Comments on: Hall of Shame

By: Sailor Barsoom

Sailor Barsoom — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:23:00 +0000

He'd have to be a deliberate infiltrator, I suppose. He could make money, but he'd have to be willing to do the right thing, even if it meant he made a bit less.

By: aspasialibertine

aspasialibertine — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 02:01:19 +0000

No problem. That's why I asked whether or not you fully expressed yourself. That said, there are plenty of people who are either unaware of the sex worker rights movement or truly believe that folks like Hof and other obnoxious members in Maggie's Hall of Shame (Kristin Davis, looking at you, dear.) are the only voices on this subject, mostly because they thoroughly conform to the stereotype of the sex industry. It's also why those people are asked more often then Amanda Brooks or Maggie or Furry Girl or Robyn Few or Carol Leigh or Gloria Lockett, etc.

By: Rapid

Rapid — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:04:13 +0000

I meant on TV. Sorry I didn’t mean to offend.

By: aspasialibertine

aspasialibertine — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 23:22:39 +0000

Right now, Hof and the ladies at The Bunny Ranch seem to be the only people speaking for prostitution.

Oh really? I coulda sworn there was this whole worldwide sex worker rights movement that full of people speaking for prostitution, including the woman whose blog you’re reading.

Or did you mean something else that wasn’t fully expressed in your comment?

By: Rapid

Rapid — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 21:36:46 +0000

“Would it be possible for somebody to become the owner of a legal Nevada brothel, and then push for, if not full decriminalization, at least a less restrictive legalization? That is, to become a better legal prostitution spokesman?”

That is a very, very good question. If I were interested in doing something like that, I would start with a list of counties and research the laws in each county.

Times being what they are there might be some counties gratefull for the start of a new business, any new business.

Of course I wouldn’t volunteer my long term objective.

Right now, Hof and the ladies at The Bunny Ranch seem to be the only people speaking for prostitution. I haven’t heard from George Flint, whoever he is, for a long while.

By: Maggie McNeill

Maggie McNeill — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:49:42 +0000

Anything’s possible, but people who manage to do well in crony permit systems generally don’t want more competition.

By: Sailor Barsoom

Sailor Barsoom — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:16:24 +0000

Would it be possible for somebody to become the owner of a legal Nevada brothel, and then push for, if not full decriminalization, at least a less restrictive legalization? That is, to become a better legal prostitution spokesman?

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:40:53 +0000

Maggie, that’ a really apt comparison that I’m going to have to start carefully incorporating into my arguments.

It’s one that I should have seen before as my partner is a chef. He has worked in restaurants, bars, private clubs and now as a private chef who does home delivery, meal planning, and in-place “pop-up” restaurants (corresponding to key parties? ) Some places are already making it very difficult for private chefs and what they can and can not do (ie. can not purchase and transport the food, can not serve more then X amount of people without a catering license etc)

With food service there are of course many licensee, certification, and inspection hoops one needs to go through for preparing and transporting food. But no one (yet) has forced him to go get invasively screened for any diseases or health issues.

That said, providing easy and safe access to health screenings and treatment for STDs or infections diseases would be a good thing as long as it isn’t used as a punishment or a weapon. Isn’t the stat that 1 out of 5 adults are infected with a type of Herpes?

By: Maggie McNeill

Maggie McNeill — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:02:43 +0000

Precisely! In fact, in fact, in a recent debate in the New York Times, Stella Marr used the Nevada Model as a straw man for all decriminalized prostitution.

By: Kendall

Kendall — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:59:49 +0000

It’s frustrating that it was Hof brought in to debate legalised prostitution at Oxford Union and BBC radio. Serious debates on this subject are rare and I doubt many British sex worker activists would want him to represent their cause.

When he’s the face of legal prostitution he’s effectively a walking strawman argument for prohibitionists to use. Him holding up Nevada’s brothels as the only alternative allows prohibitionists to ignore decriminalisation, pretend that New Zealand doesn’t exist, and treat the problems in Nevada as an inevitable part of legal prostitution.

Put Hof face to face with an earnest seeming feminist who’s talking about ‘protecting women from exploitation’, and he comes across as such a sleazy character that he gives them credibility as soon as he opens his mouth.