Katrin sent in a link to a series of ads created by an organization called Stepping Stone Nova Scotia. Their mission is to advocate on behalf of, and offer resources and services to, prostitutes in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. In New Mexico, where I live, the remains of eleven women and the unborn fetus of one were found buried on a mesa outside of Albuquerque in Why did it take the police so long to find the bodies of these women, and why do their murders still remain unsolved?
Some observers have suggested that because the women wereβor were alleged to beβprostitutes, there was less pressure to find them after they went missing, or to solve their murders once their bodies were found. As long as the victims were sex workers, then the non-sex worker public can feel safe in the knowledge that they are not at risk.
I love the motivation behind the ads, and they do make me smile. I hope they have the effect that Stepping Stone intendsβmaking people think of prostitutes as people, not trash. But we also know that at least some of these women, as well as the non-prostitute females in his life, were subject to violence and threats of violence.
Her research areas include body modification and adornment and human-animal studies. If you would like to write a post for Sociological Images, please see our Guidelines for Guest Bloggers. It makes me cringe, I could see the South Park conservatives laughing at this for all the wrong reasons. I think a lot of the problem with the impression is that 'my prostitute' has a very different connotation of ownership than 'my mom' or 'my sister'.
My first impression of the images after grammatical confusion was that they were of non-standard looking pimps or customers. It took until I read the small text to understand that they were doing 'clever' word substitution. As a sex work activist, it's really inspiring to see this work being done across the globe. The humanization of sex workers is at the core of many campaigns, and one of the most effective methods we've found.
