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In Paperback
Now! Thursday July 28th/Friday 29th: Tracy on BBC-5's Up All Night 9:30 pm Eastern USA/2:30 am GMT with Dr. Petra and Dotun Read an excerpt |
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| Friday, November 08, 2002 Philly Encore Email has been arriving from readers who saw my latest in the current issue of Philadelphia City Paper (November 7-13.) My comments on Saudi clothing traditions were also picked up by www.ifeminists.com, much to my surprise! Who's Repressed? http://citypaper.net/articles/2002-11-07/slant.shtml For those who doubt that Western Civ still has serious hang-ups about women's clothing, see my recent entry about the new French law which defines "passive solicitation" as a manner of dress and demeanor. When I first heard this, I wondered if the reporters and activists were all exaggerating! So I asked Cabiria, the advocacy group for prostitutes working in France. The information officer of Cabiria wrote back to confirm that "based on their dress or attitude" is part of the bill which you can see in its literal entirety by clicking on this link: http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/rubriques/c/c2_le_ministere/c21_actualite/2002_ 10_23_projloi_secint If this bill passes, what decade -- or century -- will France be returning to? We will soon be paraphrasing Bernard Lewis! "What went wrong?" Okay, in answer to some other enquiries, I return to Philly in the spring. Stay tuned for news of my next visit. Until then, and just in time for stocking season, my book is available at Barnes & Noble on Rittenhouse Square, 1805 Walnut Street. Phone: 01.215.665.0716 (And they have a few signed copies!) Wednesday, November 06, 2002 France: «Vous couchez avec nous, vous votez contre nous» "You sleep with us, you vote against us." At www.Libération.fr, you can read extensive coverage of Tuesday's protest which drew 300 or so protesters from Paris and other parts. A coalition of hookers groups (and their supporters) is up in arms over a new law which will make "passive soliciting" a crime. What is passive soliciting? It is the crime of wearing a short skirt! Amazing, but true: the minister of the interior has nothing better to do than to outlaw miniskirts on the streets of France. To see extensive coverage, go to: http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=63099 Interview with Sophie, a protester who has been doing sex work for ten years http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=63254 Entire section: Du tapin au pavé The Guardian (London) reports a larger turn out (400) and recalls the French hookers movement of 1975 but gets some of the history wrong. 1975 was about protesting police harassment! So what's all this about "protesting against pimps" in '75? In 1975, it was the police who dragged the girls out of the church they were occupying -- with clubs! -- and the police who provoked the occupation. Read about yesterday's protest, at the Senate Building here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,834684,00.html The New York Times ran their report -- "Streetwalking, en masse" -- with a wonderful photo: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/international/middleeast/06PARI.html |