Thursday, June 06, 2013

Zumba goes to jail

Zumba Madam Alexis Wright joins a long list of madams prosecuted for prostitution--Mayflower Madam Sydney Biddle Barrows, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss, D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey and Soccer Mom Madam Anna Gristina. Unlike those women, however, Wright's clients aren't getting a pass through anonymity. The Chicken Ranch's Edna Milton escaped prosecution, but lost everything while the high-rollers who kept her in business never faced scrutiny.
Remember how I posted last October about that Zumba instructor in Maine who supplemented her income the old fashioned way? Well, unlike her clients, Alexis Wright didn't get to enjoy a happy ending--she was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

On Friday, Wright said the police raid had liberated her by removing a burden of guilt.

“In my eyes I'm free. I'm free from this. And I have an incredible amount of strength that I knew was in me somewhere. Now that I have the strength, I want to encourage others to come forward. I want them to know that there's at least one person out there who'll believe their story, no matter how crazy it seems,” she told Superior Court Judge Nancy Mills, sitting in Alfred, Maine.
Which, you know, is good for her. She seems focused and upbeat and hopefully will put her life back together after this. But looking a little closer, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Despite the widespread publication of names of her clients, I've turned up nothing on the prosecution of those men. Once again, the Johns who actually paid Wright for naked workouts get off Scott Free (other than their public shaming, big whoop), whilst the "evil temptress" gets almost a year behind bars. And Mark Strong, Wright's "business partner" who essentially was her pimp, gets off with a meager 20 days in jail. Tell me there aren't double standards at work here.

Meanwhile, in Boca Ratan, Florida, a police officer has resigned from the force after his wife was busted for operating a call-girl ring:

Samuel McCoy, a nine-year veteran of the Boca Raton Police Department, was placed on paid administrative leave in January immediately after the arrest of his wife, Denise McCoy. Denise McCoy and another woman, Sara Marin, are accused of running Sara's Entertainment escort service, which police allege was a front for prostitution.
Early reports claim the officer had no idea where all that extra money his wife had was coming from. Yeah, I'm really believing that, because never in the history of law enforcement has an officer ever played for the other team. Even money says the wife gets jail time while the husband walks away blameless and the clients uncharged, because the public humiliation was "punishment enough for these poor men."

Had the Chicken Ranch somehow persisted into the 1980s (a prospect I find highly improbable, but still) I expect it would've ended similar to these prostitution cases--the women taking the fall, while all the senators, governors, businessmen, farmers and students who happily kept them in business for more than a century faced punishment no harsher than public scorn (wink wink).

I wouldn't claim to be an advocate of prostitution, but hypocrisy and uneven, biased and unfair application of the law pisses me off to no end. Desperate women go to jail, while the wealthy fat cats are free to find themselves other female companions willing to be bought. How is that justice? Or even right?

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