Who Are You Calling A Prostitute?

Can a 12-year old consent to sex acts for money? According to U.S. law, if you’re a minor and you have free sex with an adult, it’s statutory rape. The minor can’t consent. But if you add the almighty dollar, it’s suddenly a different story. Now she’s a prostitute.

The FBI reports that over 12,000 underage persons were arrested for prostitution and sex offenses across the nation in 2008. Almost half were 15 or younger -- not surprising, given that the average age a girl begins prostituting is 12 to 14. And those girls will tell you, once you’re in, it’s almost impossible to get out.

So what about that same 12-year old prostitute all grown up? Is she a consenting adult now? The Survivors of Prostitution and Trafficking Manifesto says no: “Women in prostitution do not wake up one day and ‘choose’ to be prostitutes. It is chosen for us by poverty, past sexual abuse, the pimps who take advantage of our vulnerabilities, and the men who buy us...”

Very few prostitutes are the empowered, entrepreneurial women prostitution advocates wag in front of the media. Most are “seasoned” by repetitive raping and mental abuse, instilled with a sense of hopelessness and loss of dignity. Many never see a dime they “earn.” And escape? Forget it. The average pimp, or “daddy,” will kill one girl to send a message to the others: you are his property for life.

“Prostitute” for many Americans is synonymous with “whore” and “criminal.” On the other hand, victims of sex trafficking are recognized more and more as just that, victims. They are being rescued, rehabilitated, and hailed as survivors. Is the only difference between sex trafficking victims and the average prostitute one little word: consent?

Author Kathleen Barry writes: “Consent is not a good divining rod as to the existence of oppression, and consent to violation is a fact of oppression… an important element of slavery is the acceptance of their condition by many slaves.” (The Prostitution of Sexuality: the Global Exploitation of Women, New York University Press, 1995.)

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines sex trafficking as a form of slavery in which “a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.” That sounds a lot like that 12-year old “prostitute” to me, and her adult self, enslaved to her pimp.

Why do we turn a blind eye to victims of prostitution, calling them criminals, or try to legalize it and further propagate the idea that abuse is a legitimate moneymaking venture? Why are johns dismissed with a slap on the wrist and pimps glamorized in the media? Don’t look at me for the answers. I’m asking you. Until the victimization of prostituted women and children is recognized across the board, human trafficking will continue to thrive.

For more information on the subject: read “The Links Between Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: A Handbook” and www.prostitutionresearch.com.

Photo credit: bixentro