Sex 2.0 founder criticizes local alt's coverage of Atlanta sex workers

Laura-

How goes it?

I want to clarify a couple of points.

To call Steve Gower a vigilante is inaccurate. He doesn't get out of his car. There is no indication that he attempts to arrest anyone or pass himself off as law enforcement. If he sees a crime in progess, he says he calls police. To the best of my knowledge, he's not breaking or even bending any laws. He's attempting to deter suspected illegal behavior by showing up with a flashlight, video camera and YouTube.

People object to his actions for a variety of reasons, but his actions don't fit the definition of vigilantism. One of the objections to his actions is that he may falsely ID people as prostitutes. I found one person who'd go on the record accusing him of that and I quoted her extensively.

Secondly, to the commenter, Swan, the two videos of his I've seen don't depict sex acts. They document his encounters with people he suspects are prostitutes. The action depicted is typically an exchange of words through a pickup truck window. 

The so-called interesting background information published by Amber Rhea's boyfriend Rusty consisted of nothing more than Rusty mocking things he found on Gower's online dating profiles. Apparently ashamed of what he's written, Rusty removed the post today.

If anyone would like to talk about the piece, my phone is 404/614-1888.

Andy

Hey Andy -

Wow, you're fast.

I hate splitting hairs over vigilante; a few of the definitions here seem appropriate.

Rusty did delete his post, about two hours after I linked to it.

What interests me about this exchange is the interaction between established media, and folks using self-publishing tools - like Gower and Rhea - to achieve their own ends.

Andisheh,
Re:

The so-called interesting background information published by Amber Rhea's boyfriend Rusty consisted of nothing more than Rusty mocking things he found on Gower's online dating profiles. Apparently ashamed of what he's written, Rusty removed the post today.

It consisted of remarks I considered to be sociopathic, and a photo he had posted to his profile that left an uneasy impression on me. Anger? Yes. Mockery? No. But I guess people will have to decide whether they want to take my word for it or yours on that point.

I am not the least bit ashamed of posting the information. However, it gave some friends of mine whose opinions I respect a creepy feeling when I posted information from someone's public online dating profile. Where these lines should be drawn is going to be a continuing topic of debate in the years to come, and there's not always a readily-apparent answer.

The difference between what I posted and what Steve Gower is doing is that Steve Gower chose to make information about himself available to the public. The people he is filming didn't have that choice, and since they are often some of Atlanta's most disadvantaged people, don't have the means to sue him over the release of that information.

I'd recommended to anyone reading this thread to check out Southern Voice, which is doing a pretty good job covering this issue. They provide some much-needed context to the situation — both in favor of and against MPSA's actions — that Andisheh failed to include in his story. Here is the latest piece.

Laura, I don't necessarily see myself as trying to "achieve my own ends," unless the defiition of that is constantly putting pressure on media and society in general to step outside the traditional steretoypes in their representation of sex workers. Bound, Not Gagged has more to say on this subject, and says it much more eloquently than I could.

The rest of my response here got really long, so I went ahead and turned it into a blog post on my own site. Feel free to respond on this thread, as I'll still be checking in on it; I just didn't want to post a ridiculously long comment.

Laura, I don't necessarily see myself as trying to "achieve my own ends," unless the defiition of that is constantly putting pressure on media and society in general to step outside the traditional steretoypes in their representation of sex workers

That is precisely what I meant. In fact, if we wanted to get meta about it, I'm using self-publishing tools to "achieve my own ends" of illuminating an instance worthy of journalistic debate.

I figured, but just wanted to clarify! And yes, I totally want to get meta about it. Preferrably recursive, too.

It might help to hear it from the horse's mouth...

rustytanton said that the prostitutes "did not choose to be on YouTube." They sure chose to come into our neighborhood - invade our neighborhood is more like it - and bring us these problems. Street prostitution is not about sex although sex is incidental. These are not your typical next-door neighbors we are talking about - these are street criminals with no consideration for the disorder they bring. Who do these people think they are to come in and abuse the people working to make it a more livable urban environment? They chose to show their asses to all my neighbors - in public!

If street prostitution were only about consensual sex in private (i.e. not in cars in someone's driveway as is the case most of the time) it would be a civil liberties issue. Nobody in Midtown would even think of making an issue of consensual sex in a private setting - again at home, in a motel room, etc and not in our driveways.

If you live in Midtown it quickly becomes evident that prostitution is not about sex. Many Midtowners (and for that matter other similar neighborhoods) resent these outsiders calling for compassion and moral support for these street criminals. To us prostitution means:

• Condoms, needles and excrement left in our back yards


• Noise complaints and uncivil behavior


• Street drugs and the menacing thugs loitering in the neighborhood


• Menacing johns harassing women in the neighborhood as they walk in the neighborhood


• Last summer a group of prostitutes exploited disabled man (from a stroke) to gain access into his home - thank goodness neighbors saw that and intervened!


• Knocking over a woman and unleashing her dog to chase it into traffic in hopes of killing it - because she frequently called 911 about the prostitutes in front of her home flagging cars, yelling and hollering, and menacing her and her neighbors.

And before you call me a hypocrite it has been MANY years since I had a left-handed cigarette... Never used it much - I basically let friends and acquaintance treat me to it.  In my life I probably spent less than $100 in total on it. My recreational use had fizzled out. And by the time we put the MPSA together in 2003 it was apparent to me that anyone consuming illegal drugs ultimately contributes to oppression by drug lords in Latin American countries. Especially in the age in which we are conditioned to being mindless consumers (entails no sense of responsibility or social conscience) rather than citizens we fail to see down the chain reaction...

Prostitution is mainly a symptom of advanced drug use. These prostitutes patronize drug dealers mostly from a Section 8 housing project near our area. There drug dealers recruit 11-year-olds as lookouts, and the residents there (mostly single mothers) must live in terror if they know what's good for their children. The prositutes in our area contrubte greatly to that problem (Another scourge we need to get rid of - topic for another day).

There is no sympathy and compassion for street criminals in Midtown that I can discern, and most of my neighbors have nothing but contempt for those unscrupulous enogh to give them moral support.

Steve Gower