[TW: RAPE/PROSTITUTION/SEX TRAFFICKING] A stranger...

20th September 2012

Quote reblogged from Obscene Pop with 341 notes

[TW: RAPE/PROSTITUTION/SEX TRAFFICKING]
A stranger once tried to rape me in the lobby of my tenement walkup building in broad daylight. I screamed and people came to help. The good Samaritans who’d seen the incident ran off to find the police after asking some other people who’d arrived later to make sure the would-be rapist didn’t run. The man who’d attacked me began telling everyone I was his girlfriend and we were having a fight. He told them it was a private argument we needed to work out between ourselves. He said I was always accusing him of things but he loved me anyway. Remember this man was a complete stranger. But the people who’d remained hadn’t seen him attack me so they let him run away.
The would-be rapist told lies and made accusations to distract people from the wrong he’d done. Nothing he said would have stood up to scrutiny. But within the moment his strategy worked perfectly. He got people who might have helped me forget the truth. As a result he was able to get away and likely go on to hurt someone else.
My attacker’s tactics were similar to the behavior of some members of these ‘sex worker activist’ groups. They harass survivors, then if challenged or if supporters come forward, they claim to be allies rather than pimps. They couldn’t be any more duplicitous – the truth is that suppressing survivor voices is a strategy to protect scores of billions of dollars of organized crime profits.
I was trafficked in prostitution in NYC for ten years. Those of us in the life used the word pimp for any man or woman who profited from our prostitution. I have a right to use this language. All the people who pimped me were part of organized crime, some were women, all were white and most were rich.

— How the Sex Industry Threatens Survivors Speaking Out while Pimps Pose as Sexworker Activists (via darkjez)

Tagged: the vast and complex culture of oppression