Read more at The Daily Sundial…

CSUN lecture to explore “The Life and Times of Xaviera Hollander” on Friday
By Donnella Collison

Dr. Kristyan Kouri will present a lecture titled “The Life and Times of Xaviera Hollander” about famed sex columnist Xaviera Hollander on Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. at the California State University, Northridge, in Sierra Hall Room 451.

Hollander, who was once a call girl and a famed New York madam in the 1970s, achieved mainstream success with the release of her bestselling book, “The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.” According to Kouri, Hollander then became known as someone who could write about sex positively and who could talk about women’s sexual pleasure.

Kouri’s lecture is part of a series of six colloquium presentations by CSUN faculty organized by Dr. C. Jacob Hale, the director of CSUN’s Center for Sex and Gender Research.

Hale said this series gives “faculty members an opportunity to present their scholarly work in progress in a supportive environment and to make more visible the expertise of CSUN faculty about sex, gender and sexuality.”

Kouri, who holds a doctorate in sociology from USC, describes the presentation as a “social psychological analysis of Hollander’s life.”

“I think that if she had had more opportunities, maybe she could have been a CEO. Her story speaks to the social constraints of society,” Kouri said.

Kouri added, “Prostitution is a Pink Collar occupation (jobs that are held primarily by women e.g. typists, secretaries). She fell into something that paid better (than her job as a secretary for the Dutch Consulate) and women are permitted to go into socially. Women are valued for their sexuality.”

She said that call girls like Hollander were usually poised, well-educated women, who moonlighted in the “high-class” profession.

“I believe that more women did than let on,” Kouri said.

20/20 over at ABC News plans to look closely at the so-called ‘Sugar Daddy’ websites,which critics liken to prostitution.  Watch 20/20 on your local ABC station this Friday, August 21, 2009.

New Dating Web Sites Bring Sugar Daddies, Babies Together at Last
Proponents Call It a Mutually Beneficial Arrangement, But Others Say It’s Prostitution
By JOHN STOSSEL, CATHERINE BROSSEAU and ANDREW KIRELL

In this tough economy, at least one industry is booming: “sugar daddy” dating Web sites.

Some users say they are making tens of thousands of dollars per month, and the work’s not difficult. Critics call it prostitution, but those involved simply call it a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Erin Miller, a 23-year-old, self-described model/actress, uses a dating Web site called SeekingArrangement.com. On her profile, she has advertised herself as looking for a “playful, open relationship with financial benefits.”

“I’m dating four sugar daddies right now,” she said.

She and thousands of other women have found their “sugar daddies” on SeekingArrangement.com, which, in many ways, resembles a traditional dating Web site.

Women can join for free. They post pictures and describe themselves to prospective dates. But there’s an important difference: The women also write how much money they expect in return for dating the men. In Miller’s case, she leaves the amount negotiable, but some “sugar babies” ask for as much as $30,000 a month.

Miller has only been on the Web site for a couple of months, yet she feels as though her life has already changed drastically.

“I’ve been shopping all over, nice cars. I got a new condo,” she said. “Every day is a new adventure.”

One of her sugar daddies lets her use his yacht. He also sends her a Rolls Royce and a chauffeur to take her shopping. Another date pays for her condo, and another gave her a Mercedes.

“Money helps tremendously with happiness, because I would not be happy dating a guy who lived at home in his parents’ basement,” she confessed.

…

Sugar Daddies, Babies Happy; Critics Say It’s Still Prostitution

Natalie Caplis, a single mother from Montana, was struggling to make ends meet until she made an arrangement that changed her life.

“For me, getting on this site wasn’t about getting a $500 pair of shoes or living this lavish lifestyle. It was really about just feeling secure with my basic needs,” she explained. “I just, for one time, got to breathe. I got to spend time with my son without having to worry about am I going to have the rent paid?”

One sugar daddy helped her get into a better apartment. He also purchased a brand new car for Caplis and her son to use.

Why are the sugar daddies so willing to give?

“You know how many women need help?” asked Gil. “I’m not giving a handout. I’m getting something. I’ve seen women there that actually came out of a magazine. The girl who works for me, you can take her out of a magazine.”

After meeting one woman through Seeking Arrangement, Gil decided to help her out and hire her as his receptionist. He hired another sugar baby to be his personal “entertainment coordinator” for a month.

As part of their arrangement, Gil told her, “For the next month, you’re going to make sure that I have a good life. You make some dinner reservations. We’ll go out, we’ll roll in the sheets.”

…

Former prosecutor Wendy Murphy said that although the sugar daddy Web sites are legal, if money is exchanged for sex, then that’s a crime.

“I don’t know how you can call it anything but prostitution,” she said.

Self-described “sugar baby” Miller disagreed.

“If someone wants to help me out financially, it’s nobody else’s business,” she said.

Read more at ABCNews.com , and be sure to tune in and watch “20/20″ Friday night at 10 p.m. ET for the whole story.

New York madam Kristin Davis once again mugs for attention.  Read more at NewKerala.com…

Madam Davis plans to hold press conference outside Spitzer’s fundraiser

Madam Kristin Davis is planning to hold press conference outside a fund-raiser being hosted by Eliot Spitzer at his Fifth Avenue apartment for Manhattan DA candidate Cyrus Vance Jr.

And Davis’ aim behind the act is, she wants to know if Vance thinks it’’s right that she was charged with promoting prostitution, reports The New York Post.

Davis says she may hold a press conference outside the fund-raiser to ask: “Does [Vance] think it is fair and equitable that a rich, well-connected white man violated the law but avoided prosecution while an ”up-from-nothing” entrepreneurial woman did hard time on Rikers?”

A Sin City-Brazil connection is revealed! Read more at AdelaideNow.com…

Brazil busts US casino prostitute ring

NINE Brazilians and three US citizens have been arrested on charges of sending at least 200 Brazilian prostitutes to Las Vegas casinos, Dominican Republic resorts and to France.

The 12 suspects were arrested on Friday as part of a six-month international operation dubbed “Harem,” the head of the federal police in Sao Paulo state, Leandro Daiello Coimbra, said.

US and Dominican Republic law enforcement officials and Interpol were involved in the bust.

The nine Brazilians and one of the US citizens were arrested in Brazil, in raids in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba. The other two Americans were arrested in the United States.

The gang, based in Sao Paulo, recruited Brazilian women, many of whom already worked as prostitutes, for work abroad as luxury sex workers, officers said.

The activity generated about $US8 million ($9.7 million) a month.

It’s just innuendo, but Deus Ex Malcontent reports some insights by way of Sirius XM Satellite hosts Opie & Anthony, who were interviewing the ubiquitous Kristin Davis…

The Infamous Mr. Ed

A few minutes ago, the cast of the show on Sirius XM radio were interviewing Kristin Davis — not the one from Sex and the City, the former Manhattan Madam who spent four months in Rikers in connection with the Eliot Spitzer hooker scandal from last year. There’s been quite a bit of speculation that her operation at one time serviced another high-profile governor, besides Spitzer…

Well, during the interview, she admitted that someone she called “Governor X” employed her services at least ten times during a year-and-a-half period. She apparently wrote his name down on a piece of paper and showed it to Opie and Anthony, who then proceeded to spend the next ten minutes dropping hints that a 4-year-old could’ve deciphered.

“What, did he pay her in coal and steel?”

“I guess he had a little filly on the side.”

“Did he used to be an Eagles scout?”

Hmmm, with obvious hints like that, it appears the radio personalities were suggesting that the 2nd Luv Guv’s identity is Pennsylvania’s Democrat governor, Ed Rendell.  But I suppose only his hairdresser knows for sure.

That ubiquitous pest, Kristin Davis, can’t seem to stay out of the public eye for more than a few weeks at a time.  While the girls in her stable decide on anonymity when they chose to breach client-prostitute confidentiality, boss Kristin seems willing to name the names in full daylight.

Read more at The New York Daily News…

Eliot Spitzer not my only governor – hooker who worked for Kristin Davis

Another gubernatorial sex scandal may be looming. Even as South Carolina’s Mark Sanford waits to see whether his wife, Jenny, forgives his romp in the pampas, a New York call girl could plunge one of America’s most prominent governors into a fresh hell.

In March, we told you about a high-end escort who claimed that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had gotten overly aggressive during some kinky role-play (a charge Spitzer’s lawyer called “outrageous and defamatory”).

Now the elegant blond courtesan, whom we’ll continue to call “Annie,” is talking about three “dates” she allegedly had with another state’s chief executive, who we’ll call Gov. X.

Though Annie’s former boss, ex-madam Kristin Davis, corroborates that Gov. X was a client, his spokesman flatly denies that the married politician has ever hired hookers.

Still, it’s hard not to be intrigued by Annie’s detailed story. She contends that, in the spring of 2006, Davis’ agency booked her for an out-of-state date with a man identified as “Michael.”

“He picked me up in an Italian sports car,” says Annie. “He was in his 30s, handsome enough to be an actor, an impeccable dresser. I wouldn’t think he’d have a problem getting girls.

“We went to a restaurant where the governor was dining at another table with two or three other men. Michael said the governor was a client of his. He introduced me to him. I thought it was odd that he’d introduce someone he’d hired, but the governor was very gracious. It was a brief meeting. Later, Michael and I went to an apartment our agency kept. We had sex.

“A couple of days later, Michael booked another appointment. He was supposed to come to the same apartment. I buzzed him in. When I opened the door, it wasn’t Michael. It was the governor. He was smiling. I knew what was happening. I was okay with it.

“He was a very standard client. He didn’t take the full hour. There was no exchange of money. Michael handled the payment.

“I had two more dates with the governor. Never in public. Always for just an hour, around dinner time. He’d arrive at the apartment in a suit. I never had a problem with him, like I did with Spitzer. He was always nice. There wasn’t a lot of conversation. It wasn’t a girlfriend experience, but he was relaxed. He was very appreciative, like I was giving him a sort of affection he wasn’t getting elsewhere. Later I found out he was married. His wife is quite prominent in her own right.” (Annie and Davis say Gov. X is free to say he didn’t pay for sex, since “Michael” took care of the bills.)

Read the whole story at The Star Tribune…

Case against ‘Nice Guys’ prostitution ring ready for prosecutors
Investigators say the johns in a major Twin Cities prostitution ring, all business professionals, won’t get any special treatment.
By David Chanen

Since word spread last month that Minneapolis police had shut down the high-dollar prostitution ring whose clients called themselves “The Minnesota Nice Guys,” nearly all of the 30 alleged clients or their attorneys have contacted police to find out how much trouble they’re in or if their involvement could be kept quiet, according to the case’s principal investigators.

Some men sobbed to Sgts. Grant Snyder and Matt Wente that they had a compulsion and had tried to stop. On the flip side, several “providers” or prostitutes also contacted investigators, and Snyder said they all repeated the same points: They found the business degrading and shameful, but needed the money. And they, too, had tried to quit.

The yearlong investigation is now wrapped up, and Snyder said they expect to present the case to the Hennepin County attorney’s office this week.

The investigation focused on John St. Marie, a former assistant Hennepin County attorney who they allege ran the Nice Guys ring. While the county attorney is expected to consider possible felony charges, it’s also possible that a portion of the case could be turned over to the U.S. attorney’s office for consideration of federal charges tied to interstate elements of the prostitution.

“With all the Nice Guys we’ve talked to, we’ve made it clear we can’t predict what might happen to them,” Snyder said. “We knew all the men associated with this group, and we told them a month ago to, ‘Come in and talk to us before we find you.’ “

She has a strange habit of turning up, like a bad penny. Read the whole story at The Las Vegas Review Journal…

Fleiss pleads guilty to drug charges
Ex-Hollywood madam faces probation in Nye County incident
By HENRY BREAN

Heidi Fleiss pleaded guilty to felony drug charges in Pahrump on Tuesday, but the former Hollywood madam will avoid a return trip to prison.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said Fleiss faces probation but no jail time after pleading guilty to unlawful use of methamphetamine and possession of the painkiller hydrocodone without a prescription.

The charges stem from a Feb. 7, 2008, traffic stop outside a plumbing supply store where Fleiss had gone to buy items for her home in Pahrump.

She was found in possession of six hydrocodone pills for which she had no prescription. A blood test taken after her arrest showed methamphetamine in her system.

She faces three to five years’ probation. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 15.

Beckett said Fleiss probably will be required to submit to random drug tests and might be ordered to seek drug treatment. If she successfully completes the terms of her probation, the two felony convictions will be erased from her record, he said.

“Time will tell if she’s serious about turning her life around,” Beckett said.

Read the whole article at The BBC News…

Seven in court on UK brothel charges

Seven people have appeared in court in connection with a suspected multi-million-pound prostitution ring.

The four women and three men, who were arrested in London, Surrey and Gloucestershire, appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court.

A man and a woman from Kingston Road, Leatherhead, are accused of smuggling women into Britain to staff brothels.

The five others face charges associated with prostitution. All were remanded to Southwark Crown Court until September.

Three Mercedes vehicles, including two classic models and a Vauxhall transporter, were seized along with £5,000 in cash at an address in Leatherhead.

Police also seized two Lamborghini sports cars from workshops in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

Operation Icefall

The man and woman were charged with conspiracy to traffic persons within the UK for sexual exploitation, trafficking persons within the UK for sexual exploitation, conspiracy to control prostitution for gain, controlling prostitution for gain and money-laundering offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Two unemployed men from Kingston Road, Epsom, Surrey and Boyn Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire, face the same charges.

Two men from south-east London were both charged with conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and controlling prostitution for gain.

And a man from Grange Road, Chessington, Surrey was charged with conspiracy to control prostitution, controlling prostitution and money-laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Read the whole article at The BBC News…

Police raids on ‘brothel empire’

Police have carried out a series of raids targeting a suspected prostitution “empire” they believe was worth more than £1m a year.

The alleged ringleader, a 55-year-old woman, was one of six people held following raids at addresses in London, Surrey and Gloucestershire.

Officers also discovered seven women they believe may have been trafficked and forced to work as prostitutes.

They are thought to be from south-east Asia and eastern Europe.

The co-ordinated raids, collectively dubbed Operation Icefall, were led by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s clubs and vice unit.

In a statement, the Met said: “The investigation centred on a 55-year-old woman who is believed to have controlled the empire, which netted over £1m a year.

“Together with her partner, she is believed to have used mainly trafficked-women to staff at least four brothels in London and the Home Counties.”