The Mosley Case
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:02 AM

Repugnance is a funny thing. Many things that were widely viewed as repugnant years ago, such as blood transfusions or charging interest for loans, are widely accepted today. And other practices that used to be common and accepted -- indentured servitude, say -- have come to be viewed with repugnance. (See economist Alvin Roth's paper for more on repugnance.) Out-of-the mainstream sexual behaviors seem to be losing their repugnance for many people; there was no hint of residual repugnance in the Supreme Court's 2003 overturning of anti-sodomy statutes. And now, in Britain, there is a trial that holds the prospect of reducing the repugnance that sometimes is induced by or aimed at sadomasochism. The case involves a claim of invasion of privacy.

The basic story is that a British tabloid solicited some footage of a sadomasochistic afternoon involving 5 prostitutes and a prominent 68-year old motor-sport and married man, Max Mosley, whose father Oswald was a leading British fascist of the 1930s. [Oswald and his second wife, Max's mother, were interred by the British during the war, around the time that Max was born and toddling through his early years.] The sadomasochistic scene involved some German authoritarian role play, which the tabloid deemed to be Nazi-themed; the not-safe-for-work footage is you-tubeable. (The dominatrix who recorded the activities, slated to be a chief witness for the newspaper, has been dropped from testifying.) Max is contending that the S&M session was a private matter of no public interest. The newspaper's best defence, I suppose, is that the session involved illegal S&M, and the fact that the behavior was criminal provides a public interest. (Prostitution per se is not illegal in Britain, and that angle does not appear to be helpful to the newspaper. Some of the prostitutes have testified for Mosley, and there is no whiff of coercion in the pricey five hour affair, which ended with a cup of tea, of course.)

Is S&M illegal in Britain? Yes, if the practice involves lasting bodily damage -- though there is some dispute over how lasting that damage has to be. The legal standard dates from a 1980's case (the Spanner case) arising out of consensual homosexual S&M activities.

But win or lose, the Mosley case might be reducing the repugnance that is sometimes felt towards sadomasochism. Seemingly normal people enjoy it and practice it -- why should others care? Mosley claims that he has been an S&M enthusiast for 45 years, and he defended the behavior in court:

Impassive in a charcoal suit and sober tie he [Mosley] told the court: “I definitely disagree with the suggestion that any of this is depraved or immoral” adding that it was a “perfectly harmless act between consenting adults.”

Mosley's position has been gaining broad support -- and perhaps increasing the acceptance of S&M by non-practitioners.

Vice Squad, now back in Chicago after a (masochistic?) couple of months abroad, proposes some regulation of adult extreme S&M (6-page pdf here).

Labels: Britain, litigation, prostitution, sex

 
BDSM Phone Sex and Faculty, Grad Student Relations
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:10 PM

Via SWOP-East Vice Squad learns of some ongoing controversy at the University of New Mexico (while generating a much more sensational blog post title than is the Vice Squad norm). Most of our information comes from a series of three articles at Sex in the Public Square (Here are articles one, two, and three.) Seems that a (tenured) faculty member in English was also engaged in some phone sex work with a BDSM angle. The phone sex, of course, is completely legal. (Everyone involved in the story is an adult.) Photos were taken for advertising purposes, and in (at least?) one of the photos, the professor was shown with one of her female graduate students. That student was also working for the phone sex company. News of the photo leaked, some colleagues were outraged, the university investigated, and found that there was no reason to sanction the prof. Then the director of the creative writing program resigned the directorship in protest at the lack of university sanctions; the resignation did not extend to her faculty position, only to the directorship.

The second of the linked articles consists of an interview with the professor involved. (The third article features the voice of the grad student.) She makes a couple of points that cohere with my own personal experience. First, that unmarried faculty often are socially more connected with (mostly unmarried) graduate students than they are with their married faculty colleagues. ("...as an unmarried woman in a department of married people with families, I often find I have more in common with the graduate students than I do with my colleagues.") And second, that vice (or vice policy) work leads to increased recognition and tolerance for other people's "vices". ("I also learned to be even less judgmental than I had been before about other people’s sexual choices. So many callers had felt years of shame for their particular interests, and often it was a relief for them simply to be able to talk without being judged.")

Labels: sex, solipsism

 
Obscenity Rampant in Kansas!
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:49 PM

Except, er, that if it is rampant, then it can't legally qualify as obscenity, because obscenity has to violate community standards.

A grand jury in Johnson County brought misdemeanor charges against four businesses for peddling filth, including one accused of displaying nasty Halloween costumes in store areas where the children might be harmed. Another business, which presumably offers many items for sale, was indicted for a single proffered DVD that the grand jury thought merited further court review. Somehow I missed the story that violent crime had been eliminated in Kansas.

The Supreme Court of the United States also contributed to the purification of America, by declining to review an Alabama law that bans the sale (not the possession, just the sale) of something called a vibrator, along with related items. But will the state law, now allowed to persist, actually be enforced? The "senior media and sexuality analyst" for Focus on the Family Action is concerned: 'Upholding the law is one thing, but consistently enforcing it is an entirely different matter. The citizens of Alabama will need to remain vigilant on this issue.' The price of unliberty is eternal vigilance.

Labels: Kansas, obscenity, sex

 
Porn Again
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:18 PM

XXX.Church.com is in the news (2-page pdf of New York Times story) again. (Again, you ask? But surely you remember the Vice Squad post of November 2, 2004?) XXXChurch is the anti-porn ministry, but one that spreads its message in a relaxed way, and directly to porn stars, among others. They have lots of ongoing events, including church breakfasts around the country ("Porn and Pancakes") and a debate series featuring one of the pastors along with porn star Ron Jeremy. (I am slated to be out of town, alas, during the August 6 Chicago debate.) Then there is National PornSunday, scheduled for October 7, 2007, though I suspect that this isn't one of those national commemorations that gets a sound byte mention from the president. This is in addition to lots of other dimensions to XXXChurch.com's work, including two elements we mentioned in the 2004 post: accountability software (X3watch) that sends a list of your suspected internet porn wanderings to your designated partner, and the "God kills a kitten every time you masturbate" campaign, now featuring an Operation Save the Kittens video. XXXChurch is John Stuart Mill's kind of anti-porn lobbyist: they are not about passing laws to shut down the porn industry, or coercing people to avoid porn. They employ entreaty, not command, and thus earn Vice Squad (somewhat short of national) commendation.

Labels: internet, Mill, pornography, sex

 
Carceral Volume 2
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 1:55 PM

Back in May, 2005, Carceral Notebooks made its debut (see May 25, 2005 post) in the vice policy world. (Extensive research indicates that 'carceral' means 'prison-related,' so vice policy overlaps with -- but neither subsumes nor is subsumed by -- the carceral universe.) The second Carceral volume has just been released, with some Vice Squad representation. Volume 2 includes, among other things, multiple offerings concerning the regulation of sex, and the articles are available online.

The impresario of Carceral Notebooks is University of Chicago Law School Professor Bernard Harcourt. Bernard is guest-blogging at the Volokh Conspiracy this week, drawing primarily upon his work documenting and analyzing the profound shift in incarceration from mental asylums to prisons during the second half of the 20th Century in the US. Welcome to the only somewhat institutionalized blogging world, Bernard.

Labels: sex, solipsism

 
Different Kinds of Vice Squads
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 4:02 PM

The vice squads in question are those formed of couples living in sin in North Dakota (and in Florida, and North Carolina, and...). The cohabitants are sex criminals -- that is, their crime is cohabitation. There is talk of legalizing cohabitation in North Dakota, but who knows, maybe cohabitants from the rest of the union would be drawn there; perhaps this is why two attempts to repeal the N.D. law against "open and notorious" quarters-sharing have failed.

Speaking of different Vice Squads, other demands have kept us away from the blog recently, but we hope to rectify these late sins of omission.

Labels: sex

 
Just When You Thought It Was Safe
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:37 AM

Yes, now that the statute has run I have returned from 6 months abroad. Good to be back in civilization after having to rough it for so long. Working by candlelight, I was able to put together a short paper (pdf format) entitled "Regulating Commercial Sex." If SSRN doesn't reject it, you should be able to download it (29 page pdf) here. I'll append the abstract for those who are more discriminating:

The robustness principle for vice regulation (Leitzel, 2005, available here) suggests that public policy towards addictive or vicious activities engaged in by adults should be robust with respect to departures from full rationality. That is, policies should work pretty well if everyone is well-informed and completely rational, and policies should work pretty well even if many people are occasionally (or frequently) irrational in their vice-related choices. To work well, policies must deal effectively with the standard vice concerns surrounding kids, addicts, externalities, and costs imposed upon adult, non-addicted participants. This paper applies the robustness principle to prostitution and pornography. These forms of commercial sex cannot be prohibited for adults under a regulatory regime consistent with the robustness principle, though public manifestations of these activities can be controlled. Policies aimed at promoting informed rational decision making, including mandatory waiting periods prior to pornography performance and other sex work, and the explicit provision of consent for risky commercial sex undertakings, also are consistent with or required by robustness.

Labels: robustness, sex

 
Carceral Notebooks
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 12:26 AM

Across the Midway here at the good ol' University of Chicago they have a new internet (and non-virtual, too) publication, Carceral Notebooks. OED.com has come to my rescue: carceral means "Of or belonging to a prison." But at least the initial issue gives one the impression that its main topic is....vice regulation. Articles on the control of gambling, sex, and drugs. Yea!

Labels: drugs, gambling, sex, solipsism

 
Much Drink and Lechery
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 8:08 PM

It turns out that the effects of drug taking depend quite a bit on what you think those effects will be. If people think that drinking alcohol will increase their interest in sex, then they will express a greater interest in sex when they think they are drinking alcohol -- –even when, unbeknownst to them, their drink is actually alcohol-free. The effects of drugs depend upon, in the famous trio of Norman Zinberg, "Drug, Set, and Setting." In other words, the effects of a drug depend upon the chemical properties of the drug, the mind set of the person consuming it, and the environment in which it is consumed.

The May, 2005 issue of Addiction contains "Automatic effects of alcohol cues on sexual attraction," an article by Ronald S. Friedman, Denis M. McCarthy, Jens Förster, and Markus Denzler. This paper takes the sexual interest and alcohol story even further. Instead of people mistakenly thinking that they are consuming alcohol, the subjects of the experiment were just shown some alcohol-related words. Further, they were shown the words in brief spurts, so brief that the words could not be consciously read and understood. Of course, a control group -- these were college males, incidentally -- were flashed non-alcohol words. (If I were not a college teacher I would here insert the following old joke: "The subjects of the experiment were college students, but the experimenters are thinking of repeating their study on human subjects.") Then they were asked to rate the attractiveness and the intelligence of young women whose pictures were shown to the subjects. (I suppose people do estimate the intelligence of strangers when shown a photo!?) Anyway, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that the fellows who were flashed the alcohol-related words found the young women to be more attractive, but not more intelligent, than did the control group. (The finding is a bit more complicated than I have let on, but I don't think that I have distorted it too badly.)

Labels: alcohol, sex, teens

 
The New Zealand Sex Industry
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 2:44 PM

One of the consequences of vice prohibition is that information about the extent and nature of the criminalised activity becomes degraded. People often aren't all that eager to discuss their vices in any event, but when their behavior is criminal, they are less likely to be forthcoming. So one advantage from the 2003 liberalisation of prostitution in New Zealand is that the size of the sex industry may be somewhat easier to gauge. The liberalising act required that this advantage be pressed, by mandating an initial survey of the sex industry, with later follow-ups to track changes. That initial assessment is now available.

The information was gathered by surveying police officers and by auditing advertisements for sexual services. The findings listed in the Executive Summary are sufficiently interesting that I will reproduce them in full. (These are the findings drawn from the police survey alone; there are separate findings for the ad audit):

* A total of 383 sex businesses were identified across New Zealand. Massage parlours represented the highest number of businesses (189) followed by escort agencies (101) and then rap/escort parlours (93).

* A total of 5,932[footnote deleted] sex workers were identified over the areas canvassed. Sex workers employed in massage parlours constituted nearly half of all sex workers (44%). Private workers followed in numbers accounting for 24% of sex workers. Street workers represented 11% of those working in the sex industry and sex workers in rap/escort parlours and escort agencies accounted for 10% each of the sex industry.

* Not surprisingly, sex businesses were concentrated in the Auckland Police District. There were comparatively few businesses in other police districts. Street workers were concentrated in the main centres and in particular in Auckland City and Counties-Manukau districts.

* Respondents estimated that on average 30% of street workers were transgender or transsexual. In comparison only 4% of private workers, 1% of escort agency workers and 1% of rap/escort parlour workers were identified as transgender/transsexual. Male sex workers were found primarily working on the streets, privately, or in escort agencies.

* It was estimated that there were around 200 sex workers under the age of 18 and over half (60%) were located in the street sector.

* Non-New Zealand sex workers were considered to be a significant issue in the greater Auckland area. These workers were predominantly from Thailand and China but other Asian countries were also represented.

* About a quarter of police respondents answered affirmatively when asked about exploitation of sex workers in their area. Forms of exploitation included a system of bonds and fines, use of drugs, and unreported crime against sex workers.

* About half of the police areas or districts responding to the survey indicated that they had a police officer with a portfolio dedicated to prostitution. However, in most of these cases the proportion of a person’s full-time portfolio dedicated to prostitution was very small. Police role included liaison, licensing/vetting of massage parlours, registration of sex workers and investigation of complaints.

The Ministry of Justice also prepared a helpful literature review on the New Zealand sex industry.

Labels: New Zealand, policing, prostitution, sex

 
Supremes: Alabama Gets to Keep Its Far-Sighted Law!
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:55 PM

The US Supreme Court has not taken up an appeal from a district appellate court decision that upheld Alabama's state law banning the sale of sex toys. (The refusal to hear the case does not imply Supreme Court blessing of the appellate court result.) So Alabama can continue to threaten those who sell vibrators with up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Spontaneous parades and gleeful street festivals have sprouted all over Alabama, from residents pleased that their state -- almost uniquely (OK, along with Texas and Georgia) -- will remain free from the scourge of sex toy sales.

Thanks to a friend of Vice Squad for the pointer. This friend writes in from Japan, "where anyone can buy Hello Kitty vibrators at the local Denny's-equivalent."

Labels: sex, Supreme Court

 
Another Smut Purveyor Coddled
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:59 AM

This time, it is the Rehoboth Beach Film Society in Delaware that will face no sanction for its filth peddling. An upright citizen brought the Society's showing of films with explicit sex to the attention of state authorities. A thorough investigation by the state police's vice unit, however, failed to result in any charges -- this despite the fact that the citizen noted reviews of one of the movies, Cacharro (Bear Cub), which indicated that gay sex was depicted. Sure, the film has won various international film awards, but that does not mean that we should allow adults in Delaware to see it. But really, it's not so much about the adults, it's the children we are concerned about, don't you know. Sure, children were not admitted to the dirty movies -- but one or two could have snuck in! Better safe than sorry -- but not according to the wild libertine Attorney General of Delaware, who is willing to allow trashy films to be hawked to adults, ignoring the risk that some innocent might evade the age controls and suffer irreparable damage.

Labels: pornography, sex

 
"Pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile..."
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:05 AM

Some good folks donate toys to poor kids during the holiday season. Public housing residents in North Carolina have benefited from such generosity in the past. But not all toys are welcome at the Statesville Housing Authority in Iredell County, NC. Last year's donated toys from a local adult nightclub caused controversy, so this year, the Housing Authority will not accept the tainted largesse.

Thanks to Sister Geoff at The Superlative Suppository for the pointer; part of the good sister's take: "Strip clubs contribute nothing to the community, and we intend to keep it that way!"

Labels: dancing, sex

 
Canadian Visa Policy Changes
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 4:55 PM

Back in July, ever-vigilant Vice Squad noted Canada's policy of providing temporary work permits for exotic dancers -- as well as the surprising preference for dancers from Romania. The whole program, Romanian preference and all, is now going by the boards; indeed, it was a specific Romanian preference that crumbled the edifice:

The Canadian government, under fire because one of its ministers has been accused of giving preferential treatment to a Romanian stripper, said on Wednesday it was scrapping a program that handed out temporary work permits to foreign-born exotic dancers.

Now I knew that Canada was small, but I didn't know that public policies require unanimous consent: "Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe said it was clear that not all Canadians supported the program, which granted permits to around 660 foreign strippers to work in Canada last year."

A hat tip to this shockingly-named blog for the pointer.

Labels: Canada, dancing, sex

 
Misplaced Suspicion
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:47 PM

Here's a story out of Dallas, Texas, of an arrest for solicitation of prostitution that went bad, way bad. On October 10, after 3 in the morning, a Rapid Transit officer sees a woman strike up a conversation with a man; the conversing couple get in the man's car and drive off together. The officer stops the car, and arrests the woman for suspicion of solicitation. Before she is booked at the station, she goes into a restroom, the officer follows, he allegedly offers the woman immunity from the pending arrest in exchange for sex, and they have sex. Yesterday, the officer is arrested and charged with a sex offense. Further, it turns out he does not have the authority to make a solicitation arrest for activity that takes place away from a rapid transit site. Further still, the woman had approached the original man in the convenience store for a ride, not for sex, apparently.

For reams of information on, among other topics, Texas law enforcement shortcomings, be sure to check in with Grits for Breakfast.

Labels: police brutality, policing, prostitution, sex, Texas

 
Please Close the Lavatory Door, But Don't Break the Lock
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 5:07 PM

That's the word from an Italian judge about how to avoid public obscenity charges. Oh, the problem wasn't that anyone was using the bar's lavatory in the standard way; rather, it seems as if a couple thought that the loo would offer a little more privacy than the barroom itself for, um, their intimacies. (At least I don't think that's the standard use for a restroom, but I have never been to Como.) Bar patrons in Italy, upon seeing serious public displays of affection, have taken to shouting, "Hey, get a bathroom." (OK, I made up that last part.)

Labels: Italy, obscenity, sex

 
Confessions of a New York Escort
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 4:10 PM

That's the title of a new blog, generously brought to Vice Squad's attention by the proprietress -- who also had kind words for Vice Squad. Here's the beginning of the self-description:

I'm a twenty-something New York escort. I love Prada, Seven jeans, and Jimmy Choos. I'm also totally addicted to Starbucks' grande non-fat white mocha and working out.

So why am I writing this blog? I have an inner exhibitionist that just needs to be let out.

And here is one of the New York Escort's recent posts, concerning a polite recommendation from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority that people refrain from having sex in the back of the busses.

Labels: New York, prostitution, sex

 
Missouri Bans Billboard Ads for Disfavored Businesses
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:42 PM

The disfavored stores are those "whose sexually oriented materials comprise 10 percent or more of their display space..." according to this AP story. The ban applies to billboards within one mile of a highway. The ban is being challenged, of course.

Vice Squad recently reviewed, as it were, some basics of US constitutional law with respect to the regulation of commercial speech. Now I am no lawyer, but it looks to me as if this law doesn't stand much of a chance of being upheld. (The article, though, claims that a similar law in New Jersey survived a challenge in state court. I assume that the current Missouri challenge is in federal court.) As described in the linked AP article, the ban is actually independent of the content of the ad -- it is the nature of the business, not the text or images on the billboard, that triggers the ban. The regulation could prevent a convenience store that sells a lot of condoms from advertising its cheap gas prices on billboards. Doesn't this ban shut down a lot of speech that has nothing to do with exposing children to sex?

Labels: marketing, sex

 
Adult Male Consensual Homosexual Sodomy = Murder
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 1:56 PM

That's the word out of mathematically-challenged Zanzibar, which has now adopted a penalty for such sodomy identical to the penalty for murder: 25 years in prison. Adult female consensual homosexual sex equals only 7/25'ths of murder.

I am out of town until late Tuesday, so blogging will ...I was going to say "suffer," but "slow down" is perhaps more appropriate. Apologies to the loyal Vice Squad reader.

Labels: sentencing, sex

 
Texan Sex Toy Seller Beats the Rap
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:39 PM

Yes, the Passion Parties perpetrator got to walk when some liberal county prosecutor didn't have the guts to go to the mat with the perversion purveyor. Here's the CNN.com story, sent our way by a loyal Vice Squad reader and blogger. The end of the article provides an interesting nugget about the relevant statute: "Texas law allows for the sale of sexual toys as long as they are billed as novelties. But when a person markets the items in a direct manner that shows how they are used in sex, it is considered criminal obscenity." (Or to quote our blogger/informant, "Apparently, 'sex as joke' is OK in Texas. But anything else is a crime.")

Vice Squad has been following this attempt to rein in the forces of evil, most recently, here.

Labels: obscenity, sex, Texas