Thursday, March 20, 2014

the prostitution debate on Woman's Hour

On the BBC Radio 4 programme Woman's Hour recently (03/03/14) Gavin Shuker MP talked about the results of the cross party committee report he chaired on reforming prostitution laws. He is a former Evangelical Christian (Pentecostal) pastor and he talks the language of radical feminists. It's a clear example of how religious groups and radical feminists are 'singing from the same hymn sheet'.

Here's what he had to say "There's always going to be a small group of people for whom it's a choice that they've made actively, but for the vast majority of women involved in prostitution it's a choice that's been made for them or a choice they're trapped in."

To which presenter Jane Garvey replied "And surely - you would imagine - that the vast majority of men who choose to pay for sex will know that the women who are doing it don't want to be there or there are a string of reasons why they find themselves in that position." No pun intended I'm sure.

The point is that the vast majority of men who choose to pay for sex are well aware of what all the research shows - that in Britain coercion is very rare. Neither is there any credible research to show that women are trapped in prostitution.

He goes on to say "The challenge is to men's attitudes of buying sex and in countries where they've successfully changed the law and made a difference to the prevalence of selling sex that's what they've done. They've tackled it head on and said it's unacceptable to purchase sex and our law's going to back that up rather than the other way around."

He's obviously referring to Sweden and some other Nordic countries. It's generally agreed that the law criminalizing the purchasers of sex in Sweden has had no effect at all on the majority of sex workers apart from making their lives more difficult. It has had some effect in reducing on-street sex work but that has always been a small part of the sex work industry and in Britain we have done much better through the use of ASBOs.

He also says "Prostitution is a form of violence against women and girls." This is just radical feminist propaganda and there is no evidence for it whatsoever.

He's obviously swallowed the radical feminist creed hook, line and sinker. He's just propagating radical feminist lies that have no foundation in reality. He continued "What you're confronted by though when you go into this with a genuinely open mind and you take more than 400 different submissions is you're confronted by alarmingly similar and consistent reports of the nature in which women have come into that trade. Many of which have come in under the age of 18 before they are able to even legally consent, with alarming numbers of care leavers, people that have been sexually exploited as a child, people that have been sexually exploited for money under the age of 18. Now if we're not going to take a serious look at our law in light of that ... then I think we need our heads looking at."

I have been trying to find out where is the research that shows that many prostitutes started before the age of 18. On the AVA site they state 'According to evidence submitted to the UK Government between 50-75% of women entered prostitution before they were 18, with 15 years being the average age of entry. [Home Office (2004). Paying the Price.]' However, when you look on the Home Office document Paying the Price: a consultation paper on prostitution July 2004 you can't find where it says that. On page 97 under Annex C (Age of first involvement in prostitution) the only place it mentions 15 years of age is where it mentions 3 studies, the largest of which was of 48 women and the most recent was 1998. Nowhere does it say that 15 years is the average age of entry. Just the opposite. The Home Office document does not make it clear what type of prostitutes these are; it seems that they are talking about street prostitutes who have always been a small minority among prostitutes and who hardly exist in Britain today because of ASBOs.

So when Gavin Shuker says on national radio "Now if we're not going to take a serious look at our law in light of that ... then I think we need our heads looking at" he is seriously misrepresenting the facts. Let him state where he gets his information from, because I can't find it. You can still listen to the programme here.

Rachel Moran
The next week on Woman's Hour (10/03/14) Jane Garvey talked to Rachel Moran and Ana. Rachel Moran said that she used to be a street girl and Ana said she was trafficked. However, blogger Maggie McNeill has good reasons to believe that Rachel Moran is not telling the truth. Another blogger, Laura Lee, believes the same thing. It seems that religion has reared it's ugly head again, only this time it's not Evangelicals like Gavin Shuker but Roman Catholics.

Ruhama is a Catholic organization connected with two orders of nuns. These nuns, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters, used to run the Magdalene laundries in Ireland where large numbers of young women were imprisoned without trial. A wide range of innocent women and girls were sent to Magdalene asylums because someone in authority felt they were sexually active or might become so.

Presenter Jane Garvey asked Rachel Moran "If the punters are criminalized, won’t this drive them and the prostitutes to even more risky circumstances?" To which Rachel replied "Well you only have to look at the difference between Sweden and Holland to get your answer to that. There’s been 127 women murdered in Dutch prostitution in the last 15 years. Now in Sweden there’s only been one prostituted woman murdered."

I have been unable to find this statistic anywhere on the web, although I did find on this page that 127 have been killed in the last 30 years. Prostitution in the Netherlands was not fully decriminalized until about 15 years ago so it's important to get the facts right. Were these women killed before or after decriminalization? Whatever the facts it seems that religious extremists, whether Evangelical or Catholic, are quite happy to say things that aren't true to further their cause.

As for Ana, the woman who said that she was kidnapped and taken to Ireland, I'm wondering why they had to go to Ireland to find a case of trafficking. I believe that trafficking does exist but that it is at a low level in countries like Britain. Could this perhaps be Ruhama again saying things that aren't true? You can still listen to the programme here.

Valerie Lempereur
It would not be the first time that someone pretending to have been a prostitute wrote a book and had an effect on the debate about changing the law. Dutch journalist Valerie Lempereur wrote the book Behind a Window in the Wallen (Achter het raam op de Wallen) under the name Patricia Perquin. People believed what she said and it had the effect of changing the law for the worse.

Maggie McNeill has written about this in a post on her blog, and in the same post she gives information about the situation in the Netherlands. In September of 2007 Amsterdam commissioned a study which was published in 2010; it’s 232 pages long and available only in Dutch. Maggie has put the conclusion and summary in English on her site. I've had a quick look at it and done a couple of searches using keywords but as far as I can see there is nothing about prostitutes getting murdered.

So I can only conclude that the authors of the study did not see murder as a problem for sex workers in Amsterdam because it doesn't happen. It looks as if Rachel Moran's statistic about 127 of them being killed in the last 15 years is totally wrong. This study also shows that underage prostitution is essentially nonexistent in Amsterdam. It looks as if Gavin Shuker's statistic about there being lots of underage prostitutes is also totally wrong.

One thing that I disliked in the Woman's Hour discussion of prostitution is when presenter Jane Garvey said that you can use statistics to prove anything. People can try to use statistics to prove anything but bad statistics can be challenged. I don't think the BBC should just allow false statistics to be broadcast if they can't be backed up. The BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less is very good at debunking incorrect statistics.

Dr Brooke Magnanti's book The Sex Myth debunks many of the statistics used by people who want to ban pornography, erotic dancing and prostitution. I especially like the chapter in her book about the belief that the presence of lap dancing clubs in Camden has increased the incidence of rape. Dr Magnanti - who is a trained statistician and a former sex worker - shows that this belief is false.

So statistics are important because they support the cause of decriminalizing sex work and not criminalizing the clients of sex workers. I can't accept the idea that statistics can prove anything and we just have to go with our gut feelings. Are most sex workers in Britain coerced or aren't they? It's not that difficult to get to the truth. The debate is hotting up, and the consequences could be that the lives of sex workers are made more difficult and dangerous if the law is changed on the basis of the falsehood of religious extremists and radical feminists.

UPDATE: I've just found out that Croydon Community Against Trafficking are screening a film about trafficking at the New Life Christian Centre in Croydon. "Our fellowship is in the evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic traditions that lay emphasis on Bible based faith and an ongoing experience of the Holy Spirit." The same type of Christian are causing trouble for gays in Africa.

As it says in this Independent article 'Roger Ross Williams, the director of God Loves Uganda, a documentary about the influence of conservative US Christians in the East African nation, said, “The anti-homosexuality bill would never have come about without the involvement of American fundamentalist evangelicals.”' I'm sure that they would like to cause trouble for gay men and lesbian women in this country but public opinion won't allow it, but they can make trouble for sex workers by confusing people about the true nature of sex work.

I have been looking at the document produced by Evangelical/Pentecostal Gavin Shuker and his all party parliamentary group. There is very little in the way of facts and figures, it doesn't seem to refer to research, but there is a lot of opinion and some anecdotal evidence. They don't have any information to back up their assertions.

I've found out more about the 127 statistic. Laura Lee on this page states:-
"Given his obsession with this 127 statistic, I'd like to clarify: the statistic relates to 118 murders that occurred between 1985 and 2012 being investigated by a police cold case team in the Netherlands. In 25 of the cases, the victims were not sex workers, or it is not known if they were sex workers or not. Most of the sex worker victims were working illegally and outdoors, not indoors. Eighty-six of the murders took place before October 1, 2000 (i.e. before prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands)."

I don't know if Rachel Moran was ever really a sex worker and I don't know what her association with Ruhama is, but we can be sure her '127 women murdered in Dutch prostitution in the last 15 years' statistic is false. If she was really concerned about the deaths of prostitutes then she would try to get her facts straight.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Ella Suzy Eva

Yesterday I went to see Ella at 2 Lisle Street. I was hoping that she would be pretty like Suzy. Someone had said she's good-looking. It just shows how personal and individual tastes are because I didn't find her attractive. I would say that she's above average but nothing special. I didn't find her friendly either. On the other hand, someone went to see Suzy yesterday after what I had written about her and he said he didn't find her attractive at all.

It is possible that the girl I saw wasn't Ella. Last year I went to see a girl in Lisle Street called Evelina because someone said she's a real beauty. There was a sign up saying Evelina but when I saw her I wasn't impressed at all and I left. Then I realised this woman has blonde hair where Evelina was supposed to have black hair. So it was a completely different woman. It looks as if Evelina only lasted a few days in the Soho walk ups.

When describing a girl from memory sometimes your memory can get things wrong. I described Suzy as having a light tan but that was inaccurate. Her skin, although not pure white, is paler than that. They can look different though depending on light levels. After I saw Ella I went to see Suzy in Greek Street. She seemed tired and wasn't wearing much make up but I still think that she's the prettiest girl in Soho. I asked her if she had been dancing all night but she said no.

Then I looked around for who else I could see. I knew that Eva was back in her Berwick Street flat after an absence. I had seen Eva twice before and enjoyed it both times. When I knocked on the door of the upper flat at 70A Berwick Street it was opened by Eva. She told me she would be a few minutes and asked me to sit in the chair. She pulled a curtain next to me so that when the other punter left we wouldn't see each other.

I listened to the muffled sounds coming from the bedroom. There were two women in the kitchen and I could see one of them. She looked about 40 and I found her very attractive. The other woman was the maid; I saw her briefly and she had her hair partly in foil. It looked as if she was dying her hair, which might explain why she hadn't open the door to me. I recognised her as the woman who has a chihuahua dog that she used to bring with her. The two women were talking animatedly. I looked at the unfamiliar woman and wondered who she is; it even crossed my mind that this might be the infamous Claudia come back for a visit.
it was a lot like this when I was waiting to see Eva
The other punter left and Eva invited me in. Eva is tall and slender but not too skinny and she had next to nothing on. She has light blonde hair and a pale skin. She is everything that Ella was not. She's attractive and very friendly. She wanted a hug, then a smack on the bum and then another one. She said she thought she remembered me.

I had given £22 to Ella and £22 to Suzy but I decided to give Eva £32. We got onto the bed and she put a condom on and started sucking my cock. After a couple of minutes I said "Show me your pussy" so she lay flat and opened her legs. She wanted me to play with her clit and showed me how she likes it.

She got her vibrator out and started masturbating while I knelt between her legs and wanked myself. She kept going until she had an orgasm, her third of the day apparently. A few seconds after she came I came too. I hadn't come with Ella or Suzy so I was pleased when it happened. She showed me the vibrator saying that it feels like a real penis. I touched it and it felt soft to the touch.

When I was getting dressed we talked about the maid. She goes to the English Collective of Prostitutes meetings apparently. I asked Eva who the other woman is. She said it is Lisa, who works here at weekends. This surprised me because the last time I saw Lisa she had longer blonde hair. Although, as I said, your memory can get things wrong. When I thought about it I could see yes it could be her. So now I am thinking I should make a special trip into Soho on Saturday. I always said Lisa is damned attractive but I fancy her even more now. I'm definitely going to see Eva again though, maybe next Tuesday.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

I had an eventful day yesterday

I had an eventful day yesterday. I started off in a spa in Balham and ended up in a basement in Soho. I wanted to go again to a spa I had been to just once before. I phoned and asked if the woman whose name I had been given was there that day and if it would be better to book to see her or just turn up. I made an appointment for 12.30 that afternoon for a one hour massage. I thought that if I got there about midday then I could use their sauna and steam room.

At reception a pretty young woman was asked to show me to the sauna and steam room after I had handed over my £40. She explained that it would take a while for them to warm up. I asked if she was the woman I had booked to see. She gave me a funny look as if to say "You don't think that I would be doing that sort of thing, do you?". I put my clothes in a locker and put on the disposable slippers they provide. I couldn't find one of the bathrobes that I used last time so I just wrapped a towel round me.

The sauna was indeed cold so I went in the steam room. The plastic seats were cold but the steam was warm so I sat in there. After a while two women came along. I could see them dimly through the glass of the steam room and I could hear them talking. They opened the door to the backyard and kept it open so that one of them could smoke. I couldn't hear what they were talking about but it sounded like someone's personal problems.

One of the women opened the door of the steam room and introduced herself. She was a middle-aged woman and she smelled of smoke. She said that I should come to one of the rooms in a while for my massage. I asked her if she could turn the steam back on because it had gone off but she said something about it turns itself off after a while.

I judged what I thought was the right amount of time then went down the stairs to the massage rooms. The woman was very talkative but I didn't understand everything she said as her English is not that good. She asked me if I'm always so quiet and I told her that when I'm lying on my front with my head in the hole in the massage table it's not so easy to talk but when I turn over then we can talk better.

I said "Do you ever get any celebrities in here?". When I came in the receptionist had been talking to someone who looked like Naomi Campbell. She didn't understand what I was saying so I said "Do you ever get any famous people come in here?". She said they did but she didn't elaborate. She had to keep breaking off the massage to go and blow her nose as if she had a cold. The room wasn't very warm either.

When the time came for her to ask me if I wanted hand relief I was in two minds as to if I wanted to give it a go. The physical sensations of masturbation are not enough on her own for me to come to orgasm. I need either to see an attractive body or for her to talk dirty. I didn't want to ask her to take her clothes off because I could see her body wasn't that good. I asked her to talk dirty but she said I didn't need that. I tried to get her to talk about her experiences with her boyfriend or her clients but she didn't say anything erotic.

She tried very hard to bring me to orgasm. I got an erection but then lost it after a while. She had two or three goes at it but then our time was up. I could imagine that she could be very popular with some men because she is so friendly and chatty. After the massage I could hear her talking loudly to a colleague in Polish or Russian and laughing. I wondered if she was talking about me.
I decided to go into Soho. If the Chinese girl I found recently had been there I would have gone to see her. She has left but I'm hoping she will return. I wanted to go to one of the walk ups.  I thought of the names of all of the women who were popular but mostly they were busy. Even Lily the old French woman was busy, with a punter waiting in the kitchen. I went to Mesa's flat in Greens Court but I didn't find her attractive so I didn't stay. In the flat below was Bianca but she was busy. Holly in Little Newport Street wasn't there that day.

The second time I tried to see Amy in Greek Street she wasn't busy. However, she refused to see me. I hadn't seen Amy for a long time, not since she got back from the massage parlours of Luton, so I thought she wouldn't remember me. I think she confuses me with someone else who is a time-waster. Either that or I have said something to her in the past that offended her. All I can think of is that I once asked her if she is Roma. Or she might have read my blog and not liked my description of her as the plumpest prostitute in Soho.

I wanted to see if Monica was at 52 Greek Street. When I saw the girl there I thought she's much prettier than Monica so I said I would like to spend 10 minutes with her and I handed over my £22. Usually in Soho you go up some stairs and there are two flats but at 52 Greek Street you go down the stairs and there is one flat. There's just enough room for a big black leather sofa and the bed.

the walk down at 52 Greek Street Soho
you can see the sign for Monica
She told me her name is Suzy and she looks about 17 but she told me she's 20. She is very slender with small breasts. She has black hair which she wore up. She works Tuesdays only.

The evening before I had watched part of the film Black Swan. Suzy reminded me a bit of both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. She looks a bit like a ballerina, she has a lovely long neck. Most of the time I was with her I looked at her face and her pussy. She lay on the bed with her legs wide apart and smiled a lot while I talked to her.

I told her there was something I would like to do to her. I didn't expect her to consider it but she said that I could. I'm not going to say what it is because she wouldn't thank me if lots of punters wanted to do the same thing to her. Also I intend to see her again and I wouldn't enjoy what I did to her if I thought other men had been doing it to her that day. I just don't like the idea of coming into contact with other men's saliva.

I felt really happy going home after I had seen Suzy. She really is a pretty girl, a real find. I had spent £60 at the spa. Not a lot of money so I didn't feel that I'd wasted lots of money there and it was an interesting and even amusing experience. Then just £22 to see Suzy. I will go to see her next Tuesday, and maybe stop off to see Ella at 2 Lisle Street who is supposed to be the other great beauty. And today my muscles really ache so I think the massage at the spa was really working. I think she knew what she was doing, so at least I got something out of it.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

sex workers speak out against raids

If you want to know more about what happened during the raids last month sex workers have spoken about their experiences. Sex workers were dragged out onto the streets in their underwear in the full glare of a hostile media. Despite their protestations of not being trafficked some of them were shipped off to 'rescue centres'. Some of them had their earnings taken away from them, their homes were searched even if their children were there, and they were persuaded to accept cautions which are an admission of guilt.

The West End Extra newspaper has had a number of articles about the raids. There was a debate in St Anne's Church recently where sex workers, residents and business owners could speak their minds. The raids were initially said to be to do with stolen goods but little evidence was found of that. Instead police were trying to find evidence of sex workers being controlled by a third party.
"Following the raids, police sought to close down 20 brothels, but they have been criticised for failing to provide evidence that the premises were linked to the handling of stolen goods. 
Instead a district judge issued “brothel closure orders” after police claimed to have found evidence that women in the flats were controlled by an unknown third party, which contravenes prostitution laws."
The issues that the police have used to try to justify these raids are property stolen from tourists, shoplifted items and drugs. They found little evidence of any of these problems during the raids. There also seems to be an issue with the people who the sex workers pay their rent to. Although Soho Estates own the freehold of many of the flats there is a 'black economy of anonymous landlords'.

Rupert Everett has written an article for the Guardian newspaper where he reports what sex workers have said in court and he confirms that police were trying to find evidence of the mysterious 'third party'.

Friday, January 3, 2014

my best ever stunning spa girl

Yesterday I had a walk around Chinatown and Soho. I didn't intend to spend any money but I ended up spending £50. It might have been the best £50 I've ever spent. In Chinatown there's a doorway where you can often see a woman standing there asking men if they would like a massage. I once saw a very pretty, very young-looking, very smiley girl standing there. Every time I passed the doorway I looked to see if she was there. For many months I didn't see her again.

Yesterday she was there. I made a beeline for her and asked her how much it costs for a massage. She told me £30 for a half-hour and when I looked uncertain she said £25. I paid the money at reception up the stairs and she led me into a small room. When I was naked face down on the massage table she asked me if I wanted a medium or hard massage and if I wanted her to use oil. The room was nice and warm.

prettier than this
Then it was time for me to turn over. Now I could get a good look at her. I think she really is the prettiest girl anywhere I've been to. Prettier than the Thai woman at Asian Touch in Shaftesbury Avenue who someone described as an 'absolutely stunning girl' (although I didn't get a good look at her because the room was so dark). Prettier than Claire who worked at Everwell in Charing Cross Road. Prettier than Lisa who works from a flat near St James's Park.

I asked her how old she is and like a lot of these girls she asked me how old I think she is. I told her 18 and she said she is 25 years old. She asked me if I wanted her to masturbate me but I wasn't in the mood for that. I knew what I wanted. I told her I wanted to see her naked. I said I would give her £20 if she took her clothes off. She wanted more money to begin with but then agreed to do it. She turned the lights lower but I said I wanted the lights brighter. They like to keep the lights low because they look more attractive that way but I wanted to see everything.

She took her top off and her bra and pulled her pants down. She had a nice body with bigger breasts and less skinny than Lisa who I saw not long ago. She let me touch her breasts and her bottom and she was quite smiley and affectionate. I asked her if she did oral sex and she said she doesn't do that, just hand relief. Maybe if I become a regular client of hers I might be able to persuade her to have a go.

I can't tell you her name or where she works because I'm not sure if she would like that. Unlike the sex workers in the nearby walk ups they don't usually want the publicity. I will say that the name of the establishment has the word 'spa' in it. I'm not sure if it is a spa, on their website it says they do beauty treatments but that might be their other branch in the East End.

Last month I went to a spa for the first time. Someone contacted me by email and asked if I had ever been to this place in Balham. I had walked past it a few times and often wondered if anything sexual went on. When he said they do hand relief there I wanted to go. It turned out to be cheaper than I expected and the most luxurious place I have ever been to. More luxurious than Gin Sen near Russell Square where I went a few times and managed to get hand relief just once. More luxurious than Zen in Notting Hill Gate where I went once and wasn't offered anything sexual.

I paid £25 for a half-hour massage and also got to use their sauna, steam room and shower. The masseur was a young woman from Slovakia who didn't offer me anything sexual. I wasn't really looking for that anyway. I have the name of a woman who works there who does offer hand relief and what days she works so next time I go there I'll know who to ask for.

When I was in the steam room I thought that steam rooms could be very sexy places. I imagined two naked Chinese girls coming towards me through the steam smiling and giggling.

Soon after the police raids last month in Soho I went to have a look around. About half of the walk ups were closed. I decided I wanted to see one of the sex workers because I didn't know how long they would be there. I ended up in Little Newport Street with a lovely Thai lady called Holly. I told her I wanted to look and her pussy and wank myself. She suggested that instead of me taking my clothes off and getting onto the bed with her, which is what I have done in the past, I just unzip myself and sit on a chair next to the bed while she shows me her pussy. It was very pleasant doing it that way. I got a good view. When my 10 minutes were up she stood up in front of me just a few inches away so I got to appreciate her lovely figure.

In the last few days two of the walk ups that had been closed are now open again. The one in Dean Street and the one in Tisbury Court. I noticed that in both of them are signs saying No Touts No Sellers. They don't want the drug addicts from the street trying to sell them shoplifted goods. That's what got them into trouble with the police and brought about the raids. Nothing to do with rescuing trafficked women and nothing to do with goods stolen from tourists. I have been going to Soho for years and I have never had anything stolen from me.

Friday, December 6, 2013

police raided walk ups on Wednesday

The police have raided a number of places in Soho on Wednesday night, some of them walk ups (called 'brothels' in newspaper reports). A number of the walk ups have been closed, I don't know if this is permanently. This article said "After the raids last night a dozen women, mostly from eastern Europe, working in squalid rooms, were taken to safe locations where they will be questioned. Police believe that some were trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution".

I don't believe that the women were trafficked or coerced, and I don't believe that the police believe that. They're not trying to help these women at all. As for 'squalid rooms', someone photographed one of the rooms recently, at the request of the people working there, and I wouldn't describe it as squalid. You can see the photos below, they are typical of the bedrooms of Soho walk ups. The flat is 2 Greens Court, upper flat. I don't know if this is one of the ones that has been closed, I'm going to have a look around tomorrow.

it looks as if they have DVDs here

certainly they have lots of uniforms here
I don't know what that is next to the fire extinguisher

Friday, October 18, 2013

disappearing Soho

card in walk up at 70A Berwick Street Soho
I took this photo on Tuesday this week. It is a card that was on display in the hallway of the walk up at 70A Berwick Street in Soho. It shows one of the two women who were working there that day, informing potential customers what she is like. Yesterday I went back and there were no cards there. From what I can gather the police have insisted that all these cards in Soho are removed.

This card was not visible from the street, you would have to walk through the open doorway and along the hallway to see them. I have been told that the ones that used to be visible from the street at a lot of the walk ups went a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what the legal basis of this police action is, it seems that they are making more and more demands. No one knows where it will end. What you see in Soho could be gone forever the next time you look.