a nice surprise in Soho yesterday

The first thing I did when I got to Soho yesterday was to go to Bar Italia, an independent coffee shop in Frith Street. I had not been there before but I have heard JoAnne Good go on about it on her BBC Radio London show. I had a latte and it did taste very nice. When I want to buy a coffee I usually only have Pret A Manger latte or their 99p filter coffee. I shall go to Bar Italia again, although it is a bit expensive.

I decided I wanted to see Alena again. I have mentioned Alena in a previous post. I said that it had been a soulless experience being with her, and how it had reminded me of when I had tried prostitution in Soho in the 80s but given it up.

I went to 26 Wardour Street a while ago looking for a girl called Alina. Someone had given a description of her and recommended her. She wasn't there and somebody told me she didn't work there anymore. I decided to go to nearby Romilly Street to see if Meena was there. She wasn't, but a sign said there was a girl called Alena. I thought maybe Alena and Alina could be the same girl. I knocked on the door and the maid opened it.

She encouraged me to take a look at the girl. Alena was sitting on the bed, a small skinny girl with dark hair. She gave me a big smile. She seemed to fit the description of Alina, but I didn't think it was the same girl and I decided not to stay.

As I was walking along the road I remembered that I had been with a woman called Alena at Romilly Street before, but that this woman had had blonde hair. I don't especially like blondes and she hadn't been that pleasant. I remembered that she had held up one finger to emphasise that she only did one position for the money I had given her. And yet I kept hearing good reports about her on PunterNet.

So yesterday I decided to give it another go. And it was one of my most pleasurable experiences in Soho. I paid 20 pounds for 10 minutes with Alena. I asked her to give me a hand job. While I undressed I said to her that I thought I might have been with her before, but that the girl I had seen had blonde hair. She said it was most probably her, she had had blonde hair but had changed it.

I lay on the bed and she started playing with my willy. She had a nice smile and seemed very relaxed. I asked if I could see her pussy and she got onto all fours with her bottom sticking up in the air. She had an all over tan. I gently pinched her buttocks and held her labia apart to get a good look inside her pussy.

I said that she looked like a teenager. She had small breasts and they were lovely. She smiled and thanked me for the complement. I said that she looked like a schoolgirl. I asked her if she had a schoolgirl uniform and she said no. I gently smacked her bottom. I didn't want to do it too hard or she might have wanted me to pay extra. Paris charges extra for spanking.

Then she did something that no other sex worker has done for me, something I hadn't asked her to do, something that I would not have asked a sex worker to do. She looked deep into my eyes and said "Fuck me, Daddy", and then "Let me see your sperm, Daddy". She wasn't doing it as a joke and she wasn't doing it in the bored mechanical way that some sex workers do. She was playing a role.

I expect that there will be some people who will be shocked by this and will see it as evidence of my depravity. I can imagine a radical feminist or a police officer reading my blog, not because they think like me but because they want to find out what is going on.

People can have sexual fantasies without wanting those sexual fantasies to come true. I am not interested in having sex with teenagers either above the age of consent or below it. I have never had children and if I did I would not want to have sex with a daughter. I saw a documentary once about feminists and women said that a group of them had discussed their sexual fantasies and had been surprised that a common fantasy for them was rape fantasy.

I was immensely excited by Alena but I only had 10 minutes. Not enough time for me to orgasm. As I was leaving I said to her "I liked it when you called me 'Daddy', I'll remember that for next time". I want to see her again. Now I have seen how willing to please she is, I want her to put her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I want to carry her around he room and then sit on the edge of the bed with her on my lap. Like I did with Meena (in the same room).

Sometimes people say "Would you want your daughter to be a whore?". To which I could reply "No, but sometimes I want a whore to be my daughter".

Seriously though, it would not bother me if I had a daughter and she became a prostitute. Better than being a banker or a journalist, more honourable. I don't have the old fashioned contempt for prostitutes. I don't define people by what they do to make their money. It's a question of alternatives. Is it better to have your house repossessed or go on the game? Is it better to be evicted for being unable to pay the rent or sit in the dark because you could not pay your electricity bill?

The best thing in life is to find out the thing that you are good at and that you enjoy doing. Prostitution must always be second best to that because I don't believe any woman actually enjoys the work. She may enjoy the company of other women and obviously the money. But even a nymphomaniac would get tired of doing it so frequently. And they say you should not make a job out of your hobby.

If you can't find something you enjoy and are good at then find something that you dislike less than other types of work. Or something where you can earn the same amount of money in a day as in a whole week of something else. Not everyone enjoys working.

Most women would just hate to do it and many women are tempramentally unsuited to prostitution. They shouldn't do it. Also I worry about things like National Insurance contributions. If these are not getting paid because you are outside the normal system of employment or benefits then it can be difficult to get benefits or a pension. I don't know much about it. I don't like the idea of a woman continuing to be a prostitute when she wants to give it up.

Some women want to make a fortune from prostitution or pornography and they do. Some women want to get a few thousand pounds in the bank to finance what they really want to do with their lives. This happens, but you wouldn't think it if you listened just to radical feminists.

I have been reading the blog of Rebecca Mott who I mentioned in my last post. I found a link on the OBJECT site on the testimonies page. What I was hoping for was her testimony, even though I knew it would not show the reality of prostitution for most sex workers. What I found was a lot of ideological claptrap. She refers to some of the things that supposedly happened to her but gives no details.

I have copied and pasted a few paragraphs to give you a flavour of the sort of rubbish she writes and women in OBJECT seem to belive in.

Know to be a prostitute is to rape to almost dead, but to continually be an open vagina, anus, mouth and hands to be fuck again and again and again.

There is no space, rest, time to remember you are human in those conditions.

Many of you may be fighting against factory farming.

But what about prostituted women and girls inside industrial rape factories named brothels, clubs, outdoors prostitution, massage parlours and whatever label hides the male violence.

and this

Tidy away the violence, don’t see the millions of dead bodies, refuse to know the hate and contempt that the sex trade has for the goods – never given permission to be real women and girls.

and this

Any women who named herself a feminist and thinks that is unimportant, or that for some reason prostituted women and girls don’t mind – they choose it don’t they – should think very carefully what is their definition of being a feminist.

It cannot be throwing women and girls under the train.

Feminism need to listen and learn from the voices of exited prostituted women, not to continually go to academia, and to meetings without their voices – the voices of exited prostituted should have a place of honour in feminism, not be a footnote that is sometimes remembered.

That's just the problem with people like Rebecca Mott. They don't listen to women involved in prostitution. My advice to them is to go and talk to prostitutes in Soho. Get to know them. Learn their story. Clayton Littlewood and Juliet Peston have done just that and they tell the truth. Clayton is a gay man and so no one can suspect him of being a punter with a vested interest in keeping it going.

Rebecca says she is an anarchist. She also says she goes to church. I didn't think anarchists went to church or supported using the police and the legal system to ban all kinds of things (prostitution, pornography, lap dancing, beauty contests etc). I don't really understand why anyone takes these people seriously, and why they seem to have influence on key members of the Labour party.

I have found out that Caroline Lucas, a leading member of the Green Party, is trying to change the current policy on prostitution from the sensible New Zealand Model to the Swedish Model, which will ban men from paying for sex. She has started believing all of the false statistics put about by radical feminist organisations like OBJECT, and all of the silly ideas such as the idea that prostitution is 'the buying and selling of human beings'. see this blog

There is an argument that Britain is becoming more like America in that there is a shift from public spending on benefits to public spending on prisons, the police and the military. In America they are very keen on humiliation as a means of control. It doesn't work, has never worked but it is part of their culture.

Harriet Harman is cutting benefits for mothers at the same time as criminalizing prostitutes even more. Prostitutes are also being humiliated by being 'named and shamed', with their photographs and names published in newspapers. For example, Michelle Lyn Smith. How can anyone believe that the aristocratic Harriet Harman cares about poor women in general and those of them who choose prostitution in particular?

Is this really what people call being progressive? Radical feminists sometimes get the criticism that they are puritans. Is that true?

Some people have always hated prostitution and tried to stop it. In previous centuries they justified their dislike through religion. We have listened to the justification of radical feminists, and it is dependent on statistics that academics have shown to be false and people like me who have experience of prostitution can see is wrong. They have been told their statistics are all wrong but they don't want to know.

I have been looking into the theory of objectification, which they use to justify their hatreds, and it doesn't make any sense. I might write more about this in another post. I am not against feminism but I am against the radicals. They are the reason why so many women don't want to call themselves feminists.

Their views are dangerous because they harm women. They stop women from being safe. It's not the punters who create the conditions where women are harmed, it is the radical feminists and the ignorant who support them.

Yes, they are puritans. Their personalities are deficient in the qualitites that we would expect of people in authority and with influence.

Meard Street and Dean Street again

I have been looking at Clayton Littlewood's Soho blog in more detail (mentioned in a previous post) and was especially interested when he mentioned Meard Street. I have been familiar with this street for decades but I didn't know about the two notorious clubs that used to be there.

The Mandrake and The Gargoyle were clubs where famous figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Tallulah Bankhead and Francis Bacon went. One web site says that opium smoking went on there.

In the 1980s there was a doorway in Meard Street where women would solicit men passing by. If the man was tempted he would be asked to hand over money and then told he had to meet the woman somewhere else. She would not turn up. This form of stealing is called clipping.

I read in a newspaper that there was a man who was saving up for a sex change operation. He would go to Meard Street as a woman and take money from men this way. I was walking along Meard Street one day and there were two people soliciting, not in the doorway but walking up and down the street. I could see that one of them looked like a man dressed as a woman. His shoulders were just a bit too broad and his hips were just a bit too narrow.

The other one solicited me. I said to her "Is this the sex-change person?" looking at him. She laughed and said "Do you want a sex-change person?". I walked away briskly but she must have told him what I had said because he followed me along the street and around the corner saying repeatedly "How did you know that I'm a sex change person?". I kept walking and didn't reply but he was persistent.

I didn't know what to say to him. I stopped and turned to him and said "It's obvious". I didn't know what else to say. He looked confused for a few seconds and then said sadly "That's all I wanted to know" and walked away.

The doorway is no longer open, and the brothel that was next to it has closed. I don't know if clipping still goes on. Sometimes women in the street ask me if I'm looking for a girl but I don't respond to them.

61 Dean Street seems to be functioning as normal now. I don't know why the door was closed on the first of April. There have been police raids since the introduction of the new law but Soho seems to be continuing as before.

I have read the blog that I mentioned in my last post in more detail. It gives a comprehensive and detailed criticism of the Policing and Crime Bill 2009. It shows clearly that women are being increasingly criminalised by the change in the law.

There is a link to an Evening Standard article that talks about the campaign to keep 61 Dean Street open. It also mentions Lizzie Valad, the prostitute whose flat was closed and was murdered when she worked on the streets.

Clayton's blog gives an amusing account of his involvement in the court case to keep 61 Dean Street open. I can't find any mention on his blog of the masked parade that the sex workers had in Soho last year to celebrate winning the case. I did not know about it or I would have gone. I have looked at photos of it though on different web sites. I tried to see if I could identify any of the women but I could not. The most interesting site is this one, you can see that one of the masked women dancing isn't wearing any knickers!

The OBJECT feminist organisation claim that they want men involved in prostitution to be criminalised and women to be decriminalised. The law criminalises women yet they have web pages called "Victory as Peers vote for women, not pimps and punters!.htm" and "Double Victory as Bill is passed on lap dancing and prostitution!.htm".

There's something irritating about those exclamation marks. Why are they supporting a law which criminalises women and is harming them? There is no indication on their site that women are being criminalised by the new law they celebrate. Either they are ignorant or they are deceptive.

In the first of these web pages mentioned they say " ... the Bill puts the rights of exploited women over those of punters and pimps by focusing the gaze of the criminal law on the men who perpetuate commercial sexual exploitation by choosing to buy women, children and men for sex." Can't they see that the bill harms women?

They have a page on prostitution which doesn't say much except "Prostitution is the ultimate form of objectification and for OBJECT, tackling the demand for prostitution is a crucial part of challenging this objectification." This theory of objectification is something they repeat time and time again like a mantra to justify their beliefs but doesn't make sense.

On this page they have links to other pages such as Facts (all proved to be wrong) and testimonies. The first of their 'facts' is "75% of women involved in prostitution started as children". One of their testimonies, from Rebecca, says "I am so p*ssed off with the ‘choice’ argument being used to dismiss so many women and girls. I, for one, would never deny there are some women who may choose to be in prostitution. But they are very privileged and a very tiny minority, maybe around 2-4% of prostituted women." I think that Rebecca has got things the wrong way round, the vast majority of prostitutes are not coerced with possibly 2-4% who are.

Rebecca has her own blog, which I intend to read. I had a quick look at it and it was saying something about men spitting on her frequently, as if this was something commonplace in prostitution. I have read a number of testimonies on the web. I'm not saying that they are all wrong, but they don't show what prostitution is really like.

I have a wide experience of prostitution at the cheaper end. This includes suburban brothels, Soho walk ups and street girls. I have never once seen a prostitute who was drunk, crying or in pain. I have once seen a woman who looked very unhappy, and I wrote about her in earlier postings.

On their prostitution page OBJECT also have a link to their Demand Change campaign. This campaign is in opposition to the Safety First Coalition supported by Women Against Rape, the Green Party, the English Collective of Prostitutes and informed feminists.

an interesting blog about sex work and the law

I have found a blog that has a lot of information about the legalities of sex work, including the Policing and Crime Bill 2009.

http://sexworkblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/policing-and-crime-bill-2009/

61 Dean Street

I like to listen to JoAnne Good on BBC Radio London at night. She is familiar with Soho and says she is fascinated by the sex workers. She said several days ago that she was sitting having her lunch outside Beatroot in Berwick Street looking at the doorway of one of the walk ups. She said she saw a woman go in who looked as if she was 25 stone. However, I don't think any of the sex workers are that big so maybe it was one of the maids.

A couple of nights ago she mentioned this again and she did a very interesting interview with Clayton Littlewood who lived and worked in Soho. He had a shop underneath the walk up at 61 Dean Street. He got to know the girls there and he helped to stop the place from being closed down.

Clayton said that he is sure none of the women working in Soho are coerced. JoAnne said that she was glad he said that because "every time I talk about prostitution people go on about - you know - the slave trade and how they're forced to do this". Clayton has had a blog on Soho for some time and also has a book, and now a play. The book is called 'Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho'. Clayton is on myspace and has his blog there.

In one of my recent postings I said that I was wondering if the walk up at 26 Wardour Street was the one that the police tried to close down. I had remembered reading something in a newspaper about a 'brothel' where a vicar had defended the establishment in court, saying that there was no drug dealing near there or any form of anti social behaviour. It's not 26 Wardour Street, it is 61 Dean Street.

Juliet Peston is another one who has defended the place, and she has told of her involvement here. She has worked in Soho as a chef and has concerns about the welfare of the sex workers she has met. She is also concerned about the tactics that the police are using to get what they want.

I have not been to 61 Dean Street but I did notice that the big sign saying MODEL outside the doorway has been taken down. I went into Soho in the afternoon of the first of April and I noticed that the door was closed. I hope that the police have not managed to close it. I will keep you informed.

JoAnne also interviewed the two men behind Hummus Brothers. This is a new restaurant that sells hummus and other stuff. I am familiar with the one in Wardour Street in Soho. What I like about them is that you can get a meal there for £2.80. So when I am short of money I go in there. I have a small bowl of hummus with chickpeas. It has olive oil, tahini, and cumin and comes with hot pitta bread. They do different things apart from chickpeas with the hummus and they also do salads. In the summer I want to try their home-made lemonade.

I did go to Whole Foods Market in Brewer Street in Soho. This is a new store like their bigger store on High Street Kensington. I used to have a tub of salad. I would have chicken and salmon and different salad things. However, they seem to have stopped having balsamic vinegar pickled onions. So I go elsewhere.

Beatroot restaurant on Berwick Street Soho is good for cheap food. So is Stockpot. One of my favourite places to eat is somewhere in Holborn. There is a Hummus Brothers in Holborn which didn't get mentioned in JoAnne's interview although the new one in the City did. But the place that I like to go is the café at the Mary Ward Centre in Holborn. This is an adult education college where I studied once. The café is only open during term time and is vegetarian.

They do a wide range of inexpensive items from the Mediterranean region. Things like pasta and couscous. It's quite healthy. It seems to be run by an Italian family. Sometimes there is a beautiful older Italian woman there.

It's very convenient for me because I get my bus from near there back to south London. The toilets there are good too.

Women Against Rape and the Green Party

I have found two interesting web sites that have something to say about the Policing and Crime Bill and the Criminal Justice Bill. The first is the Against Rape site. The second is the Green Party site. They say that prostitutes are being further criminalised by these laws.

The Against Rape site makes a number of points on the Policing and Crime Bill on this page. Point number 3 is especially interesting and I have quoted it below.

3. Clauses 16, 17 and 21 will increase violence and exploitation.
Justice and protection for victims of rape and trafficking, and the prevention of these crimes, depend on the ability of survivors to come forward to report. That is the considered view of survivors of rape and other violence, including sex workers. Why is legislation aimed at women in the sex industry ignoring these views? Like the Royal College of Nursing and other members of the Safety First Coalition, we believe that criminalising prostitution forces women underground and into danger. Clauses 16, 17 and 21 are unsafe – women threatened with arrest for loitering or soliciting, forced ‘rehabilitation’, or having their premises raided and earnings seized, are not likely to seek help from the police. We know many who have not reported serious attacks for fear of being arrested; others who reported were told that they were “asking for it” or that “a prostitute can’t be raped”; others still were charged for minor offences such as speeding and petty theft. As a result their attackers were free to rape again and even murder.

The Green Party site talks about the Criminal Justice Bill on this page. Siân Berry, Green Party Mayoral Candidate for London, calls for the complete decriminalisation of sex work. I have quoted the more interesting bits below.

Siân also attacks the new Clause 124 of the Labour government's Criminal Justice Bill, which introduces a new 'order to promote rehabilitation' for the offence of 'loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution.'

She noted that this was effectively re-introducing imprisonment for the offence of soliciting, which was abolished by a Tory government in 1982.

She said, "The government with this Bill is treating prostitution as though it were an illness, and one for which women and men should be punished. Of course we would hope that sex workers who want to get out of the industry, and who need help with that, should find it immediately - and for that the government needs to provide greatly improved funding for, for example, drug addiction treatment programmes. But women and men arrested for soliciting should not be forced into 'treatment' against their will.

"And the government should note that it is often its own policies - inadequate support for women with children, the withdrawal of recourse to public funds for failed asylum-seekers, that is forcing women and men into the industry."

Siân added: "Centuries of criminalisation have not wiped out, or even reduced, the level of prostitution. Instead it has left on our streets, and our consciences, the bodies of many murdered women and men."