“The myth that the safety of sex workers lies in their taking better precautions or that sex work’s dangers are inevitable perpetuates a blaming-the-victim model while ignoring the role that culture rather than nature plays in the equation. Dormer can intone all he likes that women in the escort business “should be careful with their contacts.” But so long as sex work is broadly criminalized, women like the four whose bodies were found in his county will be driven to do their work in darker, more deserted, and more isolated places. They’ll be forced to make decisions about whether their johns are safe quickly in order to get off the street, and loath to report the rapes, assaults, and robberies that are a routine part of their lives to the police. Fear of arrest will keep their friends from following the safety plans that so many sex workers put into place, which include bringing someone along on an “outcall” to wait outside the hotel or home or to call the police if they don’t come back from a date at an agreed-upon time. (In another curious press moment, Newsweek describes Amber Lynn Costello as “casting aside caution” the very paragraph before it describes the three-point safety plan that she and her roommate follow.)”
- Getting Away with Murder on Long Island
- Getting Away with Murder on Long Island