review of The Truth About Modern Slavery by Emily Kenway

I have read 'The Truth About Modern Slavery' by Emily Kenway. Her belief is that exploitation exists and we need to combat it but current methods are counterproductive. Chapter 3 is about prostitution and trafficking. It has helped me to understand why there used to be many brothels in Liverpool but few now.

She writes that the police shut down many long established brothels in the mid-2010s. She spoke to Niki Adams from the English Collective of Prostitutes.

"So loads of brothels that were long term and had really good security systems, regular clientele, were expert at dealing with troublesome clients and so on, suddenly they were bust up, so they moved to new premises and didn't feel secure, and then the police would come and make them move on."

This explains what happened with most of the Liverpool brothels, and also Sandy's Superstars in Manchester, but not why most Manchester brothels survived. The crackdown seems to have started in 2005 though.

"The 2005 raid on Cuddles 'massage parlour' in the West Midlands is regarded by sex worker activists and academics as pivotal, marking the start of a distortion in media coverage regarding sex work and a shift from tolerant to interventionist policing, all legitimised under the banner of anti-trafficking. Women found inside the brothel were marched out in front of the media, their faces exposed in the press in what has been likened to an American 'perp-walk', despite the fact that they were supposedly victims."

6 of the 19 women taken away by the police 'were detained under immigration powers and scheduled for deportation'. Catherine Bennett writing in the Guardian in 2005 doesn't mention deportations though (It's all very well condemning the sex traffickers, but what about the punters who keep the trade going?). This is what Catherine Bennett wrote:-

"In the recent raid on Cuddles, the Birmingham massage parlour where 19 women were immured, police had to use battering rams to knock down locked internal doors, windows had been boarded up, and an electric fence stopped anyone trying to escape from the back of the building. What kind of person lives in a house like this?"

The answer is nobody. Prostitutes don't live in brothels, not unless they are held captive, and I'm pretty sure this was not the case. I don't believe that there was an electric fence to stop women from escaping. Someone, perhaps Ms Bennett, invented this to try to drum up support for brothel closures. Three of the women working at Cuddles were part of the ECP.

Emily writes about police raids on Soho walk ups (in 2013 and 2016), in Newquay in Cornwall and in Redbridge in London. The media stated 'police rescue 15 women from pop-up brothels during Redbridge raids'. Emily made Freedom of Information requests and found that none of these 15 women had been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). This means the women did not consider themselves victims of trafficking. What's more, no Duty to Notify submissions were made. This means that the police did not consider them possible victims of trafficking either. She gives more examples of this happening.

These women were not prisoners in brothels and did not require rescue. Instead of being rescued many will have been detained for deportation or prosecution for brothel keeping. Not rescued from imprisonment but imprisoned.

Part of chapter 3 is her assessment of the Nordic Model. This is the final paragraph of her assessment.

"In sum, this legislative model provides no concrete evidence of combating trafficking but does provide conclusive evidence of creating vulnerabilities which may lead, at best, to more poverty, more abuse, riskier working conditions and, at worst, to severe exploitation itself."

The final paragraph of chapter 3 says this

"The 'radical feminists' and religious interests that promote models which harm women want us to think we have to take a side; against sex work entirely and therefore exploitation, or for it entirely and therefore comfortable with exploitation. This in totally untrue. In fact, we can be against exploitation and support those in sex work, recognising sex work as work and recognising trafficking for sexual exploitation as abhorrent and wrong."

Emily Kenway is a writer and activist. As a former advisor to the UK's first Anti-Slavery Commissioner she was at the heart of modern slavery action. She has written for a variety of publications including the Guardian and TLS. This book will have a place on my bookshelf alongside 'Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights' by Molly Smith and Juno Mac and 'The Sex Myth' by Dr Brooke Magnanti as essential reference works on this subject.

In Catherine Bennett's article she suggests:-

"Perhaps the language barrier explains why so few of the men who are using - effectively raping - women who have been trafficked in this way never wonder if their young, obliging Moldavian, Lithuanian and Estonian companions might not prefer to be here as au pairs, or even to be back home, instead of submitting to sexual abuse from 30 strangers a day."

I have often wondered if Eastern European sex workers would have preferred to stay at home or to do menial work. Fortunately we have their words to answer that question. I will repeat my quote from the biography of the 6th Duke of Westminster who paid for the services of many of them. None of them have 30 clients a day. This is what a reporter who was watching the Duke told the author of the biography after questioning many sex workers emerging from his flat.

"They told me that it was either being an escort girl or doing cleaning jobs, which paid almost nothing and were often degrading. One said, 'If I had stayed at home it was poverty - no job, no life, no fun. In London I could live like a princess but only working as an escort girl. I could have been a cleaner or worked in a coffee bar for the minimum wage so I had to choose. I thought it would be better to sleep with the super-rich - even if they were old and boring and sometimes ugly!'"

So, I am not a rapist. But you, Catherine Bennett, do not know what you are talking about. There are good journalists, investigative journalists like Nick Davies, but you are not one of them.

vote for Police and Crime Commissioner

I've just been to vote. There were three sets of votes. One was for the Merseyside Police and Crimes Commissioner. I had no information about who the four candidates are. I can't remember who I voted for but now I've done a bit more research it looks as if Emily Spurrell for Labour is the best bet.

Emily, who was among the speakers, said: “Women who are involved in sex work are at risk of extreme violence and abuse every day. These women are often vulnerable and we must protect them and do what we can to end the marginalisation they experience.

“I’m proud to say that Merseyside Police has led the way in prosecuting and securing convictions against those who commit offences against sex workers, in large part by being the first Force in the country to recognise these crimes as hate crimes and through the skill and care of our specialist sexual offences Unity Team who have been able to successfully prosecute violent individuals.

“This work has also been supported by the development of the Red Umbrella project which aims to support these women to ensure they get the help they need, ideally so they can exit this type of work but, for those who remain, to ensure they are better protected and are able to work free from violence, abuse and exploitation.

As part of this project, a dedicated police sex worker liaison officer has been appointed to build trust and give sex workers the confidence to report incidents of violence to the police. Funding is also being used to improve the gathering of intelligence on those who inflict violence on sex workers.”

murder of Sarah Everard

Sarah Everard was last seen near Clapham Common at night. I used to live in South London and I know that street prostitution occurs on Clapham Common at night. So I can't help wondering if her murder was anything to do with street prostitution. Was Sarah targeted by a man because he thought she was a street girl?

Street girls go to Clapham Common and Tooting Bec Common at night because if they went there in the day they would be arrested. They would be in breach of their ASBO. At night it's easier to hide from the police. If you go alone without a friend it is easier to hide from the police. This makes them very vulnerable to any man who wants to harm women. Some of these men are punters and some aren't.

I don't want to use the death of a young woman to promote my opinions, unlike some people in the media. Also I could be completely wrong: it might be that the murderer did not see drug-addicted street-based sex workers as a better option for a murder. It might have been random. Or he might not have intended to murder.

Street girls are always dressed scruffily, just as Sarah was that night.

Sarah, also seen wearing a white beanie hat and Covid mask, walked across Clapham Common before coming on to the A205 South Circular Road.

brothel raids

There is a press release and two newspaper articles that I have read recently that offer an insight into prostitution in the UK.

1. A press release from the Metropolitan Police about brothel raids last year
2. A Manchester Evening News article about the prosecution of brothel owners two years ago
3. A Belfast Telegraph article about a young woman arrested in Northern Ireland last year

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1. Officers visit numerous addresses in modern slavery operation
Last month in London the Metropolitan Police said they had visited 18 brothels. A total of 46 women were spoken to and offered support. Of those, five were identified as potential victims who displayed indicators of modern slavery. One man was arrested on suspicion of controlling prostitution but released 'under investigation pending further enquiries'.

On the face of it modern slavery seems uncommon in brothels. They didn't discover any slaves for sure, and only 5 out of 46 were thought to be potential victims. One man was arrested but may not even have been charged.

They recognize that other forms of money-making can be equally problematic: 'victims have been found working in construction, domestic servitude, agriculture, cannabis factories and in places you use yourself, such as car washes, barbers and nail bars'.

I can't help wondering if any of these women were arrested and deported. The Met don't say but perhaps they are hiding what they are doing. They say they treat the women as victims but that helps them to deflect criticism. 'Often they do not see themselves as potential victims of sexual exploitation'. Maybe they just want to be left alone.

There is a lot of talk about coercion. 'Physical and mental abuse is common'. What is the evidence for that? It obviously happens sometimes, as in other forms of money making, but is it true that it is common?

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2. The married couple behind Sandys Superstars who built a multi-million pound brothel business charging punters £50 for sex
Former escort Sandra Hankin was the 'big cheese' of a business that was known to the police and the local authorities - and made a 'very high profit'. She and her husband ran two brothels, one in Prestwich/Bury (north Manchester) and one in Northenden (south Manchester). The police took no action against them for 14 years because there were no underage girls, no trafficked women, no suggestion of coercion, the business wasn't used as a front for other crime and it did not affect the local community.

The women were all British. "Many bought homes, had saving bank accounts, and were real providers for their families for the first time. All aspects of the women’s health and well being was provided for."

Sandy had worked as an escort. She didn't like that, finding conditions unsafe and unpleasant. She changed to 'parlour' or 'sauna' work. There were problems there too. The owner of the place she was working left, leaving her in charge. She and her husband transformed the place.

"The bedrooms were changed, they implemented rooms with showers, changing rooms and complimentary towels were offered to every woman and client. The rooms were decorated, CCTV was later installed, there were double lock entry doors."

Adrian Burch ran their website. He was prosecuted too.

"For many years he considered Sandys Superstars were working in partnership with the working women, they supported the women that they cared about and he is devastated for them, to see many of the women who have had to leave Sandys Superstars, at least 13, have been attacked as a result of the conditions on them working on the street. He takes extremely seriously the responsibility for them and feels he is no longer able to protect these women."

"The impact on his family has been significant. Officers came into his family home when his 13 year old daughter was asleep, with machine guns as part of an armed raid, and the impact of that day for his daughter has been traumatic and she is receiving her own mental health support."

"Further to observation, they ran the premises as legitimately as expected, the women were of adult age and appropriate to work, the premises looked after their safety, they were often searched by the Manchester City Council and had regular communication with HMRC. Bizarrely, customs officers knew about what was taking place, and they accepted the tax payments. The defendants worked with public health."

Sandra Hankin was said to have benefited by £200,000, Christopher Hankin by £150,000 and Adrian Burch by £110,000 - all three must repay it within three months under the Proceeds of Crime Act. What happens if they can't pay the money? Do they go to prison? They should have been left alone to provide a service to the clients and the sex workers and pay their taxes.

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3. Prostitution suspects fined after drugs are found in sex trade raid
Does this woman look like a trafficker? Her name is Andreea Cristina Cojucura. She is a sex worker but has been arrested recently for 'human trafficking and controlling prostitution' in Northern Ireland. She was also arrested for having cocaine. Her cocaine was taken away from her and almost £2,000 in cash. Why is a sex worker being arrested in Nordic model Northern Ireland? I thought that under the Nordic model sex workers are decriminalized.

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In other countries terrible things happen when people pretend to want to help 'victims' but in fact harm them. This is from Between Victim and Agent: A Third-Way Feminist Account of Trafficking for Sex Work by Shelley Cavalieri. It is about a brothel raid in Thailand.

"The coalition of organizations effected what they termed a “rescue” of the women in the brothel because of the believed presence of children. What followed was a human rights debacle. Twenty-eight women and girls, most of whom were, by all accounts, adults, were involuntarily detained beyond the period of time that victims of trafficking may be confined under Thai law. They were not arrested or charged with crimes, but detained, according to the authorities, because they had been rescued from a situation of human trafficking. They were deprived of access to their belongings and saved earnings, which were locked inside the inaccessible brothel under police control; they never regained ownership of these possessions. After a lengthy period of time, the government deported many of these women to Burma. All of these actions, which the women experienced as both harmful and alienating, occurred under the guise of rescuing them from the brothel in which they worked.

According to social services workers who interviewed four women who escaped from the brothel as the police arrived, all of the women were ethnic Shan from Burma and were at least nineteen years of age at the time of the raid. Prior to immigrating to Thailand, their status as members of the Burmese Shan indigenous group rendered these women subject to summary detention and rape at any time at the hands of officers of the Burmese junta. Faced with the option of abuse by the authorities in a region of Burma overwhelmed by poverty, many Shan women chose, and continue to choose, to cross the mountains that demarcate the Thai-Burma border and move to a Thai city to work in a brothel. This choice has a certain logic, as forced labor, forced relocations, and food shortages remain an endemic problem in Burma. For many, work in a Thai brothel presented the opportunity to escape the repression of the Burmese junta and to send adequate money home in order to support families, educate children, and maintain households. From the perspective of these women, that they at times paid people to facilitate their passage to Thailand was merely incidental."

more about webcam

In my last post I told you about webcam performers. I have been finding out more about them. One mystery for me was why the words Lovense and Lush kept coming up. Why did so many of them have this strange looking sex toy and why is it that strange mauve colour?

What I have learned since then is that there is a company called Lovense that makes sex toys. The second version of a particular toy - called Lush 2 - seems to have become popular. It's speed can be controlled remotely.

If you pay money you can increase the speed of vibration of the Lush 2 when it is inserted into an orifice of a webcam performer. Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer the fucking machine that I am familiar with. A few of them - like eve_evans - were using a fucking machine. She was wearing stockings so maybe it's kind of retro? I mentioned them in my previous post.

Another thing that I have noticed from looking at the pictures downloaded to my cache is that some of the women had pubic hair (cathleenprecious and pavlovacolucci both do). People like Jenni Murray say that they have looked at porn and none of the women have pubic hair. It's not true but they want to criticise porn, saying that it has a malign influence on the young.

Lots of women in porn have pubic hair. It might be neatly trimmed but many have it. In Japanese porn half the women have pubic hair - and Japanese porn is very popular. In the pictures some of the men were very hairy. So men these days don't feel they have to shave their chests. Not all the people were thin.

I still haven't worked out what they mean by the 'goal'.

a whole new world

I have a laptop but I don't have wifi at home. It's rare for me to use my laptop for the internet. When I do I like to look in the cache to see what it has downloaded. If you're not familiar with the cache it is folders where files are stored that you haven't chosen to download but will be related to searches you have done or sites you have been looking at.

I only found out about it by chance when I came across a pornographic photo I didn't know was on my laptop. I found folders full of pornographic pictures. It's best to clear browsing data/delete browsing history to get rid of them. I thought I had done that recently so I was surprised when I found hundreds of pictures. I remember that I had done a seach on webcams. This is where someone performs sexually in front of a camera.

It's possible to interact with them by sending them a message which they can read and then may do what you say. You have to pay for this. I have never looked at live webcams but I have seen recordings of some of the best sessions. It seems that 28 pictures from each of a large number of webcam performers were in my cache. Most of them were of women, some were gay men, and a couple were trans women (they had penises and were masturbating).

They were an odd assortment of people. Some were nice to look at and some quite ugly. Some seemed to enjoy what they doing but many looked bored, often looking at their mobile phones. Some looked like student girls. Some looked like they were in poor countries. Some of them showed a lot. Some were having sex with other people, heterosexual or homosexual. One young blonde woman called shycinderella just sat/lay with her legs apart showing her pussy, looking bored. A pretty latina woman called Patricia Lopez (yourlittlepervert) showed mostly closeups of her face.

Another latina-looking woman called missniley was attractive with enormous breasts and a tiny bikini top. She took it off in a couple of pictures. A young brunette girl called pavlovacolluci cavorted around naked in a room full of sparkly balloons. A classy brunette woman called eve_evans lay on a bed in stockings with a fucking machine up her bum (it's a machine that moves a dildo up and down, in and out of a pussy or bum). Apparently the viewer can control the speed of the machine, make it go faster by paying more money.

cathleenprecious danced around naked covered in baby oil. bunnylia was a pretty blonde but her body was very thin. Lots of them were very thin. The best one was Pamela Shinee (pamelashineebb) who was very pretty, doing different things including masturbating and seeming to enjoy herself.

Pamela Shinee

bunnylia

pavlovacolluci

Patricia Lopez

missniley

None of them held any great attraction to me. I think what I would like to see are five women sitting around a private swimming pool. Sometimes they would swim naked underwater and there would be an underwater camera.

If Pamela Shinee has found a suitable way to finance her way through uni instead of waitressing then good for her. She can earn the same amount in a much shorter time. So more time for studying and more time for fun. If missniley has a baby and prefers to spend time with her baby instead of working eight hours a day with her baby in a creche then good for her. She's not working in a minimum wage job and spending most of her earnings on creche fees. Also they are safe, in the way that sex workers aren't anywhere in the world apart from New Zealand. Apparently there's a relatively new site called onlyfans.com that makes it easier for them to do it.

Here are a few more blonde studenty types.

lalli_milla

ashlyeroberts1

agnetta_love

The last one looks as if she has received an improper suggestion and she's thinking "You want me to do what? ... I'm not going to do that." I think Pamela would have done it. She looks as though she might.

cabotegravir

In a previous post this year I wrote about the HIV preventing drug PrEP. I said it might change the nature of prostitution. Now there is something even better. I have copied-and-pasted below what it says about it on the BBC site. You can listen to the radio programme Health Check.

In the week of World AIDS Day, Health Check looks at what's being described as a milestone in the prevention of HIV infection in women. It is a form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) - an injection every 8 weeks of a drug called cabotegravir. A clinical trial has been comparing it to a daily PrEP pill which is already known to be effective at preventing HIV infection. The injection regimen was about 90% more effective at shielding women from the virus than the daily tablet.