So many men, so little time. – Mae West
There’s been another explosion of short news stories of note lately, none of which are really long enough (or quite topical enough) to merit a column; one might describe them as stocking stuffers if Santa was in a really strange mood and mixed coal in with treats. We’ll start with the top story, released yesterday:
Derrick Burts, the porn actor who tested HIV positive in October has outed himself and now demands that condoms should be required in all porn. The 24-year-old opportunist performed under the names Cameron Reid and Derrick Chambers, but now claims that “he wishes he had known more about the risks of contracting sexually transmitted diseases in the industry.” Burts claims that he contracted HIV during oral sex in a gay porn shot in Florida, but isn’t sure. Condoms had been used for penetration in that instance, as it often is in gay porn, but not during oral sex. He claims that AIM told him that they’d traced his infection to a “known positive” but wouldn’t tell him who it was, citing patient confidentiality; AIM denies that and said Burts was told he’d contracted HIV through personal activity. Predictably, Burts denies that, claiming “There is no possible way. The only person I had sex with in my personal life was my girlfriend.” But in the months before he tested positive for HIV, he had also contracted chlamydia, gonorrhea and herpes. Burts also claims that AIM deliberately misled the public to try to tamp down fears about infection in the industry, and excuses the fact that he now works for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation by claiming that AIM didn’t follow up for his care.
Am I the only one who is incredibly disgusted by people who get hurt due to their own adult choices and then react by loudly advocating that the nanny state henceforth deny those same choices to others? A gay guy born several years after AIDS was first discovered now claims he didn’t know you could get HIV through unprotected sex? Either he’s incredibly stupid or he thinks everyone else is. His claim that AIM told him that he contracted HIV through oral sex (despite the fact that, as I have said before, there has never been a single documented case of oral HIV transmission) is even less credible than his claim to his beard that he wasn’t screwing other guys outside of film sets. And his going to work for the moralistic control freaks at AHC demonstrates that he can’t tell the difference between professional nudity and personal transparency.
Melissa Petro, on the other hand, apparently can; in a new column on Huffington Post she reveals that she was completely open about her background when applying to be a teacher:
I was also a former sex worker. Of this, I made no secret. My academic and creative writing has appeared in numerous publications online and in print since 2006. My work is included in the NY Times acclaimed anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Love, Sex, Money and Work as well as in Sex Work Matters: Power and Intimacy in the Sex Industry. I have presented at multiple conferences on the issue of women’s participation in the sex industry and regularly participate in literary readings around the city. My thesis at the New School, completed the same semester I was accepted into the Fellows program, was entitled “Selling Sex.”
It was not until the tabloid New York Post decided to out her that the school suddenly decided her “sex rays” were dangerous to children. I still believe that Miss Petro was incredibly unwise in revealing her past with her real name and picture, but in light of these revelations I’m willing to consider the possibility that her actions may have been due to incredible naivety about the trustworthiness of the bureaucrats who run the public school system rather than the desire to court publicity via self-martyrdom.
I’m not so willing to give Annie Lobert the benefit of the doubt, since she is obviously another member of the “do as I say, not as I do” club. She’s also completely full of shit, because even though she claims to have been an escort for 16 years before being “born again”, she spouts neofeminist drivel about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder mixed with Bible-beating and TV-friendly nonsense about “pimps”; her so-called “Prostitution Glossary” contains not ONE SINGLE TERM from the escort world, unlike the real one which appeared in my column of September 7th. I have no idea if these terms are real ones from the narrow little world of pimped streetwalkers, but even if they are how the hell does a former escort know about them and why is she representing them as general industry terms? Either she’s lying about having been an escort or lying about our lives to pander to the male “pimps and hos” masturbatory fantasy; either one constitutes “bearing false witness” in my book. Shame, shame, Annie; Jesus doesn’t like liars.
Speaking of popular delusions about harlotry, Huffington Post recently featured a two-part series about an NPR radio program about “child sex trafficking” (i.e. underage prostitution) in Oakland, California. Now, I’m sure that the interviews themselves are honest and the stories representative of the lives of underage streetwalkers in Oakland, California. The problem lies in the fact that the true stories are peppered with bogus police “trafficking statistics” and, as usual, the distinction between escort and streetwalker is deliberately smeared and voluntary adult prostitution is conflated with coerced underage prostitution. Here’s one particularly sneaky example, deceptively entitled “The Story of an Escort”:
Youth Radio’s investigation of online sex classifieds found countless “escort reviews” like this one on a Bay Area review site, featuring partially nude photos of a young woman and the following description: “I have the charm of the girl next door, the sexiness of your newest crush, the sophistication of your business partner, and the youth of a college girl.” Youth Radio called the woman whose phone number was posted with the ad and she agreed to an interview if we didn’t use her name. She said she is 24 years old and that while a pimp coerced her into prostitution as a teenager, she now worked on her own – a so-called renegade or rogue.
First of all, that is an ad, not a review; reviews are written by clients. But that bit of misinformation pales into insignificance beside the last line: Not only is the fact that she walked away from her pimp and set up her own business presented as unusual (because obviously we can’t admit that most hookers can take care of ourselves without the help of cops and other “rescuers”, and that pimps aren’t all-powerful and inescapable slavemasters), the bogus terms “renegade” and “rogue” imply some sort of pimp-run establishment which, simply put, does not exist. “Renegade” implies that independent escorts are ostracized outsiders in the escort world, and “rogue” implies they are rare, when in actuality it’s the other way around. As I discussed in my column of July 27th, true pimps (as opposed to boyfriends, shady escort services and male employees) are in the minority even among streetwalkers and vanishingly rare among escorts. “Hobbyists” dislike seeing girls with pimps and other escorts look down on them and/or work toward convincing them to dump their “managers” and do it themselves. In the escort world, it is the pimped girls who are the rare outcasts, not the other way around!
Tomorrow we’ll look more at the government campaign to spread disinformation about prostitution and other subjects, and the shockingly widespread compliance of the mainstream news media with the rapidly-developing Ministry of Truth.
I don’t understand how you can possibly argue about the need for more regulatory oversight of sex work, given the government’s extraordinary record of bringing order, peace, and prosperity to the world.
I know, but I’m just kinda stupid that way. 😉
Wow! Annie Lobert is hot! Too bad you can’t judge a hook(er) by the cover.
The shirt is just plain weird. It makes her look a member of “The Children of God” aka “The Family International.”
Methinks perhaps she misunderstood Jesus’ instruction to become “fishers of men.”
Unfortunately, hotness is no guarantee that a woman isn’t bat-shit crazy; I’ve even heard some guys claim that the two usually go hand in hand.
But as for being “fishers of men”, perhaps she’s one of those Christians who takes the Bible literally? 😉
“Unfortunately, hotness is no guarantee that a woman isn’t bat-shit crazy”
*Sigh*. No kidding. I’m old enough to think that Michele Bachmann (who is actually my Congresscritter) is attractive. Although I understand that’s debatable, batshit-crazy isn’t.
I actually hovered over Annie’s photo hoping that it was Melissa Petro. 🙁
Yeah, Bachman’s a bit of a babe. And Christine “I’m Not A Witch” O’Donnell is downright hot.
I’m not sure what guano has to do with insanity, but you could fertilize a lot of gardens with those two.
I saw Annie Lobart on tv a few days ago and immediately wondered,”What would Maggie say about this?” LoL. Well, now I know!
I wouldn’t have a problem with her if she didn’t feel compelled to lie. Since at least the time of the Empress Theodora many former prostitutes (especially those who experience a religious conversion) have felt driven to reach out to unhappy whores (especially streetwalkers) in order to help them leave the trade if they so desire; that in itself is commendable. Annie’s problem is that in order to market herself for television she has pandered to the popular “pimps and hos” fantasy rather than just telling the truth: “Yes, I was a call girl and made tons of money, but I now feel Christian morality is more important,” or “I was a stupid, drug-addicted streetwalker with a pimp and I’m glad I escaped.” But she wants to have it both ways and thereby slanders 99.999% of her sisters. 🙁
I caught Annie’s show, and my wife wasn’t home at the time, which was good, because she would have been very angry at me. No, not for watching a show about whores, but at my constant commentary which was frequented with cries of “BULLSHIT” and “Go fuck yourself”. I know it is kind of stupid to watch something that just pisses me off, but I do think it is important to know the enemy.
And to me, anyone that stupid is clearly the enemy of truth and reason.
I fully support getting unhappy and unhealthy whores out of the business, but I do so because I think it is best for them. Not for their souls, but for their general well being and health. It is the right thing to do, not because Jesus told me, but because common sense and compassion guide me to that conclusion. The idea that they should quit because it makes the angels cry when a whore buys a car with blowjob money is so fucking repulsive to me I can’t see straight.
And she married a dude from Stryper. Fucking Stryper! X-tian rock sucks…she’s not doing her rep any favors taking that guy’s cock and his alone, I can tell you that.
I don’t think I hate Annie as much as that Shelly Luwhatever her name is that runs the XXX Church, but I think Annie may take her spot before all is done.
Why the fuck would you live in Vegas and be anti-prostitution, that seems so stupid? Ah well. If I believed in Hell, I’d want them all to burn in it.
Fucking moral tyrants.
Since I don’t watch television myself my opinion was based on what I’ve read (including that asinine “prostitution glossary”), but I’m glad to have a firsthand review from someone whose opinion I trust.
Amen, brother! 🙂
Penn & Teller did an Episode of Bullshit dealing with prostitution. The perfect antidote to Hookers: Saved on the Strip.
Annie went by the name “Fallon”. She was an escort in LV casinos but the tales of streetwalking, pimps, drugs, guns, and beatings gets better and better. Your “Mulberry Street” poem is this chick to a tee! Her Destiny House is scam. No job training just a Jesus themed pity party for fundraising.