On 4/10/2016, Jody Williams, the founder of Sex Workers Anonymous (formerly called Prostitutes Anonymous) whose program was stolen by the money grabbing "rescue industry," posted a very long response to a post I wrote in 2014 about Project Rose and some of Jody's writings. Project Rose was police roundups in Phoenix to take trapped companions to Bethany Bible Church to be rescued. If they refused to play the rescue game, they went to jail. In her long post, she has some good points on the rescue and trafficking industry scam as it operates today.
Brief highlights:
They want everything to be about "trafficking". I've now seen the results of their work in the calls our hotline is receiving lately from these women who have been "saved" under these trafficking programs. They each have the same story. They were put into a Section 8, or low income housing project in a horrible neighborhood that's dangerous. Then loaded down with at least $40,000 in student loans for a degree where they can't find work because of their past. They're in a research project of some kind where the researcher is hitting on them for sex, along with seeing a weekly counselor who also gives them multiple psychiatric prescriptions for antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anti-anxiety medications, etc. The job they were given is either minimum wage, fast food, or some other horrible job no one wants. In other words, the government has become their new pimp - making money off them through grants, donations, medical insurance, student loans, etc. THAT'S why they worked so hard to get in between us and our members - for the money and the research.
With the new demand to arrest "johns" - SWOP has become a fertile ground for informants. Since Robin died, I'm hearing from more than one person (that) sex workers are being arrested, then turned into informants, and then sent into SWOP to find out as much information as they can on these "johns" so they can use them to get more arrests.
Look around - every avenue for an "independent" sex worker to operate without going to work for the traffickers is being shut down. Only not by mobsters - by law enforcement. Which is only driving more and more sex workers into the hands of the REAL traffickers! So too the "johns" who don't want to get busted either like we saw with Eliot Spitzer. He wasn't buying an independent sex worker. He went with a Russian woman working for a (cough) modeling agency - meaning trafficking operation.
See when this trafficking operation went after those fake traffickers in Tennessee - what some people haven't put two and two together yet about is that while they were going after the fakes - they were also leaving the real traffickers alone. But now you see why they also need the "fake" survivors - to pull off their scams against the taxpayers. Which I've also seen all over the country now who haven't been caught yet - whole counties and their trafficking task forces setting up fake victims in order to go after millions of dollars in grant money, kickbacks, donations, billings, etc.
I have up on http://www.hightechmadam.com the clips of mine that are real.
Dave notes - She originally disagreed with my comment that it seemed she was not against decriminalization since her whole program is AA based it seems as if a disease or similar to Divorce Anonymous as if some recovery was needed. While this may be true for some sexworkers, it seems rare vs. sexwork by choice.
I replied:
Jody - a lot of good information about the bad situation. I agree with most or all, especially about the rescue industry scam.
What gave me the concern you were not for decrim is if we had a New Zealand style decriminalization there would be little need for any AA type program. I come from the world of sexworkers that ENJOY their work. They do not have a disease, they do not want to be someone's save them project, they do not need any AA or Divorce Anonymous type program they just want to be left alone to practice their chosen work.
Yes, maybe 5% of 10% are forced into sexwork for economic reasons and would not otherwise choose it. At least in private sexwork (not street hookers), they seem to be a small minority. Probably 90% of arrests are of private sexworkers set up with stings, or by more or less entrapment, to build high arrest numbers to justify more grants to go after consenting adult that choose to be sexworkers or clients as their choice as consenting adults.
Most of the arrests especially in Phoenix have nothing to do with any "rescue" but simply to showcase. For example, $millions spent over five years for the 39 arrested in the military like SWAT raid in 2011 of the Phoenix Goddess Temple. Mostly older women seeking to heal men or give them a positive experience based on Tantra and other ancient religious beliefs. They are now felons having taken plea deals after five years in the Court system and a 3-month trial for the leader that could face up to 70 years in prison. These were a happy group of women doing what they believed in and providing a desired service to a large number of men that sought their Tantric healing practices.
Full discussion at http://phxlist.com/forum/showthread....20116#pid20116