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Poll

Do you think Hilary Clinton will make a good Secretary of State?

Yes, she's a great pick.

67%

Couldn't Obama find someone else?

I hope Bill doesn't screw it up for her.

17%

Are we still talking about politics?

17%

Total votes: 6

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Brothels: A Global Impact

I have come to a place though which is a whole new analysis about this ridiculous fight going on in my city, and it is this. This is a fight that is borne out of selfishness. I sat with women who asked me how we can talk about opening a brothel like it would only affect the women who were championing this misguided cause.

By Citizen Correspondent Trisha Baptie

Date Posted: 09/24/08

Reader Rating:

Since the Pickton serial killer trial I have been in a position of learning, and when the topic is something I enjoy there is nothing I love more than sitting around with people more learned than I on the topic...just listening to them talk. Whether it is just to me or whether I am a member in the audience or in fact a part of the conversation, I love being in a position to glean information. The topic that I am so passionate about of course is the topic of prostituted women. I am coming into fuller understanding of my own analysis and position from my herstory and allying myself with some amazing people and groups who are fighting the abolitionist fight.

Since winning the Courage to Come Back Award I have had many amazing opportunities to speak to different groups on this topic and to speak from my experience. I won the Courage Award in the category of social adversity; the main adversity I overcame, of course, was prostitution.

Winning that award reinforced something I know to be very true; that being a prostituted woman is something you must overcome. It is not a career choice. It is not a public service for lonely men; it is not a way for women to empower themselves or any of the other ridiculous arguments being tossed around.

To me winning said society recognizes that prostitution is a system of abuse rooted in inequality, lack of power and choice and misogynist thinking that traps and ensnares women - all of those things being something a prostitution survivor must overcome.

I have been very active in the community in many different ways and am now finding myself sitting in an airport in Chicago waiting for a flight to take me home from mid-west America from a faith based International Conference on Prostitution.

I have just spent five days with people who represented 29 different countries, I have been overwhelmed by the amazing stories and people I have met and learned from.