made the victim, who he had work out of a Jamaica senior citizen residence, turn over all the money she made to him, prosecutors charge.  When the victim expressed to Gilbert that she no longer wanted to engage in prostitution, Gilbert violently beat her and threatened her, according to officials.  In March of last year, the teen finally broke free and ran away, ultimately reporting to police where Gilbert operated, which led to his arrest, Brown said.  Prosecutors say the victim was living with Gilbert and an older drug-addicted resident of the facility.  Gilbert’s lawyer, Anthony Rattoballi, did not immediately return a request for comment.


newyorkpost--2019-04-08--Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez wants to decriminalize prostitution

He’s decriminalized marijuana and now Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez wants to do the same for prostitution.  “I believe in decriminalization,” Gonzalez told an April 4 forum sponsored by Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn.  He emphasized that wouldn’t apply to pimps or sex traffickers.  Gonzalez said he would also consider supporting a law to outright legalize sex work — as long it doesn’t let sex traffickers off the hook because that’s “obviously a big issue.”  “I’m actually interested to hear a little bit more [about] the work towards legalization and whether that makes sense,” he said.  Gonzalez noted that some women’s advocacy groups oppose legalizing prostitution because of concerns it would hamstring the ability to prosecute sex traffickers.  His comments were first reported by Gay City News.  Gonzalez said his office currently handles prostitution cases in a “soft prosecution” manner.  Defendants arrested on the charge typically get a desk appearance ticket and are required to complete service with a social service group, and then the case is dismissed.  “There is no prosecution. No one goes to jail,” Gonzalez said.  The Brooklyn DA said he’s open to diverting prostitutes from the court system while “screening” for sex traffickers.  Gonzalez, who endorsed the legalization of marijuana, is no longer prosecuting weed possession cases and has moved to vacate thousands of prior warrants and convictions.


newyorkpost--2019-06-02--Sex-trade survivor Dont legalize prostitution in New York

Sex-trade survivor: Don’t legalize prostitution in New York

State lawmakers pushing to legalize prostitution may want to think twice.  A former sex-trade survivor who says she was victimized everywhere from New York City strip clubs to Nevada’s legal brothels is now at the forefront of the national battle against legalization, telling The Post that it only encourages “horrific’’ trafficking.  “A lot of people are under the misconception that just because it’s legal [in Nevada], then it’s safe and it’s clean and that all the people there are consenting, and that’s just not the truth,” said Rebekah Charleston, who appears in a [blistering new anti-trafficking video](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=289639511755415) put out by opponents of legalization.  “I think a lot of people have this happy hooker mindset like, ‘Oh well, she looks happy, and she’s an adult, so she should be able to do what she wants,’ when that’s just not reality. The realities of prostitution and sex trafficking are horrific.”  Charleston, 37, is part of a new campaign launched by a coalition of advocacy groups that includes the video, which was unveiled at the World Without Exploitation conference in Washington, DC, on May 23.  The anti-trafficking campaign comes amid a national debate over whether to legalize prostitution.  In New York, a group of state lawmakers vowed earlier this year to introduce a bill to legalize prostitution.  Backers of the proposed bill said they believe that legalization would reduce sex trafficking and protect the women who rely on the industry to make a living. Supporters say that any bill wouldn’t extend protections to pimps or sex traffickers.  But critics worry that it could actually lead to an increase in trafficking, as Charleston argues.  As it stands now, authorities across New York City’s five boroughs have taken a soft approach to prosecuting prostitution cases. The NYPD says it treats those arrested as victims first. Anyone considered a trafficking victim then goes to the city’s special Human Trafficking Intervention Court, where most are offered services and have their charges dismissed.  Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez has said he supports going a step further and decriminalizing prostitution.  But Charleston, who was often sent by her pimp to city strip clubs to find johns, said Nevada shouldn’t serve as a national blueprint.  “Forty-eight years ago, prostitution was legalized in Nevada. It was a social experiment. That experiment has failed,” Charleston says in the video.  Nevada has a 63 percent higher rate of illegal sex-trade activity than any other state in the country and ranks in the top 10 for trafficked and exploited youth, according to the video, which adds that only 10 percent of prostitution in Nevada is legal.  Nevada also is ranked sixth in the country for rapes and sexual assaults against women, according to Awaken, an anti-sex trafficking non-profit based in Reno.  Charleston, originally from Dallas, Texas, said she was raped when she was 14 years old, became addicted to drugs and ran away from home at the age of 17, when she met a pimp that would sell her across the US for the next 10 years.  One time, when she tried to escape, he held a pitchfork to her neck and said he would kill her, she said.  “When somebody beats you to where you have blood pouring out of your face, you believe them when they say they’ll kill you,” explained Charleston, who now runs her own non-profit Valiant Hearts.  She said her trafficker sent her to the Love Ranch North and the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothels, owned by the late Dennis Hof, “as a form of punishment” when she wasn’t making enough money or gave him other trouble.  At the legal brothels, Charleston said, the conditions were deplorable.  “It’s a miserable daily existence, so drug use is rampant inside the brothel. … We would just sit around and get high [on meth] all day,” recalled Charleston, who said she no longer uses drugs.  She was also expected to be on call 24 hours a day and forced to sleep in the same room she serviced customers in, a practice she called “disgusting” and a “human-rights violation.”  Anytime she tried to leave the brothel, the house manager would try to prevent her from going, while other girls in the house “just never left.”  Melissa Holland, co-founder and executive director of Awaken, said Nevada’s quest to legalize prostitution was done in part to make selling sex safer for the workers and the buyers.  Instead, it’s only made the illegal market proliferate in the last half a century and has changed the state’s culture, she said.  “We know from research when you legalize prostitution … you increase the demand for it. … So when the demand goes up, you have to increase the supply, and that’s in trafficking women and children,” Holland explained.  She said sexual exploitation is so normalized in Nevada, brothel workers are invited to schools for career day.  “That’s what happens when it’s framed like a job like any other,” Holland said.  “These are the real implications and how it bleeds into your culture.”


newyorkpost--2019-06-21--Bernie Sanders Liz Warren talk decriminalizing prostitution

Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren talk decriminalizing prostitution

WASHINGTON – The two progressive presidential candidates backing Queens District Attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán are also backing her on one of her signature issues.  Cabán wants to decriminalize sex work, arguing that the current laws go after people who are destabilized by the current economic system. “This is literally how they put food on their tables,” Cabán said in a debate Tuesday.  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) – who endorsed Cabán Wednesday – said he was open to the idea as well.  “Bernie believes that decriminalization is certainly something that should be considered,” Sanders’ spokeswoman Sarah Ford told The Post. “Other countries have done this and it has shown to make the lives of sex workers safer.”  Ford didn’t say whether Sanders would go as far as Cabán, who also doesn’t want to prosecute the Johns.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) – another Cabán backer – was asked by the Washington Post Wednesday whether she supported the progressive Queens candidate on the issue.  “I’m open to decriminalization. Sex workers, like all workers, deserve autonomy but they are particularly vulnerable physically and financial abuse and hardship,” Warren said in a statement.  “We need to make sure we don’t undermine legal protections for the most vulnerable, including the millions of individuals who are victims of human trafficking each year,” the Massachusetts Democrat added as a warning of decriminalization going too far.


newyorkpost--2019-11-19--NYC could be next prostitution hub if legalized: trafficking survivors

State lawmakers pushing to legalize prostitution may want to think...


prisonplanet--2019-06-17--Teen Vogue Promotes Prostitution to its Young Readership

Teen Vogue was accused of promoting prostitution to its young audience after publishing an article with the headline ‘Why Sex Work is Real Work’.  The article was subsequently tweeted out with the words, “Yes, sex work is real work!”  The op-ed argues that prostitution “should be decriminalized across the globe.”  “Why is a teen magazine promoting prostitution to their 13-year-old readers?” asked commentator Mark Dice.  “Give it time. In a few years the high school guidance counciler will recommend sex work as a career option to school children,” remarked Mimi Al-Laham.  “This is just pure ignorance to the massive problem which is human trafficking,” added Brittany DeVandry. “How many of these workers are forced into this line of “work” as you call it. Yet you think they want their “work” to be legal? When they are being forced into it? Really?!”  However, it’s by no means the first time the online magazine has pushed questionable practices on its young readership.  Last year, Teen Vogue published an instruction piece on anal sex. Last week, the outlet also advised minors how to get abortion without parental consent.  According to Teen Vogue, it considers its readers to be activists. Following the closure of its print model, Teen Vogue has heavily moved into politics because this kind of clickbait trash drives significant traffic to its website – but at what cost?  There is a war on free speech. Without your support, my voice will be silenced.  Please sign up for the free newsletter here. Donate to me on SubscribeStar here.  Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.  This article was posted: Monday, June 17, 2019 at 7:20 am


renegadetribune--2019-05-27--Israeli Who Headed Colombia Child Prostitution Ring Arrested in Portugal

(MEMO) An ex-Israeli soldier wanted in Colombia for heading a child prostitution ring and sex trafficking offences has been arrested in Portugal.  Forty-five-year-old Assi Ben-Mosh – also known as Assi Moosh – was arrested near the Portuguese capital Lisbon on Wednesday during an operation by Spain’s Guardia Civil police force. The Guardia Civil said in a statement that Ben-Mosh is thought to have been hiding on the Spanish island of Ibiza, and then in Barcelona, before eventually being arrested in Portugal this week. It added that Ben-Mosh had been using a fake Israeli ID, the Times of Israel reported yesterday.  Ben-Mosh is wanted by Colombian authorities for running a child prostitution ring in the small fishing village of Taganga, located on the South American country’s Caribbean coast. He, along with a group of ex-Israeli soldiers, reportedly turned the luxury Benjamin Hostel into a “sex and drug den” in which more than 250 underage girls were subjected to sexual exploitation.  The Benjamin Hostel became known to locals as “little Israel”, and acted as a base from which Ben-Mosh ran similar clubs exploiting children in Cartagena, Medellín and the Colombian capital Bogotá. His empire is also thought to have extended to Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil.  In November 2017 Ben-Mosh was deported from Colombia after the authorities labelled him a threat to public order and the security of the state. At the time, local sources reported that he was arrested after arriving at the immigration office in nearby Santa Marta, accompanied by a group of armed men. It was believed he had been trying to obtain Colombian citizenship.  According to Colombia’s national police, Ben-Mosh had raised suspicion after it was discovered that his permits for tourism and hotel operation were obtained through a third party, enabling him to carry out criminal activities undetected for a decade. He was returned to Tel Aviv under escort by immigration officers.  However, in July 2018 Colombian authorities asked Interpol to arrest Ben-Mosh, believing he had continued to manage his illicit operations from afar despite his deportation. The international arrest warrant stated that Ben-Mosh was wanted for drug trafficking, money laundering and trafficking of human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.  The call came after three Israelis and 15 others were arrested on suspicion of involvement in sex trafficking in the tourist city of Cartagena. They were arrested from Benjamin Hostel, another establishment of the same name as that run by Ben-Mosh in Taganga.  It is not yet clear whether Ben-Mosh will be extradited to Colombia following his arrest.


sottnet--2019-11-14--San Francisco's new district attorney says city will no longer prosecute public urination or prostit

San Francisco's new district attorney says city will no longer prosecute public urination or prostitution

San Francisco's pee problem could soon get worse.Chesa Boudin, the urine-and-feces-plagued city's incoming district attorney, pledged during the campaign not to prosecute public urination and other quality-of-life crimes if he was elected. Boudin declared victory Saturday night after results showed him winning a plurality of votes in the DA race.Boudin's campaign didn't return the Daily Caller News Foundation's request for confirmation that he would follow through on his pledge not to prosecute public urination.Boudin's parents were members of the Weather Underground domestic terrorist group.Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders cheered Boudin's victory in the election. "Now is the moment to fundamentally transform our racist and broken criminal justice system by ending mass incarceration, the failed war on drugs and the criminalization of poverty," the Vermont Sen. wrote on Twitter Saturday, congratulating Boudin on his "historic victory!"


sputnik--2019-02-12--Migrant Women in Europe Forced Into Prostitution Via Bloody Magic Ritual - Media

As female Nigerian migrants in Europe frequently end up being forced into prostitution to earn a living and to repay their debts to unscrupulous human traffickers, the latter often employ juju rituals to keep the women obedient, the BBC has reported.  The process was described to the media outlet by one of the victims, Magdalen, who said that she and other women were brought to a little house and forced to take off their clothes.  "He cut the hand like this, cut our forehead, cut here," Magdalen said, pointing at her chin, as she described the actions of the man conducting the ritual. "He told me I should repeat after her. If I did not pay the money, I’m going to die".  Italian psychiatrist Dr Aldo Virgilio explained that most Nigerian women arriving in Italy as migrants undergo such rites, and while it may look like a superstition, for these women, it is “reality”.  "The girls who come to see me, come because they have psychological trauma. They start to have digestion problems, confusion and fear, and they relate this to the juju ceremony," he said. "It’s not easy to convince them that it’s possible to recover from juju."  READ MORE: Witch Doctors Using Juju Magic to Turn Women Into Prostitutes on Trial in Sweden  Last year, Swedish authorities also reported a similar development after two female victims from Nigeria revealed how they were forced into prostitution after undergoing a juju ritual.  One of the women told police that during the ritual she was made to eat a raw chicken heart, was cut on the chest with a razor blade and had animal blood rubbed into her wounds.


sputnik--2019-03-19--UK MPs Start Probe Into Sex Survival as Benefit Claimants Turn to Prostitution

UK MPs Start Probe Into 'Sex Survival' as Benefit Claimants Turn to Prostitution

The Work and Pensions Committee in the House of Commons has launched an inquiry into “survival sex” in response to evidence showing that an increasing number of women have been forced to turn to prostitution to pay rent or feed their families, The Independent reported.  “We have heard sufficient evidence, and are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs. This is an investigation, and we do not yet know what we will uncover. But if the evidence points to a direct link between this kind of survival sex and the administrative failure of universal credit, ministers cannot fail to act”, said Frank Field, and independent MP who chairs the committee.  READ MORE: Social Media in Stitches as Meghan Markle Uses Bananas to Cheer Up Sex Workers  The inquiry stems from the committee’s ongoing probe into the Universal Credit system, but it will also explore links between survival sex and other policies that drive claimants to poverty.  “There are a number of people participating in survival sex so they can feed their families or prevent loan sharks with baseball bats coming round to enforce debts. I am shocked we live in a country where this actually happens. My head tells me that I should not be surprised, because it is difficult to survive on the money you have got with universal credit, let alone when it is taken away”.  Spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes Niki Adams said that there had been an uptick in prostitution in the United Kingdom caused by rising poverty and cuts to single-parent benefits.  While welcoming the committee’s inquiry, Adams said that there’s been an increase in calls to the ECP’s phone line from women asking for help with universal credit.  “Women are either saying they are already working as a sex worker and having to do more, because of having their income sanctioned, or going into prostitution for that reason. One woman who had two children – one with a disability – called saying she had calculated her income would drop by a third when universal credit came to her area. She was totally distressed on the phone”, Adams said.  Field raised the issue of sex survival during a parliamentary debate in October 2018, telling the then-Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, that some women in Birkenhead constituency were “taking to the red light district for the first time” due to universal credit.  The inquiry is expected to look into features of universal credit that might push people into agreeing to sex for money, as well as the changes that could be made to prevent claimants targeted by benefit cuts from turning into sex workers.


theblaze--2019-04-09--Top Brooklyn prosecutor endorses decriminalizing prostitution

District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has joined a growing movement in New York


theblaze--2019-05-01--Teen Vogue op-ed Why sex work is real work defends prostitution But former prostitutes blast

Teen Vogue op-ed — 'Why sex work is real work' — defends prostitution. But former prostitutes blast narrative to bits.  'Your magazine is sending my son the misogynistic message that purchasing women and girls is legitimate and harmless'


theblaze--2019-11-12--San Fran's new ultra-liberal DA plans to ignore prostitution as well as public urination and other c

San Fran's new ultra-liberal DA plans to ignore prostitution as well as public urination and other crimes related to homelessness epidemic


thedailyrecord--2019-10-11--Glasgow gang who forced women into slavery and prostitution sold victim for £10k outside Primark

A gang were today convicted of trafficking women from Slovakia and forcing them into slavery or servitude in Glasgow  At The High Court in Glasgow Vojtech Gombar, 61, Anil Wagle, 37, Jana Sandorova, 28,and Ratislav Adam, 31, were found guilty of involvement in forcing women into prostitution and slavery.  All four played a part in a scheme to transport eight young women from poverty-stricken Slovakia to flats in the city's Govanhill between November 2011 and February 2017 in order to exploit them.  Gombar was the ringleader for the gang.  Jurors heard how one victim was sold for £10,000 outside Primark in the city's Argyle Street.  Five of the women were brought over for arranged marriages to Pakistani men.  Some of the women – though not all – were forced into prostitution.  One was turned back at Calais by UK Border Force officers.  She had no possessions or money and was accompanied by Gombar, who had two suitcases containing his possessions. He abandoned her at the ferry port.  Jurors today returned verdicts after more than five days of deliberations.  Gombar was found guilty of 13 charges involving eight of the women.  An accusation involving a ninth woman was found not proven.  Wagle was convicted of four charges mainly involving one of the victims.  Sandorova was meantime guilty of six charges featuring two women.  Adam was finally convicted of seven charges involving three victims.  Lord Beckett remanded the gang - all from Govanhill - in custody pending sentencing for reports.  They will return to the dock in Edinburgh on November 8.  One woman - who had been with the gang during the case - sobbed loudly after the verdicts.  The trial had lasted around seven weeks.  The court heard how the majority of the women gave evidence by video link from Slovakia and through an interpreter.  All had come to Scotland with the promise of a better life and a job.  But, they were either forced to take part in marriages against their will or made to work as prostitutes.  Jurors heard the harrowing stories of the vulnerable victims who arrived here penniless, with no possessions and only the clothes they were wearing.  Their ID cards, which could have helped them to flee back home were snatched.  The women - who did not speak any English - were watched and never allowed out on their own.  The horrific crimes only came to light after one brave woman managed to escape and run to a shop in the southside of the city for help.  She spoke only Roma and Slovakian - but, the shopkeeper - who did not understand her - phoned police.  The officers asked two young girls in the store to help with translation.  They then managed to work out that Gombar had her ID card.  The document was found in Gombar's flat in the city's Allison Street.  It was Gombar - along with accomplices in Slovakia - who found the women and brought them to the UK.  Prosecutor Kath Harper said: “Vojtech Gombar shows a startlingly clear, compelling and powerful pattern of behaviour in recruiting, transporting and exploiting these women.  "He exploited them by either forcing them into marriage with virtual strangers from which he benefitted financially and/or forcing them into prostitution from which he and his associates benefitted.”  The court heard that one of the women was forced to have sex with two or three Pakistani men in a day for at least eight months.  Harper said: “Her autonomy was completely stripped from her and her body became nothing but a vehicle for Gombar and others to make money.  "It is perhaps hard to imagine a more callous and uncaring way to treat another human being.”  Sandorova and Adam were Gombar's step-daughter and her partner.  Wagle, from Nepal, became involved initially because he wanted to buy a bride.  The woman he 'bought' claimed that he raped her although he was not charged with that offence.  There was evidence from phone messages that he was trying to make money selling women to other men.  One woman told of how Sandorova gave her a short skirt and 'sexy' clothing so that she would look more provocative and make money from prostitution.  Another victim overheard a conversation between Adam and Gombar.  She told the court: “I believe he was involved in a similar thing to what Vojtech Gombar was doing, like taking girls and so on.  “At the time he had no girls, however I heard him say he be doing the same thing as Gombar, according to what I heard he was planning to get girls for sale.”  Harper said: “Ratislav Adam was acting along with Gombar in controlling one woman and keeping her in servitude, if not slavery.  'He sold a woman in the city centre of Glasgow along with Jana Sandorova to Anil Wagle.  “After varying amounts of time the women did get away, but it was rarely anything to do with the accused.”  The charges the four were found guilty of included intent to exploit women, holding some in slavery or servitude as well as causing victims to work as prostitutes.  Lord Beckett heaped praise on the Slovakian authorities in helping get justice in Scotland.  He said: "Without the invaluable, international co-operation this trial could not have taken place.  "Their efforts has allowed justice to be done in relation to very serious and damaging criminal conduct."

reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk (Grant McCabe, Wilma Riley)


thedcclothesline--2019-11-01--Pop culture magazines are now promoting prostitution as a desirable career choice for children

(Natural News) In an attempt to boost the local economy and enslave the next generation of America’s youth into sexual deviancy, the Washington, D.C., City Council is reportedly pushing a new proposal that would legalize “sex work” in our nation’s capital.  Young girls could soon be allowed to sell their bodies on D.C.’s seedy street corners if the deceptively named “Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019” becomes law. The bill’s language would basically decriminalize the entire sex trade, including pimping, sex buying, and brothels – so progressive!  Piggy-backing on similar bills that have been proposed in New York, New Hampshire, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, D.C.’s sex work proposal is being unveiled at the very same time that magazines for children like Teen Vogue are pushing sex work on children with articles like, “Why Sex Work Is Real Work.”  According to Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, founder of “Nalane for Reproductive Justice,” teenage girls should be exploring prostitution as a career option – child trafficking, anyone? If Mofokeng gets her way, teen prostitution will eventually be legalized worldwide.  Another similar article written for Teen Vogue by Katie “Kitty Stryker” Fisher, who describes herself as “an anarchist, a Juggalo, and a street medic working in the East Bay,” advises against anti-sex trafficking legislation, which she believes will make prostitution more “dangerous.”  Fisher, who is a former prostitute herself, and who has also appeared in pornography films for the adult entertainment industry, actually believes that laws trying to shut down websites like Backpage, where minors are routinely trafficked for sex by pimps, are unfair and unjust, and need to be stopped.  In yet another Teen Vogue article written by Savannah Sly, a career sex worker, advice is given to teen girls about how they can use sex to gain more power in society – the goal being to lure more young girls into the sex trade by enticing them with ideas about power and influence.  For more related news, be sure to check out Evil.news.  Planned Parenthood is now selling vulgar clothing for underage girls that says “don’t f*** with my freedom” on the front  Not surprising is the fact that Planned Parenthood is involved with all of this indoctrination. The nation’s largest abortion provider is working overtime to make abortion “trendy” among today’s youth, including with vulgar clothing designed for underage girls that says, “don’t f*** with my freedom” on the front.  Children both male and female are also being targeted by drag queen pedophiles that are being hired by local libraries to read perverted “children’s books” on the taxpayers’ dime.  One of these drag queens, who goes by the name of Dylan Pontiff, openly admitted that the purpose of so-called ‘drag queen story hours” is “the grooming of the next generation” into total LGBTQP deviancy.  In California, new sex education programs are emerging to inundate young students with propaganda about transgenderism. Children as young as four or five, or kindergarten age, are being taught about LGBTQP relations, as well as how to engage in sexual behavior within the context of being an LGBTQP.  As parents and teachers in California resist this demonic effort to destroy the minds and bodies of innocent youth, Planned Parenthood, once again, is promoting this wickedness on its website with resources that offer schools access to “trusted reproductive health workers” on their campuses.  “The clear losers here are women and girls, who account for 99% of victims in commercial sex trafficking,” writes Deborah Stilt for Life Site News. “Prostitution is not a job. It is a form of violence and a degradation of human beings, and it is a direct violation of their personhood.” • America is in BIG Trouble, Teen Vogue Article: “Why Sex Work Is Real Work” • ‘I Wasn’t In a Girl Group, I Was in a Prostitution Ring’: Pop Super Star Exposes Hollywood Sex Slavery • Robert De Niro was a client of international prostitution ring with underage girls • One of DC’s Finest Gives New Meaning to “Dirty Cop” with Child Prostitution Business


theindependent--2019-06-02--Several US states consider legislation to decriminalise prostitution

Marijuana has gone mainstream, casino gambling is everywhere and sports wagering is spreading.  Could prostitution be next?  Lawmakers across the country are beginning to reconsider how to handle prostitution, as calls for decriminalisation are slowly gaining momentum.  Decriminalisation bills have been introduced in Maine and Massachusetts; a similar bill is expected to be introduced to the city council in Washington DC in June; and lawmakers in Rhode Island held hearings in April on a proposal to study the impact of decriminalising prostitution.  New York may be next: some Democratic lawmakers are about to propose a comprehensive decriminalisation bill that would eliminate penalties for both women and men engaged in prostitution, as well as the johns whom they service.  “This is about the oldest profession, and understanding that we haven’t been able to deter or end it, in millennia,” said Senator Jessica Ramos, one of the plan’s backers.  The New York legislation appears unlikely to pass in the coming months, but the idea of decriminalisation has already amassed a growing coterie of prominent supporters, suggesting that it might continue to gain traction.  The debate is unquestionably polarising in many circles, even among advocates for sex-trafficked and abused women who fear that creating a legal path for prostitution will not eliminate, but rather actually encourage, underground sex trafficking.  And decriminalisation is already facing intense push-back in state capitals from opponents who call the measures naïve and potentially dangerous.  Still, the issue has crept into the Democratic Party’s nascent presidential campaign.  In late February, Kamala Harris became the first candidate to endorse some manner of decriminalisation, an idea also floated by another contender, the former governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper.  “When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalise consensual behaviour as long no one is being harmed,” said Ms Harris, in an interview with The Root.  Supporters of decriminalisation see their efforts as part of a larger, decades long liberalisation of American mores, like lifting Sunday bans on selling alcohol and legalising marijuana.  They also frame the issue as an act of harm-reduction for prostitutes and a tacit admission that modern law enforcement and age-old moral indignation has done little to stem the practice.  “We’ve learned this lesson many times with the prohibition of alcohol, or criminalisation of abortion, or even the criminalization of marijuana: the black market creates dark circumstances and provides cover for a lot of violence and exploitation,” said Kaytlin Bailey, a comedian and former prostitute who serves as the spokeswoman for Decriminalise Sex Work, which was founded last year.  Prostitution is legal only in a few counties in Nevada, and even there, the brothel industry had to recently beat back a bill that would have outlawed prostitution in the state.  And even the most optimistic of those pushing for changes do not believe that any state will soon fully decriminalise prostitution.  But in places like New York, where Democrats now control the state Legislature after a slew of Republican incumbents were unseated in November by Democratic challengers running on progressive platforms, there is no question that the environment has changed.  At a recent rally in Albany to repeal a statute criminalising loitering for the purposes of prostitution, former sex workers stood next to lawmakers like Ms Ramos and Richard N Gottfried, chairman of the health committee.  Nonetheless, some advocates for sex-trafficked and abused women characterise such efforts in New York and elsewhere as misguided. They believe that full decriminalisation will create a demand that will be filled by more women.  “Prostitution is inherently violent,” said Ane Mathieson, a program specialist at Sanctuary for Families, a Manhattan-based organisation that serves victims of domestic violence and is part of an anti-decriminalisation coalition.  “Sex buying promotes sex trafficking, promotes pimping and organised crime, and sexual exploitation of children.”  The push to present decriminalisation as a civil rights issue also upset Laura Ramirez, a co-ordinator for AF3IRM, an international feminist group, who said she was “absolutely appalled at the fact that this is being sold as something that’s progressive”.  “This proposed legislation is the most classist, racist and absolutely obtuse legislation that we have ever seen,” Ms Ramirez said, during a counter-protest opposing decriminalisation in Albany, adding “women and girls of this state deserve better”.  While decriminalisation is unlikely to pass in New York this year, a pair of bills dealing with elements of prostitution appear to have a greater chance of passing, including one that would vacate non-prostitution related crimes, like drug charges, from the records of victims of sex trafficking.  It recently advanced out of a Senate committee.  A second bill would repeal loitering for the purposes of prostitution statute, a law that advocates say leads to unfair arrests of people — often transgender — for wearing skirts, carrying condoms or even “walking while trans”.  Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has offered no opinion of those bills or of decriminalisation, saying only that he would review such proposals.  Some opponents of legalisation support a form of partial decriminalisation known as the “Nordic model,” or the “End Demand” approach, which emphasises the prosecution of people who buy sex, but not those who are selling their bodies, and offers prostitutes social services instead.  Such policies have high-profile supporters like Gloria Steinem, who offered her endorsement of the Nordic model at a recent demonstration at City Hall in New York City aimed at fighting efforts in Albany.  “It is crucial to decriminalise prostituted women, men and children,” Ms Steinem wrote in a statement read at the rally. “And equally crucial not to decriminalise the pimps and traffickers who exploit them.”  Adding to the complexities around the issue, some opponents of full decriminalisation, like Sanctuary for Families, support vacating criminal records and eliminating loitering statutes, a position also held by Decrim NY, the coalition behind the broader decriminalisation push in New York.  The decriminalisation bills offered by lawmakers in Massachusetts and Maine would create systems something akin to the Nordic model, eliminating criminal penalties for prostitutes, but continuing to criminalise sex buyers and pimps.  Despite some progress, legislative achievements around prostitution have often been meagre.  The Maine bill was declared dead in the state Senate in late May, and other recent efforts have also stalled: in 2017, for instance, the New Hampshire House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill establishing a legislative committee to study decriminalising sex work, like the current proposal in Rhode Island.  But the New Hampshire bill stalled in the state Senate amid strong opposition from Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican.  The bill’s sponsor, Elizabeth Edwards, left office last year, but said she hopes that her former colleagues will continue to fight.  “It seems like an area of policy where we could do way better,” she said.  “I wish the world knew that these are just people making money in a way that I think is a net societal benefit,” Ms Edwards, a Democrat, added.  “There are always going to be people that want sex. It’s a basic human drive. All you can do is make it safer.”


theindependent--2019-09-20--This is why the Northern Ireland prostitution review is a complete failure

Imagine doing research on whether or not smoking cigarettes is a health hazard and requesting data on this from the tobacco industry? Or a major sugar company about dental health? Research published this week on the sex trade in Northern Ireland uses data from Escort Ireland (EI), described once as a “cash cow” for the sex trade in Ireland. The research, by academics from Queen’s University Belfast, is a review of the effectiveness of the law criminalising those who pay for sex.  In 2015, Northern Ireland joined Sweden, Norway, Canada and France and made the purchase of sex a criminal offence. Known as the Nordic model, the aim is to reduce demand for prostitution and break the connection between the sex trade and organised crime. This would also decriminalise the selling of sex so that prostituted people are better able to seek support.  This law shifts the burden of criminality from women – because it is largely women caught in commercial sexual exploitation – onto the punters. But since 2015, the pro-prostitution lobby in Northern Ireland and the Republic have sought to abolish the law.  This is what makes it so shocking that EI was considered to be appropriate to provide much of the data for the research. EI was founded by Peter McCormick, and later owned by his son Mark. Both have been convicted of running brothels in the past. It does not take a genius to realise that EI has a vested interest in getting rid of the law that seeks to deter punters.  Compounding this, the lead researcher has previously expressed their opposition to the law.  Although the overall message from the research is the law tackling demand is good for nothing – in fact a sizeable proportion in their sample said they would change their purchasing habits as a direct result of the law – 27 per cent said they would reduce and 11 per cent would be dissuaded altogether.  Most of the data from “sex workers” came from online surveys, but the relatively small number directly interviewed were mostly British and Irish. This is certainly not representative of the sex trade in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, most of whom are thought to be migrant women with very poor English.  Whilst Women’s Aid NI says it is supporting increasing numbers of women trafficked into prostitution, the researchers ignore the issue. There are no interviews with victims of trafficking or the organisations that support them. Indeed, only five out of 177 pages in the report focus on trafficking.  There is a focus on the law as the problem whereas it is the implementation of the law which is the actual weakness. What we really need to see is the Police Service of Northern Ireland to up the enforcement.  “The problems with this report are far too numerous to mention”, says Rachel Moran, author of the best selling book, Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, “but the most glaring issue is the public acknowledgement and thanks given for the involvement of Lazarus Trading. We need to pay attention to what Lazarus Trading actually trades in. They are the business architecture of Escort Ireland, which has spent the last twenty years trading in sexual access to women and girls.”  The benefits of the Nordic model are well-documented, but the most compelling evidence is the homicide rate of prostituted women. Under legalisation and decriminalisation of the sex trade, which includes pimping, brothel owning, and paying for sex, far higher numbers of women are killed by pimps and punters. In countries that have adopted the Nordic model, there is only one such homicide on record. The Northern Ireland government should look long and hard at the pitfalls of repealing this law. The only alternative would be to declare itself a pimp state.  Julie Bindel is the author of ‘The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth’


thesun--2019-03-19--Women may be turning to prostitution because of Universal Credit MPs warn

Women may be turning to prostitution because of Universal Credit, MPs warn

WOMEN may be turning to prostitution because of the Universal Credit welfare shake-up, MPs have warned.  Long delays to getting the welfare payments are causing women to rack  up debt – leading some to sell their bodies for sex, charities have said.  The Work and Pensions committee are so alarmed at the claims it is launching an urgent inquiry into it.  Frank Field MP, boss of the committee, said: “We have heard sufficient evidence, and are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs.  “This is an investigation, and we do not yet know what we will uncover.  “But if the evidence points to a direct link between this kind of survival sex and the administrative failures of Universal Credit, ministers cannot fail to act.”  Universal Credit has been dogged by delays and criticisms since it was launched by the government.  Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has admitted that the five-week wait for the benefits has pushed people to using foodbanks.  The DWP has said that ministers have taken steps to try and get Brits access to cash quicker.  Claimants can access some of their money upfront in an advance, but they then have to pay it back starting from the next month.  The Sun wants to Make Universal Credit Work One million people are already receiving it and by the time the system is fully rolled out in 2023, nearly 7 million will be on it. But there are big problems with the flagship new system - it takes 5 weeks to get the first payment and it could leave some families worse off by thousands of pounds a year. And while working families can claim back up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, they must find the money to pay for childcare upfront - we’ve heard of families waiting up to 6 months for the money. Working parents across the country told us they’ve been unable to take on more hours - or have even turned down better paid jobs or more hours because of the amount they get their benefits cut. It’s time to Make Universal Credit work. We want the Government to: Get paid faster: The Government must slash the time Brits wait for their first Universal Credit payments from five to two weeks, helping stop 7 million from being pushed into debt. Keep more of what you earn: The work allowance should be increased and the taper rate should be slashed from 63p to 50p, helping at least 4 million families. Don’t get punished for having a family: Parents should get the 85 per cent of the money they can claim for childcare upfront instead of being paid in arrears. Together, these changes will help Make Universal Credit Work. Join our Universal Credit Facebook group or email UniversalCredit@the-sun.co.uk to share your story.


thetelegraph--2019-05-07--Pakistan arrests Chinese citizens for allegedly trafficking young girls into prostitution

Pakistan arrested at least eight Chinese nationals for allegedly luring young Pakistani girls into fake marriages then forcing them into prostitution in China, authorities confirmed to AFP Tuesday.  The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said four Pakistanis who helped to facilitate the fake marriages were also arrested. A spokesman for the body said it expects more detentions as the investigation continues.  Human Rights Watch raised the alarm over “bride” trafficking from Pakistan to China in a report last month, where it said Islamabad should be “alarmed” at the reports.  It warned they are “disturbingly similar to the pattern of trafficking of 'brides' to China from at least five other Asian countries”.  Tens of thousands of young women from Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam marry Chinese men each year, plugging a gender gap incubated by Beijing's three-decade-long one-child policy.  Last month a Pakistani news channel spotlighted growing concerns about the issue in Pakistan, claiming it had gained entry to a matchmaking centre in Lahore where poor families would marry their daughters off to Chinese nationals in exchange for money and a visa.  “China is cooperating with Pakistani law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal matchmaking centres. We remind both Chinese and Pakistani citizens to remain vigilant and not be cheated,” the Chinese embassy in Islamabad said.


thetelegraph--2019-05-20--Nurses call for prostitution to be decriminalised after RCN vote

Nurses call for prostitution to be decriminalised, after RCN vote

Nurses are calling for prostitution to be decriminalised, saying it is a matter of “fundamental human rights”.  The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is to start actively lobbying the Government to change the law following a vote at the union's conference in Liverpool.  Members said it would help protect women and give them more rights, saying prohibition only served to isolate vulnerable people.  Nurses argue sex workers would be more likely to access health care, such as regular STI checks, and be protected from exploitation if prostitution was decriminalised.  Bristol-based nurse Lou Cahill, who put forward the motion, described it as a “fundamental human rights issue”.  After it was voted through, she said: “Nurses rightly chose to follow the evidence which shows that criminalisation undermines sex workers’ health and welfare.  “Decriminalisation would mean that sex workers can better negotiate safer sex. HIV risk and other vulnerabilities can be greatly reduced.  “Lending our voice to support a stigmatised and marginalised group was not only the right thing to do but will lead to improved health outcomes.”  She emphasised that decriminalisation of sex workers would not mean sexual exploitation or trafficking would become legal.  But some nurses objected to the vote, saying that while they accepted decriminalisation could help women, it also risked legalising criminal pimps and brothel managers who exploited them.


thetorontostar--2019-06-18--Spain smashes prostitution ring that duped Ukrainian women

MADRID - Spanish police say they have freed 11 women, most of them Ukrainian, who travelled to Spain thinking they were taking jobs as hotel chambermaids but were forced to work as prostitutes.  The National Police said in a statement Tuesday they believe the international gang had forced more than 200 women into prostitution in the same way since 2015.  The statement said the women were lured by online advertisements offering a loan to travel and well-paid hotel jobs in Burgos, a city in northern Spain. After arriving, they were forced under threat of violence to work as prostitutes 10 hours a day, seven days a week. Fines ensured the loans were never paid.  Two Spaniards and two Ukrainians were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and criminal organization, among other crimes.


thetorontostar--2019-07-03--Hawaii law on prostitution convictions is 1st in nation

HONOLULU - Hawaii on Tuesday became the first state in the U.S. to remove a requirement that a person be a victim of sex trafficking to have a prostitution conviction erased. Legislation signed into law by Gov. David Ige tosses prostitution convictions for those who avoid additional convictions for three years, even if they can’t prove they have been victims of sex trafficking.  Victim advocates say most trafficking victims aren’t able to reveal or prove they’re victims because they fear their pimp or sex buyer will retaliate. They may depend on their pimp or trafficker for their livelihood. Ige called the proof of victimization requirement “unrealistic.” The legislation passed unanimously in the state House and Senate, which are both dominated by Democrats. Nationwide, the average age someone enters the sex trade is about 13, advocates say. It’s similar in Hawaii, but advocates say trafficking is a bigger problem in the islands because of the large tourism industry and military population.  Tammy Bitanga was 15 when she was trafficked into the sex trade in Waikiki after running away from her foster home. She met an older boyfriend who had her selling sex in Waikiki, then sent her to Alaska where she worked in gentlemen’s clubs and escort services. She left when she got a ride to the airport and a relative bought her a plane ticket back home. She now works for a non-profit that helps girls recover from being trafficked. Bitanga was never arrested and doesn’t have a criminal record. But she supports the legislation for others, as a conviction on your record makes it that much harder to leave prostitution behind, she said. “You have this thing stuck on you. And then it’s like, ‘OK, well, the only job I’m going to get is to go back to that life. Because I’m already there,’” she said. Previously, the law allowed sex trafficking convictions expunged after six years, but only with proof of victimization.  “In 2019, the days of the scarlet letter are over,” said state Sen. Laura Thielen, a Democrat representing Kailua and Waimanalo. “People who have been in prostitution should not have an onerous burden on them once they leave that job, to be able to vacate their record and be able to have access to other employment.” Khara Jabola-Carolus, the executive director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, said 80% of women in prostitution in Hawaii were trafficked into it.  The organization says it has helped 135 victims escape sex slavery over the past 10 years. Each suffered “complex and overlapping trauma” including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety and substance abuse, the group said. “A 14-year-old doesn’t wake up and say, ‘I want to be a ho.’ Right? Somebody coerced her into it. Somebody fraudulently enticed her into that lifestyle,” Bitanga said. “However you get involved in it, the bigger question is: When you’re ready to get out, shouldn’t you have that opportunity to get out?”


theweekuk--2019-03-19--Survival sex inquiry launched as benefit claimants say they are forced into prostitution

Survival sex: inquiry launched as benefit claimants say they are forced into prostitution

A new inquiry into universal credit will look into allegations that the controversial new benefit is forcing claimants to turn to prostitution in order to make ends meet.  The Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee said the investigation was being launched in response to evidence from charities that increasing numbers of women are having to resort to so-called survival sex.  Although the inquiry is a spin-off from the committee’s ongoing investigation into universal credit, “it will also consider links between survival sex and other welfare policies that leave claimants impoverished, including benefit sanctions and the benefit cap”, says The Guardian.  The situation was highlighted by the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, who noted in a report in November that he had met people “who have sold sex for money or shelter” during a recent visit to the UK.  One mother forced to turn to prostitution told the Daily Mirror: “I’ve got a claim in for benefits but haven’t had a penny. They tell me to be patient, but being patient isn’t going to feed my child or pay my mortgage. I hate it but I’ve got to pay my bills and save my home.”  The unnamed woman added: “I’ve got no criminal record and I don’t take drugs. I’ve never stolen anything. But three months ago I lost my job of ten years and I’ve got nothing to live on.”  Independent MP Frank Field, who chairs the Commons committee, said: “I am shocked we live in a country where this actually happens. My head tells me that I should not be surprised, because it is difficult to survive on the money you have got with universal credit, let alone when it is taken away.”  Warning that the Government “would be fools” not to take the problem seriously, he continued: “We have heard sufficient evidence, and are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs.”  Field added: “This is an investigation, and we do not yet know what we will uncover. But if the evidence points to a direct link between this kind of survival sex and the administrative failures of universal credit, ministers cannot fail to act.”  Laura Seebohm of the Changing Lives charity, which supports women working in prostitution, welcomed the investigation.  She said: “Over the last five years, our services have seen a worrying increase in the numbers of women reporting they have turned to selling sex as a result of the Government’s welfare reform policy.”  But a leading British campaigning group that supports the decriminalisation of prostitution has challenged the definition of survival sex as distinct from other forms of sex work.  “All women are working in the industry for an income to survive,” Niki Adams, a spokesperson for the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), told The Independent.  However, Adams welcomed the inquiry, and said that since last summer the ECP had noticed an increase in calls to its phone line from women affected by the universal credit system.  “Women are either saying they are already working as a sex worker and having to do more, because of having their income sanctioned, or going into prostitution for that reason,” she said.  Universal credit, which combines six benefits payments into one, “has repeatedly come under fire by politicians, campaigners and claimants”, reports HuffPost.  The Commons committee has identified a number of problems in the system including the standard wait for a first payment, which is a minimum of five weeks but can be much longer.  A National Audit Office report last June said that 21% of new claimants did not receive their full entitlement on time.


truepundit--2019-06-19--Teen Vogue Touts Prostitution as Real Work

Teen Vogue Touts Prostitution as ‘Real Work’

Sex work is “misunderstood,” argues Tlaleng Mofokeng, MD, the founder of the South African abortion rights advocacy group Nalane for Reproductive Justice in her Teen Voguearticle linked by the tweet.  “I am a doctor, an expert in sexual health, but when you think about it, aren’t I a sex worker? And in some ways, aren’t we all?” Dr. Mofokeng asks provocatively (and nonsensically).  One cannot help but wondering whether telling 13-year-old girls that everyone is really a sex worker and so prostitution should be legalized is the sort of material that will prepare them for a productive, fulfilling adult life. – read more


truepundit--2019-06-23--Warren Open to Decriminalizing Prostitution Banning Private Prisons

Warren Open to Decriminalizing Prostitution, Banning Private Prisons

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) expressed openness to decriminalizing prostitution and came out with another proposal this week: banning private prisons.  Several 2020 Democratic candidates fully support decriminalization of prostitution, including Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.). Warren wouldn’t go as far as them yet.  “I’m open to decriminalization. Sex workers, like all workers, deserve autonomy but they are particularly vulnerable to physical and financial abuse and hardship,” Warren said in a statement to the Washington Post. “We need to make sure that we don’t undermine legal protections for the most vulnerable, including the millions of individuals who are victims of human trafficking each year.”  Last year, Congress passed two anti-trafficking bills, Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which became law. Warren previously voted for FOSTA, which bans websites used by sex workers to screen clients. In addition, she also introduced bipartisan legislation with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that would pressure banks to shut down accounts suspected of engaging in trafficking, HuffPost reported. – READ MORE


unian--2019-04-18--Zelensky supports legalization of prostitution marijuana in Ukraine Ukraine could have own Las Veg

Zelensky supports legalization of prostitution, marijuana in Ukraine: Ukraine could have own Las Vegas

The presidential candidate also believes gambling could be legalized within a single selected city.  Ukraine's presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky says it is possible to legalize medical marijuana, as well as prostitution, within limits of a certain Ukrainian city.  "Medical marijuana – I think that this is normal [to legalize it] – it's sold in droplets. By the way, I consulted Yevhen Olehovych Komarovsky [a leading Ukrainian pediatrician] on this matter. Yes, I support legalization of such droplets," he told the RBC Ukraine news agency on April 18.  As for the legalization of prostitution, Zelensky said there should be an opportunity to "sell sex for money" within a certain Ukrainian city.  "Sex for money? Honestly, guys, I think we have the opportunity – and I'll answer all the previous questions here – to set up 'Las Vegas' [in the country]. The society would not mind, as taxes would be paid. Why not give an opportunity to a certain city or territory and open it all there," he added.  At the same time, the presidential candidate believes that in his hometown, Kryvyi Rih (in Dnipropetrovsk region), "guysn wouldn't understand" such an idea, hinting at the fact that it is an industrial hub.  Zelensky also believes that gambling can be legalized within a certain city.  "Yes, it's about giving an opportunity, taking it all and moving it there. Please, go hang out there. This won't be a closed area. As a result, any abandoned city can be developed in such a way. And here you go," he said.  Earlier, Ukraine's Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun stood up for the legalization in Ukraine of medical cannabis. In her opinion, the access of some patients to cannabis-based drugs will realize their right to medical care.  As was earlier reported, the petition to legalize the use of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes in Ukraine gained over 25,000 votes on the parliament's website.  The authors of the petition require legal regulation of patients' access to cannabis preparations for the treatment of chronic pain, epilepsy, anorexia, post-traumatic syndrome, immune system diseases, arthritis and rheumatism, asthma, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea, herpes, ulcers, weight loss during AIDS, diabetic neuropathy, various forms of sclerosis, etc.