Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There a Difference?

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There a Difference? Donna M. Hughes, PhDProfessor & Carlson Endowed ChairWomen’s Studies ProgramUniversity of Rhode Island Breaking FreeNovember 2, 2006

Prostitution & Slavery • Exchange of sex acts for money – long recognized practice • Not the “oldest profession” • Phrase means: women have always been whores and implies that they always will be • First political movement for the rights of women in prostitution • 1869-1886 in England, led by Josephine Butler • Opposed regulation of prostitution that empowered police to detain and physically examine for evidence of disease any woman suspected of being a prostitute

Prostitution & The White Slave Trade • Activists were sons and daughter of abolitionists who opposed the slavery and the transatlantic slave trade • Uncovered the use of children in prostitution • Selling of English & Irish girls into prostitution • “White Slave Trade” (in Europe) • International movement against the “white slave trade” or the trafficking of women & girls

Exploitation of Prostitution • 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others • Anti-pimping treaty • Both prostitution and trafficking “are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person” • Advocates punishment of those who “procure, entire or lead” others into prostitution • “Even with the consent of that person”

Exploitation of Prostitution • 1949 UN Convention • Those who signed the convention agreed: • Not to regulate or legalize prostitution • Not to subject women to registration or administrative controls • Victims cannot be charged along with perpetrators

Origin of the term “sex worker” • Carol Leigh – “Scarlet Harlot” & “Unrepentant Whore” • Leigh coined the term “sex worker” in 1978 • A leader of the “sex worker rights movement” • Advocate of legalization/decriminalization of prostitution

COYOTECall Off Your Old Tired Ethics • 1976 Margo St. James founded COYOTE • Goal: Repeal prostitution laws and end the stigma associated with “sex work” • St. James claims to be a former prostitute, but was arrested for “running a disorderly house” – a brothel – in 1962 • St. James has testified as a expert for the defense in trials of pimps and pornographers

Female Sexual Slavery • “Female sexual slavery is present in all situations where women or girls cannot change the immediate conditions of their existence; where, regardless of how they got into those conditions they cannot get out; and where they are subject to sexual violence and exploitation” – Kathleen Barry, 1979

Feminist Civil Rights Movement • Started in 1970s • Remedies to commercial sexual violence • Anti-pornography movement • Anti-prostitution movement • WHISPER • Breaking Free • Prostitution is a form of violence against women

International Anti-Trafficking Organizations • Coalition Against Trafficking in Women • Formed in 1989 • Opposes prostitution and trafficking(only talks about trafficking) • Dutch Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV) founded in 1987 with funding from the Dutch government • 1994: Formed Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) • Opposes trafficking, but supports prostitution as a form of work for women

UN Beijing Platform of Action - 1995 • Fight between abolitionists and sex work advocates • Abolitionists wanted prostitution to be included as a form of violence against women • Sex work advocates wanted only “forced prostitution” included • Platform of Action • “forced prostitution” – term in document • delinked trafficking and prostitution • Pro-prostitution groups claimed victory – Center for Women’s Global Leadership, International Human Rights Law Group, Network for Sex Work Projects

UN Protocol – Palermo Protocol • Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women & Children; Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime • Signed in 2000 • The U.S. has signed it

UN Protocol – Palermo Protocol • (a) ‘Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, or abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of sexual exploitation. • Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation…. • (b) The consent of the victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used.

US – Trafficking Victims Protection Act • Passed in 2000 • Sex trafficking means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” (not criminalized) • Severe form of trafficking in persons: sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age

Trafficking in and into the U.S. • Transnational trafficking into the U.S. • Foreign nationals • Growing awareness of trafficking • Domestic trafficking • U.S. citizens • Still seen as “just” prostitution

US – Pimping Laws • 31 states have laws in which at least one pimping offense is a felony that doesn't require coercion or force • 9 additional states have laws in which at least one pimping offense is a felony if it involves a minor, but doesn't require coercion or force • 10 states, all pimping offenses appear to be misdemeanors or require coercion or force, usually "compelling."

Domestic Victims –Age of Entry • Chicago study of 222 women in prostitution • 35% entered prostitution before age of 15 • 62% entered prostitution before age of 18 • 87% entered prostitution before age of 21 • San Francisco study of 200 women & girls • 68% entered prostitution before age 16 • 78% entered prostitution before age 18 • ~ 70% of women in prostitution were by definition victims of trafficking (under age 18)

Domestic Victims in the U.S. • 25% grew up without a mother in the house • 59% grew up without a father in the house • 40% someone died in their home while they were growing up • 22% the person who raised them leave for more than one year • 33% someone in the household incarcerated

Domestic Victims in the U.S. • 27% someone in the home had a major illness or disability • 62% someone in the home was frequently hit, slapped, pushed • 40% someone in the home was kicked, beaten, raped, threatened and/or attacked with a weapon

Domestic Victims in the U.S. • 83% drug or alcohol abuse in home • 86% used drugs or alcohol themselves • 56% ran away from home at least once, mean age 13 • 28% were told to leave home by parent or guardian, mean age 15

Domestic Victims in the U.S. • 33% someone in home in prostitution regularly • 71% people in the neighborhood or friends in prostitution regularly • 71% someone suggested to them they should become a prostitute

Domestic Victims in the U.S. • 65 - 80% victims of child sexual abuse, rape, or incest • “Incest is boot camp” for prostitution • 50 - 75% victims of physical abuse as a child Memories of a Child Prostitute, Judith Schaechter, 1994

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • 50% of women in escort services gave money to pimp • 40% of women on the street gave money to pimp • 44% of women in drug houses gave money to pimp • 75% of those who gave money to pimp feared being harmed if they didn’t • Sister Speak Out study of 222 women in prostitution in Chicago (over age 18)

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • Pimps & Recruitment • 84% of women had pimps • 28% of women had boyfriends/husbands who acted as pimps • 64% of the recruiters were connected to pimps in the sex industry • 79% of the women had money withheld from them • Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, study of 25 women – US and foreign citizens

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • Pimps & Violence & Coercion • 86% of the women werephysically abused by pimps, 50% of them assaulted frequently or daily • 61% of the women had weapons used against them • 80% of the women were sexually assaulted by pimps • 34% of the women had death threats to them or family by pimps • 85% of the women were psychologically abused by pimps • 90% of the women were verbally threatened by pimps • 71% of the women had pimps use drugs to control them • 52% of the women were forcibly returned, stalked, physically abused, and threatened when they tried to leave Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, study of 25 women – US and foreign citizens

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • Injuries sustained while in prostitution • 80% sustained bruises • 35% sustained broken bones • 47% sustained head injuries • 53% sustained mouth and teeth injuries • 65% had vaginal bleeding Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, study of 25 women – US and foreign citizens

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • 68% of the women met criteria for diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) • Farley & Barkan study of 130 prostitutes in San Francisco • 86% felt depressed • 41% felt hopeless • 64% felt anger and rage Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, study of 25 women – US and foreign citizens

Adult Women – Force, Fraud, or Coercion? • 64% felt suicidal • 63% had hurt themselves or tried to commit suicide • Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, study of 25 women – US and foreign citizens • 46% of the women attempted suicide • Health study on 73 women in prostitution in twin cities, Minnesota

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There A Difference? • Perception • Many assume there is a difference between prostitution & trafficking • Many assume there is a difference between foreign and domestic victims • Many believe there is a difference between domestic women & girls in prostitution and foreign victims of trafficking

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There A Difference? • Legally • Definitions of sex trafficking and pimping overlap

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There A Difference? • Law Enforcement Response

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There A Difference? • Women’s Experience • Quite similar • Violence, control & exploitation • Level of victimization • Growing movement • Harmonizing sex trafficking and prostitution • Reform law enforcement practices • Similar to domestic violence and rape reform • Abolitionist approach: Distinguish between victims and perpetrators & treat them accordingly

Contact Details Donna M. Hughes, Ph.D. 316 Eleanor Roosevelt Hall University of Rhode Island http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes dhughes@uri.edu

Prostitution & Trafficking: Is There a Difference?