Labour to ban massage parlor adverts in newspapers

Dear Friends:

Here is some news to lift the spirits. Government leaders in the UK are proposing a ban on massage parlor and escort agency advertisements!!! If this measure passes it would be a huge success for the anti-sex trafficking movement. It's also an idea that should be replicated elsewhere.

Abolition!

Lisa

From The Sunday Times
February 14, 2010
Labour to ban massage parlour adverts in newspapers
Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor

Advertisements for massage parlours and escort agencies are to be banned in a government assault on the sex industry.

Ministers plan to “disrupt” the sex industry by banning newspaper advertisements for prostitutes and brothels in a new law put forward in Labour’s election manifesto.

Failure to comply with the law could carry a £10,000 fine.

Ministers are concerned that many of the ads offer women who are the victims of trafficking and have been forced into prostitution. The clampdown is being led by Vera Baird, the solicitor-general, and Harriet Harman, the equality minister, who has said that the demand for trafficked women must be stemmed to stop “teenage girls being bought and sold by criminal gangs”.

They are concerned that a request to remove the adverts has had only partial success. Although The Newspaper Society succeeded in persuading some newspaper groups to stop carrying them, ministers are concerned that many others have failed to do so.

A 2008 survey of London’s sex industry that was commissioned by Poppy Project, a government-funded group that helps trafficked women, estimated that the 921 brothels it examined made at least £86m a year through their newspaper ads alone.

The Crown Prosecution Service has already studied a similar law in Ireland and concluded that it would work in the UK.

The new law would also inform publishers which kind of ads will be banned by defining, for example, the difference between a massage parlour which is actually a brothel and spas offering therapeutic massages. Sex phone lines, carried in many tabloid newspapers, would not be caught by the law unless they are a front for arranging prostitution.

It would also make it a criminal offence to print or distribute telephone-box cards advertising prostitutes. Under the current law, it is an offence only to be caught in the act of posting such a card.

Baird said: “It is now appropriate to move against people who make money from advertising prostitutes. The Newspaper Society tightened its guidance on taking such ads but there is still a market that we now have to look to legislation to disrupt.”

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Moody Radio -- Ministry to Women in the CSI

Dear Friends:

Earlier today Moody Radio hosted a program on Christian ministry to women in the commercial sex industry. To listen go to http://www.moodyradio.org/middayconnection.aspx and click "Listen Now."

Abolition!

Lisa

Ministry to Victims of the Sex Industry
Air Date February 25, 2010

Summary

Our 2010 Ministry Focus is "Just Walk Across the Room and Make a Difference" and on this Midday Connection we’ll talk to some women who have done that very thing. They’ve walked across the room in a strip club to help women caught in that lifestyle to walk out of it.


Featured Guests






Dawn Herzog Jewell
Dawn Herzog Jewell is media and publications manager at Media Associates International, and a freelance journalist. She has worked for World Relief and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.







Harmony Dust
Harmony Dust is the founder and Executive Director of Treasures Ministries, a Los Angeles, CA, based nonprofit organization for women in the sex industry.

For more information about Treasures Ministries, please visit their Web site.







Deb Van Thiel
Deb oversees a lay counseling ministry at Christ the Rock Community Church. She started ministering to women who are working as exotic dancers in "gentlemen's clubs" after attending what is now known as the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution (ICAP) conference held at Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin in 2004. Deb lives in North Eastern part of Wisconsin, has been married for 34 years and has 8 children and 6 (nearly 7) wonderful grandbabies.

For more information about a ministry to those working in the sex industry, please visit the This One's For The Girls Web site.

For more information about ICAP, please visit their Web site.

Hosts

Anita Lustrea
Anita Lustrea is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and has worked for Moody Radio since 1984. She is a sought-after conference and retreat speaker and loves to connect with Midday Connection listeners face-to-face. Anita lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Mike, and her son, John. To learn more about Anita, please visit her Web site.







Melinda Schmidt
Melinda Schmidt is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and holds a Broadcasting/Bible degree from Calvary Bible College. She has served with Moody Radio since 1980 in various hosting capacities. Married with two teens, Melinda lives outside Chicago, loves reading and developing her creative interests, and hopes to be a life-long learner! To learn more about Melinda and her speaking schedule, please visit her Web site.

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Two articles: 1) Actress and Muslim philanthropist promote women & 2) Director Michael Winterbottom defends film's extreme violence

Dear Friends:

Two interesting articles follow. The first reports on encouraging international efforts to promote equality between men and women, with an emphasis on combating violence against women. Please make particular note of Geena Davis' comments about how women are portrayed in the media.

The second article describes the very type of media that Davis' is against -- a film by Michael Winterbottom with depictions of violence against women so horrifying and graphic that audiences are walking out and booing (good for them!). Unsurprisingly one of the victims of the violence is a woman in prostitution. Winterbottom claims that the violence isn't supposed to be entertaining. He is as naive as a new born babe if he thinks the film won't be entertaining to men who already perpetrate violence or will encourage men on the brink of doing so.

Abolition!

Lisa

Actress and Muslim philanthropist promote women

By EDITH M. LEDERER Posted: Monday, February 22, 2010 7:42 pm

What do actress Geena Davis, Britain's Duchess of York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists have in common?

They're all committed to empowering women.

At a U.N. event Monday promoting gender equality, they were joined by heads of foundations, corporate leaders, academics, diplomats, representatives of voluntary organizations and several other celebrities, including Miss USA Kristen Dalton and Sweden's Princess Madeleine.

The U.N. Economic and Social Council chose International Corporate Philanthropy Day to focus on women's rights and generate support for one of the U.N.'s Millennium Development goals _ promoting equality between women and men.

Ban told several hundred participants that "full empowerment requires more progress in two key areas: expanding economic opportunity and ending violence against women."

"Our goal must be clear," the U.N. chief said. "No tolerance of the use of rape as a weapon of war. No excuses for domestic violence. No looking the other way when it comes to sex trafficking, so-called `honor killings' or female genital mutilation."

The secretary-general also urged the private sector to promote women at all levels of corporate responsibility and the philanthropic community to "make sure that female beneficiaries are treated equally."

Davis, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for "The Accidental Tourist" in 1989 and starred in "Thelma & Louise" and the ABC television series "Commander in Chief" where she played the first female U.S. president, called for a radical change in the way women and girls are portrayed in the media.

"At the dawn of a new millennium _ in a world that is over 50 percent female _ the message the media sends is that women and girls have far less value than men and boys," she said.

Davis said research shows that there are three male characters for every female character across all film ratings and that the vast majority of female characters "are stereotyped and hyper-sexualized."

"What message are we sending both boys and girls about women's role in society?," she asked.
Davis said that's why she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and its programming arm, See Jane.

Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, who is divorced from Britain's Prince Andrew, said the key to equality is "good mothering" because mothers promote education.

She announced a new initiative called "the Mother's Army" to "harness the collective power of mothers" to enable women and girls to "dare to dream."

Mary Quinn, senior manager of the Avon Foundation for Women which has already given $1 million to the U.N. Trust Fund to combat violence against women, announced an additional $250,000 pledge to the fund for a project to tackle gender-based violence in Mexican communities.

Maria Borelius, CEO of the nonprofit organization Hand in Hand International, pledged to create 10 million additional jobs among the world's poorest women. Francine LeFrak of Fair Sky, a company that promotes women artisans in Rwanda, announced that she would start a similar program for women in Haiti.

And Tariq Cheema, founder and chair of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, announced the launch of a global initiative called "Empowerment Through Enlightenment."

"This initiative will raise awareness among the male population as well as offering skill-building opportunities to females to enhance their competitiveness in the society," he said to loud applause.

*****************************************

Director Michael Winterbottom defends film's extreme violence
Walk-outs and boos as The Killer Inside Me is shown at Berlin film festival

Kate Connolly in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Friday 19 February 2010 19.15 GMT

The British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom today defended scenes that portray extreme violence against women in his latest film, saying that he felt the need to stay true to the pulp fiction novel on which it is based.

The Killer Inside Me, an adaptation of the 1952 novel by Jim Thompson that Stanley Kubrick famously described as "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I've ever encountered", depicts brutal scenes of rough sex and murder.

One scene sees the main character, deputy sheriff Lou Ford – played by Casey Affleck – bludgeon his prostitute girlfriend (Jessica Alba) almost to death until her face is unrecognisable, while later another woman (Kate Hudson) is punched repeatedly. She chokes to death as her killer and lover slips on her urine.

The attacks, accompanied by the music of Gustav Mahler and the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini as well as jaunty swing tunes, are captured in close-up camera shots. Those and the sound of gurgling blood and cracking bones leave little to the imagination.

Speaking today a press screening of the film at the Berlin film festival, which saw people walking out and booing, Winterbottom said he had deliberately intended for the film to shock.

"It was intentionally shocking. The whole point of the story is, here is someone who is supposed to be in love with two women who he beats to death, and of course the violence should be shocking. If you make a film where the violence is entertaining, I think that's very questionable."

He defended the film from the mounting charges that it is misogynistic because the violence is directed at women by saying that the character who carries it out is weak and not a hero to be looked up to.

"To say it's misogynistic is tricky. Anyone who says that is watching it in a very perverse way. Clearly there is violence against men and women in society, in films and books, and in this case I think it's important that the violence is ugly. No one can watch it and believe that Lou Ford is a role model or a glamorous guy you'd want to be like, or that beating up women is a good thing."

The Killer Inside Me tells the story of a respected Texan deputy chief of police who has a secret liking of sadomasochistic sex and who, because of a troubled childhood, demonstrates a destructive streak to those he loves and towards himself.

Winterbottom, a favourite of the festival who has won prizes before for The Road to Guantánamo and In This World, appeared to be mildly irritated by the criticism, which observers in Berlin say may lead to scenes being cut before it can be made available to a wider audience.

Winterbottom said: "Loads of films promote violence as entertainment, but I don't think this one does and neither would I want to do something that's going to encourage violence."

He said he had been inspired to make his first foray into the film noir genre by the novel, which "stayed with me for a long time and made me think about the way we behave. It's very Shakespearean, very shocking and pushes everything to the extreme and I wanted to make a film that was a very literal version of the book". Read more!

Pornography Harms Website Launched

Contact: Patrick Trueman, 703-938-1776; pornharms.com

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 17 / Christian Newswire / -- The devastating harm from pornography is becoming more evident with each passing day. Now a website has been launched to provide ready access to credible, peer-reviewed research documenting that harm. " Pornography Harms , is a one-stop location for sound research, news articles and opinion pieces demonstrating the harm from pornography," said Patrick Trueman, creator of the site. The site will be of great help to researchers at all academic levels and the press and concerned public.

Trueman, the former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, expressed strong concern for the direction of America due to the prominence of pornography in the daily lives of our citizens. "Since the advent of the internet, pornography has flooded homes, businesses, public libraries, and even schools. The results have been devastating to the social and family fabric of America," Trueman said.

Trueman observed that, for nearly two decades, a large segment of America's children have had ready access to internet pornography. In the latest trend called, "sexting", children are producing and distributing cell phone child pornography. This phenomenon may well be an outgrowth of the viewing of internet pornography over long periods of time by children resulting in diminishment of their natural inhibitions against such activity. "Pornography, in other words, is altering minds, destroying taboos, and reordering society," Trueman said.

Addiction to pornography, Trueman noted, is now common among men, women, and even many children, bringing life-long consequences. Pornography use is a significant factor in divorce; a contributing cause of the spread of prostitution and the sexual trafficking of adults and children.

Trueman credited a multi-disciplinary group of professionals and concerned citizens from around the country for the research work on Pornography Harms.

"Pornography is a neglected pandemic and it will remain so until knowledge of its destructive forces is widely understood and disseminated. The Pornography Harms website is dedicated to this task of education," Trueman said.

__________________




In the short time that the website PornHarms.com has been up – the site just went live late yesterday – we have had an incredible response. We have had nearly 2000 visitors and from every state and 39 countries including Hungary, Japan, South Africa, Germany, New Zealand, Malaysia, Israel, etc. More importantly, I have received numerous emails through the contact form on the site from people telling their personal stories, asking for help and offering to spread the word about the site.

Could you help spread the word (if you haven’t done so already)? The press release announcing the site is attached. Please forward. The PornHarms.com blue button you see above, links to the site and can be copied and pasted to emails you are sending.

Several organizations have included the blue button on their own website so people have easy access to the PornHarms.com site. This will provide great help to those caught up in pornography as well as their families.

Patrick A. Trueman
Attorney At Law
10350 Southam Lane
Oakton , VA22124
703-938-1776
703-303-4777 (cell)
703-938-1770 (fax)
http://www.PatTrueman.org

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Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Dear Friends:

Here is a forwarded message from Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. For those of you not in the D.C. area be sure to watch the webcast.

Abolition!

Lisa

Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador At-Large
February 22, 2010

Dear Friend:

This week I will be testifying before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law in a hearing entitled, "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States." The hearing will take place on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 10:30 AM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226. I will be joined as a witness by Beth Phillips, United States Attorney Western District of Missouri. To see a Webcast of the hearing, please visit http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4389.

This hearing is timely because, as the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti demonstrates, children are often the most vulnerable to exploitation. By working hard to eliminate this crime in “our own backyard,” we gain credibility with our foreign counterparts and can better encourage a truly global response that includes partners like you. Together we can ensure that trafficked children receive the care they need, while the traffickers receive the justice they deserve.
Thank you for being a part of this effort.

Sincerely,



Ambassador Luis CdeBaca
And here is the rest of it.

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German brothels raided in trafficking probe

Search of 600 establishments turns up 100 women from West Africa
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 11:30 AM ET Comments7Recommend16
CBC News

German authorities say they have searched around 600 brothels across the country in an effort to track down women who may have been smuggled from West Africa as part of an international human trafficking ring.

The Federal Criminal Police Office said Wednesday that Tuesday evening's raids turned up more than 100 women from West Africa and that there were indications that some were victims of human trafficking.

German investigators say the nationwide crackdown follows investigations that suggest a network of West Africans active in Germany and other European countries is involved in prostitution, human trafficking, passport forgery and other illegal activity.

About 63 per cent of the roughly 400,000 sex workers in Germany are migrants, the majority arriving from central and eastern Europe, according to 2008 figures from the European Network for HIV/STI Prevention and Health Promotion among Migrant Sex Workers, known by the acronym Tampep.

While prostitution in Germany is not illegal, migrants cannot obtain entry into Germany as a sex worker, meaning many who enter the country do so illegally.

This makes them more vulnerable to exploitation, Tampep said in their latest report on working conditions in the country. [Friends, any woman in prostitution is vulunerable to exploitation whether it is legal or not. - Lisa]

Africa is the source of about 12 per cent of all migrant sex workers in Europe and accounts for about six per cent in Germany, according to Tampep.

Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Algeria are the African countries most often cited by European officials as the countries of origin of migrant sex workers, some of whom are believed to have been brought into the countries through illegal means. [Friends: if a person is trafficked for prostitution they most certainly are not a so-called "migrant sex worker." - Lisa]

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Haiti/US: Strong on Zeal, Thin in Knowledge

Dear Friends:

Below you'll find an absolutely brilliant article on the recent orphan adoption scandal in Haiti. Here is a quote from the piece we should all keep in mind:

Passion alone is simply not sufficient; it must be consistently paired with wisdom. Zeal without knowledge can be a destructive force. A compassionate impulse may indeed be God's nudging, and certainly should not be ignored. But the hard work of education, preparation, and planning most always stands between us and a job well done.

Abolition!

Lisa

Strong on Zeal, Thin in Knowledge
Lessons from Haiti's arrest of American Christians trying to take children out of the country.
Jedd Medefind posted 2/03/2010 09:56AM

Newswires buzzed recently with reports that a group of ten Americans from an Idaho-based Christian charity were arrested trying to transport 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic contrary to the rules of Haiti's government. Although details are still emerging, the story thus far suggests a potent mingling of good intentions with ill-advised plans. Fellow Christians embarrassed by the incident should have the grace to withhold the abuse many observers are now piling on the group, but we can still take a strong lesson on the need to match zeal with knowledge in every effort to "care for orphans in their distress."

According to their website, the group's goal was to "rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets … and bring them to New Life Children's Refuge in Cabarete, Dominican Republic." This "Refuge" is at present a 45-room hotel the ministry leased to house the children as an interim measure. Ultimately, they planned to construct an orphanage that would provide long-term care, and also the potential of adoption for children that could not be reunited with relatives.

These rickety plans, along with the decision to remove the children from Haiti without approval, were a recipe for trouble. Adding further to the impression of sloppy do-goodism, it now appears that some of the children had living parents and were not in need of rescue at all.

Appropriately, many relief organizations have voiced strong concern over the incident. Meanwhile, others in the foreign aid world—which often tends to be dismissive of volunteer efforts and highly critical of international adoption—have sought to make the situation a cause célèbre. Private blogs and even some nonprofit websites now venture beyond the known facts, implying gross neglect of the children by the Christian group and even worse. No doubt some hope to harness the situation to foster broader criticism of adoption, and to emphasize the superiority of large-scale, government-centered models of aid to smaller acts of private charity.

Even as we apply strong words to the group's actions—"reckless" and "irresponsible" come to mind—we should first be reminded what this debacle does not tell us:

First, it does not tell us that Christians have the market cornered on well-intentioned but poorly-devised attempts at aid. Far from it. As writers like William Easterly and Dambisa Moyo lay out in disturbing detail, the history of efforts to help the needy—both government and private, religious and secular—is rife with failed largesse. A brief survey of public welfare programs in the U.S. alone would dwarf this situation in both size and foolishness for examples of benevolence gone awry.

Second, it does not tell us that compassion motivated by Christian faith is somehow peripheral to "real" disaster aid. Thousands of committed Christian organizations, churches and individuals—both foreign and indigenous—were effectively meeting deep needs in Haiti even before the earthquake. Today, these entities and recently arrived allies are central to relief efforts on the ground in Haiti, as are Christians in every catastrophe. The actions of a single small group certainly don't define the Christian response, nor should we feel embarrassed of our faith-inspired efforts in response to future disasters.

Finally, it does not tell us that the significance of adoption in caring for orphans should be marginalized. Although the press played up reports that the group had mentioned adoption to the U.S. as one potential way to eventually help some of the children, this was clearly not the group's primary focus. Nor could such adoptions have happened on any scale without massive amounts of U.S. and local paperwork, as any adoptive family knows. The group's errors to date were actually examples of on-the-ground orphan care gone wrong, not of mishandled adoptions. Yet no one is suggesting we should now shun orphan care, nor should they. The Christian community should stand strongly behind a full spectrum of in-country orphan care efforts, as well as the option of international adoption for children who'd otherwise grow up without families.

Amidst all this, what this situation does tell us is much more straightforward. Passion alone is simply not sufficient; it must be consistently paired with wisdom. Zeal without knowledge can be a destructive force. A compassionate impulse may indeed be God's nudging, and certainly should not be ignored. But the hard work of education, preparation, and planning most always stands between us and a job well done.

For those freshly woken to the needs of orphans, one other reminder will be helpful as well. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti had an estimated 380,000 children who had lost at least one parent. Tens of thousands lived in orphanages, on Haiti's streets, and as household slaves. These tragic situations are mirrored in many developing countries worldwide. So while the current crisis adds urgency to the biblical call to "defend the cause of the fatherless," the need to respond did not start with Haiti's latest anguish. Nor will it end when the television cameras no longer bring their images to mind.

Thus, in this moment—stirred as we are by Haiti's pain, and freshly reminded of the hazards of poorly-directed zeal—the most significant reminder is that knowledge-guided love is always needful. The emotion we're feeling is one that can be acted upon for the rest of our lives. Amidst the current crisis, we must help as best we can: giving generously, praying seriously, and even working on the ground alongside trustworthy organizations and local churches. Meanwhile, it's never too early to begin readying ourselves for a longer journey, joining passion with preparedness, and compassion with commitment, to serve wisely and well for the distance.

Jedd Medefind is President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, which will host Summit VI in April 2010 to help churches and organizations seeking to engage in adoption and orphan ministry. He previously served as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and led the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

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