A Friend in Need, is a Friend Indeed!

Today I want to tell you about a friend of mine.  This is someone I met just over a year and a half a go.  She is younger than me and a larger than life character, with a great sense of humour and you can't help but feel relaxed in her company.  When we met for the first time, I instantly took a liking to her and some how knew that we would be good friends.  Having said that, due to the nature of the job, we have not met in the flesh again since, but now things have changed, I do hope that will change too and we will make time to do that, as good friends are hard to come by.

My friend I shall call Sophie for the sake of this blog, has not been in the best place for the last couple of years and this is her story...

Two years ago while working as an Escort she was attacked and robbed.  She was struggling mentally and emotionally with sex work as a consequence and finding it very difficult to continue working after the attack, but had no choice.  She was terrified!  She was so terrified, she could barely bring herself to sleep while working away from home and was having to use all the will she had to get over her fear of working.

Having heard of Ruhama and the fact that they were there to help sex workers get out of sex work, Sophie decided that she would contact them to see what they could do to help her.  She needed help, as she just couldn't see a way out by herself and she dreamed that they would whisk her away from this awful situation that she had found herself in.

Sophie was nervous, too nervous to ring them on the phone and terrified about speaking to someone outside the sex industry about her job.  Thankfully Ruhama have a website with a contact form on it, so she decided to fill out the form on the website stating her problems she was having and her desperate need to leave the business, as it was affecting her mentally in a bad way.

A few days later she received a reply from Ruhama, but sadly it was a generic reply with information from their website, saying that it sounds like she could do with some counselling and giving her a telephone number to ring to make an appointment.  This brought her straight back to square one, with facing the dilemma of using the telephone to contact a stranger outside of the sex industry who may judge her for what she does.  Sophie could not bring herself to pick up the phone, she just couldn't do it.  Instead she continued to force herself to work.  In the mean time she kept checking her emails to see if there was light at the end of the tunnel, to see if Ruhama had contacted her again, but they never did.

After some time and coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't going to get any help from Ruhama Sophie started job hunting.  Two years passed by and not one single interview had come her way.  She had registered as self-employed and was paying taxes, but being self-employed didn't seem to help with regards to getting a job, as no one was biting.

Again Sophie looked to Ruhama for help and filled out another form on the website.  This time she was delighted to have got a more human response and was given the opportunity to book an appointment via email.  However although she was based in the North of Ireland, she was instructed to go to Dublin in D9 for the appointment and it was in a very busy, well used building.

Ironically Sophie had to organise a tour to Dublin and work to enable her to attend the meeting, as she couldn't afford to get there otherwise.  The Week before the appointment was really bad workwise and she was not making any money.  She had hoped with all her heart to make some money right up to the day before the appointment so she could attend, just one client would have paid for the taxi, but no work came her way.  With a heavy heart she had to cancel the appointment, as she couldn't afford the taxi fare there and back again.

Feeling despondent Sophie decided again to try and get a job herself.  She re-worked her CV several times and still was not even getting an interview for a job, so after 3 more miserable months she tried again to contact Ruhama and booked another appointment.  She had tried to get an appointment with them a bit closer to home, but there was no budging, she would have to go back to Dublin again.

The timing couldn't have been worse.  Again Sophie had to go and work in Dublin to get close by to Ruhama and had hoped to make some money, but this time it was deadly quiet due to an article in the papers exposing raids and sex workers.  Thankfully despite this Sophie had €50 left after paying her expenses, so reluctantly she used the money to get to the appointment knowing that was all she had.  She was so nervous and she found the place not at all discreet and felt like she might as well have a neon sign over her head saying 'hooker'.

Sophie met up with a lady named Sheila Crawley.  She thought she was very nice and went through all the help they can offer her, which included advice with regards to benefits, careers, counselling and also offering massage and reflexology.  Sophie told her about how difficult it was to get out to the appointment and that she didn't live in Dublin and that work had been bad, which meant that she had spent the only money that she had made to come and see her that day.  Consequently Sheila told her she would assign her a Support Worker that would work with her and that they would focus on getting her signed on to benefits, get her some counselling and career advice.

Sophie had gone into the appointment nervous, but hopeful; she left believing that these people can't help, as it was clear that they didn't help people very often and the questions that they were asking her made it evident that they were not accustomed to talking to indoor sex workers and hadn't got a clue as to how they work.

A Week had passed by and Sophie had not heard back from Ruhama or her Support Worker, so she sent them an email asking about it.  Shortly afterwards she received a phone call.  Again the lady sounded lovely on the phone and Sophie explained that she had done some research and had been informed that she was not entitled to benefits, so benefits were not the way forward and again she expressed her determination and need to find a job outside of sex work.  Her Support Worker arranged a meeting with her, but it wouldn't be for a Month to start things off and a few days later she sent her a number for the citizens advice bureau on benefits.

It seemed pointless after that and Sophie felt bewildered.  Sophie didn't want to go onto benefits, but more importantly, she had already done the research and knew that she was not entitled to them and had explained this clearly to the support worker.  Sophie felt exasperated and disappointed, as all they seemed to want to do was to get her on benefits, give her counselling and a massage.  She also couldn't afford another €50 and seven hours on a bus there and back to go to an appointment for them to not offer her the help that she was actually asking for.  She had more important things to spend the little money she was struggling on to pay bills and live.  They didn't even contact her to see if she was okay, she could have been dead for all they cared.

In the mean time Sophie was in touch with another Escort and it was great, as she was able to speak with her and have conversations about work with someone who knew where she was coming from, who was non judgmental and understood what she was going through.  They talked about Sophie wanting out and how long she had been looking for a job and even that she had gone to see Ruhama and that she was being asked to go back to Dublin again and wait another Month, but she wanted out now and she couldn't afford it.  Her friend asked to see her C.V.  and although it took her a while to email it over, eventually she did.  Straight away her friend could see that the format for the CV was way out of date and focusing on the wrong things.  It was an easy adjustment to make, but also vital, as the C.V is how you open doors to getting interviews.  With a little help Sophie was guided as to how to make the changes and adapt each CV to the employer and straight away started applying for jobs.

Sophie was also glad of the emotional support as well as the guidance, just having someone she could off load to and be honest with about what had happened to her and how she feels.

Just a few Weeks later Sophie got news of two interviews, both in the same Week.  Within a Week of the interviews Sophie was offered a job and is now happily working very hard in a normal job.  She had gotten her life sorted out and is starting to feel the happiest she has been in years.  The job she now has is not easy, in fact she's just worked 30+ hours over her first few days, but she wouldn't swap it for the world and as her friend, that makes me so very proud and happy and it also makes me so angry and frustrated that Ruhama were not there for her and couldn't do something as basic as a simple CV.

Sophie feels that Ruhama don't have any idea about indoor sex work, which is the now the majority of sex workers working in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, with only a tiny percentage still working outside.  They need to realise it's very difficult for touring Escorts to be in Dublin to go to D9 for an appointment and the costs incurred, especially when work is difficult, as in her case where she was attacked and robbed and actually afraid to work.  Ireland does not start and end with D9 and there are 32 other counties out there.

Sophie would hate to think if someone who was trafficked, how they would be able to get the help they needed, with the service being so inflexible.  How exactly do they help them?

Now the official bit.

In the Official (Hansard) document dated 9th January 2014 - Committee for Justice - Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Further Provisions and Support for Victims) Bill: Ruhama

Ms Geraldine Rowley of Ruhama states that:

'When Ruhama was set up 25 years ago, prostitution was predominantly based in the major urban regions such as Belfast, Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick on the island of Ireland.  However, over the years, particularly over the past decade, we have seen huge increase in prostitution.  Because of the internet and because of less border control across Europe and on our own island, we have seen huge mobility in the sex trade.  Due to that - our figures show this - the majority of women we have worked with in our services over the past number of years are foreign women who come from countries in eastern Europe, South America and Africa.  It is very mobile, so we work with women who are located in and have been moved around Northern Ireland, and we have worked with victims of trafficking who were based in Northern Ireland.'

So... they are fully aware that sex workers today are mobile and they are not all in Dublin and that many are up in Northern Ireland and yet here Sophie is being given no help within her region, but is being told she has to go to Dublin to seek help and this is something she could not afford, which they were also aware of.  How exactly are they helping these people if this is their normal response?

Ms Geraldine Rowley continues to say...

'Last year, we worked with 170 women in casework.  Overall, we worked with 258 women.'

I am wondering if Sophie was classed as one of the 170, or one of the 258?  Either way, they did nothing for her other than to cost her money, time and frustration.  She was forced to work a whole Week in Dublin to secure that €50 in order to reach their office.  When they were told of her plight they assigned her a support worker, who also ultimately wanted her to go to Dublin at her own expense.  Not one euro of the funding that they get was offered her, so that she would not have to work in order to see them, despite them knowing that is what she was having to do to get there.

Further more Ms Rowley says...

'We provide a lot of face-to-face work.  That is time-consuming.  We also give support over the phone to women.  If they are still involved in prostitution, they may not be able to travel to Dublin, so we try to help women to access their services locally in the community, wherever they are.'

I think the word 'try' is the most appropriate here.  In Sophie's case they were suggesting she should go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, which I'm sure she would have done herself if it had been the right place to go.  They say they give job advice, but none was actually offered unless she went over to Dublin for a 3rd trip.  They may 'try' to help, but they don't have the skill base and knowledge in which do so and that is the problem.  They can't actually help most Sex Workers, as they are not geared up to work with today's sex worker.

In 2012, which is the year when Sophie first went for help and had that awful experience where she could  not afford to make the appointment due to lack of work and funds, Ruhama had income of €602,284 of which €599,560 was used on administration fees.  Can someone please explain to me how any business can spend that amount of money on administration fees in one year?  Do they not have anyone to make sure they are paying the best possible prices and using the money given to them effectively so it reaches those that need it and not lines the pockets of others?  I find this alone outrageous!  No wonder they couldn't offer Sophie any help with transportation, or send someone over to her.

If Sophie is a typical case, then how many people approaching Ruhama actually get the help they need?  How many fall along the way side and find themselves stuck in a situation that is eating them up inside?  How many of them reach despair and end up taking their own lives or living a life not worth living?  Yes there are people who need help out there.  I am not disputing that, but I do dispute if they are getting the help they need and indeed if Ruhama are the people to give it to them.  Would it not be better if there were Sex Workers actually involved or ex Sex Workers, who have a much better understanding of the conditions, the job and the problems involved?  Women who are intelligent, skilled and more able to help?  Women with a clear understanding, who are not looking to rid the streets of prostitution, but make it a better place to exist or exit from according to their needs.

Is this not money going down the drain where quite possibly the majority of those that reach out for help are not heard or seen, because of their inflexibility and inability to hear what people really need?  So many assumptions being made, so much political involvement that leads to bias and distrust for all concerned.  In my mind a body set up to help prostitutes should not show any bias, they should not show contempt for the people they are meant to be helping, they should purely show support and give it as best possible.  They should grow with the trends and adapt.  They should listen and learn and provide.  I don't see Ruhama doing any of that, but they are certainly spending money and doing an awful lot of political campaigning, which in turn alienates them from the very people they claim to help.

Will this new law help those that need help the most?  No!  So why do Ruhama want it so bad? Who exactly will gain from this legislation?  I'll leave it there for you to decide for yourself.

Thank you Sophie for sharing your story with me and I wish you all the best in your new life where you now feel safe and secure and for the first time in years... Happy! 

Addition* I've recently come across this link, which was written by an American lady, but so many parallels I felt it was worth adding, as we are in total agreement, that Sex Workers are part of the solution and not the problem, when it comes to trafficked women.

http://chronicles.kinketc.com/sex-industry-survivor-speaks/

Minutes of the Meeting - Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill - 29th Sept 2014

The meeting started 15 minutes late and I arrived 15 minutes after that, so I will start with the apologies for those that did not attend.  Apologies from any known currently working Escort.  Oh... wait a minute, no one asked for a representative of the Sex Work Community.  In fact the Union that had been set up to protect the needs of the Sex Workers was scoffed at by a certain Rachel Moran, who said it was not a REAL union, but a way for Pimps to protect their financial investment!

Speech

Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley MLA

 - I'm afraid I missed the first video entitled 'The Trip', but I did listen to Lord Morrow give his speech.  He quite rightly tackled the subject of trafficking and coercion in terms of three areas of concern.  That being:

Labour in the work force - factories etc.
Domestic slavery - i.e. - Women used within the home and not allowed out.
Sexual Exploitation - Used against their will sexually for financial gain.

Rightly so, it was explained that men, women and children can all fall victim to trafficking and coercion and that there were potentially 140 cases of this found across the spectrum within Northern Ireland.

This is where something close to a real statistic is replaced with emotive language and two stories of women were explained and stories these were, as it would seem there was no evidence to support their claims.  One story Lord Morrow distanced himself from, explaining he had never met the lady, but this was her story and that was of domestic servitude.  She had been kept prisoner within a family home for anything from 3 to 5 years and not allowed to leave.  She made a cry for help and it was answered.  She was rescued and it was a success story for Northern Ireland, which I salute and commend for helping this lady.

However, the second story Lord Morrow alleged to know this lady and had met her in person. He made it sound like the story was far more likely to be true and yet the story itself sounded to me (as a current working Sex Worker) like something out of a Hollywood thriller.  The story purports that the lady was taken from her nursing studies in England, where she was studying as a foreign student (she is Romanian).  She was a young 20 year old woman and against her will she was taken by two armed men to the airport and flown over to Ireland, where she was put to work as a prostitute.  She was made to service between 15 and 20 men a day and bundled across Dublin, Limerick and Galway until eventually she was rescued and released from her plight.

First of all I would like to congratulate Ireland for another success story, where a person has been found and taken out of a terrible situation.  I would imagine that this also led to convictions of the pimps, as they had proof of what was happening?  I would also like to believe that the story was followed up to make sure that it was real, because otherwise, however harrowing... it is just a story.  Did anyone contact the Nursing College to ask if the lady was on the course she claimed to be on?  Had anyone at the College reported the lady missing and contacted her family?  I believe foreign students have a mentor to help them while they are in a foreign country, what actions was the mentor taking to find her and make sure that she had left of her own free will and not just abandoned the course?

Anne (the victim) claims that she was made to service 15 to 20 men per day.  This is physically not possible.  If we take 20 as the larger number and consider each booking to be of 30 minutes duration, the time working alone amounts to 10 hours.  That does not allow for picking up and answering the phone, for people running late on arrival, for people over staying etc, etc.  It would also suggest that she was not given any time to wash herself in between, so by the time she had got to the 10th client, she would stink to high heaven.  It just isn't physically possible to see that many clients and then there is the fact that the average high volume working Sex Worker currently working in Ireland is lucky if she is able to secure 10 bookings in a day.  They are competing with the 800 advertised Sex Workers, with pretty pictures and profiles, all offering luxury and clean towels.  This means it takes a certain type of man to choose to see a lady in these conditions and those men are in the minority and they are part of an underground world that most of us are not aware of and never will be aware of.

This brings me on to the clause 6, which advocates the use of the Swedish Model, where currently they are getting no convictions, as they can not get the evidence needed to convict the pimps.  A country that puts more importants on fining clients than helping Sex Workers.  A country that currently has more prostitution than Ireland, with over 1000 recorded working daily and a country that has higher HIV rates than Ireland since their bill to make the client pay came in.  They have no success stories, they have no convictions.

It is already a crime to traffic or coerce a human in any of these three categories mentioned.  There is already support to help the victims and it is a very naive stance for anyone to believe that there is no trafficking or coercion going on in the country that they live in.  There is not a country in the world that is free of this and it is degrading and it is nasty, but it needs to be contained and it needs to be given severer sentencing upon convictions and people need to be made to pay for exploiting other humans, but that should be aimed at the PIMPS, as they are the ones facilitating this and taking people away from their regular lives and taking away their freedom.  These should be the people that are found, the abusers, those in the knowledge that they are there against their will.  This law already exists!!!!

Currently the toughest sentence for someone convicted of trafficking is two years.  That means that they may be walking free again after one year and assuming they are taken into custody before their sentence is passed, then they could be out before that.  It is rare that anyone should get the full term, which means that they can be out of prison and working in the industry again within 6 months to a year.  When you consider the vast amount of money they can make from one single trafficked woman, do you really think that this kind of sentence is going to deter a man who is prepared to treat another human being in this way from doing it again?  The sentences are feeble, the consequences too light.  They do not stop anyone from committing this type of crime, they just take them off the street for a few short months and allow someone else to take their place.

Lord Morrow continued to thank all the supporters for his campaign with regards to stopping sex work and made particular mention to Paul Bailey who he said had read every word of 1200 pages of a report put together by the Justice Committee on trafficking and coercion.  This does beg the question of why only one MP has read this information and in particular, why Lord Morrow had not considered it worth his time to read it?  Surely if this is of such volume, it holds information of great worth and should be considered vitally important?

He then quoted from William Hague who he said was one of his heroes.

You can choose to look the other way,

but you may not say you did not know!

I found this quote to be of particular interest in the knowledge that the voices of the current Sex Workers have largely been ignored, or belittled, as not representative.

Video Presentation

'No Hope'

This video came straight out of a Liam Neeson movie of 'Taken'.  It was emotive and there to cause shock value, but I believe there is very little resemblance to most Sex Workers working in Ireland and Northern Ireland today.

A young girl is waiting at the airport, freshly arrived from another country to work as a Nanny.  She is picked up by the driver who ignores most of her chatter about what work she will be doing with the new family she expects to be with upon arrival.  The driver drags her out of the vehicle and into a wreck of a building with a dirty mattress on the floor, where she is thrown down.

Two more men appear and they rape her and beat her up.  She is given a phone and told that she  must take the bookings or they will hurt her family.  We are then subjected to seeing more men come and go and rape her as she struggles and cries.

This is not sex work, this is not the life of an Escort.  Sex Workers give their consent and work within their own boundaries and can always say..; No!  Sex Workers are NOT raped!  They are not forced and if they are ever in a position where they are made to do something against their will, they can currently report that to the Police and file a report and this can lead to a conviction.  This will not be possible if the law changes, as every man will be considered a rapist and she will want to protect her good, regular clients and will not want to expose where she is working, for fear of them having their lives ruined.

People who arrange to see Sex Workers are not looking to rape anyone.  They are looking for a mutual exchange with another consenting adult.  The majority value that consent and will do their best to make sure that the person they see is happy with the arrangement.  There are showers and towels and protection.  No one is forced to do anything against their will.

The video clip may be representative of trafficking, I would not know, as I have never been in that situation, but I do know that it is NOT representative of the life of a Sex Worker and the two need to be separated, otherwise my right to consent is being taken away from me and as a sane, educated individual I should have that right!

In conclusion, it is not a matter of 'No Hope', but 'No Comparison'.  These are two separate issues and our judgement should not be marred in this way.  Sex with consent is not rape, even when money is exchanged!

My Story

Rachel Moran

Rachel started by saying a little about herself.  She said that in the USA she would have been considered trafficked, as she had started Sex Work at the tender age of 15.  I found this surprising, as I was under the impression that you had to be legally 18 to work as a sex worker in the UK and Ireland, so as far as we are concerned here, she would also be considered as trafficked, or coerced.  it is illegal whatever it is considered.

She mentioned that at that time of her life she felt she had no other choice and there were no other viable alternatives, as she was homeless.  This I'm afraid is incorrect, as being 15 she would still be protected and if she had seeked help, she would have got it.  It would have been a different story if she had been 18 or over, but as a minor, she had the full support of the Country.  Therefor her reasoning for entering sex work due to having no choices, I'm afraid is not valid.  It may have been her preference, but she DID have choices.

Rachel believes that all sex work should be stamped out and that in doing so it would stop trafficking.  However, this does not address the plight of the labour enforced or domestic enforced trafficked victim.  It is far too simplistic to suggest that taking away the sex industry will stop PIMPS from being able to benefit from trafficking.  It is also far too simplistic to assume that making clients criminals will solve the problem.

Surely if this was true, then they would also be tackling the factories, the hotel industry and the Domestic industries and stopping them, as they are facilitating the slave trade and trafficking in the other known and accepted areas of trafficking?  They also have much larger numbers to tackle than the sex industry.

Rachel also said that she had never met a sex worker who worked of her own free will.  I am wondering if she is walking around with her eyes shut, as I'm sure Laura Lee has had a huge presence during these debates and I believe two Sex Workers were present at another meeting she attended and they were also Independent Escorts.  However, just to be on the safe side, I did make a point of introducing myself to her and while we were shaking hands I told her that she had now officially met a Sex Worker, who was working of her own free will and had options.  She assured me that I was in the minority.  I assured her that I was not.  I told her I had met many sex workers who worked of their own free will and also had options, but she shook her head and repeated that I was mistaken and I was in the minority.

I find it incredulous that a woman can stand up on stage and say she cares about people, when in actual fact she only cares about herself.  The woman is there to promote herself and her own book and the more a victim she can be, the better her book will sell.  She has no care for the truth, otherwise she would have asked me about my experiences and how I know people who work of their own free will.  Instead she closed her mind, she closed her ears and she walked away to have a group photo taken with all the other single minded people, that don't care about the people in the industry; who's jobs they are threatening and the lives of those who currently pay to see sex workers to make their lives a better place to be.

Rachel is repulsed by those that use the sex industry, she is repulsed by those that buy women to have sex with and she commented on the 'mock' sex union that pretends to represent sex workers, as they have invested interest in keeping paying for sex legal.  She said it is ran by Escort Ireland, who on a daily basis sell 800 women per day.  This again is emotive language.  Escort Ireland offers advert space and an individual can create their own advert and pay to show their availability on that site.  You are paying for advertising space, as you would do with ebay, vivastreet or any other online website.  Sex Workers are not being sold, as at the end of the time paid for the lady/gent can close the door and never see that client again if she/he so wish.  They are not selling themselves, but they are selling their skill base and company.  They are in control, they decides what they want to provide and they earn their money in the same way any other service provider does.

I also feel that this emphasis on the sex trade and trafficking undervalues the plight of the majority of trafficked people who come under the other two categories.  It seems they don't need a special clause to eradicate the trade that they have been forced into.  It seems that it is far more palatable for the nation to accept that a person may be locked in a room and malnourished, being forced to work long hours in hard labour, as long as sex is not the prime reason.  Is that because there is less money to be made from it?  Or because they feel their plight is less arduous?  Or they believe that it is possible for people to want to do those jobs and have other choices?  I'm not sure, but no one seems to be questioning that.  That seems quite surreal to me.  In essence, I feel that clause 6 serves to devalue the majority of trafficked that come under these other categories, who's lives are equally taken away from them and beaten and abused.  They deserve the same attention and if that is not right for them, then why is it right to attempt to abolish the sex trade?

At the end of Rachel Moran's story we were given the opportunity to ask questions, but before I had the chance to pose a question in my head, she was off the podium and sat back down in her seat.  It was suggested we may like to ask her questions later, as of course it's not likely anyone would want to do it publicly.  I would have liked to, but alas I was not quick enough.

Speech

Rt. Hon. Peter Robinson MLA, First Minister of Northern Ireland, Leader of the Democratic Union Party

Not much to report here really.  He showed his support to Lord Morrow and commended him for fighting for clause 6, saying that it would have been much easier to pass this bill if he had left it out and this bill has been in the making now for the last two and a half years, so much time has past and I do wonder how many trafficked victims have not been helped in that time for hanging on to this clause that will do more harm than good?

I personally feel let down by politicians that are all too eager to believe what they hear without seeking any evidence.  Without doing the proper research and with out really caring about the people in their community, as believe it or not, sex workers are part of the community and they should have rights too.  They should be protected, but in this case, they are needing protection from careless politics and politicians, who are far too busy trying to 'look good', than really care about the good they are doing, or not in this case.

Closing Remarks

Arlene Foster MLA, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Again, nothing much to report here.  There was a lot of back slapping and pleas for people to send letters in support of the bill and how wonderful it was to have a letter of support from Jimmy Carter.  It is such a shame that his support is misguided, as this clause does nothing to help those that are trapped in this industry, but if anything hems them in, while they concentrate on entrapping and fining the clients.

If you would like to find out more about this bill then please do visit the site that was newly launched just Yesterday at www.givinghopeni.com

The bill is at its most critical stage, being stage 5 of 10 stages.  Once this stage is complete, there is either a clear path to bring the bill in complete with clause 6, or for taking it back to basics and reviewing the areas that are rejected.  If anyone is reading this and like me, believes that this bill is not being produced to help those that need it most, but to punish those they feel morally should not be having sex with other consenting adults, then please show your hand.    Make it known under what ever guise you feel comfortable that this bill will only make things worse, it will drive the honest and innocent (yes sex workers are innocent with regards to trafficking) underground, it will put their lives in jeopardy and it will destroy the lives of clients, who only seek to spend time with other consenting adults for a fee.  This is not a crime, this is simply a transaction between two adults.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you can see how misguided trust is a very dangerous thing.