Read Online Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry by Ronald Weitzer - Free Book Online Page A
Book: Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry by Ronald Weitzer
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ronald Weitzer
Tags: Sociology
Ads: Link
arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The hotline received several hundred calls every month.
30
SEX WORK: PARADIGMS AND POLICIES
In New Haven, Connecticut, posters naming a “John of the Week” were stapled to trees and telephone polls in one prostitution stroll. Posters provided the name and address of men observed soliciting a prostitute, with the warning, “Johns! Stay out of our neighborhood or your name will be here next week.”150 In Miami, freeway billboards have been used to announce the names of convicted johns. Americans are divided on the idea of shaming johns in these ways. A 1995 poll found that 50% of the public endorsed punishing men convicted of soliciting prostitutes by placing their names and pictures in the news.151 At least 280 American cities are using some kind of shaming tactic against johns.152
A second tactic is a novel form of rehabilitation—the “john school” for arrested customers. San Francisco launched its First Offenders Prostitution Program in 1995, and between 1995 and early 2008, more than 5700 men had attended the program.153 As of 2008, 39 other cities in America (as well as cities in Canada and Britain) have created similar schools. The programs are a joint effort by the district attorney’s office, the police department, the public health department, community leaders, and former prostitutes. The men avoid an arrest record and court appearance by paying a $1000 fee, attending the school, and not recidivating for 1 year after the arrest.
Every aspect of the 8-hour course is designed to shame , educate , and deter the men from future contact with prostitutes. The content and tone of the lectures are designed for maximum shock value. During my observations at the San Francisco school, the men were frequently asked how they would feel if their mothers, wives, or daughters were “prostituted,” and why they were
“using” and “violating” prostitutes by patronizing them. The audience was also exposed to a graphic slideshow on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, horror stories about the wretched lives of prostitutes and their oppression by pimps, and information about the harmful effects of street prostitution on the host neighborhoods. My review of responses to a questionnaire completed by the men at the end of the day found that many seem to experience “consciousness raising” about the negative aspects of street prostitution and pledge to never again contact a prostitute, but others expressed cynicism or resentment at getting caught, at having to take the class, at being “talked down to” by the lecturers, and being otherwise demeaned. Some men insisted that they were innocent victims of police entrapment.
The growing targeting of customers in the U.S. is part of a larger, international trend toward criminalizing clients. The focus of antiprostitution groups has increasingly been one of ending “the demand” for paid sex. In 1999, Sweden passed a law exclusively punishing the customers of prostitutes, 31
RONALD WEITZER
based on the assumption that they are the root of all evil in the sex industry.
Since then, some other nations have either adopted or are considering adopting the Swedish system.
Policy changes are often driven by activists who hold a narrow view of sex work. Over the past 30 years, prohibitionists and liberals have been locked in battle, two sides that have clashing views regarding prostitution, pornography, and other sex work, and over government policies in this sphere.
Prohibitionists adopt the oppression paradigm described earlier in the chapter, and actively promote it when they lobby public officials or appear in the media. Conservative prohibitionists are disturbed by the danger sex work poses to the family and moral fabric of society. Feminist prohibitionists denounce all sex work as the ultimate expression of gender oppression, violence against women, or “sexual slavery.” The other, liberal side argues that
30
SEX WORK: PARADIGMS AND POLICIES
In New Haven, Connecticut, posters naming a “John of the Week” were stapled to trees and telephone polls in one prostitution stroll. Posters provided the name and address of men observed soliciting a prostitute, with the warning, “Johns! Stay out of our neighborhood or your name will be here next week.”150 In Miami, freeway billboards have been used to announce the names of convicted johns. Americans are divided on the idea of shaming johns in these ways. A 1995 poll found that 50% of the public endorsed punishing men convicted of soliciting prostitutes by placing their names and pictures in the news.151 At least 280 American cities are using some kind of shaming tactic against johns.152
A second tactic is a novel form of rehabilitation—the “john school” for arrested customers. San Francisco launched its First Offenders Prostitution Program in 1995, and between 1995 and early 2008, more than 5700 men had attended the program.153 As of 2008, 39 other cities in America (as well as cities in Canada and Britain) have created similar schools. The programs are a joint effort by the district attorney’s office, the police department, the public health department, community leaders, and former prostitutes. The men avoid an arrest record and court appearance by paying a $1000 fee, attending the school, and not recidivating for 1 year after the arrest.
Every aspect of the 8-hour course is designed to shame , educate , and deter the men from future contact with prostitutes. The content and tone of the lectures are designed for maximum shock value. During my observations at the San Francisco school, the men were frequently asked how they would feel if their mothers, wives, or daughters were “prostituted,” and why they were
“using” and “violating” prostitutes by patronizing them. The audience was also exposed to a graphic slideshow on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, horror stories about the wretched lives of prostitutes and their oppression by pimps, and information about the harmful effects of street prostitution on the host neighborhoods. My review of responses to a questionnaire completed by the men at the end of the day found that many seem to experience “consciousness raising” about the negative aspects of street prostitution and pledge to never again contact a prostitute, but others expressed cynicism or resentment at getting caught, at having to take the class, at being “talked down to” by the lecturers, and being otherwise demeaned. Some men insisted that they were innocent victims of police entrapment.
The growing targeting of customers in the U.S. is part of a larger, international trend toward criminalizing clients. The focus of antiprostitution groups has increasingly been one of ending “the demand” for paid sex. In 1999, Sweden passed a law exclusively punishing the customers of prostitutes, 31
RONALD WEITZER
based on the assumption that they are the root of all evil in the sex industry.
Since then, some other nations have either adopted or are considering adopting the Swedish system.
Policy changes are often driven by activists who hold a narrow view of sex work. Over the past 30 years, prohibitionists and liberals have been locked in battle, two sides that have clashing views regarding prostitution, pornography, and other sex work, and over government policies in this sphere.
Prohibitionists adopt the oppression paradigm described earlier in the chapter, and actively promote it when they lobby public officials or appear in the media. Conservative prohibitionists are disturbed by the danger sex work poses to the family and moral fabric of society. Feminist prohibitionists denounce all sex work as the ultimate expression of gender oppression, violence against women, or “sexual slavery.” The other, liberal side argues that
Similar Books
