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Invasion of the Invisible Sex Slaves
Brendan O'Neill has a great
piece in sp!ked about the hordes of phantom sex slaves
invoked whenever a major international sporting event is on the
horizon. 10,000 imported prostitutes were expected at the Sydney
Olympic Games in 2000 (turns out there was "no hard evidence of any
women having been 'imported' to Australia for the purposes of
sexual exploitation"), 20,000 at the Athens games four years later
(though "the Greek authorities discovered only 181 instances of
people having been trafficked into Greece for the whole of 2004,
and not a single one of these instances was 'trafficking for the
purpose of sexual exploitation'"), 40,000 at the German World cup
in 2006 (police actually found a total of five), and another 40,000
at the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa (stay tuned for the
real figure!). O'Neill concludes that this recurring scare "speaks
to an elite fear of unpredictable movements across borders, of
working-class male behaviour, and of Third World women being easily
tricked into a life of sexual bondage" -- and he notes that the
British government is already warning the public about the sexual
servitude to come when London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games.
Elsewhere in Reason: Joanne McNeill describes the "white slavery" panic of a century ago.
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|3.24.10 @ 12:01PM|#
Referring to only whites is racist.
Mike Bishop|3.24.10 @ 4:26PM|#
Saying someone is Racist is Racist.
|3.24.10 @ 12:11PM|#
I think those breathless predictions of tens of thousands of sex slaves are actually a stealth marketing plan by the host country.
Dello|3.24.10 @ 3:56PM|#
+1. Why else would anyone go to these events? TV offers a much better seat than the stadium, and the beer is cheaper and better.
|3.24.10 @ 12:13PM|#
Warty, you must have some awesome sex slave themed LOL-metal video ready to post.
Warty|3.24.10 @ 1:07PM|#
Not really metal
Warty|3.24.10 @ 1:12PM|#
Not even close to remotely SFW
Warty|3.24.10 @ 1:13PM|#
I can't find the full video, but brevity is a virtue in these sorts of things.
affenkopf|3.24.10 @ 1:22PM|#
Pleasure slave
I hate stories like this|3.24.10 @ 12:19PM|#
It negates the sad stories of children/women who are used as sex slaves in the third world.
Jane|3.24.10 @ 12:30PM|#
All women are sex slaves to the patriarchy.
I|3.24.10 @ 12:36PM|#
don't mind being his, as long as he is mine.
|3.24.10 @ 1:07PM|#
I'm not sure why they focus on these events (other than to guarantee more hand-wringing), while in places like the UAE, Thailand, etc. it's going on ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME.
anarch|3.24.10 @ 1:17PM|#
Melanin.
Next question.
|3.24.10 @ 3:22PM|#
Considering the wide variation in the majority of the sporting event attendees' (and their potential quarry) level of melanin, I'm not sure what you mean.
Hell, I'm not entirely sure what you mean in the case of UAE. It's a veritable rainbow of "workers" and "clients".
nobody|3.24.10 @ 1:17PM|#
I like Season 2 of The Wire. There, I said it.
Zeb|3.24.10 @ 4:50PM|#
In many ways I liked that season best of all. Only partly because it featured the best gratuitous nudity.
Jesse Walker|3.24.10 @ 5:04PM|#
I like season two best, too. Frank Sobotka is my favorite character on the show. (Or maybe Omar. But he's in the top two!)
G Mc|3.24.10 @ 5:26PM|#
If you're interested in the law and sex slaves, I have a great book for you! Check out "An Introduction to Legal Reasoning" by Edward H. Levi. The second section of the book follows the enactment and evolution of the Mann Act. Levi uses the Act's particular history as a foil to demonstrate the general nature by which statutory interpretation takes place in our system and how such interpretation differs from the Court's deciphering and application of common law rules and the Constitution.
brain hurts|3.24.10 @ 5:59PM|#
In English?
FUCK|3.24.10 @ 6:17PM|#
Don't click on this
Warty|3.24.10 @ 1:12PM|#
Not even close to remotely SFW
Your vagina will hurt. Even if you don't have one.
G Mc|3.24.10 @ 6:56PM|#
Yeah, that last sentence is pretty terrible. Oh well.
Moral Panic!|4.4.10 @ 2:57AM|#
Two girls, one World Cup.