Some of you have already seen it in the BME News Feed, but now that it's a prominent story in the LA Times, everyone is reporting it. Short story: Todd Bertrang was arrested last week by “Operation Safe Medicine” for performing heavy genital mods on women.
First of all, my advice to practitioners — especially those in California — (I've sent this to most already, but please do pass this on), since there is the potential that this investigation expands (they're currently seeking other “victims”):
- Maintain a low profile over the next month.
- If your webpage advertises gray-area services, take that notice down for now.
- Barring total incompetence, this will track back to BME. If you have experiences about you on the site regarding female genital cutting or castration that is identifyable, feel free to write me to have the details altered.
- Do not keep questionable supplies in your studio.
- Do not keep questionable photos in your studio.
- You may even want to keep anything particularly questionable at a friend's house, just for a little while.
- My records should be totally secure, so there's minimal risk there.
That said, I don't anticipate this will expand past an investigation into Todd, but “better safe than sorry” is always a good rule.
Second of all, I'd like to point out my “first impression” of these arrests. Some of you may remember this being discussed point-blank in Todd's BMEradio interview (I'll try and post it later today somewhere), but the fact is that Todd's mod interest is sexual, and the mods are often done in a sexual context.
I do not believe he is “practicing medicine”. I believe he is offering advanced sexual services, not medicine, and I believe that it's utterly inappropriate for him to be persecuted for this. Yes, Todd's a character that many find distasteful, but that's not what the issue is here. Assuming there's nothing behind the story that I don't know about, I will do what I can to support Todd through this, and I hope you will too.
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