Gretchen asked me to post this on her behalf.

Gretchen Writes:

Hey Jill,

Can you please post this on boundnotgagged? I know how to comment on posts but know not how to post it. I worked on it especially so i hope it is able to get posted.
Thanks! Gretchen

I’m not here as a supporter of many of the positions of websites like boundnotgagged or because I think all aspects of the sex industry should be legalized. I’m against legalizing measures that allow pimps and johns to consume and trade women. I’m writing on the blog because I agree that Judge Deni’s ruling is a violation of the rights of prostituted women and because we are all concerned with the welfare of women in the sex industry. But I’m mainly here in hopes that the people of PA will vote out Judge Deni. Her ruling that a raped prostituted woman should not be considered a rape victim but instead a victim of “theft of services” because her “services” were stolen when she was not paid after answering an add in the ever dangerous Craigslist and held at gunpoint while she was gang raped by the “client’s” friends makes Deni an unsuitable judge. Please vote her out of service! This is a horrid decision that she made and literally left me up at night in shock and in sadness for the brave victim who had the courage to press charges, despite the social stigma against her. She has been raped twice – once by her attackers and again in the legal system (as Chancellor Jane Leslie Dalton rightly stated).

One statement that was especially of concern was when Judge Deni said to a newspaper that the case “minimizes true rape cases and demeans women who are really raped”. She claims the woman consented! What does that say about the legal systems attitudes towards prostituted women? This case makes violence against prostituted women more likely because it will make these women less likely to speak up when they are assaulted. It also sends a message that men can get away with raping women in the horrid sex industry, making them more likely to commit such crimes. It also sends a message that somehow the rape of prostituted women is different than other women who are raped. This is disturbing because women in the sex industry are more likely to be raped than any other group of women.

And women – don’t think this case doesn’t concern you – it concerns all women. 1970’s musician Holly Near sang a song called, “Fight back” and these lyrics come to mind:

“In the day I live in terror. In the night, I live in fright, for as long as I can remember a LADY don’t go out alone at night. I don’t accept the verdict. And so we got to fight back, in large numbers, fight back, we can’t take it no more. Together we make a safe world.”

Every time a woman is afraid to wear her short skirt at night for fear of being harassed for dressing like a “whore” who wants to be fucked, she is afraid of being that prostituted women in PA who was raped twice by her attackers and the justice system. Feminist Robin Morgan says it well, “Knowing our place is the message of rape”. People of PA, please resist a women’s place in the world and vote this horrid woman out of office. Not just for the injustice she has shown in this ruling and her disregard of the rights of all prostituted women, but for the progression and security of every woman!