This comment was by Hugh, in response to That Guy, on the post The Porn Talk.
I guess some Human Trafficking 101 is needed here. For an act to be considered Human Trafficking then is must contain some element of force, fraud, or, coercion. The only exceptions to this are in cases where the victim is below the age of consent and organ trafficking. So unless our author beat, threatened, or did a bait and switch to get his wife to do porn then I think he is free of any wrong doing.
This brings us to types of trafficking. The two major types are sex and labor trafficking. The break up is roughly 80% sex and 20% labor. While the state department speculates that roughly 16,000 people are smuggled in a year from other countries, smuggling is not necessary for it to be trafficking. It is much more common and less expensive for a trafficker to use people from their own area. The average age of someone being introduced into prostitution is 12-14. This is considered trafficking and on average the individual has a life expectancy of 7 years from that point if they do not leave the industry.
So back to trafficking and the porn industry. You are right about there being no clear numbers between the two. But we can all agree that there have been a few famous underage porn stars, Traci Lords being the most notable. If we have had these individuals that have made it to the top in the industry how many more do you think are in the amateur leagues in the US or in less regulated industries of other countries. When I was a young teen I wanted to see girls who at least resembled girls my own age. And you know without much looking I found them my age and younger. They were all posed solo pics in on a easy to find site with no money or password required. Then I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. Almost 20 years and and much experience later, including working at a rape crisis center, it kind of haunts me.
Human trafficking is the fastest growing of the top three criminal industries. If you do not think that human trafficking and porn mix then you are closing your eyes to it. I am not against all porn. I even think prostitution should be legalized, mostly so it can be regulated, but legalized none the less. I just think if we are, as a nation, beginning to look at our coffee, chocolate, and diamonds and ask what it cost for those things to come to us, then why can’t we do the same with our porn? If you want more information not from a .org look at the state department or UN numbers.
In some areas, it isn’t illegal to sell, just illegal to buy
Ireland for instance.
This recent measure was hailed by trafficking charities as the ideal solution to the sale of sex.
Naturally the women who actually pay their bills by selling sex were less than thrilled to find that their clients were to be criminalised:
http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/2011/10/12/seanad-motion-to-criminalise-the-purchase-of-sex/
Aside from sex and organs, what other things are legal to give away freely but illegal to sell?
Not much education there Editors…Try this instead:
…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.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-11-02/news/lost-boys/
This too:
The UK’s biggest ever investigation of sex trafficking failed to find a single person who had forced anybody into prostitution in spite of hundreds of raids on sex workers in a six-month campaign by government departments, specialist agencies and every police force in the country.
The failure has been disclosed by a Guardian investigation which also suggests that the scale of and nature of sex trafficking into the UK has been exaggerated by politicians and media.
ht tp://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
Just read that article, shocking stuff. Those kids need homes, not arrests.
I kept thinking that “trafficking” meant “transporting,” or moving people around from place to place, but it looks like the word is being used here to mean all forms of “selling” or “dealing” with any sort of coercive element. You could be sex trafficking using people from your own neighborhood, based on this definition. I kept thinking this was about kidnapping and smuggling people across borders because so many of the articles on this at the GMP suggest a giant international syndicate and greasy, hairy, foreign hands at work. Foreigners who are just minutes away from ensnaring your own innocent… Read more »
“I even think prostitution should be legalized, mostly so it can be regulated, but legalized none the less.” This thinking comes from feeling defeated, indicating that sex trafficking has become an overwhelming and difficult problem to get under control; other overwhelming issues include: gun control, violence and the war on drugs. If we get tempted to legalize one thing, this will set precedent for other vices and other criminal activity to seek decriminalization. And just think, racism at one point was an acceptable social norm and practiced by the majority in America — this was LEGAL! If society doesn’t fight… Read more »
OR, it comes from recognizing that prostitution is not, in fact, immoral and should not be a crime.
It is curious that although the entire point of the original comment you quoted from was to explain how sex trafficking differs from consensual sex work, you still take for granted that they are one in the same. Your quote of Hugh says nothing about legalizing sex trafficking.
“If we get tempted to legalize one thing, this will set precedent for other vices and other criminal activity to seek decriminalization.”
I agree, vices such as prostitution, drinking alcohol, homosexuality and jazz music must be firmly opposed.
“The average age of someone being introduced into prostitution is 12-14.”
Is there a reason that human sex trafficking can’t be discussed without throwing around stats that have already been thoroughly debunked?
“The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14.” This stat comes from a report on child prostitution. Contrary to its use by the anti-prostitution activists, the context has absolutely nothing to do with adult prostitution. http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
What has that got to do with this?
“The two major types are sex and labor trafficking. The break up is roughly 80% sex and 20% labor.” Considering that labor trafficking is not much of a concern to most governments or NGOs, I imagine their apathy to it would tend to reduce the proportion. If I want to see loads and loads of sex trafficked women and girls and don’t really care about labor(and usually sexually exploited as well) trafficked men and boys, I will see loads and loads of sex trafficked women and girls. In fact according to this 80% of the human trafficking in asia is… Read more »
It depends how you measure things. Here is an extreme example: American companies openly advertise jobs for undocumented workers in Mexico and other Latin Ameridcan nations. Presumably, most of the 20 million undocumented workers in the US responded to these kinds of organized outreach efforts (the vast majority of all these job seekers are male). American companies advertise jobs that: 1) They know are illegal 2) They know carry tremendous border crossing risks — and costs 3) They know will not benefit from safety regulations 4) They know will not benefit from services such as Social Security 5) They know… Read more »