A Rant For Alexis Wright

You've probably heard about the big ol' scandal involving Alexis Wright, the Zumba instructor who's been accused of running a prostitution ring out of her studio, but did you know that she allegedly made a bunch of naughty videos--including secretly taped encounters with johns? Yep. And recently, a bunch of names of johns were released to the public. Now we have a drama storm involving the law, the media, morals, smut, and shame, and we feel the need to sort out our feelings on the whole situation.

In case you're not familiar with the basics of the story, Alexis Wright is a 29 year-old single mother and Zumba instructor who recently plead not guilty to over a hundred counts of prostitution, tax evasion, welfare fraud, and theft by deception. She and her business partner, Mark Strong Sr., allegedly ran their trade for a year and a half, hooking Alexis up with men around the area of Kennebunk, Maine, until a tipster let the police know about the ring. A while ago it came out that Alexis kept a number of online personas through which she posted homemade porn videos--some of which involved her clients--but only Mark Strong has been charged with invasion of privacy (on top of promotion of prostitution). Last week, a judge ruled that no materials connected to the case will be sealed (save for a hard drive of Strong's), meaning that the names of johns are being released. Today, another judge added that addresses and ages of the johns can also be released.

This last issue has caused a bunch of confusion and anger as men with names similar to the johns' have been harassed by the press, family members, and their respective communities. Not long after the names were let out, articles were published focusing on the unnecessary stress and embarrassment that men with no connection to Alexis Wright are facing, and some of them are even considering legal action.

We can't help but notice how much shame and pity are involved in this case, but so far they've only been brought up as far as the men have been concerned. Wright's clients are being shamed by having their names given out, men with similar names feel shame because of the identity mistakes, and Mark Strong's lawyer notes that Strong deserves pity because long before the johns' were named, his own "has been out in public and that his marriage and business have been ruined and his children embarrassed." But what about Alexis Wright? She's the real center in all of this, and she may lose custody of her child; should she feel shame, does she deserve pity? And where does all this shame stem from? We believe that a large portion of it is simply moral stigma connected with prostitution, and to a larger extent, sex. Furthermore, we believe it's totally unnecessary.

We're not saying Alexis Wright is innocent. It's terrible that she filmed johns without their consent, it's even worse that she posted some of those videos online, and then there's the whole nasty issue of her collecting welfare even though she was earning quite a lot of money on the side. All we're saying is that prostitution is a victimless crime. This might sound crass, but providing sex as a service isn't that different from the work she was legally doing; she was paid to be physical with people, and as long as she practiced safe sex and wasn't being exploited, there's nothing wrong about what she did. People fuck. Sometimes they pay attractive people for the pleasure. If it were legal, Alexis would've paid taxes and probably have contributed a considerable bit of money to the community.

But it's not, and instead we have a situation in which Alexis Wright looks like a carbuncle of sin and vice that needs to be removed from a quiet Maine town. Meanwhile, stuff like this happens all the time, everywhere in the country, and is even legal in certain places. It's frustrating. And honestly, we don't know where to go from here except, well, to look at a clip of Alexis doing naked Zumba in her studio. Maybe that's crass of us at this point, but she's gorgeous and she looks like she enjoyed making this. She's in touch with her erotic side and there's nothing shameful about that.

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[Above: a clip from one of Alexis's videos, via Gawker (gawker.com)]

[At top: pictures via Right Entertainment (rightentertainment.com)]