by Alison Bass | May 29, 2017 | Uncategorized
My critically acclaimed book, Getting Screwed: Sex Workers and the Law, is now available as an audio book at Audible Books. The nonfiction book, which weaves the true stories of sex workers together with extensive research to make a compelling argument for...
by Alison Bass | May 22, 2017 | Uncategorized
I have been invited to give a keynote presentation on the link between sex work and addiction at the 28th Annual WV Addiction Training Institute, sponsored by the West Virginia University Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry. While many sex workers are not addicted to...
by Alison Bass | Mar 14, 2017 | pimps, prostitution, public health, sex trafficking, sex work, sexual violence, Uncategorized
A few years ago, researchers at UCLA and Baylor University made a stunning find: When the Rhode Island legislature inadvertently decriminalized indoor prostitution for a number of years, that state saw a 31 percent decline in reported rapes and a similar decline in...
by Alison Bass | Jan 12, 2017 | pimps, prostitution, public health, sex trafficking, sex work, trafficking, Uncategorized, underage prostitution
I realize few people care that Backpage, a website used by sex workers to advertise their services, has closed its adult ads section — especially when unsubstantiated reports are clogging the airways about our president-elect cavorting with prostitutes in...
by Alison Bass | Dec 11, 2016 | human trafficking, law enforcement, pimps, prostitution, sex trafficking, sex work, trafficking, Uncategorized, underage prostitution
The recent shooting at a popular pizza joint in Washington, D.C. has as much to do with the current hysteria over sex trafficking as it does with the untrammeled spread of fake news on social media. The 28-year-old man who fired an assault rifle inside the Comet Ping...
by Alison Bass | Nov 21, 2016 | human trafficking, law enforcement, pimps, prostitution, public health, sex trafficking, sex work, trafficking, Uncategorized, underage prostitution, websites
The arrest of the CEO of Backpage, a website for sex work ads, as he stepped off a plane in Houston October 6, made headlines. Carl Ferrer, 55, was arrested on a California warrant and charged with pimping by the California Attorney General’s office. Two other...
by Alison Bass | Oct 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
A lawsuit challenging California’s laws against prostitution just got a much-needed boost. The Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, together with a raft of other organizations committed to gender equality, has filed an amicus brief...
by Alison Bass | Aug 12, 2016 | Uncategorized
It’s heartening to see that in its highly critical report on Baltimore’s police department, the U.S. Department of Justice excoriated the police for ignoring sexual assault complaints by minority women, including sex workers and transgender women.The DOJ...
by Alison Bass | Jun 15, 2016 | human trafficking, law enforcement, prostitution, sex trafficking, sex work, trafficking, Uncategorized, underage prostitution
Last Friday, the police chief of Oakland, California, resigned amid a growing scandal involving a number of his police officers who had sex with an underage sex worker while their supervisors looked the other way, according to reporting by the East Bay Express. The...
by Alison Bass | Jun 6, 2016 | pimps, prostitution, public health, sex trafficking, sex work, trafficking, Uncategorized, underage prostitution
Jimmy Carter is the latest persona to jump on the End Demand bandwagon. In an op-ed piece for The Washington Post, he called for making the purchase of sex illegal. Unfortunately, the former President’s argument is based on erroneous information and a naïve moralistic...
