NoPornNorthampton

Adrienne Rich: "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"

NPNAdmin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:42:00 GMT

Capital Video's Amazing.net store in Northampton portrays itself as gay-friendly, but this is just a fig leaf over the true nature of the bulk of today's porn industry:

Adrienne Rich describes the reality in "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", published in The Signs Reader: Women, Gender & Scholarship (The University of Chicago Press, 1983, page 149):

The function of pornography as an influence on consciousness is a major public issue of our time, when a multibillion-dollar industry has the power to disseminate increasingly sadistic, women-degrading visual images. But even so-called soft-core pornography and advertising depict women as objects of sexual appetite devoid of emotional context, without individual meaning or personality: essentially as a sexual commodity to be consumed by males. (So-called lesbian pornography, created for the male voyeuristic eye, is equally devoid of emotional context or individual personality.) The most pernicious message relayed by pornography is that women are natural sexual prey to men and love it; that sexuality and violence are congruent; and that for women sex is essentially masochistic, humiliation pleasurable, physical abuse erotic. But along with this message comes another, not always recognized: that enforced submission and the use of cruelty, if played out in heterosexual pairing, is sexually "normal", while sensuality between women, including erotic mutuality and respect, is "queer", "sick", and either pornographic in itself or not very exciting compared with the sexuality of whips and bondage.[24] Pornography does not simply create a climate in which sex and violence are interchangeable; it widens the range of behavior considered acceptable from men in heterosexual intercourse--behavior which reiteratively strips women of their autonomy, dignity, and sexual potential, including the potential of loving and being loved by women in mutuality and integrity.

[Footnote 24: The issue of "lesbian sadomasochism" needs to be examined in terms of the dominant cultures' teachings about the relation of sex and violence, and also of the acceptance by some lesbians of male homosexual mores. I believe this to be another example of the "double-life" of women.]

See also:

Herbert, Brooks and Osayande on Misogyny, Money and Power; Amazing.net's War on Women and Blacks (explicit)

Capital Video's Magazine Rack: Bondage, Racism and More

Childhood Spanking Linked to Coerced Sex and Risky Sex in Adulthood; Amazing.net Milks Pain for Profit (explicit)

Intense Fetish # 724 300 Strokes For Spanky
Three hundred hard strokes using six different instruments! With assistance from his slave Nicole Master Len picks three instruments from the wall! Spanky picks three more for a total of six. Spanky is given fifty strokes from each instrument. The strokes are spaced out every three to five seconds. There is only a small break between each new instrument. Every stroke is applied to her tender ass. See her ass get red and bruised with small blood blisters forming. Spanky is a real pain slut. You will see her writhe in pain and then smile in ecstasy.

Details from box cover:

Spanking Desires
Where pleasure meets pain-watch as Mistress Erzsebet teaches her submissives a lesson...

Amazing.net stores also sell sadomasochistic magazines:

Now Showing at Amazing.net: The War on Privacy and Consent (explicit)
Kimberly Princess of Pain
Pain became her pleasure... Watch every stimulating moment of the young Kimberly's metamorphosis; from head strong captive to a willingly submissive student of pain and torture!!!

Maid For Master Prelude To Pain
Master Aaron needs a new maid and the interview procedure is an arduous one. Bebe Licious and Shadow try
to keep up with Aaron's rage but he always wins in the end. Bebe suffers an unbelieveably painful piercing and
Aaron even makes a string corset out of Bebe's big natural boobs. Not for the squeamish!

Pain 27
Can you withstand ninety minutes of S & M madness?! It's an hour and a half of whimpering chicks burnt nipples
endless suffering. But some people think your taste in erotic cinema is sick. Well guess what? They're right. But
that's okay you don't need them. You have plenty of friends. Your therpist calls them "the voices in your head...

Pain & Tolerance
4 hours of whippin' good fun! Non-stop spanking binding whipping and domination. This is filled with perversion and mayhem! Subjugate those pathetic little pigs and make them obey!!!

Pain Factor (4hr)
4 hours of stupendous spankin' and submission! Ball gaggin' hot wax pourin' paddlin floggin and other luzurious forms of pleasurable pain pack this DVD to the brim. Submissive slappin' good!

Sessions #8
Mistress Sonya takes Magdelyn to new heights of sensual awareness. Helplessly bound to an antique dental chair Magdelyn is submitted to various forms of punishment. Electro-shock therapy and flogging are the order of the day. However Magdelyn is subjected to a more intensified session as her breath is totally controlled while other punishments are taking place...

Amazing.net: Making Nazis Sexy (explicit)
Plenty of movies have been made about the Nazi regime, but only the porn industry expects you to orgasm to it. Now on sale at Amazing.net/Goflix.com, you'll find Nazi Torture Castle (explicit link). We blurred the genitalia on the woman below, but otherwise here is the box cover as we found it, complete with crematorium:

Now on Sale at Amazing.net: The Swirlies (explicit)

Hampden Superior Court Lets Capital Video Reopen Viewing Booths in Springfield; A Proposed Solution
How much does Capital Video care about the health of its customers? A search of the term barebacking on its Amazing.net/Goflix.com website today brings up the following and more:

Bisexual Barebacking #6
Barebacking Tag Team
Unsafe Sex with Transsexuals Barebacking #2
Raw Bois #3 - A Twink Barebacking Adventure
Adventures in Barebacking

The title below was prominently on display at an Amazing.net store in Massachusetts on September 28. The character at the bottom of the box cover says, "Go Forth And Be Unsafe My Son!"

Kara Nox: Adult Movies I Have Been In
The Violation Of Melissa Lauren
Melissa decides she needs to take a break from her suburban lifestyle and journeys out to the Ozarks looking for some fun. But what begins as a ligh hearted adventure soon becomes a nightmare when redneck locals descend on poor Melissa and have their way with her.

Hustler Cartoons: Racism, Misogyny, Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Incest, Ridicule of Disabled People... (explicit)

A small, nervous man going door-to-door for the "A.I.D.S. Relief Fund" is greeted by a large man holding a beer bottle and a crowbar. The large man has a swastika tattoo and a shirt that says, "Death To All Fags!" The caption reads, "Sorry, wrong house!"

I Was a 'Self-Esteem Vampire': A Woman's Journey Out of Watching Porn (explicit language)
...I began to question the things I was seeing. I began to wonder why I despised those women and yet was using them, even in my own head, to get off to. Slowly the veil began to thin and the guilt and disgust I would feel afterwards would grow stronger than the compulsion to lookat the stuff in the first place...

I asked myself honestly, what was I getting out of porn? The answer surprised me. It terrified me. It shamed me...

I was getting a sense of power from watching the humiliation and degradation of the women on the screen.

I was claiming power, the all-elusive power that women strive for the irentire lives, from degrading and enjoying the degradation of other women. I had absorbed a lesson from the patriarchy: women are easy to degrade, weaker, and more vulnerable, so much so that even another woman can take their power. Watching women being slapped and hurt was filling that void within me that was taken so many years before by men.It allowed me to feel powerful and in control...

It wasn’t some sort of biological excitement from seeing two people having sex (although, that’s what I told myself for a very long time). It was the power that is inherent in degrading and humiliating another human being that brought me climax...

And I hated them for it. I hated them for reflecting my own weaknesses back at me...

At the same time I hated MYSELF for using them. I hated myself for being a vampire of sorts, a kind of ‘self-esteem vampire’. A creature which was incapable of making her own self-esteem and who therefore took it from other humans. But self-esteem garnered at the expense of another human being does not, and never can, replace your own...

D.A. Clarke: Women Adopting Men's Bad Habits Is Not the Answer
For women, including lesbians, have absolutely nothing to gain from nihilism, fascist chic, self-conscious decadence, and a romanticisation of the crimes of dead privileged men. That is not the way to legitimise our lives and lovers. When life is valued cheaply and pain is in vogue, it is women's and children's lives which will be valued cheapest of all, and women's and children's pain which will be the raw material for entertainment. When fantasy is valued over truth, it is the truths about our lives and deaths which will be hidden, and the fantasies of others which we will be made to serve. When brute force is admired and bullies are cultural heroes, the vast majority of women and children will be the losers.

The conflict of values can be represented as a struggle between ethics of excess and moderation...

To accept that the costs borne by strangers in far-off lands make our way of life unaffordable implies that we learn to respect those people and that we become ashamed of living at their expense; to accept that we are responsible for the damage that we do to our soil, water, and air means that we learn to clean up after ourselves; to accept that resources are precious and should not be wasted is to learn that the world is not a consumable, an expendable - and neither are its people. To accept that our way of life is costing too much means accepting less: giving up excess, resolving to live within our means. Shoving off the costs of your behaviour onto others, expecting someone else to clean up your mess, blowing away the household economy with irresponsible spending, treating other people as objects to be used and discarded: are these not some of the traits for which feminists have persistently criticised and confronted men, the habits of privilege and arrogance?

Grabbing all you can while you can get it is an expensive way to live. It may turn out to be an expensive way to die. A generation which took this lesson to heart would be less likely to use up, despise, abuse and discard women and children as sexual toys...

The symbols, language and style of lesbian sm chic are the symbols and language and style of male supremacy: violation, ruthlessness, intimidation, humiliation, force, mockery, consumerism. Words like respect, tenderness, gentleness, are boring and passe, according to our new fashion leaders. What we want is excess, and lots of it: extreme experiences of every kind, a great bazaar of fantasy for our shopping pleasure...

Ruthlessness, hardness, force and intimidation have characterised the successful businessman, soldier, gangster, politician and pimp from the very beginning. If we admire those qualities, we implicitly endorse the world these men have created - perhaps we subscribe to the fantasy that women can become hard enough and mean enough to compete with men on their own turf. Suppose we do so, and suppose some of us win: will a world that contains a token handful of lesbian aristocrats among its ruling class be a better world?

Gazette: "Porn chain owes $261,486 in sales tax"

NPNAdmin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:38:00 GMT

Today's Gazette reports:

Porn chain owes $261,486 in sales tax

State revenue officials have slapped a hefty tax lien on the company that runs a King Street porn store for unpaid sales taxes, making the company one of the state's top 100 sales tax delinquents.

Capital Video Corp. owes the state Department of Revenue $261,486 in sales taxes, according to a filing Monday in the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds. The back taxes cover a 10-month period in 2008...

The unpaid taxes are tied to more than a dozen businesses owned and run by Capital Video Corp. in the state, including Amazing.Net on King Street, and the money represents more than $2 million in sales, according to state officials.

See also:

Gazette: "Porn company promises to pay delinquent taxes" (6/25/09)
Lesley S. Rich, an attorney for the Cranston, R.I.-based company, said Wednesday that its porn-store chain bounced a few checks and fell behind in sales tax payments to the state last year...

"We're behind, but we have a pay-out plan with them," Rich said in a phone interview. "I think we're paying a couple checks a month. We're just catching up."

Providence Journal Archives: Kenneth Guarino's Mob Ties, Criminal Past, Global Empire
Guarino has had past run-ins with the law. In June 1985, he pleadedguilty to federal tax-evasion charges. He served three months in prisonand was fined $5,000.

In 1980, Guarino was arrested with 44 others in gambling raids in 12Rhode Island communities, and charged with operating an organized-crimegambling business. Seven years later, in 1987, he pleaded no contest tobookmaking charges and was fined $250.

Capital Video Owner Kenneth Guarino "was associated with Natale Richichi, a capo in the Gambino family of La Cosa Nostra"
Guarino in 1979 began to pay 'tribute' to Richichi to fend offextortion attempts and to assist Guarino with other business matterswhere Richichi's influence as a capo might benefit Guarino... The totalamount of the payments is in dispute, but between July 1985 andSeptember 1995, Guarino paid Richichi at least $1,728,000 in cash...

In January 1997, Guarino, as part of a plea agreement, pled guilty onlyto the charge of conspiracy to evade taxes. He was sentenced to sixteenmonths in prison, eleven of which were served in a halfway house, andfined $250,000...

An Account of the Working Conditions at Capital Video Headquarters
Here is an account of conditions at Capital Video's Cranston, RI headquarters, as posted to industry gossip site Luke Is Back (explicitsite) on 2/24/05. Met-Cap Management and Metro, along with CapitalVideo, are three of the affiliated companies through which porn kingpinKenneth Guarino does business.

Metro...fired veteran artist Noel Campos last year. Justwhy is still the question; was it that Noel dared to use his earned"Paid Time Off" and raised Kenny's ire at not working 40 hours everyweek? Jiffy Lube rick told Noel "Metro is cutting back," but Metropromptly increased it's production schedule over 100%, with Alan beingthe only artist left at metro. For all his hard work in the art dept.,Alan was promised a raise by Kenny last summer...

Well, thatraise Kenny PROMISED was never lived up to by Kenny, ...Les [Rich,general counsel], or anyone else who signs checks at Metro...

Metro is a f---ing nightmare to work for; where hard work is rewarded with f--- you...

Did youknow about the quarter million in product former metro salesman Sethhad delivered to himself no charge?... All this while Kenny's lastfeckless former GM Neil Persky was sniffing mexican warehousemen'sbackpacks for onsie-twosies out the back door? How Seth was shacking upwith metro contract star Annmarie, oops, former contract star, too muchcocaine...

The roof catastrophically leaked into the new bldg. which Kenny & Les Rich signed off on...

Soyou can add the name Kenny Guarino, Bently-driving owner of Metro tothat list of deadbeats you have been reporting on. Kenny makes falsepromises to his employees and then pays off in lies and betrayal.

Metro sales are so bad that Kenny was required to put Metro payroll on his credit card for the first time last week...

Guarino: No Porn for Daughter (1994)
...Mr.Guarino is a rich man. He lives in a luxurious home on NarragansettBay, drives a Mercedes, and--federal prosecutors in the Las Vegas casesay--has numerous foreign bank accounts...

Boston Globe Profiled Kenneth Francis Guarino in 1983
Guarino,who entered the business as a teenager, had risen to become one of thenation's top pornography dealers in less than 10 years. His companieswere grossing an estimated $3 million a year, and every month Guarinowas depositing an average of $175,000 into their bank accounts...

Inaddition to inspecting Guarino's seized records, the FBI interviewed anaccountant who had worked on Guarino's financial books from sometime in1973 to February 1978. According to a confidential report on thatinterview, the former accountant, William J. Martin 3d, told the FBIthat "Guarino was skimming over a half-million dollars a year" from hiscorporations and bookstores.

At the time that the formeraccountant made the charge, he was under indictment in Connecticut forembezzling more than $146,000 in four separate checks from hisfull-time employer, General Dynamics, in early 1978. Martin, accordingto the confidential report, later told the FBI that he had embezzledthe money on orders from Guarino because Guarino needed money "foranticipated legal fees." However, Martin said he would not testifyagainst Guarino in the case because he feared for his safety...

Not For Sale Media Project; Downloadable Posters

NPNAdmin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:15:00 GMT

Artemis Fund is a non-profit organization in Western Massachusetts which works to promote the human rights of women and girls. They have kindly given us permission to reprint the following material. View the original page here.

Click on the image of each poster to download a full-size PDF.

Not For Sale Media Project

The Not For Sale Media Project is a mobilization of feminist media makers and grassroots activists that are creatively challenging the mass media's normalization of prostitution, pornography, and other forms of sexual abuse through the creation and distribution of alternative media. We are creating alternative forms of media that encourage individuals and communities to think more critically about the buying and selling of women's bodies; the commodification of sex and sexuality; impacts on individuals and groups of people; and alternative visions of sex and sexuality free of power abuse, violence, and hierarchy.

The Not For Sale Media Project is currently embarking on the creation of posters that raise awareness on issues of prostitution, pornography, and trafficking. The posters are 8.5" x 14" or 11" x 17" in size and are being utilized for public and community education. View some of the posters below. We encourage you to download, print, and circulate them in your own community.

Join our efforts! You do not have to be an artist or graphic designer to take part in the Not For Sale Media Project. The only requirement is that you have a commitment to raising public awareness about the harms of prostitution, pornography, and trafficking. For those interested, design and create a 8.5" x 14" or 11" x 17" poster that educates the public on the realities and harms of prostitution, pornography, and/or trafficking. If you have an idea but don't know how to turn it into a finished poster, we can help out. Share your posters and ideas with us at artemisfundinc@gmail.com or via mail at P.O. Box 674, Northampton, MA 01061, USA.

Poster 1: Got humanity?

Poster 2: What Message are We Sending Girls?

Poster 3: Men's Choices

Poster 4: Help Wanted

Poster 5: Sex Objects

Poster 6: Valley Advocate: Drop Your Massage & Escort Ads
This poster was created to put pressure on a local free weekly paper to remove their 'massage/escort' ads which are often linked to prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. The poster can be utilized to put similar pressure on local papers in other communities.

Poster 7: Real Economic Choices

Poster 8: Youth and Pornography 1

Poster 9: Youth and Pornography 2

Poster 10: Youth and Prostitution

Poster 11: Warning -- The Media is Hazardous to Your Children's Health

Poster 12: Whatever Its Legal Status, Prostitution Causes Great Harm 1

Poster 13: Whatever Its Legal Status, Prostitution Causes Great Harm 2

Poster 14: Whatever Its Legal Status, Prostitution Causes Great Harm 3

Strip Clubs Included in Guide for Massachusetts Democratic Convention Delegates

NPNAdmin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:09:00 GMT

Today in the Cries & Whispers column of the Sunday Republican:

Democrats in Massachusetts are a liberal bunch, but did they go too far by listing two "adult entertainment" spots in downtown Springfield in their official "delegate guide" for the state Democratic convention held on June 6?

The guide directed delegates to two strip clubs - the Mardi Gras at 91 Taylor St. and the "Gentlemen's Club" at Center Stage, 265 Dwight St.

The guide made no mention that on Jan. 21 a man was charged with murder after shooting a 22-year-old man in the head as he sat at the bar in the Mardi Gras.

See also:

Springfield Republican: "Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno says strip club killing gives city a 'black eye'" (6/1/09)

Republican: "1 dead, 5 seriously injured in shooting rampage at Springfield strip club" (5/31/09)

Springfield Republican: "Man fatally shot inside strip bar" (1/22/09)
...a 22-year-old man was shot in the head while sitting at the bar at the Mardi Gras strip club downtown...

Police said Colon [the victim] had been involved in a "verbal and physical altercation with several other subjects" in the Mardi Gras about 20 minutes prior to being killed...

[Sgt. John] Delaney said police records show police have been called to the Mardi Gras a total of 30 times during business hours since July 1 and another 14 times after-hours for alarm activations...

Valley Advocate Website Announces 2008's "Best" Adult Entertainment Club; Holsopple's Inside Report on Stripping (explicit language)
Rather than expose this industry for what it is, the Advocate has decided to party with the exploiters and the abusers. Let editor Tom Vannah know how you feel about this.

The Truth About Lap Dancing: A Performer Speaks Out

Carolyn McKenzie: Undercover with the Viewing Booths; Disease, Intoxicants Prevalent Among Strip Dancers (explicit language)

Former Stripper Tells Easthampton Hearing about the Life: It Stinks

Strip Poker Men's Club: Women's Lib to Blame for Men's Going to Strip Clubs
There is something about the atmosphere of a Strip Club, the way in which women strut their stuff on stage and not breaking eye contact is almost an animalistic approach that not only attracts men sexually but because of the eye contact that most women have mastered to enable to do their job well, it seems to offer men what they are so desperately in need off and they haven’t been able to get from today’s modern woman, “attention”...

So there you have it, no need to feel guilty, it's one of life's small escapes, the last bastion of the male domain, enjoy it!

Strip Club Tips: How to Savor an Exquisite Blend of Fantasies, Lies, Exploitation and Despair (explicit language)
For a stripper's perspective, we present a selection from 37 Stripper Rants, as posted in March to gripe site Ofuzi...

Strip Clubs: Dancers Pay to Work There

Profitable Exploits: Lap Dancing in the UK

"Waitressing, I cleaned the floors and I own a box of men's wedding rings that I found on the floor."

Our Poster to the Valley Advocate: "Stand up for women! Drop your Massage/Escort ads"

NPNAdmin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:16:00 GMT

This week NoPornNorthampton is distributing over 300 11x17 posters throughout Pioneer Valley in conjunction with Our Voices Matter. Contact incoming Daily Hampshire Gazette/Valley Advocate publisher Jim Foudy and let him know it's time for the Advocate to exit the escort business. For a high-resolution PDF of the poster, download it here (480KB).

Republican: "1 dead, 5 seriously injured in shooting rampage at Springfield strip club"

NPNAdmin — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:26:00 GMT

Today's Springfield Republican reports:

Bobianski said a caller at 1:37 a.m. reported numerous shots fired inside Club 418, a strip club, located at 453 ½ Worthington St.

"Officers responded to the scene and found five people who had serious gunshot wounds and another victim who was stabbed," Bobianski said. "All of them were inside of the bar."

...One of the victims, a 23-year-old Springfield man, died at 2:20 a.m...

Club 418 "has had problems in the past," but its record isn't much different from other strip clubs, police said.

"They are all about the same. And that's the second this year," Bobianski said, referring to the January fatal shooting of a man at the Mardi Gras at 91 Taylor St.

The city has four topless clubs, he said...

In August, Club 418 was essentially put on probation by the License Commission after two dancers fought and one hit another with a stiletto-heel shoe...

In 2007, a July 28 shooting inside Club 418 left a 26-year-old man with injuries to the stomach and groin and led to five arrests.

See also:

Springfield Republican: "Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno says strip club killing gives city a 'black eye'" (6/1/09)
State Police Lt. Thomas J. Daly, who has patrolled downtown for the last four years with the State Police Community Action Team, said incidents of violence and lawlessness are becoming painfully common in the club quarter, particularly at closing time when hundreds of people file out into the streets.

"What we see is a situation that is becoming intolerable," he said. "It is a disgrace to the city."

He said it is common to see open drug dealing and gang activity downtown on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The city needs to act quickly to get it all under control, he said.

Springfield Republican: "Man fatally shot inside strip bar" (1/22/09)
...a 22-year-old man was shot in the head while sitting at the bar at the Mardi Gras strip club downtown...

Police said Colon [the victim] had been involved in a "verbal and physical altercation with several other subjects" in the Mardi Gras about 20 minutes prior to being killed...

[Sgt. John] Delaney said police records show police have been called to the Mardi Gras a total of 30 times during business hours since July 1 and another 14 times after-hours for alarm activations...

Republican: "Springfield police arrest strip club patron for breaking vehicle windows" (5/29/08)

Gazette: "Strip club ouster ends with carjacking" (9/25/07)

Springfield Republican Reports on Strip Clubs and the Mafia (7/8/07)

The Evidence of Relationships Between Adult-Oriented Businesses and Community Crime and Disorder

The Case for Secondary Effects

Secondary Effects Across America: 1977-1999

Crime, Nuisances Motivate Cities to Regulate the Location of Adult Entertainment Uses

Strip Clubs And Wall Street
...These clubs are like wrecking balls to marriages and communities. The dancers work under abusive conditions. Drugs, disease and prostitution are prevalent, and the realities of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe are not to be taken lightly.

US Appeals Court Upholds Daytona Zoning and Public Nudity Ordinances; No Grandfathering for Lollipop's Gentlemen's Club; Rebutting Daniel Linz (emphasis added)
...Ordinance 81-334 cites two Supreme Court decisions, New York State Liquor Authority v. Bellanca, 452 U.S. 714 (1981) (per curiam), and California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109 (1972), both of which upheld prohibitions on nude dancing in establishments that serve alcohol. See Bellanca, 452 U.S. at 718 (upholding statute where the legislature had found that “[c]ommon sense indicates that any form of nudity coupled with alcohol in a public place begets undesirable behavior”); LaRue, 409 U.S. at 118-19 (“The . . . conclusion . . . that certain sexual performances and the dispensation of liquor by the drink ought not to occur at premises that have licenses was not an irrational one.”)

...Langston testified that live nude and seminude entertainment businesses “promote and perpetuate urban decay” and that “adult businesses have impacted on crime in the area surrounding Daytona Beach.” Id. at 547. Smith, who as an assistant state attorney had prosecuted drug and prostitution offenses in Daytona Beach, concurred that “there were more drug and prostitution offenses in topless bars than in other bars.” Id. at 548.

...the First Amendment does not prevent a city from limiting the venues where dancers may communicate their erotic message...

Activist Strategies: Indiana Feminists Block "Girls Gone Wild"; Berlin Resident Fights Strip Club Liquor License with Remonstrance Petition

Hampden Superior Court Lets Capital Video Reopen Viewing Booths in Springfield; A Proposed Solution (9/30/08)
Massachusetts municipalities can enact an "amortization clause", meaning that all non-conforming adult uses have to come into compliance within a fixed period of time. The town of North Reading, MA has one of these clauses (PDF):

E. Amortization.
(1) Any adult use which exists in North Reading at the time of the adoption of this bylaw shall cease and desist all adult use activities within five years (5) of the effective date of this bylaw.

(2) Adult uses which apply for and are granted a special permit under the provisions of this bylaw shall be exempt from Subsection E(1) above.

Amortization is perhaps the best strategy we're aware of for Springfield to improve the quality of life for downtown residents and revitalize the area. It would be clear, effective, lasting, and legal.

Polaris Project Launches TraffickingResourceCenter.org

NPNAdmin — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:12:00 GMT

We are pleased to share this May 22 press release from the Polaris Project:

Dear Supporters,

Polaris Project recently launched the first official website of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC).

The website provides information on the services offered by the NHTRC 24-hour hotline (1-888-3737-888), available training opportunities, and information and resources on human trafficking within the United States.

See our Know the Signs page to learn about how to recognize and report human trafficking to the NHTRC hotline. Many tips received by the hotline are called in by individuals like you who see something unusual in their everyday lives and want to do something about it. Once tips are received, NHTRC Call Specialists connect victims with law enforcement and social service providers in their local area who can help them get out of exploitative situations and into safe environments where they have access to services, such as emotional support, health care, and legal services.
View our Training page for details on the range of training and technical assistance topics offered by the NHTRC.
Download materials to hand out at awareness raising events on our Information and Resources page.

Visit TraffickingResourceCenter.org to learn more about how the NHTRC can be a resource for you.

To support the work of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, make a direct donation today.
Sarah Jakiel
Program Director
National Human Trafficking Resource Center

See also:

Hunt Alternatives Fund: Demand Abolition
Demand Abolition supports the modern-day slavery movement by combating the demand for sex trafficking. By conducting and disseminating research, convening key stakeholders to share best practices, and educating policymakers, Demand Abolition catalyzes systemic social change to reflect the dignity of all people.

MSNBC Investigates Human Trafficking and Prostitution in the US; Valley Advocate Advertises "Foreign Fantasies" Where "Everything Goes"
While MSNBC is busy investigating the sex industry, the Valley Advocate is busy making money from it. The Massage/Escort ads in the 1/10/08 edition below include an advertisement of "FOREIGN FANTASIES" where "Everything Goes"...

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part One)

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part Two)

O Tempora, O Mores: "CityBeat's Community Values" (6/22/08)
A month ago there was a major prostitution raid in Cincinnati, southern Indiana and northern Kentucky that shut down a number of Asian massage parlors. These establishments were well advertised in CityBeat.

The owners of the parlors/brothels were all of Asian descent. It was determined by law enforcement the owners had brought young women into the country for the sole purpose of prostitution. In an effort to give the appearance of legality the owners stated they were merely receiving 100% of the money the ladies obtained for the legitimate massage and any profiting by the women was up to those women. They further admitted that was the only way the ladies were paid...

What really bothers me is what touched off this debate. One of the indicted owners of the Asian massage parlors admitted to the police that she had driven 40,000 miles this past year delivering girls to massage parlors throughout the country...

These people are making a very large amount of money by dealing in human trafficking aka slavery. If CityBeat continues to run ads promoting this type of business, they are turning a blind eye to a shameful problem.

Pasadena Weekly: "Lives for sale"
“They’re always a point of concern,” Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian told the newspaper. “We follow up on them fairly regularly. I have always been surprised that the [Pasadena] Weekly underwrites the exploitation of women to some degree.”

...“Asian Lovers: Best Young Girls in Town,” “Asian Girl: Pretty Apples,” “Grand Opening, Young Asian Cuties,” read several ads that appeared recently in the Weekly...

Ivy Suriyopaf, an attorney with the Asian-American Defense League, said that if an ad is suspicious, newspapers shouldn’t run it.

“Publications have a choice about whether to run certain ads,” said Suriyopaf. “If they have any reason to believe that businesses are conducting illicit activities, they have a social responsibility to report it to the authorities or, at the very least, not run the business’ advertisements.”

Press Release: Action Network to use RNC and Minnesota State Fair to Bring Attention to Problem of Sex Trafficking

New York Times: "The Girls Next Door"; Worldwide Sex Trafficking; Role of Porn

Gloria Steinem at Smith: Cooperation, Not Domination
...there are more slaves in proportion to the world’s population--more people held by force or coercion without benefit from their work--more now than there were in the 1800s. Sex trafficking, labor trafficking, children and adults forced into armies: they all add up to a global human-trafficking industry that is more profitable than the arms trade, and second only to the drug trade. The big difference now from the 1800s is that the United Nations estimates that 80% of those who are enslaved are women and children...

Abolishing Prostitution: The Swedish Solution - An Interview with Gunilla Ekberg by the Rain and Thunder Collective

Washington Post: "Online Sex Connections Linked to False Sense of Security"

NPNAdmin — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:08:00 GMT

Today's Washington Post (ironically itself a participant in prostitution) reports how Craigslist's new "adult services" section differs little from its former "erotic services" section:

Online Sex Connections Linked to False Sense of Security

...police say Craigslist's adult services section, which the company pledged to monitor closely, has quickly emerged as a major virtual meeting spot for the sex trade in the Washington region. More than 700 ads were listed locally on the site yesterday. Close-ups of women in lingerie have replaced purely pornographic images, but euphemistic descriptions of services and hourly rates -- often expressed as "roses" or "donations" -- remain.

In recent interviews, nearly a dozen women who posted ads on Craigslist said that they know the risks involved. But police said many women engage in online prostitution because they fail to appreciate the dangers.

The women are able to post ads from the comfort of their homes, on a Web site more often used for such mundane tasks as selling used couches. The encounters, however, often require traveling alone, meeting a man at a hotel room and telling no one, a scenario that can leave a woman particularly vulnerable.

In the Washington area, according to police, at least 50 women have been raped or severely beaten in the past two years by men who responded to ads they posted on Craigslist.

"The number is probably 10 times that, actually," said Inspector Brian Bray, who heads the D.C. police prostitution unit. "The majority of women who may be raped are prostitutes who are . . . not reporting it."

...Although Craigslist is widely known for other services, the erotic services portion of the site had more visitors in the Washington area last month than all "for-sale" ads, according to an analysis that Compete.Com performed for The Washington Post.

See also:

Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations
The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years (M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133) or 14 years (D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto). Most of these 13 or 14 year old girls were recruited or coerced into prostitution. Others were "traditional wives" without job skills who escaped from or were abandoned by abusive husbands and went into prostitution to support themselves and their children. (Denise Gamache and Evelina Giobbe, Prostitution: Oppression Disguised as Liberation, National Coalition against Domestic Violence, 1990)

... Estimates of the prevalence of incest among prostitutes range from 65% to 90%. The Council for Prostitution Alternatives, Portland, Oregon Annual Report in 1991 stated that: 85% of prostitute/clients reported history of sexual abuse in childhood; 70% reported incest...

...studies report 68% to 70% of women in prostitution being raped...

A Canadian Report on Prostitution and Pornography concluded that girls and women in prostitution have a mortality rate 40 times higher than the national average...

In one study, 75% of women in escort prostitution had attempted suicide. Prostituted women comprised 15% of all completed suicides reported by hospitals...

67% of 475 people in prostitution from South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, USA, and Zambia met diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 92% stated that they wanted to leave prostitution...

Prostitution looks chic, but truth is ugly (Chicago Tribune, 4/27/08)
A comprehensive 2004 mortality study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by the American Journal of Epidemiology, shows that workplace homicide rates for women working in prostitution are 51 times that of the next most dangerous occupation for women (which is working in a liquor store). The average age of death of the women studied was 34.

New York Times: "7 Accused of Using Craigslist for Prostitution" (5/20/09)
Seven people have been indicted on charges of running a prostitution business in Queens that found clients through Craigslist and falsified records to make payments for sex appear to be for clowns and balloons, the state attorney general’s office announced on Wednesday.

Five of the defendants were arraigned in State Supreme Court in Queens on a range of charges, from felony enterprise corruption and promoting prostitution to money laundering, said a statement from the attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo...

Mr. Cuomo’s statement said, “Until Craigslist gets serious about putting real protections in place, it will continue to be an environment where criminal operations thrive with impunity.”

AP: "Craigslist to drop 'erotic services' classifieds" (5/13/09)
A month after the killing of a masseuse who advertised on Craigslist, the classified ad site announced plans Wednesday to eliminate its "erotic services" category and screen all submissions to a new "adult services" section before they are posted.

Law enforcement officials praised the move as a victory against online prostitution, but they acknowledged doubts about whether the changes will curb the practice...

The announcement marked a significant policy change for Craigslist, which in the past has never prescreened ads, choosing instead to remove them only after receiving complaints. The new adult services ads will also carry a fee.

Skeptical authorities said the Web site had broken previous promises to monitor erotic ads...

New postings in the "adult services" category will cost $10, but once a posting is approved, customers will be eligible for reposting at $5...

Attorneys General Press Craigslist about Ads for Prostitution and Other Illegal Activities (5/4/09)
“craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site,” Koster said. “It is blatant. It is irresponsible. It is illegal.

Springfield Republican: "Woman's murder in Boston hotel linked to Craigslist advertising of massage services" (4/16/09)

Springfield Republican: "R.I. police see similarity between Boston Craigslist slaying and attempted robbery at Warwick hotel" (4/17/09)

Online Media Daily: "Craigslist Claims Fewer 'Erotic Services' Ads Due To New Listing Requirements, Defends Against Sheriff's Lawsuit"
Last week, the Cook County sheriff sued Craigslist for creating a public nuisance by facilitating prostitution. The lawsuit, which seeks an injunction and monetary damages, alleges that the county recently made 156 arrests, at a cost of around $105,000 after monitoring the site.

Wall Street Journal: "Craigslist Gets Tougher On 'Erotic Services' Ads"

New York Times: "As Prostitutes Turn to Craigslist, Law Takes Notice"

Springfield Republican: "Rape victim left for dead (update)" (12/27/08)

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part One)

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part Two)

Call to Action: Ask the Valley Advocate's New Owner to Drop the Sex Ads

MSNBC Investigates Human Trafficking and Prostitution in the US; Valley Advocate Advertises "Foreign Fantasies" Where "Everything Goes"

Escort Prostitution: A Response to Tom Vannah, Editor of the Valley Advocate

Another Victory for NOW-NYC: New York Magazine Drops Sex Ads

Boston Globe: "New laws treat teen prostitutes as abuse victims"

NPNAdmin — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:22:00 GMT

The 4/18/09 Boston Globe reports on a welcome change of attitude towards prostituted girls:

By the time she was 8, Amanda had been sexually abused by her father's friend for four years. At 12, she was peddling crack. At 14, she was selling sex on the sidewalk.

Her pimp beat her weekly to keep her working, stitching up her wounds himself to avoid questions at a hospital. Her average earnings of $600 for a 13-hour day of turning tricks bought him a car...

The fact that Amanda was rescued instead of arrested reflects not only a stroke of luck but a decidedly different take on tackling the juvenile sex trade. Courts and law enforcement are increasingly treating young prostitutes as child abuse victims -- and their pimps as human traffickers...

Rescuing the girls is an important part of the equation. In most cases, they're troubled, often sexually abused, lured into prostitution by "boyfriends" who shower them with the loving attention they lack at home. Gifts and outings, though, turn into violence and emotional manipulation.

That was the case with Samantha, a 15-year-old from Orange County and now at Children of the Night [a residential program in suburban Los Angeles that rehabilitates prostituted teens].

The boyfriend took her to Arizona, made her pose for photos in lingerie and have sex with men who responded to Craigslist ads.

"I complained a lot so he gave me drugs," she said...

The next step is to extend support to all prostituted women, as is being done in Sweden and Norway.

See also:

News Roundup: Age of Entry into Prostitution Declining

"Consenting Adults" proclaims one of the ads above [from the 6/12/08 Valley Advocate]. An odd phrase to apply to a legitimate massage service, but perfectly understandable for a commercial sex business. Smokescreen phrases like these are often employed by defenders of prostitution in attempts to stifle debate. They are not convincing. Studies that show a majority of prostituted women want out, and claims that only "adults" are involved are ever more questionable.

Young Lives for Sale
Why more kids are getting into the sex trade--and how the feds are fighting back
By Bay Fang
U.S. News and World Report
10/24/05

Thousands of young girls and boys are falling victim to violent pimps, who move them from state to state, which makes it a federal matter. The younger they are, the more they're worth on the street. "There is a greater and greater demand for younger and younger kids," says Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "America doesn't look. People are shocked and horrified when they hear these girls' stories. They say, 'That doesn't happen here. It happens in Thailand. Or the Philippines.' But once you start shining a light on it, you find it everywhere."

On the "strolls" of Sunset Boulevard and Figueroa, in South-Central Los Angeles, girls step out from the shadows in tiny skirts and stiletto heels. Detective Keith Haight sizes them up. He doesn't bother stopping unless they look underage, but it's hard to tell nowadays. Haight has been working these streets for 25 years and has seen the girls getting younger. This drop in age is due both to the rise of the Internet, which provides ready access to child pornography, and to the fear of HIV/AIDS. "Back then, if you found a 15- or 16-year-old, that was a big deal. But now, they're 11 or 12," he says.

"The average life expectancy of a child after getting into prostitution," says Johnson, citing homicide or HIV/AIDS as the main causes of death, "is seven years." Tom O'Brien, the criminal division chief of the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office, describes a conversation he had with one 14-year-old prostitute who was testifying against her pimp. "I told her, 'When I was your age, I thought I'd live forever.' She looked me in the eye and said, 'Mr. O'Brien, I'll be dead before I'm 21.'"

Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations
As recently as 1991, police in a southern California community closed all rape reports made by prostitutes and addicts, placing them in a file stamped "NHI." The letters stand for the words "No Human Involved." (Linda Fairstein, Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape, 1993, New York, William Morrow.)...

The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years (M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133) or 14 years (D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto). Most of these 13 or 14 year old girls were recruited or coerced into prostitution. Others were "traditional wives" without job skills who escaped from or were abandoned by abusive husbands and went into prostitution to support themselves and their children. (Denise Gamache and Evelina Giobbe, Prostitution: Oppression Disguised as Liberation, National Coalition against Domestic Violence, 1990)...

Estimates of the prevalence of incest among prostitutes range from 65% to 90%. The Council for Prostitution Alternatives, Portland, Oregon Annual Report in 1991 stated that: 85% of prostitute/clients reported history of sexual abuse in childhood; 70% reported incest. The higher percentages (80%-90%) of reports of incest and childhood sexual assaults of prostitutes come from anecdotal reports and from clinicians working with prostitutes (interviews with Nevada psychologists cited by Patricia Murphy, Making the Connections: women, work, and abuse, 1993, Paul M. Deutsch Press, Orlando, Florida; see also Rita Belton, "Prostitution as Traumatic Reenactment," 1992, International Society for Traumatic Stress Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes," Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133; C. Bagley and L Young, 1987, "Juvenile Prostitution and child sexual abuse: a controlled study," Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, Vol 6: 5-26...

Pimps target girls or women who seem naive, lonely, homeless, and rebellious. At first, the attention and feigned affection from the pimp convinces her to "be his woman." Pimps ultimately keep prostituted women in virtual captivity by verbal abuse - making a woman feel that she is utterly worthless: a toilet, a piece of trash; and by physical coercion - beatings and the threat of torture. 80% to 95% of all prostitution is pimp-controlled. (Kathleen Barry, The Prostitution of Sexuality, 1995, New York, New York University Press)...

62% reported having been raped in prostitution.
73% reported having experienced physical assault in prostitution.
72% were currently or formerly homeless.
92% stated that they wanted to escape prostitution immediately.
(Melissa Farley, Isin Baral, Merab Kiremire, Ufuk Sezgin, "Prostitution in Five Countries: Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" (1998) Feminism & Psychology 8 (4): 405-426...

A Canadian Report on Prostitution and Pornography concluded that girls and women in prostitution have a mortality rate 40 times higher than the national average. (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution, 1985, Pornography and Prostitution in Canada 350.)

Child Prostitution: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
Country by country reports focused on CSEC, commercial sexual exploitation of children, teenage and underage prostitution, forced prostitution, and sex with children in general.

New York Times: "The Girls Next Door"; Worldwide Sex Trafficking; Role of Porn
If anything, the women I talked to said that the sex in the U.S. is even rougher than what the girls face on Calle Santo Tomas. Rosario, a woman I met in Mexico City, who had been trafficked to New York and held captive for a number of years, said: ''In America we had 'special jobs.' Oral sex, anal sex, often with many men. Sex is now more adventurous, harder.'' She said that she believed younger foreign girls were in demand in the U.S. because of an increased appetite for more aggressive, dangerous sex. Traffickers need younger and younger girls, she suggested, simply because they are more pliable. In Eastern Europe, too, the typical age of sex-trafficking victims is plummeting; according to Matei of Reaching Out, while most girls used to be in their late teens and 20's, 13-year-olds are now far from unusual.

Salon: Atlanta's underage sex trade
The problem isn't restricted to so-called Hotlanta; Herbert notes, dispiritedly, that "the overall market for sex with kids is booming in many parts of the U.S." But the city's role as a convention and travel hub has given it a particular boost. And advocates say that the prevailing preference for ever-younger prostitutes -- fueled by "the cultural emphasis on the sexual appeal of very young women and girls" and "the widely held belief among johns that there is less risk of contracting a disease from younger prostitutes" -- has pimps and sex traffickers recruiting more at-risk kids than ever before.

Gloria Steinem at Smith: Cooperation, Not Domination
...there are more slaves in proportion to the world’s population--more people held by force or coercion without benefit from their work--more now than there were in the 1800s. Sex trafficking, labor trafficking, children and adults forced into armies: they all add up to a global human-trafficking industry that is more profitable than the arms trade, and second only to the drug trade. The big difference now from the 1800s is that the United Nations estimates that 80% of those who are enslaved are women and children...

Realities of Teen Prostitution Mock Notions of 'Sex Work', 'Sex-Positive', 'Freedom' and 'Empowerment'; Media Glamorizes Pimps
...authorities know that child prostitutes are subjected to constant sexual abuse. Yet public opinion often paints these girls as criminals. The first step towards ending the misery for the exploited is to recognize them for what they are: victims.

...an estimated 80 to 95 percent of child prostitutes have a history of sexual abuse...

Escort Prostitution: A Response to Tom Vannah, Editor of the Valley Advocate
Mr. Vannah concedes that "there is some percentage of people who are not willing participants in the sex industry", but believes that if the Advocate refuses to accept Massage/Escort ads, this will unacceptably crimp "artistic freedom". He mentions Mapplethorpe pictures as an example. How dropping ads for commercial sex enterprises will compel the Advocate to turn away Mapplethorpe pictures is not clear to us.

The Village Voice Earns $80,000/Month from Prostitution, Sex Trafficking and other Adult Ads (explicit language)
[Manny, a former pimp,] says it's not difficult for a pimp to recruit his harem.

"You don't have to tie a girl up -- you just keep her high."

...Betty looks Vanessa over and observes that the more decrepit a hooker looks, the more they get picked up. Johns see vulnerability; they see a weakness, they see a five-dollar blow job...

Sweden's Prostitution Solution: Why Hasn't Anyone Tried This Before?

A Closer Look at Sweden's Success with Reducing Prostitution; Skeptics Rebutted

Abolishing Prostitution: The Swedish Solution - An Interview with Gunilla Ekberg by the Rain and Thunder Collective

Attorneys General Press Craigslist about Ads for Prostitution and Other Illegal Activities

NPNAdmin — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:08:00 GMT

We are pleased to relay this 5/4/09 news release from the office of Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster:

Attorney General Chris Koster to meet with craigslist -- Koster to express concerns about ads for prostitution and other illegal activities; will demand stronger enforcement by company --

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Attorney General Chris Koster will meet with representatives of craigslist Tuesday in New York City to outline his concerns about advertisements for illegal erotic activities such as prostitution on craigslist. Koster will begin negotiations toward an agreement with the company to eliminate ads for prostitution on the site. Koster is representing a group of the nation’s Attorneys General at the meeting, along with the Attorneys General from Connecticut and Illinois.

“craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site,” Koster said. “It is blatant. It is irresponsible. It is illegal.

“craigslist is responsible for the types of advertisements it allows, and it is imperative that craigslist agree to tougher restrictions and to remove ads for illegal activities from its site.”

Koster said his office has been investigating the site and has found many instances where advertisements remain on the site even after being “flagged” as illegal.

“Our investigators found advertisements that clearly were offering sex-for-money or seeking a sex-for-money relationship on craigslist’s Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia/Jefferson City and Springfield sites,” Koster said. “These arrangements advertised are not only illegal but dangerous, and we aim to stop this type of advertising in Missouri.”

See also:

Springfield Republican: "Woman's murder in Boston hotel linked to Craigslist advertising of massage services" (4/16/09)

Springfield Republican: "R.I. police see similarity between Boston Craigslist slaying and attempted robbery at Warwick hotel" (4/17/09)

Online Media Daily: "Craigslist Claims Fewer 'Erotic Services' Ads Due To New Listing Requirements, Defends Against Sheriff's Lawsuit"
Last week, the Cook County sheriff sued Craigslist for creating a public nuisance by facilitating prostitution. The lawsuit, which seeks an injunction and monetary damages, alleges that the county recently made 156 arrests, at a cost of around $105,000 after monitoring the site.

Wall Street Journal: "Craigslist Gets Tougher On 'Erotic Services' Ads"

New York Times: "As Prostitutes Turn to Craigslist, Law Takes Notice"

Springfield Republican: "Rape victim left for dead (update)" (12/27/08)

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part One)

Polaris Project: "The Washington Post: A Paper Pimp?" (Part Two)

Cincinnati: Coalition asks CityBeat to stop allowing promotion of prostitution through advertising

O Tempora, O Mores: "CityBeat's Community Values" (6/22/08)
A month ago there was a major prostitution raid in Cincinnati, southern Indiana and northern Kentucky that shut down a number of Asian massage parlors. These establishments were well advertised in CityBeat.

The owners of the parlors/brothels were all of Asian descent. It was determined by law enforcement the owners had brought young women into the country for the sole purpose of prostitution. In an effort to give the appearance of legality the owners stated they were merely receiving 100% of the money the ladies obtained for the legitimate massage and any profiting by the women was up to those women. They further admitted that was the only way the ladies were paid...

What really bothers me is what touched off this debate. One of the indicted owners of the Asian massage parlors admitted to the police that she had driven 40,000 miles this past year delivering girls to massage parlors throughout the country...

These people are making a very large amount of money by dealing in human trafficking aka slavery. If CityBeat continues to run ads promoting this type of business, they are turning a blind eye to a shameful problem.

Orlando Weekly Drops Adult-Services Ads in Wake of Police Sting; "Operation Weekly Shame"

Orlando Sentinel: "3 from Orlando Weekly's staff charged with aiding prostitution" (10/20/07)
MBI Director Bill Lutz said the unusual arrests had nothing to do with the newspaper's freedom of speech.

"I don't see a First Amendment issue here," Lutz said. "This is strictly an advertising company making money off of prostitution."

...MBI has made 80 prostitution arrests since 2003 connected to advertisers in the Weekly, the agency said...

"We've never called anyone dealing with these ads who was not providing prostitution services," [Cmdr. Paul Zambouros] said.

Orlando Sentinel: "Weekly's publisher: Arrests are payback" (10/23/07)
"When the video comes out, it will be telling because our officers tell them about specific sex acts they perform for money and ask how they can get that across better to their clientele," Zambouros said...

"First Amendment rights do not protect anyone from committing a crime," he said.

Another Victory for NOW-NYC: New York Magazine Drops Sex Ads

Escort Prostitution: A Response to Tom Vannah, Editor of the Valley Advocate

MSNBC Investigates Human Trafficking and Prostitution in the US; Valley Advocate Advertises "Foreign Fantasies" Where "Everything Goes"