Tag Archives: Topic: Prostitution

The Globe and Mail: Sex workers and their supporters marched and rallied in several Canadian cities Saturday to call for the decriminalization of prostitution, days before a Supreme Court hearing on whether laws restricting the sale of sex should be tossed out.

One News Now: Muslims have been obtaining the children from their parents in small villages, promising to educate them and provide them jobs. Instead, they have been sold into madrassas, or Islamic training centers.

Salon: And now, with eight states handing down felony charges for prostitution — where non-violent, mostly female prostitution offenders are serving in state prison – a battle to lessen criminal penalties has been joined by an unlikely ally. Conservative lawmakers, looking at price tags, are also receptive to changing the way we see – and treat– people working in prostitution.

Evangelical Fellowship: In a highly publicized case launched in 2009, three women – a dominatrix and two former prostitutes – challenged three prostitution-related provisions of the Criminal Code in an Ontario court, arguing that these provisions violated Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees “life, liberty and security of the person.” The three provisions challenged relate to (i) keeping a common bawdy house or brothel, (ii) living on the avails of prostitution and (iii) communicating for the purposes of prostitution.

Zero Hedge: As the NYT reports, in just the past two years, the numbers of Greeks engaging in prostitution as a last course source of income has more than doubled: according to the National Center for Social Research, the number of people selling sex has surged 150 percent in the last two years.

NY Times: Free Speech and an Anti-Prostitution pledge.
Compelling that speech is unconstitutional, as are other forms of compulsion by government, like requiring schoolchildren to salute the flag as a condition of going to public school, which the Supreme Court rejected in a landmark case as “official control” over personal beliefs.

Washington Times: A Bush-era rule that forbids some federal AIDS money to go to groups unless they “explicitly” oppose prostitution and sex trafficking is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

Richard Wolfe at USA Today: Fights against AIDS, sex traffic collide at high court At stake is a little-known provision in the law, intended mainly to combat HIV/AIDS, requiring most outside organizations that receive federal funds to have policies “explicitly …

Reuters: A Supreme Court case that challenges a law requiring anti-prostitution policies for HIV/AIDS programs seeking federal money has generated a split among nonprofit groups that counsel sex workers overseas.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: I’m pleased to report that my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Andrew Frey and Michael Rayfield and I have just filed a friend of the court briefon behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court later this month.

SCOTUS Blog: Prostitution seems like an unlikely topic for a battle over freedom of speech, but that is precisely the focus of an important case to be argued in late April that tests the limits of the federal government’s ability to attach conditions to federal spending. The case is Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., to be argued on April 22.

Washington Post: Maine’s highest court prepared to weigh in on whether a man can be charged with invasion of privacy for viewing videos of accused johns who were recorded without their knowledge while engaging in sex acts with a woman who’s charged with using her Zumba studio as a front for prostitution.

First Things: After the 2009 Super Bowl in Miami, the Florida Department of Children and Families reported more than twenty children identified as sex trafficking victims in conjunction with the big game.

Telegraph: In Jordan, hundreds of Syrian females have been affected by an informal trade that has sprung up since the start of the war in Syria, where men use “agents” to source Syrian refugees to use for sex. Often this is done under the guise of “marriage”: The ‘dowry’, which in Muslim society is traditionally paid by the groom as a guarantee of the bride’s security has become a payment for sex. And the “marriage”, is an affair that lasts only a few days or even hours.

LifeSiteNews: A study of the impact of legalized prostitution has found that countries where prostitution is legal experience larger reported human trafficking inflows than countries in which prostitution is prohibited. Professor Eric Neumayer of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a team of researchers analyzed data on human trafficking from a global sample of 116 countries in order to determine what effect a country’s domestic policy on prostitution has on trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.

Telegraph: Zurich council has approved a plan to build the boxes, which will, it hopes, provide a discreet location for prostitutes and their clients to conduct business when they open in August next year.

Daily Mail: Lance Gilman is a thriving businessman with dozens of employees. That those workers include a good many prostitutes didn’t faze the people of a rural Nevada county who recently elected him as a Storey County commissioner by a wide margin

Sea Coast Online: If one consenting adult pays another consenting adult for sex, “it’s not the government’s business,” said Barbara Keshen, an attorney for the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.

AP: The Supreme Court of Canada says it will hear a government appeal of a ruling striking down a ban on brothels.

AP: Argentina’s Supreme Court has ruled that a woman rescued from a prostitution ring must get the abortion she wants.

LifeSiteNews: The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a BC Court of Appeal ruling that allows a former prostitute and a Vancouver based pro-prostitution lobby group to challenge Canada’s prostitution laws in court . . . The full text of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Canada (Attorney General) v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers is available here.

Alana S. Newman at Public Discourse: Young women now have to defend themselves not only from stereotypical sexual predators, but also from older women and gay men who seek their egg

The Guardian: The new Socialist government’s determination to abolish prostitution has the whole country in debate. But what do the sex workers think of the plan?

See SCOTUS Blog Petition of the Day reporting on: Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., No. 12-10

AP: Laws written long before the dawn of the Internet age have authorities across the nation struggling to prosecute online prostitution rings because of huge loopholes . . .

AP: Prostitutes have the right to work from motel rooms in an Australian state, a court said after finding the owner’s refusal to rent to a sex worker was discriminatory.

CNSNews: A report issued by the United Nations-backed Global Commission on HIV and the Law; recommends that nations around the world get rid of “punitive” laws against prostitution – or what it calls “consensual sex work” — and decriminalize the voluntary use of illegal injection drugs in order to combat the HIV epidemic.

Wall Street Journal: The City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that requires strip clubs to pay a $5-per-visitor fee to help pay for the analysis of biological evidence collected from rape victims in hopes of identifying their attackers. . . . The Texas Supreme Court last year rejected a claim that the state fee, sponsored by Ms. Cohen as a state lawmaker, violates free-speech rights by infringing on a mode of expression: sexually suggestive dancing.

Christian Institute: A Labour MSP has vowed to press ahead with new laws to criminalise paying for sex, but her hopes for fast-tracking the proposals have been dashed.

BBC: Every year thousands of women are forced into prostitution and traded from Mexico to the United States. The BBC investigates the sex trafficking business, which makes some men very wealthy at the expense of vulnerable young women.

TheStar.com: The federal government is looking to appeal a sex-trade ruling that essentially legalized bawdy houses. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says the government believes the Supreme Court of Canada needs to provide a binding, national decision.

Here.

Washington Post: The exploitation of Afghanistan’s ‘dancing boys’: A growing number of Afghan children are being coerced into a life of abuse as a result of the practice of wealthy or prominent Afghans exploiting underage boys as sexual partners.

Wendy Wright at Turtle Bay and Beyond: As the UN considers creating “sexual rights” for children as young as 10, a court in Brazil shows what this would mean.

LifeSiteNews: A Brazilian federal appeals court has ruled that a child molester who committed sex acts with three twelve-year-old girls was not guilty of rape because, “the victims were far from innocent.”

One News Now: A pro-family leader in Canada says a case in Ontario illustrates why the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper must take steps to rein in judicial activism.

Today, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Bedford v. Canada otherwise known as the Prostitution Challenge.

AP: Indiana political leaders are looking to fast-track sex-trafficking legislation before football fans flood Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.

News from The Associated Press: “Many people are surprised to learn there are more people trapped in slavery today than any time in history,” said Jacquelline Fuller, director of charitable giving and advocacy for Google.

News from The Associated Press: Chinese police arrested 608 suspects and rescued 178 children in busts of two separate child trafficking networks, authorities said Wednesday.

The Washington Post: French lawmakers are expected to pass a symbolic resolution that would condemn prostitution as linked to human trafficking and violence before beginning debate on a tough proposed law that would punish clients.

(AP) Boston.com: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has ordered an “extensive and thorough review” of a foreign exchange program that has been used by U.S. businesses as a source of cheap labor and exploited by criminals to import women to work in the sex industry.

News from The Associated Press: A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime.

South Korea: Unlike most other countries, credit card users in South Korea have no option to pay off their debt over months or even years. Instead, they must pay off the full balance in 30 days, which makes it easy for borrowers “paying 25% plus annual interest rates to fall behind.” It is not uncommon for lenders to take possession or even repossess borrowers homes to pay their debts. When a poor woman like You Mi Kim, becomes delinquent, she often turns to private lenders for quick cash.

Fox News: Sex therapists talk with their patients to help them confront their sexual problems and improve their sex lives. But some patients need more than talk therapy. They need practice in the bedroom, and have no spouse or partner to turn to.

The Independent: Prostitutes in the German city of Bonn must carry a ticket purchased from a new parking meter-like machine while working the streets or face hefty fines from tax authorities in a scheme launched on last Monday.

Ga. Family Council: Many Georgians are shocked to find out that Atlanta is one of the nation’s top places for sex trafficking, where men and women (and children) are trapped in prostitution.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the United States cannot force partners in its international fight against AIDS to denounce prostitution as a condition for receiving funding.

Toronto Star: Canada’s anti-prostitution laws were enacted for the mundane purpose of keeping neighbourhoods clear of hookers and johns and not to prevent women from being exploited, as the federal government claims, the Ontario Court of Appeal was told Wednesday.

LifeSiteNews.com: The Ontario Appeals Court began hearings today on a landmark case that could see prostitution decriminalized in the province.

Lesbians | Prostitutes | Sex Workers: Because of greater plasticity of female sexuality, he says, “Some women who have had bad experiences with men might seek tenderness and love from women, even though their natural preference might be heterosexual.” . . . There is another complicating factor, experts here say: broken homes.

NYTimes.com: M. is an ebullient girl, age 10, who ranks near the top of her fourth-grade class and dreams of being a doctor. Yet she, like all of India, is at a turning point, and it looks as if her family may instead sell her to a brothel.

Deseret News: “Two Salt Lake escort services have filed suit in federal court, charging that a new law that makes it easier to arrest individuals for sexual solicitation is unconstitutional and should be struck down.”

Reuters: One in three university students in the German capital would consider sex work as a means to finance their education, a study from the Berlin Studies Center said Wednesday.

Washington Times: Sex trafficking is so widespread, said Nathan Wilson, founder of the Project Meridian Foundation in Arlington, which helps police identify traffickers and their victims, that “no country, no race, no religion, no class and no child is immune.” He said 1.6 million children younger than 18 — native and foreign-born — have been caught up in this country’s sex trade.

Nicholas D. Kistof at the NY Times: In fact, human trafficking is more similar in America and Cambodia than we would like to admit. Teenage girls on American streets may appear to be selling sex voluntarily, but they’re often utterly controlled by violent pimps who take every penny they earn.

Canada.com: The Supreme Court of Canada decided Thursday to allow an appeal involving a legal challenge of prostitution laws by a group of sex trade workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Guardian: MPs have recommended criminalising clients of sex workers, saying 80% of prostitutes are victims of slavery and trafficking

The LA Examiner reports.

Catholic Online: A horrific sex slave operation has spread to at least 25 states within the continental United States. Called “Latino Residential Brothels,” or LRBs for short, these houses of ill repute lure young, uneducated girls and women from Latin America and then force them into prostitution.

Telegraph: “Cambodia has banned foreign men over the age of 50 marrying local women in an effort to combat sham marriages and human trafficking.”

All of which brings me to a question: Why do so many of us not only permit our teenage daughters to dress like this—like prostitutes, if we’re being honest with ourselves—but pay for them to do it with our AmEx cards?

AP: “Police said Wednesday they have smashed a huge international pedophile ring, rescuing 230 children from abuse and arresting 184 suspects – including teachers and police officers.”

Christian Today: The Rev Ian Galloway, the Convenor of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, said it was “repugnant” that children were being used as sex slaves in Scotland.

FRC is sponsoring this event at 2 pm today.

FRC Blog: On Tuesday, March 15, Family Research Council will Webcast a gripping presentation, hosted by FRC President Tony Perkins, titled “Sex Trafficking in America: From the Boulevard to Planned Parenthood“.

EuroNews: “Britain is being urged to join European efforts to tackle human trafficking. London has so far been reluctant to opt into an EU directive that seeks to create common, Europe-wide legislation and send a united message to traffickers.”

Robert Peters of Morality in Media presentation at the Houston Human Trafficking Conference: What I did come to say is that there is a very substantial evidence to support the assertion that the proliferation of hardcore adult pornography is contributing to the demand for prostitution and thus for women and children trafficked into prostitution. I am also here to say that it is counterproductive (foolish) for law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to pour endless resources into combating sexual trafficking while totally ignoring the proliferation of hardcore adult pornography.

Breitbart (AP): “U.S. Sen. Harry Reid took aim at the world’s oldest profession Tuesday, telling state lawmakers the time has come to have an adult conversation about Nevada’s legal sex trade if the state hopes to succeed in the 21st century.”

Life News: “In two recent interviews responding to the national videos that have received so much attention, former Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director Abby Johnson says the abortion business has a history of tolerating sex trafficking.”

AP: “The court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from two newspaper companies, the American Civil Liberties Union and a Nye County brothel called the Shady Lady Ranch.”

LifeNews: “So, you know, my bottom line is, that uh, I think that Planned Parenthood in the past has done good work. If there was a specific problem at this center, it should be addressed,” Obama continued.

LifeNews: “Congressman Mike Pence is gaining more support for his bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood, but the head of the nation’s biggest abortion business is pushing back and defending it from criticism over videos showing its staff helping sex traffickers victimize young girls with abortions.”

Examiner.com: In his article on Wired, Venkatish found that “sex workers were turning to Facebook: 83 percent have a Facebook page, and I estimate that by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading on-line recruitment space.”

Christian Newswire: “Society establishes hotline and issues guidelines for pro-life protests on Valentine’s Day against government funding for Planned Parenthood, after videos show it aids & abets sex traffickers.”