THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I AM SO PROUD OF OTHER WOMEN AND TODAY IS ONE OF THEM : CONTACT YOUR POLITICIANS : EPSTEIN FILES TRANSPARENCY ACT

Among the things I admire about these women is the mention of other women who are not believed and may not be able to speak out or get justice in other countries, who don't speak English, from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries, women who were also sex trafficked by or for Jeffrey Epstein. These women have courage and they ask that others come forward if they too were abused and/or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein - Ghislaine Maxwell - or others we have not heard about. There are hundreds of women who have been silent or silenced.

In this blog, MISTRESS MANIFESTO, we explore some women who were no doubt raped, sexually exploited, some who made the best of their situation in their place and time when, overall, women had little to no opportunity to have education, careers, or opportunities for independence - even marriage could rarely be avoided. We would not know about most of them if it were not for literature, that they or someone else thought they were interesting and important enough to write about. 

Overall, life has improved for women, but there are still many who find themselves in situations they can't easily get out of, if at all.

Choice has expanded in Western culture, but it always rests in truth - information. There are so many situations in life were a person not only feels powerless, they are powerless.

As some of these women have stated they were fourteen years old, or sixteen years old, when they went to give "massage" to a rich older man who made it sexual abuse, intimidated them, and told them they had to bring other women to him. This is one of the reasons I suggest that it's probably not a good idea to consider becoming a Mistress until one has lived a while, completed an education, started a career, and explored one's own sexuality with consensual partners.

I'm linking to information on the EPSTEIN FILES TANSPARANCY ACT which is house bill #4405

This bill was introduced by
Representative Ro Khanna,  California, District 17 115th-119th

MERKLEY SENATE : TEXT OF THE EPSTEIN FILES TRANSPARANCY ACT

HOUSE GOV FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE

Give a call or send an e-mail. Get behind legislation that may lead to further protections for women.

MY POST FROM 2019 ABOUT THE SCANDAL on 8/13/2019 is titled THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN SEX TRAFFICKING SCANDAL - HOW YOUNG IS TOO YOUNG TO HAVE SEX?

HER EX MAY BE A SEXUAL PREDATOR : IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN DO?

QUESTION FOR MISSY

Dear Missy,

I live in a small town area of Los Angeles County. I had a brief relationship with a man who I soon thought might be one of those who will say anything he thinks you want to hear.  It was confusing but I decided against him.  Anyway, when I thought he might be sleeping around or have a steady girlfriend somewhere that he was cheating on, I decided to avoid encounters with him. He became predatory towards me even though months went by and we weren't dating. 

I'm not sure what would've happened if I'd resisted the time he saw me at my storage unit, where it turns out he rents too, and expected to have sex in the bathroom there. I managed to stop it before things went too far. Then there was the time I happened to see him in the park and he suddenly gave me a hug but also squeezed my rear for anyone who was looking to see.  He seems to want to give other men the impression I'm his...

More months went by and one day I saw him at the park where I sometimes walk at lunch. He offered me a ride back to work and I thought what the heck. Well, he pulled over in a parking lot and all of a sudden he was masturbating. I wasn't participating and I kept saying "Stop it. Let's get out of here. We could be arrested!" Finally a man was looking at the car and he said "He just wants to watch!" I insisted we leave.

Let's say he's just full of surprises.

More time went by. The last time I saw him I was walking down the street and heard someone calling "Hey Little Girl!"  He was in his van. (He has two cars and a van.) He didn't remember my name and I'm no little girl and he wanted me to get in. I kept walking and did not get in. I remembered the time I got into the van and he wanted me to get into the back.

I haven't responded to his texts or e-mails that say things like "I'm worried about you." 

I don't want his friendship. I actually feel ashamed of myself for being a mature woman who was fooled. But ever since that day where he called out "Hey Little Girl", thinking back on remarks he made like that he was having too much "fun" and was in his van sleeping in the next town for a week even he has an apartment in our town. I have this sick gut feeling that he might be driving around and trying to pick up females, who he will get sexual with, that he may molest or rape, since he is either always seductive or doesn't get no right away.

Is there anything I can do? I mean to have him checked out?

Nance

Los Angeles County

ADVICE FROM MISSY

Nance, 

I don't know if he's a sexual predator in general or focused on underaged girls or simply thinks he is seductive and adventurous but you are far from comfortable with him. That discomfort has translated to a suspicion that he may actually be picking up women in his van and that "Hey Little Girl" could be that he's preying up women, offering rides, even very young girls. I get it. Chances are the way he has been with you is the way he's been with other women.

I suggest you block his phone number and e-mail without any commentary or response. We think he just wants to assure himself you're still in his life in some way. 

We also think that should you run into him again and he asks if he can give you a ride or whatever, keep saying no. 

We get the small town aspect of this. Telling him you're involved with someone else - lying basically - can backfire on you because there might be a good man who is interested you and a healthy relationship who might hear you have a boyfriend when you don't. If you see him, therefore, and he is any way wants to reconnect, just be simple and say, "I'm not available." If he presses you say you have moved on. Don't give details or make up a boyfriend who does not exist.

As for reporting him to the authorities, other than your own experience, which you as an adult female participated in, you have no proof. We are strong knowing that even a husband, steady boyfriend, or date can be a rapist. What we don't know is if perhaps he actually has a prior record. I ran a search on Google using the terms Los Angeles and Sexual Predator and I see there may be someone to talk to about your suspicions. 

Maybe someone who knows more about this can talk with you and refer you?

DHS GOV - HOW TO REPORT  

***

Call the Los Angeles Police Department's non-emergency number at (877) 275-5273 to report an individual who abused you and to press charges, if applicable. Call and ask if there is anyone local you can speak to in the sex crimes unit.

***

THIS IS THE NATIONAL SEX OFFENDER WEB SITE. You can possibly use it to see if he has been convicted in the past!

NSOPW GOV (SEX OFFENDER LOOK UP)

Next time you meet a man who interests you, meet up with him a number of times in a brief and friendly way, such as having coffee, or in a group of friends, before you spend time just the two of you, and allow some time before you go past the goodbye kiss. It's not about being old fashioned or conservative, it's about being self protective.

Missy

PS: Check out Cassandra Peterson's book Yours Cruelly Elvira and the month I dedicated to her!

November 2023

THE THEFT OF CHOICE : SPECIAL EDITION of MISTRESS MANIFESTO  FEATURING CASSANDRA PETERSON 

C 2025 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot All Rights reserved including Internet and International Rights

CASSANDRA PETERSON ON THE SEXUAL ASSAULT SHE EXPERIENCED BY A CELEBRITY BASKETBALL SPORTS FIGURE

In perhaps the most horrific passage in her book, 'Yours Cuelly, Elvira' is the sexual assault that Cassandra experienced. To comply with the Google requirements for no sexual explicity, I have not changed any words below, but I have stopped at the ...

Excerpt:

"The other episode involved my friend "Unce Wilty' who I'd run into once or twice at the Playboy mansion since moving back to L.A.

In Las Vegas, whenever Wilt was in town, he and Sunny frequently slept over at the house I shared with her and our other roommates, and spent a lot of time hanging around the pool.  I got to know him and liked him a lot. He was flirty, although always respectful, but he did have a big ego to go along with his big body and big career. He was smart, interesting, and funny, and damn was he big. He towered over us at seven-one. We took a picture together by our pool one time and in it I look like a munchkin, only coming up a little above his waist. It was crazy how big he was - not just tall like his friend Lou Alcinder (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabber) who I'd met with him on a couple occasions, but huge, weighing in at 300 pounds. My entire outstretched hand just fit into his palm.

Wilt had always flirted and kidded around with me, but he was never pushy or rude. He was rich, good looking, and famous, so he had girls coming out of the woodwork. He hardly needed to force himself on anyone like me. I was somehow always able to deflect his advances by joking around, and he'd always laugh and slough it off. I'd known him for so long, I trusted him and felt comfortable around him.  ...

The third time I went to his house for a party, my friend bailed on me at the last minute, so I went alone. An hour or so into the party, he asked if I had seen the closet he'd built for his basketball jerseys from the various teams he'd played with over the years. As I shook my head no, he led me through his bedroom and into his closet, which was roughly the size of my single apartment.  I stood marveling at the rows of size fifteen shoes while he pulled jerseys off the rack  - the Philadelphia Warriors,  the Harlem Globetrotters, the L.A. Lakers - and laid them out on the center island for me to see.  "Wow!", I gasped, trying to look impressed even though I didn't know a thing about basketball. Suddenly, with no warning, he grabbed me from behind, gripped my neck with one gigantic hand, and shoved his sweatpants down with the other. ...

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.

I didn't respond. My face burned with anger and humiliation as he chuckled to himself on his way out of the closet. It all happened so fast I was still in shock. Trembling, I made sure he was gone, then ran into his bathroom, locked the door, and puked into his giant-sized toilet. ...

***

She never heard from this predatory narcissist "friend" again.  He knew what he was doing. This is the story of a man who a woman had known for some time, at least to the point where he had been welcome in her home and she his. And of a celebrity who bragged about having sex with thousands of women. One wonders how many of these women were raped. Cassandra said who would believe an out of work actress and ex stripper. I wish it were "Who would believe an outsized sports figure."

Well, I believe her.

What is the answer here? To never flirt? To never be friendly? To never go to a party? To never trust a man who is a friend? 

****

Please note that I listened to this book as an audio book in which Cassandra Petersen herself reads, and then I got the e-book. My download shows page numbers 252-254 which depends on the size of text one chooses. I do hope you'll want to read this book, just as I hope I've lead you to other books that are worthy of your time reading!  

Missy

CASSANDRA PETERSON WAS RAPED BY A MAN SHE INVITED IN FOR A DRINK

In Chapter 15 of Cassandra Peterson's book, 'Yours Cruelly, Elvira', she reveals that she was raped. The first rape she reports in this chapter happened after she invited a man who she'd met at a club and had a conversation with back to her place for drinks.  I know that some men do think that such an invitation is considered as an invitation to have sex, or to at less mess around a little. Such stories make us women far less likely to invite men on dates.

However, I think we women have to educate men - all men - including our brothers and platonic male friends, what rape is. I agree with Cassandra that even if things are far along, if a woman says stop, a man should comply. There are very many reasons why a woman may want to stop, from concern over contraception to not feeling well to sobering up to - very many reasons.  

In this case the man was a rapist. The classic rapist.  There is no confusion about it.

When she suggested they get together another evening, before much had happened, he was angry.  He threw her to the floor, he balled up his fist and asked her if she wanted her teeth knocked down her throat. He threatened her that he knew where to find her and that she was not to tell.  There are times when I do hope there is eternal hell rapists. They are rarely one time offenders. Such men rape and rape again. They hate women. Rape is violence. They love that they are destroying a woman's health, reputation, and sanity.

Cassandra says she knew people would think she had asked for it by inviting him in. Also, she was aware that as an ex showgirl and because of her sexy Elvira character, she was less likely to be believed if she did report the rape.

***

Please note that I listened to this book as an audio book in which Cassandra Petersen herself reads, and then I got the e-book. My download shows page numbers 251-252 for which I took notes.

CASSANDRA PETERSON HEARS THE WORDS "YOU'LL NEVER WORK IN THIS TOWN AGAIN"

Excerpts from the book Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson

Chapter You'll Never Work In This Town Again

"It fills me with so much hope and pride that women are finally able to speak out about the treatment we've had to endure from men. Women have always had to worry about the damage to their livelihoods,  not to mention the loss of their dreams and aspirations, which could result from resisting men's unwanted advances, or God forbid, reporting it.  These days men are finally having to think very seriously about the potential damage to their own careers that engaging in this type of sexist behavior may cause.  One way or another, it will catch up with them, and karma's a bitch."

(Cassandra goes on to describe some of the experiences she had beginning as a girl when the neighborhood child molester tried to get at her, another at age 12, then in the 7th grade,)

"Miraculously - seriously - miraculously I made it through my teen years without getting raped, although I had some very close calls. I learned over time to never walk alone at night, to never park in dark areas, to always check to see whether anyone was hiding in the back seat of my car before getting in, and to keep an eye in the rear view mirror to make sure no one was following me.  It's great to grow up feeling like you're being hunted, right girls?"

(On an interview for a national commercial, a man asked her if she liked performing a certain sexual act and got up from his desk without any clothes on below his shirt.) "Shaken I jumped to my feet and headed for the door as fast as my feet would carry me.  As I literally ran down the dark hallway, my commercial aspirations in the dumper, I heard him yell these very words" You'll Never Work In This Town Again."

Please note that I normally cite the page number but the e-book I downloaded does not have page numbers showing.

As I read this, I was reminded of experiences I've had, such as being groped suddenly by a stranger when I sat waiting to get into a restaurant. That man was old and I wondered just how many women had been groped by him, how many got chased around the desk in his office. 

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved Including Internet and International Rights.

ASKING FOR IT : THE ALARMING RISE OF RAPE CULTURE -- AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT by KATE HARDING : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

We first must understand what RAPE is!  Then we must be sure that our brothers and male friends understand that too. Anyone we go on a date with, anyone we are having a sexual relationship with, should understand that No is No, even when foreplay has gone on. They should know that permission is required every time and permission cannot be given by a woman who is passed out or asleep and that being in a steady relationship or married does not mean that either partner can never say no.

Of course we should also be "careful" but is being "careful" basically limiting, if not ruining, your life?

If you're like me, when I first heard of rape, when I was a teen, I thought it was horrible, almost unimaginable. I thought it was always physically violent and only imagined the scenario of sudden attack by a stranger who was waiting in an alley, in the be with a brute who used his strength, that she had to fight off the man, or try too, or was too scared to and froze and "let it happen." My experience in life was limited and my parents never brought up the possibility.

ASKING FOR IT: THE ALARMING RISE OF RAPE CULTURE -- and WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT was published in 2015 and is not outdated. Kate Harding is angry, as we all should be.  We might call her "a radical voice," but until there is no more rape on this earth, isn't that the voice that is necessary?  This book should get you angry, rile you up, and make you proactive.  If it doesn't maybe nothing will.

Was there anything in the book that I thought was over the top?  Yes.  It was an attack on academic researcher Deborah Tannen * who has written about how men and women seem to differ in their way of communication. To be fair, I have always hated the Men are from Mars, Women are From Venus books, the idea that we cannot escape gender especially because it seems it is always the woman who has to figure it out, change her ways, to get along with the man. I do think that there are genetic differences between those born female and those born male, and lots of variation as well. I personally do not know how much is socializing or cultural when it comes to expectations of gender, how we communicate, and so on. I think Tannen was trying to show us how we talk to each other - not just men and women but mothers and daughters too - so we can recognize ourselves if it fits and communicate better.

My feminism which idealizes equality for women clashed with reality. So sometimes we have to look at what is, how things are, even as we try for our ideals.

I doubt Tannen was ever coming up with apologies for why men rape (and I do face it that men sometimes get raped too, but usually by other men) and I do think her books are worth reading. 

As Harding points out, in our culture men get away with it, and that is perhaps the biggest issue, for if there is no punishment, or if a woman's experience is trivialized or she is blamed and the man gets an easy sentence, other men figure they can too. She brings up well known gang rapes; I frankly started thinking castration really is the remedy though it does not take a penis to rape and a violent person who still has arms and legs will use them.  My heart is broken for the women who have been, and for those who love them who are also affected. Rape is done by those who hate a woman or women.

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

If interested in Deborah Tannen's body of work:   Deborah Tannen  Her books include "You're Wearing That?" - "You're The Only One I Can Tell" - "I Only Say This Because I Love You" and others.

THE THEFT OF CHOICE : SPECIAL EDITION of MISTRESS MANIFESTO FEATURING CASSANDRA PETERSON

The inspiration for this month's excruciatingly uncomfortable subject is the story of her rape in the memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. You may be familiar with the character of Elvira, who years ago started out a long stretch as the hostess of late-night scary B-movies on television, some of them laughable, especially if you were in range of Los Angeles stations. Prior to becoming known as Elvira, Cassandra had what might be called a colorful life, which I'll get to in a moment.

I'm not a fan of horror or scary films and can't remember ever staying up late to watch the show, but I knew about Elvira the way I knew about Angelyne, who I elected as Honorary Mistress of the Month in October 2010, long before she was outed by a mysterious character and then a biopic was made of her life.  If you lived in Southern California in those days then you knew she was around.

Angelyne's mystery was how she could afford to be on so many expensive billboards all around town, how she could afford all the cosmetic surgeries, how she could afford pink sports cars, one after another, and spend so much time driving around Los Angeles and being seen. (She certainly did not seem to have a regular job or much in the way of actual acting work. She did manage to record some music...)  There were always whispers of mysterious benefactors. A friend of mine who had his moment of fame decades earlier and interacted with a number of people in entertainment told me who everyone said Kept Angelyne, which I've never revealed. Just about everything else he had ever told me about various show business people had checked out. But let me get back to Cassandra.

While Angelyne may live 'in character' and be famous for being famous, Cassandra Peterson, who as Elvira in some way got associated in some people's minds with Angelyne, played Elvira as an actor, keeping her private life private but not in a downright secretive way as Angelyne did. Some reviews of Peterson's book mentioned that finally she was getting personal. And she did in her memoir, including about her rape.

Of course Mistress of the Dark uses the term Mistress in a way that I do not here at Mistress Manifesto. Defining Mistress is one of the goals of this blog as we learn about so very many for whom a label such as Mistress might be right. Overall, however, the term Mistress implies a woman who is in command, if not of others, than of her own life, which can also seem to be ironic and contradictory, since in so many novels where Mistresses or Kept women or Courtesans are the main character they are actually subject to a passion that makes them sin.  

When I search for books that are non-fiction in libraries to read and consider for inclusion here, I always encounter hundreds of fictive books in which the Mistress is a character.  Sometimes I think there are hundreds of such books for every one that is non-fiction. Why, I ask myself, are all these novels written, sold, and read?  I think it's because many women do have the fantasy of being in a relationship outside of marriage.

One of the aims of Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot is to to look at the realities. We ask how did (and do) Courtesans, Mistresses, Kept People, Groupies, Harem concubines, and just plain women who have affairs with men who aren't free to marry them, live their lives? We wonder if, as in films, the 'bad girl' is always punished by society or fate.  We do this at a time when people are more open in general about who they are and what they want, and sometimes what they want falls into the category of Alternative Lifestyle.

We love the idea that we have Choice, but how much Choice do we have?

To review the book Yours Cruelly, Elvira:

Cassandra Peterson grew up with an abusive narcissistic mother caused her much pain and a beloved father who did not defend her. She grew up in a lower-middle class home where there was no talk of careers or college for her. She was a Beatles-maniac and long live rock and roll! She became the youngest showgirl in Las Vegas at the time; her parents signed their agreement. She's been Sex Positive and never shy about showing off her physical assets, in particular her breasts. Meeting Elvis Presley, who gave her some wise advice, was the highlight of her life in Vegas. 

Attempting to support herself as she took bit parts and background work, Cassandra Peterson went to Italy where she had some experiences that could have turned out worse. Destitute and squatting, ripped off and escaping a criminal lover, she ended back in America. In Los Angeles she decided to add her natural sense of humor to her bawdy personae. She took classes with the Groundlings comedy troop, which she eventually was invited to join. She and a partner wrote the comedy scripts for the horror show evenings she hosted

In her personal life she was not shy about having sex and didn't hold herself to traditional values. Not religious, she favored the Ernest Holmes Science of Mind way of goal setting. She also lovingly accepted gay men as friends, coworkers, and co-creatives. For a long time she-who-would-someday-be-known-as-Elvira was just scraping by, even when she had room mates or lived with a man to keep the cost of living down, even as she paid her dues and took her acting and improv classes, even as she sought agents, went on auditions, and took rejections.

When I first saw the book as an offering as an e-audio book and an e-book at my library, I thought, what the heck, I'm under no obligation to read it if it turns out it's no good. But it was, surprising so.  First of all, I love e-audio books when the writer/author reads their own work. Cassandra does, expressively, and humorously.  She's frank. And I was surprised at how much I was enjoying the book and could relate to her as a human being. Even if I personally would be far too self conscious to ever be a showgirl, I could certainly understand how much she loved music, how big a deal meeting Elvis and having a good conversation with him it was. I could certainly understand about being true to one's art, even if it didn't pay.

So when I got to Chapter 15, entitled You'll Never Work In This Town Again and she started reading/speaking about it, knowing already that she had been propositioned many times, had been sexually harassed, had been offered work in exchange for sex (in Hollywood called 'the casting couch') by sleazy men, I was unprepared to hear that she had, after fending off and surviving so much, been raped. 

So, this month as a Special Edition here at Mistress Manifesto, the focus is Rape, which is the Theft of Choice and so horribly common, and so hateful towards women, I swear sometimes I think castration should be the punishment. 

Thank You Cassandra Peterson for inspiring this Special Edition.

Cassandra Peterson was married for twenty five years and suffered six miscarriages before finally having a child at age 43. She had long been involved in LGBTQ Rights but had to adjust when she herself fell in love with another woman. When her book came out in 2021 she was seventy years old and had been in that relationship for 19 years. As an activist she has also been involved in PETA anti-fur campaigns. She is also for the Me-Too Movement and is vocal about having been verbally and psychologically abused not only in her childhood, but also in her marriage. 

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

You might be interested in reading: ANGELYNE THE BILLBOARD QUEEN : RUMORED MISTRESS OF THE MONTH is in the archives for October 2010

P.S. I'm not suggesting Petersen has been a Mistress or a Courtesan or a Kept Woman. Her memoir does not suggest it.

"THE HOTTEST BLAZE IN BURLESQUE" BLAZE STARR and THE CONTROVERSIAL LOUISIANA GOVERNOR EARL K. LONG : A ONE YEAR AFFAIR MADE INTERNATIONAL NEWS

BLAZE STARR

publicity photo Image downloaded from New York Public Library digital collection

Fannie Bell Fleming

1932 –  2015

I've long wanted to elect Blaze Starr to my pantheon of Mistresses, not because she was a Burlesque Queen in the 1950's, but because of her unlikely and very public affair with married politician Louisiana Governor Earl Kemp Long in 1959-1960.  Their relationship ignited such controversy, not just because he was married; it was the combination of these two personalities that turned their one year affair into international news. Their relationship ended right after he was re-elected because he died.

Born in 1932, just a few years before Marilyn Monroe, whom Fannie Bell watched, the girl who would become a famous star on the burlesque circuit was West Virginia poor and would die there at her home at the age of eighty-three. (Her beloved dog died a couple hours later!) The oldest of eleven children, her coal miner father died of Black Lung, leaving her mother with all those children to raise. Fannie Bell left home to make it in the world and never did forget her family in the process. She needed to send money home and did. What was humble and West Virginia in her served her well. She brought comedy to her act, was famous for her inventive use of props that included smoke and fire, kept things decent by today's standards- no hard core porn, and connected with her audiences. Fannie Bell's humanity shone through. She was genuine, a real person, although some reviewers of her memoir felt she had held back some.  

For years she traveled the Burlesque Circuit, appearing at various clubs for a week or two, then moving on. Burlesque audiences were only satisfied by seeing new women, new acts. In the 1950's through the 1970's Blaze was at the Two-O'Clock Club in Baltimore. It was a club she may have owned. (Some say she did, others that she bought half interest in it for an ex boyfriend.) Upon her death in 2015 the Baltimore Sun Newspaper obituary said she had once been the most famous person in Baltimore. 

In 1989 she served as a consultant and acted in a cameo role in a film made about her life called 'Blaze' that starred Lolita Davidovich as Blaze with Paul Newman acting as Governor Long. The film was based on her memoir.  

Unfortunately, Blaze's motivation for leaving rural West Virginia may not just have been the need for money, for she was not yet sixteen years old. She may have been gang raped at fourteen or fifteen. She had physically matured early with breasts that filled a DD cup. Being molested or raped as a teen is sadly the story of too many of the women I've posted about here on this blog. What a horrendous way to be introduced to sexuality, to be robbed of choice and authority over one's own body, mind, and spirit.

As for Governor Earl K. Long, there are far more books and articles written about him than there ever were about Blaze. He was a character, even thought of as possibly mentally ill, in his way outrageous, yet he had been serving the people of Louisiana for a very long time. His wife decided he was mentally insane and had him committed, but he sprung himself and got re-elected anyway.

Blaze was married one time to a nightclub owner, Carroll Glorioso, which ended in divorce.  She said she knew that men, being men, cheated, and it didn't mean a thing but after he confessed he had cheated, a divorce followed.

Blaze, like many women who succeeded in Burlesque were wary of being supported by men, though they also allowed themselves the benefit of Stage Door Johnnies.

Here is what Leslie Zemekis, author of Behind the Burly Q, a primary reference for this month's posts, wrote:

Excerpt page 280 quoting Blaze Starr :

"In West Virginia there is a lot of spousal abuse. We'd walk through the hills two miles to get to school and kids would have their tales "Daddy beat mommy and he blacked both eyes, broke her ribs." The men would get drunk, then cry and ask for forgiveness." It taught her a valuable lesson. "I would never want to be in position to have someone support me.  I would make my own way," she said.

She explained, "Everyone was poor in those years.  It was luxury to own a cow.  There were no doctors in the area. People rode horses and wagons."  

Her mother was a schoolteacher in a one-room school and "Every 18 months a baby would come." Blaze had eleven siblings, one died at six months. She helped raise the others.

***

Fannie Bell was close with her mother who told her whatever she did, do it the best. In the film she comes home to tell her mother that the money she's earning isn't from singing or acting and her mother shows her that she already knows, she's kept the news clippings.  Her mother is without negative judgement.

Her only marriage, to nightclub owner Carroll Glorioso, ended in divorce.

Blaze, in her own book, recounted her story about meeting and later having a few dates with the man who would become President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.  She said that she and other dancers had met him previously.  However it's this passage from Leslie Zemeckis' book that is telling because when the met more officially, Kennedy acted as if it was the first he had ever met her.

Excerpt Page 208 quoting Blaze

"I'd met Governor Earl Long, working the Sho Bar. (New Orleans)  Earl was there that night, he had a table.  A big club, with a big balcony - everything filled up.  People standing at the door.  JFK and Jackie came in. I thought.  This can't be.  Now this cannot be. By then I was a Jackie fan. I come out - they were at Earl's tale.  ... Earl told me to be nice to him, 'He's gonna be your next president.' JFK shook my hand as if I'd never seen him before. He said,' Ms. Starr, you were very good tonight. " She replied, "I've been told I'm the very best."

(Jackie was also complimentary)

Twenty minutes later, Jackie left her husband at the clu b "I ain't telling you about the rest of the night, " Blaze said.

***

Blaze was discovered to have what she called a "small heart problem." She retired after having five bypass surgeries, not wanting to die naked on stage. When told her recovery would take a few years she did an enterprising thing.  She went rock hunting in North Carolina for rubies and emeralds and learned to cut them. Then she created and sold jewelry.

In 1975 she sold the Two O'Clock Club in Baltimore. Blaze, in her sixties, went back to West Virginia and family. She had made some wise investments and the cost of living there was low.

This month I will post on Blaze Starr, as Mistress of the Month, based on a variety of sources including a book about Burlesgue called Behind the Burly Q by Leslie Zemeckis. I hope you, my reader, will stick with me as we explore the life of this vivacious performer and the Governor, here at Mistress Manifesto.

Missy

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved Including Internet and International Rights

*** I kept checking YouTube videos for quality and an absence of commercials. (There were some but in keeping with the Google policy for public bloggers I can't post what might be considered offensive or X-rated.  I kept checking libraries for a copy of the book Blaze Starr!: My Life as Told to Huey Perry ( published in 1974).  I found one library that had a copy hidden away in reference: my special requests to borrow it rather than travel several hours a day to read it was not granted. On the Internet  a bottom price for a beat up copy was about $70. One source wanted near $200 for it. ming. I did find reviews and excerpts. No wonder the library had the book locked up! I want to do my best for Fannie Bell Fleming. This would not be the first month since beginning Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot that I would have to synthesize my posts from a variety of sources, some repetitive, and make some judgement calls too. 

You may also be interested in these archived posts:

November 2016

ELIZABETH L. RAY : Mistress of Representative Wayne L. Hays. She said, “I Can’t Type, I Can’t File, I Can’t Even Answer The Phone.”

September 2018

GYPSY ROSE LEE - Stripper Mistress in New York of Waxy Gordon

May 2021

JEWELL DIANNE "LADY" WALKER - A Mistress of Billionaire J. Howard Marshall : She went Christian and Died of a Face Lift. 

JULIAN ASSANGE and RAPE - WHY IT'S RAPE and WHY IT's WRONG ; OPINION by MISSY

I've been reading around the controversies surrounding Julian Assange, who started WikiLeaks, the full transparency organization that believes any form of censorship is wrong, and who has been, as of mid December 2016, when I'm writing this, "holed up" in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, England, for years now. 

After much legal wrangling, which involves the country of Sweden, where Assange has been accused of Rape, in November 2016 it was finally agreed that Sweden could question him at the embassy, rather than Assange leave there and go to Sweden to face legal issues.  So Sweden did, and apparently got a DNA sample too.

Assange claims he is not concerned with the Rape charges but cannot walk free because Great Britain will arrest him and before you know it, he'll be charged with crimes against the United States of America.  I think he has every reason to believe this is true.  He is not being detained in the embassy by Ecuador, and yet, he risks walking out that door.

Some think of him as a hero, man who is letting the citizens of the world know the truth providing a searchable database that probably no one person has ever read word for word.  His organization thinks of themselves as Journalists, while even Journalists have more discretion.

Because so much else has been going on, such as the U.S. Presidential election, which Wikileaks may have influenced against candidate Hillary Clinton, I feel that the charges of Rape that are partially responsible for Assange's stay at the Embassy, have been almost ignored for some time.

Now, I do not know that Assange committed Rape.  But I realize that the definition of Rape is confusing in this situation.

When people hear the word "Rape," they almost always imagine some form of physical violence, and some women who are raped experience being abducted, beaten, tied up, and violated in more than one way, sometimes with objects other than a man's anatomy.  Since the woman does not want to have sex, does not wish to be in pain, all this Power Over makes it clear that she has been badly disrespected and used, if not tormented. A woman who escapes from such a scene is often psychologically intimidated and suffers for years beyond any physical healing she might do. She may be turned off sex, have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, be deeply Depressed. 

If she is brave though devastated, she makes it to an emergency room where she goes through an exam that can be difficult, her internal and external injuries documented, and she experiences the choice of also trying to put her rapist in prison where he belongs in legal courts that often assume that women are "asking for it" or cannot be raped by husbands, boyfriends, or dates, especially if they ever did have consensual "YES" sex with the person before.  A woman experiences being devalued just for being in a female body.  She experiences being treated as though she were not a person who should have a CHOICE to have sex, not just once, but EACH and EVERY TIME someone wants to have sex with her, even if she is in a committed relationship..

Contrast that with the form of Rape that Julian Assange was accused of.  There was first consensual sex, so what's being discussed is the second time. The woman fell asleep and woke to find him trying to have sex with her, and without protection, that is the claim. A woman who is sleeping is not conscious to give permission. IS SWEDISH LAW overprotecting women?  Is the law just craziness?

If a woman has not awoken to say yes to sex, there is a possibility that she could become pregnant, or infected with a VD.  She could face the rest of her life with an unplanned for, unwanted child, having the hard choice or putting a child up for adoption, or the hard choice of abortion, and further, her chances at finding another man, maybe a man to love her who can accept all this, might not be so good. Perhaps a lover who can accept a woman who has herpes, HIV-AIDS, or is infertile through an STD, is out there, for her.  Maybe someone who doesn't mind that she's got another man's child to support or has had an abortion. Yes, I know that some people find love despite everything.  However, it's not uncommon for such women to find themselves considered damaged by other men.

What kind of man would, sneakily, put a woman at risk for all this?

When a woman is high or drunk, she may get sloppy about giving permission for a man to enter her body, may forget to ask or tell him to use protection, and if he is high or drunk, he might want to skip it or forget.  The world is full of accidental children conceived like that. When a woman is SLEEPING, she is in no condition to give permission, to even hear the question being asked.  She is not on a substance. She's just naturally doing what our bodies do when they need rest, sleeping, and she is NOT COGNITIVE.  SHE CANNOT GIVE HER PERMISSION.  Neither can, sad to say, women of limited intelligence; that they are taken advantage of sexually and raped more so than women who have a higher intelligence I have no doubt.  One of my friend's sister who is of low intelligence was gang raped.  A neighbor's sister was put on the Pill by her parents, because they are afraid she will be raped.

Men, overall, seem to need an education about this.  I've overheard men say things to each other like, "I get all the women I want, I don't have to Rape."  So perhaps some men think that Rapists are desperate men, but while they may be that true (and yes, I do know that Rape can be homosexual, lesbian, or a woman raping a man, but I'm keeping to the heterosexual because Assange is) there is so much else going on.  Rape is extremely inappropriate behavior.  It's criminal behavior.  And often there's out of control anger involved.  The rapist may be a psycho.

If you are a woman reading this, please educated the men around you on this issue such as your brother and platonic male friends, as well as, before you have sex with him the first time, a man you want to have sex with.  Let him know that sneaky sex, without permission, without protection, without that YES, is not OK, not ever.  It may not be the same as strong arming, clearly violent Rape, but it is still Rape.

Missy

C 2017 All Rights Reserved  including Internet and International Rights

The SLOW SEDUCTION of DAWN SCHILLER from her book THE ROAD THROUGH WONDERLAND - SURVIVING JOHN HOLMES

THE ROAD THROUGH WONDERLAND - Surviving John Holmes
By DAWN SCHILLER, C  2010,  is published by Medallion Press

MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW and EXCERPTS

Dawn's childhood and early teens were colored by absent parents and living in a violent slum environment in Florida. Her mother was a German immigrant who'd married an American GI, came to America, and found herself working three waitressing jobs to support her three children. She and her children were abandoned as her Viet Nam vet husband, who had handled Agent Orange and got disfiguring cancer, became a hippie and traveled. Dad's return to Florida was only to admit that he had another woman and child in Thailand and to ask for a divorce. Oddly the children were asked which parent they would prefer to live with. Dawn and her younger sister chose their Dad because their stressed out hot tempered mother was sometimes abusive and their pot smoking Dad seemed so mellow. They wanted out and he talked California. 

Maybe it was fate but as they drove across the country, they chose to pick up a hitchhiker because he looked safe and like he had some pot. They were right and this hitchhiker took them to the place where he had a woman awaiting him, a loving woman named Harriet, who was unaware he had another woman too. Soon the hitchhiker was gone, leaving Dad to carry on an affair with Harriet, leading her on and making promises he never intended to keep because she provided a roof over their heads.  (Harriet would eventually go after Dad legally for Breach of Promise, having had to move back home with her parents.)

But perhaps what is more remarkable is that it was the mid 1970's Glendale, California, Harriet lived as a renter on a property described as a "court" with small cottages, and in one of them lived John C. Holmes, porn star, and his wife Sharon, who was managing the property, and in another, John's brother David and his wife Karen, who were financially dependent on John. Several of the renters at this property quickly understood that the family new from Florida were near homeless, destitute and hungry. They cared enough to allow Harriet her guests long term, other residents sent over food, and Sharon and John both came up with odd jobs around the property so that Dawn could make some money.

So far, so good, you think.
Then you ask, at what point was it that all this caring and sharing covered over the fact that an adult male, married and a star in the world of pornography, was seducing an underage female?  (Many adults suspected or knew something was up, and John's own brother and Sister in Law knew more than Sharon because they were in on the drug use!)

We know that Mom was left in Florida. Dad is gone a lot. It turns out that after he enrolled Dawn and her sister in high school, applied for government benefits, and went to the local VA for further skin cancer treatment, he also got himself a job and an apartment in Riverside, about an hour's commute south, and imported his long waiting Thai lover to be there. He would suddenly yank Dawn out of Harriet's with the lie that they were all going back to Florida. Dawn's sister did go. By this time John C. Holmes was so involved with Dawn Schiller that he conspired to get her back to Glendale, and he and Sharon helped the high school drop out, get full time work as a nurses aid.

HERE THEN is a progression of seduction, from DAWN SCHILLER's own book.

John, while Sharon was working full time, took Dawn and her younger sister to Zuma Beach - Pirates Cove - which was a nude beach and where Dawn and John were body painted.  (Page 115-116)  (They got naked, no touching.)

"John sees my father's lack of concern for my whereabouts and takes the initiative to ask me to join him for errands alone more often."  (Page 122) (This soon includes going to the beach, mountain hikes, and an overnighter camping trip, that included her sister and sister's boyfriend the first time, at Leo Carrillo State Park near Zuma Beach.)

John sets up her sister, who is a young teenager herself, to have a "private" conversation with Dawn about their age difference and what her true feelings are for him.  "Stunned I am frozen to my spot on the water bed.  John's delighted laugher trails behind him across the courtyard all the way to his door."  (Page 130)  (He's listening in and her younger sister seems to be the more mature one, who says she thinks John is acting like a high school kid.)  (Page 131)

John has her wait in the car as he goes into the Pussycat Theatre where his film THE AUTHOBIOGRAPHY OF A FLEA, a Victorian era piece, is playing, to buy tickets.  She is underage but together they see one of his porn films.  (Page 133)

He takes her to Zuma to "Make love" with him in the van.  While his moves are seductive and even gentle to start, and Dawn's not a virgin, "I close my eyes and silently let the terrible searing pain of finality wash over me with the crash of the ocean tide."  (138)  On the silent ride home, "Everything hurts and I can't walk."  (Page 139)  Three days later, Harriet takes her to a clinic for antibiotics.  Harriet seems to guess that Dawn has had sex.

Then, John gifts her a teddy bear and a birthstone ring.  (Page 141)

He takes her for a weekend to PALM SPRINGS where they stay as "Mr. and Mrs. Holmes" at the Biltmore Hotel in a private bungalow.  (Page 146)  (More sex.)

After Dad announces they are leaving the day before they are to go, he gives John a "murderous stare" and John calls Dad "a son of a bitch"  Then Dawn's sister, who is going back to Florida with her boyfriend, says, "John knows, the whole courtyard knows - what Dad is doing to Harriet... and everybody knows about you and John too."  (page 155)

Back alone to Glendale and the cottages, leaving Dad and his Thai lover in Riverside, John's brother and sister in law, in whose cottage she is staying temporarily, start providing food, and Sharon shows up with a casserole.  John, soon back from France, gives dawn "a thick platinum band lined with three large diamonds." as well as poetry he wrote for her that she thinks is beautiful.  (pages 178-179)

Sharon helps her get work at a local nursing home by providing Dawn some of her own old uniforms, sometimes drives her to work, and they rent her a room somewhere on the property that needs a lot of fixing up.  John brings furniture - antiques that he strips and refinishes.  Sharon brings in towels, sheets, comforters, silverware, dishware.  (Pages 179-180.)

AT THIS POINT THE SHARON, JOHN, and DAWN LOVE TRIANGLE BEGINS.

John takes Dawn to Barstow in a van to pick out a Boston Bull puppy to give Sharon as a gift.  (Page 182)

Sharon starts inviting her over to their place for dinner and treats her like family.  Sharon and John surprise her with a brand new 10 speed bike to get to work.  (Page 185)

John takes Dawn to Vegas on a Harley.  Sharon knows and advises them to take some water with them.  Brother David and sister in law Karen will be there too to gamble and drive them and the Harley back to LA.  (Page 187)

Sharon and John lower her rent because she is now collecting rent, sharing in the apartment management job.  (Page 193)

Has Dawn now become legally an emancipated minor?  (It doesn't say but if so, maybe that throws a different understanding into this situation.)  Dawn says in her book that her Mom now knows that John is her boyfriend and that John and Sharon just live together.  Turns out that Mom, her sister and younger brother are moving from Florida to Oregon.  Mom sends her bath mats and towels for her new place.

CHAPTER NINE is called IT TAKES THREE TO TANGO  (It's 1978 and Dawn is now about 18.)


The three of them spend most of their evenings at home, playing scrabble and rummy and listening to classical music.  Dawn is invited to move into their spare bedroom and give up the room she's been renting, and is being mentored by Sharon to pass her certification as a nurses aid. Sharon knows that John and Dawn are still going on weekend trips - the beach - the mountains - Palm Springs - Vegas - and usually declines to go.   When Sharon does go to Vegas with them, she's the one covering for her need for an ID because she's underage and the three of them share one king sized bed, with John in the middle.(Page 214)

 

A RUSSIAN WOMAN WHO WAS RAPED MARRIED AN AMERICAN WHO WENT TO PRISON FOR ABUSING HER

CHAPTER : IT'S NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

UNNAMED WOMAN from Sevastopol, Russia, a Black Sea port.  She came to the United States and married a man who abused her and who she escaped from.  He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Page 240)  SHATTERED DREAMS BROKEN PROMISES is C 2007 Michael Viner Phoenix Books

"Most mothers were very careful not to let their daughters out of their sights.  We were counseled to never get in any man's car even if the ride was offered during a rainstorm or heavy snowfall.  Gradually, as a couple years passed, after school, my girlfriends started talking about sexual experiences.  They told frightening stories of being raped by men, all sorts of men: clerks at the grocery store, teachers after class, truck drivers along the highway, a group of boys out for a joyride in their parent's car.  The stories were plentiful and awful. More than a third of the girls grew up with this shared fate.

There was no one to complain to.  When a girl tried to report anything, she was ridiculed by the police and usually blamed for having provoked the situation.  In fact, for some off us, this came to be considered a rite of passage.  Almost all of us were raised by our moms with little or no help from our fathers, who usually traded in a wife every ten years or less for a newer, younger model.  In a country where the woman outnumbered the men fifty-five to forty-five percent, there was little choice for the women,.  And Soviet women outlive their male counterparts by an average of twenty years, so most women spend their later years without anyone to chop the wood..."

Page 253)

"It happened that Mark, although American, didn't know the immigration laws of his own country.  He had threatened me.  After I improved, the hospital sent me to a shelter for homeless people.  They gave me a place to sleep and food to eat.  Half the women in the shelter like me, all victims of domestic violence...  It was important for me to be among people who understood me and cared.  I was a zombie.  I couldn't think about anything.  I felt nothing.  It was just very comfortable and secure with all those strong women.  They tried to help me very much.  They were kind to me... The Office of Immigration and Naturalization drew up papers under the battered' wife's law, which allowed me to remain in the country and to apply for immigration papers without an American husband.... Recently, my free government lawyer filed an application Form I-360 for me.  It gives me the right to get a green card because I was a victim of domestic violence.  We attached a copy of the police report, the medical records, and a psychological evaluation from the Women's Center of Albany."  ..."

SHATTERED DREAMS BROKEN PROMISES - THE COST OF COMING TO AMERICA by MICHAEL VINER : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

It's common knowledge that there are thousands of beautiful and desperately poor women who want out of Eastern Europe. 

Some of these women are also romantic and innocent, or at least idealistic and hopeful.  Some have been raped or had their reputations ruined in their own country and there is no recourse.  A woman may feel she has nothing left to loose and maybe it will turn out OK.

Each chapter of this book is a woman's personal story about leaving her home country hoping for a better life - a better man - a better education or job - a higher standard of living - even great wealth.  

What woman anywhere cannot relate to that desire to do well? 

Many Russian and other Slavic women are lured to the United States to be brides. Some of them are happy with the match they have made or at least tolerant of it because they want to stay long enough to not only get Green Cards to work but to become U.S. Citizens.  What a woman from Eastern Europe expects out of a man and marriage may also be radically different from what women in America expect. In Russia, according to this book, it is common for men to be alcoholic, beat their wives, and have more than one girlfriend at a time.  So they may feel "anything could be better."

A woman who wants to be married and may be coming to the U.S. to marry should ask herself why a man, especially one who is successful in his work and owns a home, cannot find a bride in the United States.  He may say he doesn't like American women and is looking for something an Eastern European woman has (or he imagines she has) such as being more sexual or more obedient or servile.  Maybe he is counting on a woman not knowing the truth about him until she is here and it is too late.

Sadly, I've use the word lure because of the dishonesty that many Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and other Slavic women experience, that leads them into not only being unhappy wives but becoming strippers, prostitutes, and sometimes drug addicts.  These women who are trapped in sex work, even trafficked as slaves, often then lie to their families in Europe about what they are doing to send money and even support the whole family from here. 

At what price?

Some make enough to go back and restart a life there without anyone knowing what really happened to them in America.

The title of this book, "Shattered Dreams Broken Promises" is in error because there are some happy endings in this collection,  but there is also, sadly, stories of women who are willingly involved in crime in order to financially profit from American men through dangerous scams, women who are involved with Russian Mafia, and one women based in London who says she owns Internet prostitution sites and has made millions.  

In some chapters, if you read this book, you will get the impression that Eastern European women want to go into prostitution in order to make as much money as possible in their beautiful youth.  So, as you read, you may experience a tangle of emotions and wish you could ask some questions of these women.  If you are not so poor yourself, you may not have a personal experience of this desperation and judge them harshly. 

But is a woman a victor rather than a victim because she is the person who is making millions through criminal activity?

I'm concerned that there are so many women who are fooled into ruining their lives.  I'm concerned that they are told, once they get to the U.S., that the job they were promised is actually to be a sex worker.  How terrible to have no way out other than to become homeless and on the street in a foreign country where they don't have real friend.  Since they do not even have the money to buy a plane ticket back to Russia, some are told they only have to prostitute until they pay the person who bought their ticket back.  That is usually a lie too.

There are women who do marry and are soon abused and afraid to report it, though, interestingly, if a woman is beaten she may instantly qualify for protection and legal status in the United States.  (So if you are an immigrant woman reading this and are being tricked or abused going to the police is the thing to do.  Call 911 or a domestic abuse hotline or go to a police station and ask to be taken to a woman's shelter as your next step.  I will give a National Hotline number for those who are being Sex Trafficked as well at the end of this month.)

A few years ago I was taking a walk when I saw a police car pull up to an elegant town house on a quiet street.  It was in the middle of the day.  I was curious as two officers ran to the door.  A young beautiful woman with a small suitcase was waiting for them.  I heard them talking to her.  "He lied to me." she began.  "My mother is taking care of my child in Russia."

 SHATTERED DREAMS BROKEN PROMISES is C 2007 Michael Viner  Phoenix Books