Tell St. Louis Post-Dispatch to Apologize for Victim-Blaming

Over 800 Change.org readers are asking a Missouri paper to apologize for printing a sensationalist story that places blame on a woman tortured in a horrific sex trafficking case — and you should too. Last September, five Missouri men were indicted for trafficking a 16-year-old mentally deficient girl and forcing her to sign a “sex slave contract.” For four years, the men allegedly made her work as a stripper, sexually abused her and tortured her on webcam. She had a barcode tattooed on her neck, and the letter “S”—for slave.  So far, two of the men have pleaded guilty (if you have a strong stomach, go ahead and read this press release on the plea, published by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It’s disgusting.)

But on November 5, 2010 The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a story by Todd C. Frankel about the case that is sensationalist at best, dangerous victim-blaming at worst. Entitled, “A Missouri Town's Doubts About a Sex Torture Case,” the article reports the story from the traffickers’ point of view. Frankel paints the married Bagley couple — who have since both been charged for sex trafficking — as loving adoptive parents with an unorthodox sex life. Marilyn Bagley is described as a woman who believes “family is everything,” and relates her “wonderful relationship” with the trafficking victim to the HBO Show, “Big Love.” It’s all rather touching until one remembers that Bagley has since been accused of helping her husband, Edward Bagley, “beat, whip, flog, suffocate, choke, electrocute, cane, skewer, drown and mutilate” a 16-year-old girl.

But it gets worse. After extensively quoting Marilyn Bagley, Frankel decided to go ahead and source people in the small Missouri town where the incident took place. Virtually all of these sources say uneducated, victim-blaming things like “They no more held that woman captive than a man on the moon,” and “Being a stripper was [the victim’s] passion. Seriously.” The only person quoted in the article who says anything sensible is Suzanne LeLaurin, head of the St. Louis human trafficking coalition, who rightfully points out that “Traffickers really know how to manipulate people and their circumstances so [the crime] is not easily seen.”

It should be noted that The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has since covered the incident the way other major media outlets are covering it: as a disgusting sex trafficking case with a number of guilty pleas. For the paper’s most recent take on the Bagleys — which is shockingly different than the first article — click here.  It should also be noted  that Frankel doesn’t usually cover human trafficking for the paper — his journalism beat is beer.

So why does it still matter that this newspaper apologize for Frankel’s initial article?  Because stories like this perpetuate those ugly stereotypes that trafficking victims somehow deserve to be sexually abused. Recently, for example, there was significant controversy after The New York Times printed an article about a child rape case that commented on what the victim was wearing. The Times has since responded to the complaints. I would argue that The St Louis Post-Dispatch article is worse—and needs to be addressed with the same sense of editorial responsibility.

The anti-trafficking advocators behind this petition plan to officially approach the newspaper for an apology the second week of May. They hope to have 10,000 signatures asking for an apology before that date. This is a lofty goal—but not an impossible one. With your help, we can put a halt to sensationalist, victim-blaming coverage of sex trafficking crimes. To sign the petition, click here.

Note: Todd Frankel did not return Change.org’s request for comment on this article.

Photo by: Chris Koerner