Prostitution

For three consecutive nights last week, two female undercover officers worked the corner of Ritchie Highway and First Avenue, chatting with men who drove up to them. When the men asked for sex, the women suggested they pull around the corner, right into the arms of waiting detectives.From Wednesday through Friday, county police arrested 17 men, ranging in age from 21 to 54.They hailed from Anne Arundel, Howard, Baltimore, Kent and Prince George's counties. One is a carpenter in Crownsville, and another is a master electrician.

Love is a many-squalored thing.That's the thrust of "The Good Woman of Bangkok," a strange and poignant film opening today at the Charles. The movie also played last spring at the Baltimore Film Festival.This is one of those unvarnished, almost pathetic movies of personal documentation in which the true subject is the filmmaker himself as he comes to grips with his own obsessions. Dennis O'Rourke, an Australian documentarian who acquired a world reputation on the strength of an earlier work, "Cannibal Tours," woke up one day to find his professional life a shambles and his private life a catastrophe.

The former Army paratrooper's ensemble was classy yet understated - gray miniskirt, white blouse, black heels and matching handbag and gloves. His goatee, however, clashed. On a gray, drizzly morning along Dundalk Avenue, the cross-dresser was among a Fellini-like cast of two female prostitutes and a dozen of their male customers arrested by Baltimore police in their latest undercover "decoy" operation against a flourishing trade. In two months, nearly 300 women and their "johns," or customers, have been arrested for prostitution-related crimes in Southeast Baltimore, nearly a third along Dundalk and Holabird avenues.

HARBIN, China -- During the era of Mao Tse-tung, the Communist Party earned widespread praise for practically shutting down China's flourishing prostitution industry. But with today's freer economy, the sex trade's back, and some Chinese officials would rather tax it than fight it.Since last year, at least 14 cities have begun taxing China's "san pei girls," young women who earn large sums for accompanying men in nightclubs and karaoke bars. For a higher fee, many of the women will sleep with their customers.

A 27-year-old Takoma Park man, who drove women to locations in the Annapolis area for the purposes of prostitution, has been charged with numerous counts of human trafficking and prostitution. Freddy Leguisamon was arrested last month by Annapolis police, after an investigation that combined the efforts of several law enforcement and government agencies. He faces 54 counts of general prostitution, eight counts of receiving compensation from human trafficking, five counts of taking another person to a place for the purpose of human trafficking, and four counts of operating a prostitution business.

With their seductive pitches and colorful language, the ads in the "erotic services" section of Craigslist.org seem out of place on a Web site generally associated with used cars, bicycles and lawn care products. "Fabulous Asian Girl with `Fabulous' Service," states one ad. "Give Spankings For Cash," says another. "I'll be on your mind all day. ... Let's make this happen." The Web site that's rocketed to popularity for enabling users to post free ads for all sorts of goods and services has found a ready market in the sex trade.

In more than a decade of academic work, Brandy M. Britton earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of California at San Francisco, established an expertise in women's studies and founded the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research out of her Ellicott City home. Howard County police allege that she also ran another business from her tidy beige house: a prostitution service with hourly rates of $300 and up. The former University of Maryland, Baltimore County assistant professor of sociology and anthropology was charged this week with four counts of prostitution.

The small woman stood before the judge with her head hung so low that her chin nearly touched her chest. She had been charged with prostitution, but instead of jail time Judge Ann O'Regan Keary of the District of Columbia's Superior Court ordered her to a halfway house where she would receive counseling and other services. If the woman sticks with the rehabilitation plan, the charge would not appear on her record and she could avoid jail time. "I'd like to have us address her situation as soon as possible," said Keary, who presides over one of Washington's two community courts, one of which handles quality-of-life crimes and traffic citations; the other, prostitution, simple assault and some drug cases.

AS ANY VICE DETECTIVE can testify, most roadside prostitutes are out looking for "johns" because they need money for a "hit" of narcotics or alcohol. In fact, those women are often so desperate that prices for their services are directly related to what they need in order to get high. That's why "hookers" are likely to show up again and again at their "work place" corners, regardless of how many times they are arrested.Anne Arundel County police are trying a new tack. Instead of simply arresting prostitutes working near the boundary of Anne Arundel and Howard counties in Laurel, they offer them a combination of drug and alcohol treatment, housing and job training.

In the shadows of the plain storefronts lining Patapsco Avenue, prostitutes in skintight jeans slouch on street corners and beckon with lewd gestures to prospective customers.They even hang out in broad daylight and solicit drivers stopped at traffic lights. City police officers have raided the street. Residents have chased the prostitutes away with video cameras and picket signs. Still, they keep coming back.Now a city councilman wants to try a new tactic: "Prostitution Free Zones."Councilman Timothy D. Murphy, who represents the Brooklyn and Curtis Bay areas in South Baltimore, plans to introduce a bill Monday that would prohibit loitering, lewdness and repeated attempts to stop cars at designated street corners.