Posts by Christopher Johnston
SJN Newsletter #20: Would Police Trained to Screen for Trafficking Eliminate the Need for Legalization or Decriminalization of Prostitution/Sex Work?
Dan Nash does not want prostitution legalized. However, he doesn’t want anyone working as a prostitute or sex worker arrested, either. What he wants is for police officers to be trained correctly to understand the unique dynamics involved in the commercial sex industry and the prevalence of sex trafficking within it. As a retired Missouri…
Read MoreSJN Newsletter #19: Building Trust to Secure Interviews for a Complicating the Narratives Project Takes Patience, Persistence
Once in a while as journalists, when trying to land important interviews, we run into big, harry, thick, machine-gun protected walls that are as impenetrable as Ft. Knox to a gold thief. The wall seems small when you name it: trust. But equally impenetrable when you try to write, talk or phone your way through,…
Read MoreThe Keys to Mental Illness May Be Hiding Within Amish Genes
Christopher Johnston
PUB: TheDailyBeast.com
2023
One Amish family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had known for some time their son was deeply troubled and unhappy. Now in his early twenties, he had not flourished, and had not found his way as a productive member of their farming community of 40,000 Old Order Amish.
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 18
These days, Andrea Heinz is happily married, has children, and works as a commercialsexual exploitation activist. Heinz’s childhood was “pretty typical,” she says. Her parentshad lived happily together for many years; she and her slightly older sister enjoyed a safeand pleasant youth and did well in school. Andrea’s young adulthood was anything buttypical, and a…
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 17
Can Washington, D.C. achieve a more successful push for decriminalization of sex work a second time around? Chibundo Egwuatu is the coordinator of the Advocacy Department and the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition (SWAC) for HIPS, a harm reduction agency that works towards ensuring the health and safety of sex workers in DC. HIPS focuses primarily…
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 16
Should the commercialization of sex ever be legal? Rachel Moran unequivocally answers that question in the negative. A survivor of seven years of prostitution – which she prefers over “sex work” because the experience was more about being abused and raped repeatedly that having sex or working – she became instrumental in bringing the Abolitionist…
Read MoreWhen A Personalized Pizza Hut Pan Goes from $5.50 to $7 (a 27.5% Increase in Cost) at Target, What Are You Supposed to Do About Feeding Your Kids?
Christopher Johnston
PUB: AdvisorCheck.com
2023
Not too long ago, a friend told me that they went to Target and bought a pan pizza from Pizza Hut. The pepperoni pizza had cost them $7 as opposed to $5.50 just one year ago. That increase in cost just made me wonder… How are people able to continue feeding their families?
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 14
Are there differences around the pro decriminalization of sex work issue in Europe from the U.S.? Marjan Wijers brought an entirely new frame of mind to our discussion about decriminalization of sex work: She represents the European perspective. A few of the people I’ve spoken with from the U.S. have some understanding or collaborate with…
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 13
Will hearing more sex trafficking survivors’ voices change people’s minds about decriminalization? As a survivor, Ashley Chesney is confident that hearing the accounts of victims of sex trafficking will help people make up their own minds about whether or not to legalize or decriminalize sex work. She holds that position because she believes the great…
Read MoreNight Shifts Newsletter No. 12
SJN Newsletter #12: Are there good ways to protect people who have been criminalized as sex workers? Kate D’Adamo says she works primarily “under the bright red umbrella of sex worker rights” in her Policy & Advocacy role for Reframe Health and Justice Counseling in Baltimore, Maryland. The organization of which she is a partner…
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