prostitution

Grace, 27, stripper

Sophie — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:47:45 +0200

Grace is 27. She's a stripper in a Texas club. Two years ago, she started a blog about her day-to-day life, telling tales far from the glamorous clichés of porno-chic bars. And she discovered a talent. Her writing is polished and to the point. Sometimes sad, but not always. She tells her story to the Observers.

The saddest peep show in the world

Julien — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:21:25 +0200

These desperate migrant workers from southeast China, who often leave their wives behind to find work, are reduced to paying women ten cents to see their private parts.

The photos, taken in Nanchang city in southeast China, have been circulating on the Chinese blogosphere since they were posted on an online discussion forum on March 27. Taken with a camera wrapped in a bin liner (pictured), the images show migrant workers paying a woman in exchange to see and touch her private parts. A common practice for migrant workers, says Zhang, our Observer in the country. Many men leave their families behind to find work in a big city, and might not have sexual relations with a woman for many years. The price for a quick peek is between one and two RMB (10 and 20 euro cents). This is just one issue arising from the mass migration that has swept China in the past few decades. It has also seen thousands of children orphaned and millions of people working under slave labour conditions.

The prostitute that brought down the New York governor

Julien — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:08:00 +0100

The governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, announced yesterday that he would resign from office after the press discovered his past dealings with a prostitute. The New York Times traced the prostitute and went on to publish details from her MySpace page. A few hours later, the call girl, Ashley Alexandra Dupré, was a freshly made web icon.

The 22-year-old's MySpace page has already been viewed more than four million times (doubling within the space of a few hours) and web-users are digging up anything they can find about the New Yorker. One of her former classmates has already set up a Facebook group with an alleged photo of her as a teenager. No rock has been left unturned. But are these actions condemnable? Born Ashley Youmans in New Jersey, the home-runaway told the New York Times that "this has been a very difficult time" and that she didn't want seen as " monster". But the sex-worker has not turned away from the hounding press and public. She could have easily closed her MySpace account and deleted the photos published on the site. But she didn't. And neither did she delete her song, "What We Want".

Susan wants to open Canada’s first ever brothel

Julien — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:04:00 +0100

Material compiled with the help of our Observer in Canada, Ostap Karmodi.

Although prostitution is legal in Canada, brothels are not. Sex workers have to trawl the streets by night, putting themselves at severe risks. Physical abuse is commonplace and many have been killed. One man was recently convicted for the murder of six women, most of them prostitutes from the poor Vancouver district of Downtown Eastside, and he's suspected of 43 other similar murders. Now, a group of Vancouver sex-workers has set up a sex workers “cooperative”, with the hopes of opening Canada’s first ever brothel in time for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Susan Davies, one of the campaign’s organisers, tells us about her struggle.

Meet Jane : prostitute, mother and model

Julien — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:02:00 +0100

Material compiled by our regional editor for South America, Cristiano de Sa Fagundes

Jane is a member of 'Daspu'; a new brand making its mark in the fashion world of Rio. What distinguishes it from other designer brands? All the clothes are designed and produced by Brazilian prostitutes. The project is carried out by a local NGO, Davida ('of life') that defends the rights of sex workers in Rio de Janeiro. The name ‘Daspu’- ‘whores’ in Portuguese, was inspired by that of the department store in São Paulo: ‘Daslu’. A reference which was not to the taste of the store’s owners, who have taken the NGO to court.