Las Vegas police use purity event to tell girls “promiscuity” leads to rape, prostitution, gangs, and death

At the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department “Choose Purity” event on Saturday, girls (and only girls) were treated to such a feast of fear-mongering and baseless scare tactics that it’s hard to believe that the event happened in real life and not as the plot point of a dark comedy in the vein of Election…

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers: In a civilized society, every person gets basic human rights

On Dec. 17 sex workers all over the world congregated to remember lives lost and assert their rights. International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, held each December for the past eleven years, is both a somber day and one of agitating for the basic human rights and respect that all people deserve. It’s…

Slut Riot: On the intersection of shaming, rape culture, and patriarchy

What a fantastic Sluts Week we’ve been having during our SLUT RIOT! We’ve had intense conversation generated from thought-provoking and sometimes controversial guest posts — here and on Facebook and twitter. We’ve looked at it from different angles. We’ve poked a stick at so much slut-shaming with photos and a Big Slut Riot Music Video.…

At the intersection of sex worker rights and human trafficking

Last week I sent SCS intern De’Liza Galimidi to the Sex Worker Rights Conference, held here in Las Vegas in a covert location. It was an ambitious assignment for even an experienced journalist. I’m proud to say that De’Liza handled it with maturity (and some help from her mom). Here are her thoughts after getting…

Dear Progressive Community: Stop being rape apologists

As feminists have been saying all week, this business with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says a lot more about how we feel about rape than any government conspiracy ever contrived. The spin is mind-numbing! Conservatives want Assange’s head on a platter for leaking sensitive and classified US documents through his Wikileaks site. Meanwhile, many high-profile…