Thanksliving is a vegan alternative to Thanksgiving. In case you’re wondering what vegans eat on Thanksliving, I went to a Thanksliving event a couple of years ago and there was an amazing variety of food, including Tofurky (tofu turkey), stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, bread, soup, and pies…and this is just the stuff I remember. Thus, much the same stuff as at non-vegan Thanksgiving events, but just in a vegan form. Here are a variety of vegan Thanksliving recipes: http://vegweb.com/holiday/ . Even if you aren’t into cooking and baking, I still suggest checking it out so you can learn about such a variety of vegan items. I’m hosting a Thanksliving event this year, and am really looking forward to it!
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Dr. Oz’s Segment on Child Sex Trafficking
I don’t watch much TV, but one of the shows I sometimes watch is the Dr. Oz show due to my interest in health, nutrition, and fitness. Today, a segment about sex trafficking aired. It was a preview of an investigative report by Lisa Ling that will air on Oprah Winfrey’s channel, called the O Network. Ling was among the guests, as were two sex trafficking survivors, the mother of a sex trafficking survivor, and the head of the FBI’s Innocence Lost project.
I appreciated Ling and Dr. Oz both distinguishing between prostitutes and sex slaves, thus challenging the conflation of all prostitution with slavery. Prositutes get paid for sexual services, but sex slaves don’t. Ling also distinguished between sex slavery and consensual prostitution, saying that being a sex slave is different from being a prostitute because sexual slavery isn’t a choice.
Something else that really stood out to me was how one of the trafficking survivors named Holly Austin Smith said that she didn’t think she’d be able to get away from her trafficker if she wasn’t arrested. Here’s a link to her website: www.HollyAustinSmith.com . Did anybody reach out to Holly without arresting her? Was there anywhere she could go besides jail? It disgusts me so much that we live in a society where any trafficking victim needs to be arrested to get away from the traffickers and indicates a lack of outreach, accessible safe houses, and other services for trafficked people. This tells me that resources need to be redirected, with the funds used to arrest sex workers and trafficking victims being reallocated to outreach and safe houses. Arresting trafficking victims is treating them like criminals, so victims need other alternatives besides arrests. Ling acknowledged that child sex trafficking victims are being treated like criminals.
This is one of the reasons why advocating for the decriminalization of prostitution is part of the efforts to stop sex trafficking. This way, resources being wasted on arresting sex workers, non-abusive clients, and trafficked people can be put towards providing outreach, safe houses, and efforts to make trafficking less likely to happen in the first place. An anti-trafficking activist mentioned how there was a real scarcity of safe houses and how it was difficult to find funding for these, so it disgusts me that while people who have a genuine interest in assisting trafficked people are having trouble getting funding, so much is being wasted on making arrests against sex workers, clients (just for being clients even if they aren’t abusive), and trafficked people.
The FBI’s Innocence Lost project runs Operation Cross County, in which the federal government funds local law enforcement agencies and the FBI to set up sting operations in the name of stopping child sex trafficking. Yet, if that’s what these sting operations are mainly about, then why are adult sex workers being incarcerated under these sting operations.
I read an article in the Boston Globe about two sex workers who were arrested by 17 FBI agents in a sting operation at the Mariott though Operation Cross County. I have no idea why it takes 17 FBI agents to arrest two sex workers nor do I get what this has to do with stopping child sex trafficking. I read about how the sex workers were kicking and screaming as they were being arrested, and a hotel guest who witnessed this complained to management. I was traumatized just reading about this, so I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like for the sex workers who experienced it. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/21/5_arrested_in_us_sting_at_marriott/ .
Arresting sex workers for prostitution isn’t simply a necessary evil in efforts to stop sex trafficking. It’s a major human rights abuse that must end. It’s a horrible violation of our right to our bodies that anybody is being arrested for engaging in consensual sexual behaviors, and if they’re not consenting, then why are they being arrested and treated like criminals. I don’t agree with criminalizing children for prostitution on either. On the one hand, they’re widely perceived as victims, but on the other hand, they’re being arrested like criminals or suspected criminals under anti-prostitution laws. This must change. If prostitution were decriminalized, then these children would no longer be criminalized for prostitution. However, it would still be illegal for adults to have sex with children in prostitution under laws prohibiting sex with underage people.
Not surprisingly, the director of the Innocence Lost project mentioned nothing about how sex workers are being arrested under this program.
Did anybody see this segment of the Dr. Oz show about child sex trafficking? If so, what did you think?
Protest Against Backpage: Village Voice’s Adult Services Section
Anti-sex work folks will be protesting outside of The Village Voice New York City office to express opposition to Backpage, a section of The Village Voice where people can advertise erotic services. They’re arguing that Backpage promotes human trafficking: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/10/4046251/leading-human-rights-groups-to.html .
Broader socioeconomic and political policies and practices are what promote human trafficking, not Backpage. Like with the shutdown of the Craig’s List Adult Services section, shutting down Backpage won’t stop traffickers, but they’ll just send people out onto the streets, where it’s harder to stop trafficking. At least with Craig’s List and Backpage, there’s a “paper trail” as a starting point to investigate allegations of traffickers advertising on those sites, but on the streets, there’s no “paper trail”.
The main people who would be harmed if Backpage shuts down its adult serivces section aren’t traffickers, but independent escorts who use Backpage to help them stay independent and make a living. Jill Brenneman, a trafficking survivor, spoke out against the harms of closing down Craig’s List’s Adult Services section. She was a sex trafficking victim before Craig’s List existed, and her trafficker sent her out onto the streets. She said her trafficker would have laughed at anybody who thinks closing down these online sex worker advertsing sites would stop him. The same can be applied to Backpage. Here’s what Jill said: http://deepthroated.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/traffickers-remain-in-business/ . It’s very powerful.
Rape Isn’t Just Part of the Job Description
The conflation all prostitution with rape and the attitude that prostitutes can’t be raped may seem like opposite positions of the surface, but they’re really both harmful positions. Both positions deny sex workers agency over our own bodies, and disrespect our right to set our boundaries.
To say that all prostitution is rape and to say that prostitutes can’t be raped treat rape like it’s just part of the job description. Saying that a prostitute can’t be raped is making the claim that rape is such an inherent part of the job that a prostitute can’t say no, which is the same as saying all prostitution is rape.
Both positions are extremely dangerous, as they trivialize and water down the seriousness of rape. If we accept these positions, then what do we do when a prostitute actually is raped…just blow if off as part of the job? With such attitudes in existence, it’s not surprising that violence against sex workers so often isn’t taken seriously, with reactions like “what did you expect”. These attitudes also encourage rape because they could cause some people to think it’s just normal to rape prostitutes and perceive nothing wrong with this.
Rape against prostitutes needs to be taken seriously, and recognized as rape, not just a necessary danger that’s bound to happen in prostitution. Hopefully someday, rape will no longer exist inside or outside of prostitution. An important step to achieving this is for us all as a society to take rape seriously. Treating rape like it’s an inherent part of prostitution does nothing to prevent rape or help people who are raped.
