Do You Look Like a Prostitute? (Whatever That Means): It Might Mean No Taxi Cabs
by Melissa Gira Grant
AlterNet
June 22, 2012

Throughout history, laws that are supposed to "protect" women have pushed prostitutes to the margins of cities and the social order itself.

We're told that being a prostitute will mark a woman for life. Yet after several millennia of practice, lawmakers and social reformers still struggle to identify what a sex worker looks like.

You know,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said (in a June 15 appearance on WOR's perfectly named "The John Gambling Show") when asked what might go wrong with a bill that could penalize taxi drivers who knowingly transport people in the sex trade, “if I were a young lady and I dressed in a ‘sporty way’ — or however you want to phrase it, and there's nothing wrong with that — I would not want somebody thinking that I’m a prostitute.”...