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Posts tagged Prostitution

Let’s call this: When Men Cry Unrape, or “The Men Commandments”, or Why Zed has No Cred

 [image of the Decalogue parchment by Jekuthial Sofer, 1768 ECD is from here]  In Egypt, the Jews--who were never white--were slaves, and then they got away. Some time post-slavery, they wrote stuff. One of the things they wrote, in Hebrew, was what has come to be termed "The Ten Commandments" and most USers believe that Charlton Heston was the person who received the Word of G-d, which was not

Breaking Free: Sisters Helping Sisters Break Free. More Great Work by Vednita Carter

All that follows, including the photograph, is from *here*. Vednita Carter - Breaking Free Founder and Executive Director Mission: To educate and provide services to women and girls who have been victims of commerical sexual exploitation (prostitution/sex-trafficking) and need assistance escaping the violence in their lives. Philosophy Statement: We understand prostitution/sex- trafficking

Why [not ALL] British Men are Rapists–let’s see if people can figure out who, exactly, the title is referring to

What follows is from *here* and was sent to me by A.R.P.'s UK correspondent, Christina. Thank you, Christina. [sic]Why British men are rapistsJoan SmithPublished 23 January 2006 In the world of stag-night excess, lad mags and lap dancing, paying for sex is losing its stigma and more and more men do it. These "clients" are responsible for a grotesque crime, yet they get away scot-free

Toby Young refuses to get what’s REALLY going on with women who are not having sexist sex with men

 [image of Toby Young is from here]  Toby Young is the author of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2001) and The Sound of No Hands Clapping (2006). In addition to being a freelance journalist, he is leading the efforts of a parent group in West London to set up a state secondary school. To learn more about that project, visit the school's website on www.westlondonfreeschool.co.uk. Toby's

Is a one sided approach to domestic violence helpful?…


Firstly, let me make this clear; I do support the governmental campaign to highlight the problems around domestic violence. However, I do not understand how you can tackle a power divided problem through a power divided approach. Put simply, I take issue with the inability of the recent governmental campaign to tackle domestic violence not highlighting how there is a problem around domestic abuse towards men too. That is not to deny that women face more domestic abuse than men and that this is a serious problem that needs addressing, it is instead to argue the need to highlight how men can sometimes suffer domestic abuse too. Making out that domestic abuse is only really a problem for women as victims and men as the perpetrates does little to further the fight for equality. To tackle a problem you have to be open and fair to all the possible alternatives of the problem – men who are abused are often less likely to report their abuse because of the social stigma around men’s ‘masculinity’ being undermined. Governmental campaigns that play on the ‘masculine’ and ‘feminie’ roles not only reinforce binaries that should not exist between men and women, but they also make it harder for men to report violence when they have been subject to abuse. Furthermore, what about the girls who abuse their partners? What do they do? Deal with it on themselves? Or face a stigma? The campaign doesn’t consider this. This highlights the problems of approaching such a sensitive issue with endemic power conceptions.

Some of you may or may not know, but I am a feminist and therefore these views may fall contra to popular perceptions of feminist beliefs. There is often the uncanny ability to generalise statements by certain branches of feminists, especially the radicals, and attribute it to all feminists.I hope to help show how this assumption is unhelpful, and that a recognition of different perspectives and an open mind is required when participating in feminism.

I think the main issue that needs to be addressed are the type of attitudes that often go with violence. Rape myths for example, are something that need to be addressed and specifically relate to women related violence. Thus, there needs to be more recognition of the types of violence that are more likely to be linked to attitudes that relate to the overall societal attitude to women as objects. However, to deny the existence of male related violence is wrong. Whilst I believe that violence against women should form the focus, there needs to be recognition of the violence that can occur against men. Violence against anyone is wrong, there needs to be options for those who abuse and those who are abused to be able to seek the help they need without feeling as though they are isolated to do so.

Furthermore, it will take more than just a campaign to reduce violence against women. The government’s policies on prostitution for example, will not help reduce the sexual and violent abuse that can occur towards women in the sex trade. Instead, there needs to be a greater focus on women’s rights, driving it underground will make it harder to reduce violence. Yes, maybe the statistics may show the government proposals reduce abuse rates, but this will be testament to the dangerously hidden level it will enter.

The bottom line is that yes, women and girls are more likely to face violence and that does need serious attention. However, there is a need to tackle the problem with a more open and equalised perspective. Domestic violence against men does need to be addressed too, this will not only help the men who are abused but the women abusers who are often isolated due to the attitudes towards domestic violence in society.

Over at the UK Anti-Porn Feminists site, someone takes the time to explain stuff to a man who doesn’t get it

 [image is from here] Someone actually to the time and energy (yet again) to address common male privileged remarks, misunderstandings, excuses, apologies for, and explanations of "why pornography isn't all that harmful, really". The discussion is too graphic for my blog, so I'll just link to it here. The discussion contains "graphically" pornographic terms and addresses many rapist behaviors

Ten Signs a Man you know is a Patriarchal Atrocity-Denier

[image is from here] 1. They don't ever use the terms "patriarchy", "patriarchal atrocity", or "male supremacist violence against women". They deny such a system and ideology even exists. They vehemently deny they have "male privileges and entitlements" and they get pissed off, whiney, or pouty if anyone says they do. 2. They think there is either a level playing field between the genders, or

For Pimps: Silence Please; It’s Time for the Women Who Left Your Sorry Male Supremacist Asses on the Curb, to Speak Out Without Apologising for the Likes of YOU

[image from the XPALSS website is from here] The following is a statement by the women of XPALLS. It is from *here* at their website. The "sex liberal" gig is up for white, privileged folks to speak FOR raped women, mostly poor and of color, in and now out of those heinous systems of male privilege and power used against and on female bodies who happen to also have souls that desire more than "

A Light Bulb Moment: AHA! Men don’t want to be called rapists because…*

  [images above is from here] *     *     * TRIGGER WARNING: CLEAR DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CRIMES OF RAPISTS FOLLOW: This image of David Alex Park, left, and the paragraph below are from *here*. Last month, in Irvine, California, Officer David Alex Park, stalker and rapist, was acquitted by a jury of eleven men and one woman. He was acquitted, not because he is anything other than a stalker and a

“Prostitution: Where Sexism and Racism Intersect”, by Radical Feminist Vednita Nelson

[image from the Gabriela Network, NYC is from *here*] All that follows is from the Prostitution & Research website, linked to from this blog to the right under important webpages. The article that follows is linked to *here*. Prostitution: Where Racism and Sexism Intersect* by Vednita Nelson Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 1993, Volume 1: 81-89. Black women find themselves in a unique and