Posted on 02/26/2006 12:42:01 PM PST by wagglebee
Where would sex trafficking and prostitution be without a john willing to purchase another human being for sex?
We normally approach the topic of sex trafficking from the victim’s perspective, because the horrors that these tortured women and children endure hour upon hour, day after day, must end. The more we raise awareness about this issue and enact programs to rescue victims, the sooner they have a chance at a renewed life. But in this article, we will look at the problem from a different angle: the demand side.
Most people who pay for commercial sex acts are men. They come from all walks of life and all income levels. The only thing they share is the desire to buy a woman or child like a commodity in order to “own” a human being for a short time. This man, known in common lingo as the “john,” wants the woman to make all his desires come true and act like she enjoys it. He doesn’t care how she got into prostitution. Was she trafficked from another state or country? It doesn’t matter as long as she can perform. Was she or is she a child victim now caught up in this horror? It’s not his problem; he likes the way she looks and is willing to pay for it. And besides, what’s the likelihood he’ll get arrested, right?
Soliciting a commercial sex act is illegal in the United States, except in several counties in Nevada. Still, men usually get away with this crime because law enforcement has typically gone after the prostituted women and children. The victims have been punished and the perpetrators are free to use, exploit and abuse them, and then go home.
When President Bush signed H.R. 972, The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005, into law in January 2006, he said, “The bill I sign today will help us to continue to investigate and prosecute traffickers and provide new grants to state and local law enforcement. Yet, we cannot put the criminals out of business until we also confront the problem of demand. Those who pay for the chance to sexually abuse children and teenage girls must be held to account. So we’ll investigate and prosecute the customers, the unscrupulous adults who prey on the young and the innocent.” (Emphasis added.)
The United States has led in combating sex trafficking worldwide, and the provisions in Title II of H.R. 972 now direct part of that focus back at America’s streets. Trafficking occurs everyday right here in the United States, and not all victims are from other countries. Yes, many victims are brought into the U.S. from other countries, but it is also true that girls and boys, men and women from cities all across America are trafficked from one state to another. Prostitution rings often transport victims to new states every few weeks to keep the supply fresh for the customers and to keep the victims dependent upon their captors.
The TVPRA of 2005 establishes a grant program for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute traffickers, pimps and johns. If caught, the johns may have the option of attending a “john school.” The “john school” was started by Norma Hotaling, founder of the Sage Project in San Francisco, to educate men arrested for soliciting a commercial sex act about the harm they perpetrate on women and girls, risks they face for being involved in prostitution, and the harm they do to their families, communities and society. The recidivism rate of men in San Francisco who attend this school is 2 percent. These school sessions also give the prostituted women and girls a chance to face the johns and tell them that prostitution is not a victimless crime.
In Chicago, those arrested for soliciting prostitution risk a public unveiling on the Internet. The Chicago Police Department and the mayor’s office now post the names and charges against those arrested for patronizing or soliciting for prostitution. The one drawback is that this method causes pain and suffering to spouses and children of those arrested. However, in the long run it will hopefully make people think twice before they commit this crime.
Where would sex trafficking and prostitution be without a john willing to purchase another human being for sex? Out of business. Dr. Janice Crouse, Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) Beverly LaHaye Institute, has worked for nearly a decade in the nation’s capital to end trafficking. “The demand fuels the industry,” she said. “Unlike drugs which are only useable once, a human being may be sold over and over again, sometimes 30 times a day, to make money. When a victim is used up in one market, he or she can be sold to another pimp, transferred into another area or moved into another aspect of the criminal activity.”
If a john is willing to pay more for a young virgin, a small boy, an Asian woman, an African teenager, or some other special characteristic, the trafficker will acquire the desired victim. The demand is great, the supply is seemingly endless and getting younger.
As a citizen, take action by refusing to accept the “pimp and ho” culture that television, music and movies normalize. Society must say that prostitution and trafficking are not victimless crimes, and people who pay for commercial sex acts are criminals who should be shamed, held accountable and punished. We cannot continue to punish the victims and normalize the aberrant and selfish behavior of johns.
With the passage of H.R. 972 and the hard work and dedication of the people working on the frontlines to end modern-day slavery, the hope is alive and well that trafficking and prostitution will be eradicated in the United States and worldwide.
Brenda Zurita is Coordinator for CWA’s Crossing the Bridge Project.
oops now and then
Publicly caned, for a start.
What is particularly saddening is the number of people promoting prostitution on FR, often the same ones promoting porn.
And drugs.
This is probably one of those things that's never going to be solved. This article really shouldn't lump child prostitution with adult prostitution. Whatever you want to say about the adult prostitute they aren't always forced into it, or victims. Children are always victims.
So what you've never heard about adult women being kidnapped and forced into prostitution? It happens all over the world.
What do the women who buy woman pay for then?
Do they want to OWN a woman too?
Guess what. Soliciting prostitutes is not a male-only enterprise any longer. Yes, I see that look on your face that says, “N*****, ’scuse me?” But I’m 100 percent cereal here.And when I say soliciting prostitutes, I don’t mean 40-year-old cougars calling an escort agency to have some failed male model meet them at a room at the W when they get out of the office. I’m talking about real live women rolling down the passenger window so one of America’s saddest and scabbiest can lean in to tell them how much.
Local news reported that when a blood test administered to a john picked up on Tampa’s Nebraska Avenue last October (for some reason “he” had refused urinalysis) revealed two X chromosomes, the booking officers naturally assumed there had just been some f***-up at the lab. It wasn’t until two days later, when Harold Glidden called to complain about finding his name in the local crime blotter, that they realized the real f***-up was letting his sister Samantha pass herself off as a guy with her brother’s old license, some expired credit cards, a crewcut, an Ace bandage across the t*ts, and a really fake-sounding deep voice.
The cops involved offered Harold a sheepish apology over the phone, claiming this wasn’t just the first time this had happened in Tampa, but probably anywhere. However, when we talked to Shawna, a former streetwalker from Trenton, New Jersey, who now works as an exotic dancer in Long Island City, she said this was just plain ig’nant.
Vice: So you had customers that were lesbians disguised as men?
Shawna: Definitely. First time it happened to me, I was with this really short KD Lang-lookin’ dude. I reached down and it wasn’t real. It was one of those crotch-packing things that you get at sex stores. I f***ing beat her *ss off me and ran out the motel to tell the other girls, thinking they’d be as shocked as me. They were both like, “Shawna, please.”It’s that common?
I don’t know how often it happened before that time, but once I started paying attention I’d notice it maybe once every two months. They always keep their pants up and just pull it through the zipper, with the condom already on—that’s how you could tell. Plus, they’re always a lot smaller and richer-looking than the regular guys. And if they kiss on your neck or your t****ies you can tell right away. Their skin is just way too smooth. It’s never been shaved.So they would have sex with you using a strap-on, never acknowledging that it was a d*ldo?
Basically. Sometimes they even wanna go down on you. I’m not about to stop them if that’s what they’re paying for, but I know I sure as hell wouldn’t go down on me after a night working those streets.TARYN SHUBERT
Absolutely, it's common, but as I said
they aren't always forced into it
"Aren't always" means sometimes. There are brothels in Nevada in which the woman do it of their own free will and make 10 to 20 thousand dollars a month. That doesn't make it right or less immoral, but they are anything but victims.
I would think the supposed victims far outweigh those you claim who aren't.
But I view any women who chooses to live a life as a prostitute as a victim.
It all depends upon your point of view.
That's a blanket statement, don't you think? "women today"? I haven't run into a prostitute for many years, and all the women I know are gainfully employed (so to speak) either doing legitimate jobs or raising their families.
As I stated before, I abhor sex/slave dealers, and unlike you, I will not say "Its sad indeed that women today think the only way they can support themselves is by selling sex." Assuredly, some do, but not "ALL" women.
Nothingnew here......
FMCDH(BITS)
And swingers' clubs and so on.
Well, if the universe is meaningless, purposeless and humans are nothing but chemicals randomly put together, flapping for a while, then rules, morality, and eternal life are all just mental constructs, right?
Prostitution is unhealthy for the men too. So are gay bath houses.
The corner bar with the skank who'll have sex for some cocaine is living an unhealthy lifestyle too (and prostituting herself in different ways). No answer here, just pointing out how STDs are not considered a problem in this country when monogamy is not considered a part of a cure.
The CDC would rather look at guns as a source of "ill health crisis".
Just as long as it is recognized that she is a "victim" of her own "choices".
I'm anti-prostitution too, but there has to be accountability on the hooker's part.
Has anyone caused more trouble in the USA than the alliance of man-hating feminists and fun-hating Bible-thumpers? And, could either exist without the other?
Are you a man or a woman?
Some women who prostitute themselves feel they aren't able to do anything other than that profession.
Well stated.
Two comments on the article of this post. (1) The source is "Concerned Women for America." Feminist groups like this generally consider all prostitutes to be victims, taking the position that it's impossible to undertake prostitution freely — a tendentious position at best. (2) The "Concerned Women" provide no statistics on the number of trafficked women. Why not? Two hypotheses: (1) there aren't any (which I suspect is true, if you demand any standard of validity). (2) the true number of trafficked women in the U.S. is negligible (which would totally undercut their case).
In any case, I read anything from a group with a name like "Concerned Women for America" as straight propaganda.
They're the opposite of feminists.
And if you want statistical info on trafficking, I'm sure they can supply it.
http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp
They can't get themselves down to the nearest social services department and sign up for welfare, food stamps, and/or Medicaid while they look for gainful enployment?
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