Hi all. Remember when there was that uproar about the guy who assaulted a domestic worker thinking she was a sex worker, and I was like "actual sex workers get assaulted all the time, and no one gives a shit"? Well, it turns out that same guy HAD assaulted an actual sex worker prior to this, and she hadn't gone to the police until the later story broke (probably, quite rightly, believing that they wouldn't give a shit). News24
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"When the headline maintained that “We have failed to prevent global warming, so we must adapt to it”, the “we” referred in these instances to different people. We who live in the rich world can brook no taxation to encourage green energy, or regulation to discourage the consumption of fossil fuels. We cannot adapt even to an extra penny of taxation. But the other “we”, which turns out to mean “they” – the people of the tropics – can and must adapt to the loss of their homes, their land and their lives, as entire regions become wastelands." Guardian
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"One captain came up with the idea where they would just pick out a white kid and a black kid and let them fight in a cage for five minutes once a month, and that's how it was done. I had to fight like this on two different occasions. Even though I didn't want to do it, I knew that if I didn't, the guards would just take out their sticks and beat both of us senseless. So I fought." Cracked
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An interesting little piece of Soho local history.
"In this post, I’ve chosen to commemorate some drunk Canadians in London in 1916, the police who impersonated them, and the women who sold sex in the bars that they frequented." Notches
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Here's just a reminder that, when he was in a position to actually expressed a considered opinion on the matter, even David Cameron supported drug liberalisation.
"David Cameron, the Tory leadership contender, believes the UN should consider legalising drugs and wants hard-core addicts to be provided with legal "shooting galleries" and state-prescribed heroin." Independent
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A little titbit for the vegan propagandists out there...
"a new study from researchers in Uppsala University in Sweden suggests that consuming more milk could actually be associated with higher mortality and bone fractures in women and higher mortality in men." Washington Post
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Drug laws are stupid, mkay?
“We did not in our fact-finding observe any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country’s enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country,” Guardian
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"The brainchild of women of color in the reproductive health and rights movements more than two decades ago, the reproductive justice framework came about due to their frustration with the “choice” framework. These activists were frustrated that most reproductive rights activism focused narrowly on abortion and the desire not to have kids when they knew that Mexican-American and indigenous women, as well as other low-income women of color on Medicaid, were getting coercively sterilized." Feministing
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The Australian government, on average, spends $440,000 to detain an asylum seeker offshore, and $239,000 onshore. All this spending supposedly justified by the costs that asylum seekers would impose on the state if allowed to settle. But giving cash to giant corporations is *obviously* a better use of state resources then helping a destitute and desperate person settle in a new country. Guardian
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"A media diet too rich on long gazes and sex that happens between new lovers without a word spoken spoiled us for the reality that communication before and during sexual intimacy can both minimize the likelihood of hurting another person – which should be a desire as base as any other – and even enhance the experience of sex. Consent is seen by BDSMers and vanilla folk alike as boring, plebian, with the sought-after relationship goal being to “just have chemistry”." Guardian
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[TW for sexual assault]
Another big fat rape culture story, I'm afraid. MIC
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What an asshole.
"Turkey’s new president has been accused of behaving like a “sultan” after he installed himself in the biggest residential palace in the world, built for a price tag of £384 million. Recep Tayyip Erdogan now resides in the White Palace, which was constructed in breach of court orders in protected forest land in the capital, Ankara." Telegraph
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"They work in the expectation they will collect their earnings when they return to North Korea, but according to a series of testimonies from defectors and experts, workers receive as little as 10% of their salaries when they go home, and some may receive nothing. One North Korean worker at a construction site in central Doha told the Guardian: “We are here to earn foreign currency for our nation.”" Guardian
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Zuma seems to think of the state as an extension of his own household, and thus feels free to use its resources to benefit his friends and family. I get no sense that he feels any shame about this. M&G
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LOL
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"The bottom line is this. When someone says they don’t regret their abortion or their sex work, or anything else that some people find traumatising, then, absent real (and individualised) evidence to the contrary, there’s really only one acceptable response. It’s along the lines of “That’s great, I’m glad that you’re OK with your experience.” Anything else amounts to wishing trauma on someone – and it’s a short hop from there to thinking they deserve trauma for making a choice you disapprove of." Feminist Ire
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Another example of the hypersexualisation of black women's bodies Daily Life
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If anyone thinks that Fiona Mactaggart or other sex work prohibitionists have any credibility, here's a reminder that they have been using the same dodgy statistics for *years*. Mactaggart quoted the same statistic in parliamentary debate just the other day. She must by now know full well that it is simply a fabrication, and simply has no concern for actual facts.
"In November 2008, Mactaggart repeated a version of the same claim when she told BBC Radio 4's Today in Parliament that "something like 80% of women in prostitution are controlled by their drug dealer, their pimp, or their trafficker." Again, there is no known source for this." Guardian
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"This practice is called nyumba ntobhu in western Tanzania. It is a traditional form of same-sex marriage. The two women share a bed as a couple, they live together, bear children in their union; they do everything a married couple would, except have sex... To bear children, women who are married under nyumba ntobhu usually hire a man and pay him when the younger woman falls pregnant." M&G
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Police entered the South African Parliament to remove a member, apparently in violation of the Constitution. :( M&G
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For all those labouring under the delusion that white South Africans are now somehow disadvantaged in the labour market...
"I recently heard of a disturbing story of a black person who works for a reputable firm in the financial sector. A senior individual was going to vacate the position; the process took almost two years. It was a given that the person who would logically fill the post was a black female who had been with the firm for some time and had been performing some of the tasks. During the two years, she prepared for the position. Yet, when the time came, she was passed over and the job was given to someone who was her junior – and white." M&G
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An interesting exercise in alternative history, though I can think of a number of problems with it. For one, it seems to presuppose large-scale state consolidation along European lines. Big Think
A larger version is available here
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I agree with this sentiment, though if we think a thing is valuable, perhaps we could subsidise it directly rather than via regulatory barriers to entry?
"Ultimately, the case to make for the Knowledge may not be practical-economic (the Knowledge works better than Sat-Nav), or moral-political (the little man must be protected against rapacious global capitalism), but philosophical, spiritual, sentimental: The Knowledge should be maintained because it is good for London’s soul, and for the souls of Londoners. The Knowledge stands for, well, knowledge — for the Enlightenment ideal of encyclopedic learning, for the humanist notion that diligent intellectual endeavor is ennobling, an end in itself." NY Times
>>><<<
Make no mistake, laws against "sex trafficking" end up targeting sex workers themselves. And that isn't accidental.
"In January of 2013, a few months after the law was passed, police went to a massage parlor in Kenai, a town south of Anchorage with a population of about 7,000. They arrested a 49-year-old woman, and a 19- and 20-year-old. All three were charged with prostitution. But the 49-year-old was also charged with first, second, and third degree sex trafficking, apparently because she was accused of owning the business." truthout
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"There was also a turn-of-the-century vibrator, with the unfortunate name Veedee; a pun on the Latin phrase, “Veni, vidi, vici”. The packaging made ambitious claims for it as a panacea, able to cure everything from colds to neurosis with its “curative vibration”. The device resembles a bulky hairdryer and was once a serious medical tool, used by doctors to induce the orgasms thought to reposition the wandering womb believed to cause hysteria." Guardian
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"Despite it all, none of the women I talk to want to be rescued from the industry. In fact, they feel reforms to the licensing laws brought in in 2003 and rules introduced in 2009 that allow councils to put a block on the granting of any new licences - both promoted by those who profess to be acting in dancers interests - have seriously damaged their working conditions. " Vice
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"“Something broke tonight.” Those were the words of DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane, speaking to the Daily Maverick just around midnight on Thursday, after a day of sheer chaos." Daily Maverick
>>><<<
"When the headline maintained that “We have failed to prevent global warming, so we must adapt to it”, the “we” referred in these instances to different people. We who live in the rich world can brook no taxation to encourage green energy, or regulation to discourage the consumption of fossil fuels. We cannot adapt even to an extra penny of taxation. But the other “we”, which turns out to mean “they” – the people of the tropics – can and must adapt to the loss of their homes, their land and their lives, as entire regions become wastelands." Guardian
>>><<<
"One captain came up with the idea where they would just pick out a white kid and a black kid and let them fight in a cage for five minutes once a month, and that's how it was done. I had to fight like this on two different occasions. Even though I didn't want to do it, I knew that if I didn't, the guards would just take out their sticks and beat both of us senseless. So I fought." Cracked
>>><<<
An interesting little piece of Soho local history.
"In this post, I’ve chosen to commemorate some drunk Canadians in London in 1916, the police who impersonated them, and the women who sold sex in the bars that they frequented." Notches
>>><<<
Here's just a reminder that, when he was in a position to actually expressed a considered opinion on the matter, even David Cameron supported drug liberalisation.
"David Cameron, the Tory leadership contender, believes the UN should consider legalising drugs and wants hard-core addicts to be provided with legal "shooting galleries" and state-prescribed heroin." Independent
>>><<<
A little titbit for the vegan propagandists out there...
"a new study from researchers in Uppsala University in Sweden suggests that consuming more milk could actually be associated with higher mortality and bone fractures in women and higher mortality in men." Washington Post
>>><<<
Drug laws are stupid, mkay?
“We did not in our fact-finding observe any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country’s enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country,” Guardian
>>><<<
"The brainchild of women of color in the reproductive health and rights movements more than two decades ago, the reproductive justice framework came about due to their frustration with the “choice” framework. These activists were frustrated that most reproductive rights activism focused narrowly on abortion and the desire not to have kids when they knew that Mexican-American and indigenous women, as well as other low-income women of color on Medicaid, were getting coercively sterilized." Feministing
>>><<<
The Australian government, on average, spends $440,000 to detain an asylum seeker offshore, and $239,000 onshore. All this spending supposedly justified by the costs that asylum seekers would impose on the state if allowed to settle. But giving cash to giant corporations is *obviously* a better use of state resources then helping a destitute and desperate person settle in a new country. Guardian
>>><<<
"A media diet too rich on long gazes and sex that happens between new lovers without a word spoken spoiled us for the reality that communication before and during sexual intimacy can both minimize the likelihood of hurting another person – which should be a desire as base as any other – and even enhance the experience of sex. Consent is seen by BDSMers and vanilla folk alike as boring, plebian, with the sought-after relationship goal being to “just have chemistry”." Guardian
>>><<<
[TW for sexual assault]
Another big fat rape culture story, I'm afraid. MIC
>>><<<
What an asshole.
"Turkey’s new president has been accused of behaving like a “sultan” after he installed himself in the biggest residential palace in the world, built for a price tag of £384 million. Recep Tayyip Erdogan now resides in the White Palace, which was constructed in breach of court orders in protected forest land in the capital, Ankara." Telegraph
>>><<<
"They work in the expectation they will collect their earnings when they return to North Korea, but according to a series of testimonies from defectors and experts, workers receive as little as 10% of their salaries when they go home, and some may receive nothing. One North Korean worker at a construction site in central Doha told the Guardian: “We are here to earn foreign currency for our nation.”" Guardian
>>><<<
Zuma seems to think of the state as an extension of his own household, and thus feels free to use its resources to benefit his friends and family. I get no sense that he feels any shame about this. M&G
>>><<<
LOL
>>><<<
"The bottom line is this. When someone says they don’t regret their abortion or their sex work, or anything else that some people find traumatising, then, absent real (and individualised) evidence to the contrary, there’s really only one acceptable response. It’s along the lines of “That’s great, I’m glad that you’re OK with your experience.” Anything else amounts to wishing trauma on someone – and it’s a short hop from there to thinking they deserve trauma for making a choice you disapprove of." Feminist Ire
>>><<<
Another example of the hypersexualisation of black women's bodies Daily Life
>>><<<
If anyone thinks that Fiona Mactaggart or other sex work prohibitionists have any credibility, here's a reminder that they have been using the same dodgy statistics for *years*. Mactaggart quoted the same statistic in parliamentary debate just the other day. She must by now know full well that it is simply a fabrication, and simply has no concern for actual facts.
"In November 2008, Mactaggart repeated a version of the same claim when she told BBC Radio 4's Today in Parliament that "something like 80% of women in prostitution are controlled by their drug dealer, their pimp, or their trafficker." Again, there is no known source for this." Guardian
>>><<<
"This practice is called nyumba ntobhu in western Tanzania. It is a traditional form of same-sex marriage. The two women share a bed as a couple, they live together, bear children in their union; they do everything a married couple would, except have sex... To bear children, women who are married under nyumba ntobhu usually hire a man and pay him when the younger woman falls pregnant." M&G
>>><<<
Police entered the South African Parliament to remove a member, apparently in violation of the Constitution. :( M&G
>>><<<
For all those labouring under the delusion that white South Africans are now somehow disadvantaged in the labour market...
"I recently heard of a disturbing story of a black person who works for a reputable firm in the financial sector. A senior individual was going to vacate the position; the process took almost two years. It was a given that the person who would logically fill the post was a black female who had been with the firm for some time and had been performing some of the tasks. During the two years, she prepared for the position. Yet, when the time came, she was passed over and the job was given to someone who was her junior – and white." M&G
>>><<<
An interesting exercise in alternative history, though I can think of a number of problems with it. For one, it seems to presuppose large-scale state consolidation along European lines. Big Think
A larger version is available here
>>><<<
I agree with this sentiment, though if we think a thing is valuable, perhaps we could subsidise it directly rather than via regulatory barriers to entry?
"Ultimately, the case to make for the Knowledge may not be practical-economic (the Knowledge works better than Sat-Nav), or moral-political (the little man must be protected against rapacious global capitalism), but philosophical, spiritual, sentimental: The Knowledge should be maintained because it is good for London’s soul, and for the souls of Londoners. The Knowledge stands for, well, knowledge — for the Enlightenment ideal of encyclopedic learning, for the humanist notion that diligent intellectual endeavor is ennobling, an end in itself." NY Times
>>><<<
Make no mistake, laws against "sex trafficking" end up targeting sex workers themselves. And that isn't accidental.
"In January of 2013, a few months after the law was passed, police went to a massage parlor in Kenai, a town south of Anchorage with a population of about 7,000. They arrested a 49-year-old woman, and a 19- and 20-year-old. All three were charged with prostitution. But the 49-year-old was also charged with first, second, and third degree sex trafficking, apparently because she was accused of owning the business." truthout
>>><<<
"There was also a turn-of-the-century vibrator, with the unfortunate name Veedee; a pun on the Latin phrase, “Veni, vidi, vici”. The packaging made ambitious claims for it as a panacea, able to cure everything from colds to neurosis with its “curative vibration”. The device resembles a bulky hairdryer and was once a serious medical tool, used by doctors to induce the orgasms thought to reposition the wandering womb believed to cause hysteria." Guardian
>>><<<
"Despite it all, none of the women I talk to want to be rescued from the industry. In fact, they feel reforms to the licensing laws brought in in 2003 and rules introduced in 2009 that allow councils to put a block on the granting of any new licences - both promoted by those who profess to be acting in dancers interests - have seriously damaged their working conditions. " Vice
>>><<<
"“Something broke tonight.” Those were the words of DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane, speaking to the Daily Maverick just around midnight on Thursday, after a day of sheer chaos." Daily Maverick
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