A sobering opinion piece offering data about the world’s oldest profession. The author, Christine Bott Schmuker, is a psychotherapist and coordinator of the Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma Program with Center for Child & Family Services.
Over the last few weeks the subject of prostitution has been front and center on the Williamsburg stage. The High Street apartment arrest has illuminated the underbelly of what many call the world’s oldest profession.
Most people would not be surprised to find prostitution sprinkled within Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News or Hampton. But Williamsburg? It certainly does not seem to fit Williamsburg’s quaint, historically charmed persona. Or does it?
The Gazette article stated how much the alleged High Street prostitute charges, that she was not willing to surrender her list of male clientele to police, and that neighbors report males combing through the apartment complex at differing times of day.
Her name was printed on the front page of the paper twice in two weeks. Will the paper provide comparable transparency to the male client list that police will find on her computer?
While I in no way condone her behavior, I do want to illuminate the underreported, misunderstood and tragic other side of the debate.
Here are the facts (Farley, M., 2004, Prostitution, Trafficking, & Traumatic Stress):
Nine out of 10 prostitutes were sexually assaulted as children.
Nine out of 10 will be beaten physically during encounters with their men clients.
Two out of 10 will be tortured during such encounters.
One in 10 will die prostituting within their first three years.
Eight out of 10 are teenage runaways.
Nine out of 10 had no father or father-figure living at home.
Eight out of 10 make contact with men online first.
Eight out of 10 use drugs and alcohol.
This is less about prostitution and more about untreated childhood sexual trauma.
There is hope. I run a program at the Center for Child & Family Services called the Adult Survivors Program.
An ‘anonymous tip’ leads police to an alleged working girl trying to get by. Read more at The Virginia Gazette…
Charge filed in prostitution case
By Amanda Kerr
Police have filed an arrest warrant against the 27-year-old woman implicated last week in a months-long prostitution investigation at a High Street apartment.
The woman has been charged with one misdemeanor count of prostitution. Police have not yet served the warrant on the woman, who has agreed to turn herself in to police on Saturday. She is expected to be released on a summons.
Police began investigating possible prostitution activities at her apartment in the Sterling Manor apartment complex in February after receiving an anonymous tip. According to a search warrant, the woman, during an interview with police last month, admitted to engaging in prostitution activities at her home.
The World Cup means world class opportunities for working girls. Read more at The Star…
World Cup to draw 40 000 hookers to SA
by Kenichi Serino
As many as 40 000 women are expected to arrive in South Africa ahead of the World Cup to work as prostitutes, according to the Central Drug Authority (CDA).
“Forty-thousand new prostitutes. As if we do not have enough people of our own, we have to import them to ensure that our visitors are entertained,” CDA deputy chairman David Bayever said in Pretoria yesterday at the release of the International Narcotics Control Board’s annual report.
He said the agency had been warned by the eThekwini metropolitan municipality of the possibility of huge inflows. “They got wind of it.”
Many of the women were likely to be recruited from eastern Europe.
Bayever also warned that the extension of school holidays during the soccer tournament would put children at risk of being lured into sex work.
“Our youth are going to be on holiday. They are going to be targeted to become prostitutes.”
Winter Olympics’ boost for Vancouver sex trade as business triples at brothel
By Megan Taylor
Vancouver’s estimated 1,000 sex workers agree: The Olympic Games are good for business.
Business at a brothel near downtown Vancouver tripled during the Winter Olympics, AOL News reports. But instead of the expected foreign visitors, Sexy Nina, who owns the house of ill repute, found local clients excited by the competitive spirit.
“The Games gave us the desire and willingness to connect, the energy to move,” she told AOL News. “What an amazing two weeks!”
Despite fears that out-of-town sex workers could make work riskier, some street workers reported that business was slow, said Kerry Porth, the executive director of Prostitution Alternatives Counseling & Education Society (PACE), which offered nightly outreach sessions during the Games.
Porth said the increased police presence may be to blame for some of the slowdown in street business.
“There were police on foot and in cars, all over the usual sex worker neighborhoods,” she said.
Although sex work is legal in Vancouver, some associated activities are not, such as running a brothel. But the Vancouver Police Department usually leaves sex workers alone.
It’s not the punchline to a joke. It’s true! Read the whole story at The Telegraph…
Swiss prostitutes trained to use defibrillators in brothels to prevent clients dying
Brothel owners in the Lugano area say electric shock treatment to restart customer’s hearts is needed because so many elderly customers are using their services.
The most recent victim was a pensioner, thought to be having fun with the help of anti-impotence medication.
His death followed a series of other incidents, some fatal, in which heart attacks have claimed brothel customers in the area.
The owner of one sex club said: “Having customers die on us isn’t exactly good publicity”.
There are now 38 sex clubs and brothel in the Lugano area. And more are planned, according to Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, in order to accommodate the thousands of customers who pour over the border from Italy, where brothels are illegal. Around 80 per cent of the men who pay for sex in the area are thought to be Italian.
Burbank Hookers, Beware “The Burbank Police Department will not allow prostitutes and their customers to believe that they can use Burbank as their meeting place.” By OLSEN EBRIGHT
Police in Burbank have issued a warning to pimps, prostitutes and anyone else benefiting from prostitution-related crimes.
“The Burbank Police Department will not allow prostitutes and their customers to believe that they can use Burbank as their meeting place,” Lt. Armen Dermenjian told the Burbank Leader.
The warning coincides with a beefed-up effort from cops to curb sex trade.
On Feb 23, police arrested three women at the Ramada Burbank Airport Hotel, said Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada. On Feb. 16, a 19-year-old Poway woman and 26-year-old San Diego man were arrested on prostitution-related charges, according to police records.
Other recent incidents include the arrest of two Oakland men at the Extended StayAmerica Los Angeles-Burbank Airport on suspicion of pimping a minor under the age of 16, Quesada told the newspaper.
“We want these people to know that if they’re going to engage in this kind of conduct that the police and citizens won’t put up with it, and we’ll be out there targeting it,” Quesada said. “We don’t want to let them get comfortable.”
Selling Sex to Pay the Bills SWFL Women turn to prostitution
By WINK News
It’s the world’s oldest profession, and the bad economy might be breathing new life into the seedy world of prostitution.
“I’m doing the same thing everybody else is doing, I’m sacrificing my time for money,” said “Britney”, an articulate mother of two and prostitute.
For obvious reasons she did not want to be identified by her real name or show her face on camera but she was willing to detail why she chose her profession.
“I saw that the money was real good, and i could make ends meet that way.”
“Britney” says the bad economy forced her to turn to prostitution, but police say that is an excuse.
“A lot of them don’t want to take responsibility for the decision they made, they were forced into because of the economy, forced into because of bad circumstances,” said Troy Bettencourt with the Punta Gorda Police Department.
Punta Gorda police have turned to several sites on the internet to crack down on prostitution in their area, but they can only regulate what’s within their jurisdiction.
A popular escort site has more postings for areas in Lee and Collier county than any other metropolitan area in Florida, with over 1,000 prostitutes listed.
It’s called ‘evidence,’ and while the police normally don’t go after clients, this is a risk that clients should know exists. Read the whole story at LoHud.com…
Chappaqua resident, 46, charged with prostitution, kept client book
by Marcela Rojas
A longtime Chappaqua resident, who was arrested by an undercover detective for allegedly offering “sensual massage” to “generous gentleman” on Craigslist, stated she charged $200 an hour for sex and kept a book of her male clients, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
The D.A.s Office submitted paperwork to New Castle Town Court saying that the woman made a statement on Feb. 19 to a criminal investigator, admitting she began posting ads on Craigslist that “were sexual in nature” after advertising on the site for about a year. The 46-year-old woman posted a photo of herself and requested photos of the men she meets whom she charged $200 an hour for various sex acts as well as “top rate” massages, according to the statement.
The woman, a registered nurse, stated she worked for herself and kept a book of her clients’ first names and telephone numbers near her computer and that she “met men at her house and at hotels occasionally.”
A woman in an affluent New York City suburb has been accused of targeting “upscale men” for prostitution.
New Castle police, who cover Chappaqua, say a 46-year-old woman focused on “upscale men” in ads on Craigslist. Court papers say she offered “sensuous massage” to “generous gentlemen.”
The documents say she was arrested at her home Feb. 19 after she accepted $200 for sex with an undercover officer.
Reports give details of undercover police raids on massage parlors
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK
Closed police files from raids at Macon massage parlors shed light on operations that undercover officers found there.
In 2008 and 2009, a series of raids targeted more than a dozen Macon-area massage parlors and spas that police suspected of being houses of prostitution. As a result, more than 20 women were arrested on various sex charges.
Seven closed Macon police case files describe how undercover police officers entered businesses and paid for massages. Costs ranged from $40 for a half-hour massage to $140 for sex.
In most cases, the officers were led to rooms where they were asked to undress. Some of them were led to showers or were bathed by women working at the massage parlors.
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In each of the cases, the women asked the officers if they wanted additional services. In at least two cases, the women gestured that they were offering sex.
At one massage parlor, a woman asked an officer in June 2008 if he wanted other services after a 10-minute massage. When he replied that he just wanted a massage, the woman said “$40 is for the house, massage, bath and relaxation. We are extra,” according to a police report.
Some of the women touched the officers’ genitals before offering additional services.
At another massage parlor, a woman initiated a sex act on an officer against the officer’s will in July 2008. Then she stood in front of the door, keeping the officer from leaving until she was paid for the act, according to one report.
As many as 40 000 women are expected to arrive in South Africa ahead of the World Cup to work as prostitutes, according to the Central Drug Authority (CDA).
A longtime Chappaqua resident, who was arrested by an undercover detective for allegedly offering “sensual massage” to “generous gentleman” on Craigslist, stated she charged $200 an hour for sex and kept a book of her male clients, according to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
