Links - 4th December 2013

▶ Dr Coutinho, the feminists and the male contraceptive pill - YouTube - "Dr. Elsimar Coutinho is a Brazilian physicist, endocrinologist and human reproduction scientist. In this interview he also tells how and why feminists, leaded by Betty Friedan, boycotted his male birth control pill presentation, in a World Population Congress."

Protests as France debates prostitution bill - "The government argues that some 90 percent of France's estimated 20,000 to 40,000 prostitutes are foreign victims of Nigerian, Chinese and Romanian human trafficking networks... The Union of Sex Workers (STRASS) has also called for a protest against the reform, while feminist and prostitutes support groups will take part in a counter-demonstration. Some charities such as Médecins du Monde have warned that criminalising clients would drive the sex trade further underground, thereby endangering the lives of prostitutes. “We pay tax, we pay social security contributions. Isn’t there enough unemployment as it is not to put us out of business?" a Paris prostitute told Reuters."
"La politique est un bordel ! Les putes y prendront place !"

French stars petition against criminalising prostitution - "According to a TNS Sofres poll published at the end of October, only 20 percent of French people support the government’s move to crack down on people paying for sex. There are an estimated 40,000 sex workers in France, of whom 85 percent are women and 90 percent are migrants, according to a report compiled by Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier."
Nice Jedi Mind Trick: assuming all migrant prostitutes are trafficked

French MPs wary of new prostitution law - "an Ifop study commissioned by popular feminist monthly Causette in February showed 73% of people favoured reopening brothels, banned in France for decades, as a way to limit and control prostitution. Only 32% supported punitive measures against clients."

Se prostituer, ce n'est pas seulement écarter les cuisses - "à un moment, vous vous dites: je suis obligée de travailler pour gagner ma vie et il n'y a pas de raison de s'interdire de le faire de cette manière... Quand vous débutez, comme dans n'importe quel métier, vous vous dites que la prochaine fois sera mieux... vous pouvez penser que la prostitution, c'est juste écarter les cuisses et se laisser faire mais ce n'est pas mon avis. Je prends un grand plaisir à détecter chez mes clients ce qui ne va pas chez eux pour tenter de comprendre comment je peux les aider. Certains, même si je ne les voyais qu'une fois, on continuait à s'échanger des SMS... je considère que mon boulot doit être agréable. Plusieurs fois, j'ai été payée juste pour jouir, il n'y a même pas eu de pénétration. Quant à mes proches, jamais je ne leur ai caché ma profession. A aucun de mes compagnons non plus, parce que je suis fière de cette activité et je suis fière de ce que je suis. Aujourd'hui, j'ai 26 ans, et je continuerais aussi longtemps que ça me plaira. Je n'ai pas de date de péremption! Et même avoir des enfants ne me pose pas de problème. Faire ce métier ne fait pas de nous des mauvaises mères."

Germany rethinks its liberal ways on sex workers - "Müller originally started having sex for money in order to fund her degree in design, and went full-time seven years ago. "To be frank with you, I found it more creative, fun and fulfilling work than being a graphic designer. And I can say no to a client when you don't want to work for him." Her family knows about her work and supports her. Müller volunteers for the sex workers' support charity Hydra, and said she regularly meets and talks to Romanian and Bulgarian prostitutes who are in more desperate circumstances than she is. But the criticism remains that those defending the current law tend to be those who can afford to pick better jobs and reject the more debasing work."

Mice can ‘warn’ sons, grandsons of dangers via sperm – study - "“It is high time public health researchers took human transgenerational responses seriously,” he said in a statement issued by the Science Media Center. “I suspect we will not understand the rise in neuropsychiatric disorders or obesity, diabetes and metabolic disruptions generally without taking a multigenerational approach.”"

Sweden divided over criminalising HIV unprotected sex - "In Sweden a failure to comply with the HIV disclosure obligation, followed by unprotected sex, can result in charges of attempted aggravated assault and a prison sentence, even if the virus is not transmitted. Thus people with HIV cannot legally have unprotected sex in any circumstance -- even if they reveal their HIV status and have the full consent of their uninfected partner, since a person cannot consent to an assault... Sweden, which is often praised in international forums for its gender equality policies, does not comply with the recommendations of the UNAIDS programme, which advocates that "non-disclosure of HIV-positive status and HIV exposure should not be criminalised." While Swedish rights organisations have criticised the law, the legal status of HIV may mirror general beliefs that are widespread among Swedes. According to the latest SMI report which assesses attitudes towards HIV since 1987, 40 percent of Swedes in 2011 believed HIV-positive people should avoid having sex altogether."

France’s compromising position: Why a new law to criminalise punters rather than prostitutes is inflaming French passions - "In 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy, then Interior Minister, devised a law which banned racolage or soliciting, even “passive” soliciting. It was an offence even to look like a prostitute in public. The consequences were perverse. Prostitutes were obliged to dress like other women, which meant that respectable women, in certain parts of Paris, were propositioned if they stood still. Another unintended effect was to drive prostitution underground and push many French women out of the business... Opponents – including groups representing French prostitutes and celebrities, including Deneuve – say that the proposed law replaces hypocrisy with more hypocrisy. Soliciting would be permitted. Anyone who accepted an approach by a prostitute could be fined. This is like, they say, allowing drug-trafficking but punishing drug-users."