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
About Raymond Bechard
Vocalyze
We really need some actual documentation on this. Selling girls probably does happen– some– but critics say that this issue is shaping up as a moral panic similar to the “satanic ritual abuse – recovered memory syndrome” moral panic in the 80s-90s. I rarely trust moral entrepreneurs about issues that aggrandize them or their organizations. Not saying that this is actually happening, but it may be a matter of scope and statistics.
Since prostitution cannot be gotten rid of — it makes sense to legalize and regulate it. It’d be great if the male (non prostitute) pimps could be jailed. Maybe the best idea is to take advantage of kidnapping and child abuse statutes here.
“It’d be great if the male (non prostitute) pimps could be jailed.”
We really need some documentation on this and why wouldn’t you jail the female pimps?
Good point.
For all the hoopla about abusive male pimps some of the largest sex trafficking rings that have been busted up have been run by madams.
these madams typically get greatly reduced sentences due to the female sentencing discount.
Precisely, Henry; a moral panic is EXACTLY what it is. Like the “Satanic Panic” (and even more like the “white slavery” hysteria of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) this is a lot of fear based in almost zero fact. 96.5% of all prostitutes are adults, and only 1.5% of all prostitutes are coerced (unless you count the universal real-world need for a job as “coercion”). Even in Cambodia, a supposed “hotbed” of sex trafficking, fewer than 2% of sex workers are coerced.
The real issues behind the “sex trafficking” hype are A) radical feminists and Christian fundamentalists disguising their anti-sex and anti-female autonomy campaign as “protecting women and children”; and B) xenophobes and racists disguising their fear of brown people travelling around the world to work as a paternalistic concern for their welfare. As Laura Agustin points out, there’s a reason “authorities” claim that most “illegal aliens” are men but most “human trafficking victims” are women; they’re actually the SAME PEOPLE crossing borders in the same way for the same reasons, but we allow men autonomy (and therefore criminal culpability), but pretend women aren’t smart and resourceful enough to cross borders illegally on their own and must therefore be “trafficked” by evil “pimps”.
The sex trade is now, and always has been, overwhelmingly run and staffed by women; the idea of male “pimps” controlling more than a tiny percentage of it is largely a male fantasy.
Please note this:
While many of you are telling us how evil we are for allegedly covering up or manipulating statistics about men’s rape, minimizing experiences, following incorrect stats, whatever…
You are coming in and minimizing the experience of rape and sexual exploitation of girls. Please, look in the mirror.
Do not minimize the pain of women. Ever.
And we won’t do it to you.
MRAs, please, my friends, take a look at what has happened here and be objective.
I want us to go into talking about sexual abuse and rape from a place of compassion. Just as feminists/women/society shouldn’t minimize the experience of men’s rape, please DO NOT do it to women. This is not about men getting revenge on women by minimizing us back.
These are *children* we are talking about in this article and it happens to *boys too*.
Stop minimizing pain. EVERYONE.
Joanna,
All I see are requests for facts to be presented backing up the author’s claims.
Henry et al at no point claimed that sexual assault or rape does not happen. They did not claim it is not horrible. They did not claim the victims do not deserve compassion. Instead, they questioned the specific claim made by the author that there has been an “enormous increase in the commercial sexual exploitation of women in America.”
Surely compassion does not rule out questioning such a shocking and specific claim.
Mike,
While I agree that the request for stats is completely valid and non-diminishing, and Peter’s message wasn’t actually the worst one, I just want all of you to take a moment and imagine if the FIRST thing I did when I saw a report about the sexual abuse and exploitation of boys was say:
“this article is exaggerating”
“Save the white menz!” (David Byron: “Save the white womenz!”)
So ask for your stats but know that the way you’ve approached a very REAL situation has minimized the problem, in our eyes.
You guys so desperately want us to respect what you’re saying about the abuse of boys but you’re making it *really hard* to return the respect when you come at an article like this (which isn’t perfect, I agree, but has a core message that is important) with a tone of immediate disbelief and indignation.
MediaHound, thank you for holding it together and acknowledging the importance of what’s being said while also expressing your need for more information.
There does need to be more information. Absolutely. And if there is one thing I want it’s to focus on the issues here as people. Humans. There are countless incidents of violence and trafficking in the world, including all races, all genders and all ages. Because people can be horrible. I live on a border state. I would warrant there are all kinds of nefarious ill doings happening both in terms of getting people across the border for little to no money, recourse, to shooting people who try to come across. How the hell do I know the non english speaking maids, nannies, gardeners and more are there safely or not? I don’t .
We have problems in America. I’m guessing there are bigger trafficking problems in other countries.
I found this article to be highly sensationalistic myself, and also googled the author and found some serious issues. I also worry far less about sex trafficking in America proper (other countries perhaps so), and more about forced labor in our agriculture groves and meat industries.
Everyone on the site seems really really tense right now. I get that. I understand it. LIsa is working her tail off to help create forums and systems to allow for more ways to communicate. She’s doing huge amounts of work with the writers, comment mods, editors. If there was anyone as devoted to peaceful dialogue, collaboration and hope as Lisa, I don’t know if I’ve met them.
I hope all of us can try to place a modicum of good will in each other that human suffering is something we are working against, that issues like rape and sexual abuse trigger some Jungian sense of collective guilt and rage at the moment and that none of us seem to have individual power to stop these problems.
Collectively, we may have something. But if we are at each others throats….well same old same old.
Let’s get the stats. Let’s assume good will until proven otherwise, let’s find some ways to work together.
Joanna
Its well established that these trafficking groups are lying.
The guardian has done articles on it, the village voice has there are numerous sources on it the fraud.
Its generally a rouse to criminalize consenting prostitution between adults, which really just drives the industry into the hands of criminals.
The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade
Ronald Weitzer1
+ Author Affiliations
1George Washington University, weitzer@gwu.edu
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 and practice.
http://pas.sagepub.com/content/35/3/447.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr
This is an entirely different thing from asking feminists to stop lying about abuse rates.
Joanna,
What do you even mean by “all of you” and “you guys”?
I viewed a request for stats as reasonable because my training is in economics, and the standard in that field is “if you present a hypothesis, you must be prepared with empirical data to back the hypothesis.”
So when you say “you guys” do you mean other people trained in economics? Or do you actually mean MRAs and you are seeking to paint any comment that objects to a specific claim (“enormous increase”) into a proverbial corner?
When I read an article on the abuse of men and boys, I expect statistics. Furthermore, I expect the article to be questioned when it does not offer such statistics. Last I checked, the basis of hypothesis testing was NOT “Let’s assume everything is true until it’s proven false,” but rather “Let’s assume everything is false until it is proven true,” (this is the basis of null-hypothesis rejection in statistics).
The reverse system, suggested by Julie, may seem attractive but is extraordinarily vulnerable to tautological arguments.
Maybe this is why Gender Studies professors usually despise economists, I don’t know for certain. I do know, however, that a request for statistics on my part has nothing to do with Men’s Rights, Women’s Suffering, or compassion. It is simply about the requirement that people back up their assertions so that we do not all fall victim to tautologies.
I think the Great Bell Curve of Truth is a great thing. I believe I said, “Let’s get the stats.” Meaning, yes. Stats are vital. But all of us need to stand down a bit and deal with getting them. And treating each other in good faith, which I admit is hard to do, while we get the stats.
We have people on this site saying the Superbowl stats are real, the Superbowl stats are false. The Trafficking stats are debunked, the trafficking stats are real. Accusations of funding, manipulation etc abound.
So how do we get these real, honest, deal with reality stats? And not kill each other in the process.
That’s what I meant by good faith. Not that I think stats aren’t important.
Mike, I appreciate the distinction and your clarification on why you want statistics. I, too, like statistics, but I’m sure that you are like me in knowing that not all stats are created equal
I just don’t like the minimization of a message by immediately dismissing the article because there aren’t stats included. Or, even worse, assigning the article an “agenda” that just isn’t clear throughout.
@ Joanna – I keep fining my name mentioned and need to clarify what is being said around it.
“You guys so desperately want us to respect what you’re saying about the abuse of boys but you’re making it *really hard* to return the respect when you come at an article like this (which isn’t perfect, I agree, but has a core message that is important) with a tone of immediate disbelief and indignation.”
I can see how some would see the responses and comments as representing “immediate disbelief and indignation”, but there Is also long standing frustration around issues that have been raised many times by these individuals. When their concerns are raised they are met with “immediate disbelief and indignation”. It is a Circle Of Frustration that needs to be sensibly and courteously addressed.
There has been a lot of use of Thought Terminating Cliché’s when certain matters have been raised – and I believe that it is in fact time for such concerns to be considered as having some merit and validity. That is not about numbers or gender – it is about real needs and real issues that are going unheard and not considered due to polarities and distance. The Poles need to go and the distances reduced.
“MediaHound, thank you for holding it together and acknowledging the importance of what’s being said while also expressing your need for more information.!”
I take it you are referring to my comment of January 11, 2012 at 8:44 am in which I said:
“I have to say that this advice piece does have some value – but the basic tenant that there is such high risk is designed to alarm and distress.
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? Is it to manipulate fathers so they neglect their sons?
Is it to make parents view boys and girls differently and promote and continue gender bias?
And I ask those questions from the position of having 30 plus years experience of dealing with the issues and directly with the people targeted! I applaud your concerns but not how they are being expressed.”
First I was not holding it together but writing in a most measured way. If I had commented openly as to my concerns, any such comment would have been deleted due to content, as others have.
As I have been heard to say often, there are three ways to read 1) scanning 2) reading for content 3) reading for meaning and intent.
I believe I did make clear that whilst I acknowledge the subject, the way it has been written about is suspect for many reasons. So few people know and understand the mechanics of human trafficking – so it is likened to Drugs – this inspires fear as so many people think drugs and imagine crack dealers on corners in shadowy neighbourhoods. I believe strongly in the value of analogies, but am also very aware in just how they can also be misused and cause unnecessary alarm. They can also be used to manipulate emotions most strongly and for effect.
I also most unhappy at how the OP has misused the motife of Daddy Defender and Little princess daughter, which itself is emotionally manipulative of parents. If Daddy is not concerned he is a bad father – mother is concerned so daddy has to be concerned – and the daughter is made instrument and central to en emotional tug of war between parents. And it’s all played out under the banner of this website – so you read it hear and it’s telling you what you have to do to be a good man. Emotional Trafficking is an issue I take exception to.
The OP has the temerity to say #2 – Lower Suspicion. “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.”
… and if they see a car with an adult male or female with one, two, three, or more boys or young men – the police wouldn’t even consider the need to ask anything! They are off to a ball game – off on a camping trip.
The whole piece has the tone of emotional manipulation on so many levels – and that emotional manipulation gets played out so as to actually hide risks and issues whilst supposedly giving good advice.
I wrote quite specifically, but I see my meaning and intent were not clear enough. I hope some of my concerns are now illuminated.
I also responded to comments which more “directly” illuminated concerns as to the contents and origins of the piece. I note that such concerns have been removed. I see that my measured approach was valid, even if some have missed the meaning and intent with which I wrote.
Julie – I agree with you!
I fear that some are inarticulate in what they are communication. There is concern over the authenticity of stats, but in so many ways a higher concern about the authenticity of the Author.
One has to be careful in assessing all matters.
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/
Nearly all of the youths—95 percent—said they exchanged sex for money because it was the surest way to support themselves.
In other words, the typical kid who is commercially exploited for sex in New York City is not a tween girl, has not been sold into sexual slavery, and is not held captive by a pimp.
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According to investigations, see link above, most what is written by this author is true, but simply said highly exaggerated and biased.
The author Raymond Bechard talks about these 5 percent of victims only and presents them if if these 5 percent are the majority and the remaining 95 are the minority, he also presents his story about 55 percent of female victims, but does not mention that 45 percent of victims are boys.
He also presents the presumption, that the pimp must be a male, but this is often not the case.
I think, this article is very much biased, he also says the male pimp should be jailed, but what about the female gangster?
This is not a feminist publication, and we should at least point out, that there are other sides of the story, female gangsters and male victims.
Joanna: I’ve read the words of some of the people this article is supposed to be about and personally spoken with a few of them. Based on what I’ve seen this approach to prostitution hurts women. Arguing against it isn’t about a cover up, its about trying to do whats right.
Precisely, Henry; a moral panic is EXACTLY what it is. Like the “Satanic Panic” (and even more like the “white slavery” hysteria of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) this is a lot of fear based in almost zero fact. 96.5% of all prostitutes are adults, and only 1.5% of all prostitutes are coerced (unless you count the universal real-world need for a job as “coercion”). Even in Cambodia, a supposed “hotbed” of sex trafficking, the only reputable study found fewer than 2% of sex workers are coerced.
The real issues behind the “sex trafficking” hype are A) radical feminists and Christian fundamentalists disguising their anti-sex and anti-female autonomy campaign as “protecting women and children”; and B) xenophobes and racists disguising their fear of brown people travelling around the world to work as a paternalistic concern for their welfare. As Laura Agustin points out, there’s a reason “authorities” claim that most “illegal aliens” are men but most “human trafficking victims” are women; they’re actually the SAME PEOPLE crossing borders in the same way for the same reasons, but we allow men autonomy (and therefore criminal culpability), but pretend women aren’t smart and resourceful enough to cross borders illegally on their own and must therefore be “trafficked” by evil “pimps”.
The sex trade is now, and always has been, overwhelmingly run and staffed by women; the idea of male “pimps” controlling more than a tiny percentage of it is largely a male fantasy.
For those who are interested, I’ve been writing about this topic for two years; visit my blog and take a look at the subject index http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/index/subject-index/ under “sex trafficking hysteria” and you’ll find beaucoup articles on the topic.
Maggie – I see a deliciousness of Irony.
Some have been unwilling to accept that Christian Right Wing Groups would from an alliance with Left Wing Feminist Groups – and then you have an alliance between between Male Abuse Survivors and Ladies Of The Night! P^)
Personally I am most shocked at the negation of Humanity, and how so often and in so many ways the experience of male sexual abuse victims at the hands of both men and women is negated! It’s Knee Jerk – almost like Pavlov’s Dogs!
Thank you for your support – but I fear that due to prejudice, preconceived notions and supposed propriety you words and the information you bring will simply fall upon deaf ears, as so much else has!
I salute you for your humanity and the heart that you bring to others!
Thank you!
I think the biggest risk is dealers getting kids hooked on drugs and then selling their bodies for more drugs.
There isn’t much research on this but a lot of completely bogus assumptions and unsupported moral panic.
I read an interesting article at the village voice recently and as it turns out most underage prostitutes aren’t coerced and they aren’t all girls. What about teh menz?
http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-11-02/news/lost-boys/
I can see it both ways. I mean I can be like “ok stats say that sex trafficking of young girls isn’t that common” and feel more distanced from. But it’s also different if you know that it’s happening in your backyard and you actually look out the window (because it is).
This article is exaggerating. New Zealand has legalized prostitution and you know what? Its actually safer and cleaner. There are few evil pimps out to steal your daughter. If a woman consents to be a prostitute its her choice kidnapping is already illegal.
In England a few years ago there was a great deal made about sex trafficking this was the result:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
In the U.S. you might be right about traffickers but I will need proof. Quotes about objectification of women is not going to be enough. Video games is is not enough.
Wow. Failed to find even one single trafficker. This is just the Mann Act all over again. Victorian morality. Save the white womenz! Except they don’t really want to save them because it turns out the reason they turn tricks isn’t because of some Svengali, but because being poor sucks and prostitution pays well. And the ruling class sure don’t want to change that equation, no not even for poor little white girls.
I think theres still issues of consent that attach to sex work, alot of women in the industry aren’t there because they want to be.
What about minors?
What about those who are held against their will?
I implore all of you to watch LIsa LIng’s documentary on this. It is VERY backed with evidence.
Minors can’t consent and anyone being held against their will is non-consenting by definition.
I think leta’s argument was that laws governing false imprisonment and rape (of adults or minors) should be sufficient to tackle the issue and that laws attacking prostitution in general make it easier for the traffickers to blend in, as opposed to countries where it is legalised such as New Zealand.
So this looks a lot like just another attempt to say men are all rapists or something. Apparently when women commit a crime (prostitution) the only people who should be punished are men so it’s just a question of rounding some up and jailing them.
No actual “trafficking” goes on of course, at least not of women. The word has a meaning and it doesn’t happen. So I wondered what exactly the crime was defined as since it obviously wasn’t defined as selling people. It’s amazingly convoluted and vague but basically what it comes down to is if you’re a man and a prostitute gives you some money or you get money any other way then you’re “trafficking”. So if the police did get to keep the money like they do with drug arrests they would all be guilty of trafficking.
As would let’s say a prostitute’s old granny if the granny got some money or if the girl was living with her and did something like buy food or pay rent.
Am I missing something or does it actually make perfect sense for a prostitute to engage the services of a pimp, especially if the prostitute is new to the job? This whole ick factor seems to be based on prostitution being illegal, but the actual illegality on the part of the girl is lost track of. She’s “the victim” of the trafficker and must be given money.
You know I’ve heard feminists say much the same about pron stars too — they are all “human traffick” and are all victims of males who treat them like slaves and etc etc. You know if you actually did kidnap someone and force them into slavery I’d like to think that would be illegal under any number of existing laws having nothing to do with the sex of the victim or what labor they were forced to perform, if any. So what is the real point of these laws except to attack men who are associated with women prostitutes and are NOT engaged in any illegal activities such as kidnapping or violence or forcing anyone to do anything?
Next week: “trafficking culture”?
It only makes sense for women to resport to pimps and madams when prostitution is illegal. I have this on the word and experiences of a former prostitute.
Are CHILDREN “women” David Byron?
Trafficking isn’t just prostitution and it isn’t just women.
http://www.ctcaht.org/What_is_Trafficking.html
It’s forced labor as well and affects children of both sexes.
Trafficking is enslavement.
Amazing documentary called “Sex Trafficking in America” with tons and tons of statistics, facts, and personal stories. Everyone should see it.
And, David Byron, the majority are not actually white womenz, just so you know. Don’t know why it matters, but clearly it does to you.
Thank you Joanna, will absolutely watch. In shock over the tone and nature of the comments so far. Feel absolutely enraged. The hypocrisy is mind boggling, and the cold-heartedness is shocking. I cannot stop crying at what I am reading here. I am so incredibly disillusioned and sad. Are these the same commenters who want empathy for their pain? You get what you give. My God.
I think it might be wise, or not, to calm down a bit.
I want to focus on humility at the moment, personally. I don’t know everything there is to know about trafficking. I don’t know everything there is to know about forced labor and child trafficking in other countries. I need to be humble about that. The only way to get to a place where mutual good will and empathy (instead of derision and anger) is possible, is to each take a step back and accept that humility in the face of huge issues isn’t the worst feeling in the world.
Or everyone could keep fighting, but I’d prefer to focus on articles that are less sensationalistic and more focused on a global problem facing human beings.
The last guy that knew everything there know about trafficking was banned.. You know who he is.
The reason David is flinging around “save the white womenz” is because the narrative/ psychological imagery that feminists rely on to fuel “outrage” is one of a black pimp and a cute blond underage hooker whose innocence is stolen.
Where’s this image being used in this piece, or on Good Men Project?
Umm, “daughter” in the title. Conventionally attractive young, thin, Caucasian female pictured on bed. Headless male figure on which to project, standing to the right of her.
Joanna:
And, David Byron, the majority are not actually white womenz, just so you know. Don’t know why it matters, but clearly it does to you.
Fact of the matter is, at least in the States, most of the coverage on sex trafficking (and most crimes against children in general) center around white girls. We all know that girls of color suffer the same treatment but when a missing child case becomes high profile its usually a white girl. I was watching two documentaries on this about a month ago (I had them on my tivo box since October) and it happened there again.
Two (1hr each) documentaries with about 5 stories between them and every single one was about white girls (despite one of them opening with commentary on “children” are being trafficked for sexual slavery).
I agree with you completely about the racial discrimination against children of color who go missing as opposed to white children. It’s a disgusting representation of what our society values but more about what the media promotes.
I’m still not sure why it was okay for DB to say that, however. I want to address the issues here, they are important.
Race is a huge issue in this agreed.
http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/about/poster-campaign/
“On one hand there is the image of sex workers as abused women, pimped, trafficked, helpless and enslaved. This is an incredibly negative image of sex work and very unrealistic. This sort of imagery is used by anti-prostitution campaigners who want to shock and it works, people see these images and believe that sex workers are people who can be abused. This knocks the confidence of sex workers, encourages hate of the sex industry as a whole, and, most seriously, it sends out a message to people that sex workers are there to be abused. ”
Joanna, I’m not posting this to try and pretend women don’t suffer and only men have it bad, please understand that. Above are the words of Irish sex workers. I really think that when it comes to issues like prostitution the needs and wants of prostitutes are paramount, and I don’t think they’re being listened to.
Also well worth a read is the “opposition” section which provides a key insight into the minds and motivation of the people advocating rescue action for prostitutes.
Aren’t there both though, prostitutes who want to work and prostitutes that have been trafficked? And how do any lay people learn to know the difference?
And a strong distinction needs to be made between minors and consenting adults.
@Julie: There are both, but the claim of the above organisation (who are about as close to the issue as its possible to be) is that the numbers of the latter are being exaggerated in order to enact legislation to wipe out the former.
If prostitution were legalised and regulated it’d probably be pretty easy to tell. I can’t see traffickers operating in an environment where they can be easily distinguished from adult, consenting, sex-workers.
@Joanna: Absolutely, I take that as a given. I wouldn’t want to live in a country where sex with minors is a commodity up for grabs.
It’s happening here.
I am with you, Peter, that prostitution needs to be made legal and highly regulated. It’s a mess right now and it hurts everyone.
As long as the people who get ALOT of imput into how it is regulated are sex workers & their advocates.
Yup
@ Joanne
I have had time to now track down the Video you refer to – SEX TRAFFICKING IN AMERICA – and I will make some observations on what I have viewed. I understand that the Main Speaker at the start is Congressman Judge Ted Poe. If I am mistaken, forgive me as I am not that hot on American Political Figures.
What is said is most alarming – and given that it apparently comes from a Congressman and Judge is alarming and worrying. It can’t be seen any other way.
He Highlights that there are some 3500 animal shelterers in the USA and only 5 for children who have been identified as subject to sex trafficking. He mentions the figure of 50 beds for the whole of the USA. It is quite shocking and emotive.
But this is what I find shocking. That there are 50 beds at all!
Anyone who has the relevant hands on experience of Child Abuse victims in all forms, knows that Institutional care of such children is damaging. They are better served in Foster Homes with people who have the relevant experience, training and knowledge of how to help such children. In fact it is best if such children, especially where there are sexual offences and abuse involved, are in a foster home with NO other children
There are well known risks in aggregating Sexually Abused Children in one place, and the biggest risk is that they will in fact sexually abuse each other. I will say that again! There are well known risks in aggregating Sexually Abused Children in one place, and the biggest risk is that they will in fact sexually abuse each other.
From an adult point of view that is abhorrent, but when you look at matters from the child’s point of view they have been programmed and literally brain washed in to the view that Human value and affection means sex. They will therefore seek out such Value within their environment. Sex abused children actually represent a very high risk to other children.
When I see footage such as this Judge – Congressman using figures in this way I am Horrified. As A Judge he has access to whole law libraries which are not just about law, but how to apply it in the best interests of justice. In those Libraries are whole sections on how to best care for minors – the risks of applying law one way over another, the risk of recidivism and how to provide the best opportunities for a child to become a good citizens and have a future.
If he as a Judge has so much access to so much expert knowledge, why is it not a feature of what he says. His Narrative and Rhetoric are highly emotive, and yet totally against the best interests of the Subjects he is talking about.
He uses a deliberate and highly emotive analogy between animals and children – and does so in a way that is either incompetent or designed to meet an agenda – and the Agenda Is Wrong.
It’s a good job he is not my Congressman, because what he has said is so misleading and wrong, I would want to stand against him and demand he explain why he has misrepresented child welfare and child interests to such a degree. This is media abuse with children being trafficked for notoriety – and by a Judge No less.
Children are not like cats and dogs – and children do not thrive in shelters. There is also the issue that he fails to mention just how many children do have a bed each night with families and Expert Foster Carers who DO care, Who DO respect The child’s experience, and who DO it because they care more for child welfare than a media opportunity and notoriety.
I can see why you would recommend people to watch that Video – but for me It should come with a big warning, because it twists reality for people who do not have the right levels of knowledge and experience – and as I have said elsewhere it is “Emotional Traffiking” with the abused children used by people who claim to be helping them.
I would not recommend that video to any person as it makes people believe that treating sexually abused children one way is in the child’s best interests, when the well known reality is the total opposite.
If he even had a basic grasp of the subject and risks he would have used his platform to call for more foster carers who were willing to help these children and protect all children from the risks of Institutional Abuse. It is hard work – people do do it – and the rewards are massive. It can take years to see the results, but there are amazing people out there who are committed to such care and so many many don’t even know they could be helping.
There is a saying “Knowledge Is Power”.
Heavens save as from people like this Judge who see themselves as having power and who abuse it due to an absolute lack of knowledge. Such people are dangerous.
As I have made clear – I do have some 30 plus years expedience in the field. I am able to speak from a position of authority – and that Judge is an Ass!
So what happened to Maggies post?
Which one? In this thread? I’ll look.
I don’t see a “Maggie” in spam, pending or trash. Can you tell me what the comment said?
Or was this an article? Sorry Beste, I need more info please.
It’s was a post from maggie mcneill on this thread
I’ll try to repost it right now.
Julie, I tried to post it slightly after midnight central time last night; I’m not sure what happened but it looks like a WordPress glitch because it wouldn’t let me repost just now until I added a few lines; it kept saying “duplicate comment”. Now it says “awaiting moderation”, though, so it should go through; it was a reply to Henry’s post at the top of the thread.
This doesn’t seem any different from other sensationalist, exploitative stories. Back in 2005 people were running stories about how “Meth is the new Crack,” this was followed a few years later by “prescription drugs are the new Crack” and then when, in both instances, the gangs of the 1980s failed to materialize the hype machine went back to the drawing board and decided that this time out it would be “prostitution is the new Crack.”
Statistics or it didn’t happen.
Here’s a question for you.
So, statistics are king here, right?
But it would be impossible for me to tally the number of posts where someone says, “_______ manipulates statistics” or “those stats are false” or “______ uses stats to cover up the reality of what’s happening”…
Now, I agree, this piece could’ve used a great deal more empirical evidence, but I’m not positive that deep down anyone really *believes* stats that go against their already-decided-upon opinion.
Also, I’d love to see some countering stats here. I’d love to have someone go and find some stats for me to read that actually counter the claim here. I believe MediaHound is on that road, as he can always be relied upon for research, but how about the rest of you?
Statistics is important in assessing how bad a situation. There are many crimes we need to stop many fears of things to happen. Inevitably we have to judge how important or how frequent a crime is happening. This is an important issue which is why it should be assessed in a serious way. Saying there are victims is okay but the exaggeration of this issue will inevitable mean less attention and less funding on other crimes which may be just as important on an individual level but committed much more frequently.
“Now, I agree, this piece could’ve used a great deal more empirical evidence, but I’m not positive that deep down anyone really *believes* stats that go against their already-decided-upon opinion.”
I have been convinced on many occasions by statistics that have challenged my beliefs. I have been skeptical of statistics and spent a great deal of time researching it only to find that it was true. It does happen but yes it is a great challenge as a human being to be confronted with evidence that contradicts deeply held beliefs and ultimately accepting it as true.
But on this topic i have seen massive exaggerations over many many years. And yes they have found cases that are sex trafficking but ultimately it turned out to be very rare. That should be good news it turns out the world is slightly less messed up than we thought it was.
“That should be good news it turns out the world is slightly less messed up than we thought it was.” that’s a good point
Joanna,
I am currently taking 16 units in grad school, and I work part time teaching test prep. I hardly have time to go out and find statistics refuting every kook on the internet that didn’t take the time to provide his own. I am not making assertions, but the author of this piece is. Usually the scientific method demands that the person making the assertion be the one to back up their claim, not the reverse.
However, for the sake of moving discussion forward, I will provide a few pieces of evidence (my field is economics, my time is limited, hence my evidence is going to come from that field).
The Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law, by Cohen and Wright, includes a chapter on prostitution (chapter 4), there is a preview that includes a major chunk of that chapter available here: http://books.google.com/books?id=AyepK0yUgUgC&lpg=PP1&dq=wright%20cohen%20economics%20family%20law&pg=PA228#v=onepage&q&f=false
They found that from the 1980s onwards, the number of arrests for prostitution declined significantly (the peak was around 1984). Their data comes from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
However, they also acknowledge that there are multiple problems with using arrest data as a proxy for the prostitution rate, so they also used a Perl Script to collect data from TER, a website known for connecting prostution clients and service providers.
What they found was that from 1999 through 2008, the real (inflation controlled) hourly wage for prostitutes increased by 19%, and that this data reflects a nationwide trend (they use regression analysis of the service providers to demonstrate the trans-national nature of the data).
Basic economic theory tells us that was the supply of a service (in this case prostitution) increases, then the price of the service will decline in real terms. This has not happened. Furthermore, the increase is of such a substantial magnitude that it is difficult to argue that the number of prostitutes is not actually falling.
This could be explained if there was a sharp increase in demand. However, this is handled in an upcoming paper by Levitt and Venkatesh, available here: http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf?q=venkatesh where they find that, in Chicago, roughly half of all prostitution acts involve repeat customers: this implies a stable customer base. If the customer base is stable, then there has not been the sharp increase in demand necessary to drive prices up at the same time supply was increasing. A comparable nationwide study has not been released yet, but the Cohen and Wright book found Chicago to follow national trends, so it may be safe to use Chicago as a proxy for national trends in demand.
Therefore, the available estimators of prostitution activity: arrest levels and service pricing, suggest that the number of prostitutes is decreasing. Available data on customers suggest that the customer pool is stable, so this cannot account for a hypothesized increase in supply. The available evidence simply does not support the original author’s claim that there has been and “enormous increase in the commercial sexual exploitation of women in America.”
Now *these* are stats
I also like that they challenged arrest data as representative of actual occurrence.
Thank you, Mike.
@Joanna – “Also, I’d love to see some countering stats here. I’d love to have someone go and find some stats for me to read that actually counter the claim here. I believe MediaHound is on that road, as he can always be relied upon for research, but how about the rest of you?”
Joanna – I have been looking for the countering stats for months – and I know how to ferret.
I don’t think you will be happy with this response. I saw this piece and made comment. I have watched as matters have unfolded – I have “Grave” concerns over this piece which are not related to stats.
I have found that multiple claims made in support of the Child Trafficking issue are extremely suspect. Even the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2011 makes claim of child trafficking of Vietnamese Children in the UK to grow Cannabis. It raised mass hysteria that there were thousands of children being brought illegally to the UK as child slaves. There was one case where one Vietnamese Child was found, and it is not even certain where they were born – there is a large Vietnamese Community in the UK (Ref Hong Kong – Vietnamese boat people 1970′s). The Child absconded from the place where they were to be cared for safely before any further investigations could occur. Claims as to other countries were also found wanting.
One UK organisation has been making great Media Capital over the matter, and other organisations which do have extensive experience in Child Safety and protection (NSPCC) are most suspect of the claims being made.
I have looked closely at the relevant USA findings and available stats – and compared them with other western democracies. I have no doubt that there are cases of Human Trafficking – I have dealt with people who have been victims – but I do have to say that either the USA stats are Conflated and suspect – else the USA is a country that no person should visit. The stories that keep on being discussed either mean the USA is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, else there is something else going on.
The only times I have seen equivalent stats of such serious nature is for such cases as war crimes in Bosnia and Rwandan.
I know you and others will really not like me saying this – but I do believe that some very real concerns are being raised, and they are “worthy” of study and consideration. I have to say that some are quite and even spectacularly inarticulate in getting that message across – but I have to say that some of those people are sincere.
I am not agreeing with some people’s ideas of a Feminist Conspiracy – but I have seen Interest Groups do this sort of thing before and create moral panic, Media, Public and Political Hysteria and knee jerk reactions all over.
I have seen and identified most serious questions on CDC stats, and they are of the higher quality. But other sources quoted such as RAINN are so questionable as to be seriously in error. TIP is highly suspect and the figures are all based on estimates that don’t follow statistical and academic rigour. Some are reported as having errors of plus or minus 60 percent – that is the difference between 40 and 160 – and yet it’s always the highest figure possible that gets quoted by the media as “… as many as..”
I have been shocked by the lack of reaction to the findings of John Jay College Of Justice’s findings on child prostitution in New York – and the Obstruction they encountered in parallel research in Atlanta. The college may not be well known by name, but they were the experts called in to research such issues as Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church. Their work has a very high value, merit and expertise.
The findings were presented in http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-11-02/news/lost-boys/
The more I look the more bemusing it all becomes. What I can see is media and public opinion being manipulated very skilfully, and people being used.
What I am seeing is Interest groups of many types seeking to Spin the story for their own ends. That makes me angry, because I know how damaging that is.
I have had to deal with it myself. The first time I encountered child prostitution was as part of AIDS/HIV outreach work back in the 1980′s. What we uncovered then was a horror story of child Institutional sexual abuse against boys and girls – and because of Interest groups It took another ten years before anyone was arrested – any investigation took place – and I know that when it was all finished and there was even a Full Pubic Enquiry – the full truth had still not come out. I have lived seeing stories spun, manipulated and people played with. I was aware that for ten years children were being abused – and they were running away and then turning to prostitution because the only thing they had learned that had value was their bodies being sued for sex. I lad I first met him when he was 13 – when he was 16 I carried his coffin. he died from HIV.
I will not in any way deny that there is evidence of child trafficking and other human trafficking – but I am of the opinion that some people in supposed Interest Groups are more interested in having control of money and political power/access than actually putting the people in need first. These people have mortages, families, kids in college and even Holiday homes to pay for. They have self interest as well, and there is even a whole class of supposedly professional people who thrive on public service.
You from your view point and your heart would never once consider putting your interests over that of a child. I can’t think of anyone here who would. But unfortunately you are not the person in charge and managing these organisations which in reality have become big business.
Some even have contracts on buildings they have leased to make into centres and administration buildings – and the leases have to be paid for for another 25+ years. The people in charge are required by law to make sure the none profit keeps going and money is not lost. Board members and Trustees only have so much oversight and often limited power. The system is wide open to abuse and it often is.
I’m not saying this to upset you – to have a go at anyone – but there is a reality here that needs to be explored, because what I am seeing is Kids in need and adults too who are being trafficked twice. One by the traffickers and the second time for profit by the organisations who claim to represent them and don’t – they represent their own interests and they guard them jealously, and will happily manipulate the Media – Joe and Joanna Public and Politics – for them the means are justified by the outcome – and that is not the best outcome for the victims in need.
If I can do anything else to help please call.
If you need other information I can assist you with, I’m at your service.
More great research, friend. Thank you for that. I am also incredibly sorry for the awful stories about the children. It’s just gut-wrenching. But you’re right that it is important.
So wait, will you clarify for me how you fear this article impacts the care for children who are being abused?
Also, I greatly appreciate that you made the point that while you question aspects of this piece, you don’t believe that any of it is a feminist conspiracy.
Please tell me more of how your fears relate to this particular piece.
Thanks.
@ Joanna
I was clear when I said “The whole piece has the tone of emotional manipulation on so many levels – and that emotional manipulation gets played out so as to actually hide risks and issues whilst supposedly giving good advice.”
I have not linked this article to the care of children being abused – You have, else where on the thread, asked questions about abuse denial were denial of child sexual abuse has been an issue. I fear you are mixing up matters, not I.
In relation to this OP I have made very very clear my concerned as to content, style, semiotics and how “”Supposedly”" Good Advice can actually be “”Bad Advice”" when it covers over issues.
This OP has many issues that need “Careful” and “Thoughtful” consideration. I did make that clear in this response directly to you http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/why-your-daughter-may-be-the-most-popular-drug-on-the-street/comment-page-1/#comment-92690
You seemed to have confused my “Meaning” and “Intent”, so I did clarify matters for you.
Great article to write about BUT not a single “FACT” to be found.
An author is really reaching when they have to go back a 100 years for a quote.
John – I wonder why the Author had to reach back 100 years when the issue is covered most recently in the DOJ Trafficking In Persons Report 2011
“U.S. citizen child victims are often runaways, troubled, and homeless youth.” – Father’s are not within the picture, or “Frame” used by the OP. One would expect a supposed authority in the field to know the picture and articulate it clearly and without misleading sensationalism that wanders into mythology.
Tip Report Says “Recommendations for the United States: Improve data collection on human trafficking cases at the federal, state and local levels; ”
It is of great value that the US Government recommend to itself that it improve data collection on the subject. Improved data has two primary functions, to know reality and also to de-bunk myths. The TIP report was written after the DJO was fully aware of the State Sponsored Research by John Jay College Of Justice in New York and Atlanta. The work has also been expanded to at least 6 other major US Cities. The findings are due to be reported this year. Given existing findings it is expected that a great many myths will be de-bunked.
Improving data also means improving how any data is first gathered and then also how it is used.
It also means having to remove Bias and in-particular “Institutional Bias” from all sources. Systems and Processes are designed to have a particular outcome. Unfortunately some humans seek to manipulate the process fro their own ends, as opposed to seeking the outcome that the process is there for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
Its extremely telling that the most vocal organisation in Ireland speaking about sex trafficking is run by the sisters of charity. This group formerly ran the magdelene laundries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_Laundries) which effectively imprisoned women into a system of forced labour with the absolute complicity of the state and police force.
Are these really the people you want to be relying on for unbiased information about sex work?
The title of the article is also highly misleading. I’ve spoken to a couple of prostitutes about this (aswell as prodommes, which is a slightly different issue but bears similarities) and I’ve read articles by a couple of others and the consensus is that women usually sell sex for one reason: money. I also know a couple of women who considered prostitution to pay the rent. The only reason your daughter is ever likely to be “trafficked” is if she is absolutely desperate for money and has no way of getting is. Chances are, if you’re in contact with her, this will not be the case. This article could just as well have been entitled “why your children stand almost no chance of becoming prostitutes, but you should care about the people who do.”
And while prostitution is unlikely to go away any time soon (its an inevitable symptom of poverty), there is something we can do to help women (and men) who sell sex: Legalisation. If a person has gotten to the point where they feel that they have no choice but to resort to prostitution, how on earth does it help to “rescue” (read: arrest) them, drive their clients away, deport them (if they’re illegal aliens), deprive them of legal protection by criminalising their activities, force them to work in unsafe, insanitary and unregularted workplaces with no union representation and otherwise do our level best to drive them right into the hands of some of the most exploitative people on earth.
I’m sure prostitution “rescue” charities have their hearts in the right place, but god only knows what that place is, it certainly doesn’t seem to be the planet earth.
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/5973/
“A poster recently produced at a workshop at the Empower Foundation, a collective of sex workers, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is instructive. It lists reasons why the women there do not want to be rescued by police or charity workers, including that it leads to them to getting locked up, interrogated and deported without any compensation for them or their dependants. The final reason listed on the poster is ‘we must find a way back to Thailand to start again’ (4).”
The more panic this guy can whip up through trafficking hysteria, the more money he gets.
Feckblog has a good collection of actual research on trafficking if anyone’s interested http://feck-blog.blogspot.com/search/label/Trafficking
I have to say that this advice piece does have some value – but the basic tenant that there is such high risk is designed to alarm and distress.
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? Is it to manipulate fathers so they neglect their sons?
Is it to make parents view boys and girls differently and promote and continue gender bias?
And I ask those questions from the position of having 30 plus years experience of dealing with the issues and directly with the people targeted! I applaud your concerns but not how they are being expressed.
It is interesting isn’t it – and highly illuminating!
This is blatant scare tactics for leaders of charities and police departments to grow their funding.
Check this article:
http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/child-sex-trafficking-in-the-usa-what-really-goes-on/
In this thread I post many stories in which after hundreds of thousands of man hours of investigation only single digit cases of slave sex trafficking (or zero) was found.
This isn’t any different than any other scare. Whatever happened to all those crack babies that were used for government health funding? Whatever happened to all those 100′s of thousands of women dying from snuff films (that there was supposedly a HUGE underground market for) in the 70′s?
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 that the sex work industry is full of trafficked women and advocating harsh legal remedies.
This doesn’t mean that trafficking never happens, or that when it does happen its not an awful thing. It means that attitudes such as those expressed in the article above are causing real harm to real people.
Also, if anything a legalised and regulated sex industry whose workers have recourse to the protection of the law, health services and union representation, would go a long way towards helping wipe out human sex trafficking, just as the fall of prohibition wiped out the beer runners. Calling out bad information and flawed logic is always a good thing: it helps us root out the truth.
thanks for the headsup elissa
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.
@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) that pointed out that the little white girl is not the real picture of underage prostitution , in fact girls are barely 50% of this who are doing this. But you will rarely if ever read a story about those that aren’t girls. Notice how the hysteria has shown that only girls get into this. This means that anyone who is not a girl and who is a victim of this is completely forgotten.
When I read your link I just couldn’t help but think of the “Super Bowl Hoax” of a few years ago surrounding DV, and how it was the worst day of the year for it. New orgs carried and parroted it like it was gospel, the most professional journalists wrote the stories and no one bother to check if it was even true.
Is that happening here, I believe to some extent it is, when you look at the studies that you are so quick to dismiss they show a completely different picture of the truth.
I guess Walter Kronkite was right “The difference between a report in his day and today is that today they never let the facts get in the way of a good story”
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…..
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.
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.
FYI – the first paragraph above the abstract, the second two paragraphs were written by me.
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.