ASSOCIATED PRESS LETTER - LOSING TOUCH WITH REALITY & THE WAR ON WORDS
Jody Williams,
Founder & Director
Sex Workers
Anonymous (formerly Prostitutes Anonymous)
www.sexworkersanonymous.com
(702) 468-4529
Telephone
October 1, 2015
Re: Use of the Word “Prostitute”
Owners & Editors of
Associated Press
Via Email
Dear Respected Members of the Press:
First, I want you to know I respect
your jobs even more now than ever since the Telecommunications Act of
1995 passed. I want you to know that had that law passed one day
before it did – we wouldn't even be talking about the issue of
child sex trafficking. Why? Because in the 1960's, 70's, and 80's
(I don't know how old you are), the issue was considered to be so
non-existent that if you spoke about it back then you were received
exactly the same as if you said “aliens are abducting me and
selling me for sex” today.
If you call a cop today and ask them to
“go rescue a girl at such and such address because the aliens have
her” - that's the reception I got when I tried during the 1980's
and women were being pimped and sold by the men who were nicknamed
the “Hillside Strangler”. Notice they called these two men
“murderers” but NOT traffickers which is what they were before
they started murdering women.
If you tried to seek a therapist for
the trauma you just endured having your family's lives were being
threatened if you did not comply, for being shot at, kidnapped,
raped, locked in a crack house and forced to “service” 20 gang
bangers and a baseball bat, or witnessed our CIA bringing boat loads
of cocaine into the piers of Los Angeles in Iran Contra in the 1980's
– they would lock you up for observation for “hallucinating”.
I know because when I started having
anxiety attacks and sought professional help in the early 1980's –
that's exactly what they tried to do to me every time I sought
counseling or tried to get help. I wound up “self-medicating” on
the cocaine doctors were promoting on TV talk shows back then as
“non-addictive” and “mood elevators” - and wound up with a
$2000 a day drug habit that drug me into Narcotics Anonymous finally
where others who had witnessed what I'd witnessed because they flew
those planes and sailed those boats put me back together again. So I
know well the power of the media.
I had to wait until I was off probation
for an arrest I suffered in 1984 where a “safe house” I had built
for trafficking victims (we couldn't turn to the police and homeless
shelters weren't safe and since no one believed sex trafficking was
real – there were no homes for adult trafficking victims then so I
created one), was dubbed a “brothel”. The only other “safe
house” in the world I was aware of back then was for teens with
Children of the Night. The security I had built into it (a home in a
residential area wasn't safe in case there was shooting which did
happen) got me dubbed the “High Tech Madam”.
Www.hightechmadam.com.
No one bothered to ask why I had a “brothel” two blocks from the
police station. But once I was off probation, and after seeing that
there were no services for us anywhere because no one believed this
was even real – I embarked upon a media campaign to change things.
I had no money to buy advertising or
create a marketing campaign. Mind you this was in 1987 when I
stepped up so there was no fax machines, no internet, and our 800
hotline I had installed was costing me $1.00 a minute Actually even
more because I had to rent an office to host an 800 phone (they
weren't allowed in residential homes – so I had to rent an office
just to get an 800 number back then). So the only power I had back
then was the power of FREE press and media. So I did what I could do
back then – I went onto talk shows, the news, the tabloid shows
like 20/20 and 60 Minutes, and I even had a couple of documentaries
made about my story and what I'd witnessed.
Was this dangerous? Gary Webb was a
respected reporter who validated everything I was saying as true
about Iran Contra and he was found dead with two shotgun blasts to
the head. Coroners say it's impossible to do this. Jeane Palfrey
released her “Black Book” to prove that the sex trafficking she
was a victim of was in fact connected to people in the highest
offices in this country such as Randall Tobias. She was found hung
in a shed in her mother's backyard. Her mother's home being where
she'd fled to the night before for safety because someone had been
following her around all the day before. So yes what I was doing was
risky. But frankly I was allowed to speak because I received the
same reaction initially telling the stories of what I'd seen as if I
was talking about alien abductions – at first.
Geraldo's producer suggested to me in
1988 that “if you could bring on more stories from people you'd
rescued – then people would have to believe you”. I also knew
from watching Linda Lovelace before me who had tried to tell her
personal story – that if I accepted money for a book or movie I'd
be discredited as just “trying to make money” so I refused all
offers. We followed that advice and we started doing shows like
Geraldo with 2, 3 and 4 survivors telling their stories also. But
then the “novelty” wore off and we stopped being asked to appear
on many of these shows.
But the FCC had a rule of law then that
if you were speaking about an issue that was being voted upon – you
had to bring an “opponent”. So in 1988, when Joe Conforte, owner
of the Mustang Ranch legal brothel wanted to expand into California
and further into Nevada, put a $1,000,000 up into a PR firm and
embarked upon his campaign – he literally could not appear on TV or
radio without an “opponent”. No one would step up against him
back then but me. I wasn't threatened either because he needed me to
get on the air. He lost. So at a time when everyone believed that
prostitution was a “victim less crime” and when having sex with
anyone under the age of 18 was NOT “statutory rape” in ALL
circumstances – I beat out by myself a man who had $1,000,000 in
advertising AND the hearts of men.
We built upon that and I took advantage
of a weekly public access TV show I could get put on air free back
then. Frances Nuyen, the actress, recorded free public service
announcements that we made dubs of the tapes and sent to TV and radio
stations across this country. Soon from the east to the west coast –
there were commercials running late at night with our 800 # saying
“if you want help to get out – call 800 #”. We made dubs of
the cable show and sent those to public access all over the country
as well with interviews from the MEN and women who were coming to us
for help – and getting it. These were things all afforded us by
the FCC's requirements that a TV or radio station had to “serve the
community” by donating a certain amount of air time free to groups
like ours. It gave us voices.
Sure certain corporation owned stations
didn't want us on the air. Others wanted to actively try and
discredit us. I got a call in 1992 that the Donahue producers were
going to put an impostor of me on the air. I threatened with legal
action. They sent someone to beat up a man who was demanding to be
allowed to speak about male sex trafficking so he couldn't appear on
that show. Finally, I walked onto that stage. But because they
didn't own ALL the media – we still were able to continue talking.
But as Noam Chomsky wrote in
“Manufacturing Consent” about the power of words – he said that
“propaganda is to democracy what violence is to a dictatorship”.
We were winning ground nonviolently. So the Telecommunications Act
of 1995 was passed and suddenly our voices were silenced. Our
commercials, our weekly cable shows, all went “poof”. No longer
were we allowed to “oppose” anything which allowed for the rise
of the fake “Samoly Mam” who defrauded Americans out of millions
of dollars. More importantly, she did not speak the voice of a
“true” American sex trafficking victim. The same allowed for
Bill Hilliar to rise with his fake story that became the movie
“Taken” which further defrauded people not only financially –
but ideologically about again what AMERICAN sex trafficking is, what
it looks like, what our concerns are, and our voice.
Despite this all, we saw the
Trafficking Act of 2000 passed. The modern day sex trafficking
movement was now a reality. However, even the author of this Act,
Michael Horowitz, agrees with me it's been “hijacked”. Randall
Tobias, the same man who was in Jeane's “Black Book”, came along
and had the TVRA Act of 2003 passed which OVERRODE the 2000 Act.
This stated that no one would receive any federal funding IF they did
not “have a written policy AGAINST prostitution”. Pretty big
deal when you're a 12 step program and you're not allowed to have ANY
“opinion on an outside issue”.
What's the big deal? From the east to
the west coast, our program was in the jails. Our program was being
used as an “alternative to sentencing”, and as a condition of
probation in all major cities. We had a meeting in just about every
Salvation Army and Catholic Charities shelter. EVERY residential
program that had prostitutes in them ALSO had a “Prostitutes
Anonymous” or a “Sex Workers Anonymous” meeting in them (we had
to change our name in 1995 to Sex Workers Anonymous to bypass the
adult filters on computers). We had set up the first court systems
in Los Angeles and Allentown in our history which afforded those
considered “victims” to be given treatment instead of
incarceration. Now mind you OUR programs were for EVERYONE. This
included men, women, transgenders AND the LGBT community. We
welcomed everyone AND we ensured ALL got help.
But because of TVRA of 2003, we were
handed our pink slip in 2004 and shunned by anyone and everyone that
received one dollar of federal funding. Social workers, probation
officers, cops who used to hand out our flyers on the whore strolls –
were all told they'd be fired if they even mentioned our name. (Just
for the record – I'd like to state that the Supreme Court shot this
down last year as “unconstitutional”.)
President Bush then further added that
ONLY “faith based groups” could receive federal grants. Now I
think you know most churches DON'T take kindly to transgenders and
the LGBT community – two groups we welcome in our 12 step
structure. So what happened in 2004 – was that suddenly these
groups had the money, had the power of the press, AND the support of
the whole legal system at the same time we were being BLOCKED from
everything. What this accomplished was it completely, utterly and
totally WIPED OUT all services to transgenders, men, and the LGBT
trafficking victims,
Could we speak out about this
injustice? No. Many publications, even radio stations, receive
federal money as well as money from the church. So we were now
banned from those media outlets. Leaving us to turn to media
monsters like Hearst Media whose CEO, Steve Sassa, was a “john”
(this is verified in the press as to why he got fired). Now let me
ask you – if you were an alcoholic would you allow advertising for
“Alcoholics Anonymous” and run stories on the damage alcoholism
does? I think not. Meaning that those TV and radio stations that
are promoting the sex industry – shut us out also.
Now for the record since people seem to
have some pretty crazy ideas about us – so let me first clarify
something. The LEGAL age in this country varies from state to state.
Meaning that you're still a minor at 18 years of age in California.
However, if you jump across the border into Nevada that age turns to
15 years old. In Nevada, a girl can LEGALLY have sex AND she can
work in a strip club as well as get a license to work in a legal
brothel. To my knowledge, we are the only program that has been
actively doing outreach to, and going and physically picking those
girls up from those combination strip club/brothels that operate in
Nevada because those girls not only are too young to get a drivers
license – but it's literally against the law for them to walk out
of there on foot except on rare occasions.
Meaning that we might get a call from a
15 or 16 year old who is working in one of those clubs to “come and
get me out of here”. There are no cabs nor buses anywhere near
these. The girls are also not given their money when they quit –
it's only released to their “manager”. So they're broke.
Within a LEGAL context, these girls are
not “trafficking victims”. Not until a case can be built to
prove they were forced to work there. They are not “statutory
rape” victims either. They ARE in the eyes of the LAW either
“prostitutes” or “sex workers” according to how they want to
identify.
Now do I agree with this? I live a
“clean and sober” life today. Meaning I don't live in a fantasy
world – but the real one. I don't live in what “ought” to be
or what is “tasteful” to me. A spade is a spade and a rose is a
rose. My grandfather died of alcoholism. He got drunk and choked on
his own vomit to death. I do not however call liquor stores “death
merchants”. I do not call breweries “death machines”. I don't
call up reporters and ask them to call all references to booze as
“poison”. Nor do I call anyone who drinks an “alcoholic” or
a “wino”. Those are subject feelings NOT FACT.
My grandmother was murdered by my
grandfather shooting her with a gun five times. Now – do I call up
my local TV station and when someone is shot to death and demand
every time they say the word “gun” as “grandmother killer”?
My mother died from smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. Now –
do I call up the newspapers and state that every time they use the
word “tobacco company” they instead call them “matricide
factories”? No I don't. Anyone who would is either living in a
fantasy world or has an agenda. Which in reality is what's
happening here with this recent petition.
There has been a move in this country
by people with very large pockets to try and stamp out what we here
at Sex Workers Anonymous are achieving. Like Noam is trying to warn
us about the power of words here -
http://hope.journ.wwu.edu/tpilgrim/j190/Chomsky.summary.html
– these people are trying to control minds through the power of
propaganda.
Because the Telecommunications Act of
1995 wiped out reporting and media. We are now a country of
propaganda because we no longer even ALLOW dissenting opinions unless
they can buy space. These people have tried to control this movement
with creating fake “Samoly Mam's” they put on the podiums, on TV,
and in magazines without us being allowed to have our voices heard to
counter. They tried to wipe us out of the legal system with the
TVRA of 2003 – but the Supreme Court struck that down. They tried
to wipe us out of the movement we started with a checkbook. But the
ACLU vs. Catholic Bishops judgment lost them that footing. But we're
just not shutting up and going away.
So last year these people decided to
try and change the English dictionary to gain control. They wrote a
letter to the editor of the Chicago Manual of Style asking him to
tell reporters and writers to change all use of the word “prostitute”
to “rape victim”. Well that didn't fly very well. Nor did it
fly when they tried to convince the UN of this word change in their
meeting last year either.
So they tried to regain ground in
people's minds with creating a completely staged and faked so called
“reality show” called “8 Minutes” trying to further portray a
“prostitute” as a “victim”. We got that show taken off the
air after only three episodes. Not as a “censorship” move –
but because it was being used to defraud donors and our government
out of millions of dollars in grant money as well as the minds of the
people as to what exactly a “sex trafficking victim is”. While
they argue a young prostitute should be called a “rape victim” -
I argue that a “prostitute” is not a “victim”. Anymore than
Gordon Ramsey is a trafficking victim. I say that because
trafficking victims exist in ANY industry.
Now they're writing to you. I propose
that this country hasn't even straightened out the use of the words
for “statutory rape” and “sex” with children. Not when in
Nevada a 16 year old is called a “sex worker” for doing the same
exact thing that if done in California would not only make her a
“rape victim” but would also shut down the very place she's being
marketed in and arrest those same customers. Now does calling that
Nevada 16 year old legal prostitute a “rape victim” solve
anything? Not one bit. Which is all the more reason why I'm saying
to this THIS IS AN AGENDA.
You are our last bastion of reality
here. We are becoming a society of 1984 propaganda. Especially in a
world where the media just won the legal right to lie to us in the
lawsuit between Akre, Wilson and Fox. I say this because to support
their agenda these people have been blatantly LYING in the media for
years now and it's getting worse. In an article with NBC's Marion
Brooks for example, they took a woman I had served a legal “cease
and desist” letter upon twice already to have her stop
impersonating me in the press in order to shill for grant money and
donations and they ran it anyway after I had told them in writing
this woman was an impostor and that the meetings they were filming
were not ours.
The FCC told me I could not only not
complain about the station running this false piece of propaganda,
that they could do nothing about it Further they could do nothing to
allow me any equal air time to counter what was said. I was silenced
about my own impersonation. Five reporters told me if they even
tried to mention our name – they'd be fired. Now Fox has won all
media the right to completely deceive the public also – and the
legal right to FIRE anyone who refuses to report these lies. So I'm
begging you as our last line of defense with truth and reality here –
to please not bow to the pressure of these people to start calling
things as we wish them to be instead of what they are.
If you have any questions for me –
please don't hesitate to call me.
Thank you for listening.
Jody Williams
PS – for the record, we do not
have anyone under the age of 18 years old sitting in our meetings
calling themselves “prostitutes” or “sex workers”. Anyone
under the age of 18 years old, no matter what state they are in, we
refer them out to organizations to help them who are properly
equipped to do so. Our members do not identify as “prostitutes”
or “sex workers” either in meetings. Those are job titles and
therefore not what our program is about.
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