THE WORKING MEN PROJECT

NEWS, EVENTS AND INFORMATION

Late 2004 news stories:

Sex workers launch hunger strike

Sex, drugs, but not much rock 'n' roll: 20 brief life stories

Grooming ring got off lightly, says judge

WHO Toolkit - call for sex worker stories

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Sex Workers Launch Hunger Strike - By Na Jeong-ju, Staff Reporter, The Korea Times (01.11.04)

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200411/kt2004110116533711990.htm

A group of 20 female sex workers on Monday began a fast in front of the National Assembly in Seoul in protest of a crackdown on the sex industry, which they argue has put their livelihood in serious jeopardy.

"The government crackdown has destroyed our lives," said the group of women, who belong to a union of workers from red-light districts in Seoul, Paju, Suwon, Pyongtaek, Wonju and other places, in a statement read before the hunger strike. "We demand the government give us time to change our profession by suspending the special laws on the sex industry. They must understand that many of us are the bread-winners in our families."

The workers said the fast would go on indefinitely until the government showed efforts to protect their rights.

Sex workers have held demonstrations since the government implemented the new anti-prostitution law in late September, which calls for more severe punishment for those found to have bought sex.

Brothel owners engaging in exploitative or coercive trafficking of women now face up to 10 years in jail or a maximum of 100 million won in fines, and those buying sex also risk jail terms. Also subject to punishment is the distribution of leaflets and flyers advertising sexual services.

Crackdowns on the sex trade have devastated red-light districts nationwide and other businesses in the industry. Police late last month said they have rounded up over 5,000 people since then.

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At Mainliners we decided to start profiling our clients four years ago in a bid to redress this erroneous and overwhelmingly negative view of them in the mainstream media. Their voices are rarely heard above the clamour of disapproval about their lifestyles and it was a chance to offer an alternative view. Since the beginning of 2001 Mainliners has been recording the life stories of drug users and sex workers and now we have collected them all together into this book.

The life stories which follow roundly dispove the myth that all drug users and sex workers are the same as well as the misnomer that only a certain kind of background gets involved in problematic drug use. The people featured in this book have all spoken in their own words and their accounts have had an absolute minimum of editing. people's lives are a combination of genes and circumstances. When this combination works to the advantage of an individual they receive praise and admiration in equal measure. When it serves them badly compassion is often lacking and they are viewed as the architect of their own distruction.

The life stories in the book are all truthful accounts. Politicians, royality, captains of industry and others of the top of society's food chain  may have parts of their lives which they go to great lengths to hide. Those who are marginalised and scorned have no such edifice to protect, there is no incentive for them to lie. Their life stories reveal as much about those who although they have no right, stand in judgement over them, as about themselves. We hope that the drug users and the professionals who work with them will find these stories interesting and that those who have made harsh, critical pronouncements about drug users will understand more and judge less unkinkly.

To order a copy, please visit the Mainliners website - here

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Grooming ring got off lightly, says judge - Martin Wainwright - Friday September 17, 2004 - The Guardian

A judge has condemned the "absurdly limited" jail terms he could impose for men involved in the sexual grooming of a 14-year-old boy who was sold to a national paedophile ring.

Mr Justice Holland called on the crown prosecution service to look at the issue. He said the maximum seven-year sentence for people living off the earnings of prostitutes was "quite absurd". Two men were jailed for a total of 15 years for their part in the calculated, two-year transformation of the child into a prostitute who was abducted to "service" men across Britain.

Leeds crown court heard how the 14-year-old was regarded as a long term investment - "the cutest yet" according to the prime mover, Nathan Eyre, 38, of Leeds - which was realised after months of plying him with money, drink, drugs and treats. Eyre finally told him to pack some spare clothes and took him to a McDonald's in Bradford, where he was sold to the organiser of a national paedophile ring, Raymond Hawthorne, 40, of Manchester. He forced the child to work with three other teenagers as prostitutes at his home, and took him to clients in a "six day blur of sexual abuse". He was rescued after police raided Eyre's home and found links to Hawthorne.

Eyre was jailed for eight years and Hawthorne for seven on Tuesday, after Mr Justice Holland explained he had no power to extend the terms. "It's really quite absurd. It's extraordinary that a judge is hamstrung in this way, to seven years, when it might be 10 or even life. These cases are rarely as serious as this, but this case demonstrates the seriousness of it at its extreme."

Mr Justice Holland sentenced Eyre to five years for living off immoral

earnings because he had to take into account the guilty plea. He was also given three years for conspiring with Hawthorne to sell the boy.

Hawthorne admitted abduction, indecency with a child, conspiring to live off the earnings of a male prostitute and conspiring to commit indecent assaults. The case could not be reported until the conviction, yes terday, of the only member of the ring to deny charges. Barry Carman, 56, of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, who texted a message to Hawthorne saying "when is he working", was found guilty of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and will be sentenced later.

Two "investors" were also sentenced for their involvement in "a system of breathtaking criminality". Leslie Loram, 50, of Rochdale - described as "one of Hawthorne's best customers" - was jailed for three and a half years after admitting two counts of buggery and one of indecent assault. David Riley, 56, of Eccles, pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was given a two and a half year sentence. Another member of the ring, Eric Groves, 44, of Shifnal, Shropshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit indecent assault at a previous hearing and will be sentenced later.

At the hearing on Tuesday Mr Justice Holland also expressed frustration that the jail terms had to take into account the fact that the other men had pleaded guilty. The court heard that in a series of pathetic statements to police the boy had said of his abuse: "It hurted." The judge said: "The mental and psychological scars may be with him for the rest of his life." The teenager's parents said in a statement: "Part of our son's childhood has gone now. They took his innocence away. This this can happen to any family. But now these monsters are behind bars we can try and move on with our lives." Detective Inspector Paul Jeffrey, of the Leeds child and public protection unit, said the ring had extended to Lancashire, Bedfordshire, Merseyside, Shropshire and Leicestershire, and probably elsewhere.

The boy could not remember where else he had been taken and had been "threatened with death". He said: "I remain stunned about how these people view children. They see nothing wrong with buying and selling them for sexual gratification." In mitigation, the court was told that Eyre, Hawthorne and Loram had pleaded guilty and had no previous sexual convictions. Eyre gave police information linking the ring to Manchester while Loram thought that the boy was willing.

 

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WHO Toolkit - call for sex worker stories - 02.11.04

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