This is the seventh episode of KBOO News’s special series, Sex4Sale, on the business of sex in Portland.  Today we’re talking about the world’s oldest profession.  What is it like here in Portland, and is it taking on a new look?

 

There are many faces of prostitution here and no single one speaks for all of them.  We’ll start with Red Reid who runs an organization called STROLL.  We’d call Red an “activist escort.”

            RR-2

             RR-3

Besides her zine, Red publishes something she calls Bad Date Line. It’s a kind of warning system that identifies people to watch out for.

 

            RR-16

 

What is “the life” and how do people, especially women, get into it?  Here’s the view from the Portland Police Bureau:

 

            PPB-3

 

How do you change the life of a prostitute?  Again, the Police Bureau:

 

PPB-8

 

What’s it like in some special categories of the population? Here’s Red:

 

            S-8 (people of color)

 

            S-9 LGBTQ

 

            S-11

 

In Portland the focus is on arresting johns.  Is that a good approach?

 

DG-2.  Nordic model…arrest johns.

 

Arresting johns might sound like the smart way to go, but is it really a solution?

 

DG-5.  Criminalization of johns is unsafe for prostitutes.

 

 

What are the different styles of prostitution and how do they affect women differently?

 

DG-3.  Some sex workers have agency.

 

 

How do feminists see this industry?  Is it something that provides economic opportunity, or just another harmful activity that promotes violence against women and makes them objects in our culture?

 What about the organizations that are supposed to help women?

S-11 (they give no help)

S-12: Rahab’s Sisters is a good organization.

 Here we tell the story of Rahab’s Sisters:  what is “radical hospitality,” and how could this idea change the world?

             R-3: the idea of radical hospitality

             R-6 what dinner Iike

            Here’s the whole story in a nutshell:

            R-8: how the life starts, and they become the problem.

 

What’s it like when a prostitute committing a crime becomes the victim of a crime? 

 

R-7

So, it’s one thing for a prostitute to have “agency,” or control over his or her situation.  But it’s an entirely different thing to be a victim.  And we can see both of these scenarios playing out all the time in the world of prostitution right here in Portland.

MUSIC

 And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject.  If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it.  Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll  hear you out and put you on the air.