Occupy Wall Street.  You have heard about the people that have been camped out for weeks in New York’s Zuccotti Park, primarily protesting corporate greed.  They have followed the model laid down by Egyptian protestors, essentially occupying a piece of public land with the aim of overthrowing what they see as a corrupt situation.  In the case of Occupy Wall Street, they are not looking to overthrow a cruel dictator, as was the case in Egypt.  OWS is looking to overthrow, well, Wall Street….I guess.  The claim is that the young movement has not made their demands clear.  But, one thing is clear.  OWS and the police don’t get along very well, and that is causing many to wonder about crime prevention in the encampments.  Of particular concern is the rate of sexual assault in the OWS encampments.

There are reports of sexual assaults not being reported to the police because of the inherent distrust many of the protesters have for official law enforcement.  Speaking on a particular sexual assault which had occurred this past weekend in the tent of an OWS woman, the NY post Reports that one organizer said “We don’t tell anyone. We handle it internally. I said too much already.”

Another instance is the Occupy Baltimore movement.  The group reportedly changed its “bylaws” after scrutiny by the Baltimore Sun, the major newspaper in Baltimore, MD.  Originally, one of the group’s handouts insisted that sexual assault would not be tolerated, but discouraged getting the police involved.  Instead, organizers suggested that sexual assault victims contact the group’s “Security Committee.”  However, it is worth noting that Occupy Baltimore stated from the beginning that, ultimately, the victim had the right and the support of Occupy Baltimore to contact law enforcement.

Occupy movements have spread across the country.  There are Occupy movements as far west as California, and as far south as Miami.  But, not all movements are as popular in their respective city as those in others.  For example, thousands have been reported to have participated in demonstrations in Oakland, CA.  While, in Miami, there has not been nearly as good a turnout.

Whether the movements are successful in their aims of creating change may very well hang on their ability to properly protect and provide services for its members.  Most will understand the desire to experiment with a new form of living.  But, what cannot be tolerated is allowing rapists to run free while muzzling victims.
Primary Source: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/31/sexual-assaults-continue-to-plague-occupy-protests/#ixzz1cSNyBPFQ

There was a case recently in which a student athlete, a basketball player from Brigham Young University, was released from the team for having sex.  Yes, you read that right.  He was found to have violated an oath that all the student athlete players must take in order to play on the school’s teams- avoid sex and other vices – or be dropped from the team.

This got me thinking.  Not only are there questions about freedom, as many will say that this kind of oath seems to go too far in regulating a student’s behavior.  But another question that comes up asks if this kind of oath is a good thing.  In other words, should every student athlete be asked to forego sex while participating on the teams of any of the country’s universities?

This is kind of a weird question, but its origins lay in the absurd amount of trouble student athletes get into in the pursuit of sex.  Every year there are numerous stories of sexual assault at the hands of student athletes, mostly male basketball and football players.  Would it be better if they ALL were asked to focus solely on school and sports, and leave the sex for another time in life?

Needless to say, a ban on sex would also reasonably include a ban on drugs and alcohol, even for those students that are old enough to legally consume alcohol.  The reason for this is clear: a large number of college sexual encounters, and sexual assaults, are preceded by alcohol consumption.  The thinking goes that if you eliminate alcohol, you can also eliminate a lot of the trouble that comes with it.

Of course, this is just a thought, a wonder really.  What if student athletes were to commit to stay sober and celibate while under the school’s athletic program, under threat of being dropped from the program?  Would that be a good thing, or would it go too far?

What do you think?

Many locals may not know this, but there have been at least 3 pornography companies operating in the Fort-Lauderdale/Miami area for years.  The themes of the sites are generally all very similar – the guys (actors) find regular “every day” girls, and convince them to engage in sexual activity on camera.  Some of these films have even been filmed in very public locations, such as on a public island in Miami in broad daylight.  Another was shot, during business hours, in the kitchen of a busy Fort Lauderdale pizza spot.

It seems like it is inevitable that at some point criminal charges will arise out of these kinds of companies.  In fact, they have.  A local group who goes by the term Reality Kings has recently been charged with child pornography after one of their “actors” was found to be an underage girl who had somehow obtained a fake ID.  Now, a second group has been slapped with charges resulting from their sex-film business.

A pair of South Florida men, Lavont Flanders, 40, of Miami Gardens, and Emerson Callum, 45, of Miami, have been hit with a 22-count federal indictment of essentially transporting women across state lines with the intent of raping them.  The charges contend that up to 9 women were lured by the men, who posed as talent scouts, searching for aspiring models.  The men are accused of then giving the women drugs (Xanax) and alcohol to sedate the women, then Callum engaging in sex with woman as Flanders filmed the acts.  The videos were later sold online.

The men are said to have found the women on once popular black dating site Blackplanet.com.  One of the alleged victims, called only Jane Doe in court documents, has hired an attorney – Miami lawyer Jeffrey Herman.  According to Herman, Blackplanet was negligent as it should have warned women about the potential dangers of meeting people on its site.

“They knew or should have known that there were men going on the site that are sexual predators,” said Herman. “Black planet has liability for failing to warn my client and other women about the dangers.”

The $10 million suit against Blackplanet, and its corporate parent, Radio One Inc, is not the first of its kind.  A woman who suffered rape by a convicted sex offender after having met him on popular dating website Match.com essentially sued the site for the same reason.  She won the suit, but did not accept any monetary reward.

Radio One “vehemently” denied all of the allegations in the lawsuit.

Callum and Flanders face life sentences if convicted on all charges.

Primary Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/26/2473258/two-miami-men-accused-in-drug.html