US Navy officer Timothy Davis found not guilty of raping prostitute in Sydney brothel

AAP
November 23, 2009 4:26PM
A US sailor cleared today of raping a prostitute in a Sydney brothel is “looking forward” to returning to California.
While Petty Officer Timothy Davis had admitted using a “lockdown manoeuvre” to pin the woman to the bed, he denied forcing himself on her, saying he had only wanted his money back.
The [...]

A Few Questions for Belle de Jour, Call Girl and Scientist

November 20, 2009, 1:30 pm
By RYAN HAGEN
In 2003, a young American woman in London studying for her PhD. ran into money trouble. To support herself while writing her thesis, she joined an escort service. Under the assumed name Belle de Jour, she started to blog her experiences. That blog led to a series of successful, [...]

Sex and Soccer: The World Cup vice trade

October 16, 2009 — Updated 1701 GMT (0101 HKT)
By Chris Murphy
For CNN
(CNN) — The beginning of the World Cup in South Africa next June kicks-off a festival of football on the pitch, but there are a wealth of issues for the host country to tackle off the field too.
Up to half-a-million fans are expected to [...]

Ignored by society, Afghan dancing boys suffer centuries-old tradition

By Atia Abawi, CNN
October 27, 2009 — Updated 1721 GMT (0121 HKT)
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — A young boy dressed in women’s clothing, his face caked in make-up, dances the night away for a crowd of men.
The bells on his feet chime away, mimicking the entertainment and sexual appeal of female dancers. But there is no [...]

Prostitution in Georgian London: Harlot’s progress

Oct 15th 2009
From The Economist print edition
The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital. By Dan Cruickshank. Random House: 688 pages; £25. Buy from Amazon.co.uk
AS MANY as one in five young women were prostitutes in 18th-century London. The Covent Garden that tourists frequent today was the centre of a [...]

Thai Sex Workers: APNSW Press Release for French Press

APNSW responds to the Mitterand story:
It has come to our attention that there is still continuing debate around the issue of the French Culture Minister,
Frédéric Mitterrand, and his admission that he paid for sex with male sex workers in Thailand. We have seen attacks on him from both the left and the right of French [...]

UK: A law which will protect women from exploitation

Letters:
UK news | The Guardian
Thursday 22 October 2009
Nick Davies follows a long tradition of saying that trafficking is not a big problem and so no action should be taken to deal with it. I have always been of the view that anyone coerced into selling their body experiences unacceptable abuse of their human rights. That [...]

UK: Sex trafficking is no illusion

Nick Davies argues that the problem of sex trafficking has been exaggerated. This is the last thing trafficked women need

Comments (362)
Rahila Gupta, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 October 2009 11.00 BST
An article on trafficking into the sex trade has been written by the investigative reporter Nick Davies, whose reputation will lend authority to it – although it [...]

UK: Trafficking: we can learn from victims

A report in today’s Guardian suggests sex trafficking has been exaggerated; but it must not be reduced to a numbers game
Comments (89)
Helen Bamber
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 October 2009 22.30 BST
Knowledge about the wider picture of trafficking can be accumulated only over time and gleaned from a detailed and dedicated approach to the cases of individual victims. [...]

UK: Sex trafficking: a futile war of statistics

The descent of a Newsnight discussion on the sex trade into a shouting match shows how difficult it is to debate the issue
Comments (130)
Denis MacShane
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 October 2009 16.30 BST
Anyone see the ding-dong between Jeremy Paxman and Denis MacShane on Newsnight? I was there. It was an utterly weird experience to be in the [...]