# I Pit idiots/hypocrites unconcerned about America's sex trafficking **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520 "2011-05-28T02:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/81 "2011-06-06T18:22:03Z")
It seems to me that pimpin’ got harder because hos got smarter. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/82 "2011-06-06T18:57:42Z")
I am only halfway through the thread and I’m both annoyed and relieved. > [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > That being said, this article is a sensationalist piece of shit. First of all, that fake photograph is tasteless. Here here. That photo is completely obnoxious. > [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Many people demonstrate an incredible lack of self awareness when they discuss prostitution. I’m reminded of a female poster in a previous thread who posted, without a trace of humor, something like “I can’t believe any guy would go to a prostitute when lots of women would put out for a guy who bought them a fancy dinner.” Statements like that sum up how ridiculous it is to outlaw prostitution pretty well. They also sum up the fact that until very recently, and still in most of the world, really, most sexual relationships between men and women come down to an exchange that logic tells you is prosititution with a nicer name: fucking and housework for security = marriage. > [@robertliguori](#): > > The real problem is legalization without societal integration and the subsequent removal of stigma. Legalization without a plan for doing so is like digging a big pit and filling it with rebar without a plan for putting the building on top; without said integration, without the underlying societal expectation that prostitutes can report abuses and be taken seriously by the authorities, legalization or its lack is not terribly meaningful. Consider the case of the brothels in Nevada who have literally lobbied to pay additional taxes but have been turned down by the legislators who don’t want roads and schools paid for with sex. Yay. And yay to all the other great responses and informaiton in this thread. Thank you! Carry on… And for those who may be interested, [a selection of videos](http://iswface.org/forumdiscussions.html) made by sex workers about sex work. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/83 "2011-07-02T18:27:10Z")
I thought this article might be pertinent. It discuses actual hard numbers regarding human trafficking and child prostitution in the United States. Big surprise, the estimated high number of trafficked girls is completely baseless, and would appear to exaggerate the actual numbers by hundreds of thousands. [http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/](http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/84 "2011-07-02T19:12:21Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I thought this article might be pertinent. It discuses actual hard numbers regarding human trafficking and child prostitution in the United States. Big surprise, the estimated high number of trafficked girls is completely baseless, and would appear to exaggerate the actual numbers by hundreds of thousands. > > [http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/](http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/) My stepmother was interviewed for that article, they came out here to California to do some of their research. The people who own the Voice are pretty pissed off about all of it, we’re hoping they can help change the conversation to something more honest, not only about this ridiculous child trafficking stuff, but about sex work in general. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/85 "2011-07-03T16:24:41Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I thought this article might be pertinent. It discuses actual hard numbers regarding human trafficking and child prostitution in the United States. Big surprise, the estimated high number of trafficked girls is completely baseless, and would appear to exaggerate the actual numbers by hundreds of thousands. > > [http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/](http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/) There are articles that disagree with the village voice, and considering that they have a financial stake in keeping the backpages going, they are coming off as rather bias too. Seriously if every drug arrest correlated to every use of drugs - what would the numbers be? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/86 "2011-07-03T16:44:57Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > There are articles that disagree with the village voice, and considering that they have a financial stake in keeping the backpages going, they are coming off as rather bias too. > > Seriously if every drug arrest correlated to every use of drugs - what would the numbers be? Okay, but maybe it simply motivayes them to question what isn’t being questioned. If the figures that these activists are giving are correct, then one out of every 1000 Americans is a child prostitute. Do you really think there are enough people patronizing child prostitutes for that to be so? Imean that would be 650 adults to support every child prostitute. Really? There’s a child prostitute for every 315 adult men? Does that sound like reality to you? Suppose a shockingly low 90% of adult men would not patronize child prostitutes. Would 32 adult men be enough of a market to justify keeping a prostitute? Ms. Moore and Mr Kutcher have been millionaires almost their entire adult lives, so it’s understandable that they have no idea ow much money a typical person has. What’s your excuse? ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/87 "2011-07-03T17:03:40Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > There are articles that disagree with the village voice Cite? Provide them so we can see if there’s anything to what they say. The numbers the Village Voice provides seem pretty unassailable. They show that the statistics that people try to claim are real examples of child sex slavery were guesses at the number of anyone at risk for entering child prostitution, using such clear indications of imminent forced prostitution as being a teenager with a drivers license living near Canada or Mexico (WTF drugs were the people who thought that up even on?). The actual person originally behind the ridiculously high numbers was asked for a real number of actual forced child prostitution and came up with some in the low hundreds instead of the 100,000-300,000 number. So some unnamed articles disagreeing with the Village Voice are going to mean what, exactly? Just that they got their numbers from the same bad source and never investigated them in the slightest. What I thought was especially enlightening about he Village Voice article is that it pointed out quite clearly that, while some people pushing these numbers are just confused and misinformed people ignorant of the real numbers (and lacking common sense to judge when outlandish numbers are clearly impossible), there are groups dedicated to spreading this misinformation deliberately in order to get millions of dollars from the government to fight a nonexistent problem and using that money to both line their own pockets and push an extreme right wing agenda against all pornography and virtually all sex acts outside of marriage. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/88 "2011-07-03T19:33:43Z")
There are about 6 articles linked off gawker/jezebel which disagree with the Village Voice’s numbers and methodology in the past 3 days. The VV article insults Ashton Kutcher for his campaign against youth prostitution (as well as getting snippy and unprofessional regarding his choice is acting roles, and it also confuses those roles with Ashton himself) - so search under Ashton. Seriously, they are only using arrest numbers. And not even in major prostitution hotbeds. Village Voice is being just as disingenuous as they are accusing the activist who made the studies. The VV is pretending there is a 1 to 1 relationship between arrests of youth and actual numbers of youth prostitutes. That says BS to me.Try that with drug use, and the numbers of people who have ever done drugs would be what? Police make very little arrests for prostitution, and regarding underage prostitution, many girls have fake ID which the police will just pretend is real. The reality is that to many police, it is too much of a hassle to arrest the young girls because they’ll just go back to the streets to the pimp they love and drugs they love. The numbers may not be as high as 300,000 - but if a half a million person city has perhaps 200 underage girls working the streets or though backpages or other online services - I get a number around 125,000 youth prostitutes in the USA. This is not unreasonable considering what I have seen in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/89 "2011-07-03T19:39:05Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > What I thought was especially enlightening about he Village Voice article is that it pointed out quite clearly that, while some people pushing these numbers are just confused and misinformed people ignorant of the real numbers (and lacking common sense to judge when outlandish numbers are clearly impossible), there are groups dedicated to spreading this misinformation deliberately in order to get millions of dollars from the government to fight a nonexistent problem and using that money to both line their own pockets and push an extreme right wing agenda against all pornography and virtually all sex acts outside of marriage. Ding Ding Ding! Not to mention the fact that Kutcher’s idea of how to help is completely assinine: goofy ads to shame men into feeling less manly because they want to fuck underage girls? Are you SERIOUS? “Whew! All this time I was sure my desire for 14 year old pussy made me super manly! Thanks for straightening me out, Ashton!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/90 "2011-07-03T19:56:49Z")
Hey - not everyone against the exploitation of youth - is anti-sex, or even anti-prostitution - but too many people in the pro-prostitution side don’t want to see the dark side and don’t want to do anything about the dark side either. If the police took the exploitation of youth seriously and every popcorn pimp and gang banger boyfriends was busted and no more underage girls were being sold - then I’d have no problem with legalization. A WOMAN who is 18 or over can decide how she wants to make money. But if they made the sex trade legal now - the exploitation of youth would piggy back along with it. Police need training and there needs to be programs to help the GIRLS - they can’t pretend a 14 year old is 18 just to not do paper work. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/91 "2011-07-03T20:54:22Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > Seriously if every drug arrest correlated to every use of drugs - what would the numbers be? Well, in 2007 American law enforcement agencies made 1,841,200 arrests for drug violations. [http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/dcf/enforce.cfm#drug](http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/dcf/enforce.cfm#drug) There are about 827 arrests for child prostitution in a year. 100,000-300,000 child prostitutes is about 120-360 times as large as that number. If you applied the same math to drug arrests, you would have 220,944,000-662,832,000 people who used illegal drugs in the United States in one year. Not only are the numbers absurd, the terminology is misleading. Several news providers are quoted in the article stating that there are 100,000-300,000 child sex slaves. While I don’t think it should be legal for them to do so, a 16 year old boy or girl is completely capable or having sex for money without being forced into it. People who exploit children sexually and people who extort prostitutes violently should be prosecuted for the serious crimes they have committed. Such people certainly exist. But that doesn’t mean we have to except absurd, sensationalist, and wrong facts to combat such things. I’m against cannibalism, and I could present a couple of very sad stories about people who were cannibalized in the United States, that doesn’t mean cannibalism is a widespread problem in the United States, and it certainly wouldn’t mean that if I said something like “There are approximately 5 cannibals in every major American city,” that it would be true. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/92 "2011-07-03T21:02:55Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > The numbers may not be as high as 300,000 - but if a half a million person city has perhaps 200 underage girls working the streets or though backpages or other online services - I get a number around 125,000 youth prostitutes in the USA. This is not unreasonable considering what I have seen in my life. You see what the problem with your number is? **YOU JUST COMPLETELY MADE IT UP!** I don’t think I’ve ever capitalized an entire sentence before in my life, but that was astounding. You can’t just make up statistics. You seem like a nice and reasonable person, you must understand the intellectual danger or pulling numbers out of your ass like that and trying to use them to shape policies. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/93 "2011-07-03T21:14:44Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > There are about 6 articles linked off gawker/jezebel which disagree with the Village Voice’s numbers and methodology in the past 3 days. …well, go on, cite them. Why is it that the people who have the dodgiest statistics behind them have the hardest time providing cites? > [@](#): > > The VV article insults Ashton Kutcher for his campaign against youth prostitution (as well as getting snippy and unprofessional regarding his choice is acting roles, and it also confuses those roles with Ashton himself) - so search under Ashton. Lazy. Why should we do your work for you? Are you talking about this article? [http://gawker.com/5817554/ashton-kutcher-will-destroy-newspaper-over-sex-slavery-article](http://gawker.com/5817554/ashton-kutcher-will-destroy-newspaper-over-sex-slavery-article) I don’t see any criticism of the Village Voice’s numbers and methodology there. Obviously you aren’t making this up: so a simple cite to the article that you read with the criticism of the numbers will do. > [@](#): > > Seriously, they are only using arrest numbers. And not even in major prostitution hotbeds. What statistics were used by the other groups? What statistics do you suggest be used? Can you please name the major prostitution hotbeds? > [@](#): > > Village Voice is being just as disingenuous as they are accusing the activist who made the studies. The VV is pretending there is a 1 to 1 relationship between arrests of youth and actual numbers of youth prostitutes. Cite where they do this in the article? > [@](#): > > That says BS to me.Try that with drug use, and the numbers of people who have ever done drugs would be what? This analogy seems like BS to me. Oh: it looks like **SecretaryofEvil** has already demolished this statement with some actual facts. Why do you struggle to provide facts? > [@](#): > > Police make very little arrests for prostitution, and regarding underage prostitution, many girls have fake ID which the police will just pretend is real. In a thread about outlandish claims we have another uncited outlandish claim. Can you please supply any evidence at all that police have any tendency at all to pretend that fake ID’s are real? Why do you keep making stuff up? > [@](#): > > The reality is that to many police, it is too much of a hassle to arrest the young girls because they’ll just go back to the streets to the pimp they love and drugs they love. Can you provide a cite that it is too much of a hassle for police to arrest or deal with young girls because they will just go back to the street? Which police department in particular are you talking about? > [@](#): > > The numbers may not be as high as 300,000 - but if a half a million person city has perhaps 200 underage girls working the streets or though backpages or other online services - I get a number around 125,000 youth prostitutes in the USA. This is not unreasonable considering what I have seen in my life. So hold on a second here: the Village Voice article took a serious, hard look at the actual statistics that are available on child prostitution, but we should completely disregard that based on your personal anecdote and guess work? I don’t even know if your real name is lexi: why should I believe you? ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/94 "2011-07-03T21:23:21Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > You see what the problem with your number is? **YOU JUST COMPLETELY MADE IT UP!** I don’t think I’ve ever capitalized an entire sentence before in my life, but that was astounding. You can’t just make up statistics. You seem like a nice and reasonable person, you must understand the intellectual danger or pulling numbers out of your ass like that and trying to use them to shape policies. The number of from my own experience on the streets in the late 1980’s - personal experience in the streets where I met many kids. As for another person’s post, and saying a 16 year old should be capable of choosing to work as a prostitute, I disagree. Teens on the street should not be able to be used by adults, and the creeps who purchase them should have the law bust their ass. These are abused, addicted, messed up kids, and the adults using them are selfish molesters, who should be in jail. From on of the articles I read, the numbers are from a 2001 study from a university - and I am more inclined to believe that than an article which insults an actor and says he is as stupid as some of the characters he plays. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/95 "2011-07-03T21:50:11Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > The number of from my own experience on the streets in the late 1980’s - personal experience in the streets where I met many kids. > > As for another person’s post, and saying a 16 year old should be capable of choosing to work as a prostitute, I disagree. Teens on the street should not be able to be used by adults, and the creeps who purchase them should have the law bust their ass. These are abused, addicted, messed up kids, and the adults using them are selfish molesters, who should be in jail. > > From on of the articles I read, the numbers are from a 2001 study from a university - and I am more inclined to believe that than an article which insults an actor and says he is as stupid as some of the characters he plays. When you say you were on the streets 20 years ago do you mean you were homeless, you were a prostitute, or that you were involved in some sort of charity work to help such people? While you were on streets, were you counting? Did you keep meticulous records? I’m not trying to make light of what was probably a very difficult experience for you. I am saying that your anecdotal evidence from decades ago is not as convincing as statistics kept by law enforcement agencies from across the nation. Which articles did you read? Which study? Performed by researchers from which university? I don’t think anybody is saying that minors should be allowed to work as prostitutes. I am saying that legalizing prostitution for adults would greatly improve the lives of many adult women currently working as prostitutes. I don’t think legalizing prostitution would completely eliminate child prostitution or violent pimps. I do think it would make combating those problems easier. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/96 "2011-07-03T21:51:41Z")
Here is a response from GEMS, a NYC org that works with exploited girls. [http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Real-Journalists-Do-Real-Research.html?soid=1101149947677&aid=y0G4d8ZV9Hk](http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Real-Journalists-Do-Real-Research.html?soid=1101149947677&aid=y0G4d8ZV9Hk) An old friend of mine, and former neighbor, and also a former street kid I knew as a teen, was working for an anti-exploitation organization until a while ago. [http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person](http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person) Unless you lived the life, and are part of that underworld, I don’t think it is easy to even grasp the reality of that world. I could tell some horror stories - there are some I have previously posted. The underworld of teen prostitution is 100% real, and it is bigger and nastier than you’ll ever know. Count yourself lucky to be so privileged that you find it hard to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/97 "2011-07-03T22:00:44Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > Here is a response from GEMS, a NYC org that works with exploited girls. > > [Real Journalists Do Real Research](http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Real-Journalists-Do-Real-Research.html?soid=1101149947677&aid=y0G4d8ZV9Hk) > > An old friend of mine, and former neighbor, and also a former street kid I knew as a teen, was working for an anti-exploitation organization until a while ago. > [http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person](http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person) > > Unless you lived the life, and are part of that underworld, I don’t think it is easy to even grasp the reality of that world. I could tell some horror stories - there are some I have previously posted. The underworld of teen prostitution is 100% real, and it is bigger and nastier than you’ll ever know. Count yourself lucky to be so privileged that you find it hard to believe. …where are your statistics **lexi?** ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/98 "2011-07-03T22:02:44Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I don’t think anybody is saying that minors should be allowed to work as prostitutes. I am saying that legalizing prostitution for adults would greatly improve the lives of many adult women currently working as prostitutes. I don’t think legalizing prostitution would completely eliminate child prostitution or violent pimps. I do think it would make combating those problems easier. I was a street kid, I never worked the streets, but I was friends with girls and boys who did. I didn’t keep records or a diary. I am making estimates off the number of people I knew, lived with and loved. some I still know. 200, in a city which was just over half a million is a conservative estimate - there were kidnapings and other horrid things during this time for the Olympics here in Calgary. There were more than a few girls I helped run away from pimps. Here is an anecdote, if the cops won’t turn you in as a 14 year old runaway for a blow job, what do you think they do with teen hookers? As for the study, I think it is a U of Pennsylvania one which was linked off an article. Link: [http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/restes/CSEC\_Files/Exec\_Sum\_020220.pdf](http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/restes/CSEC_Files/Exec_Sum_020220.pdf) As for reading studies, sometime to help with the sorrow and stress of the memories of the world I lived in, I read studies online about street youth to see what the outsider’s view is, so I have read a lot on that issue. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/99 "2011-07-03T22:20:40Z")
Quoted wrong, iPads such for copy paste and select. If legalization was only licensed brothels, no outcalls, and highly regulated, I’d say legalize today. Otherwise, first clean up the pimps and clean up the youth prostitution, then legalize. I have no problem with adult women who work in the sex trade of their own free will, in fact I have friends who have worked as adults as escorts as well as a street work, and if they had the protection of a brothel, and had law on their side, it would be so much better for them. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520/100 "2011-07-03T22:27:46Z")
> [@lexi](#): > > Here is a response from GEMS, a NYC org that works with exploited girls. > > [Real Journalists Do Real Research](http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Real-Journalists-Do-Real-Research.html?soid=1101149947677&aid=y0G4d8ZV9Hk) > > An old friend of mine, and former neighbor, and also a former street kid I knew as a teen, was working for an anti-exploitation organization until a while ago. > [http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person](http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/catalogues/production/cherry-kingsley-recognizing-person) > > Unless you lived the life, and are part of that underworld, I don’t think it is easy to even grasp the reality of that world. I could tell some horror stories - there are some I have previously posted. The underworld of teen prostitution is 100% real, and it is bigger and nastier than you’ll ever know. Count yourself lucky to be so privileged that you find it hard to believe. The only statistic with an actual cite from those links is that Seattle police rescued 80 minors who were being exploited for commercial sexual purposes. The VV article noted that about 14 charges of underage prostitution are averaged each year in Seattle. You’ll note that 80 is about 6 times as large as 14, not 120-360 times as large. In addition, the article notes that Seattle has larger than average problem with teen homelessness than most American cities. My point was never to say that violent pimps or child prostitution don’t exist or that they aren’t heinous crimes. My point was that it is disingenuous to claim that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the United States who are violently forced against their will to work as prostitutes. Finally, while I would not view being called “privileged” as an insult and I thoroughly understand the futility of debating one’s “street cred” on an internet message board, do not presume to know the intricate details of the lives of others. I worked for HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive) in DC. I also worked at the public defender’s office, and for a Judges who handled orphan’s court and criminal court (but not in DC). On a more personal note, my older brother ran away from home when we were teenagers, but kept in contact with me. He was always industrious enough at peddling drugs and injuring people to afford a place to stay though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-idiots-hypocrites-unconcerned-about-americas-sex-trafficking/583520.md?page=6)