Money or morals? Analyzing the AKP's assault on legal sex work in Turkey.

For recent story I did for the New York Times magazine, You Are Here -- Dimming the Red Lights in Turkey, I reported from just outside one of Istanbul's last remaining red light districts on the effect of the Islamist AKP government's campaign to slowly but surely rid the country of its long tradition of legal sex work.

The AKP government has presided over phenomenal economic growth in Turkey.  Earlier this year, while the rest of the world economy was spinning down the toilet, Turkey's GDP grew 11% in the first quarter.  Unfortunately, this economic growth has yet to empower women in a meaningful way.  Employment among women stands at 24 to 26%, depending on who you ask, but either way, it's the lowest among OECD countries.  Unlike in other developing countries, where women have flocked to work in factories and other low-wage employment, strong -- I mean, really strong -- patriarchal social norms discourage the hiring of women.  Unsurprisingly, women may find it easier enter other informal sectors such as sex work, which have a low barrier to entry and offer the chance of earning more than the minimum wage (currently approximately 630 TL after taxes, or around $350 per month).  However, they do so under extremely precarious conditions: they are vulnerable to violence, harassment, fines and extortion.

It's in this context that I will further explore what is motivating the AKP to clamp down on sex work, for a forthcoming story that will go into these issues in more depth.  Do they know that women find it extremely difficult to find work in the formal sector?   Do they care?  Do they disapprove of sex work, or are they merely angling to close down the brothels so they can gentrify those prime, centrally located patches of real estate?

These are some of the questions I hope to begin to answer in the upcoming story.  As with politics anywhere, it's very difficult to locate truth, or even truthiness (hat tip Stephen Colbert.)  But the reporting process was fascinating, and I was lucky to work with two of the most wonderful translators/reporting partners I can possibly imagine.  Looking forward to sharing the story with you in the near future.

Assclown of the Day: victim-blaming Libyan Gov't Spokesman Musa Ibrahim

In response to the plight of Eman al-Obaidy, a Libyan woman who rushed into a hotel full of journalists to tell of the brutal rape and mistreatment she had suffered at the hands of Gaddafi soldiers, the Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim denied her story with the following:

After the episode, Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said she appeared to be drunk and mentally ill. He said that the authorities were investigating the case, including the possibility that her reports of abuse were “fantasies.”

Drunk?  Right, in Libya, sometimes mistaken for Ireland or Russia, with its heavy drinking culture.  Good call.

Mentally ill?  Possibly -- it's called "post-traumatic stress disorder."  It sometimes happens after, say, things like this:

She said she had been raped by 15 men. “I was tied up, and they defecated and urinated on me,” she said. “They violated my honor.”

Fantasies?  Now that, sir, is bold.  Try this:

She displayed a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks from binding around her hands and feet.

While her allegations of sexual assault have not yet been proven, those bruises and scratch marks sound a lot like reality.  Not, I'm sorry to say, "fantasies," Mister Ibrahim.  It is a reality that I sincerely, sincerely hope you, your scummy boss-man Gaddafi and the people who hurt Ms. al-Obaidy are held accountable for.

What else?  Was she wearing a short skirt?  Makeup?  Did she bat her eyelashes seductively at the guards while they handcuffed her?  Please do not disrespect or injure her further in the "investigation" that you have promised.

Libyan woman tells story of her rape. How unimaginably brave.

Reading the news that Eman al-Obeidy, a Libyan woman who claims to have been raped by 15 of Gaddafi's men while in their custody, made me cry. As I'm sure it did others, it also got me wondering -- how many other women and men is this happening to?  How many more times will it happen to her?

Once you're done reading the story and watching the video -- the video was really what made me cry -- please join me in getting angry that, no matter what country or what amount of warfare is currently raging, victim-blaming in rape cases never goes out of style.

After the episode, Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said she appeared to be drunk and mentally ill. He said that the authorities were investigating the case, including the possibility that her reports of abuse were “fantasies.”

And....I think we've just hit on our Assclown for the day.

Whoops! Totally didn't mean to don a ski mask, beat and threaten you.

The Egyptian military apologized for unintentionally using "truncheons and electric shock batons against late-night protesters in Tahrir Square." Someone explain to me how this can be unintentional:

Salma Said was asleep in a tent when it began to fall down on top of her. Outside people were screaming, and she emerged to see people being beaten by soldiers and armed plainclothes security officers wearing masks.

“They had their faces covered like criminals,” she said, “They only showed their eyes.”

“One of the officers threatened to shoot us and said he was going to set our tent on fire,” she said.

Did that officer have Tourette's Syndrome?  How else can you accidentally threaten to set someone's tent on fire?  I'm most curious.