Ordinance Ignores Cause of Prostitution: People Who Buy Sex

There's been a flurry of coverage on this issue, wanted to share our release with our blog readers. Thanks!

Ald. Jason Ervin (28^th) has proposed an ordinance to ban people convicted of prostitution from walking in public parks and other zones. The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) believes this approach ignores the root problem—people who buy sex—and could target victims of sex trafficking.

Only 1/3 of prostitution-related arrests in Chicago are of men, and yet the people who buy sex fuel the sex trade. “Arresting and re-arresting prostituted people has proven highly ineffective in combating the sex trade,” said Lynne Johnson, advocacy director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. “Research shows the best way to curb the sex trade in a community is to deter men from buying sex,” Johnson said. This ordinance could also affect survivors of sex trafficking and prostitution who have left the trade and are struggling to move on with their lives.

CAASE is the lead agency for End Demand Illinois, the first campaign in the country that strives to change state laws to hold traffickers and perpetrators accountable and to provide supportive services to people impacted by the sex trade.

“Prostitution is not a victimless crime—women in prostitution face incredibly high rates of rape and violence,” said Johnson. It’s estimated that on any day in Chicago, more than 16,000 women and girls are involved in prostitution-related activities. Some women in prostitution report having to service 10 or more men in a single day, which indicates a significant demand for paid sex in our community. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.enddemandillinois.org

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What was your reaction when you heard about this issue?

Send Thanks to Senator Hutchinson: Our Bill Passed in the Senate!

Yesterday the Illinois Senate passed our Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking bill (SB 1037). Many thanks to Senator Toi Hutchinson, whose leadership was instrumental in rallying support for this bill. This law would give victims of sex trafficking a chance to remove prostitution convictions from their records.

Click here to send Senator Hutchinson a quick thank you for her leadership on this issue.

Now the bill is on to the House of Representatives. Learn more about the bill here, and stay tuned for more information soon.

Senator Hutchinson

Fox Chicago Covers our Legal Services, Interviews Kaethe

Our legal director, Kaethe Morris Hoffer, was on Fox Chicago last night discussing CAASE’s free legal services to help survivors of sexual assault. This is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Kaethe addresses why survivors of rape may need their own legal counsel. Through our program, the Sexual Assault Justice Project, we offer survivors of rape with free legal representation and referrals. Learn more about our legal services here.

The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation believes it is possible to stop sexual exploitation by directly addressing the culture, institutions, and individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or tacitly support sexually exploitive acts against people. The generous support of individual donors makes CAASE's work possible. Click here to make a donation and to learn more about supporting our work.

Victory! Jury Convicts Man of Human Trafficking in Cook County

Being a “pimp” isn’t cool anymore in Illinois. Instead, pimps are being recognized for what they really are—human traffickers.

This week a man was convicted by a jury in Cook County for human trafficking. This is the first time a jury has convicted a human trafficker in Cook County. According to the State’s Attorney’s Office:

Troy Bonaparte, 46, who went by the name, “Magnificent” targeted and recruited women to work as prostitutes for profit. Bonaparte would rent motel rooms at various locations in the city and surrounding suburbs, where women would service 5 to 25 customers per day. Bonaparte kept all of the money the women earned and threatened to beat or kill them if they didn’t comply with his demands to perform the sex acts.

He was caught in a hotel in Elk Grove Village (prostitution happens in the suburbs too!).

CAASE and our End Demand Illinois campaign send big congratulations to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Human Trafficking Initiative and the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Vice officers, who helped bring the case against this trafficker.

Bonaparte’s case shows that our law enforcement is changing the way they approach bringing down prostitution rings—they are recognizing that in many cases, women are forced into the sex trade and are controlled by traffickers like Bonaparte. Instead of simply arresting the women whose bodies were being sold, law enforcement looked deeper and took the time to bring a case against the trafficker.

Our End Demand Illinois campaign is working to raise awareness about cases like this one—we partner with law enforcement and social service agencies to bring traffickers to justice and to improve services for survivors of prostitution. To learn more, visit www.enddemandillinois.org.

How Lawrence Taylor Bought a Child

Yes, Lawrence Taylor, you are the cause of prostitution. Taylor has become the latest spokesperson for our societal ignorance around the issues of prostitution and sex trafficking. And he’s living proof that the way to end exploitation is to make sure more johns get “busted.”

In case you haven’t heard, Taylor is an NFL player who was sentenced to probation this week for purchasing sex from a 16-year-old girl. While listening to him defend his actions, and witnessing the lack of accountability and punishment for the harm he caused this young woman, all I could think was: Who do we want to protect?

Let’s hear from Taylor about how he bought a child:

"It's the world of prostitution," he said during the Fox News interview. "You never know what you're gonna get. Is it gonna be a pretty girl, an ugly girl or whatever it's gonna be”. When asked about purchasing a 16-year-old, he responded: "I don't card them. I don't ask for a birth certificate."

This young woman was a victim of trafficking. There is no such thing as “child prostitution” because children cannot legally consent to have sex with adults. This victim was also beaten and forced into the trade—other elements of human trafficking. At the most fundamental level, Taylor raped a child. So how can we protect other children and adults from being exploited in the sex trade? Jezebel identifies the crux of the problem quite nicely, and then proposes a solution that will never, ever work:

“Nearly everyone agrees that ending trafficking, both of children and adults, is a moral imperative. How can we do this? One start would be to draw a clear line between trafficking and voluntary prostitution, and to severely punish those who have sex with trafficking victims.”

The clear and concrete line between “voluntary” prostitution and trafficking is imaginary:

• Many people we call “prostitutes” are victims of violence and control under a pimp. That means they are being trafficked.
• Many prostituted people are raped, beaten and forced to sell their bodies to more than 10 people each day. That means they are being trafficked.
• Many of these same people were recruited into the sex trade when they were 12, 14, 15 years old, which meant that they were trafficked.

Do we really think that people like Lawrence Taylor, the people who buy sex, care about victims of trafficking? The only way to protect vulnerable people from being exploited in the sex trade is to end the demand for paid sex. Stop the arrest and re-arrest of prostituted people, and start “busting” people like Taylor who are buying sex and fueling the trade.

Taylor says it himself, describing how infrequently johns are punished: "You never think you're gonna get busted because everyone does it until you get busted, and then it's more embarrassing than anything else."

He shouldn’t be embarrassed. He should be in jail.

CAASE believes that we can end the sale of people’s bodies for sex, by ending the demand for prostitution. Don’t buy sex, and don’t tolerate it when other people buy sex. To learn more about these issues, check out our Myths and Misconceptions fact sheets here.

To join our campaign to end the demand for paid sex, visit www.enddemandillinois.org.

Action Alert: Help Victims of Sex Trafficking Seek Justice

Did you wake up this morning and think “I want to help someone today?” Well, then March 15 is where it’s at: Our End Demand Illinois campaign has new legislation in committee and we’d love your help convincing legislators that this is a bill to support. Here’s the breakdown:

What is Happening?
Many people who have been convicted of prostitution were actually victims of trafficking. The Illinois Senate Criminal Law Committee is considering SB 2191, which would allow someone to ask a judge to vacate their prostitution conviction if they were a victim of sex trafficking at the time of the offense. The bill extends the filing timeline for these victims because they often endure years of abuse at the hands of traffickers and customers before they are able to seek help. Want to learn more? Download the fact sheet here, complete with the list of supporting organizations.

When?
The Committee will have a hearing about SB 2191 tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 10:35 a.m.

How Can You Help?
Call the committee members' offices TODAY, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. You can leave a message with staff answering the phones, and say "I am calling to ask the Senator to vote yes on SB 2191 when it comes up for a vote in the Criminal Law Committee." Calling all the offices will only take a few minutes of your time and will make a real impact as they consider this legislation!

Who Should You Call?

Committee Chair Michael Noland*(D)
Senator 22nd District - Elgin
(217) 782-7746
* thank Sen Noland for co-sponsoring!

Committee Vice Chair Kwame Raoul (D)
Senator 13th District - Chicago
(217) 782-5338

William R. Haine (D)
Senator 56th District - Alton
(217) 782-5247

Dan Kotowski (D)
Senator 33rd District - Park Ridge
(217) 782-3875

John Mulroe (D)
Senator 10th District - Chicago
(217) 782-1035

John J. Millner (R)
Senator 28th District - West Chicago
(217) 782-8192
* thank Sen Millner for co-sponsoring!

Tim Bivins (R)
Senator 45th District - Dixon
(217) 782-0180

Kirk W. Dillard (R)
Senator 24th District - Westmont
(217) 782-8148

Thomas Johnson (R)
Senator 48th District - Wheaton
(217) 782-8022

Let us know if you have questions!

Northwestern Incident and Porn: Things to Consider

We’ve been asked what CAASE thinks about the Northwestern University sex toy incident. If you haven’t heard about it, catch up here. Our initial concern was for the people in the audience—had they been given enough opportunity to avoid viewing this? Certainly what’s been described could have been traumatizing to anyone, but especially to those who have experienced sexual assault or abuse. We wonder if the value of witnessing this act was worth the potential trauma it could inflict on the viewers.

If you’re upset about the idea of students being exposed to this, I invite you to examine your beliefs and actions regarding pornography. I wonder what would be happening if Northwestern students had been shown this act on video instead of live on stage? Would we even be having this discussion? And really, sex acts on video deserve a lot more scrutiny than this. Why? Because, as icky as I personally think it was, the couple at Northwestern say the “performed” because they both wanted to and enjoyed it. That’s called consent. And that makes this act different from some pornography. Here’s why:

When watching porn online or on a DVD, there’s no such guarantee that the people you’re watching have given consent. Many sex traffickers are found with filming equipment and cameras with the intent to create and sell pornography. Some women in the sex industry are coerced or even physically forced to act against their will in order to create this “entertainment.” People who consume porn may unknowingly contribute to the assault and abuse of women and children, even if watching the final “product” doesn’t make that apparent.

Then there are the harms that porn causes to people who watch it. One 1994 study found that men exposed to violent pornography were six times more likely to exhibit rape behavior, and a second one in 1995 found pornography use was the strongest correlate of sexual aggression. Pornography changes the way we think about sex and the way we think about people—as objects, instead of human beings. One man interviewed about the effects of porn said:

"Porn makes more men try things. Men who are shown porn at a younger age categorize women more and see it as a harmless crime, because they don't see them as a person."

How does this relate to what happened at Northwestern? What happened at the university was sexually graphic, and that’s scandalizing and surprising a lot of people. And yet pornography is generally accepted as something that’s just part of life, and not worth examining or questioning. If you’re concerned about exposing our college students to graphic and damaging material, it’s time to take a stance on pornography.

Learn more about these issues on the CAASE resource page. Specifically we have a sheet with myths and facts, along with action steps you can take. You can also contact us to make a presentation or to host a screening of "The Price of Pleasure," a documentary on the realities of the sex industry.


-Kristin Claes is CAASE's communications manager. She can be reached at kristin@caase.org