Red Light Exposé

Andrea Heinz speaks to Renze Nauta of Cardus, a non-partisan think-tank in Canada, about his recent report titled "Is 'Sex Work' Actually Work? Human Dignity, Liberty, and Prostitution Policy in Canada". They trace the history of the prostitution debate in Canada, policy results of a Nordic model with only partial implementation, the reality for exploited women and why at its core prostitution is incompatible with dignified labor, ...

Modern psychiatry often treats trauma as an illness or injury to be corrected.  In this episode, Sybil Jo and Elly Arrow will explore an alternate view, through the ancient Sumarian myth of Inanna.  The Queen of Heaven and Earth loses everything, including her Self as she knows it, to travel to the World of the Dead.  She returns transformed, with other-worldly Strength and Wisdom.  

What if “trauma&rd...

Investigators seeking to identify child abuse victims and hold their tormentors to account are dealing with a torrent of AI-generated material that looks convincingly real. Meanwhile, a U.S. federal appeals court just ruled that private possession of AI-generated child abuse material is legally sanctioned under the First Amendment. Sybil Jo and Elly Arrow dive into the situation and what perfidious thinking led us here.

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In this episode, Elly Arrow speaks to Derek Smith of the Derek Smith Law Group about the reality and legal situation for persons - usually women - enduring sexual harassment at work and how this form of predation mirrors commercial sexual exploitation. They touch on current and historic events such as the Anita Hill - Clarence Thomas, Weinstein as well as P.Diddy/Sean Combs cases and finally, how victims can access legal support.

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The term "AI girlfriend" is emerging, but therapist Paul Lavergne thinks the term "AI sl*t" is more fitting to describe the mentality of men who consume this new form of digital sexual exploitation. In this live stream, he shares with Sybil Jo and Elly Arrow his experiences treating men addicted to such material, what he observes studying websites that offer it, and the ramifications for the men themselves, the women and girls in t...

A recent BBC investigation revealed what some feminists have warned for a while: The swinging scene is repeatedly the site not of libertine unbridled joy, but of abuse of women by men. A number of men have responded to the dearth of genuine female volunteers for swinging by both hiring women in prostitution and coercing their wives and girlfriends into participation. In Germany, the trafficking into swingers clubs has even extended...

Elly Arrow and Sybil Jo conclude the conversation on the Trump-Epstein connection and the indicators that it produced Donald Trump's last marriage to Melania neé Knauss. They open with a discussion of Trump's (alleged) perpetrations of rape and assault in the Epstein ring context and outside, go over what's known of Melania's life story, their meeting, relationship, and why, despite all indicators of inequality and exploitation, th...

In this episode, Elly Arrow speaks to Izabella about her childhood in Romania, her traumatic youth and young adulthood that led her into commercial sexual exploitation, the reality of legal brothels in Austria and Switzerland, and experiencing the Swedish response to prostitution, which ultimately made it possible for her to exit and rebuild her life. Today Izabella works for Talita, a Swedish organization focused on supporting wom...

"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...

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 Tr...

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 Hollyw...

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 B...

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...

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 o...

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...

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...

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/dona...

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 historic...

Elly Arrow interviews Yagmur Uygarkizi about her years-long research into unethical medical trials conducted on sexually exploited women and girls in the Global South, the misogyny and racism that enable such experimentation, and how it all ties into the Gates Foundation’s work on HIV, even post the Melinda French and Bill Gates' divorce.

Correction: 

The Red Umbrella Fund only openly states having provided financial suppo...