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Oh dear, buying a girl a swanky dinner on the first date is now considered prostitution
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 | 22nd October 2013
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| See article from
independent.co.uk
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An online dating app has been attacked as sexist and has been accused of being prostitution. Carrot Dating, developed by an MIT graduate, allows men to bribe women into offering them dates with everything from jewelry to a tank full of
petrol. Users wanting to get the romance going can even offer prospective suitors plastic surgery. The idea behind the app is that users dangle a carrot in exchange for getting women to go out with them, according to its creator Brandon
Wade. Business Insider's Christina Sterbenz wrote: Through Carrot Dating, users (but really men)... can buy credits to send gifts to other users ... so they'll agree to a first date. That sounds quite like an
activity illegal in most of the continental US --- prostitution. Aside from being blatantly sexist, Wade's app clearly won't build the chemistry needed to fall in love. In fact, this problematic app is
teaching men that women are greedy idiots who can't see through blatant and pathetic misogyny. For the record, if you offer a woman a present in exchange for a first date, then you're implying she can be bought, much like a
hooker.'
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Owner of US travel company promoting holidays for adults in Thailand and the Philippines has been convicted of promoting prostitution
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23rd July 2013
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| See
article from
timescolonist.com
See article from
en.wikipedia.org
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A U.S. man who runs a travel company specializing in trips to Thailand and the Philippines has been convicted of promoting adult prostitution. The Westchester County district attorney announced the conviction of Douglas Allen, the owner of Big
Apple Oriental Tours. In 2010, an online investigator pretended that he wanted to use the company to go overseas and have sex for money. Prosecutors say he paid Allen $2,500. Allen told the investigator he would be taken to Angeles City in the
Philippines, where he could negotiate at bars for sexual acts. It seems that Allen has fallen victim to a particularly vengeful persecution by anti-prostitution campaigners and a state attorney general who supports them. See
article from en.wikipedia.org Big Apple
Oriental Tours is a travel agency based in New York that is at the center of a campaign against adult sex tourism operators in the United States. The company was founded in 1993 and offers all-inclusive trips to Thailand, the
Philippines and Cambodia for the single male. Their advertising brochures highlight the erotic atmosphere and easy availability of women in these regions. Tour guides would meet the men upon arrival, explain everything, and transport them to the
local bars and brothels. Since 1996, the New York based human rights and feminist group Equality Now has lobbied the local District Attorney to take action against the company, complaining about promotion of prostitution and
possible exploitation of minors. The District Attorney declined to prosecute in 2000, stating that the alleged acts did not occur in New York and were thus beyond the reach of state law. Supported by Gloria Steinem and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney,
Equality Now then contacted State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2002. In response to lobbying by these groups, the first legal action in the U.S. against a business of this type was initiated: Spitzer filed a civil suit
against Big Apple Oriental Tours and obtained a restraining order in July 2003, in effect preventing the company from advertising. Spitzer then made two unsuccessful attempts to charge owners Norman Barabash and Douglas Allen with
promoting prostitution. The Attorney General's office obtained the first indictment of Barabash and Allen in February 2004. The case was dismissed in August 2004, because the grand jury had been presented with hearsay evidence and because the judge did
not find the law applicable. The dismissal was upheld on appeal based on the hearsay argument. The case was returned to the grand jury and Barabash and Allen were indicted for the same crime again in October 2005. These charges were dismissed in January,
2006. The court held that according to the evidence, What the tour customer did when he arrived at the location is not part of the Big Apple Oriental Tours enterprise.
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12th May 2013
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Is paying for sex normal or weird or WEIRD? Newly published research suggests it's far less common than recent media attention would suggest, but more likely to be enjoyed by normal people See
article from io9.com |
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US government continues legal battle to restrict Anti-AIDS funding only to groups which denounce prostitution
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| 13th January 2013
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| See article from
huffingtonpost.com
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The US Supreme Court has agreed to review a First Amendment dispute over whether the United States can force private health organizations to denounce prostitution as a condition to get AIDS funding. Justices said they will hear the government's
appeal of a lower court ruling that found the anti-prostitution pledge, in a provision of federal law, violated the health groups' constitutional rights. At issue is the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of
2003. It requires groups seeking federal money to announce publicly that they oppose prostitution and sex-trafficking. The government often attaches conditions to the receipt of federal funds, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York
said the law went well beyond what is permissible. Four organizations that work in Africa, Asia and South America filed a constitutional challenge to the law in 2005. A federal judge sided with the groups and a 2nd Circuit panel affirmed that
ruling in a 2-1 vote. The majority said the rule doesn't merely force organizations to refrain from certain conduct, but also requires them to espouse the government's viewpoint. The case probably will be argued in April, with a decision
due by the end of June.
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