Good Stuff and Scary Stuff

This past Saturday SWOP-Wisconsin was at Slutwalk in Milwaukee this year and I once again had the honor of speaking.  Although this year seemed to have a smaller turnout, it was a success.  Katie Jesse, an activist I greatly admire, took it over 2 weeks before the official event and did an awesome job with little time.  SWOP-Wisconsin had our table there, providing drinks and snacks and talking to those who were interested in talking to us. 

I feel my speech didn't go as well as last year, I didn't feel as prepared as I should have been although I thought I was before I went on.  This year my speech was about human sexual assault other than in-person, hands on ways.  The two major ways that I talked about were web cam and porn shoots.  Now, before I go any further, please understand that pimps, regardless of prostitution, web cam, porn or any other way to traffic and sexually assault humans, is NOT part of the legitimate Adult Industry.  These guys are criminals, bad guys, and give a good industry a bad name. 

Web cam is a very common and often ignored way to sexually assault someone.  The victims of web cam sexual assault and trafficking are very often hard to find and help.  The bad guys can keep their shows from appearing online in certain cities, countries, etc.  This makes it nearly impossible for authorities to rescue the victims.  Web cam is a fun form of entertainment for both legitimate performers and clients however, the abuses of web camming is devastating to the people who are doing it against their will. 

I've never been on a porn shoot where I was aware of anyone being there against their will however, it DOES happen.  The pimps have the girls do the shoots and keep their money, it's just like turning a well paying trick for them.  I'm not referring to the legitimate agents in the adult industry, I'm referring to the actual pimps and bad guys that use our industry to commit their crimes and hurt people. 

The authorities don't know exactly what to do with situation and all too often, they are mis or under informed.  From my personal experience with law enforcement, they very seldom want to help in situations like this and it's all too easy to claim it's not their jurisdiction and refer the person turning to them to another agency who then again says it's not their jurisdiction and refers them elsewhere.  It's a horrible pattern in our world.  This is an issues that needs more attention, education and ACTION.  I wish I had all the answers as to how to handle this but I don't. 

On a lighter side, we raised a good amount of money for SWOP-Wisconsin and Slutwalk through donations for our treats :)  It felt really good to help out such a great cause and spread the word about SWOP.  We're hoping to be at more events in the future and really start getting to know our community better as we introduce ourselves to them.