A recent trend in urban areas has involved vigilantes dressed up as superheroes walking around town, dispensing their own form of street justice in ridiculous getups. In addition to annoying urban folk going about their business, they are giving the police headaches. Cops have enough problems themselves enforcing the law; can you imagine how badly guys dressed like superheroes who think they are actually crime fighters might screw things up by getting involved with civilians?
Meet the NYI (New York Initiative), a group of New York guys with a lot of time on their hands who have decided to take on a role traditionally relegated to pimps. Proudly proclaiming that they are “not affiliated with law enforcement,” NYI members have posted an ad on Craigslist offering protection services to prostitutes.
The ad itself is quite solicitous of prostitutes. Here are a few excerpts:
Hello, pretty lady!
I’m writing you on behalf of a group called the New York Initiative (We are not affiliated with law enforcement), and with the hopes that I’ve created a system that will help keep you safe when you go on dates! You can find our facebook page through Google, as well as Google us with the words New York Press or Superheroes Documentary 2011 to find out what we’re about (Craigslist doesn’t allow me to post our URL)…yes, we look a little funny, but believe me when I say that we are all quite competent and capable of doing the things we say.
So with that out of the way, let me just get down to business… The Long Island Killer is out there. He’s a scary bastard, and it’s starting to seem like he is focusing on you pretty ladies because some people are slower to report you missing, and also because apparently the law doesn’t respect your personal choices and that means cops are slower to follow through when it comes to you. Well, I’m here to say FUCK THAT. We respect you as human beings, we believe in personal freedoms and think that you’re doing something that is absolutely your choice to do.
So rock on, ladies…We are on your side. With that said, we are here to help.
Furthermore, they offer non-police solutions to deal with “funny” dates:
OPTION 1: Whenever you have a date, make sure a friend knows the address you’re going. Have them write it down in a book made specifically for this purpose, with the times and dates included. If you can, when on the date, text your friend with the address you are at or the general area in case your date takes you somewhere else than he had earlier specified , and let your date know that a friend knows exactly where you’ll be if he starts to get “funny”.
Give your friend hourly updates on your location so if anything goes wrong, they can send someone to help you faster. We realize that this could alter the mood of your date, but in these crazy times, a pretty lady that’s ready is a pretty lady that’s alive. If your date watches the news at all, he will understand. Be wary if he doesn’t.OPTION 2.If you absolutely don’t have a friend to help you with this, you may use the services of the New York Initiative as your personal log book, as well as your rescue team in the event of an emergency. If you choose to do this, we will provide you with a number to call and a few one-number or one word codes you can say or text to us so that we can contact someone to assist you with a possibly violent date. Another idea is keeping us on speed dial, and if things get weird just call us and let the line open. We’ll know what’s going on immediately.
If any dim-witted hookers actually take these guys up on the offer (unlikely many will — nothing would scare off johns faster than the thought of some jackass in a costume) and make use of their services, the outcome could be quite unfortunate, up to and including homicide.
NYI goes on to offer self-defense classes to hookers, promises to “bust asses” and says it “loves” the prostitutes. Isn’t that pimp talk? The obvious question is whether there are any ulterior motives at play here. Probably. A guy who has a decent girlfriend would be content to leave protecting hookers from violent crime up to the police. And even if he did want to help the hookers, it just doesn’t seem that most women I know would want their men rushing off to “rescue” prostitutes in the dead of night or offer them personal self-defense training.
Nevertheless, the NYI has received a number of “good boy!” comments from females on their Facebook page.
Here’s one example:
I read about you guys on Jezebel. May I just say that I think you’re awesome? It’s nice to know that there are people out there who can see past the external and care about others just because of their humanity! Just don’t get yourselves hurt in the process, mm-kay?
There’s something fundamentally wrong with the approach these guys are taking. Prostitution creates the conditions in which violent, disturbed individuals can operate with some impunity. And, despite what feminists might say, it is not because hookers are stigmatized (the primary source of this stigmatization is other females in any event), but rather because unrestrained, commoditized sexuality is by its nature exploitative of both women AND men. Lust and greed, when combined, create a volatile mixture that needs to be contained rather than celebrated to maintain some order in society.
The sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s, accompanied as it was by rampant prostitution and a lax attitude toward promiscuity, led to the highest rate of sexual violence in US history. If people really want fewer girls to be victimized by sick-minded predators such as Gary Ridgway (Green River Killer), the correct approach is to shame prostitutes and maintain some fairly strict supervision of the occupation. There will always be prostitution in one form or another, but without some pressure from above, including shaming and judgment, it will invariably cause trouble and serve as a breeding ground for vicious social pathologies.
Quite frankly, these NYI “heroes” are clueless, possibly dangerous, and will likely only add to the trouble police have to deal with when it would be better for all of us that they devote their efforts to tracking down the murderer on the loose rather than investigating some deadly incident involving a delusional, white knighting vigilante.
