April 17, 2021 by Maggie McNeill
[Pandemic] measures [seem to] constitute the fulfillment of preexisting authoritarian tendencies. - J.D. Tuccille
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
I hope this makes Swedish criminalization fans extremely uncomfortable:
The More the BetterA...[typical and representative] Toronto [cop]...solicit[ed] a sex...worker...[Travis Houston implicitly threatened her with a gun] and told her that he was a [cop, but instead of submitting she]...demanded that he leave...He was charged with weapons dangerous [ sic], obtaining sexual services and mischief [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]...
Even lurid gawking by creeps at the New York Times can serve the greater purpose of demystifying sex work to squares:
Rough Trade (#448)...financial domination [is] a form of B.D.S.M. [ sic] that has flourished during the pandemic, when many sex workers and their customers have migrated online because of social distancing..The concept is simple, even if the allure is not immediately self-evident: "finsubs" (short for "financial submissives") send monetary "tributes" to a financial dominatrix...in exchange for being humiliated and degraded...
Can we not all agree something is wrong without giving the state another excuse for violence?
...antics now considered merely caddish or immoral-like lying to a prospective sex partner about one's relationship status, social standing, or future intentions-would count as criminal sexual misconduct...[under a] bill...sponsored by [a gaggle of]...New York [politicians which would criminalize sex]..."obtained with...the use of...deception, fraud, concealment or artifice"...Women could be guilty for lying about contraceptive use or menstrual cycles, and men for lying about having a vasectomy. Trying to win over a date by saying you have a better job than you actually do, live in a nicer place, or went to a better school could become a crime if that date sleeps with you...Someone might try to sue or press charges based on the idea that makeup, Botox, boob jobs, and similar measures to enhance one's appearance should count as illegal artifice that negates consent. It also seems likely that people could attempt to use the law against transgender...people...
As I pointed out in the subtitle-linked article, this would make prostitution stings legally rape, but no cop would ever actually be prosecuted for it. Overbroad laws, no matter how good they may sound to some, are only ever used to increase the power of those who already have it at the expense of those who don't.
Little Boxes (#865)Forced sexual contact with strangers is "trust building", but voluntary sexual contact with strangers is a "crime":
A former employee of...Panda Express...was required to strip down to her underwear and hug a partially clad co-worker during a "cult-like ritual" at a 2019 training seminar sponsored by the company as a prerequisite to promotion...At the start, attendees were told to sit down and not talk, and were left in isolation for a full hour before a man stormed in, yelling in Spanish and berating them for sitting there and doing nothing...participants were prohibited from using their cellphones, there was no clock in the room and the doors and windows were all covered with black cloth...the woman...was forced to strip down to her underwear under the guise of trust building...while, Alive Seminars staff were openly ogling the women in their state of undress...Attendees...were confined in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation...[and not even allowed] to use the restroom...[even] to throw up...
Another silver lining for the COVID pandemic:
A new HIV vaccine, based on the Moderna COVID-19 inoculation, has shown a 97% antibody response rate in Phase I clinical trials...If approved, this vaccine could become the first stage of a multi-step strategy to combat HIV and other viral diseases. The vaccine successfully stimulated the production of rare immune cells needed to generate antibodies against HIV...
Government can always be counted on to use any excuse to expand tyranny:
To Molest and Rape (#1127)...the...world that is more-policed and less-free than it was a year ago...Protests continued across the U.K. over...a proposed law that would increase police powers...[after a cop] murder[ed] Sarah Everard...[in] France...[t]ens of thousands...protest[ed] legislation that would restrict people from publishing identifiable images of [cops]...police have [brutalized] demonstrators in countries including Belgium, France ( again), Greece, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. Mounted police in Brussels trampled a woman at an anti-lockdown party, before opening up with water cannon. In Athens, [a cops beat]...a man...to enforce a...lockdown..."Across the world in 2020, citizens experienced the biggest rollback of individual freedoms ever undertaken by governments during peacetime (and perhaps even in wartime)," [wrote] The Economist...and... at least some countries want to permanently increase the status and power of police...
Notice how often rapist cops' victims are underage?
A [typical and representative New Jersey cop] and [known lecher has been] sexually assaulting a [girl] for five years, starting when she was 15...Tyrone Rolls...was charged...with sexual assault [but also rewarded with a paid vacation. As usual, "authorities" are weirdly fixated on whether]...he was [wearing his magical clown costume while committing the rapes]...The [victim finally gathered the courage to] report...Rolls [after he slapped her]...and knocked her to the ground...
