"The Natashas" and "The Johns" by Victor Malarek

[saliksalik]

Hello Friends,

I have been out of TERB for a while for several personal reasons, and my last venture into the TERB world was my appointments at Vixens, and these were the good ones.

I traveled a bit that led to some readings.

That is when I cam across two books by Victor Malarek, and award winning Canadian journalist and a past host of CBC's Fifth Estate. Precise and chilling.

The books are The Johns and The Natashas. The Johns has just been published. I am certain that the veterans at the TERB may already know about these.

In The Natashas, Victor raises some serious issues of Sex slavery ranging form Far East to Eastern Europe, and presents that even very higher ups including armies and UN peace keepers have been closing their eyes into these practices. He also discusses Canada and several review sites (not TERB).

He raises certain questions that have made me very vary about hobbying specially if there are indications of coercion on the SPs. I can definitely feel that in the Canadian SP scene, one has to be very careful about quicky single mattress joints specially Asians and Latin Americans.

In The Johns, Victor studies the role of men into prostitution and sex slavery etc. His motives are to wipe out prostitution and specially oppose any legalization and or decriminalization.

The list of topics in The Johns, include: Welcome to Johns World, Boys will be Boys, Love and Marriage, Single by Choice, I'm just a lonely guy, The Girlfriend Experience, I want it may way, How do they feel?, Monster Woman!, Traveling Johns, Predator Johns, The brotherhood of Johns, Sex education 101, A Gift to Johns, Charge the Johns, Back to School, Get the Predator Johns.

The last para from The Girlfriend Experience reads, "What do you tell the guys when they are leaving after an hour of the GFE?
Oh I play the girlfriend role to the hilt. I pout a bit. I tell that I'll miss them and can't wait to see them again soon, and once they' are out the door I go and take a long, cold shower."

Reading these books has certainly dampened my spirit, and I will be definitely and subtly would be conscious of signs of an SP being forced into the business and would discreetly avoid her and her agency. That is the best I could do.

I also need guidance from the TERBITEs as to how to avoid being an accomplice into any kind of sex slavery. And I also need some guidance as to how to determine if an SP is in the business on her own free will only to improve her financial situation. Difficult, but may be some of the experienced Terbites be of help.

The ISBNs for the books are:

The Johns ;The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It, 978-1-55470-157-5 , Key Porter Books
http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=6477
Following up on his scathing indictment of the international sexual enslavement of women in The Natashas, investigative journalist Victor Malarek lays bare the other side of the crisis—the men who fuel the demand.
http://www.keyporter.com/

The Natashas;The New Global Sex Trade,
ISBN 9780670043125 , Viking Canada
"A shocking and powerful book about the buying and selling of women around the world."
http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780670043125,00.html

 

[alphanig]

 

[enduser1]

He sounds like a creep.

EU

 

[fuji]

I honestly think the solution does in fact lie with us. I have posted about this before.

I likely disagree with much in this book: I think very few women are forced into sex work, most choose it freely knowing full well what they are getting into, as many of the women who post here will attest. I specifically do not buy into the "economic slavery" argument which says it isn't a free choice because they needed the money--I wouldn't do my job either, if I didn't need the money. I do not as a result consider myself a slave.

On the other hand there no doubt are a few women out there, including a few in Toronto, who are somehow coerced into this job and that very few are far too many.

The thing is that we here are most likely to be the people who come into contact with them, and who have an opportunity to realize what is happening, and therefore potentially make a difference of some sort.

If we could destigmatize prostitution around the people who are in it of their own free will we could likely be much more aggressive on cracking down on those who aren't.

Specifically in theory if one of us realized a woman was in this sort of trouble, say after booking an appointment, we should be ready and willing to go directly to the police and help extract her from her circumstances.

Of course with all the stigma around the industry few will actually be willing to do that, and then so the question of what you SHOULD do becomes much more difficult.

Plainly, though, you should do something. Maybe it could be as simple as an anonymous tip. Maybe it could be as simple as giving the woman information about her rights in Canada, enabling her to take action on her own (she's probably been lied to about her rights, etc.)

I do not think we can dodge the question though, to whatever extent there is a community around this industry it is up to us to self-regulate or else sooner or later the rest of society will impose regulation on us that is undesirable.

 

[saliksalik]

I honestly think the solution does in fact lie with us. I have posted about this before.

I likely disagree with much in this book: I think very few women are forced into sex work, most choose it freely knowing full well what they are getting into, as many of the women who post here will attest. I specifically do not buy into the "economic slavery" argument which says it isn't a free choice because they needed the money--I wouldn't do my job either, if I didn't need the money. I do not as a result consider myself a slave.

On the other hand there no doubt are a few women out there, including a few in Toronto, who are somehow coerced into this job and that very few are far too many.

The thing is that we here are most likely to be the people who come into contact with them, and who have an opportunity to realize what is happening, and therefore potentially make a difference of some sort.

If we could destigmatize prostitution around the people who are in it of their own free will we could likely be much more aggressive on cracking down on those who aren't.

Specifically in theory if one of us realized a woman was in this sort of trouble, say after booking an appointment, we should be ready and willing to go directly to the police and help extract her from her circumstances.

Of course with all the stigma around the industry few will actually be willing to do that, and then so the question of what you SHOULD do becomes much more difficult.

Plainly, though, you should do something. Maybe it could be as simple as an anonymous tip. Maybe it could be as simple as giving the woman information about her rights in Canada, enabling her to take action on her own (she's probably been lied to about her rights, etc.)

I do not think we can dodge the question though, to whatever extent there is a community around this industry it is up to us to self-regulate or else sooner or later the rest of society will impose regulation on us that is undesirable.

Thanks Fuji,
You make a lot of sense. Just FYI, I may share some excerpts on the issue of Choice.
Regards.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

He sounds like a creep.

Why is that? Because he says things that you don't want to hear? (Now if you said he was creepy looking, I'd agree wholeheartedly!)

It takes all kinds and I like hearing all sides of the story. Victor Malarek is one of the few investigative journalists I truly enjoy watching and reading.

 

[mandrill]

Malarek's book "The Natashas" made a small sensation back in 03-04 when EE agencies were the biggest thing on TERB. His books contain a small germ of truth covered by layer upon layer of totally undocumented ranting and sensationalism.

Basically, he's a pro journalist looking to make big extra $$'s from writing "current events" books.

As every up and coming writer knows (and publisher), the way you make big $$'s from writing books is to make them as sensationalist and scary and controversial as possible.

Put him on the "ignore" channel and move on.

 

[Don]

Not just books but pretty much any media like film "documentaries".

 

[fijiman]

The last para from The Girlfriend Experience reads, "What do you tell the guys when they are leaving after an hour of the GFE?
Oh I play the girlfriend role to the hilt. I pout a bit. I tell that I'll miss them and can't wait to see them again soon, and once they' are out the door I go and take a long, cold shower."

Bullshit.

Afterwards they rush to their bed and masturbate rapturously while reliving the memory of my big fat dick slammin' them hard.

fj

ps. Just wanted to clear that up.

 

[saliksalik]

Bullshit.

Afterwards they rush to their bed and masturbate rapturously while reliving the memory of my big fat dick slammin' them hard.

fj

ps. Just wanted to clear that up.

It is cleared up with a bang! Cheers

 

[enduser1]

Malarek's book "The Natashas" made a small sensation back in 03-04 when EE agencies were the biggest thing on TERB. His books contain a small germ of truth covered by layer upon layer of totally undocumented ranting and sensationalism.

Basically, he's a pro journalist looking to make big extra $$'s from writing "current events" books.

As every up and coming writer knows (and publisher), the way you make big $$'s from writing books is to make them as sensationalist and scary and controversial as possible.

Put him on the "ignore" channel and move on.

Oagre said it better than I did. He is just another sensationalist creep ranting about a minor issue.

EU

 

[Aardvark154]

"The Natashas" . . . by Victor Malarek

A peripheral issue but one that strikes a chord with me, is that for Russian women who marry and move to the West and happen to have the diminutive Natasha, a fair number are surprised by this term, find it hurtful and in reaction insist on their full name being used.

 

[Shades]

I read the Natasha's several years ago...and numerous other articles and studies since then...my personal opinion is that what Malarek talked about certainly does exist. While it may not be a major problem in Toronto, it probably does exist here.

I stopped going to the little Chinese operations in Scarborough because I met too many girls that I truly suspected weren't there because they wanted to be or that this was their first career choice. I don't think they arrived in Canada knowing this is what they were in for and once here, I don't think that they had any options.

Did I do anything about it...no. Perhaps I should have, I don't know at this point. By staying away from these mattress on the floor, three young girls working, environments, I avoided having to deal with the question.

What I find fascinating about the reaction to this thread is the evident fear of having our fantasy balloons burst. We go for the GFE and really want to believe that is what we are getting. In reality, for the most part, we are selfish participants in a play.

 

[enduser1]

I read the Natasha's several years ago...and numerous other articles and studies since then...my personal opinion is that what Malarek talked about certainly does exist. While it may not be a major problem in Toronto, it probably does exist here...........
What I find fascinating about the reaction to this thread is the evident fear of having our fantasy balloons burst. We go for the GFE and really want to believe that is what we are getting. In reality, for the most part, we are selfish participants in a play.

Hi,

Of course I am a selfish paritcipant at play. If you look at my reviews I don't see EE girls, precicely because I don't want to subsidize sex slavery.

I also saw the "Natasha's" on the Passionate Eye. While it is horrible, frankly, the alternative, a continuation fo the Soviet Union was much worse.

To try and end all prostitution is just stupid. All Malarek wants to do is denigrate men who need sex and claim it is a self control issue.

You know I am truly fed up with having to run around saying I support gay marriage and I think gay sex is wonderful and I am not a homophobe but I have to listen to people like Malarek claim that heterosexual sexual intercourse with a consenting adult over age 18 is a crime. To hell with FASCIST creeps like him.

I do not feel guilty for wanting sex.

EU

 

[saliksalik]

I read the Natasha's several years ago...and numerous other articles and studies since then...my personal opinion is that what Malarek talked about certainly does exist. While it may not be a major problem in Toronto, it probably does exist here.

I stopped going to the little Chinese operations in Scarborough because I met too many girls that I truly suspected weren't there because they wanted to be or that this was their first career choice. I don't think they arrived in Canada knowing this is what they were in for and once here, I don't think that they had any options.

Did I do anything about it...no. Perhaps I should have, I don't know at this point. By staying away from these mattress on the floor, three young girls working, environments, I avoided having to deal with the question.

What I find fascinating about the reaction to this thread is the evident fear of having our fantasy balloons burst. We go for the GFE and really want to believe that is what we are getting. In reality, for the most part, we are selfish participants in a play.

Thanks. That is why I said in my note that I have to be careful with Asian SPs. And in future if I suspect foul play I may do something rational about it. I also agree with your fantasy baloon comment. Regards.

 

[Carrie Moon]

Haven't read the book.. but of course the asian massage parlours have sex slaves.. but to think that alerting the cops is going to do anything.. duh.. they already know and are being paid off.. human trafficking is big business.

The ones who go and know.. don't care.. the ones who don't know? really??? you see a girl who doesn't speak english and get a handjob for 40 bucks or a lay for 60 and think she's chosen to be there?

Some are coming from a country where they might have been doing it already for only 2 bucks.. (our currency) so perhaps if they get 1/2 of it (say 20 bucks) that's alot of money to them. Others are outrightly kidnapped or tricked into it never having been a sex worker before.

Deep down you know who is choosing it and who isn't.. but I'd hazard a guess that most of the guys on review boards aren't in that category and I know 100% of the girls on terb aren't in that category.. most of the girls trafficked aren't able to use a phone never mind a computer.

 

[spankingman]

Natasha etc

I NEVER used a Russky SP no matter how beautiful etc she was. Just dont feel comfortable around them or trust them. I may be missing out but dont care. Lots to pick from.

 

[genintoronto]

SalikSalik,

I have not read yet those two books by Victor Malarek, but I've read some other work by him on the topic (mostly articles), and while I think that there's a lot of good stuff in what he writes, there's also a lot of problematic stuff in his arguments and demonstrations. In a nutshell, like most anti-prostitution/anti-porn activists and/or scholars, I think his understanding of "free choice" is problematic, and leads to the idea that sex workers can never "choose" to do sex work without coercion (whether physical or economic).

Basically, his approach tend to deny women's agency in their entry and participation in prostitution. While it is true that many constraints (economic, social, political, etc.) condition the choices of many women to enter sex work, this doesn't invalidate this choice. For instance, as McClintock, a feminist scholar and activist write: “if they had the choice, many sex workers might prefer to earn glamorous salaries and social esteem”, but then she adds, “if they had the choice, so might domestic workers, toilet attendants, waitresses, nurses, farm workers, dishwashers, chemical factory workers, and so on”.

Also, while the distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution was first coined by the prostitutes’ rights movement in order to challenge the assumptions of a dominant discourse about prostitution and women’s sexuality by claiming that prostitution could be a choice, many sex workers’ organization and ‘sex work’ feminists now argue that this distinction should be rejected. They criticize this forced/voluntary distinction for creating false divisions between sex workers, and for helping reproduce within the mainstream a madonna/whore dichotomy where the ‘forced’ prostitute is typically represented as the passive, innocent, and naïve third world women, who by virtue of her ‘victim’ status is exonerated of any sexual wrong-doing, and the whore is the ‘voluntary’ prostitute, typically the western emancipated woman capable of making rational choice, who deserves what she gets. Moreover, this distinction is also seen by many as having been co-opted by the mainstream, where the emphasis is put on condemning trafficking in women and protecting/rescuing the ‘victims’ of this traffic, and rarely on condemning the abuses of human rights of sex workers who are not ‘forced’. Overall, these critics see this distinction as serving to reinforce and legitimize practices that abuse the rights of all sex workers. They tend to favor an approach that focuses on the commonalities shared by all sex workers, and to advocate for the transformation of sexual labor into work that is associated with dignity, respect and decent working conditions.

Which brings me to answer your original question more closely: what can you do to avoid participating in the abuse of women in the sex trade? Trying to avoid hiring the service of a woman who you suspect is being "forced" into prostitution is one strategy, but how can you be sure? And how do you discriminate between the woman who is pimped and the woman who is fucking-for-pay because it's the only way for her to feed her children? Which is worse? And is not patronizing either of those women really helping them out of prostitution, or just cutting them off of their income?

I suggest that a good starting point would be to listen to what sex workers and sex workers rights organizations have to say about it. What are they asking for? What solutions do they propose? What demands do they have?

You can start by having a look at this article: "Redefining Prostitution as Sex Work on the International Agenda", written by Jo Bindman, from the Network of Sex Work Projects.

In addition to this article and the NSWP website linked above, you may want to read other work on the issue, written from a sex workers rights perspective, and with many sex workers as contributors. A good one to start with is:

Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema (Eds.). Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition. New York: Routledge, 1998.

 

[saliksalik]

SalikSalik,

I have not read yet those two books by Victor Malarek, but I've read some other work by him on the topic (mostly articles), and while I think that there's a lot of good stuff in what he writes, there's also a lot of problematic stuff in his arguments and demonstrations. In a nutshell, like most anti-prostitution/anti-porn activists and/or scholars, I think his understanding of "free choice" is problematic, and leads to the idea that sex workers can never "choose" to do sex work without coercion (whether physical or economic).

Basically, his approach tend to deny women's agency in their entry and participation in prostitution. While it is true that many constraints (economic, social, political, etc.) condition the choices of many women to enter sex work, this doesn't invalidate this choice. For instance, as McClintock, a feminist scholar and activist write: “if they had the choice, many sex workers might prefer to earn glamorous salaries and social esteem”, but then she adds, “if they had the choice, so might domestic workers, toilet attendants, waitresses, nurses, farm workers, dishwashers, chemical factory workers, and so on”.

Also, while the distinction between forced and voluntary prostitution was first coined by the prostitutes’ rights movement in order to challenge the assumptions of a dominant discourse about prostitution and women’s sexuality by claiming that prostitution could be a choice, many sex workers’ organization and ‘sex work’ feminists now argue that this distinction should be rejected. They criticize this forced/voluntary distinction for creating false divisions between sex workers, and for helping reproduce within the mainstream a madonna/whore dichotomy where the ‘forced’ prostitute is typically represented as the passive, innocent, and naïve third world women, who by virtue of her ‘victim’ status is exonerated of any sexual wrong-doing, and the whore is the ‘voluntary’ prostitute, typically the western emancipated woman capable of making rational choice, who deserves what she gets. Moreover, this distinction is also seen by many as having been co-opted by the mainstream, where the emphasis is put on condemning trafficking in women and protecting/rescuing the ‘victims’ of this traffic, and rarely on condemning the abuses of human rights of sex workers who are not ‘forced’. Overall, these critics see this distinction as serving to reinforce and legitimize practices that abuse the rights of all sex workers. They tend to favor an approach that focuses on the commonalities shared by all sex workers, and to advocate for the transformation of sexual labor into work that is associated with dignity, respect and decent working conditions.

Which brings me to answer your original question more closely: what can you do to avoid participating in the abuse of women in the sex trade? Trying to avoid hiring the service of a woman who you suspect is being "forced" into prostitution is one strategy, but how can you be sure? And how do you discriminate between the woman who is pimped and the woman who is fucking-for-pay because it's the only way for her to feed her children? Which is worse? And is not patronizing either of those women really helping them out of prostitution, or just cutting them off of their income?

I suggest that a good starting point would be to listen to what sex workers and sex workers rights organizations have to say about it. What are they asking for? What solutions do they propose? What demands do they have?

You can start by having a look at this article: "Redefining Prostitution as Sex Work on the International Agenda", written by Jo Bindman, from the Network of Sex Work Projects.

In addition to this article and the NSWP website linked above, you may want to read other work on the issue, written from a sex workers rights perspective, and with many sex workers as contributors. A good one to start with is:

Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema (Eds.). Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Hi genintoronto,
I am truly delighted to receive this note. This is the kond of discourse I wished that would ultimately emerge.

I fully agree with your comment, "In a nutshell, like most anti-prostitution/anti-porn activists and/or scholars, I think his understanding of "free choice" is problematic, and leads to the idea that sex workers can never "choose" to do sex work without coercion (whether physical or economic). ", is straight to the point. This is what I also deduced after reading the two books.

Your feminist comments are also valid.

I also accept your suggestions, and would definitely read the same. On my own action, I have decided that I will never again visit any cheap Asian incalls as a starter, and would also whet the Asian agencies very carefully, and the same goes for some Latin quicky joints.

My experience with well established agencies has generally been positive.
Regards. Salik

 

[freedom3]

Toronto

I read the Natashas by Victor Malarek. I was very alarmed by what I read and I even went to one of his speeches here in Toronto.

He said that he does not think that Canada is a sex slave destination.

From my (many) experiences in Toronto and Montreal, this appears to me to be accurate.

I think that the vast majority of TERB members would, like myself, be the first to call the police if they felt that a woman was an unwilling participant in the sex trade.