Melissa Farley sends someone to the Naked Anthropologist to rant

I am keeping up with the tendency to change language again, so that what people were calling prostitution and then trafficking now becomes, increasingly, slavery. The other day I critiqued a review of a film set in a 19th-century Paris brothel and wondered if there may be a desire for slavery to come back. Melissa […]

Complaint Filed Against Melissa Farley

Dr. Callum Bennachie, from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, filed a complaint with the American Psychology Association asking that they rescind the membership of Melissa Farley. In the introduction to the complaint, Dr. Bennachie writes: Over the years, Dr Farley has published a number of papers and documents about sex work, making claims that all […]

John Schools, Farley, Actions vs. words

Melissa Farley recently posted her thoughts on an LA Times article about John School. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comments_blog/2009/02/sex-school.html I have posted on the john school topic in the LA Times Blog but am not sure I will clear moderation with thoughts on Farley.  So I am bringing them here. Melissa Farley writes in italics  ” “Thank you for […]

My response to Farley on Freakonomics- Should prostitution be Decriminalized?

I wrote and submitted this last night, but no new comments have appeared since yesterday afternoon, so it may yet go up. If not, however, I am posting it here. I also resubmitted it today without the jabs at Ms. Farley, in case that was the issue.

The latest stop in the Melissa Farley traveling roadshow

While not wanting to distract from the more important and tragic news of Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s death, I just wanted to point out that Melissa Farley has been in the news again, this time in Scotland, co-authoring a new report on Scottish johns, just in time for the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of Swedish-style laws against […]

Melissa Farley Words v Actions: Ethics or Not?

Melissa Farley has taken a stand opposing Governor Spitzer’s hiring of the escort Kristen. Does she deserve to be congratulated for doing the right thing and criticizing Spitzer’s hypocrisy of spearheading a campaign against prostitution while hiring escorts despite the fact that until his arrest he was advocating similar political strategy as her? Was there […]

Melissa Farley Get a Life!

I mostly don’t care what Melissa Farley thinks, I know that her position is weak and illogical. But her opinion piece opens with a question that I’d very much like to address: WHAT do we know about the woman Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly hired as a prostitute? She was the one person he ignored in […]

Farley Saves the Day!

Melissa Farley weighs in in the NY Times. We need someone to get an article in there (and not Bob Herbert). Besides the usual blather, she states “Her [Kristen’s] purpose, as a man who knew patiently explained, is “renting” out an organ for 10 minutes.” Thank you, Farley, for repeating that. We all want everyone […]

Sorry Farley, your end run to get access to my history and divide a friend and I failed. On the ethics issue… Nice………

Over ten years ago I met a woman who became a long time close friend named Katherine DePasquale. Ironically we became friends because of Melissa Farley’s tantrum about me. Katherine interviewed me for an article she was writing in 1997 about prostitution. Katherine and I didn’t know each other. Katherine also talked to Farley who […]

Melissa Farley, comparing actions and alliances to her words

Farley has published more than 25 peer-reviewed publications on sexual violence, prostitution and trafficking. She has spoken with a thousand women, men, and the transgendered in prostitution in 10 countries on 5 continents. She talks about the psychological harm of prostitution, her expertise based upon interviewing 1,000 women men and transgendered prostitutes. Ms. Farley presents […]

Another message from Melissa Farley

Apparently, somebody set up a counter-blog to our blog-in, a blog for responses from Farley, but to the best of my knowledge, nobody here ever got word of it. I had no idea this blog even existed until accidentally running across it when googling for something else. The blog is at vegasmadam.wordpress.com and apparently is […]

Because Farley’s work makes people so much more sympathetic to the plight of sex workers….

A rather choice item from “District 5 Diary”, a conservative blog here in San Francisco. Somebody who doesn’t think too highly of Polk Gulch street prostitutes, evidently. And who does this person turn to to back up his prejudices? Bob Herbert’s Melissa Farley-inspired column, naturally: The column (below) by Bob Herbert nicely frames the prostitution […]

A message to us from Melissa Farley

Please forward this statement to the bloggers attacking my research, thanks. Melissa Farley has never taken a ” federal antiprostitution oath” whatever that is. Her research was supported 70% by Prostitution Research & Education and 30% by the Trafficking in Persons Office of the US State Dept. No agency has influenced Farley’s findings or her […]

Farley’s methodology

(To start out with, I just wanted to thank Stacey Swimme for the inviting me to have the privilege of guest blogging here.) The scientific reliability of Farley’s findings are open to question. Its something she’s been called on before in this critique by sociologist Ronald Weitzer (2005): What about Farley’s own research procedures? Much […]

Farley Promoting US Imperialism in Anti Prostitution Agenda

I would like to invite people to view a video which interviews sex workers and advocates around the world about the results of the policies Farley promotes. The US has a policy, an ‘anti-prostitution loyalty oath,’ which prohibits organizations from receiving funds from the US government unless they explicitly sign a statement that they oppose […]

Melissa Farley, words, actions, ethics and ambition

Author of post is Jill Brenneman Melissa Farley presents herself as an expert in the field of prostitution. Her basis of expertise is her research interviewing women she selected for her studies. She talks often about the feelings of women in prostitution speaking of their feelings as the basis of her message of being their […]

An open letter to Melissa Farley

Dear Melissa Farley,   Hello Melissa. I hope this message finds you well and in good health. Although we have not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person, I think we may be working toward the same goals, however different our vision of the path to our goals may be. That’s why I’m writing […]

Sexual Slavery, Melissa Farley and sex work

Sexual Slavery, Melissa Farley and sex work Excerpt from Melissa Farley’s Statement from her website prostitutionresearch.com Prostitution can’t be made a little bit better any more than slavery could be made a little better. Jill Brenneman writes in her blog, http://www.myspace.com/jillbrenneman This statement is a contradiction. It would work well with a picture of a […]

Melissa Farley, My Unfortunate Name Sharing Foe

Okay, so this probably the least offensive thing she could ever say, pointing out the double standard that clients of sex workers are never jailed at the frequency that sex workers are. Posted by: Melissa Gira

ABC Uses Farley Well

Basically, they just use Farley to say that the women are scapegoated, which is an important point. Her analysis focuses on clients as ‘predators’ and leads to her recommendation, which is to keep the business illegal by criminalizing clients. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t help the sex workers…but the point that the sex workers receive […]