RMG
Enjoyed the first link Ross, which contained this beauty -
'We at Gibber challenge and disagree with the agenda of industry-based arts programs, including eco-tourism. We work very closely with a group called Dumbartung which is a Nyoongah art corporation in Perth and we adopted their policy - we adopt straight from them their policies on things like eco-tourism and working with industry. We found that the art and writing of the Gibber target group has repeatedly been treated insensitively and as a commodity by various groups from the Juvenile Justice Department to Barking Gecko Theatre Company and other nameless groups who, as a result, we've decided not to work with any more and stuff like that.'
Is that English?
Simon, I came across some more interesting background on Elena in the course of research, but as it's only hearsay I didn't include it in the post.
As for the Salvos, when I passed their collection bucket in Paddo on Saturday, I doubled my donation because of this.
When the drop dead gorgeous blonde 19 year old, in a very tight salvos t-shirt was collecting at the traffic lights near Centennial Park, I'd say plenty of blokes doubled their donation.
dunno rick's full story, and i will say with MUCH VEHEMENCE that anyone forced into such a life without choice should be pulled out. violently if necessary (and with much pleasure and aggression if so, and i'll be the first to volunteer to put myself in the front line).
but on the other hand, i will say that the majority of prostitutes i've met and talked to (i used to live in an area that for many years until the gentrification overtook it made kings cross look upmarket, and i used to walk home through per-corner crowds of them) have quite consciously chosen that lifestyle. a surprising percentage (not quite majority, but nearly) actively ENJOY it.
and yes, i agree with Ms Crofts re the faux-disgust. i've seen well-displayed brothels and strip-clubs backing onto childrens' playgrounds and preschools across europe, most particularly in the quieter less-racy parts. it really doesn't hurt. nor does it negatively affect how people grow up. the opposite seems very much the case. you note, as you travel, that the more extreme the social problem, the further apart the brothels are kept from "normal" people, and vice versa.
so yeah: if people want to live such a life, let them do it. they have fun, others have fun, everyone wins. but those not built for it can get destroyed by it: any suggestion of involuntariness should be thoroughly reversed as forcefully as necessary.
the 2 extremes, though, are not exclusive. individuals are individual, not all the same. a startling proportion of people can do it, not just without harm, but with active pleasure. i can remember a dutch girl in brisbane sneering at us all for australians' pseudomorality because she couldn't see why she shouldn't pay for her ongoing world travels by brief stints fucking in amsterdam windows. she'd initially announced it the same way you'd say "i worked as a barman to support myself while i was in uni" and until she'd said that, we'd all assumed from her personality she was a slightlyrich girl who'd lived her life a bit sheltered. the very acme of the sweet "girl next door"
there is a huge variation in human individuality. assuming and then demanding that we all be the same, i regard as sinful in its original sense.
Ross, the all kinds of wrong you failed to detail here is the way in which charities have and continue to use portrayals of marginalised communities in their media campaigns in order to increase their profits.
I awoke to read the morning newspaper only to be confronted by the Salvo's add. I was appalled and was one of the many who are sex workers and called the Scarlet Alliance office to voice my frustration and anger.
Elena is an elected representative of the organisation - elected by a membership of sex workers. Hardly jumping from one campaign to another more a social justice activist.
The salvo's made a mistake and admitted it.
Your petty dirt sheet approach is something like 1st year uni politics. Maybe that's why you are stuck with lazy perceptions like 'left wing protesters' rather than recognising that a group of sex workers stood up to say NO, to yet another advertising campaign that stigmatises sex workers.
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