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
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, 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.
MediaHound says:
January 11, 2012 at 8:44 am
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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.
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Why are you only focusing upon one group and not all people at risk? ….
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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, who in a family, keep a good eye on what their children are doing. We need strong parents rights to interfere if teenagers are moving on to a wrong direction…I have 2 daughters (already adults) and 1 fostergirl (soon an adult), and they never had a problem with thugs and drugs. They just don’t socialize with such people.
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 entire issue being dismissed as a conspiracy.
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 to say that I’ve been enlightened by some specific MRAs and other men (like Archy) on this site about sex abuse against males.
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 I do not. The only thing I’ve *ever* felt safe saying on the issue is what I said, above, about how important I believe the issue of the rape/abuse of males to be.
Supporting my friend does not mean I support every single thing he does. I have said that many, many times on this site.
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 friend. I don’t want him to hurt my friend. He is touching me down below.” (Girl, aged 11)
“My mum’s boyfriend has been sticking holes in my door and watching me. He is playing with me.” (Girl, aged eight)
“My mum’s boyfriend is beating me up. He is living with us for three months. He wants me to put my penis in his mouth. He is making me wear mum’s clothes and makeup. If I refuse, he is hitting me with a slipper.” (Boy, aged 14)
“My mum tried to rape me last night. I am upset. My mum came in from the pub drunk, asked me to take my clothes off and tried to put a rubber thing inside me. My mum is drinking a lot since Dad had broken up with her. Mum is in the pub now. I have not talked to her since last night.” (Boy, aged 11)
“I am physically and sexually abused at home by Mum. It is been happening since I was two years old. I feel sad.” (Girl, aged 12)
“I have been living with my nan since I was 12. Nan forced me to have sex with her last night and I don’t want to do this. I have nowhere else to live.” (Boy, aged 17)
“My stepmum is sticking her fingers up my bum and other places just in front of my mum. This has been happening for a year. My mum is also doing the same thing. She asks me to have a bath with her and touches me in wrong places. My stepmum takes drugs and I see her once a month.” (Girl, aged six)
Those are not statistics – those are direct quotes from the children who in real time told their stories to the most Highly Regarded Child Protection Charity IN THE WORLD – operating since 1895 under royal charter from Queen Victoria.
Those voices trouble me. I have dealt with those children.
I was one of those children.
Do you see now why so many have been wondering why such a report was dismissed out of hand – and when called to account for it – …. well … I take it It’s Just History … and the band played on!
Sometimes Bullets have to be bitten, because what has happened requires nothing less!
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 report by one agency that details what’s happening within their organization. Yes they report a rise in the rate of boys reporting abuse. That’s important. However, this can be for any number of reasons *including* that this agency has created a safe spot for boys to call in and talk. Which is an amazing and important thing. Also, perhaps society is becoming more accepting of boys expressing these experiences. And yes, maybe boys are being abused at much higher rates than before. I am willing to accept that.
I am not DISMISSING this report. This is the truth for this agency. I have no data to counteract that this doesn’t reflect the general population in the UK. There is, however, countering data for the gen pop of the United States.
This report, as I’ve said, is important but we need to be careful to keep our eye on what this is actually reporting. This is not a general population study.
Now, please don’t say I haven’t addressed this issue. And you can say I’m dismissing this report — but I haven’t dismissed it. I have addressed it, I see its importance, but I do not agree that it is indicative of what is happening within the general population. That is not the same as dismissing its importance.
Again, I don’t speak for Hugo, I speak for me. I don’t even know what he said about this report.
@ 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 to ChildLine about sexual abuse” on methodology, and then research NVivo – “Qualitative data analysis software, qualitative research, market research, …”
You may also wish to consult a Quality Dictionary.
It is a “Study” and NOT a metta analysis of a larger data set or parallel data sets. It therefore has a higher quality of validity than studies which rely upon metta analysis and bias weighting such as RAINN.
The “Study” comes from one single data source, and is not a combination of data sources that conflict on how data is gathered and analysed.
You seem to consider a Study being individuals sitting down with a piece of paper and ticking boxes. There are Ethics to consider and Consent.
Perhaps you will advise myself and so many experts in the field of abuse how to gain parental consent from a Child who is being subjected to Sexual Abuse – so the child can be handed a piece of paper and asked to Tick Boxes?
I take it that you may be unwilling to allow an unknown person to phone your home, speak to you and advise they are looking to interview children about sexual abuse – but they need your consent to speak to minors – so please say yes and put your children on the line?
If Childline’s Report is not a study – perhaps you will point me to relevant studies on the issue of “Child Sex Trafficking” where the subjects have handed over pieces of paper and pens and ticked boxes. I would love to see if they count as studies.
Would you like to tell such groups as “John Jay College Of Justice” that they have not been carrying out studies and just wasting so much time, Federal Funding and need to do it all a different way?
Your claim “This isn’t a study.” is Nonsensical and frankly Rude and insulting to al the people who have been involved with Childline – and also to all the people here who have raised Study after Study to illustrate reality. Is that to be the new trope? “This isn’t a study.” – Go Away!
You seem to be preoccupied with the idea of a Rise in Child Sex Abuse. I don’t know why that is.
There is a rise in “reporting” which does not mean the same as a rise in “incidents”. It is very necessary to be precise in language so that errors and misunderstanding do not occur. It is necessary to maintian clear frames of reference so that silly errors are avoided.
I find it odd that this very phenomenon has been so recently seen in the USA around PSU/Sandusky. There has not been an increase of “incidents” – but there has been an increase in “reporting”. It is a well known phenomenon. Would you claim otherwise?
Increased reporting to Childline is directly linked to parallel education based programmes over a five year period, where children have been educated into what abuse is and also that they will be believed – and they are all told if they need to ask for help – ask for advice – or just speak to a person who believes them – they call Childline. It’s quite simple.
Every Public Phone in the UK has listed numbers for emergency. Police – Fire – Ambulance – Coast Guard – Childline – and the numbers are free 24/7 365 days of the year, for the last 25 years! In some schools they even have such novelties as computer screen savers which advertise Childline – so that kids are reminded that there is help with everything from school bullying to being sexually abused. Changing times bring changes in media – and old Poster Campaigns are being replaces with intelligent ways to get the message across.
Eduction pays dividends in uncovering the truth. Childline/NSPCC have developed yet more educational tools due to their studies and experience. They are being rolled out nationally as I type.
The Childline Study and it’s Statistical Findings was used here on GMP to illustrate that “Women Rape Boys, Too”. It was in that context and in that Frame Of Reference that the very real data was dismissed and called “Dishonest” and “Disingenuous”. You seem to be unable to maintain frames of reference and clarity and keep shifting focus. The matter has been kept in frame clearly for quite some time and I have been responsible for doing so.
You claim that there is countering data for the General Population of the United States. Could you illuminate on the methodology of how the data is collected? That does have a very large bearing upon the validity and significance of any number produced. It is a basic Tennant of Statistics and even the Scientific Method.
As I have said elsewhere – Data from such sources as RAINN are suspect – and the reason is the methodology of how the data is collected – defined and reported – and even the metta analysis which is carried out from parallel data sources that do not share parity of definitions and methodology. That causes known bias and a reduction on value of findings.
Using a Data Set where the only people interviewed are women, and then interviewing them on a life time experience of sexual abuse – and then using those figures to calculate a national figure for all Americans who have suffered or are suffering Child Sexual Abuse is flawed. It’s simple to see why – NO MEN WERE INTERVIEWED.
It does cause just as Tad of bias – no matter what the piece of papers says and how many Boxes on it are to be ticked. If the studies are Gender Biased then using the results incorrectly and inappropriately just spreads the Bias wider. The wild beats of bias even has a terrible habit of escaping into the general population where it runs amok and gets even bigger!
It does lead to Large Scale Bias – and even leads people to claim that Males Do Not Get Abused. It even leads to claims and misuse of tropes such as the “Overwhelming Trope” which is so dismissive and even disingenuous as the people using it know, or reasonably aught to know, that there are very large questions about the data used to support The Trope!
Talk About Conflation – We know that the statistics are flawed but we will use them to enforce a false reality anyway?
Lies – Damned Lies – and Statistics.
That is why the CDC data has been welcomed so greatly – It uses valid methodology – has a relevant data set of both men and women – is not a metta analysis – and even then when people highlight the findings they are dismissed.
Saying that one set of Stats is better than another does require first a “Qualitative Analysis” of how the stats were collected – and only afterwards do you use a “Quantitative Comparison”. Anyone who does otherwise is in error – and if they know the risks of such an error are either being deliberately obtuse, or disingenuous in the extreme.
Oddly there is a Striking Statistical Correlation between Childline data and the CDC data, even when the CDC data for ethical, legal and consent reasons only addresses adults and no children were interviewed. The CDC have uncovered a Lifetime Sexual Abuse data set with Child Sexual Abuse by age demographic matching Childline.
So, I do have to wonder which data “You” are referring to when you say “There is, however, countering data for the gen pop of the United States.”? Could you name the data you are referring to, so that it can be contrasted against other data sources and Study Findings?
So many here have been at pains to Name Sources, Provide Links to relevant Sources and even explain the contrasts between Sources and the actual significance of data from studies, so I am sure that many will wish to know which sources you are referring to so that any errors in perception and understanding can be addressed.
Kindly provide that information by return post.
Given the nature of the Childline data, how the data is collected and from who, it is a very valid Study which illuminates the levels of male sexual abuse, and even that the abusers can and often are women. The CDC data also concurs.
One has to wonder why earlier studies and metta analyses have missed the issue?
Actually – the reasons have been raised many times by many people here – and each time the findings and reasons have been dismissed. The simple fact that males of all ages have been markedly under represented in studies simply means that relevant data has not even been collected. It has induced Systemic Perceptual Bias and a view that men have to be wrong when they point to the error and correct it. It has been ever so abusive – and that pattern of Abuse will have to stop very soon.
As I have said:
“Tell us what to do so that we don’t annoy you—and give us the qualitative barrier that even one man has to exceed so that he is not a number but a Human Being!”
I meant that very sincerely! All I see is people who keep shifting Goal Posts in a rigged game – and it’s time for that to stop!
You have said that you are not familiar with stats and also lack time to study the subjects covered with any degree of thoroughness. You keep stating that you want to know and to hear and then say you are too busy to deal with the responses. That is fatiguing for all concerned.
It is a pity that people who have spent the time and who even have the requisite knowledge to even design the Data Acquisition Tools from the ground up are not given credence when they call foul ball.
There is a central issue of bias and lack of knowledge that blocks both learning and dialogue. It does require both sides to recognise such limits and be actively involved in addressing them. It is called WIN/WIN and relies upon all parties to stop being obstructive in all ways.
As with much Internet chatter it so possible to get shifted away from a central point from which this spur of dialogue originated – and I see that yet again it is happening. Some also become annoyed when such shifting agendas just make issues bigger and more complex.
As one of my great idols said “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” – Albert Einstein.
I keep seeing here, in supposed dialogue, intelligent foolery and so many things being mad bigger, more complex and then violent. Maybe some should look for the genius that lies in all of those who partake – it may take courage, but I’m sure it will pay dividends.
If you wish to maintain such fallacies as the Childline data is not a Study – well you will have to forgive me and many others, if in future we have to say that any opinion you express where any Studies are concerned, stats and what they illustrate – well the opinion may be expressed, but its validity is The Question and not the realities that others are highlighting and addressing.
It would have been so much easier if some had bothered to read before dismissing reality because they did not wish to accept the Reality that was and is revealed. Intelligent foolery and onto violence – when a touch of genius would have been so much better as well as an ounce of courage to see a different world view.
People can choose to be either part of the problem – or part of the solution. To do that, some will have to address Frames Of Reference and who is held within such frames. When the frame gets bigger it is of no value demanding that the original image held within that frame has premium value. The Picture has gotten far bigger, and far more people feature in the new world that the New and Bigger Frame reveals.
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, you say you want to hear, and then when people do as you ask…… no response.
I hope you can see why people believe that they are not listened to, ignored and marginalised.
“And The Band Played On” – h ttp://youtu.be/g5vJa1LnSEY
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 enough to be doing everything they can. The ones that don’t care probably won’t listen anyway.
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.
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 over 2 decades ago…but it helps to hear you write about this difficult and controversial subject…
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 on google, see if you can name a missing males (of any race even those that were found later) over the last 15 years.
Now see if you can name any missing white females. I will start you off (Jean Benoit Ramsey).
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.
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 serious problems. How do you know that the man with 3 women really IS a pimp and is NOT just hanging out with 3 women? Even if he is a pimp, just spending time with those women is not illegal. I hope we’re not suggesting we just let the police go with their gut instinct when it comes to arresting people. I don’t want a cop arresting me because “he could just tell” I was doing something illegal. I’m not sure how society should fight prostitution in this case if the people involved are all adults and not currently doing anything illegal. Should we make it “probable cause” for arrest when a man is found in the company of more than one woman? You can increase “suspicion” all you want, but that’s not the same thing as finding actual evidence.
The profit comparison needs some serious work. I’m not sure anyone could say that being a pimp is inherently more profitable than being a drug dealer. There ARE overhead expenses to pimping, even if they may be small. Sheltering/imprisoning another person takes time and money, as does fighting off competition, forcing johns to pay, etc. Considering that some drug addicts will sell everything they own just to keep the drugs coming, I can’t imagine that pimping pays more money than drugs. Are there prostitution addicts who give away all of their wealth to pimps?
Another comparison, if I may be crudely objectifying for a moment – how much money do you make transporting a 120 lb person, compared to 120 lbs of pot? I’m guessing the pot brings in 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 has overly simplistic and naive about the mentality of people that are in such situations. It presents the illusion that women and girls that are in these situations are on equal footing as the men that run them. (And lets be honest, It is infact mostly men that run these things. That’s not a prejudice. It’s just a reality.) That they are making choices from the same position the man that is running the show is. It presents the illusion that women and girls in these situtions are healthy individuals that just so happened to want to become hookers. It presents the illusion that people in these situations, no matter how they got there, don’t need help. What young girl do you know says to herself, ” I want to be a prositute and service strange desperate men when I grow up”?
I also find it rather naive to say we need to assume that 3 women are just hanging out with one guy while turning tricks. As if the world is an innocent place where three women or girls would just hang around with a guy in a completely innocent and giving environment of peace and free choice for all. And that this is going to be the case enough times to make it a logical conclusion. Do you really think policemen that investigate these things everyday don’t know how these situations work? Or that they are just praying on anyone? Come on. Now your just making up justitifcations.
Do you know what gives men more of a bad rap then terrible men that prostitute women out? Good men that go about their lives obeying the law that want to ignore these issues because of their own fear as a man of being labled. Good men that don’t want to admit to the reality of what happens to mostly girls and women through the sex trade.
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 kidnapping, rape, and murder, I heartily agree. I’ll sign that petition.
In fact, that makes me think that the pot-dealing bogeyman has been exaggerated all out of proportion to his real danger, thanks to a concerted political effort to expose pot’s sensational danger to our innocent little children. Hmm. Perhaps there are other exaggerated bogeymen at work in the social consciousness today? If there’s one, there may be more than one. Is there a film like “Reefer Madness” I can watch that will expose the real inner workings of the sex trade?
I found the drug/person comparison in the title itself, referring to my daughter as a drug on the street. (I don’t have a daughter, but I read the article anyway.)
I don’t see where I wrote that agency means full equality without coercion. I was not implying that there are no people coerced into prostitution. What I was trying to suggest is that treating people like objects to be bought, sold, or consumed is exactly the problem, and it fails to take into account where these girls and women are coming from. The people who are at risk are at risk *in part* because of choices they have made. Their vulnerability is often, in part, a product of bad judgment. This does not excuse pimps in any way. But, talking about these girls and women as if they were stray pets is hardly helpful. If we ignore the girls’ agency, that points down another bad road – locking them up so pimps can’t get to them.
Nowhere did I say that we have to assume the three women are just hanging out with the man. However, even alleged pimps are innocent until proven guilty. If someone is suggesting that too many criminals are hiding behind the presumption of innocence, I say too bad. Find more evidence in a legally legitimate way, build a case, and pursue a harsh sentence. What the cop knows to be true is not the same as what can be proven under the rule of law. This is leaving aside for the moment the possibility that the prostitutes and the pimp are working together voluntarily and not a case where the pimp is holding women hostage.
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 were treated as well. They can both be victims and perpetrators of crime. I don’t think any boy grows up wanting to be a pimp unless he is severely diluted about the business in it’s glorification. But the difference is that we don’t usually see men becoming the prostitutes and the women becoming the pimps. There are cases where women will sell other women, but it’s not by far the majority. And even fewer yet do we ever hear of women selling men. In such circumstances, it appears men turn to selling women and women in turn are the market profit object. It appears that men are more willing to sell women then women are in selling men. Both genders that end up in such circumstances are partly victims of the life they found themselves in. There is no denying that. But there is also a disparity of power in the whole prostitute/pimp dynamic that we aren’t recognizing or talking about.
This doesn’t even begin to touch on how pop culture glorifies the pimp/ho dynamic. As if it’s something funny that a man has “hos”. He’s “big pimpin”, he’s the “man”. She’s simply the “ho”. The “bitch”. The “slut”. It’s funny right? Parts of our culture seem to think it is.
I however will say that when it comes to underaged girls and boys, then you have a whole other layer that infact is about praying on those that are less worldly and that are more weak. They do not have the resources to be on the same level as a grown adult that introduces them to a world of prostitution that knows the ins and outs and knows how to manipulate those more weak.
You claim the article’s approach to talking about the issue is to treat women like they are stray pets. Show me an example of that in the article. I never once thought the article was insinuating that the women in these situations where close to “pets”. And I find attempting to relate that to the situation more damaging then anything the article has stood for. It seems that any mention of situations that target young girls or women becomes a target for how coddled women are. And it just leaves me shaking my head.
I was lucky. I was raised in a lovely home with a middle class family with two parents that loved me. But despite how lucky I was in this, I was hardly ever “coddled” just because I am female. No one gets out of this world unscathed. And I personally resent the anger directed to women in general anytime an issue is brought up that does appear to be a gender issue. That any specific mention of young girls and women is a dirth on their sole. So much to the extent that they are actually bitter that anyone would even want to bring light to an issue that does infact happen. I just don’t get it. I get not being interested in a certain topic. I suspect many men and women don’t care about the sex trade. But I don’t get actual anger and bitterness for the issue being talked about. I also think women are much more targeted to degradement and objectification then men are. There are things you can do and say to women in a lot of popular male sexual media that you could never do to someone based on their race or religion.
Look at DavieByron’s response. Why is he even reading this article if he doesn’t think it happens? He takes this as an opportunity to use emotionally charged words like “hysteria” in an attempt to degrade the importance of the issue being talked about. Highly emotional words can be used both ways, to support a cause or to debase it. And attempting to attach the word “hysteria” to an issue that does infact prove to be real, is an attempt to debase the cause. Now if you don’t care about human sex slavery, that’s one thing. But it’s not that he doesn’t seem to care so much as he has actual anger and disappointment that it’s an issue that’s being addressed. Because of an idea that women are pandered to. And that’s just strange to me. Because even as a middle class white woman, I don’t live in a world that panders to me. I got my own battles to face just like men do.
It’s so strange to me that people will believe the worst can come out of any situations. But strangely, when it comes to sex, people want to ignore the negative things that can come from. Porn addiction? It’s impossible for someone to be addicted to porn! Sex addiction? Noooooo, people don’t have sex addiction in our culture. They only have every other imaginable addictions. A person can be addicted to Facebook, drugs, drink..we have a country of morbidly obese people and people in debt that can’t even afford the homes they knowingly bought. But sex? noooo, there couldn’t possibly be anything that happens with sex within our culture. I actually think that sex is probably the biggest driving force of dysfunction in our society. But because we in general have a hard time talking about it, even the good aspects of it, we can’t even seem to address the negative ones. Such as the reality that human sex trafficking does happen. Now if you want to call an honest discussion about something even law enforcement officials will tell you happens, “hysterical”. You can. But to me, it’s just a ploy to undermine the situation just because certain people don’t like the idea of women being protected or helped in society because of what certain men have called a “dysfunctional” of society for protecting women.
By the way David, this part is partly to you, it clearly isn’t just “white slavery”. It’s plain “human” slavery. This happens in every country in the world. More so in third world countries that have less respect for women and children (yes young boys included in that) then other places where there are more freedoms and education for women and children. These type of women, among having less education, have less financial prospects compared to American women (who even then can get into those kind of situations.) Although if you really read anything about the topic of human slavery, you would see that it nothing like a “UFO”. That it’s been logically identified as something that happens. And that it’s a big part of organized crime. But that rather makes sense to me. Why would organized crime stop at laundering money and drugs to make money? They wouldn’t. And relating this situation to something tangible, something we all are all familiar with, such as drugs, to something like the sex trade that most of us are less familiar with, seems to be an apt way to make this issue more real. Much more so then any commentary on a comparison between drugs and women turning women into objects. It’s funny to me how all the sudden a few men here are worried about turning women into objects within the comparison of drugs and how they are peddled. But I doubt many men are thinking about that when they undoubtedly click on their favorite porn site for a few minutes to relieve themselves. Finally, we have men that are worried about comparisons of women being turned into objects. But it’s only because of a core dissatisfaction with the topic at hand. Where is that level of dissatisfaction for how women are objectified everyday?”
(Moderator’s Note: This post was held for length, but approved.)
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.
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 it out to be.”
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.
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 try to shame me into agreeing, I tend to think they’re desperate or compensating or excessively irrational. (It doesn’t work anymore when my mother does it, so it certainly won’t work on me when I hear it from strangers….)
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, illegal immigration, foreigners, secrecy, kidnapping, stranger danger, lost innocence, etc. I’m not sure what else you would need to get Americans’ attention, except maybe bring in the Bible and taxes somehow. If we could just make a connection between child sex prostitution trafficking and Muslim extremist terrorism, we would have the perfect storm for media coverage.
It’s so perfectly charged ansd so perfectly described that it’s hard to imagine someone NOT exploiting this for political, financial, or personal advantage.
“# 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 to blame, someone to be at the bottom of the food chain, someone to exploit, usually women and children end up at the bottom of the list.
Still working on that ‘human being’ thing, rather than that ‘just another ape’.
With all that said, I wonder what people would think about a state mandated curriculum on sexual morality.
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. Regardless, all 9 were known to be “Craig’s List” advertised “Sex Workers”. “Free Agents” , no pimp involved. My point is, this is why this problem is so hard to resolve
Would they be alive today if they had had a pimp?
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 NO bearing on what good men do.
Enough with the hysteria already.
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.
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.
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.
“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).
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 running around who don’t know to yell help when they need. I just can’t believe that. I’ll admit, I could be wrong, but I just can’t believe that there really are that many people who are that dumb. Especially when I’ve read (on at least 2 occasions to date) of people asking for help to get themselves out of a sex trafficking situation. I know I would ask for help and I’m not so much more intelligent than everyone else (at least I really hope I’m not).
Anyways…
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 might receive for selling an authors book.