Robert Arthur, author of the cartoon and blog post sent me the link and asked me to post it here. He examines how criminalizing prostitution does not protect the worker in any way, inspired by the reactions because Markoff found his victim through CraigsList.

Very interesting, and decidedly unfeminist. And criminal!!

Men for men

Men for women

Posted on behalf of Maxine Doogan

Article Source

ISTANBUL ­ Activists and sex workers in Turkey are working on a project to establish Turkey¹s first sex workers union. They are hopeful about finding a solution to their problems and changing society¹s approach toward sex workers. They will organize an awareness walk to bring attention to their issues

Turkey’s sex workers seek to establish a union

An initiative to establish a union for sex workers in Turkey has been proceeding slowly but patiently for almost a year.

Several activists plan to establish a trade union to protect the health, security and education rights of sex workers in Turkey, where the majority of them work without licenses or social security.

³People should have the right to voluntarily chose to be a sex worker. One has to have sovereignty over his or her body,² said Buse Kžlžçkaya, an activist from Ankara-based Pembe Hayat Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender, or LGBT, association. Kžlžçkaya said if they can establish a union, it would be the first for Turkey¹s sex workers.

Activists and sex workers are hopeful about establishing a union, believing that it will help acknowledgment of this type of labor as a viable profession and will protect their rights in many aspects.

³We are against forced sex labor,² said Kžlžçkaya. ³But this is the oldest profession on Earth and this will continue to be done by some people. This is why those people¹s rights need to be protected.²

Prostitution is mentioned in the Turkish Penal Code and sex workers have to be registered according to the law. However, statistics show that many sex workers are unregistered and have no health or social security.

³Only 126 sex workers are registered in Istanbul, but the real number is much higher than this,² said Muhtar Çokar, a doctor who helps sex workers access free and easy medical support.

³The number of registered sex workers in Turkey is 3,500 according to police data,² said Çokar. ³That is too small a number compared to Ankara Trade Chamber, which said there are around 100,000 unregistered sex workers in total in Turkey.²

Activists believe sex workers are exposed to discrimination from society as well as by state authorities. Transsexual and transvestite sex workers in particular are beaten and harassed by clients or sometimes by the police.

³There is a social consensus that if you are a sex worker then you deserve to be exposed to violence, sexual harassment and discrimination,² said Kžlžçkaya, adding that this approach has to change.

Union needed
³The first sex union was established in Argentina during the 1970s. Holland and Hungary also have unions for sex workers. Why don¹t we have one?² asked Belgin Çelik, a Lambda Istanbul activist.

Although the majority of sex workers are biologically women, transsexuals and transvestites are usually more active in protecting their rights.

³Most woman work as a sex worker secretly, some of them have families, and cannot declare their names. Another reason is that transsexuals and transvestites were more commonly harassed, beaten and insulted,² said Kžlžçkaya, explaining why they are more willing to unite and defend their rights.

The initiative¹s meetings are closed to the press at the moment.

³The initiative may not bring about a union in the end, this is why the NGOs and political parties supporting the initiative have not declared their names,² said Sinem, a sex worker and activist from Pembe Hayat LGBT.

But the efforts of the initiative will be significant, since it will draw attention to sex workers¹ problems, such as having social security or health insurance and a retirement salary.

ŒRed umbrella walk¹ against discrimination The activists will organize for the first time a walk titled ³Red Umbrella² on March 3, International Sex Workers Day in Ankara, simultaneously with the entire world. The sex workers and NGO activists will try to voice the many problems of those who are not seen or approved by society but who are part of it and suffering.

Here is the video

When will they just leave adults to their own devices? When will ALL adults start fighting for the right to be left alone??

Sex Workers will be representing at San Francisco Pride tomorrow!! If you are in the area, definitely fight the crowds and come meet up with us!! Also a bunch of Sex Workers have their own contingent in the Dyke March! Sex Workers Outreach Project will be hosting 2 booths, a Beer Booth and an Information Booth (with totally hot Whore and U.S. Out Of My Underwear Shirts!)

Sex Workers Dyke March contingent will meet at 6:45pm Sat the 27th on the corner of 18th and Dolores, directly to the side of the Dolores Park Cafe. Bring any signs, fabulousness, lovers and allies.

Our Beer Booth will be at the corner of Hyde on McAllister.

Our Information Booth will be around the corner on Larkin between Golden Gate and McAllister, across from the State Building.

We’ll have lots of GREAT information both for Workers and Allies, and ways for you to get involved! Come stop by, we’d LOVE to meet you!

So a woman and a man were caught by police while engaging in sex for goods (he offered her a case of chips in exchange for oral sex, to which she agreed). The woman got arrested, the man did not. The woman had her mug shot taken and released, and now published, the man did not. Nor was his name published. The woman’s was.

WTF??

Here is the story. (I am including the link to the SWOP LV News blog instead of original to try to give the woman some anonymity.)

While we have heard and experienced awful stories about police, I have to commend the Atlanta police on this one. They are asking sex workers to come forward to help convict a serial rapist who targets sex workers, and they believe he is responsible for raping at least 6 women. They are promising to not arrest them. I am hoping this will remain the case. But do we have anyone in Atlanta who can check in on this from time to time?

Here is the story.

Via gudbuytjane.livejournal.com, reposted from feministing

Call for action: www.tranny-alert.com
From www.tranny-alert.com . This is not just appropriative or transphobic, it directly threatens the safety and privacy of trans women:

Our site cannot survive without your submissions!
Spot a tranny or suspected tranny around town? See a hot tranny mess? Observe a guidette in New Jersey with tranny style? Notice trannies on TV/Radio/Billboards? Find yourself at a Lady Gaga concert? WE WANT TO KNOW!

Remember, if you spot a tranny: snap your fingers, snap a pic, and e-mail those photos to: mayday@tranny-alert.com !

In light of the murders of trans women such as Gwen Araujo, Angie Zapata and others, it is indefensible to run a website that requests readers submit photos of trans women (or people they’ve read as trans women) without their consent and publicly out them. This site threatens the safety of every person they post a photo of. Please spread the word and take action.

Please contact www.tranny-alert.com and let them know this is NOT okay.
The site appears to be hosted via Blogger, so please enter a complaint against their hate speech and endangerment of the lives of trans women.
Please Twitter about it with the #trannyalertfail hash tag.
Please send complaints about their Facebook page .

ETA: To enter a complaint at Blogger, follow this link: http://help.blogger.com/bin/request.py?contact_type=hate_speech&blog_URL=http://trannyalert.blogspot.com/ (Thanks queersubversion!)

ETA2: TrannyAlert’s response on Twitter : “Wow people really need to get a fucking sense of humor.”

ETA3: If you have access please post about this on LJ trans communities, as this account isn’t a member of any of them (and will have to wait for approval to post, etc.).

- gudbuytjane

You can go here, http://tinyurl.com/n34flk

to file a direct complaint to Blogger against this blog, you can also do it as many times as you like so please try to do it as much as you can so as to draw attention! Thanks!

A message on San Francisco’s sex worker contingent at Pride:

Please forward to all sex workers. Sex Workers Dyke March contingent will meet at 6:45pm on Sat the 27th on the corner of 18th and Dolores, directly to the side of the Dolores Park Cafe. Bring any signs, fabulousness, lovers and allies.

Love, Sadie Lune