HOW DO I KNOW SEX WORKERS ANONYMOUS "WORKS?"
Since the hate sites went up recently against us - I've been asked this question a lot from people calling. How do I know who to trust? I've already said a lot about this in other blogs, things like none of those attacks are from actual members, we didn't suddenly turn bad a few months ago after operating since 1987, etc. I've already ventured from what a member told us she thinks is going on - these sites are smoke screens to gather information on who is contacting us, etc. But I do want to address this directly because it's a valid question.
This isn't a popularity contest. This isn't about how many friends I have or how many people like me. I don't care if everyone in the world loved me or if everyone hated me. My "like" factor is not the question. If anything history shows us the more good someone does - the more likely they are to NOT be liked.
I mean look at how people have treated people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Gandhi, John the Baptist. I'm not saying I'm on their level - but it's still a fact of life that there is no one I know of in history anywhere that accomplishes something good that is universally "liked". No one can argue Barack Obama has changed history by being the first African American to be President in history. But even he has his fans - but he also has people who hate his guts. There are probably 100 hate sites set up against him.
So to be brutally honest - I can show you a lot of people who were universally "liked" who didn't accomplish anything worthwhile. Take one look at Samoly Mam. That woman was getting all kinds of fans and awards - but what did she ACCOMPLISH? http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/30/somaly-mam-holy-saint-and-sinner-sex-trafficking-251642.html
So the real question is really whether our program, Sex Workers Anonymous, is EFFECTIVE. Can we help people leave the sex industry and recover right is the real question? People can say to you they hate me, they think I'm a bitch, I'm ugly, whatever. Doesn't matter. The question is "How do I know the program works?"
I just answer the phone around here you know (someone has to be the public liaison for the anonymous program) - but if you listen to the interviews I have up at www.leavingtheliferadio.com - you will hear more than one person saying that this program works, or that I personally helped them to "recover".
Not they like me. Not I'm their friend. I don't care if I'm crazy in a straight jacket and the biggest bitch on earth. These people are saying the PROGRAM helped them. That they got help from our program to now be out of the sex industry, and free of any trafficking - whatever their case is. Those interviews are in their own voice and their own words and from more than one person. If you check the dates - you'll see this is also spanning over a period of years.
If you look at the clips and scans at www.hightechmadam.com - you'll see quote after quote in different articles from different reporters who are saying the program helped them. Those quotes span from 1987 until recently. The quotes the reporters got are also from different people, different reporters, different states, and over a period of years.
I challenge you to find one other program in the United States, working with American men and women, who has such testimonials for adults.
Look - I can show you a photo of a house. I can show you a photo of me accepting an award. I can show you a photo of me speaking to 1000 people. I can show you a photo of a bunch of women hugging me. I can make up those kinds of photos and plaster them all over a website. I can post up 100 letters or tweets from people saying they "love" me. I can show you a video montage of a bunch of dead porn stars. I can show you my face on a book cover. I can show you a photo of me sitting on some talk show stage. Okay that proves what? I'm popular. I'm not out here trying to get people to LIKE me. I'm not trying to get your money. The point, the question, is "does the program work?"
Sharon Oselin has released a book "Leaving Prostitution". I do not know this woman. I was not contacted in any way for her research on this book. http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Prostitution-Getting-Staying-Work/dp/0814770371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446633592&sr=8-1&keywords=leaving+sharon+oselin I get no money for this book.
The book spans a ten year research project of three residential programs. Two of these programs did not have Prostitutes Anonymous meetings (as we were called prior to 1995). One program did. The one program that did have PA meetings - is still operating today in Los Angeles. They opened in 1980 and they are still operating today - and they use PA meetings as part of their program. They are the oldest program in the country for adult females. There is also interviews in her book from women stating that the PA meetings are the reason why they "made it" out. I do not know these women nor Sharon and did nothing to prompt those quotes. I have some scans from her book also up on www.hightechmadam.com
This article is dated 2000. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-prostitutes-who-proselytize-6431069 It talks about the Dignity program founded in 1991 in Phoenix. They hold weekly PA meetings. The founder, Kathleen Mitchell, got her recovery from us before opening Dignity. Dignity is still operating in Phoenix from 1991 to current day. They hold our meetings. Their counselors use our Recovery Guide. Project Rose, a program we protested, has folded. So here are what appears to be the two oldest programs in the country for adult women - and they use our program as part of theirs. Do the math.
On the clip site at www.hightechmadam.com - you will see (1) scans from the pages of the book written by John Quinones of ABC's "What Would You Do?", (2) whole articles by Bob Herbert who was writing for the NY Times up until a few years ago, and a quote from me in an article written by Tom Ragan with the Review Journal. I have not edited these pages and have included them in whole piece for you to read there. There is nothing missed nor edited.
John and Bob came to see me personally. They came to Las Vegas and met me face-to-face. John came to my home and even met my daughter. We had lunch together. Bob came to my house and we had coffee together in my living room. Both men saw how we operate SWA. I took them into the office area I have in my home and they saw how things operate for themselves. They interviewed other members of SWA also.
Then they wrote a report they received no financial consideration from me for. These interviews were not done to pump up a grant application, to help push some Bill through Congress, to generate people to attend a fund raiser, etc. They were just curious and came to see and wrote their findings. If anything - they took great hits for these.
Bob's article with me was met with then mayor Oscar Goodman threatening him with a "baseball bat to the head if he returns to Las Vegas" for what he wrote. The reporter who wrote that quote with the threat was Ed Lawrence. He was fired shortly after publishing that quote.
John's book opening for "Heroes Among Us" I feel was tanked. He had told me he was promised a book tour, and to have the book be part of Oprah's book club. It was not. There was no fanfare. I believe he wrote the truth and was spanked for it. The only press I saw for the book was at the Hispanic Press Club with Geraldo in attendance. I then saw Geraldo's show get canceled shortly after that. Probably absolute coincidence.
Tom Ragan has been a writer with the RJ for 12 years he told me. He came also to meet with me and we had coffee together. He brought another person with him to one meeting so he could get a feedback from her on what she thought about me as from the mouth of a survivor. The woman he brought had been previously sexually abused.
Tom then went and met with in person every other trafficking program in Las Vegas in May of 2013 for the article he published about the subject to discuss AB67 being passed. You'll note my name was left entirely out of the article published in May. Nothing good. Nothing bad. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/nevada-movement-draws-line-human-trafficking I'd like you to note that Michael Horowitz is quoted in this piece as saying the movement has been "hijacked". Now look at the absence of my name again and think about what "hijack" means.
The photographer who took my picture for what was supposed to be me included in that piece tells me, in writing, she was fired for pushing to have me included in that article. I must be doing something right to have someone lose their job over it. Tom didn't mention my name and kept his job. However, after all of this, he quotes me as a source in this article about a reality show supposedly coming to town. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/tv-producers-ogle-strip-joint-reality-show I still haven't seen the show by the way. It was supposed to be a reality show which showed how stripping "empowered' women. Has anyone seen this? Let me know because I haven't. Honestly I think they couldn't get any footage showing it "empowered" strippers in Vegas and quietly left town with their camera between their legs.
If you check back on the clips - you'll also see press from our press conference in 2007 where the "Trafficking in Nevada - Making the Connections" was released. Now I ask you - if I'm in Las Vegas in 2007 as established by this press, and if in an article about trafficking groups in Las Vegas in May of 2013 does not mention my name, but then my name is mentioned again in an article by Tom Ragan in August of 2013 - clearly I was still in Vegas in May of 2013.
You make what you want out of it - but this does establish I'm still here, still operating, and reputable reporters are not writing anything bad about us. If anything - I say it looks like someone was trying very hard to make us appear not to exist in 2013. Meaning Tom must have really thought pretty highly of us not only not to say something bad about us - but to quote us a few months later establishing we are in fact still here.
I have put a news clip about my arrest on www.hightechmadam.com about my arrest for what the police thought was a brothel. In reality it was the first "safe house" in the country for adults in 1984. The clip proves the police assumed it was a brothel because of a past arrest I had for prostitution that was also dismissed. The charge was because of my traffickers were trying to convince me if I didn't work for them - then I would be arrested. So of course the charge was dropped when I said "yes I'll work for you" and then I moved once the charge was dismissed to escape them
Either way, I put these clips up to prove I was there in that world and therefore am a "real" witness and survivor as to both being in the sex industry at one time and to trafficking. Even Norma Jean admits her anger is from me breaking away from her in 1984 when I left the sex industry and she did not. So while she's railing about how much she hates me - she's still confirming I was in the sex industry and that now I'm not.
In our blog, I've posted a copy of my checking statements proving I derive no income from the sex industry today. I am no Samoly Mam and can prove everything I say or claim is real. I'm not a shadow person or a "catfish" - my birth name is Jody Williams. I have proven I was there - and now I'm not there.
My recovery speaks for itself. If you look up what's happened to others such as myself - Heidi Fleiss, Kristin Davis, Jason Itzler, Jenna Jameson, and others who have gotten deep into the sex industry and then said they were "retiring" without joining our 12 step program - well go on - go see for yourself how they're doing. Suvy Favor-Hamilton admits in her recent book "Fast Girl" she has relapsed more than once. She calls it "resorting to old coping mechanisms" but a trick is a trick is a trick.
Now go and make a list of people who have been proven to have been deep into the sex industry, who have not joined our program - you go and see for yourself what the result is. The studies I read when I first quit in 1985 was that over 98 percent of someone like me never makes it past the two year mark - meaning out of sex work, clean from drugs, not acting out on an eating disorder, shopping addiction, etc. Just a normal person free from addiction of any kind. So I'm a "two percent".
Then ask me again "How do I know your program will work for me?" My recovery alone - being as rare as it is - speaks for itself. Kathleen Mitchell's speaks for itself. She's been out since 1991 according to news articles. Brenda Myers-Powell's recovery in Chicago speaks for itself. We're not just a "white girl" program now (I can say that also because I'm part African American and Native American - I just look white).
Now show me another program in the United States working with adult American men and women that can show you this kind of testimonials. Go on - show me. Then you tell me if our program works or not.
This isn't a popularity contest. This isn't about how many friends I have or how many people like me. I don't care if everyone in the world loved me or if everyone hated me. My "like" factor is not the question. If anything history shows us the more good someone does - the more likely they are to NOT be liked.
I mean look at how people have treated people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Gandhi, John the Baptist. I'm not saying I'm on their level - but it's still a fact of life that there is no one I know of in history anywhere that accomplishes something good that is universally "liked". No one can argue Barack Obama has changed history by being the first African American to be President in history. But even he has his fans - but he also has people who hate his guts. There are probably 100 hate sites set up against him.
So to be brutally honest - I can show you a lot of people who were universally "liked" who didn't accomplish anything worthwhile. Take one look at Samoly Mam. That woman was getting all kinds of fans and awards - but what did she ACCOMPLISH? http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/30/somaly-mam-holy-saint-and-sinner-sex-trafficking-251642.html
So the real question is really whether our program, Sex Workers Anonymous, is EFFECTIVE. Can we help people leave the sex industry and recover right is the real question? People can say to you they hate me, they think I'm a bitch, I'm ugly, whatever. Doesn't matter. The question is "How do I know the program works?"
I just answer the phone around here you know (someone has to be the public liaison for the anonymous program) - but if you listen to the interviews I have up at www.leavingtheliferadio.com - you will hear more than one person saying that this program works, or that I personally helped them to "recover".
Not they like me. Not I'm their friend. I don't care if I'm crazy in a straight jacket and the biggest bitch on earth. These people are saying the PROGRAM helped them. That they got help from our program to now be out of the sex industry, and free of any trafficking - whatever their case is. Those interviews are in their own voice and their own words and from more than one person. If you check the dates - you'll see this is also spanning over a period of years.
If you look at the clips and scans at www.hightechmadam.com - you'll see quote after quote in different articles from different reporters who are saying the program helped them. Those quotes span from 1987 until recently. The quotes the reporters got are also from different people, different reporters, different states, and over a period of years.
I challenge you to find one other program in the United States, working with American men and women, who has such testimonials for adults.
Look - I can show you a photo of a house. I can show you a photo of me accepting an award. I can show you a photo of me speaking to 1000 people. I can show you a photo of a bunch of women hugging me. I can make up those kinds of photos and plaster them all over a website. I can post up 100 letters or tweets from people saying they "love" me. I can show you a video montage of a bunch of dead porn stars. I can show you my face on a book cover. I can show you a photo of me sitting on some talk show stage. Okay that proves what? I'm popular. I'm not out here trying to get people to LIKE me. I'm not trying to get your money. The point, the question, is "does the program work?"
Sharon Oselin has released a book "Leaving Prostitution". I do not know this woman. I was not contacted in any way for her research on this book. http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Prostitution-Getting-Staying-Work/dp/0814770371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446633592&sr=8-1&keywords=leaving+sharon+oselin I get no money for this book.
The book spans a ten year research project of three residential programs. Two of these programs did not have Prostitutes Anonymous meetings (as we were called prior to 1995). One program did. The one program that did have PA meetings - is still operating today in Los Angeles. They opened in 1980 and they are still operating today - and they use PA meetings as part of their program. They are the oldest program in the country for adult females. There is also interviews in her book from women stating that the PA meetings are the reason why they "made it" out. I do not know these women nor Sharon and did nothing to prompt those quotes. I have some scans from her book also up on www.hightechmadam.com
This article is dated 2000. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-prostitutes-who-proselytize-6431069 It talks about the Dignity program founded in 1991 in Phoenix. They hold weekly PA meetings. The founder, Kathleen Mitchell, got her recovery from us before opening Dignity. Dignity is still operating in Phoenix from 1991 to current day. They hold our meetings. Their counselors use our Recovery Guide. Project Rose, a program we protested, has folded. So here are what appears to be the two oldest programs in the country for adult women - and they use our program as part of theirs. Do the math.
On the clip site at www.hightechmadam.com - you will see (1) scans from the pages of the book written by John Quinones of ABC's "What Would You Do?", (2) whole articles by Bob Herbert who was writing for the NY Times up until a few years ago, and a quote from me in an article written by Tom Ragan with the Review Journal. I have not edited these pages and have included them in whole piece for you to read there. There is nothing missed nor edited.
John and Bob came to see me personally. They came to Las Vegas and met me face-to-face. John came to my home and even met my daughter. We had lunch together. Bob came to my house and we had coffee together in my living room. Both men saw how we operate SWA. I took them into the office area I have in my home and they saw how things operate for themselves. They interviewed other members of SWA also.
Then they wrote a report they received no financial consideration from me for. These interviews were not done to pump up a grant application, to help push some Bill through Congress, to generate people to attend a fund raiser, etc. They were just curious and came to see and wrote their findings. If anything - they took great hits for these.
Bob's article with me was met with then mayor Oscar Goodman threatening him with a "baseball bat to the head if he returns to Las Vegas" for what he wrote. The reporter who wrote that quote with the threat was Ed Lawrence. He was fired shortly after publishing that quote.
John's book opening for "Heroes Among Us" I feel was tanked. He had told me he was promised a book tour, and to have the book be part of Oprah's book club. It was not. There was no fanfare. I believe he wrote the truth and was spanked for it. The only press I saw for the book was at the Hispanic Press Club with Geraldo in attendance. I then saw Geraldo's show get canceled shortly after that. Probably absolute coincidence.
Tom Ragan has been a writer with the RJ for 12 years he told me. He came also to meet with me and we had coffee together. He brought another person with him to one meeting so he could get a feedback from her on what she thought about me as from the mouth of a survivor. The woman he brought had been previously sexually abused.
Tom then went and met with in person every other trafficking program in Las Vegas in May of 2013 for the article he published about the subject to discuss AB67 being passed. You'll note my name was left entirely out of the article published in May. Nothing good. Nothing bad. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/nevada-movement-draws-line-human-trafficking I'd like you to note that Michael Horowitz is quoted in this piece as saying the movement has been "hijacked". Now look at the absence of my name again and think about what "hijack" means.
The photographer who took my picture for what was supposed to be me included in that piece tells me, in writing, she was fired for pushing to have me included in that article. I must be doing something right to have someone lose their job over it. Tom didn't mention my name and kept his job. However, after all of this, he quotes me as a source in this article about a reality show supposedly coming to town. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/tv-producers-ogle-strip-joint-reality-show I still haven't seen the show by the way. It was supposed to be a reality show which showed how stripping "empowered' women. Has anyone seen this? Let me know because I haven't. Honestly I think they couldn't get any footage showing it "empowered" strippers in Vegas and quietly left town with their camera between their legs.
If you check back on the clips - you'll also see press from our press conference in 2007 where the "Trafficking in Nevada - Making the Connections" was released. Now I ask you - if I'm in Las Vegas in 2007 as established by this press, and if in an article about trafficking groups in Las Vegas in May of 2013 does not mention my name, but then my name is mentioned again in an article by Tom Ragan in August of 2013 - clearly I was still in Vegas in May of 2013.
You make what you want out of it - but this does establish I'm still here, still operating, and reputable reporters are not writing anything bad about us. If anything - I say it looks like someone was trying very hard to make us appear not to exist in 2013. Meaning Tom must have really thought pretty highly of us not only not to say something bad about us - but to quote us a few months later establishing we are in fact still here.
I have put a news clip about my arrest on www.hightechmadam.com about my arrest for what the police thought was a brothel. In reality it was the first "safe house" in the country for adults in 1984. The clip proves the police assumed it was a brothel because of a past arrest I had for prostitution that was also dismissed. The charge was because of my traffickers were trying to convince me if I didn't work for them - then I would be arrested. So of course the charge was dropped when I said "yes I'll work for you" and then I moved once the charge was dismissed to escape them
Either way, I put these clips up to prove I was there in that world and therefore am a "real" witness and survivor as to both being in the sex industry at one time and to trafficking. Even Norma Jean admits her anger is from me breaking away from her in 1984 when I left the sex industry and she did not. So while she's railing about how much she hates me - she's still confirming I was in the sex industry and that now I'm not.
In our blog, I've posted a copy of my checking statements proving I derive no income from the sex industry today. I am no Samoly Mam and can prove everything I say or claim is real. I'm not a shadow person or a "catfish" - my birth name is Jody Williams. I have proven I was there - and now I'm not there.
My recovery speaks for itself. If you look up what's happened to others such as myself - Heidi Fleiss, Kristin Davis, Jason Itzler, Jenna Jameson, and others who have gotten deep into the sex industry and then said they were "retiring" without joining our 12 step program - well go on - go see for yourself how they're doing. Suvy Favor-Hamilton admits in her recent book "Fast Girl" she has relapsed more than once. She calls it "resorting to old coping mechanisms" but a trick is a trick is a trick.
Now go and make a list of people who have been proven to have been deep into the sex industry, who have not joined our program - you go and see for yourself what the result is. The studies I read when I first quit in 1985 was that over 98 percent of someone like me never makes it past the two year mark - meaning out of sex work, clean from drugs, not acting out on an eating disorder, shopping addiction, etc. Just a normal person free from addiction of any kind. So I'm a "two percent".
Then ask me again "How do I know your program will work for me?" My recovery alone - being as rare as it is - speaks for itself. Kathleen Mitchell's speaks for itself. She's been out since 1991 according to news articles. Brenda Myers-Powell's recovery in Chicago speaks for itself. We're not just a "white girl" program now (I can say that also because I'm part African American and Native American - I just look white).
Now show me another program in the United States working with adult American men and women that can show you this kind of testimonials. Go on - show me. Then you tell me if our program works or not.
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