"Pretty Woman" - potentially the most famous film ever made about prostitution, and certainly the highest-grossing - is often cast as an optimistic  love story transcending prejudice and class divide. In this livestream, Elly Arrow and Sabrinna do a deep dive on the movie's history, content, and ultimate legacy. Upon closer inspection, the dynamics it portrays are a lot more concerning, and its depiction of sexual exploitation a lot darker than one would expect based on audience responses and many other reviews.Sources:"What's Up With Richard Gere's Age-Gap Movies?": https://www.thecut.com/article/richard-gere-age-gap-movie-photos.htmlRelated Livestreams:A Look At Film Censorship, Sex Scenes and Intimacy Coordinators with Screenwriter & Director DianaBlake Lively VS Justin Baldon: Sexual Coercion on Film Sets with Brent MacLerie

Elly Arrow and Sybil Jo continue their conversation about Donald Trump's serial predation and the ways it mirrors and/or constitutes prostitution. This livestream focuses on his proven abuse of Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels, her life story and activism to out him as a predator, and the response by the public and media, miscasting his violence as an "affair".This continues from our livestream 3 weeks ago named "Is Melania Trump A Trafficking Victim? Many 90s models were..." and will be concluded next week, when we finally fully answer that initial question based on the present evidence.Sources: Stephanie Clifford describes Trump cornering her in a hotel room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEqpCpGonF0Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump - What Really Happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5YCQT_BMxs

Blake Lively, as well as dozens of actresses and crew members of the "It Ends With Us" film production, allege that systematic sexual harassment and coercion - often surrounding intimate and nude scenes - occurred at the hands of director and co-star Justin Baldoni and some of his friends and colleagues. Elly Arrow and Sybil Jo are joined by Brent MacLerie to discuss the allegations, how they fit patterns observed in similar Hollywood-context cases, and what it says about our society that the narrative of Lively pressuring and hoodwinking an entire cast into agreeing with her is more palatable than that of a sexually predatory male director. We also touch on the wider implications of the case which could have direct impacts on legal protections for harassment and assault victims who are further harmed by defamation counter-suits.Find Brent MacLerie's work here: https://linktr.ee/expatriarch"Click. Stalk. Destroy.: Inside the Minds of People Who Stalk Online" by Dr. Jessica Taylor: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251019294-click-stalk-destroy

Screenwriter and director Diana joins Elly Arrow and Sybil Jo to discuss the reality of professional and independent filmmaking regarding nudity, sex scenes, and the treatment of child and adult actors by directors, producers, and other powerful men. The conversation also goes into the depiction of sexual exploitation and violence in cinema and TV from around the world.To tune in for our conversation about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni next week set a reminder here: https://www.youtube.com/live/sJ1PeIDSa1E?si=my68h9kwUbBd9fgW

Competing narratives surround the current First Lady of the U.S. after further Epstein Files revelations, which some say put Melania Trump in Epstein's orbit. In this livestream, Elly Arrow, and Sybil Jo discuss the various allegations against 90s modeling agents including Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein and the hellish landscape they created for women and girls, which give us an indication as to the sea Melania was swimming in.On July 16th, we will finish this conversation fully diving into the worst parts of the allegations against Donald Trump, as well as Melania's own history and proven connection to dubious persons in the modeling industry: https://www.youtube.com/live/w_z1GU-7ycI?si=oO3EgoU80MiTrkUI Sources:Melania Trump sues Daily Mail and US blogger in £113 million libel case over past sex work claims: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/melania-trump-daily-mail-sues-sued-million-libel-case-sex-work-claims-webster-tarpley-a7221251.htmlMelania's dark past gets outed by the Epstein Files: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPU2Ca8HCVIMarina Lacerda’s response to Melania's statement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSwErLNApAELisa Phillips response to Melania’s statement: https://youtu.be/Bicp0TNT22o?is=nMLITlY5SaPnyFJt Melania Trump, America’s first sex worker First Lady: https://www.feministcurrent.com/2016/12/17/melania-trump-americas-first-sex-worker-first-lady/Stacey Williams’ testimony about modeling in the 90s, as well as Epstein and Trump: https://youtu.be/1_wdErBRnEg?is=na6_Tmmvj_fBTGdTStacey Williams ’ and Carrie Otis’ testimony about trafficking through modeling agencies in the 90s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzWKe8a1y8MFaith Kates: the woman who introduced models to ‘dear friend’ Jeffrey Epstein: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/mar/27/faith-kates-models-dear-friend-jeffrey-epsteinSex trafficking tour of Prague: How Epstein’s fixer Brunel hunted for victims at Prague modelling contests: https://euobserver.com/209827/sex-trafficking-tour-of-prague-how-epsteins-fixer-brunel-hunted-for-victims-at-prague-modelling-contests/Donald Trump's ex-wife's claim he 'raped' her resurfaces in new documentary: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-exwife-claim-he-raped-her-resurfaces-in-new-documentary-a6836151.htmlJeffrey Epstein attends the wedding of Marla Maples and Donald Trump: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/22/politics/kfile-trump-epstein-photos-footageAnouska De Georgiou: https://x.com/mouvement33/status/2065727865216553273A Timeline of Donald Trump’s Creepiness While He Owned Miss Universe: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/a-timeline-of-donald-trumps-creepiness-while-he-owned-miss-universe-191860/

In this episode, Andrea Heinz interviews Human Trafficking Detective Dan Hall to explore the realities of investigating exploitation, the challenges of building cases rooted in coercion and psychological control, and the misconceptions that often prevent the public from recognizing trafficking when it happens. Detective Hall shares insights into the complex dynamics that keep survivors connected to traffickers, and the importance of trauma-informed approaches. He also reflects on the personal costs of this work, the measures of success that go beyond convictions, and the changes needed to better prevent exploitation and support survivors.Links:#NotInMyCity: https://notinmycity.ca/learn/Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/annualstatutes/2014_25/page-1.htmlFollow us:Facebook: ⁠@RedLightExposé⁠⁠Instagram: @RLE.podcastTikTok: ⁠@redlightexpose⁠Twitter: ⁠@RedLightExposeYouTube: @RedLightExposeDisclaimer:All the information provided through Red Light Exposé is published in good faith and solely for general information and educational purposes. It is not in any way intended to serve as a substitute for professional advice. The views represented in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of other Red Light Exposé hosts or the group as a whole. Red Light Exposé makes no representations or warranties of any kind or in any form, whether express or implied, about the completeness, timeliness, reliability, availability, validity, suitability, and accuracy, or guarantee that there will be no losses, errors, and omissions with respect to the information or content contained in any episode.

The messaging app Telegram promotes its commendable goal of data privacy to prospective users - unfortunately, this also makes it an excellent instrument for human traffickers, to the point that significant parts of the Nigerian sexual exploitation industry are now run through it. In this livestream, journalist Simbiat Bakare joins Elly Arrow, Savannah Severn, and Sybil Jo to discuss going undercover as a pretend exploited woman to look behind the curtain of Nigeria's Telegram-based pimping rings.Simbiat Bakare's article: https://dubawa.org/how-telegrams-regulatory-failures-misinformation-promote-prostitution-on-platform/Simbiat Bakare's organization: https://naijafeministsmedia.org.ng/Simbiat Bakare's Twitter: https://x.com/sim_bakare

From 2014 to 2020, Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire police designated parts of Holbeck, one of the UK's most deprived inner-city areas, as a site for an experiment with legal street prostitution. The policy permitted men to cruise the area for vulnerable women struggling with addiction and pay to sexually abuse them with impunity. What followed was an extreme drop in the quality of life of local residents, as well as continued violence against women by buyers, including at least one murder of a woman named Daria Pionca. After sustained effort, 7 years later, residential and feminist activists managed to get the policy revoked. Here is that story as told by feminist journalist, Belstaffie (https://x.com/Belstaffie), read by Elly Arrow.Sources:https://uncommongroundmedia.com/holbeck-managed-approach-drowning-not-swimming/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/life-road-squirming-residents-see-25290708https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-57487062https://taz.de/Strassenprostitution-in-Berlin/!5634823/https://dieunsichtbarenmaenner.wordpress.com/menu/Images:Holbeck Moor Road, Holbeck; Leeds and Holbeck After Dark by Steve PartridgeBuilding on a corner site, Holbeck Lane, Leeds by Humphrey BoltonEntrance to City Life development, Springwell Road by Stephen Craven St Matthews Community Centre by Philip BarkerAll other images by Belstaffie

Red Light Exposé is now 2-years-old!! To celebrate the anniversary of our launch, Andrea Heinz, Sybil Jo, and Elly Arrow hosted an "Ask Us Anything" livestream where listeners got a chance to ask... anything. So we ended up talking about music, podcasts, orgs doing the work, exercise and how we recuperate from the exhausting parts of activism.If you'd like to support us financially, have a look here: https://redlightexpose.com/donate-%2F-volunteer Recommended artists:Paris Paloma https://www.youtube.com/@parispaloma Fiona Apple https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3g2kUQ6tHLLbmkV7T4GPtL Alanis Morissette https://www.youtube.com/alanis Tori Amos https://www.youtube.com/@toriamos Regina Spektor https://www.youtube.com/@reginaspektor Broken Bells https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxEMC0cFUaffVm-0O082dmg Ani DiFranco https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9JkkItvdjEji6U4RQ3a1hg Caroline Polachek https://www.youtube.com/@CarolinePolachek Hozier https://www.youtube.com/@hozier Recommended music hour: WLRN Old Episodes Music Hour with DJ Phoenix https://open.spotify.com/search/wlrn%20music%20hour Recommended song: “And Leave” by Sóley https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/track/2XvCKfBg0cGmjl9yz8DUlq Recommended podcasts:Exit Wound https://www.exitwoundpodcast.com/ Subject to Power https://www.subjecttopower.com/ The New Feminist https://www.thenewfeminist.net/read The Yasmine Mohammed Podcast https://www.yasminemohammed.com/podcast Ending Sexploitation https://sexploitation.libsyn.com/ Recommended organisations:Sisters https://sisters-ev.de/en/ Netzwerk Ella https://netzwerk-ella.de/ Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) https://catwinternational.org/ CAP International: https://www.cap-international.org/en/ CEASE (Center To Empower All Survivors of Exploitation) https://www.ceasenow.org/ Vancouver Rape Relief https://rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/ CLES (La Concertation des luttes contre l’exploitation sexuelle) https://www.lacles.org/ Eve (Formerly Exploited Voices Now Educating) https://educating-voices.com/new/ Men Ending Trafficking https://www.menendingtrafficking.ca/ EmpowerMen https://empowermen.ca/ Not In My City https://notinmycity.ca/ Epik Project https://www.epikproject.org/ NCOSE https://endsexualexploitation.org/ YouMySister https://youmysister.org.uk/ New Yorkers For The Equality Model (NY4EM) https://www.equalitymodelny.org/equality-model 

A group of 8th graders at a German high school got the task to design an "inclusive" brothel during their biology class in 2026. The task is taken almost word-for-word from a 2008 sex ed book that includes a range of pro-BDSM and sex industry messaging directed at school kids and has been used in a number of classrooms since publication. Elly Arrow and Sybil Jo discuss what this vision of sex education looks like, its dark historical origins and how it hinders the important work of real violence and minority discrimination prevention.Sourceshttps://www1.wdr.de/nrw/niederrhein/kreis-kleve/kevelaer-prostitution-schule-100.htmlhttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexualp%C3%A4dagogik_der_Vielfalthttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Kentlerhttps://www.emma.de/artikel/kinderfreunde-es-geht-weiter-333657https://www.emma.de/artikel/falsche-kinderfreunde-263497https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/experten-warnen-vor-zu-frueher-aufklaerung-von-kindern-13203307.html