What? Rhode Island?
Yes, there is a long and questionable history of a sex industry in Rhode Island. By intent or neglect, it thrives today. In today's Providence Journal there are two stories which point to the connection between the state's third world political culture and its sex industry.
First, on the Editorial page, focuses on the continuing debate about criminalizing prostitution. The question of sexual exploitation is a key element in the debate. But this is also an industrial policy question for the legislature. Private clubs and spas that can offer sexual services, albeit not "openly," but as long as it is done behind closed doors, are a major draw to the darker side of the Rhode Island tourist trade and economy.
In an OpEd piece: David Segal/Edith Ajello: Don’t turn prostitutes into criminals
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Rhode Island state representatives David Segal and Edith Ajello write:
"...Many writers on these pages believe that many women who sell sex in Rhode Island do so against their will, that they are trafficked to Rhode Island by contemptible international syndicates. Somehow, they say, these women would be better off were we to empower police to arrest them, and the courts to imprison them.
We think that idea runs counter to the ideals and very purpose of our criminal-justice system: Since when do we arrest and punish the victims of crimes? Human trafficking is obviously a despicable practice; its magnitude in Rhode Island remains in question. "
While Segal and Ajello present the argument for and against criminalizing prostitution, they state that their primary concern is that criminalization would not help the victims of trafficking. This is a fair position if they had an answer. But the only way to solve the problem, according to them, is to wait.
Their conclusion is,
So, rather than enact legislation that will only make matters worse, let’s heed the advice of the experts. The Urban Justice Center’s Sex Worker Project put it succinctly. The solution to the human-trafficking problem “is more effective and vigorous enforcement of federal anti-trafficking legislation and passage of strengthened state anti-trafficking legislation, not the wholesale criminalization of the very persons you seek to help.
Their solution, if I read them correctly, is that it is too complicated for us -- "let the federal government solve the problem."
The second story raises questions about why our legislator and city councils are unable to solve the school funding issue. Is it because keeping kids in school might hurt the tourism industry?
Minors in R.I. can be strippers
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 21, 2009
By Amanda Milkovits, Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE –– Rhode Island teens under 18 can’t work with power saws or bang nails up on roofs.
But dance at strip clubs? Sure. Just as long as the teens submit work permits, and are off the stripper’s pole by 11:30 on school nights.
According to the article
"State law says that anyone who employs a person under 18 for prostitution or for “any other lewd or indecent act” faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $20,000 in fines. But that isn’t enough to prevent underage girls from working in strip clubs, said senior assistant city solicitor Kevin McHugh, who researched the issue a dozen years ago when a teenage dancer was found at a raided strip club."
So why was this issue not addressed 12 years ago?
The article goes on
"When questioned about Rhode Island’s law, Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, offered a copy of the current state law but did not comment for this article."
Nevada which has build itself on silver, sex and gambling has a more child friendly law than Rhode Island.
Again from the article,
Nevada, meanwhile, doesn’t let anyone under 18 work in casinos or in public dance halls where there is alcohol — and there are no strip clubs in Nevada without one or the other, or both, said Cartwright, of the attorney general’s office. Minors aren’t even allowed to deliver mail to brothels.
So, 12 years ago our political and justice administrative leaders learned that children were stripping for money in clubs which serve alcohol. Their solution was to do nothing, as they probably will do again. And now our legislators are proposing we do the same for those who, may drop out of school, and instead may graduate from dancing to the more lucrative profession of prostitution, willingly or as victims. And where is the line between child pornography and legitimate artistic expression.
There is a third world sex industry in Rhode Island which should and must be regulated -- through prohibition and/or strict regulation.
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