For a decade the “Paradise” chain presented the image of the model brothel to the world. Owner Jürgen Rudloff was a routine guest on TV and commenter in media. Then they were busted for brutal systematic sex trafficking and connections to organized crime. How did they maintain a clean image for so long and what was really going on the whole time? A TV report … Continue reading Going Inside A Legal German Mega Brothel
If you believe in #MyBodyMyChoice this is the last industry you should be supporting. Subjecting intimate health and reproductive decisions to market forces and contracts harms women and babies. Here is the feminist case against surrogacy: Continue reading The Feminist Case Against Surrogacy
In the digital age, you can rate your last takeout meal or local barbershop or … the last woman in prostitution you went to see. Whole online forums exist solely for the purpose of men relaying their experiences with brothels, escorting, and street prostitution. If the idea of this makes you uncomfortable, you’re quite right – there’s no way to commodify and then rate someone’s … Continue reading The Case for Using John Forums as Evidence Against the Sex Trade
The news cycle seems about ready to move on to other matters, but right now as predominantly women and children are still fleeing Ukraine and trying to find safe haven in other countries, multiple sources confirm that traffickers are trying to gain control over victims and to sexually exploit them. Countries with a legal prostitution regime provide especially fertile ground because most activities of third-party … Continue reading Ukrainian refugee women trafficked into (legal) prostitution
In discussing the issue of prostitution and the sex trade I get inevitably asked about the online subscription-based / personalized porn platform “OnlyFans”. Women on this app don’t have to meet men, don’t have to be touched by them… instead, they post explicit content from behind the safety of a screen and make a living. But is it that simple? Here are my YouTube videos … Continue reading But what about OnlyFans?
A German state-funded advice video for women in prostitution on how to be “safer in sex work” gives insight into the reality of the sex trade – more than was likely intended by the makers. Sources The original video: Here. The “Lola” website: Here. Trafficking into Germany from Bulgaria & Romania: Source. Rachel Moran’s quote: “Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution”. Bettina Flitner’s photography: Source. … Continue reading “Sex Worker Safety Advice” Reveals the Violence of Prostitution
New response video on a “kinky” game on an app marketed for teens. I will go into why BDSM is a patriarchal power trip, how sexualized sadism mirrors and constitutes abusive behavior, and why kink-shaming is essential feminist praxis. Since a lot of you enjoyed the first video – the series continues… And now there’s a part 3: Future videos of the series will be … Continue reading Kinkshaming is Essential Feminist Praxis
I support the movement behind #NoHijabDay where reformist and ex-Muslimahs are calling out the modesty x rape culture that underlies religious veiling. Being able to choose to be #FreeFromHijab is a right. Women’s and girls’ bodies are not dirty, sinful, or invitations for rape. For countless women in Muslim countries and communities, religious veiling is not a choice and it’s not just a piece of … Continue reading Why I Support #FreeFromHijab
This blog post is available in video form. You’ve probably seen a lot of people write or say things like the quote above. It’s usually well-intentioned: we don’t want to other women in the sex trade, by suggesting that what they do for a living is “dirty” or “disgusting”. We don’t want a future potential employer to think that they’re interviewing someone who is physically … Continue reading Disproportionate and Unique Health Risks for Women in Prostitution
Warning: Disturbing content! The state fully sanctioning the sex trade does not prevent lethal violence against people in it – it may even provide its own justifications for violence. So indicates the first-ever study into murders in the German sex trade written by Manuela Schon and Anna Hoheide, as well as my own assessment of 40 years of cases from the wiki project “Sex Industry … Continue reading Who is killing whom, where, how and why in German prostitution?
This piece was in part inspired by Jonah Mix’s “Enthusiastic Consent and Prostitution are Incompatible.” Read it for a fuller picture. We could give as many lessons on sexual consent as we like but as long as it remained legal for anyone to go online or drive down a street and buy a woman and very often a girl, the confusion would remain. Mia De … Continue reading Consent Culture and Sex-Buying Cannot Co-Exist
On Nov 1st, feminist activist Luba Fein joined me on my YouTube channel to discuss the abolitionist movement in Israel, the successes and ongoing struggels, various sex trade myths especially around female poverty and much more: Here are is a slightly abbreviated version of the interview, for those who prefer reading to listening: Elly Arrow: Israel is the most recent country to adopt the Nordic … Continue reading The Fight for the Nordic Model in Israel with Luba Fein
Elly Arrow 