Cops Bust Really Tacky Aurora Salon For Prostitution

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Ahh, Aurora: what a beautiful name for Seattle's often-ugly, often-sketchy throughway! Why does it not surprise us to hear that an Aurora "tanning salon," located in the Oak Tree cluster, got busted this weekend for fronting a prostitution service? So, so tacky.

Call us middle-class, call us square (both of which we admittedly are), but we're really creeped out by the idea of anyone--let alone a group of vulnerable, societally near-invisible immigrant women--offering sex for cash at a strip-mall tanning salon. For all the talk about sex work as a legitimate choice for women, a dayjob like any other for the modern empowered female, this kind of story serves as a reminder: prostitution is not glamorous. It's not even classy.

A request to all strip-mall prostitution rings: first, stop existing. Second, please at least come up with a more original code phrase for illicit sex than "massage and other services." Can you, at a minimum, think up a phrase that doesn't insult legitimate, licensed massage therapists and bodyworkers who regularly have to field calls from sleazeballs looking for blowjobs?

"Boulevard of Busted Balls" by Beatnikside from Flickr. Thanks!

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By Katelyn in News on July 7, 2008 9:50 AM

Comments [rss]

Troy Morris

I just re-read the post to figure out what an LMP is (leave me alone to my first cup of coffee). People can get blowjobs at those places?!

I thought it was just a handjob.

The more you know...

kitty wu

roasting nuts?

Katelyn

"Would you like your bread... toasted?"

James Callan

Grinders. Six inch or footlong?

Wait, wrong clientele.

Kim Ruehl

"making sandwiches"

Katelyn

As an LMP myself, I absolutely hate it that my ancient profession's good name keeps getting hijacked by an even older profession which can't advertise its own name legally. Can't they call it, like, "making orange juice"? "Juice bar"? Anything else.

Troy Morris

Also, I was driving back from a July 4th trip to Minneapolis and, I believe it was in Bismark, ND, I saw a billboard entering the town touting the Massage Parlor on 45th St.

A giant asian lady adorned it.

It was called the Golden Massage Parlor.

I'm pretty sure everyone knew how it'd end.

My friends refused to stop by to relax from a long drive.

Troy Morris

I don't think any intelligent, modern person would be able to get very far arguing for the continued illegality of prostitution. It's healthier, safer, and loads of taxes to buffer the budget.

Even though I don't terribly enjoy the man, Dan Savage had a great point: the way we teach sex ed is like teaching a drivers ed class by explaining how combustion engines work and handing over the keys, forgoing how to navigate traffic.

Nothing like 16 year-olds behind the wheel with no clue.

If we keep hiding sex in tanning salons and massage parlors... we're just asking for lemon cars to be out on the road.

kitty wu

oooooo. i see. i thought it was a panda gang. you know we have problems with gangs in seattle again and i was wondering if the pandas weren't taking over.

phew.

Tres

I agree with what you're saying. This kind of stuff makes me sick to my stomach. But don't be so naive. There are probably a hundred or more of these places somewhere in the shadow of the Space Needle.

Katelyn

The pandas represent Seattlest's firm environmentalist platform and our Asian furry friend sympathies. They are also the default photo for users who haven't uploaded an avatar of their own.

kitty wu

can i just add...i am not cool with forced/animal/youth sex work.

but anything else between consenting adults should be legal. i agree with james.

um...and i have a random question too katelyn or gaijinrunne. whats the deal with the pandas? i'm fairly new around these parts.

James Callan

No one should be forced into sex work, of course, the same way no one should be forced to work in a diamond mine or a garment factory.

But I have a hard time denying rational adults control over what to do with themselves. Want to sell sex? Fine. Want to buy sex? Fine. Want to fix the system involved? Even better.

Katelyn

The potential for abuse is certainly higher because it's illegal, I agree. Prostitution has actually done a lot for this city -- back in the day, I think it was a Madame who had enough money to lend to ruined businessmen so they could rebuild after the devastating Seattle fires.

kitty wu

ooooo. potentially explosive topic...coooooool.

it irks me that men and women alike still don't have the right to legally sell sex. call me a weirdo. i just don't get it. we sell everything else...we sell our life to jobs that pay us garbage wages while the big guys are raping our paychecks. we sell ourselves to corporations so that we can advertise their crappy brands. we can't we sell our *stuff* legally?

the reason *some* sex work is hidden in strip malls as tanning salons and massage parlors is because its illegal. its dangerous because its illegal.

one more thought...

empowerment is one of those words thrown around by those that don't have power...i.e. women that have to illegally sell their bodies.

Katelyn

Yep, I agree, although I have read "empowerment" defenses of sex work written by the sex workers themselves. I do believe no matter if it's in a strip-mall or a fancy hotel, prostitution is an abusive, dangerous business. I haven't been convinced otherwise by any of the pro-sex work stuff I've read, at least.

gaijinrunner

"For all the talk about sex work as a legitimate choice for women, a dayjob like any other for the modern empowered female" - who talks about it this way. the people who want to justify the fact that they hire someone to have sex with that might be doing this job against their will. forget classy, it's dangerous. those women are often mistreated, forced into it (for a variety of circumstances) and never respected.