She is a brave woman,...

This probably rolls over to politics but until gov't and society each accepts the reality of human nature rather than trying to mold humans into something not natural this is one result.  I'm not into gov't control but, I'd rather see it regulate it in a positive manner than the negative manner it currently does.

As for being a brave woman, I'm not so sure. In the interview it sounds like she is still prostituting knowing she is infecting customers. This interview could be used against her in many States today on a criminal charge of attempted murder.  She is now dangerous to the public and the profession as a whole.  I hope she withdraws from it and seeks support from the HIV support groups as she sounds in despair and in need of help.

That is just sick and wrong... and very, very sad.  I hope that her 15 minutes of fame will bring a much needed intervention into what is left of her life.

I suspect that it was even harder for her to make the spot. Intervention? What are you talking about? Do you even know? Interventions are for those that have some hope. She is dying! The only hope is a few hours or days more or even less. I applaud her effort to attempt to prevent someone else from going through what she is going through. You should too!

I pray for her Soul and wish for her an end which is as pleasant and pain free as possible .

She'll be blessed,....

We can live while dying, while she is still breathing there is hope of life and peace in her transition time... which is what this life is.

"What are you talking about? Do you even know? Interventions are for those that have some hope."
As I went to high school in the age of AIDS being a death sentence, and young boys getting sick, and volunteer hospice work, and those who turned to crank for respite... yes, I do know what I am talking about.

Brave?  When you're rock bottom and feel there is nothing to lose, that is not bravery.  BRAVERY would be her taking responsibility for NOT infecting those she interacts with, and taking responsibility for the rest of her life.

We both pray for her soul.

What else can she do? How about the person who infected her? She is a victim herself, only those who knowingly infect others are responsible. Give me a break, you have no idea what you're talking about.

From her body language and mannerism, she's a drug addict as well. Yes that she got HIV, but did she get it from sex or drug use? Is she having unprotected sex while working? Both are highly dangerous actions. Also, she made it sound like she was KNOWINGLY STILL WORKING. Which is unconscionable to me.

Another thing, HIV/AIDS is not an immediate death sentence, you have to live years with the virus, not hours and days...

O.k., let's really talk about what's going on.

She makes 500/600 dollars a day and is infecting unknowing guys. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I HOPE HOPE HOPE these guys are smart enough to wear condoms and I HOPE HOPE HOPE that they're not doing anything else that would compromise their health and safety but you never know.

It looks to me like the AIDS campaign is taking a new turn and that's by attacking the traditional high risk groups via You Tube. Great. I applaud it, but I have my suspicions per the authenticity of this movie. This chick looks to me like she's probably been around, but who knows whether or not she's sick or if she's really a prostitute. I HOPE that she's not out there infecting guys who have no idea. I HOPE.

Katie

Well, always using condoms would have been a good place to start.

Having spent the better part of the 80’s watching friends get sick and going to more funerals in the span of 5-6 years than I will go to for the rest of my life, I call bullshit.  If we (as a society, a community) learned anything from that era, we learned that everyone carries an individual responsibility to make informed decisions about having safer sex. And if you CHOOSE not to—the consequences can be dire.

So, she has unprotected sex knowing full well the danger of doing so. She does not go to the free clinic to get regularly screened for STD’s. Then AFTER she finds out she has been infected with HIV, and knows she has infected others and is feeling remorseful, she offers a warning to others.

This does not make her brave. This makes her exceedingly irresponsible with not only her own life but, much worse, the lives of others.  Yeah….she got it from someone.  Maybe someone  as irresponsible as she is.  But, this does not make her a victim. She has been a prostitute since she was 12 which is sad, yes (the world is full of sad stories). But you can’t be in the sex business for over 20 years and not KNOW full well that having enough unprotected sex is tantamount to an eventual death sentence. Just a matter of time.

Whoa! News flash---if you engage in unprotected sex you’re at risk of contracting HIV. Who knew? Is driving drunk dangerous too? If I get behind the wheel hammered and I finally hurt someone else—does that make me a victim? Give ME a break..

The victims are the wives, SO’s and children of the men who engaged in unprotected sex with her. This is not brave. This is too little too late.

If she is just infected with HIV virus and does not have full blown AIDS she can still have relative long life expectancy if she gets anti-retroviral therapy. As far as her being infectious it is actually very hard to contract HIV infection through the heterosexual route, especial for males.  The estimate HIV transmission rate for unprotected vaginal sex act is 1-8/1000.  Condoms may reduce that risk to 1-8/20,000 sex acts.  Dare I suggest that if she got her viral load down to negligible level with anti-retroviral therapy her threat level for spreading HIV as a Provider may also be near negligible? Her current main issue may be her drug addition, not HIV, which makes it unlikely she will follow the rigor of anti-retroviral therapy.

For anyone who is moved by this...QUESTION THE SOURCE!!!

From the website of the person who posted this clip on You Tube:

"JohnTV.com is one Oklahoma man's effort to target, expose and impact street, organized and forced prostitution - as well as the sexual trafficking of individuals. JohnTV.com takes no formal stance against and supports the decriminalization of 100% private, consensual and unorganized prostitution.

JohnTV.com believes that prostitution is not the world's oldest profession. Instead, we argue that prostitution is the world's oldest abuse of women."

Hmmmm...no stance, eh?  Gee, can you say "conflict of interest"?  Does this make ANYONE question the validity of this clip?  This would be like Karl Rove making a commercial starring a supposed "welfare mother" putting down the Democrats.

Assuming it is real, what is the "reality check" here?  That having unprotected sex with someone who looks like THIS might help you contract HIV?  

NO FUCKING DUH!  YA THINK?!  I mean, even people who stay in Oklahoma once they are old enough to leave aren't that stupid.

Since the late 1990's, there has been little need for *legitimate* sex workers to be on the streets...HELLOOOO, INTERNET!  In most cities in this country, the only "street workers" anymore are those who are messed up to the point where this woman "supposedly" is...usually with drug issues.  Anyone picking someone up on the streets these days...gee, ya THINK you should wear a condom?  Street prostitution was always risky, but before the Net, there WERE women who did it and were not fucked up like this woman would seem to be (I know this from personal experience and exposure to them).  Nowadays, there is NO reason for anyone legit to be on the streets, so, IMO, anyone still on the streets these days is in IMMEDIATE need of help!

Then, to call a woman "brave" when she is willingly still infecting others?  Give me a break.

Most of all, though, for the three of you getting holier than thou on this thread...all of who AMAZINGLY are aliases...and ESPECIALLY the two of you being belligerent with someone who is one of the most intelligent women on this board...

I suspect you are Brian Bates himself.

Ok... She's probably not all that typical from where your world meets the street, but sadly, there are 1000s of street prostitutes that are very much like her and likely giving it to men who don't think with their brains... unfortunately, some men in your world are taking some of the same risks... That's true and without knowing anything about your preferences and practices, you can't completely separate yourself from her or what she represents... We are all culpable to a degree... P.S. There are more former SWs who are cleaning up just enough to check into the nicer hotels and yes, if they don't have the crack head appearance, they are likely attracting some of the same guys that you are...

there's a few differences between me and the SW's which I'll spare you because there are MANY.

However, as for our worlds intersecting, I am ALWAYS safe NO MATTER WHAT. I get tested regularly as well and have NEVER EVER had an std of any kind. If some guy who sees SW's actually makes it through, at least I know I'm safe and I practice safe sex.

Katie

Agreed. WE ALL need to do everything possible to be as safe as possible. She was, from what I could tell, an addict. there are many ways to be infected and it is sheer irresponsibility/not caring to pass it on. I cannot call her brave. I call her remorseful NOW that there are no go backs or do overs and her fate is sealed. Then again she could be ran over by a truck tomorrow and not die from HIV, Who knows? I call who ever had sex with her irresponsible/not caring as well. HOW COULD YOU EVEN GET WOOD????? OMG.

Yes, and the victimizers of the wives, SO and children are the men who decided to have unprotected sex with street prostitute and not the street prostitute herself.  If the video is real the lady as results of her craving for drugs obviously has mark diminish capacity to make rational decisions with respect to responsibility. Unfortunately there are men who do take advantage of this to get unprotected sex. We all should know there are inherit risk in this hobby and if those risks are realized we have only ourselves to blame, not the street prostitute nor the internet Provider.

had no problem with camera taping her confessions. I can't even say hi to camera without turning purple!

... explain it away that easily, but we can't... There are many supposedly highly evolved providers while they may not have her problems, do in fact engage in illicit drug use, are not always completely safe and  well, some of those guys will find a way to your door too... Yes, we don't disagree that being safe is the only way to win, but be hyper-vigilant too.

I have little doubt the woman in this video is ‘real’. I do question the political motivation of Mr Bates in choosing such a pathetic example to make a point.  Despite the claim of not taking a formal stance, JohnTV is obviously projecting a condemnation of prostitution calculated to play into the fear and stereotypical images held by upstanding, church-going folks in the heartland. This is just another example of exploitative, biased media that’s doing Jerry Falwell proud.

Media manipulation aside, this woman’s situation IS a sad state of affairs. But, I am not suggesting she is the victimizer, or that she is to blame for the behavior of any man stupid enough to hire her. I agree: this man has no one to blame but himself when his dick falls off.

But by that same token I’m not so quick to simply relinquish her of all culpability for her own behavior either---especially if this involves knowingly propagating HIV---even in a drug addled state of mind.  I’m betting she does have a diminished capacity to make rational decisions, and there is no doubt some dimwitted cowboy out there willing to take his chances.  We can reasonably assume neither of these individuals is firing on all cylinders. But each one is responsible for their part when the next person in the chain ends up with HIV.

JMO: people do not get to do things that endanger others, and then take a pass on all responsibility because they’re too high (or too stupid) to think through what they’re doing.