Brooke Magnanti is former call girl who wrote about her life in the blog Belle de Jour. After finishing her PhD, and publishing a couple of books based on her blog, she now works as a research scientist.
On the side, she does some writing and research. Her latest is a green paper [pdf] debunking an earlier study in the UK which argued that the presence of lap dance clubs in the London borough of Camden is associated with an increase in the rate of rape. Her re-examination of the data uses methodology a hell of a lot more sound than the original study [pdf]. For example, she indexes the number of rapes to population headcount, extends the time period from 3 years to 10 to look for a trend, and she includes a comparison with another, demographically similar borough with no lap dance clubs. Her conclusion is that the rate of rape in Camden is actually lower than comparable boroughs.
Compared to her work, it is clear that the original study was in no way scientific, and if you read it, you’ll see that it’s mainly a bunch of argument with a couple of statistics thrown in. Even though it was published in 2003, it was still being cited in the Guardian in 2008 (and here). In 2009, the Guardian issued a correction based on new statistics, yet their own writers were still citing the report in pieces published later that year (here and here).
I don’t know if this latest study will finally put the older, zombie study back in its grave. But if the Guardian can’t kill it, maybe an ex-prostitute working on her own time will be able to get the job done.
piratedan
Curse our Pilgrim heritage for not being able to cope with the reality that rape isn’t about sex, it’s about aggression and imposing one’s will on somebody else. The sex is just the “means” or the “weapon” if you will and the fact that its so traumatizing and generally still misunderstood is appalling.
djheru
An ex-prostitute working on her own time can do ANYTHING
Tom Levenson
The Guardian is one of the best science news sources (broad audience division) out there…and they still get this kind of thing wrong.
The (a) reason is, of course, that “The Guardian” is not actually a unitary entity, for all that the Supremes might see it as a corporate person. Its writers and subs and all those don’t know everything “it” knows…and hence zombie lies extend even through the pages of the good ones.
I’m not sure how to improve institutional memory, except to say that this is why (a) beats are important and (b) checking with the core science staff on this kind of thing would be good. But as the Guardian, like everyone else, extends its reach by adding more and more freelance folks who deal primarily in online work, rapidly produced in isolated work spaces…that’s unlikely to change.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: Actually the Pilgrims and Puritans had reasonably healthy attitudes about sex (given the historical period, etc.). It is the Victorians who got all squeamish and put skirts on piano legs and such like.
Maude
@Omnes Omnibus:
But the Victorians weren’t at all squeamish about bloodshed.
I just had to add that.
jpmeyer
Oh look, just like how nobody pays attention to how those “one zillion prostitutes come to the Super Bowl/World Cup/major sporting event, including one billion underage ones” stories have also been debunked.
Origuy
Belle de Jour is on my pile of books to read, loaned to me by my friend, an ex-dancer (though not prostitute.) I don’t know about the Super Bowl, but a lot of dancers fly in to Vegas for CES.
wenchacha
Does that study include all the non-forcible rapes?
Just asking.
Arclite
@Tom Levenson:
I think that is what makes the blog format so valuable. You have a bunch of instant fact checkers who can point out mistakes and improve the work. It’s what makes reading Sully (when he prints dissents) and Greenwald (among others) so illuminating. It can even make McCardle (slightly) better.
Arclite
This blog about the life of a prostitute is recommended.
Brachiator
mistermix, thanks for this. It’s interesting that someone who knows the life of a sex worker, and coincidentally, someone who understands research, would be able to so deftly punch a hole in the original articles.
I was listening to a podcast interview with Ben Goldacre, who writes the Bad Science column for The Guardian. He noted that partly because the UK newspaper market is so competitive, with so many publications battling for readers, publishers often publish crap they know is not true. Much like a normal day at Fox News.
Sleeping Dog
@#6 jpmeyer: The best put down of the hookers to the Superbowl trope was by long time Minneapolis madame, Rebecca Rand, who was asked by the Mpls Star Trombone if she would be adding staff when the Superbowl was in Mpls. Rand was quoted to the effect that it wasn’t like she could call Kelly Girls to send in some temps.