The Cincinnati Beacon

August 2007 www.cincinnatibeacon.com Free! Take One!

WhereDivergent Views Collide

Cincinnati’s Sexy Secrets

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

Open the Yellow Pages to “Adult Entertainment,”and you will see three full pages of services prom-ising to fulfill your every desire. What is the story behind these escort and personal dancer services?How thriving is Cincinnati’s business based ondelivering sexual entertainment to your door?Type “cincinnati escort services” into Google (wedid it without the quotation marks), and the first hitis a business named Fantasy Connection. Accord-ing to the map, they are located somewhere onEastern Avenue. I called, and a male voice an-swered the phone saying, “Entertainment.” WhenI said I had some general questions for a storyabout escort services, he said he did not work for an escort services. When I apologized, and saidreally I was interested in adult entertainment, hetold me he could no longer help and hung up the phone.My experience calling An Erotic Fantasy (locatednear I-275 and Beechmont) was similar. The guyanswering the phone became belligerent, said hehad only worked there one weekend, and when Iasked how business was for that weekend he hungup on me. Why were these businesses afraid totalk?(con’t on p. 2)

Under the Radar: Cincy’s “Escort” Services!

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Cincinnati

by Michael Earl PattonSenior Analyst

It's not clear why this should beso, but Cincinnati is above aver-age in an area that would proba- bly surprise most -- the rate of sexually transmitted disease(STD). It doesn't have the highestrate in the country, but it is defi-nitely in the top half for major Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSA's for short. In the early1900's Cincinnati used an unor-thodox method to reduce infec-tion, which will be revealed later. For our area the MSA is called theCincinnati-Middletown Metro- politan Statistical Area and in-cludes part of Northern Kentuckyand Indiana. For chlamydia, themost common STD reported andtracked by the Center for DiseaseControl, the rate for theCincinnati-Middletown MSA is413.8 per 100,000 population in2005, the last year for which datahave been compiled. For all thetop 50 MSA's the rate is 352.2.So Cincinnati is above average. There is a large difference be-tween the reported infection ratesfor men and women. For womenthe rate is 624.2 in Cincinnati, for men it is just 173.9. The MSAwith the highest rate is, surpris-ingly, Memphis with 756.4 per 100,000. The lowest is theMiami-Ft. Lauderdale-MiamiBeach MSA with just 194.0.

The story is similar for gonorrhea.For the Cincinnati-MiddletownMSA the rate is 190.8 per 100,000compared to an average rate of just 128.2 for the top 50 MSA's.Again, the highest rate is found inMemphis (302.5), but the lowestrate is in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy MSA with just 38.1. Therate for men and women is notnearly as different as it is for chlamydia.

The national rates for syphilis ismuch, much lower than the other two diseases. The Cincinnati-Middletown MSA reports just 1.2cases per 100,000. The top 50MSA's report 4.5, so here Cincin-nati is happily well below aver-age. But the rates are so low theydon't affect the overall rates for STD's. The Center for DiseaseControl does not report AIDscases by MSA, but AIDs infectionrates are also much, much lower (con’t on p. 2)

Socially conservative Cincinnati has a high rate of sexuallytransmitted diseases. How can that be the case? Is there adirty little secret behind our City’s socially moral front?

Cuck & Bull Story:Can a HamiltonCounty RepublicanOutdo David Vitter?

by Jason A. Haap, MAThe Dean of Cincinnati

Thanks to Senator David Vitter,R-LA, recently many Americanswere introduced to the world of diaper fetishism. Vitter's publicimage as a staunch family valuesRepublican took a beating amidlurid news stories of escort serv-ices and Jay Leno jokes aboutadult Pampers. Not to be outdone, word is thatHamilton County has its ownhigh-profile hypocrite with a tastefor unusual extra-curricular ac-tivities. Like Vitter, this Republi-can preaches "traditional familyvalues" and attacks all the usualtargets. Like Vitter, he's used hisown family to hype his whole-some image. But in private he'ssaid to indulge in a decidedlymore exotic activity known as"cuckolding.".Cuckolding is a fetish in which amarried man is willingly humili-ated by encouraging his wife toengage in sex with another man,sometimes in front of him. Com-monly, the wife and her lover (known as a "bull") get to mis-treat and humiliate the husband ina variety of extreme ways. Notsurprisingly, more material isavailable online for those of you(con’t p. 2)

Beacon Bits

Judge Nathaniel Jones madestatements in

The Cincinnati En-quirer

opposing Christopher Smitherman for running for Council the same year he gotelected as president of the local NAACP. But did anyone mentionthat Jones sits on the jail boardand supports the building of anew jail – the same new jail thatSmitherman and the NAACPopposed with their signaturedrive? Anyone feel like talkingabout

real

conflicts of interest?

How did Kentucky end upowning most of the Ohio River?Should we send a citizens brigadeover to take it back or just havethem clean it up?

What

’

s Inside?

The Labor Report ....... p. 4 A Closer Look ............. p. 6The Soapbox ............... p. 8Lifestyle ...................... p. 10

What isAvtar GillDoing?

Hey, Black People:Go Directly to Jail(p. 6)Tyrone Yates: CincyNeeds a SyringeExchange Program(p. 12)

STDs

(con’t from p. 1)than for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Ohioreports 6.8 per 100,000 population. Sexually transmitted diseases were a prob-lem in 1900, too. Cincinnati had a policythen that is worth remembering. Accordingto Zane Miller's book Boss Cox's Cincin-nati, prostitution was both banned andregulated. It was technically prohibited, but in practice the city tried to examineevery prostitute once a week. Those whowere not infected got a clean bill of healthand were allowed to continue their profes-sion. Those who were infected were keptin a hospital until they were clean. Theowner or manager ofthe brothel had to paythe hospital bills. Since prostitution re-mained illegal, the police could alwaysthreaten to enforce the law if someone didnot cooperate. This system seems to have been in place until at least 1913. Unfortunately there was no Center for Dis-ease Control back then so we have no ideahow well Cincinnati's peculiar policyworked. Current data for STD's can befound at this webpage from the CDC:www.cdc.gov/std/stats/tablesnatpro.htm.

by K. Allison

A recent article in the

Cincinnati Beacon

led to some discussion between my friends and I regard-ing feminist principles pertainingto strip clubs and/or an AdultEntertainment District within citylimits. My initial instinct was to become defensive. However, Ihave come to question if my ownideas and thoughts regardingfeminism as a whole have also been mainstreamed and in turnmarginalized by the socially con-servative culture in which I live.When I read the first article in lastmonth’s

Beacon

about the revenue genera-tion Adult Entertainment Districts have brought to other cities, I rejected the con-cept. But upon further thought, I askedmyself questions: Why was I so ada-mantly against this idea? What was Iscared of, and where did my insecuritiesstem from? Mainstream feminism rejects pornography based upon the idea that it objectifieswomen. Mainstream feminists, who havecreated what we know as feminism today,maintain that the objectification perpetu-ated by pornography leads to violenceagainst women and rape. Mainstreamfeminism scares women and then victim-izes them. It offers women an outlet for them to base their insecurities on by in-stilling the fear of rape/violence uponthem. Blaming rape and violence againstwomen on pornography allows women tofalsely feel as if they have control over something they do not. Rape and violencehave little to do with sex.Men are biologically stronger thanwomen. Taking anger out upon an indi-vidual that is biologically weaker hasnothing to do with objectification andeverything to do with human nature and power.Mainstream feminists claim the path tomore power is by withholding sex. Welive in a society that reveres women whowithhold sex. We are taught that weshould aspire to be like them.

Why buy thecow if you can get the milk for free?

Onehas to wonder how this line of rhetoricconstitutes sexual liberation. When onewithholds sex, she is buying into the ideathat she is an object – that her only power is her power to withhold. Certainly, theright to choose when and if to have sexshould be an understood right ofallwomen at all times—but not wanting tohave sex at all? How is that respectingone’s self? How has denying basic humandesires become a means of dignity?So I’m brought to the point of questioninghow mainstream feminism has really of-fered me any sort of liberation. How does being victimized by pornography intowithholding sex make me a liberated indi-vidual? How does the one generally ac-cepted, social fact of feminism liberatewomen at all by locking them into sexu-ally repressed prison in which they areseparated rather than connected to themen in their lives? Mainstream feminismhas made sex into a commodity that can be used for bargaining. In saying this,mainstream feminism has in some waysadded to the objectification stigma byindirectly allowing women to unknow-ingly objectify themselves.Being a truly sexually liberated womanmeans being able to connect with men. Atruly liberated woman knows that she hasmore power by having sex, than by with-holding. While I am still not certain abouthow I feel about the suggestion made in a previous

Beacon

article to open an AdultEntertainment District in Cincinnati, I doknow that we have a lot to learn aboutourselves, our fears, and our insecuritiesindividually as well a city collectively,when we take a position on matters suchas these. What you learn in the process, by asking yourself to question what younever thought you’d question previously,might prove to be quite liberating in the process.

Escorts!

(con’t from p. 1)Several other businesses do not even offer the chance to talk to a live person whenyou call: Relax2u.com,CincySeductions.com, and ExecutiveConcierge Services all require you toleave a message. Someone then will de-cide whether to call you back. (I did notleave messages at these establishments.)Why all the apparent subterfuge? Why isit hard to talk to an employee at one of these allegedly legitimate businesses?Finally, someone was willing to talk: arepresentative from a placed called Pas-sions, with an apparent address near thecorner of Dana and Reading. (The repre-sentative said they were from NorthernKentucky.)Speaking under the condition of anonym-ity, this employee kept explaining thattheir girls do shows “for entertainment purposes only.” He repeatedly empha-sized that they run a “clean business.”The implication seems to suggest thatother adult entertainment services mayhave a reputation for offering a little morefor the dollar than just a strip tease.As for the three pages in the YellowPages, this representative claimed manyof those apparently different businessesare all owned by the same three compa-nies. “They monopolize the phone book,” he said.“Every year or two, someone gets bustedfor running a prostitution ring,” he said.“We don’t get involved in that kind of stuff. We do mainly bachelor parties.”Interestingly, this representative made anobservation about business trends in the private stripper industry. “Our business is best if the Reds or the Bengals are havinga good season.”The psychology ofmen wanting to seenaked women aside, the price lists for some of these organizations is very lur-ing, indeed. At CincySeductions.com, for example, one is promised a “private”massage and show for $200 per hour.So, in Cincinnati, men cannot go out to astrip club due to our alleged socially con-servative culture. At the same time, plenty of places send private strippersinto area homes for massages and per-sonal shows. And as indicated by Mi-chael Earl Patton in the top story in thismonths

Beacon,

Cincinnati is one oftheleading cities in the country for sexuallytransmitted diseases.

Strippers, Feminism, and Sexual Liberation

Cuck and Bull

(con’t from p. 1)who just have to know.)Why would a husband submit to this?Google for more info, but it appears thehusband plays a submissive role to hiswife and enjoys the degradation. It's alsosuggested that this fetish may allow acloseted gay man to have the opportunityto watch another man in action. A sourcetells us that Southern Ohio has an active"cuckold" subculture, complete withinternet hook-ups. Rumor has it our fam-ily values Repub and "hot wife" areknown on the scene.Is this why the kiddies don't look likedaddy?

Reader Grievances

Dear Editor of the Cincinnati Beacon:I picked up The Cinti Beacon for the firsttime today, and was very disappointed.Jason Haap's, "Black Out! No Equal Ac-cess to Print News for Black People?"gave me serious questions about the qual-ity of your publication. Here's why: Thefirst half ofthe article raised an importantquestion: Is The Enquirer overlookingsome of Cincinnati's more challengedneighborhoods? Are financial concernsdriving the news we get in Cincinnati?"Great!" I thought, "Can't wait to see howhe deals with this!"Then Haap pulled the old switcheroo andequated "poor" with "black." I think Iknow why Mr Barraco never responded toMr Haap's call. He had forgotten the rightquestions and was asking the wrong ques-tions.I live in Price Hill, a neighborhood likeWalnut Hills, which was mentioned in thearticle. Like Walnut Hills, Price Hill has both the poorest and wealthiest. But whenI see poverty in my struggling neighbor-hood, I see black poverty AND white pov-erty.Yes, ask questions about the marginaliza-tion of the poor. And then, yes, go on toask why it is that an inordinate number of those poor are also black. But we help no-one, blacks or whites, to equate povertyand blackness.That's just muddy thinking and poor jour-nalism.A. Smith

Christopher Smitherman

for Cincinnati City Council, 2007

Paid for by Smitherman for City Council, JohnHarris JR. Treasurer

Bold Leadership,Determination,and Vision.

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Reader Praise

Jason:Earlier this week, I stumbled upon a copyof your publication. Unfortunately, I wasnot aware of the Cincinnati Beacon.I have to tell you that I truly enjoyed thearticles, layout and content. Not sure howlong you have been around. I imagine thatyou are published monthly. I will surelylook for your publication in future months.Keep up the great work!Crystal K.-----Guys,I really enjoy the Beacon and think its animportant part of making Cincinnati a bet-ter city.I'm a UC student and was wondering if theBeacon would consider coverage ofUCathletics, at least in a superficial sort of way. UC season football tickets start pretty inexpensively so it might be some-thing to consider.The Enquirer has started a little row over its decision to not attend Big East mediaday despite the positive prospects for theteam this year. Obviously the Beacondoesn't have the resources to do that butcommentary about the team from aCincinnati-centric source would be appre-ciated.Thanks for your dedication to a better Cin-cinnati media environment.Brad J.