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Going undercover as a sex worker

aljazeera.com

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Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#51

Post by [deleted] »

danparsonson wrote: post #33
belorn wrote: post #29

When reading works like this one I tend to find three stories being merged into one. It focuses on slavery where most of the evil aspects of humans tend to come out, as in order to reduce a human person into something that can be traded, everything that gives that person a social context must be torn down. This is where the "break down" period comes from and it's a common theme in everything from the African slave tr…

Many (most?) of the women involved in these situations don't go there out of choice or with full knowledge of what they're getting involved in; they're either lied to and subsequently trapped, sold by their families (which is where poverty is a big factor, and certainly is not a choice made by the girls themselves), or outright kidnapped. That's the difference in your man vs. woman scenario - someone working in a coa…

[deleted]

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#52

Post by minthd »

eru wrote: post #36
minthd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While i'm not sure whether legalization or the Swedish approach works best(criminalization of purchase), but if we want to prevent trafficking, maybe it's possible to use some sort of lie detector(standard, fmri, P300), etc - and ask girls whether they work for themselves, or are forced , or trafficked - and only let girls who work for themselves work in legal brothels ? It won't be perfect, but maybe it can reduce t…

Alas, lie detectors don't work.

They have an error rate - which makes them in admissable as a tool for deciding whether someone should go to jail. That's reasonable.

On the other hand, their are routinely used in classified agencies for some tasks.

So maybe ,even with this error rate, we could see reduction at trafficking , at some risk of loss for freedom of profession. Maybe the benefits are big and the disadvantages are quite small(depending on error rates, etc) ? Maybe it's a worthwhile tradeoff ?

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#53

Post by anon3_ »

erikb wrote: post #37
anon3_ wrote: post #18

"Human trafficking" is a deceiving word. It is all too often used by people on the payroll of these organizations. It invokes imagery that doesn't anywhere near equate reality. I advise you to avoid puff pieces, find the truth in actual journals and save your compassion for things on a case-by-case basis. For those who aren't aware, there is another side to the story. There are many people who inflate these statistic…

Have you read the article? I agree that your comment is valid for a lot of articles on the topic. But what I've been reading is a valid analysis backed up with real investigation.

I wasn't arguing the merits of the article. Let's give it the benefit of the doubt - checks out to be glowingly academic, ground-breaking.

It's still coalescing around these politically charged "all or nothing" terms; begging the question. As if I don't grab a pitch fork and swallow any of the "human rights" pablum, I'm a heretic.

I have a bias learned from being in America and being forced to jam puff pieces down my throat without ever cross-examining it on the merits. Every liberal term is hoarded up for some self-serving reason that has little to do with people's betterment.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#54

Post by alextgordon »

danparsonson wrote: post #42
pcthrowaway wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If their choice is to watch themselves or their families starve or die of disease, or to go to a likely death in terrible work conditions where they can at least help their families with the money they earn, it's not really much of a choice at all.

Quite right but it is still a choice, they at least have some agency. I'm not in any way attempting to downplay the awful situations we're discussing, but there is still a significant psychological difference between "I'm doing this to make my life and my families lives better" and "This is being done to me against my will for other peoples' benefit", is there not?

I think that many people go into dangerous jobs with noble goals, but once they realise the reality of it, they want out (but it's too late).

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#55

Post by [deleted] »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #34
danparsonson wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many (most?) of the women involved in these situations don't go there out of choice or with full knowledge of what they're getting involved in; they're either lied to and subsequently trapped, sold by their families (which is where poverty is a big factor, and certainly is not a choice made by the girls themselves), or outright kidnapped. That's the difference in your man vs. woman scenario - someone working in a coa…

If their choice is to watch themselves or their families starve or die of disease, or to go to a likely death in terrible work conditions where they can at least help their families with the money they earn, it's not really much of a choice at all.

[deleted]

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#56

Post by rbanffy »

> I was given an award for courage at the Lincoln Center in New York. I said they should have given me an award for anger instead. There is nothing courageous about what I've done.

That is courage. Not being afraid of dangerous things is not courage: it's stupidity.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#57

Post by violentvinyl »

hedgew wrote: post #2

Much like with drugs, the best way to reduce human trafficking and abusive prostitution would be to fully legalize and regulate sex work. In countries where prostitution is accepted and legal, it's safer for both the sex workers and the customers, with less risk of disease and abuse. Sex workers are treated humanely and not condemned. Society in general benefits too, through properly paid taxes, lower crime rates, an…

The problem I have with this logic, is that I suspect with legalization/regulation, supply increases to meet or exceed demand, and drives prices down. This isn't a tremendous economic problem with drugs, because it should be relatively straightforward to ramp up production (and employment and tax revenue increases with it). With prostitution however, trying to increase the supply and driving down costs creates problems. Willing prostitues no longer earn as much, making the job much less appealing, and trafficing potentially increases in order to meet new demand or a decreasing supply of willing prostitutes.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#58

Post by dataker »

I live in a country where prostitution is legal and not taken as taboo. All I can say is that it makes things easier for everybody.

Many use their bodies as a "small business", having their own personal marketing, credit card processor and online clients, increasing and improving their portfolio.

Because they have such leverage, they end up being strict on what they'd do and even who their client is. In case something goes wrong, they can still go to the police and report the incident.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#60

Post by rbanffy »

ishener wrote: post #43
coldtea wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually most of the human trafficing in Europe and Asia has nothing at all to do with Muslims. Not to mention human trafficing in the US and Latin America...

that's incorrect

Do you have any evidence to support your claim?
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