We Consent

Sex Worker Held Hostage Breaks Back And Legs Escaping From Rape Nightmare

2013-03-02T08:51:40Z

A sex worker who was kidnapped and raped while being held hostage for two terrible days broke her legs and back when she jumped out a sixth-floor window in an attempt to escape, prosecutors said yesterday. Benjamin Gaston and Johnny Jackson have been charged with kidnapping and raping the 28-year-old woman, who was first held hostage in an apartment on W. 92nd Street and Columbus Avenue on November 12th around 4 a.m.

Prosecutors said that Gaston, who allegedly called the woman to start things off, stole her cellphone, money and identification. They say he hit her and held a pillow over her face, telling her, “You’re not leaving the apartment — you’re working for me and making me money.” The next day, the woman was taken to another apartment on W. 149th Street where there were six or seven additional men waiting to have sex with her, including Jackson. Gaston told her, "You'll do what I say here."

The woman tried to escape however by using her jacket as a rope from the sixth floor apartment—unfortunately, she fell to the ground, breaking both her legs and back.

Jackson told cops he was a dupe in the whole thing: “A guy I know as Mike asked me if he could use my spare room to run his girl out of and make some money. I told him he could use the room in my apartment and he agreed to give me part of the profit,” Jackson said in his statement. “He brought a girl over and they stayed in my apartment from Tuesday at about 3 a.m. until Wednesday evening,” he added.

“My client is an honorably discharged Marine — that’s all I feel comfortable saying right now,” Jackson's lawyer said. Both men are charged with kidnapping, sex trafficking, criminal sex act, rape and sex abuse. Gaston is also charged with assault. “The facts of this crime are truly heinous - these defendants are accused of holding a woman hostage in order to essentially enslave and prostitute her,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. added.

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Bendigo sex worker was operating without licence, court told

2013-03-02T08:49:00Z

A 45-year-old woman caught acting as a sex worker without a licence said she was only cooking clients dinner at her Bendigo business.

Di Hu, a Chinese citizen who moved to Australia in 2008, was arrested in January and charged with operating an illegal brothel in Galvin Street, in Bendigo’s CBD.

She pleaded guilty to knowingly carrying on business as a sex worker without a licence but claimed she had only used the property to cook dinner for her clients and had not acted as an escort at the premises.

Detectives raided the Galvin Street address on August 7 last year and arrested another Chinese citizen, 55-year-old Hui Liu, who was working at the business as a masseuse and escort.

In a previous court appearance, Liu said she had only worked as a sex worker in Bendigo for one day and was given a $500 fine without conviction.

The Bendigo Magistrates Court heard this week that Hu had been running the business and had hired Liu as a temporary replacement.

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No Wildcat action as lap dance venue in Sheffield is blocked

2013-03-02T08:45:53Z

OBJECTORS to a proposed lap dancing venue in Sheffield city centre were celebrating this week after the scheme was rejected by councillors.

Some protesters staged a demonstration in front of the Town Hall - before permission to turn the Steelhouse bar in West Street, at the back of the City Hall, into a place called Wildcats was refused.

Councillors decided that it was the wrong location for a lap dance club, out of keeping with an area where it was hoped to attract visitors and investors and where there was the potential for disturbing residents with noise and other late night nuisance.

Some critics claimed a sex-orientated venue would put the safety of women at risk, but officers said their recommendation was based on the impact on the area, not on moral grounds.

The application from Leeds-based Harjen Ltd for a venue that stays open until 4am at weekends and 3am during the week prompted a total of 165 objections, including from representation from individuals, Sheffield City Centre Residents Action Group, Sheffield Cathedral, Quaker Meeting House and Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield.

Mr Blomfield raised concerns over noise, anti-social behaviour, safety, the impact on the image of the city and the moral implications.

Peter Sephton, chairman of Sheffield City Centre Residents’ Action Group, said: “This club would reduce the public perception of Sheffield. It would exploit women in a city with over 25,000 female students.”

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Leeds lap dance club bids to expand

2013-03-02T08:44:07Z

Plans to double the size of a Leeds lap dancing club are facing objections – months after a campaign to cap the number of city centre strip venues failed.

Illuminati Ventures has applied to Leeds City Council for permission to expand the current Black Diamond club on New Briggate from two floors to four.

If approved, the new club would be renamed Tantric Blue.

But Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, who led a campaign last year to limit the number of sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) in Leeds, has written to the council to object.

She said: “The last thing Leeds needs is a new lap dancing club.

“We already have lap dancing clubs in prominent locations in the city centre and that’s why I’ve written to the council to object to this application and encouraged other people to do the same thing.”

All seven existing city centre lap dancing clubs, including Black Diamond, had to apply for new SEV licences following a change in legislation last year.

At the time a group of MPs, councillors and religious leaders failed in their bid to persuade the council to impose a cap – or ban them outright.

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WeConsent on ITN debate about Iceland's Proposed Porn Ban

2013-03-01T10:59:00Z

Jerry Barnett from WeConsent.org successfully defends pornography on an ITN online debate against Gail Dines. Watch it here.

Surrey Sex Worker Assault Suspects Wanted By Mounties

2013-03-01T10:56:47Z

SURREY, B.C. - Mounties in Surrey, B.C., are looking for two suspects who sexually and physically assaulted a female sex-trade worker, putting her in hospital with serious injuries.

The assault took place early on Oct. 18, 2012, after the woman was picked up in north Surrey and then driven several kilometres away to a secluded area on Colebrook Rd.

Police describe the first suspect as a South Asian male in his mid-20s, who is six-foot-one and between 190 and 210 pounds with a lean build.

The second suspect, also a South Asian male in his mid-20s, is about five-foot-10 and between 200 and 230 pounds.

Police say they have secured what is believed to be DNA from the suspects.

The vehicle used in the assault is described as a metallic-blue, four-door sedan, with low-profile tires, dark-tinted windows, a rear spoiler and rain guards on the rear passenger window.

Know your rights cards 'prioritize' sex worker safety, say advocates

2013-03-01T10:54:00Z

Sex workers in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside will soon be getting special wallet-sized cards educating about their rights with police, thanks to two advocacy groups -- Pivot Legal Society and Sex Workers United Against Violence (SWUAV).

The two groups' previous collaborations include winning a high-profile Supreme Court of Canada case which saw the country's prostitution laws declared unconstitutional, as well as convincing Vancouver police to overhaul their own enforcement of those laws.

"They should be protecting the women a lot better than what they do," said DJ Joe, a sex worker with SWUAV, and board member of the city's Sister Watch. "When you call in and tell them you need help, it takes them two or three hours to even get there. They need to respond a lot quicker."

"A few times times, I've phoned in and it took them two to three hours to respond, which is too late to help these women. It's hard to be a part of this community -- to try to protect this community, and protect the girls -- it's a lot of work, in my experience."

For Pivot, the cards are a pocket-sized next step to spread the word about the Vancouver Police Department (VPD)'s newly declared Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines. The new approach mandates that police prioritize sex workers' safety – rather than punishing them for breaking prostitution laws. Similarly, where nuisance complaints are filed against a sex worker, police are ordered to seek alternative approaches to enforcement.

Stripper's Death from Booze, Heroin Accidental, Coroner Says

2013-03-01T10:52:52Z

26-year-old Amy Soule, who worked at Platinum Plus Gentleman's Club in Allentown, was found dead in Bethlehem Township home in December.

An Allentown stripper who was found dead in a Bethlehem Township home in December died from the combined effects of heroin and alcohol intoxication, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said Wednesday.

Lysek has ruled the death of 26-year-old Amy Soule accidental. Law enforcement authorities had initially labeled the death suspicious.

Soule, who was employed at the Platinum Plus Gentleman’s Club on Airport Road, died on Dec. 5 in the master bedroom of 3920 Country Club Road, the home of Chad Michael Delp, 36, according to a search warrant executed at the scene.

Police found Soule’s body nude, save for a pair of low-cut white socks. She was lying face down on top of the bed’s comforter and covered by a white blanket from the waist down, the search warrant said.

Police found empty heroin packets and a glass pipe and grinder – items commonly used to smoke marijuana – near Soule’s body.

China shuts down 225 pornography websites

2013-03-01T10:50:00Z

Beijing: In a new crackdown on online pornography, China has shut down 225 websites and other content sharing and social media sites, the government said.

More than 30,000 blog or microblog accounts were also closed during a campaign that started late last month, according to a statement released by the State Internet Information Office (SIIO).

Among the websites were several photo-sharing, video-sharing and gaming websites that were not registered with the government, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Over 79,000 tips regarding more than 450 websites were received during the campaign, the statement said.

The SIIO, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Ministry of Public Security, is investigating enterprises that illegally allow providers of obscene content to obtain Internet access, as well as people who run pornographic websites, according to the statement.

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No more lords-a-lap-dancing at Ampthill strip club

2013-03-01T10:47:06Z

LORD Shayler’s controversial strip club will no longer provide lap-dancing services after it was converted into a night club last week.

Only four months after Shayler’s opened for the first time, amid protests and demonstrations from angry residents, the site on Church Street in Ampthill is to drop lap-dances and strip performances and become an ordinary night club.

The announcement was made via the official Shayler’s Twitter page on Monday after members of the public asked if the establishment would be closing down.

After one woman asked: ‘So no more dancers?’ the response said: ‘Nope no dancers, just a nice club everyone welcome. As from this Friday from 8pm.’

It was also revealed that the big changes would involve a new entry price of £5 down from the original £20 fee on opening night in November and that it would now only be open on Friday and Saturday nights and not on Thursdays..

One punter remarked: ‘Wow, they’ve slashed the admission by 75 per cent then, I paid £20 when it first opened!’

Staff took to Twitter to defend the night spot against rumours that the site had closed down .

It said: ‘We have not closed....simply changed to the best club to be.’

However despite hundreds of people, including Mid-Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries, protesting about the opening of the strip club being out of keeping with the Georgian market town, some believe residents will continue to view Shayler’s with some trepidation even after the changes have taken place.

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