Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists

Yesterday Bruce and I attended a panel discussion on Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists at the Brooklyn Museum. The panelists were Taina Bien-Aime, Executive Director of Equality Now and Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director of GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services), and the panel was moderated by the acclaimed activist, Gloria Steinem.

While it was exciting to see Gloria Steinem in person, we were really there to learn more about the topic and to bring that information back to the Brooklyn Humanist Community in order to figure out what our group can do to help stop sex trafficking and possibly help survivors. We learned that GEMS is the one group in New York State that serves domestically trafficked girls and women.

I learned quite a lot about the sex trafficking problem. The average age of entry into sex trafficking in the U.S. is 13. It is so frequent that there has been a name given to the "Minnesota pipeline" through which young girls and women from Minnesota are brought into the sex trade in NYC through offers of bogus jobs. All around us, this exploitation and enslavement is happening, and yet we often don't even recognize it.

There are actually more people enslaved today than were enslaved during the 19th century, before the Emancipation Proclamation. We're led to believe it is a thing of the past, but it is not.

While the problem is enormous, the panelists and Ms. Steinem reminded us not to sink into hopelessness. It is not inevitable: many societies, especially some of the oldest (hunter/gatherer) societies do not have prostitution or rape. Not only that, but Ms. Steinem pointed out that while one of 3 women will be raped or sexually molested in her lifetime, that does not mean that one of three men is a rapist. The average rapist has attacked 14 women, so clearly it is not typical of men. I'm glad this fact was brought out because in some of the earlier feminist writings I recall the "every man is a potential rapist" argument, and I hardly think it is fair to men.

However, rape and prostitution are the products of a power imbalance. The panelists also scrutinized the idea of consent. 89-94% of prostitutes were sexually abused, often as children. So can they be said to have "consented" to become prostitutes?

Ms. Bien-Aime of Equality Now spoke of the struggle to shut down some of the sex tourism travel agencies in New York City. At first the authorities weren't interested but ironically, Elliott Spitzer was a big help in getting the first one, Big Apple Oriental Tours, shut down. She spoke also of what a betrayal it felt like when former Governor Spitzer was caught up in his involvement with prostitutes.

Ms. Bien-Aime also talked about the efforts to get legislation passed that would decriminalize the women and children who have been forced into prostitution, and punish the traffickers and the customers ("johns") instead. Apparently Sweden passed a model law in 1999 that does just this. Sex trafficking into Sweden has been reduced as a result but, sadly, has increased in neighboring countries.

For many years I thought that legalizing prostitution was a good idea because then the prostitutes would be medically checked and there would be less chance of spreading disease. But the panelists pointed out that in places where prostitution is legal, the exploitation continues. We heard that in Nevada, legal prostitutes are kept in isolated buildings in the desert, behind barbed wire, and the women are not free to leave. They are in debt to the people who own the business, and are overcharged for everything ($5 for a bowl of ramen soup) so that they aren't able to leave.

Furthermore, in Germany, where prostitution is legal, there was a situation where a woman who lost her job was offered a position as a prostitute and told by government officials that if she didn't accept the job she would lose her unemployment benefits! They backtracked after there was a public outcry but it's outrageous that she was given such a "choice" in the first place.

In New York a law has been passed creating a safe harbor for youth who were forced into prostitution, treating them as clients for child welfare rather than slapping them into the juvenile justice system. But there needs to be more awareness, especially now when the precarious economy makes those who are vulnerable to exploitation even more vulnerable.

There are groups springing up, calling themselves new abolitionists and working to stop sex trafficking, but resistance at the top (government officials) has been strong. In India, abolitionists have taken to staging raids on brothels and rescuing women and children out of them.

Ms. Lloyd told us about her own life experience as a survivor of sex trafficking. Her organization, GEMS, educates young survivors to be able to take up other professions, and she stressed that they receive training in lucrative, non-traditional professions, not sewing and waiting on tables.

The GEMS film, "Very Young Girls" was on Showtime last Thursday, and we could probably rent it in order to have a screening and discussion on the issue. We also heard about a movie called "Trade" on the same issue.

It was fascinating to see Gloria Steinem in person after all these years. She was informed and sharp but soft-spoken, simply getting the information out there to us.

This was an excellent learning experience and I hope we will be able to do some work on this issue in the BHC. I didn't get a chance to ask what a small organization like ours can do, but I will look into it.