Why am I getting involved?

This really isn’t my fight.  Or is it?  Sometimes I sit back and think why am I involved in the fight to stop the General Assembly in Rhode Island from passing a law against prostitution?

I am not a sex worker.  I am not a customer.  I do not make a living off of the sex industry.  I am just a chubby tattooed lesbian who made a film on the Asian massage parlors.  Surely I should be fighting for something else, something that matters more directly in my life?!?  (Maybe Gay Marriage, RI is the only New England State that doesn’t allow for Gay Marriage.)  How ironic it is that I am one of the leading voices to stop the prostitution law, a law that is really targeting consenting heterosexual adult sex.

So why am I getting involved?

Sure, I would have liked to have moved on to my next film by now.  But I feel an obligation to speak for the women I met when I made the film.  There are three things in life that aggravate me more than anything else.  Lying, picking on defenseless people, and lying.

I think it is horrible that the women in the spas have been targeted.  With indoor prostitution being legal, the police have gone above and beyond the call of duty to go after these women.  Even though there are many other places in RI that can be called “brothels”, the only ones that have faced raids have been the Asian spas.

These raids on the spas have all been in efforts to “help the women”.  That brings up number 1 and 3 on my list, LYING!

Even in the most recent raid, the police claimed Human Trafficking.  In a raid on a spa in Warwick, where 3 women were working (two of whom were sisters) the police came in and took the women’s cell phones, laptops, and money.  If these women were victims of trafficking, don’t you think you would not take their money and all forms of communication so they could call for help?

So yes, this isn’t my fight.  I wish the women would speak for themselves, but until they do I am going to speak.  I am going to shine a light on what I think is not right. It might not be my fight, and people might think I am strange for being involved, but when I see such wrongs committed based on lies, I can not bite my tongue.

What is that I smell??

A few days ago I  blogged about the overwhelming response to Donna Hughes letter against the 50 Acedemics who wrote to the General Assembly to advise them against passing a prostitution law.  (Just recently the British Medical Journal published a report that prostitution laws lead to violence against sex workers, so they must be radicals too)

While most of the response to the letters showed how Donna Hughes does not base her assumptions on fact, one blogger went beyond the letter and dissected the last few months in the debate.  Almost Diamonds writes “This is about sex, right?” a post where the observations of Donna Hughes schizophrenic right wing agenda are incredible, and the best part about this blog is not only the time line or the translations, but the fact that it  is written by a complete outsider.   Someone who could just smell the intense odor bull shit and had to comment.

Opinions are like…

I have an opinion too.  Actually I have 2 opinions. (Well I have a ton of opinions, but 2 as it relates to the situation on the prostitution law in Rhode Island)  While I am against laws that would criminalize sex between consenting adults, I fear that the over abundance of  media is forcing the General Assembly to create a law.  Since a law may be passed, I am  hoping for one that will not imprison the women who I have come to know in the process of making “Happy Endings?”  I guess you can say my second opinion is a compromise, a “plan b” as it were.

My “plan b” was printed in the Boston Globe today.  This “plan b” is known as the Sweden law.  I know that people who are in the sex industry will be upset with me for advocating for this law, but because it looks like a law is going to pass I am going to advocate for the lesser of two evils.

The “Sex Radicals” Respond

On Friday, Donna Hughes and Citizens Against Trafficking put out a letter titled “International Sex Radicals Campaign to keep Prostitution Decriminalized in Rhode Island” .  I responded to this pile of propaganda here, and I was not the only one.

Here is a couple of the “Radicals” that responded to Hughes’ lies. (I have included some excerpts, but click on the links to read the full articles)  The interesting part is that Hughes says this is Part One of her attack on the 50 Academics that signed a letter to the RI General Assembly against the proposed prostitution law.

Starting locally at ProvidenceDailyDose.com check out Sex Radical’s International Conspiracy Afoot in RI, Apparently. Beside the article being great, check out the comments by local Rhode Islanders.

Now lets check out the woman who was actually attacked.  Elizabeth Woods responds with this: Don’t Lets Personal Attacks Distract Us, where she tries to keep people focused on issues, and also reprints the letter I sent to the General Assembly.  The next day Norma Jean Almodovar also wrote a excellent letter to the RI lawmakers.

The people who also responded to attacks by Donna Hughes who could hardly be labeled as a “Sex Radical” were Senator Paul Jabour and Senator Michael McCaffery.  In their Guest Opinion in the Boston Herald they write :

“The Rhode Island State Senate passed bill S596A on June 25, closing a “loophole” by making indoor prostitution unlawful in the state. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate…We must delineate the lines that have been blurred among the problems of indoor prostitution, outdoor prostitution, human sex-trafficking and strip-club dancing by minors. Each of these issues has an appropriate legal and moral response and confusing them will lead to ineffective policies and political responses.”   I wonder if they think that Hughes is the one “blurring the lines”

A great response to this letter can be read at Rhode Island’s Future.  Brian Hull does an incredible job disecting this opinion piece in “More About Prostitution”

But, back to the “Radical’s” response.

Renegade Evolution wrote “Donna Hughes & The War Against Whores”

Amber Rhea wrote “Notes To Self” where she points out one of the many major flaws in Hughes letter.

“Wood isn’t a sex worker and is in no way affiliated w/ $pread (I also love your cute little comment about how, OMG, the “S” is a dollar sign! tee-hee!) other than as a subscriber – but why should that matter? We’re all a monolith to you.”

If you just want a good laugh, (not that this is a laughing matter) check out Looser Dust.  Radical Feminist gets facts wrong shock (among other things)

The best account of disecting Hughe’s letter is on A Feminist View.  In The Battle for Rhode Island’s Sex Life

In Bust Out Your Pepto, Jane Brazen makes the excelent point:

What I find most interesting is that of the two main signers of the letter (Elizabeth Woods and Ronald Weitzner), Hughes personally attacked Dr Wood. The woman of the two. Sexism for the win!

By the way, it is usual for Hughes to go attack the women and side with the men.  I wrote about that in a previous post when she attacked the women she was “trying to save” when they testified, and sided with the cops and judges who testified (all of whom were men) that they want to put them in prison.

I know I missed a bunch of blogs, if I missed yours, sorry.  Please let me know in the comments section if you know about anyone else responding to Hughes and her fear mongering.

It is the Fight of the Coalitions!

When I started “Happy Endings?” the National Association of Jewish Women RI Chapter decided to start the “RI COALITION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING” or RICAHT.  I went to a bunch of their meetings.  It is obvious that I am against Human Trafficking.  I testified in favor of  the bill against Human trafficking this year.  This Coalition had a wide variety of people, men and women from various backgrounds.  Some were social workers, some from religious organizations, all were citizens of RI concerned about trafficking.  They were very adept in politics, and with-in one year they passed the first human trafficking bill in 2007.

It is unfortunate that this group had been hijacked by Donna Hughes and Melanie Shapiro.  People began to drop out.  Nancy Green, a nurse, Providence resident and concerned citizen was one of the first to go.  She wrote about her experiences in her blog calling the transition from their good work to a Big Anti-Trafficking Tent.

“I never wanted to be a part of a moral crusade using law as a weapon. All I cared about was legal protection for people who are trafficked, and punishment for the traffickers.

To fight immorality, I would use other weapons– reason, persuasion and example. Laws against immorality have never been very effective, and have often been cover for worse crimes. Remember the Scarlet Letter?

Morality, like patriotism, provides a convenient cover for other agendas.”

This year RICAHT decided to work for a new trafficking law.  They also maintained that they would not take any position on the two prostitution bills.  This angered Donna Hughes, and she spoke out against RICAHT bill, (yes the bill against Trafficking).  She then left RICAHT and began Citizens Against Trafficking with Melanie Shapiro.  From the CAT website:  “ This year, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RICAHT)  failed to advocate for the essential prostitution law needed to make sex trafficking law work.”

It is obvious that we have 2 coalitions.  One against Trafficking, and One against Prostitution.  I don’t understand why the “Citizens” group gets to use Trafficking in their title when the are actually focused on prostitution.  (And I think you should be required to have more than 2 people to have an official Coalition)   It is really unfortunate that a good group like RICAHT could be torn apart by radicals, and when the radicals couldn’t control it they could start their own off shoot with a similar name.  What is ironic is people think it is the Asian massage parlors that set up “Shell Corportation” to hide what they are doing.  It seems that this coalition is a shell corporation for Hughes xenophobia and hatred of prostitutes.

Can hookers get some good press??

The answer to that is a resounding NO!

Last week, Giannini and Donna Hughes was on Channel 10.  The “Rapp Session” had one side of the story, no debate.  The reported ended the session with saying, “after talking to you I can’t understand why this hasn’t become law yet?” and asked the people of  state to send in comments to the website and vote on if the prostitution should become law and the results would be read on Fridays show.

Well, the people voted and wrote in.  Drum roll please . . . . . . .

65% of the people voted against the law, 30% voted for the law, and 5% said they didn’t know.  Some people even left comments.  Even a few intelligent comments.

Channel 10 decided to skip reporting the results and reading the comments on air.  Just another example of how all this change the prostitution loophole hysteria is being led by one woman who can’t even say loophole, another woman who has never met any Asian spa workers that she keeps saying are trafficked, and newspapers and tv stations that are just trying to make a buck.   Sad.

Rhode Island supports Terrorism!

(I quit smoking cigarettes and drinking diet coke, so forgive me if I was a little slow to make this connection and report how Rhode Island supports terrorism.  It is taking me a while to get back into reality with out nicotine and caffeine)

Don’t be so shocked!  Yes, It is a difficult thing to understand.  Rhode Island supports terrorism!  Just recently RI legalized compassion centers for medical marijuana.  I guess the State Legislature didn’t get the memo that drugs fund terrorism.  Yes, in Rhode Island we have financially supported terrorism.

So does that sound a little outrageous to you?  If it does keep reading, if it doesn’t keep drinking the kool aid that the fear mongers love to poor down your throat in buckets.

Everyday for the past week, Rhode Islanders have been inundated with reports about the loophole for both prostitution and underage stripping.  While I do not agree with underage girls dancing in strip clubs, the entire media craze is a hype to push the agenda to change the prostitution law.  How does this relate to the pot funding terrorism link?  Well, the people trying to push the prostitution law are trying to link prostitution with human trafficking and underage stripping.   They call RI’s lack of indoor prostitution law “a human rights disaster” and say things like RI supports slavery?!?

So if you are the type of person that bought into the whole hype that said if you bought a bag of weed you killed an Arab’s grandmother, you are probably the same type of person that would believe that arresting women is the best way to help them.  I hope we don’t have that many  niave people in Rhode Island.  After reading reactions to articles in the Providence Journal, I tend to think that Rhode Islanders are smarter than that.  More importantly I hope the people in the general assembly are as smart as I think they are.

The Clown at the Center of the Circus

Donna Hughes wrote a op-ed in today’s Providence Journal calling the hearings on the prostitution bill a Circus.  Why are these hearings a circus?  Because for the first time we heard the voices of the women that Donna Hughes was trying to “help”, (by throwing them in prison).

Now I know that Donna Hughes has never spoken to any of the women that she is trying to “help”, so it must have been a shock for her to actually see one.  To actually hear them ask not to be sent to prison.  To hear one tell of how she is a single mother supporting her two children and a sister.  Yes, Donna, if you want to help this woman, why don’t you listen to her.  She said that she can’t collect child support.  Maybe find a solution to that problem and then “Jul” might not be selling her body to support her family.

I watched Donna Hughes give her testimony.  She was up on the stand giving her credentials for over ten minutes.  The length of time it took for her to go over her credentials was more than any time she has spent actually talking to any women in any spa in Rhode Island.  But what can you expect from a woman who basically said that George Bush was the first Feminist President.    I wondered if this woman had any common sense at all.

Well, that question was answered today when an article came out today the Providence Journal on the Human Trafficking bill

One of the House bill’s vocal supporters, University of Rhode Island Prof. Donna Hughes, e-mailed a letter to senators last Monday urging them to reject the Senate bill. .

So, what Donna Hughes is saying is vote no on the human trafficking and yes on the prostitution bill?  What exactly does this woman want?  Lets arrest the women and not  the traffickers?  She may call the proceedings a circus, but she is the sad clown at its center.

What is next?

I have done all I could do.  I got a bunch of publicity.  Providence Monthly wrote about the film two times in the June issue.  RI Monthly had “Happy Endings?” as one of the top events of the weekend.  If there is one thing I will say when I look back is that I could not have tried harder.

I don’t know the official numbers of people who came to the weekend showing of “Happy Endings?”.  I would guestimate that there was around 75 to 150 at each show.  We had problems with the audio in the Theatre.  It’s not easy!!! The speakers in the theatre were only working in the front, but we worked with what we had.

I had hoped that more people would show up, but the audience that was there was great.  I got to respond to questions and get audience feedback, and that is the best part of making films.  When you get to speak with the audience and see that they connect to a person in the film, or that they have had their eyes and mind opened to something, that is really the pay off.

I didn’t actually make any money, I didn’t even break even on the theatre rental, but money isn’t everything.  I hope the people who saw the film go out a talk about it.  I know the word of mouth publicity that the film will get from the showing is worth more than money.

Now we will just have to see what will happen with the law.  There is just about 3 weeks left until the deadline, and there is no date on the Senate calendar for a hearing on the bill.  What is unfortunate is that the Human Trafficking bills that are before both the Senate and House are getting completely ignored.  I am sure there isn’t much debate about passing a human trafficking law,( come on who isn’t for punishing Human Traffickers!!!), but the legislation is letting it just fall by the way side as they argue over the Prostitution bill.

Ticket price…part two

I never liked doing the business part of making films.  They do call it show-business, and not show fun, so I have to deal with the business aspect too.  Deciding the price point for tickets has been a huge pain.  I want the shows to sell out, and let the people of RI make their own decision on the “prostitution loophole”. That is the main  reason I have held the film release until June, right before the legislation will be making their decision.

It is costing me a pretty penny to put the show on, and there isn’t much room for profit.  I have been pressured by some people to change the price to $15 advance/$20 door, and I did change the price for a week.

Today I changed the price back to $10 advance/$15 at the door.  That is the price and it is staying there.  I have seen a few films premier at the Columbus and I paid $20, but I don’t want anyone to be turned away from the show because of the price. (This economy is a pain in the but)  I don’t think the films I saw at $20 were better than Happy Endings?, but they didn’t have a important social message, and the directors of those films were looking for the short term payoff.  I want to fill the seats with people who will go out and talk about “Rhode Island’s dirty little secret” and be able to make informed decisions on how our lawmakers should and should not deal with this issue.