My first introduction to prostitution was arranged through Craigslist. I answered an ad for online modeling which turned out to be an agency recruiting for "escorts". Escort is a word they use instead of prostitute. First model, then escort and eventually prostitute. After I was eased into prostitution, many of the pimps, massage parlor owners and girls themselves would use Craigslist to post adds for prostitution. They used words like "sensual massage" and "full body massage" to attract johns.
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The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) in partnership with Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) and other co-sponsors held a protest in front of Craigslist Headquarters in San Francisco on July 8th to bring attention to Craigslist's facilitation of and profiting from sex trafficking. "Craigslist continues to cynically profit by functioning as an online pimp," says Norma Ramos, Executive Director of CATW. "Craigslist is the new stroll where pimps traffic, johns buy and Craigslist profits," says Melissa Farley, Executive Director, PRE.
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By Henni Espinosa, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
Posted at 07/10/2010 12:17 PM | Updated as of 07/10/2010 12:17 PM
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/07/10/10/filipinos-protest-craigslist-adult-services
SAN FRANCISCO - Filipino community leaders joined dozens of people who protested in front of the Craigslist headquarters, calling on the popular website to close its �Adult Services� section and set a sex industry-free standard which would eliminate human trafficking on the Internet.
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Prostitution Research and Education and over 75 Co-Sponsors said technology should never be used to prostitute women and girls.
Protesters said a large portion of Craigslist profits come from the sale of commercial sexual exploitation, much of it trafficked, all of prostituted.
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Conchita Sarnoff, Huffington Post
July 12, 2010
On July 8, 2010, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) plus more than 75 Co-Sponsors including Innocents at Risk, protested Craigslist's "Adult Services Section" at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California. "When we arrived, Craigslist was literally whitewashing their cyber trafficking by painting over their corporate logo. The two painters quickly ran off", said Dr. Melissa Farley, Executive Director of Prostitution, Research and Education (PRE) organization. Protest organizers argue that Craigslist's online business facilitates the sex trafficking industry.
The United States government cannot reduce international trafficking without also combating trafficking inside our own borders. The US House of Representatives in 2007 overwhelmingly passed HR 3887, the Wilberforce Act which would expand the provisions of the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000) to include domestic trafficking victims as well.
Since most of those trafficked for prostitution are tricked, induced or enticed into it, the current Trafficking Victims Protection Act sets the bar way too high with its requirement that victims testify that they were physically coerced or kidnapped by traffickers.
To read a letter that 23 California agencies wrote to California Senator Dianne Feinstein, urging her to support HR 3887 click here Download file
What about addressing the physical and sexual abuse of children as a national emergency?
Andrew Vachss wrote in Mask Market, pages 103-104:
"Producers spun their Rolodexes, and the lucky winners got to be on television, “analyzing” what happened. None of them went near the truth. I knew that truth. The kid was a member of a bigger tribe than you could ever find on a reservation. My tribe. The Children of the Secret. We know.
The experts droned on about “communication” and “reaching out” and “peer rejection.” But this kid hadn’t flown under the radar. Everyone around him knew he was buried in despair. They probably figured they knew the outcome, too—the suicide rate on reservations is right up there with the alcoholism level.
That kid was just another of the invisible ones—bullied, beaten, and belittled every day of his marginalized life. If anyone had the slightest idea that he might be a danger to someone other than himself, they would have unleashed a snowstorm of “services.” Suicide, well, kids do that kind of thing. Homicide—now, that’s serious.
Every high school in America has them, the invisible ones. They all silent-scream the same warning: If you won’t see us, you’ll never see us coming.
But nobody ever starts the analysis until after the autopsy.
Pimp 'N Ho Protest
Raves which trivialize prostitution as "pimp 'n 'ho night - sexual attire desired" - are teaching men to sell, abuse and rape women (which is what pimps do) and they are teaching young women that it is fun to be sexually exploited. People from around the world joined together to boycott one such event.
Click on this image for a description of a 2001
Pimp 'N Ho protest in Vancouver, including details of how we organized the protest, a fact sheet, press release, and what happened. Photograph © Melissa Farley (2001)
PROSTITUTION: CONSENT OR MEN'S VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN?
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Scott Hampton, Psy.D. wrote this article for the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault Fall 2007 Newsletter. He is Director of Ending the Violence, 90 Washington Street, Suitte 305, Dover New Hampshire 03820. Phone 603-742-2954. Email endingviolence@comcast.net
Website www.endingtheviolence.info
