Just heard an interview with Victor Malarek on CBC radio. Often an excellent journalist, but he is definitely presenting the image that all prostitutes are exploited women (and children), and that all customers are attracted by the ability to exercise power over women. There doesn't seem to be any nod towards any of us that simply enjoy mutually profitable experiences, or towards women that decide their own fate. I still suspect that most sex work in this country falls under the umbrella of mutual consent, and it would be nice to see that acknowledged, as in the recent CTV documentary.
He is lined up with the feminist organizations that support "exploited women" and are against decriminalization/legalization. He does support the Sweden model, where they have made patronizing prostitutes a criminal act.
From a book sales site:
"Following up on his scathing indictment of the international sexual enslavement of women in The Natashas, investigative journalist Victor Malarek lays bare the other side of the crisis -- the men who fuel the demand. Each year more than 800,000 women and children are lured, tricked or forced into prostitution to meet an apparently insatiable demand, joining an estimated 10 million women already ensnared in the $20 billion worldwide sex trade. To date, most research on the subject has focused on the various issues that propel these women into the trade, but little has been investigated, or written, about those who trigger the demand --the "Johns." In this hard-hitting exposé, Malarek unmasks the kind of men -- and organizations -- that foster and drive the sex trade, from America to Europe, Brazil to Thailand, Phnom Penh to St. Petersburg and Costa Rica. The Johns is a chilling look into a dark corner of the world that these men have created at the expense of countless women and children."
Excerpt from The Johns:
"Without man, there would be no demand. There would be no supply. It would not be profitable for pimps and criminals to stay in this business if never-ending platoons of men weren't prowling the side streets in search of purchased sex. Male sex buyers who are willing to close their eyes and shell out $50 or $100 for a few minutes of physical bliss while deepening the misery of countless women and children. The stark reality is that little will be done to stop this insanity until men start taking responsibility for their actions, until men realize that they are the problem, and that this global sex-slave calamity exists solely because of their insatiable demand and duplicitous behaviour. Yet invisible in most discussions, reports, and research are the men who use and abuse these women. They are the ultimate consumers of prostituted women. They are the crucial missing link."
Susi will be pissed off at more propaganda that makes her work more difficult, I expect.
He is lined up with the feminist organizations that support "exploited women" and are against decriminalization/legalization. He does support the Sweden model, where they have made patronizing prostitutes a criminal act.
From a book sales site:
"Following up on his scathing indictment of the international sexual enslavement of women in The Natashas, investigative journalist Victor Malarek lays bare the other side of the crisis -- the men who fuel the demand. Each year more than 800,000 women and children are lured, tricked or forced into prostitution to meet an apparently insatiable demand, joining an estimated 10 million women already ensnared in the $20 billion worldwide sex trade. To date, most research on the subject has focused on the various issues that propel these women into the trade, but little has been investigated, or written, about those who trigger the demand --the "Johns." In this hard-hitting exposé, Malarek unmasks the kind of men -- and organizations -- that foster and drive the sex trade, from America to Europe, Brazil to Thailand, Phnom Penh to St. Petersburg and Costa Rica. The Johns is a chilling look into a dark corner of the world that these men have created at the expense of countless women and children."
Excerpt from The Johns:
"Without man, there would be no demand. There would be no supply. It would not be profitable for pimps and criminals to stay in this business if never-ending platoons of men weren't prowling the side streets in search of purchased sex. Male sex buyers who are willing to close their eyes and shell out $50 or $100 for a few minutes of physical bliss while deepening the misery of countless women and children. The stark reality is that little will be done to stop this insanity until men start taking responsibility for their actions, until men realize that they are the problem, and that this global sex-slave calamity exists solely because of their insatiable demand and duplicitous behaviour. Yet invisible in most discussions, reports, and research are the men who use and abuse these women. They are the ultimate consumers of prostituted women. They are the crucial missing link."
Susi will be pissed off at more propaganda that makes her work more difficult, I expect.
