Protip: Remember ladies, if you choose to wait for a bus on a major street in the fine city of Portland, you are A DIRTY, DIRTY WHORE and are therefore subject to being accosted by Portland's Finest, rudely questioned, and whisked away in a patrol car to enjoy the unexpected never-to-be-forgotten thrill of being fingerprinted, photographed, and booked for prostitution, and held for hours in a jail cell.
Evidently, only whores and wanton sluts take public transportation in Portland-who knew ?!
Yes, this happened to a woman, Ann Marie Selby, on July 30th, around 7:30 pm, on the streets of Portland. Read the article here.
After reading this, am I the only one that was reminded of the "religious police"? Thank god she was "...wearing what her attorney describes as a hooded sweatshirt, loose knee-length skirt and Crocs shoes", because who knows where she would have ended up had it been a warm day and she had chosen to wear a whore outfit such as *gasp* shorts and a tank top, or an above the knee skirt! Whorewhorewhorewhorewhore!!!
I love love love the fact that a) the attorney felt it necessary to point the modesty of the woman's outfit and b) the newspaper felt it important to the story to point it out! (Bonus: "-had never been arrested before. "Whew! Thanks for pointing that out, too! Brings the 36 year old college instructor 's Whore Level rating down to, oh...slutbag level 2, perhaps? Thanks, guys!!! Bet she's glad she decided not to wear those slingbacks that day. Whew!)
Quoth the Police Spokeswoman, Detective Mary Wheat: "We do have (officers) out there who are going to be paying attention to women who appear to be loitering in the area and engage them in mere conversation, Officers want to find out if they are prostitutes who are looking for customers, or if they are women who simply missed their bus."
Of course, this being the United States of America, y'know, all it took was a good attorney (a male attorney, btw, natch!) to get her named cleared, and a whopping $5000 settlement-but no apology, oh my no! According to Bill Manlove (sometimes, the irony is..too much, yes?), a deputy city attorney, "...said all the officers actions that evening were legally justified: The officers had "reasonable suspicion" to stop Selby and "probable cause: to arrest her. (most emphatic emphasis mine)
Of course, naturally. I mean, after all, she WAS "looking" for a "bus" because she "missed" the previous one, yes? And she did "look" down the "street" several times , people!!! Heloooo? If standing on a street, as a woman, after 3 pm, waiting for a bus doesn't just scream WHORE , what does?
(And yes, goddammit, I am putting this under the 'Violence Against Women' category, because if Ann Marie Selby didn't feel completely violated and abused after this, I'll send my beagle to college for his goddamn PhD.)
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This is disgusting. And we all know if she had been wearing something less "modest" this story might've had an even worse ending. I've heard of cases where women were actually convicted of prostitution because they were waiting for a bus outside wearing summer clothing.
Wow. Just plain wow. Now I have more reasons not to go downtown when I'm there.
It still amazes me that people actually think this way. Wow. I hope those cops are suspended.
The Manlove comment made me giggle.. a lot.
Crocs: official footwear of Portland prostitutes.
What really chaps my ass is that the cops wouldn't even admit that they were in the wrong when it's SO OBVIOUS that they made a mistake. The police department is not infallible!
Alot of the cops I've met are bullies who love lording their power over people they perceive as less powerful.
Police departments consciously look for that personality type - bullies make good cops.