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Red Light District
Red Light District
According to Wolf (2023), despite the fact that 92% of women in the sex trade want to leave their situation, no adult woman the author knows of wanted to engage in the sex trade (Para. 3).
According to New Yorkers for The Equality Model (2023), legalization and full decriminalization promotes commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, pimping, and organized crime (pp. 2)
Under legalization and full decriminalization models, we see:
Increases in demand which, in turn, promotes sex trafficking to mee t the increased demand.
Pimps, criminal gangs and traffickers seek out and target individuals from whom they can make the greatest profit.
Those involved in the sex trade tend to be from the most economically and socially marginalized communities: women and children of color, LGBTQ+ people, poor women and children, women and children addicted to drugs or alcohol, and women and children with histories of sexual abuse.
The legal commercial sex trade acts as a cover for the illicit trade making it harder to track the illegal market.
Country Comparisons: Legalization Netherlands/Amsterdam:
70% of foreign born sexually exploited women in the Netherlands are undocumented and unlicensed.
A 2005 study found that the majority of women in prostitution in Amsterdam were forced to sell sex.
In 2006, the city of Amsterdam initiated a comprehensive effort to close brothels due to the proliferation of organized crime within the sex industry.
The Dutch 2008 National Police service report found that:
50-90% of women working in window brothels of the three cities under investigation were there “against their will.”
When prostitution is legal it is more difficult for police to differentiate the legal from the illegal sectors.
Law enforcement has less power and incentive to investigate prostitution activities.
Sex trafficking still takes place in the licensed window-prostitution sectors.
Brothel inspections were not successful in detecting exploitation because the women were often monitored by pimps when interviewed by inspectors.
Argument
Argument
According to New Yorkers for The Equality Model (2023), legalization and full decriminalization models increases the harms of the sex trade:
Promotes commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, pimping and organized crime
Results in more men buying sex
Does not make prostitution safer for women
Increases sexual exploitation of children
The Equality Model is a five-pronged legal approach that holistically addresses the sex trade. The Equality Model Approach, the originated in New York State, will:
Repeal laws calling for the arrests and incarceration of people in sex trade (i.e. decriminalize people in the sex trade).
Provide comprehensive trauma-informed social services (e.g., legal, social, clinical, medical, economic empowerment) to people in the sex trade, including options should they wish to exit the sex trade.
Reduce the demand for prostitution by penalizing sex buyers. This shrinks the sex trade and prevents more vulnerable people from being pulled into harm’s way.
Continue to criminalize pimps and traffickers, brothel owners, and illicit massage parlor owners.
Commit to an extensive community education campaign to raise awareness about the lifelong physical harm and psychological trauma people in prostitution experience at the hands of sex buyers. This increases social accountability for the discriminatory practice of sex buying and contributes to reducing demand for prostitution. It also promotes gender equality, strengthens empathy for survivors, and increases cultural understanding of the devastating effects of the sex trade on the most vulnerable populations and our communities.
Audience
Audience
Stakeholders, legislators, politicians, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, community leaders, public servants, and law enforcement are my target audience I want to reach.
My mission is to educate everyone involved about the harms of fully legalizing and decriminalizing the sex trade, and how doing so does not make the sex trade safer. Implementing my personal lived experiences and arguments from reliable sources supports my stance on this social justice issue. When making legislative decisions, survivors' voices must be heard.
Impact
Impact
In my JHR 598: Gender-Based Violence and Sex Trafficking class, I have learned that sex trafficking (of women and girls) is a form of gender-based violence. Burke, Amaya, and Dillon (2019) highlights that women and girls worldwide are born into sociocultural systems that disadvantage them in ways that affect their daily lives, both openly and secretly. In patriarchy, women and girls are socially disadvantaged. Patriarchy is sociocultural practices that promote men and harm women. The institutions of society use structural violence to harm people and maintain statuses of less privilege. This indicates that these institutions' norms, rules, and practices are biased against women and serve to disadvantage them in favor of men (pp. 452). My purpose in creating this website is to raise awareness about gender-based violence and human trafficking. I am convinced that by visiting this website, others will be inspired to join me in saying NO to legalizing and fully decriminalizing the sex trade.
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