By: Rusty McMann
San Francisco Chronicle September 10, 2010 04:00 AM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Friday, September 10, 2010
Rusty McMann
Male escort Rusty McMann says shutting down Craigslist adult services ads will send the bad guys - child traffickers - underground.
As someone who gets almost all of his income providing time and companionship to consenting adults from around the world, I have been intently watching the drama of "America's Most Ambitions Politicians vs. Craigslist" unfold with increasing absurdity since it began about two years ago. It has not been easy on us advertisers, and I'm more than a little relieved to think that the saga finally might be over.
Last Friday, Craigslist surrendered to political pressure and shut down its "adult services" section. Somehow this is supposed to make the world safer from the horrible people who traffic in underage prostitution, but I don't buy it. The 18 attorneys general and the handful of so-called child advocates will take their victory laps and collect their votes, but nothing substantial will have changed - which might have something to do with why some of them have already started in on Craigslist for not having done enough.
Full disclosure: Until a week ago, at least 75 percent of my business came from Craigslist, so now I am in the market for a new place to advertise. So do I have an ax to grind? Maybe.
Do I think the world owes me a safe place to peddle my societally frowned upon if technically legal wares? Absolutely not.
Am I sick to death of heterosexual white male "Christians" making political hay off the backs of consenting adults who have made difficult choices with their eyes wide open, while leaving people these politicians have professed to help twisting in the wind? Damn skippy!
And I want to be clear: I hold those responsible for the sexual exploitation of children in the deepest contempt. If it were up to me, the pimps and johns who perpetrate these crimes would be fed alive to wild boars. This is exactly why this whole circus is so repulsive: It legitimizes the supposed moral superiority of these politicians to not-very-discerning voters while doing nothing to help catch the real bad guys.
Without Craigslist, I might actually have an easier time of finding the right venue to market my services. Over the past few years, as Craigslist has given in to these loudmouths, it has become increasingly more difficult (and expensive) to post ads for adult services. I and many of my colleagues would have left Craigslist a long time ago except for one thing: It's where the customers were.
No matter how many other places I advertised, Craigslist remained the source of the majority of my clientele. So the big question is: Where are the clients going to go now? And if that's what we pros are asking ourselves, what do you think is going through the minds at the FBI? Is it possible that one of their best resources for tracking the scum of the Earth was just taken from them?
Part of what made Craigslist so onerous for advertisers was the fact that every single adult services posting was screened - Craigslist claims by an attorney - for content. Ads were frequently rejected with no explanation. There was virtually no feedback, presumably because Craigslist didn't want to be accused of "helping prostitutes."
The one concrete guideline I got was an electronic message telling me I could not use the word "cut" in my M4M listing; I had described my grown-out flattop as a "crew cut," but the computer thought I was bragging about being circumcised. Given this level of scrutiny, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of child traffickers slipped through.
And even if they did, wouldn't Craigslist have been the best place to find them?
So score one for the guys with the megaphones.
Maybe with Craigslist out of the way, these guys will lift a finger (or write a check) to help law enforcement track down and capture those who sexually abuse children. Or maybe they'll just find someone else to point at while they wave and yell and get free press without actually doing anything. Again.
Last Friday, Craigslist surrendered to political pressure and shut down its "adult services" section. Somehow this is supposed to make the world safer from the horrible people who traffic in underage prostitution, but I don't buy it. The 18 attorneys general and the handful of so-called child advocates will take their victory laps and collect their votes, but nothing substantial will have changed - which might have something to do with why some of them have already started in on Craigslist for not having done enough.
Full disclosure: Until a week ago, at least 75 percent of my business came from Craigslist, so now I am in the market for a new place to advertise. So do I have an ax to grind? Maybe.
Do I think the world owes me a safe place to peddle my societally frowned upon if technically legal wares? Absolutely not.
Am I sick to death of heterosexual white male "Christians" making political hay off the backs of consenting adults who have made difficult choices with their eyes wide open, while leaving people these politicians have professed to help twisting in the wind? Damn skippy!
And I want to be clear: I hold those responsible for the sexual exploitation of children in the deepest contempt. If it were up to me, the pimps and johns who perpetrate these crimes would be fed alive to wild boars. This is exactly why this whole circus is so repulsive: It legitimizes the supposed moral superiority of these politicians to not-very-discerning voters while doing nothing to help catch the real bad guys.
Without Craigslist, I might actually have an easier time of finding the right venue to market my services. Over the past few years, as Craigslist has given in to these loudmouths, it has become increasingly more difficult (and expensive) to post ads for adult services. I and many of my colleagues would have left Craigslist a long time ago except for one thing: It's where the customers were.
No matter how many other places I advertised, Craigslist remained the source of the majority of my clientele. So the big question is: Where are the clients going to go now? And if that's what we pros are asking ourselves, what do you think is going through the minds at the FBI? Is it possible that one of their best resources for tracking the scum of the Earth was just taken from them?
Part of what made Craigslist so onerous for advertisers was the fact that every single adult services posting was screened - Craigslist claims by an attorney - for content. Ads were frequently rejected with no explanation. There was virtually no feedback, presumably because Craigslist didn't want to be accused of "helping prostitutes."
The one concrete guideline I got was an electronic message telling me I could not use the word "cut" in my M4M listing; I had described my grown-out flattop as a "crew cut," but the computer thought I was bragging about being circumcised. Given this level of scrutiny, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of child traffickers slipped through.
And even if they did, wouldn't Craigslist have been the best place to find them?
So score one for the guys with the megaphones.
Maybe with Craigslist out of the way, these guys will lift a finger (or write a check) to help law enforcement track down and capture those who sexually abuse children. Or maybe they'll just find someone else to point at while they wave and yell and get free press without actually doing anything. Again.
To our readers
In order to provide readers with this perspective on the Craigslist controversy, The Chronicle is making a rare exception to its policy that Open Forum authors use their real names.Rusty McMann is the stage name of a 46-year-old male escort who lives and works in Las Vegas.
This article appeared on page A - 18 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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