first of all, this got me real fired up. so the idea is that you see a john solicit a prostitute, you go to this here website, and their pictures are posted for the world to see. many strong feelings. one: this is all happening in my old neighborhood in south minneapolis, where one could be solicited wearing layers and layers of winter clothes.
seriously. so my senior year was dedicated to studying prostitution and restorative justice in my neighborhood. there's some fucked up shit going on. they used to do this same thing with prostitutes, putting their pictures and bios online for all to see. and some local community organizations already posted pics of johns even before this billboard campaign...they are only supposed to be up for a few months, but when i was researching this for my project, i found photos up from years ago...
i have really mixed feelings about everything, but whether or not these men should be publicly shamed, it doesn't stop keep them from lurking around and picking up street prostitutes. it doesn't. it's a revolving door.
so i volunteered for this community restorative justice program, MCRJ. i also have mixed feeling about this. the women who runs it is super rad and the concept behind the program is that johns can opt to go attend the panel and instead of jail time/fines/pictures up on the internet, they do community service in the community where they offended, go through an education program, receive counseling, build a support system, etc. most people who have gone through the program don't repeat offend after a year, which is not the case for the traditional punitive system.
my mixed feelings come from concern for the women on the streets and the motivations of people who volunteer for the panel. this neighborhood in particular, which is one of the most diverse in the city, has become pretty gentrified in the past few years. of course most of the panel participants are white middle class folks whose main priority is to stop prostitution because they don't want prostitution in their neighborhood....if it moves somewhere else, that's fine. which means as the neighborhood becomes more monitored and the johns are pushed out, sex workers are going elsewhere for work. they're avoiding places with lots of police surveillance, trying to get the job done quick, with less time to negotiate safety and money, which usually means a more dangerous deal for them.
anyway, what do people think? i could ramble on and on and on if you want to discuss it further...
other things on the "i will blog about you when i have energy" list: visits from old friends, new ink, new cat, chickens in the city, possible new housemate, ferry carnivals, a circus, and a house blog. whew.
