Trigger warning: this post spends a great deal of time talking about human trafficking.

During this next fight, Brooke’s seat is right next to the two hookers that were hanging around last night.  They’re named Friday and Debbie and seem to be chill, probably escorts and/or strippers rather than streetwalkers, although that doesn’t excuse my previous RAAAAAAGE over the inclusion of sex industry workers in this novel. 

In fact, I’m kind of at a loss, because on the one hand they do seem fairly cheerful and adjusted and not worried about getting back to a pimp or a handler.  That’s good.  On the other hand, it’s not a guarantee of a lack of abuse, and also this book has misunderstood so much that for all I know it really thinks this is what you get when you troll around town looking for a hooker or two.  Like, “oh, yeah, this is hookers right here, look how happy they are!”

I’m not saying it can’t happen.  For all I’ve gone on about sex slavery and how it’s tied into prostitution, there are cases where people manage that business and come out alright.  I know a stripper who got out of stripping and then went back into it because she legit preferred it over office work.  She did some prostitution on the side and actually enjoyed it.  But she was in a very lucky position; she also told me about strip clubs that would coerce or outright force their dancers to have sex and then take most or all of the money from it.  I also know a porn actress who professes to enjoy her work and takes it very seriously.  Both of these women freely admit that they are very lucky, that they had to be very careful to get where they are, and that they were only able to avoid common pitfalls because they started out from a place of privilege (middle class, educated, had some fall-back money so they didn’t have to take desperation jobs).  They didn’t call it privilege, but yeah.

Finding sex workers in the US who are doing their work freely and safely and happily is possible, but it’s relatively rare, and due to the lack of education among the general public, it is extremely disingenuous to put “random happy hookers” in a body of work without elaborating on that.  Without pointing out that, well, this is a special case, this isn’t what you get if you drop by any random strip club and ask for a turn in the champaign room.  (Actually, more often than not, you’ll get kicked out for that.)  Even the ones that smile while they do you could just be acting, because clueless customers are happy customers and happy customers make for happy pimps. And throwing out “random happy hooker” characters just contributes to that same mess of misinformation.

But this book cares not.  This book has Friday and Debbie just giggle and tell Brooke that it’s cool, Remy didn’t screw them, he totally wants to screw Brooke because I DON’T FUCKING CARE, BOOK, AND FUCK YOU FOR BRINGING UP SUCH A SENSATIVE GROUP OF PEOPLE JUST FOR THIS BULLSHIT FUCKING SHITYASS FUCKING FUCKITYFUCKFUCK OF A FUCKING BORING GOD DAMN FAKEASS DRAMA THAT NO ONE WAS FALLING FOR ANYWAY.

And a drink, because we all need one. \~/

In a 1998 study, 88 percent of the prostituted women surveyed stated that they wanted to leave the sex trade industry.  The majority of prostitutes interviewed by APD vice investigators believed that selling themselves was their only alternative for survival.

[paraphrased] The most common background for prostitutes is this: a man befriends and starts dating a woman who has few or no family or friends.  After gaining the woman’s trust, they offer to ‘take her away from all this’ and then relocate her to a different state.  They become controlling of the woman’s actions and contacts, then insist that she has to earn them money by prostitution.  The boyfriend-turned-pimp uses threats, force, and/or emotional manipulation to keep the woman ‘earning,’ while simultaneously cutting off avenues to help, assuming the woman had any family to help her in the first place.

 

“The most insidious and common pattern appeared to be young women being convinced to exploit themselves for the financial benefit of someone else. Betrayals by the people closest to prostituted women appeared to be only the first injustice in a path … rife with violence, degradation, and extreme physical stress.”

FBI website

Street prostitution becomes trafficking when a pimp uses force, fraud and/or coercion to maintain control over the person providing commercial sexual services and cause the person to engage in commercial sex acts. 

Polaris Project

The United Nations estimates that some 80% of persons trafficked are trafficked for sexual exploitation […] of whom some 80% are women and girls and some 50% are minors. (US Dept of State, 2005)

DO NOT PUT SEX WORKERS IN YOUR NOVEL WITHOUT BEING COGNIZANT OF THESE FACTS.

Take another drink if you read through all that. \~/

“Why does he have to get laid every night?” I ask them […]

“Are you kidding? He’s Remy. He’s like, used to getting a lot of it. Daily.”

Something tells me guys who work out for nine hours a day aren’t going to have the energy for screwing every single night.

Jeeze, that doesn’t sound possible no matter what your day job is.  Maybe for a while, but consistently?

A stream of sensations shoots through my body as he comes trotting out, and I instantly feel the liquid heat gushing into my panties.

with that shiny robe that contrasts completely with his utter manliness

Because as we all know, you can’t be manly unless you are covered in dirt and sweat and at least fifty meters away from the nearest pink item.

There is more standard flailing from Brooke as Remy fights some more.

I feel such a rush of pride for him every time the word “victor” is attached to his.

…attached to his what?

After the impossible fights are over, Remy and Brooke end up sharing a limo back to the hotel.  Because when you need to transport a mere six people someplace, clearly you need two limos for that.

They end up at a “club” that has “lines of people outside” where Pete is going to get a “lap dance” because it’s his birthday.  So…is this a strip club or does the book just not understand any god damn thing in the whole fucking universe?

Nope, the book just doesn’t understand, because when Brooke gets uncomfortable Remy takes her over to the dance floor instead.  So this is the kind of club that has a dance floor.  …and serves alcohol.  Man, one of the very basic things about strip clubs is that they can’t serve alcohol.  That’s why bikini bars are a thing.  You get to pick between full nudity and getting drunk, but for whatever reason you’re not allowed to have both.

Out on the dance floor, our two resident idiots finally start making out because…the plot wills it, when they are rudely interrupted by four guys who start hurling insults in an attempt to pick a fight. Brooke realizes that they’re friends of another boxer and trying to get Remy in trouble so that he can’t be in the competition anymore.

So Brooke takes matters into her own hands.

I run to the bar, reach over, grab two bottles, and come back to swing them above each of two of the asshole’s heads. They crash down evenly as glass shoots everywhere.

…um, while I applaud the proactive attitude, doing that can kill a person.  Also breaking a bottle like that is really hard to do.

Remy gets her out of there before she can go on any more of her bottle massacre, and they head back to the hotel and argue about how stupid her stunt was. While, you guessed it, also flailing around in lust the whole time. It’s honestly impressive how little these two actually say given the amount of narration. In a scene that’s 1,228 words long, only 136 of them are actually dialogue, and they’re supposed to be having an argument.  In fact, all of their scenes have about that ratio.  They spend time in the same space, but the vast majority of the words are spent on Brooke noticing that he’s hot, not any actual conversation.

And that lack of anything going on carries right to the end of the chapter.  Fuck, they don’t even continue making out.  They watch television.