Sex trafficking is becoming an overwhelmingly popular form of criminal activity, Raymond Bechard writes, and no girl is safe.
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“The girl is the new drug,” declared Sergeant Detective Kelley O’Connell of the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit. As I mentioned in a previous article on the topic, Sergeant Kelley refers to girls as a “prized commodity” among street gangs, organized crime, coercive boyfriends, and even manipulative husbands. Whoever they are, “pimps can advertise girls and women online – a way both to increase demand and avoid street arrest,” she says.
Beyond the internet, however, there are six ubiquitous forces working together to make girls – girls like your daughter – the most popular new drug on the street.
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#1 – Lower Risk. Look at it from the perspective of a bad guy. There is far less investigative and prosecutorial knowledge, experience, and prioritization among law enforcement focusing on the issue of prostitution and human trafficking than other money making crimes. Comparing their risk against those they see selling drugs, the choice is clear for enterprising criminals. Selling girls is simply a safer business model. Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey, who was instrumental in the writing and passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, makes it clear. “In the end, the perpetrators must be sufficiently punished for their heinous acts or they will calculate that the money gained from exploiting women, children, and laborers, is greater than the threat of prison.” Smith’s colleague in Congress, Jackie Speier, puts it another way. “Today, we live in a country where a person is more likely to serve time for selling marijuana than a 14-year-old girl.”
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#2 – Lower Suspicion. The lower risk factor is decreased even further because the suspicion related to the “product” a pimp is selling compared to that of a drug dealer is much lower, if not entirely removed. If police find someone with more than a small amount of illegal drugs in their car, their home, their locker – any location where they can prove possession – that person is immediately arrested on charges of “intent to sell.” They are taken to jail and their product is confiscated for evidence. If convicted they may be forced to forfeit all their assets to the police. On the other hand, if the police find someone with one, two, three, or more females – the pimp’s product – it amounts to nothing more than a man hanging out with a few girls. Yes, the police can ask questions, take IDs, and generally give them a few awkward moments, but the worst consequence for the trafficker is that he may be late delivering the girls to their next date.
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# 3 – Enormous Profit. Certainly, there is no more profitable crime than human trafficking. The financial gain from selling people for sex is unparalleled. Comparing his business model to someone selling drugs, the pimp knows the drug dealer has to continually spend more cash, part of his earnings from selling drugs, to purchase a new supply. As he makes sales, he must reinvest in inventory to keep his supply available to customers.
The pimp does not have this problem. Unlike drugs, which can be sold only once, the human body can be sold over and over again. Once a young woman is within his stable, he “sells” her to each john at 100 percent profit for every trick. There is no product inventory to restock because the pimp doesn’t really sell women, he rents them.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains the results of renting human beings for profit in a fact sheet explaining that, “Human trafficking is increasingly committed by organized, sophisticated criminal groups, and is the fastest growing source of profits for organized criminal enterprise worldwide. Profits from the trafficking industry contribute to the expansion of organized crime in the U.S. and worldwide.”
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#4 – Lower Motivation Among Law Enforcement. This is the most subtle – and controversial – factor creating an increase in selling girls. The police just don’t have as much reason to investigate these crimes over those which typically bring them and their departments greater reward. In drug-related crimes, convictions often lead to “asset forfeiture,” in which the guilty party’s ill-gotten gains are handed over to law enforcement. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, “A wide variety of merchandise is available, including automobiles, aircraft, boats, real estate, jewelry, electronics, wearing apparel, industrial equipment, and miscellaneous goods.”
The money generated by the sale of these items, usually at local police auctions or websites like SeizedPropertyAuctions.com or PropertyRoom.com, are usually given back to the police department or arresting agency. This is another reason why so many criminal justice resources are used in the war on drugs. It can be a very profitable war for the police. Much of the loot forfeited by drug dealers goes to their departments. The more drug arrests they make, the more opportunity they have to increase their budgets.
This scenario does not apply to human trafficking cases. U.S. code 18 U.S.C. § 1593 mandates that all assets forfeited by those convicted of human trafficking crimes be paid as “restitution” in “the full amount of the victim’s losses.” In short, the girls get the money, not the cops.
One consequence of this lower motivation among law enforcement to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes over drug-related offenses is reduced legal pressure on pimps. Nearly unencumbered, they can operate under the radar; a well-oiled, experienced, increasingly effective radar that is not looking for them.
Outside these four criminally-related factors pertaining to the increase in commercial sexual exploitation, two remain, which are derived more from American culture than from the inner workings of police and offenders.
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#5 – The Mainstreaming of Prostitution and Pimp Culture. Prostitution is simply not the taboo it once was. With the increased commodification of women – especially younger women – it has become much more acceptable to look at females in American culture as objects holding only monetary value; a commodity to be bought and sold. This dynamic is certainly nothing new. In 1911, controversial women’s rights advocate and anarchist, Emma Goldman, observed, “It is a conceded fact that woman is being reared as a sex commodity. Whether our reformers admit it or not, the economic and social inferiority of woman is responsible for prostitution.”
However, this commodification of “woman” has increased dramatically in the past century.
Along with the glorification of “pimpdom,” the aura surrounding prostitution as a lifestyle has been elevated to a lifestyle choice with riches and fame as its reward. Few realize how easily and often the abuses of commercial sexual exploitation hide under the cloak of prostitution.
The list exemplifying contemporary American culture’s reduced sensitivity to the old view of prostitution while embracing a new “glamorous” perception of it and pimpdom has been elevated to new heights through television shows like Pimp My Ride on MTV. Here, “Pimp” is resurrected as the new definition for “over-the-top luxury” and “in-your-face bling.” “Pimping” is now equated with exhibiting excessive levels of wealth and success obtained through street smarts, cunning, and victory over all obstacles. Being a pimp is something young men aspire to. “We almost idolize pimps,” said Jason King, head of San Diego’s Anti-Human-Trafficking Task Force. “He’s controlling girls and making all this money. But the women are victims. These people are being exploited and are doing horrific things for that lifestyle.”
Along with validating the very concept of the word “pimp,” the culture began to look at prostitution – and its relationship to pimps – in a more positive way. Seen as a lifestyle or professional choice, prostitution gained greater acceptance through all forms of media including HBO’s cult hit documentary, Pimps Up, Ho’s Down; the Academy Award-winning song, It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp, from the movie, Hustle & Flow; the British television series, broadcast on CBS-owned Showtime in America, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, based on a blog in which a “high-class London call girl” shares her secrets to success with the world; the HBO reality series, Cathouse, which shows the true-life stories of women working at a legal brothel in Nevada; Gigolos, a Showtime reality series featuring stories of men from “Cowboys 4 Angels,” a true-life, nationwide company offering “the ultimate boyfriend experience” for women; and among many others, Hung, the HBO comedy in which the man is the prostitute and his “pimp” is a woman.
Finally, along with a “pimps and ho’s” board game, “pimps and ho’s” themed parties, costumes, and the “Beverly Hills Pimps Ho’s” online catalog of clothing, there is Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the bestselling video games of all time in which players are immersed into a virtual life as the character, “Niko,” who, despite the giddy, positive reviews of the game from virtually all news media, is a human trafficker. Once the game’s player takes on the persona of “Niko,” he scores points by virtually killing prostitutes and exotic dancers for real entertainment. “Our culture of flagrant self-exaltation, hardwired in the American character, permits the humiliation of all those who oppose us,” writes journalist Chris Hedges. “Human beings are used and discarded like Styrofoam boxes that held junk food.”
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#6 – Easy Product Acquisition. Selling girls became irresistible to pimps when they discovered how readily available their new product had become. The girls they look for – the product they will be renting – are everywhere in America.
“It’s all about manipulation of the person,” said Police Officer Tim Thomason of the Columbia, Missouri Police Department. He explains that pimps have become very effective at “getting that person in and coaxing them in. Many of the victims of human trafficking in Missouri are children or runaways who are looking for handouts and are easy to persuade. If a trafficker can offer shelter, offer food, and some larger promise of some better day, people will buy into that.”
This manipulation by pimps frequently begins by recognizing and taking advantage of the girls’ common lack of self esteem. “He always was so sincere the way he complimented me,” one victim recalls. Explaining how her pimp, constantly influenced her thinking in this way she says, “Still to this day I believe his words . . . How smart I was and beautiful.”
“Victims of sex trafficking come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, geographic areas, and ethnicities,” concluded a report from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Certainly many younger victims have been through the child welfare system, or are runaways, or both. Many are throwaways, left behind by whatever parents they were unfortunate enough to have. However, many are recruited from middle-class homes with no prior incidences of abandonment. They are often from the smallest of towns far removed from the city.
The common factor seems to be that each victim recruited or otherwise forced, defrauded, or coerced into selling themselves for sex – all for the profit of the man making them do it – has some history of early physical and sexual abuse in their lives. This apparently opens up a door of vulnerability, perhaps because of damaged or negative self-worth, that traffickers look for. Pimps, and the women who often recruit for them, will look for young women who have a certain look of wanting about them. They are often reticent about themselves and more willing to talk about or please others. Recruiters become skilled at finding girls who are in need: physically, nutritionally, relationally, emotionally, financially, addictively . . . it doesn’t matter. If they can identify a desperate need in a girl, even if that need is overlooked by her family and friends, they will exploit it.
In essence, they continually seek to exploit women who exhibit the slightest signs of a broken soul, a damaged spirit, or any wound that has not been healed.
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The final factor contributing to the enormous increase in the commercial sexual exploitation of women in America is the one fist observed in this article and it is by far the most significant. Taken by itself this one element of marketing females would be extremely powerful. However, combined with the previous six factors – lower risk for traffickers, no inherent product suspicion, enormous profit margins, lower law enforcement motive, mainstreaming of prostitution and pimp culture, and easily obtained product – the widespread use of the Internet by human traffickers has changed everything. “Technology has played a fundamental role in this change,” wrote Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociology professor at Columbia University, “No self-respecting cosmopolitan man looking for an evening of companionship is going to lean out his car window and call out to a woman at a traffic light.” Quite simply, the web has become the new Red Light District with all its temptations and ugliness. Like the street corners across America, all manner of humanity roams there.
The Internet is now the biggest and most populated place in the world for prostitution and sex trafficking. My next series of articles provide an in-depth look at the history and evolution of sex-for-sale online and how your home has become the new Red Light District.
—Photo indi.ca/Flickr
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This article is ridiculous. 99.9% of prostitutes/escorts whatever label you choose…are having sex for money, voluntarily, based on their own free will. Because it pays well. Im a guy, i chose to become a prostitute too. The demand isnt nearly as high as it would be if i was a girl, but i still manage a decent income. People arnt forced into this line of work. They freely choose it. And those “pimps”(escort agencies) dont get 100% of the profit either. They get maybe 20% commision for providing a valuable service of finding an escort a client. Much like amazon… Read more »
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/how-pimps-use-the-web-to-sell-girls.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212 Ahhhh… This is the article that I wanted to post the above link to. When people talk about sex trafficking this is what I’m expecting (heck I don’t even expect you to have been transported from place to place). Why aren’t there more articles like this? Is it because children in sexually exploitive situations aren’t news (which I find hard to believe but I suppose it’s possible) or is it because it doesn’t happen? I don’t know. I’m reasonably sure that there aren’t hundreds of thousands of people being sex trafficked because there can’t possilby be that many morons… Read more »
“he scores points by virtually killing prostitutes and exotic dancers for real entertainment”
I don’t remember points being part of GTA 4, though I do object to the way the game portrays women and sensationalizes crime (as fun as it is).
Some of these comments sound like their from customers! There is no such thing as a victimless crime. There are physical, mental, spiritual, consequences for everything we do in life. Face it folks sometimes having no options, no easy access to a good education and resources is no choice at all. Being in an unequal power relationship is simply one based on an exchange in the marketplace, a very sick, unhealthy exchange. Educate and liberate the children.
ht tp://becauseimawhore.com/ This woman has quite a lot of good to say on sex work and how not all of it is bad. I think we need to acknowledge and celebrate the good in sex work and identify and work at ending the bad. Demonizing the industry will not help, nor will ignoring any bad exists so we truly need that balance and I do hope that author of that site can write an article for us here one day.
The column repeatedly refers to the prostitutes as “girls,” suggesting that they’re all minors being illegally exploited. Is that the case? I could’ve sworn there were prostitutes OVER age 18.
But then, I also note that the article doesn’t give any testimony or comment from the sex workers themselves, which I think would be relevant to the discussion.
The implication being if you’re male and reading this you’re guilty of something. Female, eh,not so much. I’ve seen the video, and what I recall is the police stopping a young streetwalker and questioning her as to where her male pimps was, or where a male john could be found to arrest. Having found neither of those things,the police then made sure she had her food stamps and subsidized housing and went upon their merry way, having found no real criminal to arrest.(non-female) Such is the mindset loose in the world, and sadly here at TGMP where the subject has… Read more »
Where I live, Long Island, New York, If you have been paying attention to the news, you heard about the 10 bodies(or parts of bodies) found along the waterfront property along the Ocean Parkway in Suffolk County. It all started with a search for a missing “Sex Worker” last known to be in this area . Instead of finding this missing woman initally, 9 other bodies were found (1 was a child linked to one of the other bodies found). Ironically, the 10th person found(the one who inisiated the search) wasn’t murdered like the other 9, but died fron exposure.… Read more »
Would they be alive today if they had had a pimp?
With all that said, I wonder what people would think about a state mandated curriculum on sexual morality.
This article makes young women sound so gullible and impressionable and passive that it’s hard to imagine teen girls NOT becoming victims of the sex trade. Apparently it could really happen to anybody and everybody. There are pimps all around us. Under the bed, perhaps? I’m not saying there’s no danger. I’m not saying this is a completely fictitious threat. But, I do notice how *perfect* this bogeyman is. This threat has everything in it that we viscerally love and fear. It has everything that pushes our buttons – family, children, sex, men as protectors, men as predators, organized crime,… Read more »
“# 3 – Enormous Profit. Certainly, there is no more profitable crime than human trafficking.”
Isn’t there? Well it’s false – just highly emotive language designed to sensationalise and misled.
If the idea is that expenditure on raw material vs return on sold product, actually shoplifting and theft of goods in general is more profitable. You don’t have pay to feed,clothe and house a stolen iPad – therefore overheads are far lower and profit higher.
If the idea is actual dollars gained, fraud is the bigger issue.
The claims made are so Disingenuous and designed for nothing but “Emotional Trafficking”.
If it were so unprofitable, why would the vast majority of strip clubs and ‘escort’ services be Mafia organized? Yes, I also some some experience with the sex trade. Yes, everyone of them I knew had been sexually abused early or preteen. Craig’s list type sites made it more of an entrepeneurial choice than previously, but a large number of those women still have ‘boyfriends’ or other males which end up with the lion’s share of the cash. They also have a much larger risk of being killed or injured, as the post below verifies. The culture of needing someone… Read more »
Based upon my considerable experience with them, the vast majority of prostitutes (at least in the US) are entrepreneurs who make far more in their chosen profession than they would otherwise. While human sexual trafficking is deplorable–I think people of all political persuasions would agree with that–it simply doesn’t appear to me to be the problem the author makes it out to be.
I”m not locking up my rather comely teenaged daughter for fear she will fall prey to sexual traffickers.
Let us get this straight: The premise of your follow-up commentary is “Based on your considerable experience with them …” Really?! That’s the foundation you’re basing your stance upon? Making the conscious decision to place your head in the proverbial sand while all around you evil prevails is disheartening, especially for your daughter. If/when something “deplorable” happens to her – and she’s not immune from it given your rather flip perspective – I can only assume you’ll shamelessly shush her into humiliating silence on the grounds “…- it simply doesn’t appear to me to be a problem the author makes… Read more »
So, you recommend what, exactly? Actually locking daughters away? Inserting tracking devices under the skin to make sure we can always locate them? Perhaps we just need to frighten all young women into avoiding any men who their fathers do not approve of. Oh wait, we’ve been doing that for centuries already. “It’s people like you who turn the other way that permit those that would do harm to our underaged children to feel enboldened. Sickening.” See, language like that only makes the crusade sound even more suspicious. There’s something just so school-marmish about statements like the above. When people… Read more »
I don’t mean to come off dismissive of anyone i am not a good writer. This subject though is something i have already been through many times. I am suspicious of any feminist statistics because of that. Its at the point now where i am just tired of looking through “studies” that seem more about obfuscation rather than presentation. Statistics was never fun for me to begin with.
I loved statistics. Got two degrees in it.
I would like to see more attention to the agency or choices of the girls/women themselves. It’s reprehensible that a pimp would treat a person as a commodity, but the language of this article does the exact same thing, by comparing people to pot for example. Maybe that’s just police-speak and that’s just how law enforcement talks about “trafficking,” but it’s hardly any better than the language that pimps use. _IF_ there is an increase in human trafficking of underage prostitutes, the factors mentioned in the article are probably good explanations, though some more than others. Reason #2 has some… Read more »
You want to see trafficking with low overhead — you can now make meth in a two-liter bottle, no lab equipment necessary. That sounds much easier than kidnapping.
The article didn’t compare people to pot. It stated that someone was more likely to end up in jail for pot then they were for selling a human being. To me, that’s pointing out the dysfunction in a system where pot is seen as more of a problem then selling people. Especially underaged people. There are even stories where people who had pot ended up in jail for longer terms then people who committed murder. Are you going to claim that that comparison objectifies too? I also find the argument about how much a choice an underaged girl or woman… Read more »
This whole topic is a bit like talking about UFOs or something when it comes down to it. The “white slavery” cry goes up decade after decade and it always has. It’s well know to be a hysteria that sweeps people up every now and then. It’s an especially dysfunctional aspect of the fact that society loves to protect women. Sometimes people just make up stuff to protect women from that doesn’t exist.
I generally share your concern about predatory practices. I probably share many of your perceptions of the world at large. I also feel impatient when I sense naivete. I think in the big, bad, corrupt world, prostitutes are not only innocent victims and nothing else. Some of them may be, but there is more to the larger story than predation and coercion. If someone convicted of growing pot has a longer sentence than someone convicted of murder, that’s injustice. I agree. If someone is suggesting that the criminal justice system spend less focus on marijuana and more resources to fight… Read more »
Wellokaythen, I do agree with you that not all prostitutes are simple innocent victims. I do agree with you that there is a far larger story. I’m not claiming that all prostitutes have a heart of gold. But there is clearly a certain amount of women that end up in prostitution because of a disparity in power. A disparity that men certainly hold if we look at who is being sold and who is doing the selling. To be fair, I do think men that grow up in a certain environment can be victims of that environment and how they… Read more »
Thank you for writing this…I am reading Rachel Lloyd’s “Girls Like Us”…and you’re right..this is an issue that needs the harsh spotlight on it…so horrible that children are being trafficked….When I was way too young and naive, I got involved with an older man, who manipulated, coerced, and violated me, in many of the same ways that pimps do to their girls…I only got out finally because I earned several degrees and ultimately intimidated my intimidator….Girls need school…they need school…we all need school…! Thank you for speaking up for the silent victims…I am still healing from the scars I accrued… Read more »
One of the main problems Leia for a lot of people is that the advocates don’t acknowledge that children are being trafficked, that only girls are being trafficked. Even when talking about prostitutes there is barely a mention of young boys.
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/article.php?id=2818
This article I believe is a really good example of what I am talking about. if you get a chance to read the report that is talked about in this article and if you didn’t know much about the case, one would never assume that the female cop killed the male cop and then herself.
Leia: I guess boys don’t need anything. When will people get over this , when will they see that boys need the help of society. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime. Even when major studies show that the face of the underage prostitute isn’t a pretty little while girl, the media still portrays them like that. Perhaps because people will willingly give their money and time to helping pretty little white girls. Does this have to do with MWWS (Missing White Woman Syndrome). Even though a large percentage of missing people are male. Without looking it up… Read more »
John you raise a very pertinent point concerning Systemic Perceptual Bias that keeps hiding issues and promoting stereotypes.
Media portrayals of issues are all too often so misleading and spun that they cause real damage. Ignorance is no excuse, but it goes on and on.
I call it “Emotional Trafficking” because it’s exploitation that is as bad as any actual Human Trafficking and just as damaging.
MediaHound says: January 11, 2012 at 8:44 am ….. That human trafficking occurs is a known fact – that the figures and data are highly questionable is also a known fact. That both male and female children are targeted is a known fact. ….. Why are you only focusing upon one group and not all people at risk? …. —————————————————————————— This is exactly what I also would like to know….. This article should also focus more into prevention of such a situation regarding your own children. But this is nowhere mentioned. It’s about why we need both, fathers and mothers,… Read more »
Yohan
Its about the religions right and radical feminists working together to try to shut down the sex trade. This hysteria and moral panic, is really a rouse to stop all prostitution.
So how would you address the issue of children being abducted, or even simply lured into prostitution? If you think calling out the crisis is just a plot by radfems to stop prostitution, then how would you suggest addressing what is a very real, dangerous situation? I agree about legalized prostitution, by the way, but it would have to be HIGHLY regulated to prevent the exploitation of children or forced prostitution. Forced labor in the garment industry is an issue, too, it isn’t just sex work. Either way, we HAVE TO have a way to discuss the issue without the… Read more »
Could I try an answer to that? Legalisation. Not only will this make the lives of non-trafficked adult working women markedly better it would make it very difficult indeed for however few or many human traffickers as may exist to keep going.
Also, not so sure about the US, but in Ireland its not the Rad Fems crusading against prostitution. Its religious organisations that have a history steeped in the exploitation and persecution of prostitutes.
Ooops, sorry, I just read the rest of your post. Seems we agree.
About the conspiracy thing though, its not just MRAs that seem to think this, its prostitutes too.
http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/2011/10/18/eu-anti-trafficking-day/
I must be wearing out their servers at this point 🙂
Agreed
I think you’ll find it’s an odd alliance between Radfems & christians fundamentalists
I do indeed.
Is it all that odd? Seems to me that their attitudes to sex are virtually Identical.
Wouldn’t be the first time they have worked together.
Yohan – I agree with you. Parents need to be involved and we need to be able to discuss prevention at all levels.
Thanks for that insight.
Johanna
Read all the literature that has been published here about trafficking hysteria fraud and don’t be so gullible, also google this charity owners name and see what you can find out.
Also, I note you blatant sexism, when its HS covering up male child sex abuse thats ok, when its people asking for facts on whats already known to be largely a fraud, then its not.
I need to edit this.
“Also, I note your blatant sexism, when its HS covering up male child sex abuse thats ok, when its people asking for facts on whats already known to be largely a fraud and a socially constructed moral panic surrounding girls (and only girls) begin trafficked all of a sudden its a problem.”
Please supply me with a single quote or reference to when I said the covering up of child sex abuse is okay. Who said I supported Hugo on that? Frankly, I had a hard time following that statistics-war and never said I supported that specific assertion of his. I support Hugo’s work in general, and Hugo as a man and my personal friend. I’m willing to question anyone who diminishes sex abuse, even my own friend. I just don’t know enough about those particular stats in question but I certainly never once spoke out about the abuse of males except… Read more »
Good for you!
@This man says: Sorry, but you’re not being very productive. 🙁 You really seem to be treating Joanna as if shes the enemy.
Joanna – I have highlighted the negation of child abuse by Hugo to you directly and multiple occasions, and even when you requested to be told why people were concerned.
Is it that you have just ignored what I have written , or have you ignored the subject?
I will be completely honest with you, MediaHound, I have never spoken about Hugo’s stance on the abuse of boys. I don’t have the time to follow all the links and to do all the research, which is why I *never* weigh in with an opinion except to say that I believe that abuse of males and females should be addressed 100% equally. I only give an opinion on statistics and facts when I’ve had time to do the research. At some point in my life I plan on giving this issue an enormous amount of attention, but right now… Read more »
Joanna – you did not answer my point.
And for clarity her are some quotes for the data that was dismissed out of hand, and which was so distressing to so many; “My dad comes into my room, pulls his clothes down, takes out ‘sausage’ and rubs it against me. I don’t like it.” (Girl, aged seven) “My dad has been raping me and my sister. My mum died when I was four. I feel bad when he is abusing me.” (Girl, aged 10) “My best friend’s dad is hurting me. I did promise my friend that I won’t tell anyone about this because he will hurt my… Read more »
What report is this?
@ Joanne
“Children talking to ChildLine about sexual abuse
November 2009
Children talking to ChildLine about sexual abuse ChildLine Casenotes is a series of reports based on analysis of calls to ChildLine, a free confidential helpline for children and young people in the UK provided by the NSPCC.”
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/publications/casenotes/children_talking_to_childline_about_sexual_abuse_wda69414.html
Okay this report is interesting. I think one thing we really need to get ahold of is that this report by one agency *is* important. We know the abuse of boys is important. We all agree that this is a huge issue and here at GMP we are working to do what we can within our power to make a space for men to tell a variety of their issues in a safe environment. We want the cycle of abuse to stop, no matter whom it’s being perpetrated against. Now, onto this study. This isn’t a study. This is a… Read more »
@ Joanna – have to say I’m saddened by your nonsensical response. “I think one thing we really need to get ahold of is that this report by one agency *is* important.” I am glad that someone has said at last that a report which was so disingenuously dismissed by others *is* important. However, you say of the Childline data and report “This isn’t a study.”. I take it that is your lack of grasp of Statistics and Methodology that is leading you to take such a false view? Perhaps you need to read the Appendix 1 of “Children talking… Read more »
And for clarity, here is the link to the page were you said “We want to understand. I want you to tell me how what Hugo wrote hurt you. I want you to tell me how what Tom wrote on Twitter to the feminists hurt you. It hurt me, I’ll tell you right now with an open heart that it did.” h ttp://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/140-characters-is-not-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-88137 It received neither acknowledge or response. It was also highlighted subsequently, as you requested additional information, and again neither acknowledge or response was provided. You keep saying that you find stats hard, you keep asking for input,… Read more »
Maybe she just didn’t see the response? I’m sure theres plenty of things on here that get missed.
Once Is An Accident,
Twice a Coincidence,
Three…,
Four….,
Five……?
As much as I agree that parents paying attention to their children is key to preventing all kinds of things, I’m not sure if thats the solution here. This doesn’t seem to me to be an issue like cigarettes or drinking, where peer pressure and curiosity play a role. The forces that cause a child to leave their home and become a prostitute must be really extreme. I wonder how many of these people come from abusive or neglectful homes to begin with? The kind of parents who’ll read any advise on how to stop this almost certainly already care… Read more »
SUCH an important insight, Peter! You can’t expect neglectful parents to just *stop* being neglectful. If they cared, if they understood, if they were able they would already be doing it.
Thanks for this point.
I do think that for the average parent there are things we can know and do to help prevent this from happening, but it’s certainly not the total solution.
Thanks 🙂 And yep, no parent is perfect.
Why is this being censored? The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade Ronald Weitzer1 + Author Affiliations 1George Washington University, [email protected] Abstract The issue of sex trafficking has become increasingly politicized in recent years due to the efforts of an influential moral crusade. This article examines the social construction of sex trafficking (and prostitution more generally) in the discourse of leading activists and organizations within the crusade, and concludes that the central claims are problematic, unsubstantiated, or demonstrably false. The analysis documents the increasing endorsement and institutionalization of crusade ideology in U.S. government policy… Read more »
http://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/ulr/article/view/484/352
A very large number of victims of trafficking are men/boys, also in USA.
Please check out the link above. The problem is more about the media and biased reporting.
FYI – the first paragraph above the abstract, the second two paragraphs were written by me.
http://www.citypages.com/2011-11-02/news/lost-boys-new-research-demolishes-the-stereotype-of-the-underage-sex-worker-mdash-and-sparks-an-outbreak-of-denial-among-child-sex-trafficking-alarmists-nationwide/
From the report, link above:
Published by the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2008, Curtis and Dank’s findings thoroughly obliterated the long-held core assumptions about underage prostitution:
Nearly half of the kids—about 45 percent—were boys.
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It seems that boys are victims too. And they are not a small minority.
I wonder why feminists & the christian right (coz they’re both in on it) feel the need to link this to the superbowl
I think because the Superbowl is already a huge event, easy to be dragged along on the coattails.
Also, its a symbol of american masculinity (patriarchy).
This said, in my family me and my dad never watch sports. Its my sister and mother who go crazy for the sam maguire and all Ireland Hurling Final, so maybe the superbowl is less of a male thing than I think.
@Lori: people aren’t getting buried in battle over studies. But to some this sounds exactly like the snuff films of the 70s, crack in 80 etc etc. A scare tactic to raise MONEY. People are paid good sums of money to be the expert in the next big thing. Does sex trafficking happen, of course it does and 1 person who is enslaved is too many BUT when we create hysteria and over blow a problem, we take away from those that are victimized because we lose sight of who they are. There was a recent article here (I think)… Read more »
Ah yes the good old Super Bowl hoax. March of Dimes put that one out didn’t they? Or did they do the one about beating up pregnant women…..
http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/don%E2%80%99t-buy-it/
I’ll be darned if I can find it. But I’m happy to have link this here.
thanks for the headsup elissa
Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Let’s be aware. Let’s not joke, diminish, obscure, deflect, get buried in numbers and battles over studies. Let’s show compassion and humanity. Let’s get out of the weeds and acknowledge FIRST AND FOREMOST that this is real, tragic, global as well as national, and not to be trivialized in any way.
http://thefeministwire.com/2012/01/the-superbowls-sex-slave-tradition/#.Tw24eKOMIzo.facebook
Lori
Do you really support the use of exaggerated figures and hysteria in relation to trafficking as a proxy to legislate against the adult sex trade and truly drive it into the hands of criminals?
If not, stop allowing yourself to be manipulated by this stuff. It a rouse by the religious right and sex negative radical feminists, they want to create moral panic and use it shut down all adult industry.
I’ve posted some stuff from this site above, but I think this is also worth a read: http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/2011/10/18/eu-anti-trafficking-day/ The author is a sex worker who describes how catholic-right organisations in Ireland are using trafficking as a cover for their anti sex platform. A former prostitute I spoke to about this claimed that she’d never heard of a single case of trafficking in Ireland independant of ruhama. To give some context, ruhama is a charity run by a catholic group who used to run forced labour institutions for “fallen women”. Today they’re one of the most vocal groups promoting the idea… Read more »