The Green River Killer's widely-publicized offer on KOMO News last week to help investigators find additional bodies upset activists and some of the victims’ family members.
They represent a growing community of advocates who would like to see less attention paid to the killer, and more public empathy and assistance for victims of sexual violence and exploitation. This nascent group is working to build support — holding community meetings and fundraisers — for a permanent memorial for the victims that Gary Ridgway killed, most of whom disappeared in the early 1980s and were still teenagers when they died.
But because many of his 49 confirmed victims were also prostitutes, their lives and deaths have not been honored in the same way as other murder victims, says Noel Gomez. Gomez is a cofounder of the Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS), a year-old local non-profit that provides services, meals, therapy and basic support to women involved in "the life."...
By discriminating against prostitution when there are murders only provides permission for more to take place. The Green River Killer, whom doesn't deserve a name, managed to kill and kill and kill again because the women were stated to be prostitutes. Such bias creates an atmosphere of self-righteousness that promotes more deaths.
THE GENDER SYSTEM AND INTERACTION (click here)
Annual Review of Sociology
Vol. 25: 191-216 (Volume publication date August 1999)
Cecilia L. RidgewayLynn Smith-Lovin
...(a). People perceive gender differences to be pervasive in interaction. (b). Studies of interaction among peers with equal power and status show few gender differences in behavior. (c). Most interactions between men and women occur in the structural context of roles or status relationships that are unequal....
So, when remembering any woman that has had this insult to their lives, it is necessary to realize our society failed them in some way that allowed their personal aspirations to slip away from them.
These many women were victims and ultimately did pay the higher price for a life out of control. It wasn't their fault. They were victims of a murderer that hated women.
By Tim Sharp
Published Sun, Sep 29, 2013 7:48 am
Dateline Athens, OH
Updated Mon, Sep 30, 2013 4:06 pm
Two Athens County residents (click here) have been arrested in a case where a 16-year-old girl was apparently being forced into prostitution.
Sheriff Pat Kelly said Ellen Mays, 27, of Binder Basin Rd, in Glouster was charged with compelling prostitution and trafficking in persons after she told deputies she set up meetings with an Athens man to exchange sex for drugs and money.
The man, Fred Kittle, Sr., 69, of Rocky Point Rd. was also charged with compelling prostitution and importuning.
Both are being held in the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail.
According to Kelly, Kittle is a convicted registered sexual offender in Athens County.
The girl is in the care of children's services.
Kelly said the investigation will continue Monday to determine whether others are involved.
By PAUL GULLIXSON
September 29, 2013, 6:00 AM
Human trafficking and child prostitution (click here) is often associated with countries such as Thailand and, now, Costa Rica. But make no mistake. It’s happening here in the United States as well.
Just two months ago, four men were arrested on suspicion of pimping in Sonoma County as part of a national crackdown on child prostitution. Three teenage girls — ages 15 to 17 — who had been working in prostitution were rescued during operations in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. According to Sonoma County sheriff’s officials, one was a local resident.
According to U.N. figures, of the estimated 800,000 people who are transported between countries each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 are brought across the U.S. border....
