Story Archive

Provocative

What do you call it if a man goes into a place he thinks is a brothel, and women touch him? Honolulu police claimed it happened to them, and tried calling it sex assault. They went into a massage parlor for a sting and arrested 16 women on the charge, which can carry a year in jail plus sex-offender registration. A joint statement from local and federal officials said that sex workers who know they can’t be arrested for practicing the world’s oldest profession without a verbal agreement and that police are forbidden to touch them sexually frequently try to protect themselves by making contact before they make a contract. But a lawyer for some of the defendants pointed out that you can’t assault someone who consents. “How can you say it’s not consensual when the officers are going into these establishments expecting to be touched?” A prosecutor dropped the charges. “A technical violation of the law” might have occurred, he said, but it couldn’t be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. (AC/AP) ...If the cops were paid to consent to sexual contact, can they be charged with something? Maybe the thing they didnt charge the women with?