The Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy # 14

The Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy, edition #14:

Shawnee (of Kinsanity) wrote about being busted with a naught read by her child's counselor in Moms Caught With Erotica:

"Why is it," I asked him rhetorically, "that smut is less acceptable than violence or the shallow idolization of 'famous people'? It's damn odd really, because my kids got here through normal, healthy sex -- not via violence or the vicarious living or emotional stalking of celebrities."

Speaking of books and moms, Elline (at Girl with Pen) happily reviews Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life in Off the Shelf: Mama, PhD:

The contributors in this book, edited by Caroline Grant and Elrena Evans, break the seal of silence that suppresses the intense difficulties and institutionalized prejudice that academics who want to be more than just a "head on a stick" – but rather a whole person, including a maternal body – experience.

Alessia (at Relationship Underarm Stick) asked Do Romantic Comedies Ruin Relationships? The question was based on a recent study by a team at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh:

In what certainly will not be news to feminists who have long argued that images in & portrayals by the media, the bottom line was, according to Dr Bjarne Holmes, a psychologist who led the research, "We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in people's minds."

Interestingly, after participating in the survey about media and relationships, Alessia then asked Which Came First? The Chick-Flick Or The Egg On Your Face? Worth reading -- and keeping tabs on her continuing thoughts on the study.

Slip of a Girl (of A Slip of a Girl) gives us a biology lesson in Things That Snap My Girdle - In A Bad Way:

Because, yes, it bothers me deeply when you (especially my sweet cross dressers), get all squeamish about menstruation. Some of you think it's TMI, but a few of you have made comments about how "lucky" they are to "take what they want of femininity and leave the rest" -- and that really makes me angry. It makes most women angry.

At A Femanist View, SnowdropExplodes gives a personal account of his history with porn in Porn and Me:

The greatest harm that I can find in the story I have to tell, is that when I thought porn was evil, it had a negative effect on my confidence with women, and in myself; it led to psychological issues for me, and it meant a denial of my true sexuality. That ideology was harmful to me in the same way as it appears that certain right-wing Christian ideologies can be harmful to young gays in their midst. I am glad to accept erotica and porn as being not in and of themselves evil or wrong.

Also, SnowdropExplodes was the only one to take my call as a writing assignment -- producing the fabulous An Incomplete History of the "No Sex Please, We're British" Thing. Too wonderful to take a snip from, so go read it all. Every word. I may post a quiz.

(Rather related, SnowdropExplodes updates us on the UK's current internet censorship plans.)

PaganKinktress, of Erotic Bohemian, discusses the word Slut:

I catergorize the words slut and whore as ways of defining and appreciating one's sexual energy.

Speaking of sluts... Aspasia of La Libertine has a Review of Malena:

It's a great film and is a fantastic illustration of slut-shaming at its worst.

Aspasia also explores sluts (and pop culture notions of sex and spirituality) in space in Slut-shaming comes to a galaxy far, far away!

There just seems to be this inability for some of Luke's fans, mostly male fans from my experiences, to accept the fact that this character is a sexual being. I suppose because the Force and being a Jedi is always depicted as being "spiritual" and away from the body, those fans feel the need to see him as a celibate priest. I won't even get into the debate over the Old Jedi Order (Yoda, et.al.) and its regulation that Jedi have no attachments and whether or not that meant celibacy. Lordisa, I'm not touching that one right now!

Aspasia also reviews Lust and Caution:

...this is one of the most sensual, erotic and unabashedly sexual mainstream films I have ever seen.

Jaynie (at Here's Looking Like You, Kid) discusses her "awkward attempts" to defend one of her favorite movies against a male film expert in Defending To Have And Have Not:

Nothing against him -- he's been very nice dealing with a movie fan whose ignorance is pretty clear -- but how do I better articulate my thinking that our perceptions may be, at least in part, influenced by our genders (and related expectations, emulations, and emotions) without sounding like a silly girl? Or worse yet, some foaming-at-the-mouth feminazi?!

GoddessGlory of Bombilicious The Man Destroying Blog defends prostitution in Introduction to The Return of the Goddess: Whore Power:

But at the end of the day it isn't sex in exchange for money that degrades, cheapens and enslaves women it's societal norms and roles. Prostitution will NEVER go anywhere because it's apart of human/ape/primate identity, it's who we are. Whether or not you look at it this way there is "prostitution" all throughout "regular" sexual relationships between people even marriages.

Because you know there's still a lot more defending of sex work to be done, Amber Rhea (of Being Amber Rhea), has some Red Herrings for you:

It's about people articulating their own sexual desires and boundaries - especially women, as we have been traditionally denied this right.

Last, but not least, Latoya Peterson's post (at Racialicious) called The Not Rape Epidemic which is so good, that I cannot select a quote from it. Just go read it all. I mean it.

A few final words about this carnival...

I had a great time hosting it. While the holidays admittedly slowed the number of submissions, those I received were wonderful; in fact, I'll be adding quite a number of new blogs/bloggers to the sidebar due to this experience.

The carnival, and in fact the issues the carnival supports, needs your support too. So please submit to future carnival editions, consider hosting a future edition, and link to the carnival posts.

Perhaps most important of all, please continue the conversations presented in individual posts/articles in the Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy. It can be silently, in your mind; in person discussion with friends & family etc. in the real world; or via blogging, letters to the editor at other publications, or other use of media. But continued exploration and expression of these issues is important.

While my carnival hosting duties may officially be over, I'm open to hearing from more of you about such related topics; so please, whenever you have or find posts which fit my beat aka submissions call, please do contact me.

The next Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy will be hosted by Sugarbutch Chronicles on January 26th, 2009.

Hey, You've Got My Mermaid In Your Religion

Thanks to mlfoley of Irish Wit and German Sadism for showing us the "two great tastes that go great together", mermaids and Jesus, which forms religious prostitution: Flirty Fishing.


Don't let the candy-sweet comic illustrations of the pamphlets fool you, there's something here to stick in your craw, alright; it's the cult part that's like too much peanut butter -- sticky & hard to swallow.

Flirty Fishing (FFing) was the use of sex to show God's love and win converts as well as a means of raising financial support. It was practiced by the Family of Love (aka Children of God, the Family, and now the Family International or TFI) from 1974 until it was officially discontinued in 1987; due, in part, to the AIDS scare. The cute euphemism is traced to Matthew 4:19 where Jesus says "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

In the latter part of the '70s and early '80s, [David Berg], responding in part to the sexual liberality of that time period, presented the possibility of trying out a more personal and intimate form of witnessing which became known as 'Flirty Fishing' or 'FFing'. In his Letters at that time, he offered the challenging proposal that since 'God is Love' (1 John 4:8), and His Son, Jesus, is the physical manifestation and embodiment of God's Love for humanity, then we as Christian recipients of that Love are in turn responsible to be living samples to others of God's great all-encompassing Love. Taking the Apostle Paul's writings literally, that saved Christians are 'dead to the Law [of Moses]' (Romans 7:4), through faith in Jesus, [Berg] arrived at the rather shocking conclusion that Christians were therefore free through God's grace to go to great lengths to show the Love of God to others, even as far as meeting their sexual needs.

XFamily.org has more Flirty Fishing ephemera as well as additional writings by Berg or transcriptions of his speeches, called Mo Letters (the name "Mo Letters" derived from David Berg's pseudonym, Moses David).

Where Hookers Rake It In

Via captain_boots.

Jennifer Cody Epstein On Prostitute-Concubine-Post-Impressionist Pan Yuliang

A brief interview with Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of The Painter from Shanghai, a novel based upon the life of Chinese painter Pan Yuliang.

Pan Yuliang is a wonderful artist -- but one who is often discussed more for her struggle to become one (having been sold at the age of 14 into prostitution by her only surviving relative) and for her nude works (at a time when such works were scandalous).

I'm delighted to have Jennifer's insight here...

SPS: When/how did you first become aware of Pan Yuliang?

Jennifer: I was actually the Guggenheim with my husband and some relatives—roughly ten years ago. The exhibition—which was amazing--was on Modern Chinese Art, and there was just one image by Pan Yuliang on display. But it drew me over immediately; it was a typical Pan Yuliang in that it was very evocative of Matisse and Cezanne, and the bright, bold colors and distinctly Western setting (as compared to the huge propaganda-style images and much more subtle ink paintings around it) really stood out for me.

SPS: What was it that captured you & compelled you to write the book?

Jennifer: Upon seeing the picture, I went over to study it more closely. And when I read about Pan’s story (prostitute-concubine-Post-Impressionist icon; really?!) it just blew me away. I’d never heard of her before—but I couldn’t, at that moment, understand why---it struck me that everyone should know about her. I suppose writing the book was one way to try to understand her, and to try to imagine what making that sort of an extraordinary journey would be like.

SPS: How long did it take to create the book?

Jennifer: From inception to publication it was almost exactly ten years--so a long time! Granted, throughout that period I quite my job at NBC, finished an MFA at Columbia and also had my two daughters, so there were some side-trips.

SPS: Why write a novel, rather than a biography?

Jennifer: Mainly because I'd made the decision--after ten years in journalism--to try writing fiction, which I'd always wanted to do. But also because Pan's story ended up being one of those where I actually had to use creative license in order to get any sort of a complete sense of her. Even the art historians I spoke to confirmed that there is so little actually factually known about her (even the birthdate on her gravestone in Paris is generally agreed to be inaccurate) that in order to get a full sense of her life, one has to simply imagine.

SPS: You mention there is little documentation or biographical information about her... What do you think that is due to? A lack of respect for her, her art? Did her popularity increase after her death, when it was "too late" for much information? Or was it a general lack of respect for women in general? Or just a problem in general of artists from that time? Something else?

Jennifer: I think the lack of documentation was in part a combination of all these factors. But I also think that Pan herself kept a pretty tight grip on her story and was very careful about the versions of it she allowed out. This isn't surprising, given how wildly controversial both her work and her history were, and also given the fact that people tended to pay more attention to the latter than the former.

SPS: Have you seen Hua hun, and if so, what are your thoughts on the film?

Jennifer: I have. I actually knew about the film fairly early into my research, but held off watching it until I was well grounded in my own book and characters---I didn't want to risk being overly influenced by it. think I finally sat through it after I'd already finished with Shanghai in my book and was moving on to Paris. I certainly appreciated Hua Hun for its beauty--it was very well-done, and I loved the intense aestheticism of it visually. But I did feel that--like the biography it's based on--the movie portrayed Pan Yuliang as somewhat less of a self-determined woman and artist than I came to see her as. The general sense I got from watching it was that she was more or less shaped by the actions of the men around her; e.g., rescued despite herself from the brothel, guided into art and school by her husband, etc. I sensed such a strength of character and will in her paintings, though, that I really wanted to give her more of a role in her evolution as an artist.

It's been noted to me, incidentally, that some readers think i made her too strong--they don't find her particularly likeable. But my sense is (both from my own musings and from what I've heard) that she wasn't an easy person in real life to either know or to like--so I suppose in some ways that just makes me hope that I got something right!

SPS: Did she have any children?

Jennifer: She did not. The biographical info points to at least one pregnancy but (as I write [in the book]) that was terminated. She did adopt her husband's son, however; he's still alive I believe, in Anhui province.

SPS: If you could say in one sentence (of what took a decade to create) -- what you think is the sum of the book... I guess that would be two sentences --

Jennifer: The sum, for me, is really the boundless creativity and ingenuity of the human spirit (though I hope that doesn't make people gag!). The truth is, Pan Yuliang was pretty much damned from the start by so many factors--her gender, her class, her country of origin; the fact that her parents died and her uncle was an opium addict; the fact that she was sold into a brothel. It's a set of circumstances that most women would simply not have survived. And yet thanks to her resilience, talent and the sheer bravery she displayed in painting what she wanted, regardless of cost, she has left other women and artists this extraordinary example and legacy. (I'm sorry, that's four sentences and a lot of semicolons!)

SPS: That's OK -- it took me how many sentence fragments just to get near a question. *wink* Do you have a "one sentence bit" of what you hope the reader walks away with from The Painter From Shanghai?

Jennifer: That even in the most apparently dire of circumstances you still have the power to shape your own dreams, goals, life.

SPS: And, in one sentence, what did you walk away from the experience with?

Jennifer: The thrill of having had Pan Yuliang and China as a job for the past decade (how lucky is that!?), and a renewed faith in myself for actually having published a historical novel with family and sanity (at least somewhat) intact!

Thanks, Jennifer; I can't wait to read it!

You can read more on Jennifer's process with the book here; and catch a live interview with the author on XXBN's Cult of Gracie, tonight (Wednesday, July 16th) at 9 P.M. (central).

Call in questions and comments are welcome at 1 (646) 200-3136. (And rumor has it that a copy of The Painter from Shanghai will be given away to live callers...)

If you miss the show, you can listen to the archived show (or download it) here.


See also:

The Nude in the Art of Pan Yuliang, by Elsa Favreau.

A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang: Capital Museum in Beijing Exhibit

See more of Pan Yulian's works here.

London's Interglam Escorts, 1974

Via sixtiesbooks at Flickr.

69 Ways To Insult Your Dishclout

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, Paul Simon; but Pornokrates researched 69 ways to say "whore".

Funny, but I don't see "wife" anywhere on that list.

However, "Moon-Eyed Hen" is, and it means "A squinting whore".

And I think we all know why she squints.

What's Not To Love About Tina Fey

Continuing my love of all things Fey...



A classic from a SNL episode in 2000:

Prostitutes in Lyons, France sent a fax to the government to complain that they are losing business to Eastern European women who are protected by the Albanian mafia.

Okay, first of all, how rough-looking are these French prostitutes that all their customers are running to the Albanians? Secondly, why did they send a fax, and from whence? Do they have a fax machine in the whorehouse, or did they all trundle down to Kinko's - "You fax these, I'll let you shave me." Thirdly, how come French whores know how to work a fax machine, but every time I try to use it, I hit Power Save, or I forget to dial 9.. This just proves what my boyfriend always says - that I am dumber than a French whore.

Back to you, Jimmy!

"I wanted to see a prostitute drawn by my grandmother"

So says Project Prostitute, which then presents all the drawn images. Some of the artistic representations are of the usual variety, fishnets and smoking for example; but others are so absurd they are cute, such as the green 'lot lizard' with handcuffs.



I think what I love about this collection the most is the wide range of ideas shown; certainly the artworks expose as much about the creators as they do values and ideas regarding prostitution.




You'll also find more images from Project Prostitute at Flickr. (I discovered this by clicking 'see larger, and I find that more enjoyable than the flash galleries at Project Prostitute; there is more than one Flickr user involved, as I also found this gallery set too. So poke about and see what you find.)



And I can't help but compare these depictions of sex workers to some of the conclusions jumped to about sex collectors...



Come to think of it, that would be a really excellent project.

If you'd like to send in images of collectors of adult collectibles, sex history, risque items etc., either based on what you've had people say to you, or even what you think about me, then please do so. I'll gladly post them.

Via Fleshbot.

Pre-Code Film & Lingerie

At SK Slip of a Girl has posted reviews of Pre-Code films by Wellman, which is where the above still of Dorothy Mackaill in Safe in Hell comes from. Safe in Hell is an exceptional movie about a prostitute who tries, if not for a heart of gold, then for a pure heart -- against all odds.

So far I've only seen copies of this film available at eBay -- why don't they re-issue it? (I found my DVD -- clearly a decent copy from TV, but better than waiting for it to be on -- by searching Dorothy Mackaill, not by film title.)

Related: Thirteen vintage film photos featuring ladies in lingerie -- which is where the below unknown movie still comes from... Got any ideas? Please post it!

Flea's Pleasure

This flea has writ his autobiography on the prostitute's leg:



Via Postcardman's prostitution cards.

The World of Suzie Wrong

It's Christmas, 1962...

What are you going to give your daughters?

How about little racist brothel dolls?

Collecting News & Views

Norman Mailer passed away, and DeeDee (and others) share their thoughts on the ambitious writer whose giant ego oft overshadowed his written works.

Heidi Fleiss fluffs & folds to pass the time as she awaits the ability to open her Stud Farm (meanwhile, you gents can apply for a position with Heidi).

And lastly, from whence the image comes, Derek talks about the context of collecting music compilations. I note it because A) it furthers what I wrote about here, and B) it has the Promfumo scandal. (So I may just have to add that record to my collection.)

Of Mahu, Men & Islands

The seller of this vintage Tahitian photo writes:

striking woman with very long wavy hair, tropical print dress, leis of whitish flowers around her head and hanging from her neck. gaze to side of camera.

believe this to be a photograph of a Mahu--a person born as a male but raised as a female in Tahitian culture. A practice not only of Tahitians but of groups in India, Indonesia, and other places. Considered as part of the Third Sex by contemporary gender studies.

I wondered how the seller could make such a claim -- other than close inspection of the photo showing more 'masculine' traits in the face. Even then it is rather a big leap.

I did some research of my own on the Polynesian Mahu.

The definition of 'third sex' and 'person of ambiguous gender' is a bit misleading. While Mahu are thought to possess the virtues of both men and women, Mahu are most definitely males -- males who physically remain male but dress and act like women, right down to typical household chores of cooking and taking care of children. (Males who do more than behave like females, who become females, are called Raerae -- transsexuals.) In some ways, this makes the Mahu your every day gay. But that's a simplistic gender view.

According to Like a Lady, In Polynesia by Roberta Perkins Mahu have ancestral customs and were socially accepted -- even admired for the special roles they play within their communities. It's a somewhat complicated picture:

For the English, French and Dutch seafarers who visited the South Pacific Islands in the 18th century, confronting the Polynesian transgenders was a mixture of shock, fascination and repulsion. The best reports of these early contacts come from the HMS Bounty expedition to Tahiti (1789-91) under Captain William Bligh. One of his officers, Lt. Morrison, wrote: "They have a set of men called mahu. These men are in some respects like the eunuchs of India but they are not castrated. They never cohabit with women but live as they do. They pick their beards out and dress as women, dance and sing with them and are as effeminate in their voice. They are generally excellent hands at making and painting of cloth, making mats and every other woman's employment" Being a thorough gentleman who considered it his duty to investigate everything, Captain Bligh's curiosity got the better of him "I found with her a person, who although I was certain was a man, had great marks of effeminacy about him and created in me certain notions which I wished to find out...The effeminacy of this persons speech induced me to think he had suffered castration...Here the young man took his mantle off which he had about him to show me the connection. He had the appearance of a woman, his yard and testicles being so drawn in under him, having the art from custom of keeping them in this position...On examining his privacies I found them both very small and the testicles remarkable so, being not larger than a boy's five or six years old, and very soft as if in a state of decay or a total incapacity of being larger, so that in either case he appeared to me as effectually a Eunuch as if the stones were away." One can imagine old stiff and proper Captain Bligh in full dress uniform fingering the mahu's genitals with his starchy white gloved hands.

(Yes, that Bounty and Captain Bligh.)

An unexplained phenomenon on Tahiti was that just one, and only one, mahu resided in each village at any one time. As one Tahitian pointed out: "When one dies then another substitutes...God arranges it like that.. It isn't allowed...two mahusin one place. I've traveled around Huahine (the Society or Tahitian Islands) and I haven't seen two mahus in one place. I never saw it." How this phenomenon worked is still a mystery, but obviously some sociological mechanism must have been at work in each village to ensure that not more than one mahu lived there at a time. Since, as we know the desire to change gender is spontaneous and not an orderly event, how then did such precision occur on cue? Perhaps a young mahu growing up in a village which already had an established older mahu may have been forced to seek a village where none existed. Another suggestion is that a mahu was made by the community, who selected a boy to be raised as a girl to replace the established mahu when she passed on. The question remains, though, what criteria was used for this selection? However it was achieved, mahus were accorded great respect and dignity.

Bligh observed: "The women treat him (mahu) as one of their sex, and he observed every restriction that they do, and is equally respected and esteemed." Anthropologist Robert Suggs reported a similar attitude towards mahus on the Marquesas Islands, while another ethnographer, Donald Marshall, said much the same for Cook Islanders, and by all accounts it was similar on Hawaii. On Mangaia, the mahus were not only well regarded by the rest of the population, but they excelled at women's tasks, sang in an excellent high pitch falsetto and were better dancers than all other women. Anthropologist Robert Levy claimed that the mahus on Tahiti served as an object lesson for demarcating the sexes. Since the sex roles were similar in many respects and some tasks were performed equally by men and women, the mahu was pointed to as neither wholly man nor wholly woman. However, this does not explain the presence of mahus in more warlike societies ouch as the Marquesans, the Hawaiians or the Maoris, where the sexes were clearly defined by the warrior status of men.

According to Captain Bligh: "These people (mahus), says Tynah, are particularly selected when boys and kept with the women solely for the caresses of the men...Those who he connected with him have their beastly pleasures satisfied between his thighs, but they are no farther sodomites as they all positively deny the crime." Indeed, it seems that anal sex, even in heterosexual relations was not practiced in Tahiti. The mahu then was a diversion for oral sex, since many Tahitian men claimed that it’s just like doing it with a woman, but his (mahu) way of doing it is better than with a woman...When you go to a woman it is not always satisfactory. When you go to the mahu it's more satisfactory. The sexual pleasure is very great." However, fellatio was not reciprocal, as one Tahitian explained: "I was 'done' by a mahu...He 'ate' my penis. He asked me to suck his. I did not suck it...He offered me money. I said I would hit him. I did not want that sort of thing, it is disgusting." Despite this, there was a Tahitian belief that semen is like a vitamin supplement. "(Mahus) really believe that (semen) is first class food for them," said one Tahitian man. "Because of that mahu are strong and powerful. The seminal fluid goes throughout his body...I’ve seen many mahu and I've seen that they are very strong." Sodomy was also denied by other islanders. The mangaians, for example, thought anal sex ridiculous, yet were quick to point out that it took place on the other Cook Islands. It is possible, of course, that the Polynesians were quick to realise the disgust with which white men regarded sodomy, and in their eagerness to accommodate them as trading partners flatly denied any such behaviour in their community. So, Europeans began to view mahus not as substitute women, nor as sodomites, but as an alternative sexual arrangement for the sole gratification of men.

As for the incidence of female-to-male transgenders across Polynesia, it seems to have been unknown, or, at least, rare, for anthropologist Donald Marshall was told of the existence of women who insisted on doing men's work (though not cross-dressed), on Mangaia, though he had never seen one.

Like many old world traditions and societal sects, the Mahu tradition has changed. Not with 'the times' so much as in response to foreigners, including more than the usual ministry of white missionaries which stripped them of the respect of their communities.

Just as the Devadasi suffered from colonization, so the Mahu have become sexually sullied with the arrival of outsiders:

But the Mahu tradition is struggling. When thousands of French soldiers arrived for the nuclear testing program there weren’t enough local women to entertain them – so many Mahu turned to prostitution.

As Bormann reports, it’s given a traditional phenomenon a very bad name.

It's simplistic to say "so many turned to prostitution", as if this had no cultural, economic or other motivational issues. Attitudes aside, what currently exists of Mahu culture is a rather watered-down version of the old legacy of the islands. Even the word Mahu is, in many places, now just derogatory slang to dismiss any non-hetero males, ignorant to the word's origin and history.

For more on Mahu you can visit The Island Goddess Pages, "embracing the online Mahu Communities of Hawaii, Mainland US & Worldwide".

Prostitution Signs

A 1941 Las Vegas hotel sign (via Answers.com).

I have a few of these signs, most are original (and packed away right now), but I do have this reproduction of a New Orleans sign out in my front foyer:



You can buy a Beware Pickpockets and Loose Women sign here.

Sex Obsessed Victorians

My sincere thanks to Ms Gloria Brame for pointing out Sex, porn and a discreet taste for the bizarre: With 6,000 brothels and 80,000 prostitutes in London, sex was an 1857 obsession. John Sutherland charts expression and repression of the dirty-book trade of the day.

With lots of information packed into a relatively short article, this is my favorite quote:

Pornography, whether in 1857 or 2007, is one of many useful litmus papers for determining what strange mixtures are at work culturally. The Victorians were not prudish, nor are we enlightened. Different times, different porn.

Image of Victorian nude bookplate via Deco Dog.

Japan's Sex Slaves

All who opened their legs in Japan were not Geisha, or impetuous lovers, or just plain lusty -- many Japanese women in WWII were forced into prostitution in military brothels.

Tens of thousands of women.



Photo via ComfortWomen.Org.

These women were called "comfort women" and their existence is still controversial, even censored from history and refusing to apologize.

Comfort women were sexual slaves many of whom were taken by the Japanese Army during invasions of their Asian neighbors -- before and during the World War II. As you can imagine, they weren't well cared for or even buried properly.

The story continues: After Japan's surrender and with tacit approval from the U.S. occupation authorities Japan set up a similar "comfort women" system for GIs.

Women in Peace and War (Tokyo, Japan) opened in 2005 and had an exhibit on comfort women -- I didn't find anything that noted how long that lasted...

Indian (Sex) Servants of God

Devadasi literally means "Servant of God." Like Christian nuns, the Devadasi were girls who married a deity or temple.

In addition to taking care of the temple they learned and practiced classical Indian arts traditions. Originally, like nuns, they were to be celibate all their lives, but at some point in their history (likely as the wealth and prestige of temples grew) sex became part of their sacred duties. In Hindu belief, the Devadasi had sex to commune with their god; it was a sacred experience.

The Devadasi life was not forced upon anyone -- like many Christians dropped young girls off at nunneries, so did Hindus take their girls to be raised and trained for the honor of serving their faith. (Yes, I'm sure many of the poor just dropped off their kids for one less mouth to feed, but many a nun began thus -- or as an orphan.) This was not forced prostitution and the Devadasi occupied a rank next only to priests. They were revered, enjoying a high social status.

However, as colonialism imposed cultural changes, bringing about the demise of kingdoms and Hinduism itself, the Devadasis were deemed immoral for their sex outside of marriage -- as defined by Christians. They were not only frowned upon and classified as prostitutes, but many were forced to become prostitutes just to survive.

There is a movement to reclaim the role of Devadasi, both to uplift them historically (removing the Western biases) as well as to resurrect the legitimacy of the practices today. One such women is Kama of Kingston, who is interviewed here.

Kama knows (and can perform) her Kama Sutra, but she also knows so much more. Her blog is filled with political and cultural matters: "This is the personal diary and commentary of an Indian Devadasi escort living and working in the UK. I am hoping that this Blog will let me record my experiences and feelings about being young, foreign, and selling sex in the UK."

It's an amazing history, and quite surprising to see such a young little thing standing up tall (to be the nail who takes the hardest pounding) in such culturally, politically intolerant times of conservatism, censorship and control.

You can buy statuary with Devadasi images here, and watch videos of Kama here.

Belgium Sex Shop Photos

More photos from Brussels here.

Whore House Photos

From whore houses, cross-dressing, WWI post at LJ.

Christine Keeler

Christine Keeler was the infamous woman at the center of the 1960's Profumo scandal in England (and it had it's American impact as well). Keeler had affairs with both John 'Jack' Profumo, war minister in Harold McMillan's Conservative government, and Eugene Ivanov, the assistant Naval Attache to the USSR embassy who was considered to be a spy by MI5. Obviously, this mix created quite a scandal. Keeler was just 19 years old when the smack went down.

But as always, there's a life which leads up to such events...

Christine Keeler grew up with her mother and stepfather in the Berkshire village of Wraysbury. The home was small and allowed little privacy. Although she was close to her mother, she felt threatened by her stepfather's attentions to the point where she kept a knife under her pillow in case he forced himself upon her.


In 1957, at the age of 15, Keeler commuted daily from Wraysbury to London for her job as a model at a dress shop in the Soho quarter. One day the shop's sweeper invited her to his flat... There, she lost her virginity in what she described as a non-stimulating experience.

At 16, Keeler was dating American GI's from military bases in her town of Wraysbury. One of the men, a black sergeant from Laleham Air Force base named Jim. Months after he had left for the states, Keeler discovered she was pregnant. She tried to abort the baby herself with a knitting needle and as expected, it was a bloody, traumaticatic mess. The child was not aborted, but born prematurely on 17 April 1959 and lived just six days.

That summer Keeler left Wraysbury, and an unhappy life, for a lifeexcitementment and adventure in London.

She waitressed at a restaurant in Baker Street where she soon met Maureen O'Connor, a girl who worked at Murray's Cabaret Club in Soho. O'Connor introduced Keeler to the owner, Percy Murray, who hired her almost immediately as a topless showgirl. Part of a showgirl's work then, as now, involved encouraging them to buy more drinks by sitting with the customers between acts.

One night, a rich Arab customer, accompanied by a starlet and another man, came to the club. The other man was Dr. Stephen Ward. Ward was a society osteopath who mixed in influential circles, presumably for introducing pretty party girls to the aristocratic set. Charming Keeler with compliments regarding how "wonderful" she was in the show, Ward wormed his way into getting her phone number.

The next day, Ward called Keeler three times; she blew him off. But he turned up at her family's home in Wraysbury and charmed her mother into Keeler giving him one date. On the second date Ward asked Keeler to move into his flat in Bayswater.

Keeler agreed; she was an attractive woman alone in a big city and Ward could give her security and companionship. Ward did not pester her for sex like most men, and Kereferredfered to their liarrangementsments as like that of a 'brother and sister'. Some time after meeting Ward, Keeler met a new dancer at the club, Mandy Rice-Davies.

Rice-Davies has been quoted as saying "It was dislike at first sight" and Keeler apparently felt the same, but as both girls found themselves at the same parties, they became companions if not friends. Not only did they compliment eachother well as far as personality, the two also worked well in the bedroom, earning themselves money for clothes and entertainment purposes.

During the scandal, Ward was charged with living on the "immoral earnings" of Keeler and Rice-Davies and running a brothel in his home. Keeler has strenuously denied this. She claims Ward used women and sex not for cash, but to gain access to the affluent and influence his rich peers. Keeler also claims Ward was a spy for the Soviet Union and that asked her to do work for him. Tasks included were to get information from Profumo about the placing of nuclear warheads in West Germanydroppingoping off letters at the Soviet Embassy. Keeler claims that once while water-skiing Ward had tried to kill her because he feared she was going to blow the whistle on him. (Ward was prosecuted but committed suicide on the very last day of the trial -- before the jury reached their verdict.) But back to Keeler's story...

In July of 1961, after swimming in the buff in Lord Astor's pool, Keeler met both Profumo and Ivanov. The two vied for Keeler's attention. Keeler howepreferredfered Ivanov, believing he was a real mans man. But one drive around London in the ministerial limousine, and Keeler was smitten by his aura of power. The affair lasted about a month before Profumo called it quits for reasons of propriety.

By November Keeler had a number of lovers. General Ayub Khan, then military dictator of Pakistan, makes the list. But two rivals, West Indian men, Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon and Johnny Edgecombe, would lead to the discovery of her affair with Profumo.

Gordon was jealously infatuated with Keeler. He had assaulted Keeler in the street and she alleges he held her hostage for two days with an axe. (Keeler dropped charges for the latter incident due to appeals from Gordon's brother who feared that Gordon would get a long sentence because of his criminal record for violence.)

After rejecting Gordon for the last time, Keeler bought a gun to protect herself from him. She also enlisted Edgecombe to help with her security. This led to Edgecombe and Gordon meting face-to-face in 27 October 1962 at a Soho club. A confrontation ensued, and Edgecombe slit Gordon's face with a knife -- Gordon's wound needed 17 stitches.

Edgecombe quickly went into hiding from the police. Keeler, in fear for her life, changed address so that Gordon could not find her. After a few weeks, Edgecomb realized that he could not remain in hiding indefinitely. He asked Keeler to help him find a lawyer so he could surrender himself to the police. But as Edgecombe had taken another lover, a jealous Keeler refused, telling him that not only would she not help him, but that she planned to testify against him in court.

Obviously outraged by Keeler's decision, Edgecombe showed up outside Ward's flat on December 14, 1962. Keeler was there visiting Rice-Davies; she refused to let him in. Incensed, Edgecombe used the gun that had once belonged to Keeler to shoot at the flat door resulting in enough noise to startle neighbours. Quickly the area was teaming with police and journalists. Edgecombe managed to get away in a taxi, but was later arrested at his Brentford flat.

It was during the investigation to this incident that the details of Keeler's affair with Profumo were discovered. Keeler tried to escape to Spain, and a ridiculous chase ensued as the entourage of reporters pursued her through Europe.

Keeler was found guilty on unrelated perjury charges for not attending as a witness in the trial regarding Gordon's attack. She was imprisoned for nine months in Holloway Prison.

Keeler changed her name, took a job, and when her past has caught up with her, she's been fired. She had two children, from two different fathers. She is said to be estranged from one son yet close to the other.

Today she lives in a council owned flat in north London with her cat.

When Profumo died (March 10, 2006), Keeler said she had not been in love with him as he was so many years older than her.

More than 40 years later Keeler is still bewildered by what happened. She has made public claims that Ward and herself were used as a "smokescreen" by the establishment who wanted the focus kept on the racier aspects of the story, concealing the serious breach of British security. Yeah, like that would ever happen (wink).

The urban myth that the photograph of Christine Keeler astride an Arne Jacobson chair was taken when she was a model is false in more senses than one... Find out more about Lewis Morley's famous nude portrait of Christine Keeler.

Keeler has written several autobiographies; these along with other books on Keeler and the Profumo Scandal are available at Amazon:

Scandal 63 by Clive Irving, Jeremy Wallington, Ron Hall (1964 version shown, also a 1963 version)

Sex Scandals (1985)

Scandal (1989)

The Naked Spy (1992)

The Truth at Last: My Story (2001)

The Trial of Stephen Ward by Ludovic Kennedy (available as the 1988 reprint of the 1964 paperback)

And at Abe, you can still find Nothing But... by Christine Keeler with Sandy Fawkes (1983).

In 1989 Scandal the movie was made, starring John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda, and Ian McKellen.

Wicked Baby by Tara Hanks (2005) is a novella based on Christine Keeler & John Profumo.

If you don't like the prices at Amazon, use the Abe search box on the sidebar; or try ebay for Christine Keeler items.

White Slave Trade Sex Films

The first American feature-length sex film was Traffic in Souls (1913) (aka While New York Sleeps).

Made in 1913, Traffic was a "photo-drama" expose of white slavery. As a the turn of the century production, the director, George Loane Tucker, treads the line between sexpolitation and public service message. As the film guides viewers through various dens of iniquity in New York City, which certainly has provocative footage, the story includes the processes of crime detection, and the mandated climax of pure values as the police work to bust the white slavery rackets.

At the time of its release, the motion picture was controversial in many ways. Obviously, there was the whole issue of its daring to address prostitution and sex. And while the nervous producers did much to bill this as a warning message to citizens, a 'true crime' vice film, the advertisements promised steamy sex.

Due to the advertisements & the content of the film itself, there were obscenity charges & ensuing problems, of course, but perhaps more important, was the public reaction.

This was not only due to 1913, and Victorian era thinking, for film was a new medium & 'new' brings its own issues.

There was much concern as to the role of film in lives of Americans. Full length films signaled the end of the Nickelodeon, and the beginning of, well, who knew what. Of major concern was the film viewer itself. While the Nickelodeon was for men and boys, if motion pictures were to survive, they would need the approval of women.

With Traffic, worlds collide.

As DeeDee at Sex-Kitten writes in her review of Movie-Struck Girls: Women & Motion Picture Culture After the Nickelodeon (by Shelley Stamp):

In the early 1900's, the most popular films were vice films, & in the teens, a major societal concern was The White Slave Trade. Sensational white slave films were made during this time, to warn folks of the dangers to their women. Conflicting with the as-billed-educational-films messages, cinemas brought women-folk out into public where they could easily fall prey to such ills as the white slave trade. Debate centered around the irony. Other debate focused on the films themselves, and censorship issues were raised. And to make matters worse, women seemed to enjoy such films! Oh, how could such tender beings watch & enjoy such lewd filth such as scenes from brothels?!

Victorian purity meets a changing culture head-on with the new medium of film. Culturally, the film stood as point of debate. Historically, we know what happened, and the dialogues which continue. As a film, Traffic in Souls was one of the first films to prove that 'sex sells' and it served as a tipping point, encouraging, with its sales, more films like it.

After Traffic there would be more shocking 'truth' films with the same theme of the horrors of prostitution -- with all the same combination of message, melodrama and sexploitation. These films include The Inside of the White Slave Traffic (also in 1913), Damaged Goods (1914) and The Sex Lure (aka The Girl Who Did Not Care, 1916).

In fact, the trend continues today, with Lifetime's miniseries, Human Trafficking. But this conversation over today's historical parallels in sex, obscenity, and alarming the public, well, I'll leave that to others.

If all of this intrigues you, and how can it not, you may also be interested in reading Mother of Truth by Ivan Abramson.

Mother of Truth, subtitled "A Story of Romance and Retribution Based on the Events of My Own Life", was published in 1929 and is fiction by director Abramson. Abramson was a Russian born film director and writer of over 56 Hollywood films, including many pre-code productions such as The Sex Lure. While fiction, Mother of Truth is fascinating reading for fans of film.