RHODE ISLAND: the last bastion of decent legal indoor prostitution in DANGER!

Call your legislators today! (Numbers below)
The Rhode Island legislature is currently considering a bill, HB5044A, which
would recriminalize indoor prostitution. The main justification being
offered for passage of the bill is that it is absolutely necessary to
prevent and address trafficking into prostitution. Sex Worker Project’s
experience has been that arrests for prostitution related offenses are more
likely to hurt rather than help victims of trafficking, and rarely lead to
identification and assistance of victims.

A VOTE IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN THIS WEEK, SO CALL NOW. (see
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/10/ri-house-committee-to-consider.html#at )

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHY THIS LEGISLATION IS HARMFUL, see:
Criminalizing Sex Work to Combat
Trafficking<http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/09/02/criminalizing-sex-work-combat-prostitution-rhode-island-poised>
from http://www.sexworkersproject.org/advocacy/2009/ri-prostitution-bill/
What you can doPlease call or e-mail the members of the RI Senate Judiciary
Committee<http://www.sexworkersproject.org/advocacy/2009/ri-prostitution-bill/contacts>today
to let them know that this is not the way to help victims of
trafficking! They are under tremendous pressure to pass this legislation,
and need to hear from people across the country!

Senator Leo R. Blais
401-823-4536
sen-blais@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Maryellen Goodwin
401-272-3102
sen-goodwin@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Paul V. Jabour
401-751-3300
401-276-5594
sen-jabour@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Charles J. Levesque
401-683-9194
sen-levesque@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Erin P. Lynch
401-739-8500
sen-lynch@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Christopher B. Maselli
sen-maselli@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator John F. McBurney
401-725-2459
sen-mcburney@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Michael J. McCaffrey
401-739-7576
sen-mccaffrey@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Harold M. Metts
401-272-0112
sen-metts@rilin.state.ri.us

Senator Rhoda E. Perry
401-751-7165
sen-perry@rilin.state.ri.us

Migrant Asian Sex Workers and U.S Resistance Allies Unite!

I am available to be flown to your university!  This video is an example of at least 3 genres of my media activism.  I shoot, edit, and produce all videos on my youtube sites..Scarlot Harlot is my whore mother!

“Force, Fraud and Coercion” in Gardena?

12 arrested in prostitution raid in Garden Grove Options

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

12 arrested in prostitution raid in Garden Grove Westminster police say this is largest, most public brothel operation they’ve seen recently in area.

By DEEPA BHARATH

The Orange County Register

WESTMINSTER – Police on Friday arrested a 23-year-old Westminster man in
connection with running a brothel, which officials say is the largest they
have seen in the area.
Officers from the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force searched Thong
Vinh Le’s home in the 9800 block of Ashford Avenue in Westminster and his
place of business in the 9800 block of Katella Avenue in Garden Grove, said
Westminster police Lt. Derek Marsh. Eleven women, all of them Vietnamese,
suspected of prostitution were arrested at the location, he said. The names
of the women are not being released because they are being treated as
victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, Marsh said.
Police detectives were tipped off to the Garden Grove location by an
advertisement for massage services in a Vietnamese newspaper, Marsh said.
“The location was actually a chiropractor’s office that offered massage
services on the side,” he said.
Police are still looking into whether the chiropractor who owned the
business was also part of the suspected brothel operation, Marsh said.
This is the most “egregious” operation he has seen in the Little Saigon
area, he said.
“Usually these types of brothels are located in a strip mall,” he said. “But
this one was in an area pretty open to the public. There is a supermarket
there, a dentist’s office right next door. In fact, when we went there, the
door to the dentist’s office was open and there was a young child sitting on
a chair waiting to be seen.”
It is also unusual for police to find as many as 11 women, he said.
“The operations we see locally are usually much smaller and not as public,”
he said.
Le was the “pimp” who managed the women and the “front office,” Marsh said.
Customers, once they walked in, would be escorted inside the office that has
several rooms where visitors are “serviced,” he said.
“On the right side was a small alcove with a sofa where these women would be
seated and the customer could pick and choose the woman he was attracted
to,” Marsh said.
These were details undercover officers gathered during their investigations,
he said.

The task force also worked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to determine the women’s immigration status. Marsh said three of the 11 women were U.S. citizens, three were “undetermined” and the rest appeared to have valid green cards.

“In such operations, we usually find that the women have been brought into
the country illegally and employed in such illicit operations,” Marsh said.
Last year, the Westminster Police Department, a partner in the task force,
received a $1.2 million federal grant, along with the Salvation Army, to
combat human trafficking in Orange County, but particularly in the Asian
American communities in and around Little Saigon where it is prevalent.
Marsh, who heads the task force, said his team partners with ICE, Salvation
Army and the FBI to investigate these cases and rehabilitate victims.
The old way of policing used to be to charge women suspected of being
prostitutes with misdemeanors and release them back into the community, he
said.

“The new way is to treat them as victims, because most of the time they are, and try to rehabilitate them,” Marsh said.

*Contact the writer:* 949-553-2903 or dbhar…@ocregister.com

Please notice that the white vice cop’s job here is to STOP ASIAN MEN AND WOMEN FROM HAVING CONSENSUAL SEX WITH EACH OTHER.

help! More Migrant Asian Sex Workers Going Down in OC

Kumjing Janey at Sex Worker Fest 2009

 

Janey at the Center for Sex and Culture's Sex Worker Craft Bazaar 2009

My adopted Kumjing doll has finally been given some adventures for her interstate passport in her imaginary mind.  Janey is her new American name and she is enjoying herself at the 6th annual Sex Worker Fest in San Francisco.  We drove up from Los Angeles, so she didn’t get any slack from TSA, our wonderful airport security system.  Janey was so amazed at all the people who attended the event that she was at.  She was able to  meet Annie Sprinkle, Carol Queen and the festival’s creator Scarlot Harlot.  She sat at SWOP-LA’s craft table where we fundraiser $96 to support the sex worker travel fund!  

The Kumjing Dolls are an International art project that originates from Empower Foundation in Thailand, a sex worker organization that uses theatre to educate the community about labor rights, migrant worker rights and safety and help sex workers learn about STDs, work related English classes and more.  

Like Pinocchio in Disneyland, Janey  has finally after being on the shelf for 10 months, been given a life!  She is going to be part of SWOP-LA and working with Mariko on sex worker activist projects, as well as art activism projects.  The We Asian Sex Worker Art show needs to happen to Los Angeles, and Janey will definitely be a featuring artist of that show when it finally debuts in Los Angeles with a grant to bring Empower artists to the U.S..

Janey was adopted from Empower, when we met in Mexico City, and I experienced the greatness of the Can Do theatre and interactive learning model first hand.  They had a board game that played out the roles and labor, health and other work related issues that might befall the typical Go-Go Bar Stripper in Bangkok.

Empower teaches workers about condom use and their rights and works with marginalized migrant workers who are even more marginalized than the average Thai sex workers.  They deal firsthand with trafficking rehabilitation camps where workers who are detained while their brothels are raided and they are rescued, and then sent to learn how to sew.  They have a great expenses, selling their merchandise.  They have amazing sexy girl posters and t-shirts for sale that really titilate…

The MOST amazing thing about the Mexico City Global Village merchandise booths was that there was absolutely NO FEE to have a booth.  So all of us were there to just take advantage of the 20,000 attendees who would make their way inevitably the 20 minute concrete trail walk to the Global Village to spend money to support your organization.  Organizations like SWOP have no major foundation grants, and are not run on HIV/AIDS funding for counseling and testing..SWOP-LA and Empower use merchandising as social marketing tools, art and theatre and more to keep their leadership sex worker led and it works!  The face of an Asian sex worker who is not a victim shows up at Empower functions quite often…they are an inspiration to us all.

salon.com article by Tracy Clark Flory

Check out the original article, if you have time and read the
comments.  Make your own!

Craigslist Xes out sex ads
Without the erotic services section, where will sex workers turn for
work?
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/05/14/craigslist/index.html

Tracy Clark-Flory

May. 14, 2009 |

The World Wide Web’s most infamous red light district, and its array
of virtual window girls and purposefully miZspellD cuuum onZ, is being
shuttered. After relentless pressure by a team of state attorneys
general — not to mention the recent high-profile case of the
“Craigslist Killer,” who allegedly used the site to lure a woman to
her death — the classified service is eliminating its erotic services
section across all U.S. sites within one week. Its replacement will be
an “adult” area, where ads cost $10 a pop and are strictly screened
for illegal services. Until now, the site’s been the go-to advertising
channel for agencies that promote sex workers, and independent
prostitutes, especially those in the lower tiers. The question that
has to be asked is: Where will these women find johns?

“The streets,” says Robyn Few, co-director of San Francisco’s Sex
Worker Outreach Project. “The Internet took a lot of sex workers off
the street and created the entrepreneurial age of sex work. Now, it’ll
drive them right back to where they came from.” This is a terrifying
possibility for many providers: Screening clients from behind a
computer screen is inherently safer than working the corner. It also
allows workers to negotiate the “what, when, where and how much” of
the transaction without having to rush to avoid being spotted by cops.

Mariko Passion, who calls herself an “educated whore, urban geisha,”
predicts that some sex workers will take to the streets, but she
doesn’t expect a mass exodus. “Sex workers are smart” and will turn to
alternative free online services like Backpage and Redbook — but
those don’t command even a fraction of Craigslist’s audience size, not
to mention diversity. Scores of sites offer adult services
classifieds, but posting on many of them, like Eros Guide, costs a
pretty penny. In a number of ways, Craigslist was able to lessen the
class divide found in nearly every other shadowy corner of the sex
trade.

Passion, who lives in Los Angeles, advertises her services on
Craigslist and through agencies that also advertise for her on
Craigslist. (Anything to reach a larger audience and compete for
attention.) At $85, advertising in the L.A. Weekly is prohibitively
expensive, so she’s partnered with two agencies that spam the erotic
services section with ads featuring stock images of sexy girls. When a
client calls, the agency refers them to whomever is on-call and
available — no matter whether the girl in the original photo has
drastically different measurements, hair or even skin color — and
later takes a cut of the profits. As it is, she says, “you don’t have
control over how many calls you take and they throw you into dangerous
situations.” Agencies just might become increasingly reckless as they
become more desperate for business.

Workers are rattled by this seismic shift in the landscape, but there
isn’t a consensus on whether Craigslist — or, more specifically,
founder Craig Newmark — is the good guy (for resisting for so long)
or the bad guy (for ultimately buckling). Passion sneers that the
company has simply “caved once again,” while Tracy Quan, former sex
worker-turned-Salon columnist and author of “Diary of a Jetsetting
Call Girl,” is more sympathetic. “My heart goes out to the people at
CL who are being harassed by these cynical public officials. The
Craigslist witch hunt isn’t fueled by concern for the safety of sex
workers,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The way I see it, a cynical AG is
exploiting the death of a working woman to enhance his career. It’s a
cheap, easy way to add some sex to your political CV without taking
any of the risks associated with selling erotic services.” On a
similar note, Fews says that she doesn’t blame Newmark for giving up
the fight — after all, the “Craigslist Killer” coverage has “got to
be weighing heavily” on him.

Of course, there’s the irony: The campaign against the erotic services
section was buoyed by those frightening tabloid headlines — but, if
workers are forced from the virtual to the literal street corner,
it’ll only expose them to more danger.

– Tracy Clark-Flory

Forced Vaccination: To Gardisil or Not?

No Gardasil, No Papers:

Immigrant Women and the HPV Vaccine

REPRINTED FROM (c) 2009 Wiretap Magazine. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.wiretapmag.org//44140/

 By Naima Coster, WireTap 

Posted on April 22, 2009, Printed on May 11, 2009

http://www.wiretapmag.org//44140/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f66nM-UbQQc

“Choice” is the marketing theme for Gardasil, a vaccination against the human papillomavirus HPV. For women who are American citizens, Gardasil is a choice; for women who are immigrants, the vaccine is a federal mandate upon which their presence in this country depends.

As of July 2008 , female immigrants between the ages of 11 and 26 who seek to adjust their citizenship status are required to receive the vaccine. Gardasil markets itself as part of a sexual health revolution for empowered, educated young women and girls — from their promotional

TV spot, “I Chose,” to their website which boasts, “We chose to help protect ourselves…. Now the choice is yours!”

But the message that the vaccine is a way for all young women to protect themselves and make decisions about their own sexual health is partial and false; for immigrant women, the vaccine represents the policing of their bodies.

The mandate is a disturbing marriage between anti-immigrant policy and the capitalist ambitions of pharmaceutical giant, Merck, which produces the vaccine. Merck will be cashing checks every time an immigrant woman or girl seeks citizenship in the United States.

Moreover, enforced vaccination is yet another federal measure to police the bodies of immigrant women. These are women who are already subject to deportation, detention, militaristic border control, raids and other brutal enforcement tactics. Now, sexual health regulations require female immigrants to exchange their freedom to make decisions about their own bodies for American citizenship status.

Unaffordable Alternatives

 Priced at nearly  $360 for all three doses, it is unlikely that many immigrant women and girls will be able to bear the financial hardship of the vaccine and complete the series. Even in the short-term, the requirement of Gardasil does not sufficiently protect immigrant women and girls from HPV and cervical cancer. In order to be effective, Gardasil must be given as three injections over the course of six months. As the makers of the vaccine advertise, “3 IS KEY.” Yet the I-693 “Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record” requires that immigrant females receive only

For immigrant women and girls with limited access to health care and health education, the potential benefits of Gardasil do not even begin to comprehensively address their sexual health needs. It is important for all women to have regular Pap smears in order to detect cervical cancer. Vaccination does not replace this important test. In this country, women of color and low-income women suffer disproportionately from cervical cancer due to a lack of access to health care and these vital tests. Long after vaccination, immigrant women will experience barriers to quality health care due to their gender, status, class, race and language, which will make these regular screenings a challenge.

It reminds [sex workers, women of color] of forced sterilization, or forced or mandated HIV TESTING for prostitutes who want to work in brothels.  And all of these tests are NEVER covered by the ones who want you to test! or vaccinate.  In the U.S women and girls do not have to pay for vaccination if they are between 15-25, and the Adult Industry Medical Center they charge something like $75/shot, but it only protects against 2 types of the many types of HPV anyway!  It seems to me that it is about creating additional barriers to immigration.  It should be free, especially for those who are deemed to be most “at risk.”  The Hep A/B vax series is free for anyone in LA county of any age or gender, one of the few things that is still provided. 

view the rest of the story 

“What are you trying to do? Make me Chinese?” By Keva I Lee

 

Dim sum.. My Favorite..

       I honestly did not know how to respond when my blonde-haired, blue-eyed client uttered those words to me during a smothering session. Smothering as defined by Wikipedia is “the mechanical obstruction of the flow of air from the environment into the mouth and/or nostrils, for instance, by covering the mouth and nose with a hand, pillow, or a plastic bag It is also used in BDSM as a type of facesitting.” Which means I sit on my client’s face, with panties, and obstruct the flow of air. And in this session, there was a whole lot of obstructing and covering of the mouth and/or nostrils. 

     I was role-playing as his neighbor who went to high school with his sister. While his sister was away at a sports practice, I knock on his door and take advantage of him by smothering him in my white panties. During part of the session I smashed his face with my thighs, pulling his skin taut on both sides, stretching out his eyes and his lips. When his skin was completely stretched out he said, “What are you trying to do? Make me Chinese?” Actually, his lips were so stretched out is sounded more like “Vat arf youf  thying tho do? Fake me Chinefe?” My usual sassy self was at a complete loss for words. I could not figure out if he was playing the character of the bratty neighbor boy or if he was just trying to charm me with his wit. I was so shocked that I just did not have a response. Instead I smothered him until his face turned a light shade of blue and he was gasping for breath. Dommes can be passive aggressive too!

     I have been domming for two and a half years and I still get caught off guard by negative racial comments. I remember during one of my very first sessions my client called me a “Chink bitch” during strap-on play. I honestly cannot tell you the context of why he said it, but I do remember stopping my rhythmic bumping in his ass to look around the room to see if anyone else heard. Of course it was only the two of us in the room but I felt like I was in one of those TV sitcoms when the actress looks into the camera during the middle of the scene in complete disbelief wondering, “Did that really happen?” Yes, it did…

    It all came together when I saw this client walking downtown holding his Asian girlfriend’s hand. I just happened to be waiting for the “walk” signal to turn green when I saw him walk right by me. He quickly glanced up at me and continued walking fast, dragging his girlfriend behind him. I was so shocked I mouthed the words, “Oh my God!” over and over again while crossing the street. This caused other people to quickly glance up and me and again walk even faster. 

     Obviously not all my white clients are blatantly ignorant and racist. Many are very respectful and educational. What do I mean by educational, you ask? I mean that after the session they like to give me a quick history lesson or pop quiz on China or Japan. I am not Japanese, by the way, but I have put a few photos from Japan from my website. To some of my clients, this means I am interested in everything they know about Japanese culture, and I get quizzed on this about once a week. I find they like to flex their brain power about how much they know about my people.

     “When I went to Hong Kong, Chinese people liked to fill in the blank here.”

     “I think that Asian people are kinky because fill in the blank here.”

     “Did you know that in China ……”   

     Yes, actually I do know. Now please put on your pants because I have another Chinese history lesson in ten minutes.

     Like I said, I don’t think that my clients are trying to be ignorant. I actually really enjoy my sessions and my clients. I even enjoyed my smothering session. But I do believe Asians and Asian Americans are still seen as foreigners. So much so that perhaps clients feel the only common bond between us is for them to talk baout Asian culture and impress me by asking me out to dim sum. Yes, another true story! Or perhaps making fun of Asian is still not seen as taboo, so they feel ok making jokes about looking Asian- like the infamous Miley Cyrus photos. What celebrity in their right mind would think it is really ok to make slanted eyes in a photo?

    But whatever the case, I like to believe it is because my exotic, Oriental beauty gets them all hot and bothered inside. Because, just as my client said, I have an ass like Kristi Yamaguchi and a nose like Michelle Kwan.

 

Introducing.. MISTRESS KEVA I. LEE

 

Smile for the Camera!

After what seems to be the biggest writers block in history, I finally decided to tackle the reasons why having a blog and forum for Asian sex workers is so important. It’s not that I didn’t have a multitude of reasons; rather, I began to realize just how difficult it is to describe my experience being an Asian woman and a sex worker and how
they are intertwined.

 

I am a professional dominatrix. I have been working professionally for two years and honestly, sex work has been one of the most rewarding and challenging things I’ve ever experienced.

While there are other Asian dommes that document their experiences in their blogs, I feel many skim the surface of their experience or write more for their clients than reveal their true feelings. “Oh, Client M came in today. He looked absolutely gorgeous in his black lacy teddy and heels. I turned him into my little slut and played with his wet little boy pussy”.

In reality, it would be more like, “Oh, Client M came in today. He ripped a hole in his black lace teddy and wobbled on his heels. When I bent him over I saw tissue paper stuck in his ass”. Hhhmm… not quite so glamorous…

While I understand the importance of keeping the fantasy alive and keeping the industry glamorous, I also see the importance of being honest with my experience and motivations as well as humanizing the women and men that work in the industry.

Sex work is stigmatized and probably will continue to be stigmatized well into the future. There are plenty of misconceptions as to why women choose to go into sex work; low self esteem, abuse, drugs, no job skills, etc. And if the woman is Asian then there are plenty more misconceptions such as the woman is being trafficked or trying to pay off a debt. While these reasons may be valid for some women, they aren’t for others.

I became a dominatrix because I wanted to explore my own sexuality. My partners were not into any type of power play so I decided to experiment on my own. I thought of domming as more of a side hobby but it has quickly become a huge part of my life. I offer this forum as a place for all different types of sex workers and Asian women to share
this part of their life together.

excerpt from Tracy Quan’s recent guardian blog..

Mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all – but why are more and more women getting a kick out of booze?

tracy quan

a recent blog excerpt by Tracy Quan, author of Diary of a Manhattan, Married and Jetsetting Callgirl (a series of 3 novels) available on her website

At a recent Manhattan gathering, in a Whartonesque east side triplex, I sat beneath a 15-foot Christmas tree and just said yes to a whisky-based cocktail garnished with pine needles, even though I had promised myself I wouldn’t drink anything stronger than water. Whisky isn’t my particular weakness, but I’m a fool for pine cuttings – and it’s sheer madness to resist a hostess with her own signature cocktail. The Divine Oh Nine tastes like a “chick Sazerac“. It’s quite good but my problem in life isn’t whisky, it’s gin martinis. So, having sampled the holiday cocktail, I progressed unscathed … to white wine.

Yes, I’m afraid it’s come to that. Martinis were my undoing. Pinot Grigiot has been a kind of solution, Sancerre my salvation.

The latest reports about American women and our drinking patterns should make me feel quite smug about my decision to drop hard liquor from my diet. Feminist peer pressure is turning educated women into aspirational sots: the more degrees you have and the higher your income, the more likely you are to become a lifelong drinker. Since American men drink less than in the past, and we keep tippling ahead, the sexes are finally achieving alcoholic parity. It’s an area in which women lagged. We’ve come so far that it’s fashionable (or soon will be) to bemoan our new equality.

But we’re equal only in terms of consumption. Remember when fat was a feminist issue? It still is. The reason we’ll never be men’s equals – ie, get away with drinking the way they do – is our body fat. We get drunk faster and can get hooked more easily with smaller amounts. Even if we don’t plan on having children, which would be a good reason to cut down, freedom from reproduction isn’t the get-out-of-jail-free card we were banking on. The hedonistic gal who lives only for herself will eventually have to tone down her act and start being a sensible (white wine?) drinker simply because she’s a woman – if she cares for health and happiness.

Why does alcohol matter so much? Every woman has her own explanation.

I was a high school dropout who avoided college, so I’ve never attended a keg party. Instead, I ran off to London where I hustled champagne in a hostess club…

READ THE ENTIRE COLUMN HERE

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/dec/26/us-women-alcohol-drinking