Diary #552

I have never believed that special events necessarily require inviting a lot of people over; even when it’s just my family, I’ve always liked doing small special activities on certain nights or occasions.  Longtime readers may recall that I prepare a lot more feasts than most Americans do, all around the year, but I’m talking about even smaller and more frequent events, “micro-events” if you will.  For example, around the beginning of last autumn Chekhov proposed we do “Friday night movies”, in other words every Friday we watch some old horror or monster movie from the ’30s to ’70s, mostly from Universal, Hammer, Amicus, American International, etc; last Friday it was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and our next will be X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes.  Once Daylight Mismanagement ended we added “epic movie night” on Sunday, featuring 3-hourish type spectacles (recent picks include the three Lord of the Rings installments and Fiddler on the Roof).  This past Sunday was Spartacus, so I made pizza because that’s how I roll.  Not only are these micro-events fun, they also help family members to remember what day it is without the usual weekday/weekend factory/cubicle grind most folks rely upon to keep that straight.  We’ll truncate our epic movies once Daylight Mismanagement restarts in March, then suspend them completely once the days start to get long, because I’m just not in the mood to watch long movies with sunlight streaming in the windows.  But hey, that’s something to look forward to picking up again in the autumn.

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Links #550

Pretending that ordinary incidents are dangerous and ordinary objects are toxic recalibrates reality.  –  Lenore Skenazy

I’m really pleased to see that others are beginning to mock the kindergarten pretense that there is some meaningful difference between authoritarians who call themselves “left” and those who take the label “right”.  We’ve seen these guys before, but this example was provided by Franklin Harris; the links above it are from Lenore Skenazy, Emma Evans, Cop Crisis, Walter Olson, Amy Alkon, and Emma again, in that order.

• The School of Hysteria.
• Some things never change.
• Not. For. Any. Reason. Whatsoever.
• Sometimes, McSweeney’s is brilliant.
• The perfect metaphor for US elections.
• It’s like RAY-AY-AIIIIIN on your wedding day…

From the Archives

• Prohibitionists know we’re right about criminalization; they just don’t care.
• When migration control disguised as “sex trafficking” law is very apparent.
• Prohibitionists never let nonexistence stop them from banning something.
• The numbers are so low, fetishists want cops to manufacture larger ones.
• “Sex trafficking” is another excuse to persecute the same groups as ever.
• They’re not only giving cops your info, but selling it to companies as well.
• AirBnB “invest[s] in new technology” to discriminate against sex workers.
• The public believes anything it sees on billboards, no matter how absurd.
• More on the prohibitionist shitshow New York calls “sex trafficking court”.
• Corporations are becoming the favored tool of censors around the world.
• He had to show how big his dick is by delaying her release for 7 months.
• Bigots claim transwomen will sexually assault ciswomen in public toilets.
• Some helpful figures for countering prohibitionists’ agency-negating lies.
• The only ones who still believe these tales are cops, politicians & the AP.
• 41% of cops admit to beating their wives. Some don’t stop with beating.
• The Danes just keep emphasizing their disgust with the Swedish model.
• The scheme to deny sex workers healthcare adds intrusive surveillance.
• The writer of this article appears to understand very little about politics.
• Until prohibition is itself outlawed, decriminalization is a temporary fix.
• Lingerie fetishist offers women a pragmatic avenue of harm reduction.
• Florida prosecutors have apparently realized how desperate they look.
• Dutch authorities pretend registration is intended to help sex workers.
• Cops, war, metaphors, Buck Henry, Michael Jackson, and much more.
• Philippine cops “rescue” Chinese women from lucrative employment.
• Canberra is infested with prohibitionists, many of them in the police.
• When a headline asks a question, the answer is almost always “no”.
• Government is just a word for the things we choose to do together.
• Amateurs’ fantasies about “sex traffickers” are growing ever sillier.
• Cops, aliens, protest, Mongols, toilets, prohibition and much more.
• Why wasn’t it “a step too far” when they started doing it in 2016?
• After a long slump, “King of the Hill” claims are again increasing.
• “Sex work under ‘legalisation’ is still…conceived of as a crime“.
• In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
• Send not to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
• Sex shaming isn’t “modern”; it’s literally prehistoric.
• Not quite an example of the McNeill Rule, but close.
• Can an asexual woman make it as a sex worker?
• This is just the “Facebook pimps” myth again.
• Answer: it’s a rationalization of cop behavior.
• Public masturbation on the gravy train.
• The puritanism just keeps increasing.
• A backup against Twitter censorship.
• Prohibitionism never, ever changes.
• Progress on my various projects.
• The Fourth Tower of Inverness.
• On course for semi-retirement.
• A poem about yours truly.
• Rapist cop of the week.
• Population 28,486.

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Links #549

I fear for my life.  –  unnamed witness to police violence

Here’s another Luna video, because she’s awesome.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker, Radley Balko, Franklin Harris, Cathy Reisenwitz, Radley again, Tim Cushing, and Cop Crisis, in that order.

• As one does.
• The “justice system”.
• R.I.P. Barbara Shelley.
• Just protecting and serving.
• No good deed goes unpunished.
• What do you expect from wife beaters?
• Crime: being drunk. Penalty: broken back.

From the Archives

• In case you thought screws restricted their petty sadism to the prisoners.
• Sounds like somebody who followed my repeated advice to older virgins.
• Scumbag profits from criminalization by basing a game on lies about us.
• Please stop these pandering claims that censorship is “well-intentioned”.
• Cops will never stop doing this as long as the state gives them pretexts.
• Florida prosecutors desperately trying to wipe the egg off of their faces.
• Yet another trans woman murdered, this time by a self-proclaimed ally.
• Tthe media in many countries are increasingly siding with sex workers.
• Oh look, Western nations are starting to notice a genocide in progress.
• Nobody questions the stigma that let this scum destroy women’s lives.
• Massage parlors are now taking the brunt of “sex trafficking” hysteria.
• When will the US abandon “re-education” for sex workers and clients?
• Yet TERFs want you to believe trans women are the dangerous ones.
• Why does Gay, Inc never speak up for sex workers until it’s too late?
• Yellow journalists try to avoid responsibility for their irresponsibility.
• It’s rare that judges side with sex workers against the government.
• The hotel industry is going to regret collaborating with fanatics.
• “Safe harbor” laws only protect “perfect victims”, not real ones.
• My two previous columns for Epiphany (AKA Little Christmas).
• Useful idiots are unable to understand how precedent works.
• Collapsing empires are obsessed with form over substance.
• Israeli prohibitionists are trying to criminalize all sex work.
• The only thing “growing” about “sex trafficking” is the lies.
• Cops, Cthulhu, New Jersey, Florida, feet and much more.
• Other underage sex workers who killed abusive clients.
• Abolishing these evil, tyrannical laws is an uphill climb.
• Morality is independent of results or even recognition.
• Simply ignoring student sex workers would be fine.
• Half of Australia will be contaminated by sex rays!
• “Targeted harassment” of a government building.
• There are four separate meanings of “libertarian”.
• Your government refers to this as “correction”.
• The US is following in the footsteps of China.
• “The 9 Most Important Sex Trends Of 2018”.
• The Dutch Disnification scheme continues.
• As the young people say, “So much nope”.
• Christmas is over and carnival has begun!
• Meanwhile, next door to New Hampshire…
• Cops, dumplings, Rush, and much more.
• The Sunset bookcase project continues.
• I’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop.
• Surprising absolutely no trans people.
• The Swedish model protects women!
• Amazon sucks up to the police state.
• Where US schools are soon headed.
• “Youth pastors” are as bad as cops.
• Smartass replies to dumbass texts.
• Prohibitionism is a mental illness.
• Rapist cops of the week.

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Links #548

You don’t find out what it’s all about, but you have a lot of fun being extremely confused.  –  Douglas Adams

Here’s a really unusual cover of a familiar tune, played on a most unusual instrument.  The video was provided by Inspireland, and the links above it by Lenore Skenazy, Boatfloating, Gustavo Turner (“Cardin”), Lucy Steigerwald, Jesse Walker, and Scott Shackford, in that order.

• Not a police state, no sirree!
• Universal criminality in action.
• R.I.P. Pierre Cardin and Dawn Wells.
• Not because your neighbor started his truck, either.
• A 35-year-old interview about the best computer game ever.
• Government is just a word for the things we choose to do together.

From the Archives

• If amateurs weren’t trying to ruin our lives, they could learn a lot from us.
• We’re not hearing quite as much of this “highway” bullshit as we used to.
• As long as sex work is marginalized, whores will be targeted for violence.
• More cops raping sex workers (excuse me, “rescuing trafficking victims”).
• In case you thought screws restricted their petty sadism to the prisoners.
• 300 texts does not equate to 300 men, since many guys send a barrage.
• Cops wait a year to arrest a dangerous, violent serial rapist. Guess why?
• This article by 3 academic allies covers a lot of ground, but starts here.
• Imprisonment doesn’t magically become “care” for prisoners under 18.
• New items of this type appear under the heading “Permanent Record”.
• When will the US abandon “re-education” for sex workers and clients?
• A Nigerian vice gang allowed to do anything to terrorize sex workers.
• Just another lying politician who wants to police others’ private lives.
• “Abatement”.  A term used for inhuman things, especially nuisances.
• If sex work weren’t illegal, laws like this would be easily overturned.
• It’s the same everywhere our work is even partially criminalized.
• Opportunists produce “studies” to “find” what is already known.
• I’ll be rather pleased if Philadelphia beats Seattle to the punch.
• In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
• Minnesota imprisons a bunch of migrants as “sex traffickers”.
• A “national leader in the field of sex offender management”.
• Indian sex workers fight a terrible new “anti-trafficking” bill.
• Think being a “legal” sex worker protects you from cop lies?
• Just in case you though FOSTA was as bad as it would get.
• Cops are being forced to deny “sex trafficking” scary tales.
• Previous columns for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
• The 20th anniversary of my becoming a full-time escort.
• Cops, government, racism, rock & roll and much more.
• Our government refers to this as “correction”.
• Beginning the remodeling project at Sunset.
• Cops, fantasy, love in Iran, and much more.
• A video about China’s genocide of Uighurs.
• Why doesn’t this say what kind of animal?
• How my 2012 predictions looked in 2019.
• I figured they could at least count to ten.
• Enjoying some seasonal relaxation.
• The “security” system that isn’t.
• So progress!  Much Seattle!

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Links #547

They…leave people’s lives in ruins because they got it wrong.
–  Anjanette Young

When I retweeted the video I featured last week, reader Michael Norwitz called my attention to this one; I think it’s a suitable way to close out the year!  The links above it were provided by Stephen Lemons, Jillian Keenan, Radley Balko, Cop Crisis, Franklin Harris, and Scott Greenfield, in that order.

• As one does.
• “Friend” in Arabic.
• Eating lunch while black.
• Not a police state, no sirree!
• Causes of death that They cover up.
• When she’s not a professional naked woman, people care for a change.

From the Archives

• It’s hilarious that these dumb sex doll conferences keep getting cancelled.
• Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
• Religious-nut cop schemes to brainwash women at remote, hidden ranch.
• Whores understand the need for STI prevention; amateurs, not so much.
• In case anyone still doubts that politicians are deranged megalomaniacs.
• A good profile of veteran trans & sex worker activist Ceyenne Doroshow.
• Previous columns for Yule, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & Boxing Day.
• Does anyone other than local news fail to see what a disaster FOSTA is?
• The state only cares about imaginary perfect “sex trafficking victims”.
• Enjo kosai girls get better at protecting themselves from busybodies.
• Government is just a word for the things we choose to do together.
• If they win, it would be a powerful blow to Swedish criminalization.
• Prohibitionists try to subvert debunking of the gypsy whores myth.
• Though Amazon isn’t listening to shareholders, it seems Google is.
• The Spanish sex worker union the government wants to suppress.
• The EFF has recently emerged as one of our most powerful allies.
• This ridiculous failure rate won’t stay inaccurate for much longer.
• A retrospective of my columns from December 2015 and 2016.
• Yet another large union declares support for sex worker rights.
• All too often, evil arrives cloaked in the mantle of expediency.
• In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
• Never forget that “filter” is merely a euphemism for “censor”.
• Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet.
• The handwriting is on the wall for “feminist” prohibitionism.
• “Peacekeeper” is just another euphemism for “cop”.
• What does her income have to do with her murder?
• Go on, keep raising your kids to respect authority.
• Cops, Florida, deaths, animation and much more.
• People sometimes ask why I’m not on Facebook.
• Even being related to a cop may be enough.
• Cops, trains, the sea, and much more.
• December 17th performance art.
• A hypocrite and a cheapskate.
• Christmas and Star Trek.
• Rapist cops of the week.
• Christmas at Sunset.

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Links #546

Why are you in my home?  –  Kawaski Trawick, last words

Though there are rarely any decent holiday videos on YouTube any more (and when there are, they appear only a few days in advance), Christmas has long been a time for celebrating via mind-altering substances.  I therefore present this video, provided by Jesse Walker, who also supplied “corpse” and both obits.  The other links above the video are from Mike Siegel, Walter Olson, Mistress Matisse, Phoenix Calida, and Radley Balko, in that order.

• The Pooh pathology test.
• The resurrection of lost odors.
• Monogamy is a kind of mental illness.
• R.I.P. Charley Pride and John le Carré.
• A successor to Mr. Rogers, Korean style.
• Not because you’re locked out of your flat, either.
• A corpse pretending to be a mannequin pretending to be a corpse.

From the Archives

• Prohibitionist forced to admit prohibition is intended to harm sex workers.
• Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
• One of the smelliest turds from the collective Seattle anti-whore arsehole.
• DAs refusing to prosecute consensual acts are jury nullification writ large.
• Some rescue profiteers pretend to be ex-pimps; this guy really was one.
• PREA does nothing while screws have absolute power over their victims.
• Why whore licensing never works is obvious to everyone but politicians.
• Sometimes the pigs make an example of an unusually-awful rapist cop.
• “Signs of sex trafficking” have continued to proliferate to absurd levels.
• NSWP on state surveillance and harassment of sex workers who travel.
• Another rescue industry scam to exploit sex workers captured by cops.
• When South Korea provided “comfort women” to occupying US troops.
• When you give something to strangers, don’t be shocked if they sell it.
• The hotel industry is going to regret having collaborated with fanatics.
• Psychopathic sheriff loves staging entrapment schemes near holidays.
• Veteran activist Norma Jean Almodovar on leaving LAPD for sex work.
• Strippers are spearheading the movement for sex worker labor rights.
• The inane “wing” model leads its devotees down the road to Moronia.
• I’m glad people are beginning to realize how dangerous Facebook is.
• Here’s more detail on Philadelphia’s scam to steal citizens’ property.
• Academics keep “discovering” what we’ve been saying for decades.
• TSA’s specific plan is to help DHS build a giant biometric database.
• Louisiana somehow got a federal court to reverse its own decision.
• Florida lets screws deport people after beating and raping them.
• The government’s latest sleazy trick: attacking with civil suits.
• Cops are deeply twisted and in dire need of professional help.
• Cops ineptly try to regain control of a runaway moral panic.
• This is a type of surveillance the Stasi would recognize.
• Cops, D&D, relationships, Tom Lehrer and much more.
• They were “safeguarded”, no doubt at a “safe house”.
• The best news we’ve had yet about Amazon’s Ring.
• Shysters chasing the “sex trafficking” bandwagon.
• Feds arrest doctors for trying to heal people.
• Cops, farts, Caroll Spinney, and much more.
• Spending the holidays with my best friend.
• My previous columns for December 17th.
• I don’t know which is more exploitative.
• “Youth pastors” are as bad as cops.
• Cane is “contaminated” with sugar!
• I believe in Father Christmas.
• Rivers & McNeill ride again.
• Rapist cops of the week.

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Links #545

The fact I have this name…doesn’t mean I’m striving for world domination.  –  Adolf Hitler Uunona

My friend Savannah Sly has released a new song in collaboration with Jazz Goldman; it’s a very impressive cover of “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  The links above it were provided by Ally Fogg, Amy Alkon, Mike Siegel, Jesse Walker, Tim Cushing, and Cop Crisis, in that order.

• Monty Python meets reality TV.
• Prohibitionists will ban anything.
• R.I.P. Ben Bova and Chuck Yeager.
• This is different; usually they’re bullshit.
• The phrase “gas station sushi” was awful enough.
• When lawheads confuse statutory “crimes” wth actual crimes.

From the Archives

• New York won’t stop trying to subject nude-pic-posters to police violence.
• Law & Order: SVU once again exploits sex workers to spread copaganda.
• A timid but perhaps important challenge to FOSTA from inside Congress.
• Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working?
• Just in case you thought screws restricted petty sadism to the prisoners.
• 41% of cops admit to beating their wives. Some don’t stop with beating.
• Many US jurisdictions have similar laws vs revealing clothes for women.
• With any luck, SCOTUS will shut down this & similar extortion schemes.
• Support for decriminalization is becoming the norm among economists.
• You can murder as many whores as you like without cops giving a shit.
• Anti-whore indoctrination has wholly infested the US trucking industry.
• Despite some conciliatory language and ground-ceding, a good article.
• The hotel industry is going to regret having collaborated with fanatics.
• Alabama’s latest entry in the “sex trafficking” idiocy-spewing contest.
• UK politician claims to be “shocked” by the existence of sex workers.
• Just another state-funded rape camp in Florida; nothing to see here.
• Funny how nail techs are only “trafficked” in the UK, but not the US.
• The truth about Cambodian brothels is no “sex trafficking” fantasy.
• 24 years of state-inflicted torture finally end for the San Antonio 4.
• Is this a rationalization of cop behavior, or of serial killer behavior?
• Will “PTSD” replace “sex addiction” as an excuse for bad behavior?
• Cop-fellation and myth-regurgitation masquerading as journalism.
• An incredibly evil ruling even by despicable modern US standards.
• The only “mistake” here was that the victim wasn’t actually trans.
• Even being dead can’t protect you from sexually-aggressive cops.
• How to totally destroy your relationship with your teen offspring.
• It’s the same everywhere our work is even partially criminalized.
• I’m not sure how much this will help, but it certainly can’t hurt.
• Toasters have no “virginity” and cannot “consent” to anything.
• People with children are uniquely vulnerable to state coercion.
• The moronic claim that pictures magically “rewire” the brain.
• An informal, unwitnessed contract offers no legal protection.
• These predatory lawsuits won’t stop until FOSTA is repealed.
• Facebook turns the dial on its anti-sex “standards” up to 11.
• Amateurs could learn so much about business from whores.
• Cops, karma, justice, nightmares, Shatner and much more.
• Reporters of color debunk racist “sex trafficking” fantasies.
• Virginia comes up with some truly awful anti-whore laws.
• Just in case you doubted this was about total genocide.
• If not for stigma, he could simply have hired a domme.
• They’re trying to fix facial recognition’s technical flaws.
• Caging people permanently, without trial or sentence.
• We did warn you this wouldn’t stop with sex workers.
• “Don’t talk to cops” also includes written statements.
• Cops, brides, songs, D.C. Fontana, and much more.
• All I want for Christmas is some much-needed rest.
• Facebook can’t even follow its own “standards”.
• Signal boosting two messages for sex workers.
• THIS SEX TRAFFICKING IS OUT OF CONTROL!
• Your government refers to this as “correction”.
• Sex workers need your help more than ever.
• How old is the imbecile who writes this shit?
• Evelyn Hernández’ nightmare still isn’t over.
• Missy Mariposa on new escort ad sites.
• We’re getting very close to implosion.
• The Swedish rot has reached Spain.
• I’m a whore, not a programmer.
• Another big Toys for Tots haul!
• Peak white van hysteria.
• Rapist cop of the week.
• Are you a pimp?

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Links #543

I looked down there this morning at my willy and there’s a fucking flea bite on it.  –  Johnny Rotten

It’s not often that I laugh out loud at a video, even from The Onion, but this one was hilarious (at least to a literature nerd).  The links above it were provided by Amy Alkon, Jesse Walker (x3), Mike Chase, and Walter Olson, in that order.

• {Cue “Yakety Sax”}
• Headline of the week.
• California’s namesake.
• Where’s Jeffrey Combs when you need him?
• When Orwellian surveillance is a “republican value”.
• Remember the old “Hitchhiker’s Guide” computer game?

From the Archives

• One day, reporters will get that “People Work To Make Money” isn’t news.
• It usually starts with the politically unpopular, but it never stops with us.
• Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations.
• The state believes it owns you and you have no right to defend yourself.
• If case you still think decriminalization in Rhode Island was “accidental”.
• Sometimes “sex trafficking” = helping an underage sex worker survive.
• We keep learning more about Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops.
• What an actual attempt at abduction into forced prostitution looks like.
• This fantasy number now exceeds 1.3% of the entire world population.
• The popular but dangerous belief that masturbation is harmful to men.
• Another bad law giving prosecutors more ways to charge teen sexters.
• It’s rare for an organization to prioritize ethics over the heckler’s veto.
• A jury slaps down the government’s crusade against Christian charity.
• US reporter thinks her sadfeelz trump Filipinas’ right to make a living.
• Why must people be subjected to police theatrics in order to get help?
• Cops, karma, headlines, myths, Lovecraft, zoetropes and much more.
• One day, “small businesses have landlords” will not be seen as news.
• Can Nevada brothel workers collect disability for work-related injury?
• Why local laws banning facial recognition are just feel-good bullshit.
• African sex worker news articles are full of bizarre, stilted language.
• When a highway is destroyed, the traffic has to go into side streets.
• Our descendants will wonder why we thought this was noteworthy.
• An interesting history of Annie Sprinkle’s salon in 1980s New York.
• Persecution of sex workers invariably affects other women as well.
• The second stupidest claimed “cause of sex trafficking” of all time.
• Why I avoid “Black Friday” and collect toys for needy kids instead.
• May this presage the end for the evil, deranged Sunitha Krishnan.
• Your “leaders” don’t like being caught with their hands in your till.
• Prohibition has been proven to be unsafe to humans in any form.
• Arizona says anyone even accused of a sex crime is subhuman.
• The mainstream media is a font of disinformation on sex work.
• Why do sex workers and others believe in “immunity” policies?
• Sweden has never really given a damn about this rape charge.
• Shitty strip-club management as “evidence of sex trafficking”.
• My first proper sit-down feast in my own place since the ’90s.
• Cops, headlines, spelling, Gifaanisqatsi, and much more.
• Pigs and prohibitionists say one is “as many as 150”.
• Tell me again how the US isn’t a police state.
• My two previous columns for Thanksgiving.
• Mexico may be getting rid of “avails” laws.
• Rapist cops of the week, 2018 and 2019.
• November 2015 and 2016 in retrospect.
• Liz Brown on the “sex robot” fantasy.
• It’s impossible to state this too often.
• At peak hysteria, all it takes is this.
• “Correcting” people to death.
• A blissfully boring week.
• Safety first.

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Diary #542

I’m getting good at scheduling my appointments closely enough together to keep my trips to Seattle short and sweet.  I drove in on Wednesday, got my nails done, then on Thursday saw a new client I’ve known for some time online (he is an “out” client, but professional discretion still forbids my naming him unless he chooses otherwise) and found him both lovely and generous.  And speaking of generosity, I got three new presents: the DVDs for Thundarr the Barbarian from Brad Carter; a book of ghost stories from Nick Fowler; and a lovely snakeskin summer top from my friend Angela Keaton.  I also found out who sent the kitchen scale (RockyJimBeam) and the red cashmere sweater (Antonio Lorusso).  Jim will be glad to know that I already used the scale in preparing Saturday’s dinner, and Antonio asked for a picture of me in the sweater (I’m sure he won’t mind if I share it with everyone).  Thanks so much to all my wonderful, generous friends, clients, and readers; y’all have helped make this a very lovely birthday season!

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Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night (Review)

Though I’ve been a Trekkie since childhood, I had never seen all of Deep Space Nine until recently.  The reason is simple: the series premiered in January 1993 and was midway through its third season when my first husband left me without warning.  My life was thrown into turmoil and it took two years for me to get it straight again, during which time money was much too tight for the relative extravagance of cable TV.  So though I saw all of the first two seasons, half of the third, and occasional episodes (at friends’ houses or via borrowed videocassettes) of the fourth and fifth seasons, I got rather lost due to the complex story arcs and decided not to see any more individual episodes until I could rewatch the whole show from the beginning.  I gave Grace the complete series on DVD for Christmas about a decade ago, but still never got around to viewing it until this year, after I moved to Sunset as my primary residence.  As I watched, I soon found that I agree with many reviewers’ opinion that the series is the best of all the Star Trek sequel series; though it was a direct spinoff of The Next Generation I find it very much superior to its parent, not only because of its greater consistency, better writing, and relief from the pressure of being THE Star Trek show of it decade, but also because it discarded the moral oversimplification which (unfortunately) permeates most of The Next Generation in favor of a universe full of greys in which few characters were either moral paragons or cardboard villains.

This realistic portrayal of the ethical tangle that is real life was on full display in a 6^th-season episode we watched a couple of weeks ago, “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night“.  In it, Major Kira Nerys discovers that her mother, whom she believed to have died in a concentration camp during her planet’s half-century-long occupation by the militaristic Cardassians, actually survived for seven years after the very young Nerys had last seen her…as a “comfort woman” claimed by the Cardassian governor, Gul Dukat.  At first, Kira (who started the series as a morally rigid, almost puritanical character, and only slowly grew to accept that real life rarely resembles such abstractions) refuses to believe that her sainted mother could have been guilty of collaboration horizontale, then as she explores the truth (with the help of a mysterious alien device which grants her visions of the past), she instead becomes terribly angry with her mother for literally sleeping with the enemy.  But as the vision goes on, she realizes that her mother’s position as the governor’s mistress not only resulted in better living conditions for herself, but also for her husband and children, who might otherwise have died in a labor camp.  By the end of the episode she has not forgiven her mother, but has come to accept that she did what she thought best for her family, just as Nerys herself had to make hard choices (including becoming a terrorist) in her own struggle to survive the occupation.

The episode is not a highly rated one; perhaps the topic is too uncomfortable for many viewers, especially in these neo-Victorian times.  But as a sex worker and hard-nosed pragmatist, I deeply appreciated the show’s willingness to recognize that sex work, even under duress, can almost never be fit into a pat narrative of villain and victim, and its repeated depiction (in this episode and many others) of war as a filthy business from which nobody emerges entirely clean.

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