I have been meaning to write about the ongoing saga of (now former) NY Attorney General Office prosecutor Alisha Smith-AKA Alisha Sparks in her private life as a dominatrix. They say sex sells and judging by the amount of readers I've had for my previous posts on Ms. Smith this would seem to be true. My initial piece about her on September 19 is now my 3rd most viewed post ever.
To read it please click here http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2011/09/alisha-smith-civil-liberties-victim.html
Another followup piece on September 21 has recently bumped up to 5th all time.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2011/09/alisha-smith-aka-alisha-sparks-and.html
Clearly there is interest in this ongoing story and I was waiting for a chance to discuss it more. This chance has come as Ms. Smith has now resigned from her position with NY AG and is considering legal action with her attorney, none other than the (in)famous feminist lawyer Gloria Alldred-she has her strong advocates and adversaries. It's interesting how much allegiances can shift. I disagreed with her about the Weiner case as she seemed to feel he had done something highly improper; in fact he had done nothing wrong at all other than mistakenly hitting his "Mention" rather than "Direct Message" button on Twitter when he sent his risque picture to his (willing) female Twitter friend. Last heard he was in therapy for sex adidcts-yet there never was any sex; not like Bill Clinton's "oral sex is not sex" argument, but really no sex.
However, on this Ms. Alldred is correct. I feel that Alisha Smith is a legitimate civil rights victim. Technically the reason for her suspension without pay in September is that she "may have" received more than $1,000 in financial compensation for her night job as a dominatrix. If so it is in violation of NY AG policy without getting permission. Yet I must say that I'm highly skeptical that this is not motivated for other reasons than violating this policy. Unless you can show me that it is normal for people to be disciplined for this policy one has to suspect that it was political. Adding insult to injury the suspension was handed out solely due to an article in the NY Post. Ms. Smith was given no opportunity to even respond to the allegations. She claims she was not paid beyond $1,000.
For the latest
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/with_gloria_allred_at_her_side_lawyer_denounces_ags_response_to_dominatrix_/
For my part I don't really care if she was or wasn't though it is a pivotal issue in her case and she is maintaining she did not. For my part, again, I want to see that it is usual to come after people this hard over this or as I suspect, if she made the money teaching Sunday School there would be no issue. I wish her well in her legal action.
Not only do I find this case interesting but I find it interesting that it has generated so much interest. As I had argued in the original piece while it was portrayed as Smith leading a "double life" where she fulfills a radically different role outside the office it strikes me that in many ways her outside like as a dominatrix is in some ways a bringing of her public life as a successful securities prosecutor into her private life. As Ms. Alldred puts it, "The issue of whether she does have a dominant personality, she feels it makes her successful as a lawyer." pg 7 of today's NY Post. 10/18/2011. She is a very successful lawyer, in 2009 she successfully prosecuted Bank of America among other bank defendants for securities fraud and got a settlement for $5 billion dollars, earning her special commendation from then Attorney General (now Governor of course) Andrew Cuomo.
It seems to me that the interest in this story is because it touches on a number of visceral areas: prurience about certain sexual matters, especially "kinky" activities who many probably feel that since they think it's weird, shouldn't get the level of civil liberties others do. It also touches on issues of women and power. It seems to me that overall this is a classic Zizekean case where Ms. Smith's real crime is an excessive enjoyment(jouissance) that needs to be curtailed and for which she must be punished. Consider the final sentence of today's NY Post piece by Andrea Peyser:
"Three years ago, Smith was lauded by then_AG Andrew Cuomo foe helping obtain a $5 billion settlement from Bank of America and others in a securities-fraud case. Now she's unemployed"
"Considering the bruising the kinky one inflicted on the reputation of the state, it's for the best."
Peyser really has her cake and eats it too. In this very salacious and deliberately suggestive post by her where she takes pleasure in writing sentences like this: "She'll beat you. She'll bite you. And she can get you locked up for 15 to life." and
"after being suspended without pay last month when her bosses learned from the Post about her frisky nocturnal ministrations." in addition to which Peyser even explains to us that latex is more kinky than spandex she finishes of with a sentence that is meant to show her disapproval of Smith. She's worried about reputation yet she writes for the NY Post. Is she worried that Rupert Murdock has damaged her reputation?
Seems to me that Peyser gets to both write about titillating stuff while at the same time affecting to be morally indignant about it. Ultimately I feel it's about enjoyment. Peyser as a woman resents the pleasure she imagines Smith as another woman gets out of her night job and is therefore reveling in her having this excess enjoyment taken back. But at the same time she also gets to talk about racy stuff while still holding on to her prim posture.
That Smith's suspension was without pay underscores that this is what this is about-taking back her excessive jouissance.
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