Sex (Trafficking) and Nachos: Superbowl Sunday Edition

Michael Jennings had a great idea to make money, until the cops found out about it.  He paid a woman $300 to travel to Tampa for the Superbowl, hoping to make a profit selling her in prostitution once he got there. Unfortunately for Jennings ( and probably fortunately for the woman), he was arrested before his plan went into action.  While this story might seem like an example of a unique, entrepreneurial spirit, large sporting events like the Superbowl often draw pimps, traffickers and the women they exploit.

Before the 2006 World Cup in Germany, international organizations were estimating up to 40,000 women would be trafficked into Germany, where prostitution is legal.  Those large numbers were never quite reached, but studies indicate the number of women in prostitution there increased by about 63%.  Was there suddenly a 63% increase of women wanting to be prostitutes in 2006?  Or were a portion of those trafficking victims? Similarly, there were a number of reports of human trafficking into prostitution at the Beijing Olympic Games this Summer.  The Chinese government, no surprise, has been less than forthcoming with the statistics about how many cases were identified.

The Department of Justice has found that children trafficked into prostitution are often found around major sporting events.  Since children are often more vulnerable to human trafficking, easy to move and in high demand, they make ideal victims to travel to major sport events.

"From our experience as service providers for victims of trafficking, we know that large sporting events, conventions and other such gatherings are closely tied to a spike in demand for commercial sex and, in turn, for sex trafficking." said human trafficking service provider, Polaris Project.

So will Superbowl XLIII encourage abuse?  End Homelessness blogger Shannon did a great peice earlier this week about mistreatment of homeless persons leading up to the big event.  Will the thousands upon thousands of men travelling to Tampa this weekend enjoy the game, and maybe a beer and some nachos, and then go back to their hotel rooms alone?  Or will they take advantage of what the traffickers have brought to the game- the women and children for sale?  The internet ads have been going up for weeks.

Quite frankly, guys, nachos and beer are delcious enough on their own.  Real men don't buy sex.