“Our.. Great Hobby”

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

“Our.. Great Hobby” “OuR.. An Analysis of Online Networks GREAT for Buyers of Sex HOBBy” in Illinois Lead Researcher & Author Lara Janson With an Introduction by Rachel Durchslag Assistant Researchers Heather Mann Rachel Marro Allyson Matvey In Partnership with January 2013 Abstract When it comes to prostitution, the commercial sex industry, and sex trafficking, most discussions, reports, and research on the topics focus on “the prostitute,” ignoring the con- sumers of prostituted women, the “johns.” Focusing primarily on the women, who mostly constitute the supply side of the commercial sex industry, limits our understanding of the social relationships that characterize and fuel the commercial sex industry. This study focuses on the exchange of information among men who post on the USA Sex Guide in Illinois regarding what they call their “great hobby,” buying sex. Studying these online forums where men trade information with one another on buying sex with women sheds light on the attitudes of a segment of men who buy sex in Illinois as well as a broader community of sex purchasers. It offers a unique glimpse into a world that remains hidden and often inaccessible to researchers. Researching the online johns’ boards also contributes to a better understanding of the increasingly important role of the Internet in the lives of men who buy sex. This research is based on predominantly qualitative content analysis of posts made on the USA Sex Guide from June 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 by men who buy sex in Illinois. We found that the USA Sex Guide serves as a community and an important resource for johns to inform themselves about buying sex throughout Illinois. The forums create a brotherhood among men who buy sex and reinforce men’s justifications for purchasing sex. The USA Sex Guide appears to be a source of strong bonding among the johns, who often use the forums to help buttress one another against perceived critics or threats. 2 Postings on the USA Sex Guide indicate that men travel throughout Illinois to buy sex in a variety of venues, particularly throughout the Chicago suburbs. The geographic mobility of men who buy sex suggests that responses to the demand for commercial sex must be coor- dinated in order to be effective. The entries also reflect an ethos of male entitlement to sex that many johns use to rationalize their behavior. Additionally, the data indicate a common vision of a fantasy shared by many men on the forum—an ideal experience in which prosti- tuted women provide an illusion of intimacy and authenticity in their sexual encounters with johns. This research confirms findings from other studies that indicate that the commercial sex industry in Illinois is harmful; some men who buy sex admit on the USA Sex Guide boards to being violent or aggressive toward women in prostitution, and many men on the forums reference the harm the commercial sex industry causes to women, communities, relation- ships, and themselves. Comments made by men on the USA Sex Guide about law enforcement and policy efforts to combat prostitution reveal the ineffectiveness, in terms of deterring men from buying more sex, of policies that target prostituted women or only men of color who buy sex. Conversely, when johns post on the boards about law enforcement raids that only target men who buy sex, it creates energetic discussions about the risks of their “great hobby.” Some men on the forums state that they will no longer take the risk of buying sex due to the increased risk of legal punishment. CAASE: Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation Acknowledgements The creation of this report would not have been possible without the assistance and support of many individuals and organizations. First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to Rachel Durchslag at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation CAASE for sparking this investigation and for granting me the opportunity to collaborate with her and others at CAASE. Others at CAASE, including Lynne Johnson, Kaethe Morris Hoffer, Kristin Claes, and the volunteers on my research team, propelled this project forward with their useful critiques, patient guidance, and enthusiastic encouragement of this research. I also wish to acknowledge the help provided by other researchers in the Illinois academic community. In particular, I would like to express my great appreciation to Jody Raphael, DePaul University; Dr. Eva Mika, Loyola University; Dr. Loretta Capeheart, Northeastern Illinois University; Dr. Cris Toffolo, Northeastern Illinois University; and Keith Atterberry, Northeast- ern Illinois University. Thanks are also due to Demand Abolition; Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children (formerly the DNA Foundation); and the Lovelight Foundation for their generous support of this project. Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends for their support, interest, and encourage- ment throughout this research project. I am most grateful to my mother, without whom I would have been unable to complete the report. Alert About Explicit Content We would like to warn readers that this report contains quotations with explicit language and descriptions of sexual violence. Analysis of Online Networks for Buyers of Sex in Illinois Table of Contents Executive Summary .............................................................5 Key Findings....................................................................5 Introduction from Executive Director ..............................................8 Introduction from Author ........................................................9 Background & Methods ......................................................... 13 Role of the USA Sex Guide ...................................................... 18 Findings ......................................................................34 Research Question 1: Johns’ Postings and Their Justifications for Buying Sex 1. Male Entitlement ...........................................................34 2. The Fantasy: Illusions of Intimacy & Authenticity ..............................40 3. The Reality: Male Dominance & Control ......................................45 4. Awareness of Harm to Women in the Commercial Sex Industry .................52 Research Question 2: Impacts of Law Enforcement on Men Who Buy Sex 1. Johns Educating Johns About New Laws .....................................75 2. Racial Profiling, Set-Ups, and Posturing: How Law Enforcement Implement Laws ....80 3. John Discussions of Law Enforcement Procedures.............................83 4. How Johns Avoid the Law ..................................................86 5. Law Enforcement Policies & Practices that Deter Men From Buying Sex ......... 91 6. Law Enforcement Responses that Might End “Hobbying” ......................94 7. Law Enforcement Policies & Practices that Do Not Deter Men From Buying Sex...95 Research in Context ............................................................98 Recommendations .............................................................99 References ...................................................................102 Appendix ....................................................................105 CAASE: Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation Executive Summary This study focuses on the exchange of information among men who post on the online forums of the USA Sex Guide in Illinois regarding what they call their “great hobby,” buying sex. We undertook the research to address two sets of research questions: 1) For what purpose do men who purchase sex in Illinois use the USA Sex Guide? How do the men who post on it frame their entries, and how do they justify their purchasing of sex? 2) How do the men who post on the Illinois forums of the USA Sex Guide seem to be impacted by local and statewide law enforcement and policy efforts to address the demand side of prostitution? To what extent do such laws seem to impact the purported actions of many men buying sex in Illinois? Studying these online forums, where men trade information with one another about buy- ing sex with women, sheds light on the attitudes of a segment of the broader Illinois commu- nity of men who buy sex. It offers a unique glimpse into a world that remains hidden and often inaccessible to researchers. Researching the online johns’ boards also contributes to a better understanding of the increasingly important role of the Internet in the lives of men who buy sex. This research analyzes posts made on the USA Sex Guide from June 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010 by men who buy sex in Illinois. Forum members on the USA Sex Guide made 2,466 entries from June 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011, of which 1,684 posts (68.2%) were analyzed (t(12) = 4.820, p = .000). 5 Key Findings 1. Role of the USA Sex Guide: A Brotherhood/Training Ground for Johns • The USA Sex Guide serves as a community and a resource for johns to inform themselves about buying sex throughout Illinois. By creating a brotherhood of men who normalize buying sex, the forums seem to reinforce men’s justifica- tions for purchasing sex. The USA Sex Guide appears to be a source of strong bonding among the johns, who often use the forums to help buttress one another against perceived critics or threats. • The Illinois forums of the USA Sex Guide are a training ground with sets of rules that are actively taught and reinforced. As one john puts it, the forum is an “old boys’ club.” This “club” inculcates men throughout Illinois in the etiquette and social organization of the commercial sex industry in their communities. • As an information-sharing
Recommended publications
  • Table 1. Pilot Interview Demographics
    Singaporean Women’s Perceptions and Barriers to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening By Junyang Wang Duke Global Health Institute Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Eric Finkelstein, Supervisor ___________________________ Kearsley Stewart ___________________________ Yousuf Zafar Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Duke Global Health Institute in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 ABSTRACT Singaporean Women’s Perceptions and Barriers to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening By Junyang Wang Duke Global Health Institute Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Eric Finkelstein, Supervisor ___________________________ Kearsley Stewart ___________________________ Yousuf Zafar Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Duke Global Health Institute in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 Copyright by Junyang Wang 2014 Abstract Objectives: To understand the key factors guiding women’s decision of whether or not to use breast and cervical cancer screening services (in order to determine how to cost effectively increase screening uptake in following conjoint). Methods: We conducted eight focus groups, with Singaporean women aged between 40 and 64 for breast cancer screening, and between 25 and 64 years for cervical cancer screening, to identify the key factors that drive cancer screening. Using the Health Belief Model to guide our focus group questions, we analyzed the responses and compared similarities and differences among screeners and non-screeners. Results: Singaporean women understand the severity of both breast and cervical cancer and fear the associated lifestyle challenges that come with a cancer diagnosis. With the exception of several non-screeners in the breast cancer group, all women reported they believed they were at risk of developing cancer.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defense of Rap Music: Not Just Beats, Rhymes, Sex, and Violence
    In Defense of Rap Music: Not Just Beats, Rhymes, Sex, and Violence THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Crystal Joesell Radford, BA Graduate Program in Education The Ohio State University 2011 Thesis Committee: Professor Beverly Gordon, Advisor Professor Adrienne Dixson Copyrighted by Crystal Joesell Radford 2011 Abstract This study critically analyzes rap through an interdisciplinary framework. The study explains rap‟s socio-cultural history and it examines the multi-generational, classed, racialized, and gendered identities in rap. Rap music grew out of hip-hop culture, which has – in part – earned it a garnering of criticism of being too “violent,” “sexist,” and “noisy.” This criticism became especially pronounced with the emergence of the rap subgenre dubbed “gangsta rap” in the 1990s, which is particularly known for its sexist and violent content. Rap music, which captures the spirit of hip-hop culture, evolved in American inner cities in the early 1970s in the South Bronx at the wake of the Civil Rights, Black Nationalist, and Women‟s Liberation movements during a new technological revolution. During the 1970s and 80s, a series of sociopolitical conscious raps were launched, as young people of color found a cathartic means of expression by which to describe the conditions of the inner-city – a space largely constructed by those in power. Rap thrived under poverty, police repression, social policy, class, and gender relations (Baker, 1993; Boyd, 1997; Keyes, 2000, 2002; Perkins, 1996; Potter, 1995; Rose, 1994, 2008; Watkins, 1998).
    [Show full text]
  • Bruce Greenwood, Leslie Hope, Benjamin Ayres
    Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti Written by Jeff Kober Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Leslie Hope, Benjamin Ayres, Megan Follows, David Hewlett, Kris Holden-Reid, Jeff Kober, Grace Lynn Kung, Kristin Lehman, Daniel Maslany, Tony Nappo, Paula Rivera TRT: 92:26 Format: 2:39 Sound: 5.1 surround sound Rating: (pending) Country: Canada Language: English Genre: Drama Trailers: Available Website: www.IndicanPictures.com Table of Contents Synopsis ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Director’s Statement .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Producer’s Statement ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Artist’s Statement (Jeff Kober) ................................................................................................................................... 4 Cast Bios ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Bruce Greenwood (Frank) ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Leslie Hope (Melanie) ............................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • November Girl Scouts
    November Girl Scouts 2020 DO GOOD | Donor Newsletter Girl Scouts Do Good in the World through Highest Awards Projects Sixteen GSNI Girl Scouts earned their Girl Scout Gold Award in 2020! The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve and for many is the pinnacle of their Girl Scout experience! Gold Award projects are extensive, collaborative, and require many hours of comprehensive work to accomplish. Girl Scouts who achieve this accomplishment develop true project management skills in the process and ultimately make the world a better place for the long term, as all Gold Award projects Above: The GSNI Gold Award Committee must be sustainable. congratulate Molly R. on earning Gold Award. Inset: Gold Award recipient Elizabeth M. receives her gift! The work of this year’s recipients includes a variety of environmental award a Girl Scout Junior can projects, initiatives to improve achieve, and the Girl Scout Silver circumstances for animals, create Award, the highest award a Girl encouragement of caring troop new programs, activities, and events Scout Cadette can achieve. At every leaders, parents, and other adults that serve and uplift people with level, girls are developing skills and to help them with their projects. disabilities, students dealing with experiences, identifying needs in Girl Scouts undertaking highest stress and other challenges, and their community, addressing issues awards projects often reach out to helping those from a wide variety of they care about, and completing businesses and individuals in their cultural backgrounds. Learn more projects that make a lasting impact communities to provide materials, about these amazing Girl Scouts on their community and the greater resources, and expertise for their and their impactful projects on our world.
    [Show full text]
  • Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy
    William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice Volume 23 (2016-2017) Issue 2 William & Mary Journal of Women and Article 5 the Law January 2017 Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy Michael H. LeRoy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons Repository Citation Michael H. LeRoy, Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy, 23 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 249 (2017), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/ vol23/iss2/5 Copyright c 2017 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl BARE MINIMUM: STRIPPING PAY FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS IN THE SHARE ECONOMY MICHAEL H. LEROY* SUMMARY My study explores a small but revealing corner of the share economy, where an individual’s private resources are bartered for limited use by others in exchange for compensation. Strip clubs create value for owners by commoditizing sexual labor. Clubs avoid employment in favor of independent contracting with dancers. They pay no wages or benefits; patrons pay dancers with fees and tips. But clubs extract entry fees from dancers who work; require them to rent dressing rooms and stage time; and compel them to share tips with DJs, emcees, house moms, bouncers, and bartenders. My research identified seventy-five federal and state court rulings on wage claims by exotic dancers. In thirty-eight cases, courts ruled that dancers were employees; only three courts ruled that dancers were independent contractors.
    [Show full text]
  • GSHH Fall Bucket List
    GSHH Fall Bucket List Complete these fun activities this fall. Reach 100 points to earn your fall bucket list patch! Fill out this form to order your patch girlscoutshh.wufoo.com/forms/zwvwccg07ilthj/ or contact your local shop! $1.25 for patch, .50 for “fall” rocker. ❏ 20 pts: Participate in a GSHH virtual program ❏ 2 pts: Make a scarecrow ❏ 20 pts: Learn about the voting process for ❏ 2 pts: Paint a pumpkin Election Day ❏ 2 pts: Make a Halloween decoration ❏ 10 pts: Wear your Girl Scout uniform on October ❏ 2 pts: Sew some safety stitches on your 1st in honor of the Girl Scout New Year badges ❏ 10 pts: Celebrate Veteran’s Day by doing ❏ 2 pts: Make a fingerprint tree something to honor a veteran ❏ 2 pts: Donate to a local food pantry ❏ 5 pts: Check out the new Girl Scout badges ❏ 2 pts: Make your own pizza ❏ 5 pts: Write down at least 5 Girl Scout badges ❏ 2 pts: Try something pumpkin spice flavored you want to earn this year ❏ 2 pts: Make a popcorn ball ❏ 5 pts: Make your Girl Scout avatar for Fall ❏ 2 pts: Learn a magic trick Product Sales ❏ 2 pts: Help set the table for Thanksgiving ❏ 5 pts: Celebrate Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthday ❏ 2 pts: Make apple stamps on October 31 ❏ 2 pts: Keep track of the outdoor ❏ 5 pts: Go on a fall nature hike temperature for a week ❏ 5 pts: Visit a state park ❏ 2 pts: Make an “I’m thankful for__” list ❏ 5 pts: Paint the fall foliage ❏ 2 pts: Roast pumpkin seeds ❏ 5 pts: Learn about Shop Small Saturday ❏ 2 pts: Set all the clocks back for Daylight ❏ 5 pts: Make a poster for anti-bullying month in Savings
    [Show full text]
  • Gentlemen's Club
    CHRIS BUCK — BOOKS GENTLEMEN’S CLUB PARTNERS OF EXOTIC DANCERS (SPRING 2021) Known for his uneasy portraits of celebrities, Chris Buck was looking for a subject that continued his exploration of strength and vulnerability, and found it in the partners of exotic dancers. The result is Buck’s most surprising and compelling work: forty interviews and photo sittings across North America with people in committed relationships with strip club dancers. Author and former dancer Lily Burana has written the foreword to Gentlemen’s Club. DETAILS By turns raffish, gallant, sly and touchingly vulnerable, this is a wonderful band of gentlemen—even if some of them aren’t, strictly speaking, men—and this book is a Photographer/Author: Chris Buck reminder of basic humanity in a seemingly inhuman time. Foreword: Lily Burana — Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure Design: Alex Camlin Format: Hardcover 7.625 x 10.25 inches Chris Buck’s pictures give us strange attractors, weaknesses in human psychic energy fields, blocked 90 color photographs emotions, yearnings for radicality, the normalcy of sexual fantasies, need, the romance of desire, and 256 pages, 40 interviews efflorescent tattered love. Publisher: Norman Stuart Publishing — Jerry Saltz, Pulitzer Prize winning art critic, New York Magazine Release Date: Spring 2021 Chris Buck has taken a widely photographed subject and made it wholly his own. His interviews with dancers’ partners are incisive and powerful, but it is his accompanying photographs that reveal this world in all of its gorgeous complexity: darkness and levity, uncertainty and hope, bravado and vulnerability. — Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park GENTLEMEN’S CLUB CHRIS BUCK FOREWORD by Lily Burana The private life of a stripper is one of the enduring mysteries in the public consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Adults Entertainment Parlour
    STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED Review of Adult Entertainment Parlour Regulations - Amendments to Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545 Date: October 12, 2012 To: Licensing and Standards Committee From: Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards Wards: All Reference Number: SUMMARY The purpose of this report is to recommend amendments to the Adult Entertainment Parlour (“AEP”) regulations under the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 545, Licensing, Article XXXII. The recommendations proposed herein aim to respond to the issues raised by the industry, and to clarify enforcement interests through the updating of the bylaw provisions, while ensuring a continued balance of the needs and rights of the entertainers, the general public, and the industry as a whole. Staff propose to achieve this balance by amending the bylaw, where appropriate, to include, changes to the current; "no-touch" and "unobstructed -view" provisions, bylaw terminology, construction standards for private performance areas, and provisions to address working conditions of the entertainers. This report recommends new provisions, such as new definitions, licensing of security personnel, and health and safety posters. Lastly, this report includes recommendations to maintain current provisions, where appropriate, such as those regarding licensing of entertainers and other regulatory aspects. All Adult Entertainment Parlour owners and operators, the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, and all licensed burlesque entertainers, were invited to participate in the consultations.
    [Show full text]
  • Women's Discourses About Secretive Alcohol Dependence and Experiences of Accessing Treatment by Liezille Jean Pretorius Decem
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository Women’s discourses about secretive alcohol dependence and experiences of accessing treatment by Liezille Jean Pretorius Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stellenbosch Promoter: Prof Anthony Naidoo Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Psychology December 2010 DECLARATION By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. ……………………………. …………………… Signature Date Copyright © 2010 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii ABSTRACT There is a paucity of research documenting women’s undisclosed drinking. This study explored the discursive accounts of women’s alcohol dependence, treatment history and barriers in accessing alcohol dependence treatment. The goals of this dissertation were to explore women’s alcohol dependence history; explore women’s treatment history (or lack thereof); identify barriers and nature of barriers that limit women’s access to alcohol dependence treatment; identify the reasons for women not accessing treatment, and to interpret women’s experiences of treatment per se. A Human Scientific Approach was adopted to examine and interpret how women’s drinking is socially constructed. A social constructionist approach was utilised to access and construct meaning from the discourses emanating from the women’s narratives of their experience with alcohol and their attempts at rehabilitation. Ten women were interviewed using the life story (narrative) interview method.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Masculinity and White-Cast Sitcoms Unraveling Stereotypes in New Girl
    Black masculinity and White-cast Sitcoms Unraveling stereotypes in New Girl Marie Zafimehy Supervisor: Alma Persson, Gender Studies, LiU Master’s Programme Gender Studies – Intersectionality and Change Master’s thesis 15 ECTS credits ISRN: LIU-TEMA G/GSIC1-A—19/015-SE Marie Zafimehy 2 Master thesis - Gender, Intersectionality and Change ABSTRACT For decades, situational comedies — commonly named “sitcoms” — have been racially segregated on TV between Black-cast sitcoms and White-cast sitcoms. Extensive research has been led about representation of Black and White masculinities in this segregated context. This master thesis studies what happens when White and Black males are equally casted as main characters in contemporary sitcoms by offering a case-study of the 2011 sitcom New Girl (2011-2017). How is Black masculinity represented in New Girl, and in which ways does it intersect with contemporary societal issues (e.g. racial profiling, Black Lives Matter movement)? This case-study uses tools, methodologies and concepts, drawn from Black and Intersectional feminism as well as Feminist media studies. Based on a 25 episodes sample of the show, it implements Ronald Jackson’s traditional stereotypes classification and “Black masculine identity theory” (Jackson, 2006) to study representations of Black masculinity in New Girl, through its two main Black male characters, Winston and Coach. Given that representations of minorities in popular culture reflect and influence our contemporary society, the results offer new insights about how sitcoms, series and pop- culture productions in general can challenge traditional stereotypes and display a more progressive Black masculinity. Key words: Black feminism, Feminist media studies, Men and masculinities, Representation, New Girl, Sitcoms Marie Zafimehy 3 Master thesis - Gender, Intersectionality and Change ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Johanna Hägg and Sebastian Ingels who successively shared their Netflix access codes with me.
    [Show full text]
  • Legalizing the Private Bobths/Roomsfculbiclesin Strip.C.Lubswill Perpetuate Viol,Ations of Dance.Remployees's Labor
    .1i' l' .. Legalizing the private bObths/roomsfculbiclesin strip.c.lubswill perpetuate viol,ations of dance.remployees's labor and civil rights and endangers the• h~aJth! •. and safety- of women workers. " '. ',' , , ': i " ' , .",. In winter 1992,, I wound up at Market, I 81. Cinema because I was down to my la:;>t$42" and.a then-current, dancer, suggested I wor~ for a month :untilll got back onll!y feet. At that time"there was only'lapdancing in'the public theater area and the m'anagement had a dress code 'of:~ one-piece outfit ,and underwear. The club rT1isclassified dancers• as independent, cqntractors.I Customers were note,ll.owed, ' t6 touch dancers' breast, let. alone' their, genital area. We didn't pay any sta~e fees or quotas to work, nor were we paid for our work; we earning were , derived through tips alone. The, handful of women who prostituted were respectful enough of the rest of the dancers to take customers off the premises to nearl;>yhotels and hot tubs. Maybe they ~ealized that they could practice'sarer se>cwithdut dancers,' disapproval" get paid'a fair ,tip for such activities, and not ,have to give management any portion Oftheir tips. ",' " .. " .. ' ' , Withfn a couple ..of months of 1993, ~hemanagement beg~m a $5 stage fee,.A handful of dancers were outraged enough to foresee that this amountjcould'easily increase aU~ewiIJ,of managel"flen1.Sure enougt), byMarch or April'1993, the stage fee became ~25.' We pleaded with other dan_cers.to take action as a collective; very ,few signed ,on b~cause' many were ,ulild~cl,lmented ir:nmigrants, single, mothers, junkies,' women supplementing rneager welfare checks', and transient workers.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex Work During COVID-19: the Perspectives of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, December 2020
    Sex Work During COVID-19: The Perspectives of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, December 2020 Executive Director: Andreas Günther Editor: Maria Savel Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114, New York, NY 10016 Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 (917) 409-1040 With support from the German Foreign Office. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution for civic education. In cooperation with many organizations around the globe, it works on democratic and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social development, and peaceful conflict resolution. The New York Office serves two major tasks: to work around issues concerning the United Nations and to engage in dialogue with North American progressives in universities, unions, social movements, and politics. Cover photo by Flickr user kiwien (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). www.rosalux.nyc Sex Work During COVID-19: The Perspective of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Contents The View from Berlin Fighting for Money and Dignity: Sex Work in Berlin 5 By Akynos How Germany Failed Sex Workers 9 By Liad Hussein Kantorowicz Clothed Until Further Notice: Being a Stripper During the Pandemic 12 By the Berlin Strippers Collective The View from New York City Invisible: Sex Work and Mutal Aid During COVID-19 16 By Molly Simmons Not My First Pandemic - Sex Work Through NYC’s Health Crises 19 By Jay/Jae Authors 25 3 Sex Work During COVID-19 The View from Berlin 4 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office Fighting for Money and Dignity: Sex Work in Berlin By Akynos In Germany, and many parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic high- lights just how much sex workers are being held accountable for keeping this crisis under control, even when they aren’t the ones responsible for it.
    [Show full text]