Posted on 05/29/2007 8:40:44 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
When I was in college I was a professional musician. I didn’t write many songs but I used to try occasionally to write very stupid country songs hoping I would eventually write one dumb enough for Garth Brooks to record. I even had an idea for one called “When Porn Stars Get Offended.” (The punch line was: “When porn stars get offended, that’s when I’ll quit loving you”).
But, now, there is little hope my porn star song will ever become a country hit; this because political correctness now dictates that we avoid offending porn stars and prostitutes by helping to dispel myths about their private and professional lives.
In fact, one show dispelling such myths was recently defended by William and Mary President Gene Nichol. President Gene thought the show must be defended on First Amendment grounds regardless of its tendency to offend groups including, but not limited to, Christians. A cross in the campus chapel, however, had to go because it might be deemed offensive to non-Christians.
Believe it or not, the same show that Nichol defended may be coming to a local college or university near you – and it may or may not be funded by your tax dollars. Regardless, it seeks to dispel the “myth” that people who work in the sex industry are “anything short of artists, innovators, and geniuses.” Dubbed the “Sex Worker’s Art Show” it was performed at the following colleges and universities in the month of February of 2007 alone:
Northern Arizona University, College of Santa Fe, Virginia Commonwealth University, College of William and Mary, University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, Bard College, Wesleyan, The University of Massachusetts - Amhurst, Hampshire College, Sarah Lawrence College, Case Western Reserve University, Kenyon College, and Earlham College.
These shows are intended to offer a diverse perspective on sex work by touching on themes such as prostitute’s rights. The cast of performers includes Miss Dirty Martini (see http://www.sexworkersartshow.com – especially the “performer bio” link) who recently made a cameo in the movie Shortbus, which is probably the best mode of transportation available for those who see the intellectual merits of the diversity movement in higher education. If this is all getting to be too much to believe, please resort to Google to find Miss Dirty Martini’s personal website. There is plenty of supporting documentation there.
Another of the stars of the “Sex Workers Art Show” is named C. Snatch Z. The show describes her as a woman who “strides the world with her dildo harness controlling the human catharsis like a dictator, destroying herself like a revolutionist.” If you have no idea what that means or – like the author of this column – you have no idea what any of this has to do with getting a college education, please Google her name for more information.
Another star, Kirk Read, spent two years performing a tour of 120 cities intent on spreading the gospel of “sexed-up heavy metal queer teenagers.” He has been a long time counselor at the St. James Infirmary, which is San Francisco’s free health clinic for sex workers. St. James offers “free, confidential, compassionate, non-judgmental, drop-in care.” Describing himself as both a “southern gentleman” and a “witch” he works as an apprentice to an organic gourmet chef. But before you let him handle your food, you had better do a Google search to see where his hands have been lately.
Let’s not forget the immensely talented Reginald Lamar. He (I trust he’s not a she) is the former singer of the rock band (not banned) called “The Mutilated Mannequins.” Fusing punk rock with gospel music is one of his talents. He also likes to deeply probe (no jokes, please) issues of race, class, and sex prejudices and taboos.” Before you invite him (her? it?) to your college, Google can help you more deeply probe the issue of his (?) true gender identity.
Last year, when the sex workers art show made a stop at Bucknell University, a “sex worker” rubbed lubricant all over his genitalia. This was done in front of college students, many of whom were merely teenagers. After sponsoring the intellectually slippery event, the Women’s and Gender Studies Department had the audacity to refuse to sponsor a lecture by conservative author Christina Sommers on the grounds that her work lacked intellectual merit.
When I think about certain feminist groups (like the feminists at Bucknell) and certain university presidents (I will not mention a single name: Gene Nichol, Gene Nichol, Gene Nichol) I often think that our universities are being run by a bunch of intellectual whores.
But, fortunately, since I attended the “Sex Worker’s Art Show” I realize that calling someone a “whore” might not constitute defamation of character. It might just be another reason to celebrate diversity.
And it’s not as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah yet.
Wesleyan? Earlham College?
That rumble you just felt beneath your feet was caused by John Wesley and George Fox rolling in their graves.
If this guy could figure out a way to get paid, he must be a genius.
I wonder.....does the IRS accept “Prostitute” as a job?.....or “Porn Filmmaker”?.......
I didn’t write many songs but I used to try occasionally to write very stupid country songs hoping I would eventually write one dumb enough for Garth Brooks to record.
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LOL.....gee I loathed GB in the day.
I know that guy’s...........face.............
In places where it's legal, I suppose they'd have to. I'm sure they don't turn down the money.
Austin doesn't surprise me, but I don't really see this show playing at Texas Tech or Texas A&M, do you? ;^)
I don't think Texas Tech or Texas A&M would go for this stuff. Just reading that article made me want to puke.
I stopped reading here.
The show describes her as a woman who “strides the world with her dildo harness controlling the human catharsis like a dictator
That was a very good place to stop... trust me.
Interesting note, Ron Jeremy has a master’s degree in special education.
The only reason such irrational displays are presented at universities is because of the irrational opinions against such sex workers.
The great illusion about prostitution is that prostitutes are mostly poor, uneducated alcoholic druggies who are destroying their lives as near slaves in skid row. And law enforcement does its level best to continue to create and maintain this illusion.
When a reasonably good looking prostitute or sex worker is arrested, she has her hair ruffled up (looking for drugs), along with other intrusive examinations, then is required to scrub her face with harsh soap and cold water. Then, while looking as disheveled as possible, is photographed under florescent light, guaranteeing an ugly a portrait as possible. The picture is then released to the press.
The truth is that most prostitutes are *never* arrested, are middle class and live in the suburbs, often are married and live with their family. But how can this be?
Easy. Society totally ignored what prostitution amounts to: two legal and normal acts, that when combined together become illegal.
There are no penalties whatsoever against people having injudicious sex with multiple partners. Nor are there any penalties for exchanging money with others for services, no matter how frivolous, rendered.
So out of the vast number of people who exchange sex for some remittance, only those who insist on cash, immediately before or afterwards, are prostitutes.
So what is the reality? Prostitutes and prostitution are not in and of themselves a problem, it is the *other* illegal acts surrounding these frequently arrested prostitutes that is the problem. And yes, these other crimes DO need to be addressed, but as what they are, not under the faux-morality of attacking prostitution.
Now there are some people who do not act hypocritically in opposing prostitution. They believe that sex outside of marriage should be forbidden, that sex is for reproduction only, and that the law should be used to enforce these standards.
But theirs is not a popular belief. So how should the rest of us regard prostitution? Much like any service that needs regulation to insure that it is not a detriment to society.
We regulate gaming. That is, gambling. We regulate alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, gun, and automobile sales. So why not develop standards for legal prostitution that helps keep out the criminal aspects of the market?
Prostitutes could be licensed, urine tested for alcohol and drugs, medically screened on a regular basis, taxed, kept to a zoned area, and even kept under police surveillance. This being for the prostitutes typically thought of as prostitutes.
The middle class prostitutes would continue doing business as they do today, perhaps not ever thinking that they were engaged in prostitution.
Married people do not "exchange sex for some remittance". They make a vow to share their lives, their bodies, their property and their futures - good or bad - with each other.
Marriage represents a totality of which sex forms a part. The attempt to equate marriage with prostitution is an attack upon marriage and the dignity of the human being.
Prostitutes - real prostitutes - sell quick sexual gratification for money or drugs. Married people have devoted and dedicated themselves to another human being. Any attempt to equate the two is insanely reductive.
The show describes her as a woman who “strides the world with her dildo harness controlling the human catharsis like a dictator
Make a good tag line, though.
Protitutes aren’t paid to have sex. They’re paid to leave afterward. - Rodney Dangerfield(?)
The main reason I stopped reading at that statement is it reminds me of cankles the wanna be dictator too much.
Your full of crap. Legalization/decriminalization quickly leads to displacement of “locals” with trafficked women and children (slavery/debt bondage) in order to increase competitive advantage and profitability.
This is well documented in numerous European counties and Australia. See the Coalition Against Trafficking website for footnoted documentation. Here’s a sample.
Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution and the sex industry promotes sex trafficking.
Legalized or decriminalized prostitution industries are one of the root causes of sex trafficking. One argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked there for prostitution. However, one report found that 80% of women in the brothels of the Netherlands were trafficked from other countries (Budapest Group, 1999)(1). In 1994, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) stated that in the Netherlands alone, “nearly 70 % of trafficked women were from CEEC [Central and Eastern European Countries]” (IOM, 1995, p. 4).
The government of the Netherlands presents itself as a champion of anti-trafficking policies and programs, yet it has removed every legal impediment to pimping, procuring and brothels. In the year 2000, the Dutch Ministry of Justice argued in favor of a legal quota of foreign “sex workers,” because the Dutch prostitution market demanded a variety of “bodies” (Dutting, 2001, p. 16). Also in 2000, the Dutch government sought and received a judgment from the European Court recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, thereby enabling women from the European Union and former Soviet bloc countries to obtain working permits as “sex workers” in the Dutch sex industry if they could prove that they are self employed. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Europe report that traffickers use the work permits to bring foreign women into the Dutch prostitution industry, masking the fact that women have been trafficked, by coaching them to describe themselves as independent “migrant sex workers” (Personal Communication, Representative of the International Human Rights Network, 1999).
In the year since lifting the ban on brothels in the Netherlands, eight Dutch victim support organizations reported an increase in the number of victims of trafficking, and twelve victim support organization reported that the number of victims from other countries has not diminished (Bureau NRM, 2002, p. 75). Forty-three of the 348 municipalities (12%) in the Netherlands choose to follow a no-brothel policy, but the Minister of Justice has indicated that the complete banning of prostitution within any municipality could conflict with the federally guaranteed “right to free choice of work” (Bureau NRM, 2002, p.19).
The first steps toward legalization of prostitution in Germany occurred in the 1980s. By 1993, it was widely recognized that 75% of the women in Germany’s prostitution industry were foreigners from Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and other countries in South America (Altink, 1993, p. 33). After the fall of the Berlin wall, 80% of the estimated 10,000 women trafficked into Germany were from Central and Eastern Europe and CIS countries (IOM. 1998a , p. 17). In 2002, prostitution in Germany was established as a legitimate job after years of being legalized in tolerance zones. Promotion of prostitution, pimping and brothels are now legal in Germany.
The sheer volume of foreign women in the German prostitution industry suggests that these women were trafficked into Germany, a process euphemistically described as facilitated migration. It is almost impossible for poor women to facilitate their own migration, underwrite the costs of travel and travel documents, and set themselves up in “business” without intervention.
In 1984, a Labor government in the Australian State of Victoria introduced legislation to legalize prostitution in brothels. Subsequent Australian governments expanded legalization culminating in the Prostitution Control Act of 1994. Noting the link between legalization of prostitution and trafficking in Australia, the US Department of State observed: “Trafficking in East Asian women for the sex trade is a growing problem…lax laws – including legalized prostitution in parts of the country – make [anti-trafficking] enforcement difficult at the working level” (U.S. Department of State, 2000, p. 6F).
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