Street prostitution and Internet porn
Ann Bartow comments on a New Study On The Economics Of “Street Prostitution.” One bit that I found interesting from her post (actually Ann quoting someone else):
What’s particularly interesting is the authors’ section on bargaining and the law. They estimate that roughly 3 percent of all tricks performed by prostitutes who aren’t working with pimps are freebies given to police to avoid arrest. In fact, prostitutes get officially arrested only once per 450 tricks or so, leading the authors to conclude that “a prostitute is more likely to have sex with a police officer than to get officially arrested by one.” When freebies given to gang members are factored in, about one in 20 tricks go solely for protection and the “privilege” of plying their trade.
The most depressing news is the woeful lack of condom use. Just as with recent studies of Mexican and Indian prostitutes, Levitt and Venkatesh find that payments go up substantially when condoms aren’t used. And plenty of johns are apparently happy to pay the premium: Condoms only get used about 20 percent of the time, the authors estimate. …
I’m curious as to what people who are more up on the sex industry than I am, such as Renegade Evolution, think of it. And, so, while checking Renegade Evolution, this being the day that I checked it before Feministe, I found out about this post at Feministe quoting a humorous Craig’s list letter addressed to Internet porn, conveying the anonymous writer’s fascination and shame. I’m skeptical that anal sex, done right, “hurts and humiliates” – are that many gay men into pain and degradation? – but I think the writer’s correct that the tastes he describes are, um, very much in the minority for women. Anyway, while I’m pretty far on the other end of the continuum from Ren Ev in how much those sorts of tastes resonate for me, I’m totally with her in finding the letter really funny. Especially the ending.
January 12th, 2008 at 10:10 am
RE: Ann’s article and what Ren thinks of it…
My experiences with street level prostitution are not vast at all…I only know what I hear…and yes, a lot of prostititutes do give out freebies to avoid harassment from various people. This is not limitited to prostitutes, however, many people who run businesses from diners to auto detailers give cops and gangsters “discounts” or freebies to avoid trouble. Also, most prostitutes I know use condoms, unless the pay for not doing so is phenomenal. But that statement is US centric. World wide, well, its a different story. In some countries a woman even carrying condoms can be used as “evidence of the crime of prostitution”, or getting condoms can be very difficult.
January 12th, 2008 at 10:24 am
You know, Amnesty International’s report on police brutality towards LGBT folks in the US mentions police using trans*women prostitutes; there are even a few quotes from trans*women who were told, whether they were prostitutes or not, that they’d be arrested for soliciting if they didn’t have sex with the police. The report is called Stonewalled if you want to google it.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Thanks, Ren Ev and drakyn. This is what I came up with on Google for Stonewalled:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/LGBT_Human_Rights/Stonewalled_A_Report/page. do?id=1106610&n1=3&n2=36&n3=1121.
I haven’t had time to look at it yet, but I’m saving the link.