Ruhama - sensationalism to maintain it's funding??

[Lucy Chambers]

You also have the scenario that you are arrested while in a brothel- do you then say 'oh yes, not to worry, I just thought I would come and do a bit of moonlighting officer, arrest me at once'

Or- 'Help, I am being trafficked. Please take me to a place of safety and then pay my flight home'

Which would you go for?

[GordonGayBennett]

Interesting point.

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The fear of losing ones earnings from Escorting to the taxman would promote the "I`m pimped"/ "trafficed" plea I would imagine.

[espensen]

Sometimes i think the tax side of it is what the govt is really concerned with. But we just paid the heads of Anglo an increase for the hard work they are doing, so honestly, the country is actually is fantastic shape right now and does not need ANY tax intake at all.

[nicegirlsarenice]

They just had a news segment about it on RTE... they said that Ruhama's funding has been cut by 20% due to the recession.

They had this stuff on about how these women are imprisoned by their emotions, and emotional blackmail and whenever a woman engages in prostitution, she is demeaning herself and destroying her soul. And there Ruhama are, with open arms, maybe they'll never be full women ever again according to Ruhama but they'll still help them.

Mrs. Rowley herself (I think) was on saying about how they should go after the clients. Honestly, it was like a segment some deranged old auntie would put on, I'm surrprised even RTE put it on. The fact that the Irish public are actually forced into funding this blaggarded nonsense is so twisted it's a joke.

On the positive side though they reported an increase in website-based prostitution, although they're not very reliable. I just hope this doesn't also cause an increase in prices.

[Rayden]

i just missed that on the news. Ta for the summary. Interesting stuff.

[anon361]

RT News: 50% of Ruhama's case work involved trafficking

[Cable87]

Sounds like the same old stuff from Ruhama-- they keep spitting out the same old and tired arguments that women who do this kind of work are ALL in some way forced, coerced, or tricked into it, or get into it out of desperation, financial or otherwise. I doubt they've ever ACTUALLY LISTENED to a single women that they're trying to 'help'. When you come into the situation with foregone conclusions like Rumaha apparently does, they're inevitably going to find ONLY the type of 'evidence' which supports those pre-determined conclusions, and ignore and/or downplay/disregard anything that challenges or contradicts it.

The thing is, they seem to have the potential to do so much good, but waste all their time, money, and effort pursuing a highly ideological agenda. A shame, really...

[texas]

Ruhama gets a lot of funding, most of it from government departments, and they spend the majority of it on public relations. It's a shame that funding that could be used to help support sex workers constructively is being given to Ruhama to promote their own agenda.

Ruhama's income and Expenditure can be fund here in their 2008 report
http://www.ruhama.ie/easyedit/files/..._2007-2008.pdf

from 2008

Awareness Raising-Video Production & Advertising 97,134 (out of Expenditure of 775,924)

Their income is 698,651 of which 628,858 is HSE or the govt..

[thehighwayman]

I heard this today on my local radio station Highland Radio » ‘Ruhama’ recieves increase in calls from Donegal prostitutes

They say their getting calls from escorts in Donegal. I doubt this very much. A good lot of well known independent touring escorts come here. I have seen no eveidence that any escort has been trafficked. If there are so many complaints then surely there would be arrests. Theres bound to be some that are agency or pimped escorts like other places but I doubt if trafficking is as widespread as their making out.

[Experienced Punter esq]

still all the same as a comment seeing as trafficking does exist it is shocking to think that even a small group of women are doing this against their will in the sex industry & are being mistreated= worth remembering...