Is Paying for Sex a Disease?, Global : Today Indya

Is Paying for Sex a Disease?

Global

psychologytoday

Many U.S, jurisdictions send men to “John Schools” for treatment.

Like many folks, I will admit that I have been to traffic school. That’s where you get a speeding or traffic ticket, and are offered an option to attend a course of driving safety, as a means to get the ticket dismissed.

This makes sense, right? It gives more information and safety awareness to people on the street, including people like me, who sometimes have a lead foot.

When I attend driving school for speeding, coursework never suggests that my tendency to drive too fast is a disease–but in “john schools” around the country, men are being taught exactly that, that their desire to purchase sex is evidence of a sex addiction and a disease needing treatment.

In recent years, there has been a shift from prosecuting the (mostly female) people charged with prostitution, solicitation, and selling sexual encounters, to charging the (mostly men) people who attempt to purchase sex.

In 2010, data from the U.S. DOJ shows that 43,000 women were arrested for prostitution-related charges, compared to only 19,000 men, leading to legitimate criticisms that this reflects sexist and misogynistic social and legal attitudes towards females.

In New York, “Operation Flush the Johns” in 2013 led to the publication of 104 men’s pictures after they were arrested for “patronizing a prostitute.” The arrests included two physicians, as well as numerous lawyers, including one 79-year-old attorney. Their names and pictures were then published in a local newspaper, sending shockwaves through families, businesses and clinics. This effort was part of an attempt to publicly shame these men (not all public interventions use shame, though this is an often criticized element), a strategy used across the country in an effort to suppress the demand for sex for sale.

John school curricula typically includes information about the laws against sex work, as well as information about the exploitation experienced by many involved in sex work. "It is about changing attitudes," Jacquie Aitken, a director of a John school in Canada said. "We have to look at the attitudes of the people who are purchasing and their understanding of what purchasing sex means."

Most John schools are based on a model developed in 2008, called the “First Offender Prostitution Program” or FOPP, implemented in 2008 in San Francisco, and included these elements:

• Prostitution Law and Street Facts, focusing on the legal consequences of subsequent offenses and addressing johns’ vulnerability to being robbed or assaulted while involved in prostitution.

• Health Education, describing the elevated risk of HIV and STD infection associated with prostitution, and stressing that many STDs are asymptomatic and/or difficult to detect and have long term negative impacts on health.

• Effect of Prostitution on Prostitutes, focusing on numerous negative consequences for women serving as prostitutes, such as vulnerability to rape and assault, health problems, drug addiction, and various forms of exploitation.

• Dynamics of Pimping, Recruiting, and Trafficking, featuring discussions of how pimps and traffickers recruit, control, and exploit women and girls for profit, and the links between local street prostitution and larger systems of human trafficking.

• Effect of Prostitution on the Community, describing the drug use, violence, health hazards, and other adverse consequences that co-occur with street prostitution.

• Sexual Addiction, focusing on how involvement in commercial sex may be driven by sexual addiction, and where help for this condition can be sought.

Article Original Source : https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/201807/is-paying-se...

Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board to serve humanity

Global

economictimes

The 64-year-old stopped being involved in day-to-day operations at the firm more than a decade ago, turning his attention to the foundation he launched with his wife, Melinda.

Microsoft on Friday announced that co-founder Bill Gates has left its board of directors to devote more time to philanthropy.

The 64-year-old stopped being involved in day-to-day operations at the firm more than a decade ago, turning his attention to the foundation he launched with his wife, Melinda.

Bill Gates served as chairman of Microsoft's board of directors until early in 2014 and has now stepped away entirely, according to the Redmond-based technology giant.

"It's been a tremendous honor and privilege to have worked with and learned from Bill over the years," Microsoft chief executive and company veteran Satya Nadella said in a release.

"Bill founded our company with a belief in the democratizing force of software and a passion to solve society's most pressing challenges; and Microsoft and the world are better for it."

Nadella said Microsoft would continue to benefit from Gates' "technical passion and advice" in his continuing role as a technical advisor.

"I am grateful for Bill's friendship and look forward to continuing to work alongside him," Nadella said.

- Computing and compassion - Gates left his CEO position in 2000, handing the company reins to Steve Ballmer to devote more time to his charitable foundation.

He gave up the role of chairman at the same time Nadella became Microsoft's third CEO in 2014.

Regularly listed among the world's richest people, William H. Gates was a geeky-looking young man when he and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft in 1975.

Gates grew up in Seattle with two sisters. His father William was an attorney and his late mother Mary was a schoolteacher and chairwoman of United Way International.

He gave up the role of chairman at the same time Nadella became Microsoft's third CEO in 2014.

Regularly listed among the world's richest people, William H. Gates was a geeky-looking young man when he and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft in 1975.

Gates grew up in Seattle with two sisters. His father William was an attorney and his late mother Mary was a schoolteacher and chairwoman of United Way International.

He began programming computers as a 13-year-old student, and fell in love with the machines.

Among the tales told about Gates is that while working on school computers, he tinkered with programming to put himself in classes made up mostly of girls.

With his parents' blessing, Gates dropped out of Harvard to start "Micro-soft" with his late childhood friend Allen.

A key move was to focus on licensing software to computer makers in numerous "partnerships" that resulted in affordable machines being available to the masses.

As the personal computer market grew, Microsoft became the world's top software company. Its virtual monopoly led to a much-publicized antitrust trial, in which the company managed to avert a break-up but had to endure years of government monitoring.

Gates went on to turn his attention from software to fighting disease and other humanitarian challenges with his wife, under the auspices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"This move is not surprising to the Street as Gates has continued to focus more on his myriad of philanthropies across the globe over the past decade," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note to investors.

"Gates is a historic figure in the technology world and his legacy at Microsoft will be felt in Redmond for decades to come."

Article Original Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/microsof...