Category: Prostitution

High School Teacher Defends Moonlighting As A Prostitute

WorldNetDaily.Com reported in August about a California high school teacher who was recently arrested while moonlighting as a prostitute.

Shannon Williams, 37, defended her work as a prostitute arguing that, “As a feminist I believe in every woman’s right to self-determination, and that includes sexually and economically. Women who work in the sex industry are entrepreneurs and should be granted the same rights as other business people.”

Williams was arrested in her apartment in August after agreeing to have sex for money with an undercover cop.

Williams was offered a plea bargain whereby she would have plead guilty to a misdemeanor and in exchange would only have paid a small fine. Instead she chose to plead innocent to the charge of prostitution, and apparently plans to defend herself by arguing that she has a right to prostitute herself.

Sources:

Feminist teacher defends her prostitution. WorldNetDaily.Com, August 28, 2003.

Supporters rally for teacher charged with prostitution. John Geluardi, Contra Costa Times, August 28, 2003.

A Look at Legalized Prostitution in Europe

The BBC carried a report this week about proposals in Belgium to legalize — and heavily tax — prostitution in that country. Faced with a budget deficit, Belgian lawmakers are considering a bill to legalize the world’s oldest profession and, in return, force sex workers to pay a tax that would raise up to 50 million euros for the cash-strapped country.

Both Germany and the Netherlands have similar schemes, but at least one advocate for prostitutes claims that in those countries prostitutes simply exchanged one form of economic exploitation for another. The BBC quotes Marion Detlefs who works at a prostitute advice center in Germany as saying,

It has, however, been very difficult [to make the transition from illegal to legal]. When it was set up there was much talk of securing proper contracts, proper health insurance but a lot of this hasn’t materializes because of big holes in the legislation. At the moment it looks like all the government cares about is getting their hands on sex workers’ money — women who are already hard-up are giving their earnings away and getting very little return.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that in the Netherlands the law legalizing prostitution only allows Dutch and EU citizens to work as prostitutes — effectively keeping immigrant prostitutes as part of the illegal, underground economy without the protections of legalization.

Source:

Making sex pay. Clare Murphy, The BBC, July 16, 2003.

Australian State Stops Production of Tip Sheet for Prostitutes

Reuters reported this month that the Western Australia recently decided to pull funding for a pamphlet that offered prostitutes tips on how to attract and keep customers.

According to Reuters, an organization called Phoenix was given AU$242,000 to “promote health care” among prostitutes. Prostitution is illegal in Western Australia, but according to Reuters is tolerated (and obviously if a state wants to keep something like AIDS in check, it is going to have to reach out to prostitutes regardless of their legal status).

But at least some of the money went to projects that were out and out promoting the sex industry. The pamphlet in question, called “Regulars,” advised prostitutes that to keep their regular customers coming back they should “always act like you enjoy it” and avoid wearing shoes in bed.

Phoenix also produces a magazine for sex workers that Western Australian health minister Bob Kucera told Reuters was virtually pornographic. In a prepared statement Kucera said,

The material Phoenix has produced appears to glamorize and promote the sex industry and much of it has nothing to do with health outcomes.

Hopefully the end to Phoenix’s grant will not result in a rash of prostitutes wearing shoes in bed.

Source:

State pulls plug on sex tip sheet. Reuters, June 5, 2003.