What makes me sick is that there are "customers" who relish this sort of thing. Surely that man who paid for her virginity knew what he was doing and he didn't care. Why is sleeping with children prized by these men? It's disgusting.
48
Thank you for giving voice to the powerless. Thank you for standing up against Amnesty International's mistake. Thank you for explaining that the smiles of prostitutes are worn to earn money, not to show joy.
53
How tragic. In this day and age!
3
This article does _NOT_ make the case against legalizing the sex trade. It actually makes an explicit case for legalization and regulation and inspection. Otherwise you should talk about the sex slaves in Nevada or Amsterdam. (They don't exist in those places except perhaps as 'wage' slaves).
12
I am dismayed by Amnesty's solution to this horrific human tragedy. I think they are out of step on this one. They ought to be supporting their fellow human rights organizations. UNICEF has a "End Trafficking" program and it receives 4 stars on charity navigator. Where is Facebook and Twitter?
http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/trafficking/end
http://www.unicefusa.org/supporters/organizations/businesses/partners
http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/trafficking/end
http://www.unicefusa.org/supporters/organizations/businesses/partners
13
Legal slavery is abolished just about everywhere (except in ISIS controlled areas). Abolishing illegal slavery is about as likely as abolishing any crime. We can punish and discourage, but we can't abolish evil, or crime.
8
"... finally time to abolish slavery forever?"
Abolish sex workers and stop pretending it is ever a legitimate economic choice at any age.
Abolish sex workers and stop pretending it is ever a legitimate economic choice at any age.
15
Fantastic article! Thank you for your hard work and insightful description of modern day slavery.
People love to rail against Thomas Jefferson for owning slaves in the 1700's, yet they are able to sleep at night knowing that this brutality is still going on. It seems hypocritical to me.
People love to rail against Thomas Jefferson for owning slaves in the 1700's, yet they are able to sleep at night knowing that this brutality is still going on. It seems hypocritical to me.
12
Thank you for your column and for giving attention to a desperate issue. Sex trafficking is a world-wide humanitarian crisis as pervasive as the refugee crisis but perhaps more emotionally damaging for its victims. Careful, though, those United States statistics are telling! Therefore, sounding the horn will bring both help and hate.
1
"So Poonam was locked inside the brothel, forced to have sex with 20 to 25 men a day, and more on Sundays and holidays." Let's rewrite that sentence more clearly. Let's try, "So Poonam was locked inside the brothel and raped by 20-25 men a day." She didn't "have sex." She was raped. Repeatedly.
50
Anyone who thinks women would actually want to do this work for a living are living in a 'Pretty Woman" Hollywood fantasy world.
23
It is interesting that ostensibly all of the comments, many of which support prostitution as a legal trade, are from men. Maybe you guys should talk to more women about this issue. How many of the women do you know would ever want to have sex for money? As them. And just listen, without your male filter on. Even women who are extremely poor and have no other recourse do not "want" to do it. That is such a male point of view, and is sickening.
26
I am horrified by Ms. Poonam's story, but am dubious about Mr. Kristof's prescription for improving the lives of others like her. Doesn't it seem likely that commercial sex, like abortion, is something that will happen whether legal or not--but will be much safer, and with fewer abuses, when legal and regulated?
7
Will this cruelty against the weakest among us ever end? Probably not. But I hope the intensity of cruelty will diminish rather than escalate. But periodically such cruelty gets much more intense, as with the rise of ISIS and the civil war in Congo.
Why are humans worse than animals?
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof, and others for enlightening us.
Why are humans worse than animals?
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof, and others for enlightening us.
6
It's not one world, Nick - and we can't control other countries.
5
The need for sex by men will never diminish. They will pay for it if they can't get it elsewhere. Many of the visitors in Mumbai brothels are migrants that go back home once or twice a year. The best solution is artificial dolls that are life like, whatever happened to 'roxy'?
4
"Then one day police raided the brothel. . . but the police could see that she was a child and took her to a shelter."
What was the penalty meted out for enslaving Ms. Thapa?
What was the penalty meted out for enslaving Ms. Thapa?
8
The test of whether legalisation would increase or reduce trafficking would be, well, what has happened in those places that have legalised? Like Australia and New Zealand?
Well, anyone a reporter around here who has the budget to go find out? Mr. Kristof?
Well, anyone a reporter around here who has the budget to go find out? Mr. Kristof?
9
Rural Nepalese girls grow up in abject poverty, are widely discriminated against, and are forced into menial jobs at an early age. It appears that Poonam may have run away from her family and that she has made no contact since being released. There may be a story there. At any rate, it is clear that there would be fewer Nepalese children forced into the Mumbai sex trade if the Nepali government cared more about the abject poor among them. Charity begins at home.
22
Sex trafficking is one of the most heinous social practices. Yes, the best way to stop it is by "cracking down on traffickers and customers while providing social services and exit ramps for women in the sex trade." Also making it a crime for parents to sell children into slavery or the sex trade. It is appalling that many of the high-paying "customers" are wealthy westerners. Sick. It would be helpful for the general public to see a list of the most egregious sex-slave countries/cities because most people simply do not know the scale of the problem. Perhaps there could be travel restrictions to countries and/or cities that participate in sex slavery? If not, social pressure can do a lot.
14
So why can't the police raid the brothel even if prostitution is legal to police underage sex trade? In fact, it will be easier because they would not be interacting with people who need to lie about everything they do. Legalizing prostitution may well be a bad idea, but Mr Kristof fails to make a good argument.
14
By the nature of the business, it should be easy to enforce the law if the respective governments wanted to. They don't and these crimes against humanity are tolerated.
6
Of course a horrible story, a case for the police and prosecution. And similar cases of enslavement have been found in child labor in India and China (brick kilns) and e.g the garment industries. However, does anybody think to outlaw brick manufacture or employment in the clothing industry, because of the horrible criminal acts of some? Of course not, though by Mr. Kristof's logic both of those steps would logically eliminate slavery and exploitation in those industries. Words matter! Mr. Kristof acknowledges, seemingly grudgingly, that "some' prostitutes may work involuntarily. 'Some', in other words a few in a sea of coercion; the latter being the normal condition. However, that choice of words is deliberately misleading, apparently more intended to jive with Mr. Kristof's personal moral convictions, than with the reality on the ground. I am not familiar with India, but in Thailand, where the number of prostitutes vary from 300,000 to well over a million, the situation is clearly such that the vast, overwhelming majority of women and men is engaging in prostitution voluntarily as consenting adults. Someone with Mr. Kristof's width of audience should either engage in an open discussion that he finds prostitution morally unacceptable or clearly state that not some, but the vast majority of women who engage in prostitution do so voluntarily. Turning by a simple choice of words a situation on its head is disingenuous at best and intentional falsification at worst.
13
How could anyone on Earth not know that true slavery still existed and is quite widespread? Nicholas Kristof has been telling us that it does for years and, indeed, has introduced us to quite a few slaves.
But this isn’t unpaid agricultural work in an antebellum South or a pre-Toussaint L'Ouverture Haiti. Eventually, you can mechanize almost all agriculture and make the demand for human labor, enslaved or otherwise, almost obsolete (consider Kansas wheat fields, miles and miles and MILES of wheat with no human visible). But what we see in Nick’s example of Poonam is associated with a demand, licit and illicit, that has existed since human communities have existed. And we see absolutely no indication that the demand is likely to lessen anytime soon.
With demand as intense as sex, the ONLY real way of mitigating the results of slavery are punishments for imposing it that are truly draconian, and the Swedish model of “social services and exit ramps for women in the sex trade”. But impose penalties on customers and you won’t affect the demand, you’ll simply incentivize increasingly creative means of driving the practices deeper underground. And legalizing prostitution WOULD address demand while reducing the incentives for slavery – and likely would materially improve the life outcomes of the women.
But this isn’t unpaid agricultural work in an antebellum South or a pre-Toussaint L'Ouverture Haiti. Eventually, you can mechanize almost all agriculture and make the demand for human labor, enslaved or otherwise, almost obsolete (consider Kansas wheat fields, miles and miles and MILES of wheat with no human visible). But what we see in Nick’s example of Poonam is associated with a demand, licit and illicit, that has existed since human communities have existed. And we see absolutely no indication that the demand is likely to lessen anytime soon.
With demand as intense as sex, the ONLY real way of mitigating the results of slavery are punishments for imposing it that are truly draconian, and the Swedish model of “social services and exit ramps for women in the sex trade”. But impose penalties on customers and you won’t affect the demand, you’ll simply incentivize increasingly creative means of driving the practices deeper underground. And legalizing prostitution WOULD address demand while reducing the incentives for slavery – and likely would materially improve the life outcomes of the women.
6
It would be enlightening if Mr. Kristof looked into exactly whose funding is behind the astro-turfed push by many liberal groups for decriminalization: Known pimps, traffickers, and those who more indirectly profit from the sex trade. They have purchased a thin veneer of respectability to protect their business.
6
The central reason for the evil revealed by Nicholas Kristof's outstanding reporting is inequality - economic and social inequality. Inequality is the base reason behind most of the world's evils. When I hear an adult women tricked a 12 year old girls into the sex trade business and the other woman who "invested" $1,700 purchasing the 12 year old girl forces her to have sex with 20 to 25 men a day --- I'm furious when I hear these stories and want all people involved immediately killed...a would be happy with some quick drone killings even though I am against the death penalty (It's well documented that the state kills innocent people). I also want that 12 year old girl air lifted to the United States for 1st class therapy, 1st class education and a 1st class life. Now that's justice in my book. I know, however, that this sad story will keep replaying itself until most of us evolve to a point where we have zero tolerance for social and economic inequality. That human evolution will cause public policy to be reoriented to prevent the obscene wealth of a Mitt Romney type guy and the obscene poverty of 12 year old girls like Poonam and her family. Until that happens, work like hell to end social and economic inequality.
3
The only thing that will fix trafficking, prostitution, child marriage, forced marriage, marriage/nikah sales, female genital mutilation, multiple "marriages" and rape is impossible -- the removal of the relentless male appetite for sexual pleasure and service. (It is not a "need," as males can survive perfectly well without sex.)
Jesus said "the poor will be with you always." He might as well have said, "and so will the rapists."
Jesus said "the poor will be with you always." He might as well have said, "and so will the rapists."
8
This story is nothing new. Nothing substantial can be done to erase this kind of slavery in a country which is itself slave to the execrable caste system. As long the top most castes who rule India today can keep themselves and their women insulated from this social depravity nothing will be done beyond the usual mouthing of platitudes in condemnation of this social reality and very little else.
2
One wonders what is wrong with men, that they would rape children, that they would see female bodies as something to be rented for their use and exploitation, that they have divorced sex from love and affection and so are able to rut like lower animals
What is wrong with men who use prostitutes? Do men not care that women in prostitution have an average lifespan of 34 years ---- they die young from AIDS, homicide, infectious disease, drug overdoses and suicides? Do men not care that prostitutes are often raped, beaten and murdered? Do men not get that most prostitutes are suffering from PTSD, that over 90% of prostitutes are addicted to hard drugs to blot out the ugly realities of their existence? Do men not think what it is like for women in prostitution, who have to let any awful man who comes along --- whether fat, smelly, diseased, drunk, drugged --- into her body? Would any want his wife, mother, sister or daughter to work as a prostitute?
What is wrong with men who use prostitutes? Do men not care that women in prostitution have an average lifespan of 34 years ---- they die young from AIDS, homicide, infectious disease, drug overdoses and suicides? Do men not care that prostitutes are often raped, beaten and murdered? Do men not get that most prostitutes are suffering from PTSD, that over 90% of prostitutes are addicted to hard drugs to blot out the ugly realities of their existence? Do men not think what it is like for women in prostitution, who have to let any awful man who comes along --- whether fat, smelly, diseased, drunk, drugged --- into her body? Would any want his wife, mother, sister or daughter to work as a prostitute?
20
Yours is a shockingly moving piece.
Poonam´s ordeal sounds like the work of fiction. It reminds me of Corban Addison´s "A Walk Across the Sun", a novel whose narrative heavily draws on the plight of sex slaves.
It goes without saying that one wishes perpetrators and cold-hearted criminals to be brought to justice. Yet when we ponder human nature, it is not hard to see that evil perpetuates evil. As human beings fall pray to a ruthless fate, they may be prone to rekindle the cycle.
However, we are not conceived for self-destruction. Born as innocent, vulnerable beings, we are inexorably primed for goodness.
Addison´s and Poonam´s stories share a happy outcome.
By exposing this girl´s immeasurable stamina and triumph against all odds, you are using your voice to promote change. And to improve human life on earth.
No matter how troubled the world might seem, goodness simply outweighs evil.
Keep spreading the word so that we may help you pierce the darkness of the human soul.
Poonam´s ordeal sounds like the work of fiction. It reminds me of Corban Addison´s "A Walk Across the Sun", a novel whose narrative heavily draws on the plight of sex slaves.
It goes without saying that one wishes perpetrators and cold-hearted criminals to be brought to justice. Yet when we ponder human nature, it is not hard to see that evil perpetuates evil. As human beings fall pray to a ruthless fate, they may be prone to rekindle the cycle.
However, we are not conceived for self-destruction. Born as innocent, vulnerable beings, we are inexorably primed for goodness.
Addison´s and Poonam´s stories share a happy outcome.
By exposing this girl´s immeasurable stamina and triumph against all odds, you are using your voice to promote change. And to improve human life on earth.
No matter how troubled the world might seem, goodness simply outweighs evil.
Keep spreading the word so that we may help you pierce the darkness of the human soul.
3
I can really only do one thing to pay my bills: office-work. It would behoove the people who benefit from office-work to hold me here against my will, prevent me from leaving, and pay me dirt. There's one and only one reason they can't do that: What I do is legal. If it were not legal, my employers would have the upper hand. To whom could I complain & not lose my livelihood & go to jail? The exploitation is enabled SOLELY by the illegality. Why do migrant workers reap so little for their efforts? Because it's illegal for them to work where they work. Legalize any worker's working anywhere, and all that coercion collapses. There is only one motive in illegalizing marijuana: to make those who sell it illegally fabulously rich. There is only one motive to illegalize prostitution: to make pimps fabulously rich. I wish I could make all of you who abet these criminals rot in the same prison.
15
"And while under these proposals human trafficking would remain illegal, the police would no longer have a reason to raid brothels to search for girls like Poonam." That is like saying, "since bars and grocery stores can legally sell liquor, there is no reason for the police to check if they are selling to minors."
Very lazy logic from a writer I highly respect.
Here in Austria prostitution is legal and highly regulated. Workers have to be registered (and yes, checked for age) and tested for STDs regularly. You're never going to get rid of the sex trade. Legalize and regulate is a better solution for everyone.
Very lazy logic from a writer I highly respect.
Here in Austria prostitution is legal and highly regulated. Workers have to be registered (and yes, checked for age) and tested for STDs regularly. You're never going to get rid of the sex trade. Legalize and regulate is a better solution for everyone.
14
Amnesty International's proposal is naive to the extreme; needless to say that I will no longer donate to that Organisation nor will they sell candles to me during Christmas time. To see what decriminalization leads to, look to Germany . Yes, that Germany that now shows itself sooo human and welcoming to the refugees. Prostitution was legalized there in 2004 with the result that the country has become the biggest brothel in Europe. There are not enough German women to satisfy the demand which means trafficking of women from poor(er) countries, many from Eastern Europe. This often starts with promises for real jobs, continues with rape and blackmailing and finally ends in modern slavery with all its misery and that in a first world country. On the opposite side of the few German women who go on talk shows explaining that they have chosen prostitution as their "profession" stand tens of thousands of women, many not German speaking, who were tricked into this incredible money making machine for pimps and brothel owners. No law or legalization in any country will be able to hide that prostituion is, to say it nicely, a degrading of women and a violation of human rights. Dear Nicholas, please continue this fight against prostitution, legalized or not and yes, women in countries like Nepal, India and many countries in Africa, Asia need your voice the most.
10
When you can't abolish, you have to regulate. Legalization and regulation will not solve the problem. Not by a long shot. But it is possible, I suspect, to greatly lessen the worst abuses.
Of course, then there is the question of what form the regulations should take. As Kristof says, if they are not done right, they only make the situation worse.
Of course, then there is the question of what form the regulations should take. As Kristof says, if they are not done right, they only make the situation worse.
5
Nothing we tried works, so it would behoove us to look at countries (if any) where slavery was essentially rooted out, and learn from their experiences.
4
At first I thought that "Meet a 21st-Century Slave" was going to be a trip to Wal Mart or the local brick factory, although upon reading this brutally cruel story, I wept with despair. I blame the customers & pimps for this type of wickedness. What man in his right mind would agree to have sex with an obvious child? I hope there is a special place in hell for these sexual perverts since even the prison population despises pedophiles & punishes them accordingly. Every poor family must be informed, even with the use of dropping warning pamphlets out of airplanes, that they must not sell their daughters but instead, immediately report the con artist to the authorities who will judiciously round them up & handcuff them in a cold small jail cell. All of the poor families should be rewarded for turning in these cold-hearted child abusers to the local police department. The word must get out to families everywhere so this doesn't happen again to another mercilessly innocent child anywhere around the world.
10
I think the conclusions Mr Kristof comes to are wrong. I can comment better on the situation here in the US but I think it applies all over. Not decriminalization but full legalization is the answer. Places would be inspected, registered, paying taxes. The police could actually go after under age and sex trafficking. No strategy is perfect but prostitution has been going on since the beginning of mankind one way or another. What is Mr Kristof's solution, bust everyone in sight? And his statement "some woman ( and men ) work in the sex trade voluntarily" is flat out false. Judging by the show on HBO in Nevada, there is a waiting list to work there. Those woman know exactly what they are doing, as do most of the woman the porn industry. Though in some situations drugs to come into play. But in many of these places you have to go through a screening process. Woman and men are tested for STDs also.
It is the same with any vice that is illegal. Police get corrupted to look the other way or they outright participate. People are ripped off, beaten and harmed. There's no protection unless it comes from gangsters because all the activity is under the radar and out of view. There's also one extra side benefit to the legalization of the sex industry. People (men or better yet, young men) would be able to let off some steam that builds up which they might not be able to because of the stigma or they don't have a partner. That's better than say collecting guns they might use sometime.
It is the same with any vice that is illegal. Police get corrupted to look the other way or they outright participate. People are ripped off, beaten and harmed. There's no protection unless it comes from gangsters because all the activity is under the radar and out of view. There's also one extra side benefit to the legalization of the sex industry. People (men or better yet, young men) would be able to let off some steam that builds up which they might not be able to because of the stigma or they don't have a partner. That's better than say collecting guns they might use sometime.
24
How is this comment a Times pick? The Kristof piece is about children who are kidnapped or sold and forced into sexual slavery. Full legalization wouldn't put an end to this situation at all. There would still be people who enslaved others under the radar, especially those enslaving children. How would legalization or regulation solve the problem of enslaving children for the sexual use of men?
The idea that men need to let off some steam that builds up is absurd. This is the real root problem: we haven't raised the men to respect others, especially women and children. We raised far too many men worldwide for most of human history to believe that acting on their sexual urges justifies the abuse of others, especially those weaker and smaller than themselves. This utter lack of conscience must be addressed along with issues of regulation, legalization, and rehabilitation for those enslaved and freed. And what do guns have to do with this? That last sentence is shocking because it equates the use of guns with sexual acts.
The idea that men need to let off some steam that builds up is absurd. This is the real root problem: we haven't raised the men to respect others, especially women and children. We raised far too many men worldwide for most of human history to believe that acting on their sexual urges justifies the abuse of others, especially those weaker and smaller than themselves. This utter lack of conscience must be addressed along with issues of regulation, legalization, and rehabilitation for those enslaved and freed. And what do guns have to do with this? That last sentence is shocking because it equates the use of guns with sexual acts.
1
Lord help us.
When conclusions are made about anything based on an HBO show that glamorizes prostitution and NYT makes it a Pick then we have ignorance running rampant.
Women who engage in prostitution often have histories of sexual and physical abuse and low self-esteem. These are not normal functioning people making rationale decisions. Furthermore they may be out of options to support themselves so they degrade themselves for money. In the column these are young underage girls that are living in poverty and are deceived into going into prostitution. The sex trade in Asia of underage girls is huge.
As long as we look at other human beings to be used for our or someone elses' personal objectives and pleasures rather than someone with dignity and rights then this will continue. The former is the mindset of a pyschopath.
When conclusions are made about anything based on an HBO show that glamorizes prostitution and NYT makes it a Pick then we have ignorance running rampant.
Women who engage in prostitution often have histories of sexual and physical abuse and low self-esteem. These are not normal functioning people making rationale decisions. Furthermore they may be out of options to support themselves so they degrade themselves for money. In the column these are young underage girls that are living in poverty and are deceived into going into prostitution. The sex trade in Asia of underage girls is huge.
As long as we look at other human beings to be used for our or someone elses' personal objectives and pleasures rather than someone with dignity and rights then this will continue. The former is the mindset of a pyschopath.
New Orleans has its share of prostitutes and over the years several became friends. (I was a bartender.) I never knew if any of them were sex slaves but I learned that every single one of them wanted out of the "game."
Brandy, her "working name," may have worked out of another bar or may have been totally independent, I never knew and she was never more than a customer to me. She told me that she made $500 a trick. (This was back in the 70's.) She looked like a model but was a little slow intellectually. When she was offered a job as a "Kelley Girl"- office/receptionist she took it at $400/month and never looked back.
My point is this: nearly all girls/boys in the "trade" would get out if they could. To me, they are all slaves and shame on Amnesty International... it will get no further contributions from me.
Brandy, her "working name," may have worked out of another bar or may have been totally independent, I never knew and she was never more than a customer to me. She told me that she made $500 a trick. (This was back in the 70's.) She looked like a model but was a little slow intellectually. When she was offered a job as a "Kelley Girl"- office/receptionist she took it at $400/month and never looked back.
My point is this: nearly all girls/boys in the "trade" would get out if they could. To me, they are all slaves and shame on Amnesty International... it will get no further contributions from me.
11
I know a Dutch woman who was concerned about what her otherwise "normal looking and acting" brother did regularly and frequently ... as he would go to Thailand and engage in sexual activities with kids, (I don't remember if they were boys or girls.)
What could she do? And what advise could I give to her?
I can even understand that bizarre erotic experiences are desired by some ... but, there is a difference between wanting to engage in them in fantasy ... and the demands of civilization which prohibit them.
This type of slavery can never be done away with completely ... but, governmental actions can greatly diminish them.
What could she do? And what advise could I give to her?
I can even understand that bizarre erotic experiences are desired by some ... but, there is a difference between wanting to engage in them in fantasy ... and the demands of civilization which prohibit them.
This type of slavery can never be done away with completely ... but, governmental actions can greatly diminish them.
2
Amnesty International is dead wrong. Would decriminalization of the sex trade have helped little girls like Poonam? Of course not! In fact, it could get way more dangerous for these little girls who land up in this trade. In countries where birth certificates are non-existent, poverty rampant, poor law enforcement, where families and relatives care more about money than the girl, decriminalization would just be a license for pimps and brothel owners to exploit these girls. No! Amnesty International! You are dead wrong!
4
You claim that outright legalization will not solve the problem. However, you provide no evidence to support this claim.
The truth is, that legalized prostitution with strong regulatory mechanisms would all but do away with this type of slavery.
The truth is, that legalized prostitution with strong regulatory mechanisms would all but do away with this type of slavery.
3
An effective way to decrease trafficking and sexual slavery is criminalizing and prosecuting compelling prostitution and rewarding persons who have been trafficked for aiding in the prosecution of their traffickers. Enacting and enforcing such laws, whether or not prostitution is lawful, seem to be far more important to decreasing sexual slavery than using the law to prosecute (or persecute) prostitutes. In this context, the legalization of prostitution seems almost (not quite) irrelevant. If sensible policy is not to persecute prostitutes for prostitution, why is it sensible policy to make it lawful to prosecute (or persecute) prostitutes? To allow prosecutors to better compel prostitutes to testify against their pimps by threatening to prosecute/persecute them for prostitution? Why?
1
I am ashamed to be part of the human race and ashamed to be a man when I read these stories. These are purely stories of predators and victims.
The discussion of the benefits of legalization is offensive. Legalize behavior of predators? We are outraged when some guy kills a lion in Africa but when millions of women are trafficked we yawn. The lack of empathy for these women is beyond the pale. Or one has to choose to believe that there are no victims in prostitution and that prostitutes are happy to engage in sex with perfect strangers, catch diseases and be physically abused.
This is the dark underbelly of the human race and it is so ugly we want to turn away or we just don't care about these people. The number of comments on this story vs an election season story tell the truth.
The discussion of the benefits of legalization is offensive. Legalize behavior of predators? We are outraged when some guy kills a lion in Africa but when millions of women are trafficked we yawn. The lack of empathy for these women is beyond the pale. Or one has to choose to believe that there are no victims in prostitution and that prostitutes are happy to engage in sex with perfect strangers, catch diseases and be physically abused.
This is the dark underbelly of the human race and it is so ugly we want to turn away or we just don't care about these people. The number of comments on this story vs an election season story tell the truth.
36
There is a larger issue overall here. We're looking at a world in general where workers rights are effectively nonexistent in the countries Mr. Kristof is visiting. The periodic headlines of garment factories that burn or collapse in cities where dozens are killed. The wages are kept so low that people barely survive - all largely to keep cheap clothing on the racks of Target, Kohl's and Walmart. The sex workers are just another element of this. The true trafficking of children is done by people who have the same mindset as those who work people nearly to death in factories with doors locked and exits blocked. Take the sex part out of the equation and you're looking at the same thing in both cases - a person, a human being being exploited beyond their ability to bear. We like cheap goods, we don't like to know how they got that way. But we can distract ourselves from the larger issues of workers rights by focusing on the sex instead of the larger issue, because for most people the sex trade is remote and abstract, the rest of those workers give most of us a reminder (or should) every time we shop except we choose to ignore that - and there are thousands more of them.
22
American greed fuels much of the slavery in these countries. This is what we have become. Don't think you're responsible? Take a look at some of the corporate donors of your congressional representatives.
1
In the 18th century, British people of conscience boycotted sugar and cotten in order to end sale of human beings. (A sacrifice comparable to giving up driving a car in today's world, according to Adam Hoschild, author of Breaking the Chains.)
In the 20th century, people worldwide boycotted travel in South America to help end apartheid.
In the 21st century, tourists and businesses should boycott traveling and doing business in India, as it is arguably the world's greatest enslaver of underage girls. The madams, the pimps, and thousands of men who patronize brothels should be made to realize that the world is looking down on them in utter horror.
In the 20th century, people worldwide boycotted travel in South America to help end apartheid.
In the 21st century, tourists and businesses should boycott traveling and doing business in India, as it is arguably the world's greatest enslaver of underage girls. The madams, the pimps, and thousands of men who patronize brothels should be made to realize that the world is looking down on them in utter horror.
16
I would be very curious to know how many children are forced into prostitution, how many of those are female, and how many others of both sexes are placed in forced labor. I suspect that female prostitution is the largest. I agree with Sweden's policy against the traffickers and customers of prostitution. How can women ever gain equality and respect when their bodies are shown for the amusement of men who prefer to buy sex rather than to have real relationships?
7
Opposition to legalization makes about as much sense as banning agriculture because some farm workers are slaves.
I really wish you were more realistic about this, because it's terrible to see women and children abused. You've been a strong advocate of these forgotten innocents, but you put your zeal in the wrong place and so undercut your case.
Indeed, you did so when you pointed out that Poonam was *scared* to go to the police. That's all to typical of sex workers, and it's to be expected, since as long as prostitution is a crime the police represent jail to the prostitutes, while the pimp represents bail.
And the notion that we can somehow eliminate prostitution is as unrealistic as the notion that we can ban alcohol or marijuana.
If we really care about these girls, we'll overcome our distaste, bring the activity above ground, and regulate it, because the current approach does absolutely nothing for trafficking victims and throws a lot of women in jail for -- what, exactly?
By the way, licensing could include a requirement to allow on-the-spot investigations, so your objection about the raid doesn't hold.
I really wish you were more realistic about this, because it's terrible to see women and children abused. You've been a strong advocate of these forgotten innocents, but you put your zeal in the wrong place and so undercut your case.
Indeed, you did so when you pointed out that Poonam was *scared* to go to the police. That's all to typical of sex workers, and it's to be expected, since as long as prostitution is a crime the police represent jail to the prostitutes, while the pimp represents bail.
And the notion that we can somehow eliminate prostitution is as unrealistic as the notion that we can ban alcohol or marijuana.
If we really care about these girls, we'll overcome our distaste, bring the activity above ground, and regulate it, because the current approach does absolutely nothing for trafficking victims and throws a lot of women in jail for -- what, exactly?
By the way, licensing could include a requirement to allow on-the-spot investigations, so your objection about the raid doesn't hold.
27
Your analogy doesn't work, Josh: the equivalent of banning agriculture because of enslaved farm workers would be banning sex because of prostitution. We need food and sex. We just don't need to enslave people in order to get these necessities.
Plantation owners in the American South did argue that slavery was necessary to obtain cotton, sugar, and other agricultural products. Slavery existed as long as there'd been a historical record, and was seen as therefore "natural" and inevitable. I don't think we realize what a revolution it was after millennia of slavery to ban it. Or perhaps we could've prevented the Civil War by regulating slavery more closely, and providing government inspectors to make sure slaves were treated well? This seems to be the moral foundation of prostitution advocates.
The pro-prostitution argument always boils down to: men want to pay for sex without the bother of acquiring it through treating women like people, and there will always be women suffering enough economic hardship to sell their bodies. We should accept this as right and natural as long as somebody's making good money from it—even though the women aren't really consenting freely, but under economic duress.
Since women didn't get the right to vote till 50 years after former male slaves did (though often only theoretically), this rationalizing of prostitution shouldn't surprise me.
Plantation owners in the American South did argue that slavery was necessary to obtain cotton, sugar, and other agricultural products. Slavery existed as long as there'd been a historical record, and was seen as therefore "natural" and inevitable. I don't think we realize what a revolution it was after millennia of slavery to ban it. Or perhaps we could've prevented the Civil War by regulating slavery more closely, and providing government inspectors to make sure slaves were treated well? This seems to be the moral foundation of prostitution advocates.
The pro-prostitution argument always boils down to: men want to pay for sex without the bother of acquiring it through treating women like people, and there will always be women suffering enough economic hardship to sell their bodies. We should accept this as right and natural as long as somebody's making good money from it—even though the women aren't really consenting freely, but under economic duress.
Since women didn't get the right to vote till 50 years after former male slaves did (though often only theoretically), this rationalizing of prostitution shouldn't surprise me.
6
Slavery is repugnant. But it flourishes right here in the US. Ask the families of older adults taken into involuntary professional guardianship where they are exploited for their accumulated lifetime assets by ruthless predators whose only ambition is to enrich themselves with their slave's money even if it means isolating, over medicating and abusing their helpless slaves--read Wards. AAAPG.net documents this modern day slavery in America.
A slave is the chattel of another person. That is what a Ward becomes-a legally dead human piece of chattel. Slavery trials were held in earlier versions of Probate court until 1863. Today Probate Court (which is not a court of law but a court of "equity") )presides over the legal death and exploitation of innocent elders whose only crime was to grow old in America. The amount of money thus under the control of predators in probate is in the trillions. The innocents taken into this modern day slavery are defenseless in every way.
This dreadful plague afflicts as many as 2 million Americans today and is expected to rapidly grow as the Boomers predictably develop dementia and other afflictions.
Modern American slavery is alive and well and growing in a Probate court near you.
A slave is the chattel of another person. That is what a Ward becomes-a legally dead human piece of chattel. Slavery trials were held in earlier versions of Probate court until 1863. Today Probate Court (which is not a court of law but a court of "equity") )presides over the legal death and exploitation of innocent elders whose only crime was to grow old in America. The amount of money thus under the control of predators in probate is in the trillions. The innocents taken into this modern day slavery are defenseless in every way.
This dreadful plague afflicts as many as 2 million Americans today and is expected to rapidly grow as the Boomers predictably develop dementia and other afflictions.
Modern American slavery is alive and well and growing in a Probate court near you.
21
Mr. Kristof has reported on a disgusting problem, but it is not new. It is certainly a wrong that deserves a solution. However, these crimes of vice have been with us for as long as our collective memory goes back and we have not solved them. We know what doesn't work:
1) prohibition (India has laws against child prostitution)
2) stronger laws to throw people in jail (look at the US)
3) free market (Netherland's prostitutes come from disadvantaged countries)
Perhaps we should look at areas of the world that have little prostitution and try to figure why that is so, then emulate them. Perhaps it is as simple as having good social structures that provide meaningful work while being fair to all. When criminal behavior does occur, follow the money and deal with those that profit most. But that would require tax dollars and the jailing of a powerful elite. Most likely won't happen. We will continue to discuss this in future generations as we have in past. And so it goes.
1) prohibition (India has laws against child prostitution)
2) stronger laws to throw people in jail (look at the US)
3) free market (Netherland's prostitutes come from disadvantaged countries)
Perhaps we should look at areas of the world that have little prostitution and try to figure why that is so, then emulate them. Perhaps it is as simple as having good social structures that provide meaningful work while being fair to all. When criminal behavior does occur, follow the money and deal with those that profit most. But that would require tax dollars and the jailing of a powerful elite. Most likely won't happen. We will continue to discuss this in future generations as we have in past. And so it goes.
13
Prohibition can be very (although not completely) effective when the customers are arrested instead of the prostitutes. When only the prostitutes are arrested, the laws have no impact on demand.
2
It is important to keep in line of sight the goal of eliminating the sex trade. On one hand there are those who defend the idea of exercising the right to decide to sell one's own body, while on the other, there are those who recognize that it was never the issue of free choice to begin with but rather of no choice. It is also important to realize that social forces like peer pressure, status quo, dominance, etc. all play a part and that these must be recognized and dealt with.
The argument for legalization banks on the safety of the workers, but if safety matters, then the enforcers can be instructed to handle situations better, thereby ensuring the safety of the workers. Furthermore, in the first place, these workers were abused by the so-called "pimps" or those who sell these girls, teenagers, young adults, etc into the sex trade. They were abused and violated. Extreme violence was committed to this girl, for example. She was forced to undergo many sexual ordeals.
It is important to recognize that this issue is also about attitudes and humanity. By criminalizing those engaged in the sex trade, a message is sent: That it has no place in our society - a society that cares for its members and does not cower from an inconvenient truth - that rejecting the sex trade would do good.
The argument for legalization banks on the safety of the workers, but if safety matters, then the enforcers can be instructed to handle situations better, thereby ensuring the safety of the workers. Furthermore, in the first place, these workers were abused by the so-called "pimps" or those who sell these girls, teenagers, young adults, etc into the sex trade. They were abused and violated. Extreme violence was committed to this girl, for example. She was forced to undergo many sexual ordeals.
It is important to recognize that this issue is also about attitudes and humanity. By criminalizing those engaged in the sex trade, a message is sent: That it has no place in our society - a society that cares for its members and does not cower from an inconvenient truth - that rejecting the sex trade would do good.
13
My heart weeps for this once innocent girl and others like her who have suffered sexual assaults; 20-to-25 men a day. Somehow the soul-numbing horror of this behavior appears to be lost among some of the people posting -- arguing for prostitution (regulated or otherwise); as if violating someone's body is okay as long as it's paid for.
60
I don't find prostitution a tasteful activity and have certainly never patronized a prostitute.
However, you fail to distinguish between those who choose to sell their bodies and those who are forced to do so, which is I think pretty ridiculous. Adult prostitutes who do this by choice don't seem to have a problem with it and so it's wrong to say that their bodies are being "violated."
Another way to put it is that not everyone feels the same way about this as you do.
I am not sure why some, including Mr. Kristoff, are unable to make this basic distinction, between children or victims of trafficking or addiction on one hand, and willing sex workers on the other. There is no debate about the existence of either class.
However, you fail to distinguish between those who choose to sell their bodies and those who are forced to do so, which is I think pretty ridiculous. Adult prostitutes who do this by choice don't seem to have a problem with it and so it's wrong to say that their bodies are being "violated."
Another way to put it is that not everyone feels the same way about this as you do.
I am not sure why some, including Mr. Kristoff, are unable to make this basic distinction, between children or victims of trafficking or addiction on one hand, and willing sex workers on the other. There is no debate about the existence of either class.
11
Josh, you go from saying Ann is wrong, to saying "in other words" not everyone agrees with her. Do you somehow think that where you and Ann disagree, your viewpoint is valid and hers isn't?
1
Mr. Kristoff did not write about your "distinction" because it does not actually exist. No one, and I mean NO ONE, choses to be a prostitute. I am not even going to bother going into the myriad explanations. You, sir, are remarkably ignorant.
2
I am at this moment staying at an AirBnB in the middle of Amsterdam's red-light district. The owner of our apartment here is also an accountant, and his clients include many of the prostitutes, who of course have to pay their taxes. I asked him about the continuing problem of trafficking, even in the legal but heavily regulated setting here. He believed only about 10% of the prostitutes working here were trafficked, but also conceded that many more "seem to have boyfriends who don't work," and that others "received help from someone in their home country to come here and get settled into the work."
He also focussed on the "smiling faces", but since the women are almost all immigrants (mostly from E. Europe or Asia; very few from the EU; a recent study found only one Dutch prostitute, aged 68, still working) I would tend to believe that many more are working here primarily because they can't get a better job doing something else. He said "a few" manage to save their own money and go home to "buy a nice house" but conceded that's a small minority.
I also saw a lot of silicon (to degrees I could only assume must be painful and burdensome). The big picture windows that used to frame a single woman have now been divided into three narrow windows.
Can't help but feel that the vast majority of these women (I did not see anyone too young) would indeed prefer other employment - and not just the way a fast-food worker or farm laborer might, but at a much deeper level.
He also focussed on the "smiling faces", but since the women are almost all immigrants (mostly from E. Europe or Asia; very few from the EU; a recent study found only one Dutch prostitute, aged 68, still working) I would tend to believe that many more are working here primarily because they can't get a better job doing something else. He said "a few" manage to save their own money and go home to "buy a nice house" but conceded that's a small minority.
I also saw a lot of silicon (to degrees I could only assume must be painful and burdensome). The big picture windows that used to frame a single woman have now been divided into three narrow windows.
Can't help but feel that the vast majority of these women (I did not see anyone too young) would indeed prefer other employment - and not just the way a fast-food worker or farm laborer might, but at a much deeper level.
35
It looks to me like you're seeing illegal aliens who are in the clutches of traffickers.
1
"And while under these proposals human trafficking would remain illegal, the police would no longer have a reason to raid brothels to search for girls like Poonam. Both Poonam and Koirala think that full decriminalization is a catastrophic idea; if it were in place, Poonam might still be enslaved."
I am not an expert in this area, but if Amnesty International says decriminalizing is a good idea, I expect they have given it a lot of thought. Why haven't you?
Looking cursorily at your argument, it is clearly specious. Just because they are decriminalized does not mean the police will have no reason to raid brothels to see if there are underage girls there or even unwilling women being held against their will there. Does it?
Once again, I do not claim to be an expert on this issue, but looking rationally at how human beings devise inventive and frankly disgusting ways to exploit others all the time, across time, geography and creeds, my tendency is to support a smarter system which focusses on specific problems being addressed well, instead of a well-meant, but hamhanded trawling way of looking at every problem and not doing real justice to any one thing. Look at our criminal justice system, we have reduced crime by stripping judges the right to pass sentences based on their judgment. We legislate a roundup and lockup of nonviolent folks, which we would describe as kidnapping and false imprisonment if it were done by governments in foreign countries we disapprove of.
I am not an expert in this area, but if Amnesty International says decriminalizing is a good idea, I expect they have given it a lot of thought. Why haven't you?
Looking cursorily at your argument, it is clearly specious. Just because they are decriminalized does not mean the police will have no reason to raid brothels to see if there are underage girls there or even unwilling women being held against their will there. Does it?
Once again, I do not claim to be an expert on this issue, but looking rationally at how human beings devise inventive and frankly disgusting ways to exploit others all the time, across time, geography and creeds, my tendency is to support a smarter system which focusses on specific problems being addressed well, instead of a well-meant, but hamhanded trawling way of looking at every problem and not doing real justice to any one thing. Look at our criminal justice system, we have reduced crime by stripping judges the right to pass sentences based on their judgment. We legislate a roundup and lockup of nonviolent folks, which we would describe as kidnapping and false imprisonment if it were done by governments in foreign countries we disapprove of.
12
@Sekhar Sundaram,
While you are right in "not claiming to be an expert on this issue" your statement that Mr Kristof has not given this issue "a lot of thought" is arrogance and ignorance at its best.
While you are right in "not claiming to be an expert on this issue" your statement that Mr Kristof has not given this issue "a lot of thought" is arrogance and ignorance at its best.
3
It was shocking to read the story of Poonam and Bitya. It is sad that we have depraved people in the society who are exploiting these poor and innocent girls coming from poor families. In Mumbai, the sex trade has become a flourishing business because of the protection the brothel owners receive from the law enforcement agencies. The only to stop the exploitation of these young girls is for the government to come heavily on the criminals who lure young girls from villages on the pretext of getting them decent jobs in cities. Moreover, because of the lax law the criminals even when apprehended, manage to get bail from the courts. We need tougher laws to act against these criminals.
29
This has always been standard operating procedure in the India/Pakistan area.The fact that young girls are sold for training in prostitution has been how the entire business stays "current", keeping the supply of new "virgins"(HA! There are no virgins. There are girls who have no experience. It is common for girls to fake virginity and to place a tiny amount, of blood in themselves to "prove" they have been violently penetrated. This can be done by a prostitute dozens of times, since men are desperate for virgins to help them cure STDs, which a course of antibiotics would clear up.
Didn't K. Try and save a youthful prostitute some years ago? She was later found to have gone back to being a hooker because she hated the life she led as an ex prostitute. She missed her cell phone, her nice clothes and a comfy bed and lots of friends who were in the same social "fix" or poisition as she was. As a farmers daughter, all she could hope for was to resent her parents, to work and slave from sunup to dark 7 days a week and bear children until she died.Then her husband would buy another wife. The life of a married farm or wife of fisherman in Burma or Thailand is totally different from what wealthy Americans imagine. Even if it lasts only a decade, it can help a girl into a life of owning her own house and buying, selling and even seeing her "girls", often decently married off to clients who fall for them. It is a different kind of problem, in Asia, than it is in Europe,
Didn't K. Try and save a youthful prostitute some years ago? She was later found to have gone back to being a hooker because she hated the life she led as an ex prostitute. She missed her cell phone, her nice clothes and a comfy bed and lots of friends who were in the same social "fix" or poisition as she was. As a farmers daughter, all she could hope for was to resent her parents, to work and slave from sunup to dark 7 days a week and bear children until she died.Then her husband would buy another wife. The life of a married farm or wife of fisherman in Burma or Thailand is totally different from what wealthy Americans imagine. Even if it lasts only a decade, it can help a girl into a life of owning her own house and buying, selling and even seeing her "girls", often decently married off to clients who fall for them. It is a different kind of problem, in Asia, than it is in Europe,
3
Addressing modern slavery of all sorts is a lofty idea but would require institutions to get over slavery in the past in order to address slavery in the present. And we all know that there is too much power and money to be had in the business of slavery past. Evidently there is not enough money and power to be had by freeing modern slaves. But I digress.
3
Recognizing places that are involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation can help fight this horrific practice. If an establishment possesses the following: heavily guarded, windows with bars, women are always seen being escorted, women are living and seemingly working in the same location, women visiting a medical clinic have an escort--especially an escort that speaks for her, or a woman who appears uncomfortable with her medical escort, then an anonymous report to law enforcement seems warranted.
10
Human trafficking is a huge problem on our southern border. It is easily identifiable and quite obvious but efforts to stop it are reviewed as mean and racist. And we all know that helping law enforcement is culturally taboo in modern society.
Nick, you're conflating two separate issues here.
The reality is that some human beings have a greater urge to engage in sexual relations than others, and are apparently extraordinarily willing to pay for it. We can wish that this was not so, but given the facts of human nature, coupled to the documented history of the last 2000 years, IMHO, we would be wishing in vain.
On the other hand, there are monsters out there who think they can get away with forcing people into the sex trade - and these monsters deserve the harshest treatment that the law allows.
As David McCullough underlines in his "1776", prostitution has been with us in America since the earliest days of our revolution. Personally, I find it beneath me to pay for sex, even for porn - but in all honesty, I am now at an age when the fires burn a lot less intensely they did previously.
That said, I willingly admit that I would never want a daughter of mine (or any woman that I knew and cared even a little about) to become a prostitute - just as I would never want her to marry a disgusting older man, like a Donald Trump, for money. But many are willing to do just that, even if they refuse to admit that money is key component in their decision. Who can account for taste, right?
Nick, we are in agreement that the agents of sex trafficking deserved to be crushed. Beyond that, you need to demonstrate where the prohibition model has proved successful.
The reality is that some human beings have a greater urge to engage in sexual relations than others, and are apparently extraordinarily willing to pay for it. We can wish that this was not so, but given the facts of human nature, coupled to the documented history of the last 2000 years, IMHO, we would be wishing in vain.
On the other hand, there are monsters out there who think they can get away with forcing people into the sex trade - and these monsters deserve the harshest treatment that the law allows.
As David McCullough underlines in his "1776", prostitution has been with us in America since the earliest days of our revolution. Personally, I find it beneath me to pay for sex, even for porn - but in all honesty, I am now at an age when the fires burn a lot less intensely they did previously.
That said, I willingly admit that I would never want a daughter of mine (or any woman that I knew and cared even a little about) to become a prostitute - just as I would never want her to marry a disgusting older man, like a Donald Trump, for money. But many are willing to do just that, even if they refuse to admit that money is key component in their decision. Who can account for taste, right?
Nick, we are in agreement that the agents of sex trafficking deserved to be crushed. Beyond that, you need to demonstrate where the prohibition model has proved successful.
40
Just because someone is willing to pay for sex doesn't mean they should be able to. So long as men make excuses for men who pay for sex this will continue to exist. Decriminalization will do nothing to free people like Poonam. I've worked with trafficking victims. You have no idea what lengths the traffickers/pimps will go to in order to keep their property! The idea that some women/men/children appear to be participating freely in the sex trade does not make it true. Most US prostitutes enter the "life" at around 12-14 years of age. Many have been abused or neglected at home. Pimps get their "girls" addicted to drugs to control them. So there NO CHOICE INVOLVED HERE FOR THEM. For those who "choose" to it is about economics. It is sad that women still make about 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. Stripping and prostitution sometimes ARE one of the only options available to survive. Many of them have been physically or sexually assaulted. Those who truly make a choice are a minority. As long as there is a pay gap between men and women things won't change. Prohibition that targets the traffickers and pimps, not the women/men/children who are prostituted IS the beginning. When we criminalize the victim/commodity ii's like holding the General Motors assembly line workers accountable for the GM cover ups.
4
Good thinking here, Mr. Carnicelli.
Perhaps the best way to crush agents of sex trafficking would be to run worldwide campaigns that would demean and shame the disgusting lowlifes who practice it.
Including the ugly old guys who buy stupid young inflated dolls.
Perhaps the best way to crush agents of sex trafficking would be to run worldwide campaigns that would demean and shame the disgusting lowlifes who practice it.
Including the ugly old guys who buy stupid young inflated dolls.
Legalizing the sex trade does not mean legalizing anything anyone does to a child. It is not legalizing anything and everything.
The idea is that the women and girls themselves are not the criminals. They shouldn't be arrested if they seek help. They should not be the targets of law enforcement.
Those who treat them well ought not to be targets either. That just drives them away, leaving the worst to do their worst.
We can regulate and protect if we establish a legal zone, and a place to run that is safe. That is what legalization means, not child sex slavery.
The idea is that the women and girls themselves are not the criminals. They shouldn't be arrested if they seek help. They should not be the targets of law enforcement.
Those who treat them well ought not to be targets either. That just drives them away, leaving the worst to do their worst.
We can regulate and protect if we establish a legal zone, and a place to run that is safe. That is what legalization means, not child sex slavery.
71
Baloney. This proposed legislation decriminalizes those who are pimps on a large scale. Why do you think they are funding the groups pushing for the decriminalization?
2
Decriminalization of all aspects of sex work is not all that needs to be done. People who have been abducted and forced into the work like the girl featured in this article would still need to be freed.
If slavery was prohibited in the U S, but the planters were allowed to keep every slave in place the change would have been in name only. In fact that is what decades of Southern fried bigotry sought to effect.
A through-going decriminalization of the work done by any person who is not an abductee that put them on a par with all other employees in any occupation would unquestionably benefit those workers.
If slavery was prohibited in the U S, but the planters were allowed to keep every slave in place the change would have been in name only. In fact that is what decades of Southern fried bigotry sought to effect.
A through-going decriminalization of the work done by any person who is not an abductee that put them on a par with all other employees in any occupation would unquestionably benefit those workers.
15
If trafficking has any chance of being curtailed it is society's job to bring about changes in attitudes and a reorienting of values.
So long as both parties are willing and there is no physical or mental coercion, the onus shouldn't be on the woman or man who is selling or the man or woman who is buying. If however coercion of any sort is involved it is wrong and should be stopped.
Like drugs, sex can be and often is construed as a commodity which if kept illegal and without reasonable oversight will, as it clearly has, lead to exploitation.
The voices which might be raised against thoughts of this sort are the same voices that live in personal ignorance and fear with a total denial of reality clouding any possibility of reasonable judgement.
People will always engage in some practice or other which will be unacceptable to others, but if their desires are met by those who are willing to engage with them in exchange for money, or pleasure, or both, why should those who are not willing become involved?
What consenting adults willingly engage in between themselves is their business and theirs alone.
No matter how distasteful it may appear to others, consenting adults who understand the interpersonal ramifications of their actions have a right to engage in practices that bring no harm to others or themselves.
Honest education from childhood would certainly curtail the naivete and ignorance which accompanies poor decisions, but honest education is in short supply.
So long as both parties are willing and there is no physical or mental coercion, the onus shouldn't be on the woman or man who is selling or the man or woman who is buying. If however coercion of any sort is involved it is wrong and should be stopped.
Like drugs, sex can be and often is construed as a commodity which if kept illegal and without reasonable oversight will, as it clearly has, lead to exploitation.
The voices which might be raised against thoughts of this sort are the same voices that live in personal ignorance and fear with a total denial of reality clouding any possibility of reasonable judgement.
People will always engage in some practice or other which will be unacceptable to others, but if their desires are met by those who are willing to engage with them in exchange for money, or pleasure, or both, why should those who are not willing become involved?
What consenting adults willingly engage in between themselves is their business and theirs alone.
No matter how distasteful it may appear to others, consenting adults who understand the interpersonal ramifications of their actions have a right to engage in practices that bring no harm to others or themselves.
Honest education from childhood would certainly curtail the naivete and ignorance which accompanies poor decisions, but honest education is in short supply.
10
Mr. Kristof, your heart is in the right place, but your logic is unsound. The unfortunate result is that the policy you fight for helps cause the awful thing you fight against.
Decriminalizing prostitution is a good idea for the same reason that ending the War on Drugs is a good idea. Making prostitution illegal has not stopped prostitution, and Poonam's terrible situation occurred despite being against the law. And, just like the War on Drugs creating all sorts of criminal behavior by leaving the drug industry to criminals, the laws against prostitution force prostitutes underground and create a situation where trafficking and coercion thrive.
In a country where prostitution is legal and regulated, with regular checkins with government workers and health services, prostitutes would not have to fear arrest when contacting the authorities for assistance. Johns would be able to contact the authorities about suspicious situations without fearing arrest.
A legal and regulated marketplace for prostitution leads to better outcomes than an unregulated black market for prostitution. The Netherlands and many other countries have learned this, and it's about time we learn it too.
Decriminalizing prostitution is a good idea for the same reason that ending the War on Drugs is a good idea. Making prostitution illegal has not stopped prostitution, and Poonam's terrible situation occurred despite being against the law. And, just like the War on Drugs creating all sorts of criminal behavior by leaving the drug industry to criminals, the laws against prostitution force prostitutes underground and create a situation where trafficking and coercion thrive.
In a country where prostitution is legal and regulated, with regular checkins with government workers and health services, prostitutes would not have to fear arrest when contacting the authorities for assistance. Johns would be able to contact the authorities about suspicious situations without fearing arrest.
A legal and regulated marketplace for prostitution leads to better outcomes than an unregulated black market for prostitution. The Netherlands and many other countries have learned this, and it's about time we learn it too.
68
"the laws against prostitution force prostitutes underground..."
That may be true in some places, but not in eastside Buffalo, NY. One could be forgiven for thinking all sex is commercial.
That may be true in some places, but not in eastside Buffalo, NY. One could be forgiven for thinking all sex is commercial.
Exactly how is a 12 year old girl who is paid nothing but forced to endure 20-25 rapes daily (burnt with cigarettes if she protests) locked in a room going to "contact the authorities for assistance?" And why would she try if she was told the authorities would torture her if she contacted them for assistance?
I think it is your logic that is unsound, and based on completely ignoring what is really going on in these places.
I think it is your logic that is unsound, and based on completely ignoring what is really going on in these places.
2
Anyone who has walked the prostitution district in Amsterdam or Hamburg sees the lies in your statements. Those streets reek of seediness: smell the urine and vomit in the streets, see used needles and condoms on the sidewalks, see the sad women, the vulpine lurking East European pimps in sunglasses keeping tabs on their "property. The prostitution districts are centers for sex trafficking and crime.
In Germany, it was thought that legalization would help prostitutes by allowing them regular medical care, unemployment and pension benefits. The reality? Of more than 500,000 prostitutes in the country, only 44 have registered for benefits. Prostitution has ballooned into a €15 billion a year business; only brothel owners get super rich. Everywhere people are running escort apps, online virgin auctions, outdoor "sex boxes" where men queue up on their lunch breaks, motorway stops crammed with grubby caravans whose red lights flash, all day every day.
Legal prostitution has grown so ugly that the Netherlands and Germany are both reconsidering the law and adopting the Swedish model which offers rehabilitation to prostitutes and criminalizes those who buy sex.
Wherever prostitution is legal, trafficking and sex slavery increase, as does the abuse of children. Almost all girls and women in prostitution were raped and sexually abused as children. Men who buy prostitutes are contributing to, condoning and perpetuating the rape and sexual abuse of children.
In Germany, it was thought that legalization would help prostitutes by allowing them regular medical care, unemployment and pension benefits. The reality? Of more than 500,000 prostitutes in the country, only 44 have registered for benefits. Prostitution has ballooned into a €15 billion a year business; only brothel owners get super rich. Everywhere people are running escort apps, online virgin auctions, outdoor "sex boxes" where men queue up on their lunch breaks, motorway stops crammed with grubby caravans whose red lights flash, all day every day.
Legal prostitution has grown so ugly that the Netherlands and Germany are both reconsidering the law and adopting the Swedish model which offers rehabilitation to prostitutes and criminalizes those who buy sex.
Wherever prostitution is legal, trafficking and sex slavery increase, as does the abuse of children. Almost all girls and women in prostitution were raped and sexually abused as children. Men who buy prostitutes are contributing to, condoning and perpetuating the rape and sexual abuse of children.
3
Charity begins at home. While it is noble of the writer of this article to care about slavery in Nepal, how about the trafficking of children right here in these United States?
The reason no one wants to investigate the 'underbelly' of our nation, is because one would have to take into consideration the growing economic gaps between the have-nots and the haves....and what drives people to do desperate things such as prostitution.
I sincerely believe that no one wants to sell their bodies as a primary means of making money, but desperate people do desperate acts, even here in the richest country in the world.
The reason no one wants to investigate the 'underbelly' of our nation, is because one would have to take into consideration the growing economic gaps between the have-nots and the haves....and what drives people to do desperate things such as prostitution.
I sincerely believe that no one wants to sell their bodies as a primary means of making money, but desperate people do desperate acts, even here in the richest country in the world.
53
A thought experiment: If the federal government paid each and every adult an unconditional $1,500 each month, would it affect trafficking in the United States?
7
Your sincere belief is wrong.
4
I believe, Coolgato, that your reference to "desperation" is vastly overstated.
Because someone wishes new shoes or a better car doesn't meet my criteria for desperation, but it motivates plenty of prostitution.
Because someone wishes new shoes or a better car doesn't meet my criteria for desperation, but it motivates plenty of prostitution.
1
The usual argument against legalizing prostitution seems to rest on the assumption that pimps are abusive by nature, and that the job necessarily involves abuse, since the work is abusive by definition. Therefore, that workplace will always involve abuse. That may be.
Also, as this article suggests, police would never raid brothels if they were legal, which would leave pimps freer than ever to carry out abuses.
But if the police would not raid brothels as they did Poonam's, surely there would be health inspections, amply paid for by tax revenues created by the brothels themselves, and laws carrying heavy penalties for underage prostitutes, or any dangerous practices. This would free up police to focus on the illegal brothels with underage girls and boys. Hence there would be more police on the trail of pimps trafficking children, not less. The argument Mr. K. makes here appears to get its force from the harrowing story of Poonam, rather than from altogether sound reasoning. I could be missing something, it is a very complex question.
Also, as this article suggests, police would never raid brothels if they were legal, which would leave pimps freer than ever to carry out abuses.
But if the police would not raid brothels as they did Poonam's, surely there would be health inspections, amply paid for by tax revenues created by the brothels themselves, and laws carrying heavy penalties for underage prostitutes, or any dangerous practices. This would free up police to focus on the illegal brothels with underage girls and boys. Hence there would be more police on the trail of pimps trafficking children, not less. The argument Mr. K. makes here appears to get its force from the harrowing story of Poonam, rather than from altogether sound reasoning. I could be missing something, it is a very complex question.
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I'm no expert, but I haven't heard of trafficking in legal brothels in Nevada and Texas.
I don't believe city police take much of any interest in arresting prostitutes.
Is it a "good pinch"? I very much doubt it.
Is it a "good pinch"? I very much doubt it.
And living in Connecticut, Josh, you certainly would have heard of it if it were.
3
Thank you. I have raised sons and a daughter. Who can believe that any female child aspires to be a prostitute? No one suggests that women choose to be paid to do dangerous, boring, demeaning work in any other realm. Why sex?
Until all children have the same access to education, employment, wealth, we will have slavery in one form or another. Corporatism, oligarchies, greed and institutionalized class warfare....freedom has many enemies.
Until all children have the same access to education, employment, wealth, we will have slavery in one form or another. Corporatism, oligarchies, greed and institutionalized class warfare....freedom has many enemies.
111
But this is nonsense. Many women do do this voluntarily and they've spoken about it often enough. And see the wonderful documentary "Streetwise" for a shocking portrait of a girl who becomes a prostitute by choice -- and whose mother supports her in that activity.
3
Prostitution will always pay better than other "boring, demeaning" work.
Winchestereast, you are wrong. In my random life I've MET (socially, never professionally) four prostitutes (not counting many pitching to me on the sidewalk before the Internet got rid of that). For one, it was a nightmare, but a nightmare generating for her the cash to escape a worse nightmare, and, more, move into a very decent life. Had effective law-enforcement prevented her prostitution, she'd have been NO LESS COERCED into taking the next-best job, which would be legal (despite the coercion surrounding her accepting the LEGAL job) but only trivially less degrading & MUCH less lucrative, a legal job that she'd rejected, in favor of prostitution, because prostitution was better. It amazes how many advocates of laws against prostitution think that a guy who shovels offal in a slaughter-house wanted that job at age four, the way others aspire to be firefighters or surgeons. No. He is COERCED by circumstances into taking that wretched job, no less than others are coerced by circumstances into prostitution. That the latter is illegal & the former not is a double-standard applied ONLY to sex-work.
The other three prostitutes I've met felt good about it. One realized she wanted all the sex she could get (with strangers, because friends would be judgmental about promiscuity, her "social outlawry"). She'd have had just as much sex with strangers for free not getting paid for it. So she took pay for it, enabling her to quit a day job & have more time free for indiscriminate sex.
The other three prostitutes I've met felt good about it. One realized she wanted all the sex she could get (with strangers, because friends would be judgmental about promiscuity, her "social outlawry"). She'd have had just as much sex with strangers for free not getting paid for it. So she took pay for it, enabling her to quit a day job & have more time free for indiscriminate sex.
Bravo Kristof, for your unending spotlight on exploitation around the world.
99
Agreed, however it will never be eradicated, unfortunately.
During WWII, my father worked as a brothel inspector for the US Army Air Force. He made sure that the brothels to which USAAF men were allowed to frequent met ALL US Army Air Force standards: Clean, no disease, no children, no trafficked women.
Legalise, regulate, and make money drive all the madams and pimps AWAY from trafficking and children. Let those who follow the rules make money, and and make sure that those who don't follow the rules all go to jail.
(Did I forget to mention taxes on the legal brothels and heavy fines on the illegal ones to pay for the inspections?)
Legalise, regulate, and make money drive all the madams and pimps AWAY from trafficking and children. Let those who follow the rules make money, and and make sure that those who don't follow the rules all go to jail.
(Did I forget to mention taxes on the legal brothels and heavy fines on the illegal ones to pay for the inspections?)
75
I completely agree. The reality is that (a) where there is demand, there will always be a way for said demand to be satisfied and (b) for some women, they might not aspire to be a prostitute by will accept it as a way to quick money. The minute that you bring in a license, regulation, standards, health inspections, and taxes, the madams and pimps need to turn into legitimate business managers of just melt away.
The notion that this removes the ability for police to raid brothels looking for violators is nonsense. If these facilities need to be licensed, they can be inspected. Use the monies from taxes to educate on safe sex work and drug treatment programs - the money would definitely be there. If you add on real fines and jail time for violators, the sex work industry would clean up mighty quickly
Of course, none o this will ever happen. The Right thinks that recreational sex is evil and the Left is thrall to feminists who think that prostitution as a concept is abhorrent. They both forget it is the second oldest profession after being God.
The notion that this removes the ability for police to raid brothels looking for violators is nonsense. If these facilities need to be licensed, they can be inspected. Use the monies from taxes to educate on safe sex work and drug treatment programs - the money would definitely be there. If you add on real fines and jail time for violators, the sex work industry would clean up mighty quickly
Of course, none o this will ever happen. The Right thinks that recreational sex is evil and the Left is thrall to feminists who think that prostitution as a concept is abhorrent. They both forget it is the second oldest profession after being God.
1
Cue the chorus on legalizing prostitution.
Prostitution and slavery have always been linked. The notion that women "choose" to become prostitutes is a self-serving delusion. Extremely few would choose to be prostitutes if they could make the same money for the same hours doing something else. The argument from economic necessity is repulsive: there are desperate people who would sell themselves into slavery too in exchange for a place to live and meals. But I can't "choose" to sell myself as a slave (nor can I choose to sell a kidney on eBay). We don't live in a free society if we create institutions that encourage individuals under duress to sell themselves as commodities.
As for profitability, especially as a revenue stream for government, that too is revolting. Same was said of 19th-century plantation slavery. When we let economic "good" have the final say on every moral question, we soon become morally bankrupt. And we see how effective legal slavery was in preventing the abuse of slaves.
Consenting adults should do as they please sexually. But a woman under economic coercion is by definition not consenting freely.
Also bogus: "people have always wanted to pay for sex, so prostitution should be legal." People have always been inclined to rape and murder too.
And finally, if you wouldn't want your daughter to be a prostitute, you're not serious about the joys of legal prostitution. You only want to create a class of women it's OK for you to use.
Prostitution and slavery have always been linked. The notion that women "choose" to become prostitutes is a self-serving delusion. Extremely few would choose to be prostitutes if they could make the same money for the same hours doing something else. The argument from economic necessity is repulsive: there are desperate people who would sell themselves into slavery too in exchange for a place to live and meals. But I can't "choose" to sell myself as a slave (nor can I choose to sell a kidney on eBay). We don't live in a free society if we create institutions that encourage individuals under duress to sell themselves as commodities.
As for profitability, especially as a revenue stream for government, that too is revolting. Same was said of 19th-century plantation slavery. When we let economic "good" have the final say on every moral question, we soon become morally bankrupt. And we see how effective legal slavery was in preventing the abuse of slaves.
Consenting adults should do as they please sexually. But a woman under economic coercion is by definition not consenting freely.
Also bogus: "people have always wanted to pay for sex, so prostitution should be legal." People have always been inclined to rape and murder too.
And finally, if you wouldn't want your daughter to be a prostitute, you're not serious about the joys of legal prostitution. You only want to create a class of women it's OK for you to use.
16
It's shameful that the US army was in the business of inspecting brothels. No girl grows up dreaming of becoming a prostitute. I bet the brothel pimp owners made a whole lot more money that the women working for them. Stop defending brothels- unless you are willing to recommend that your wife and daughters become sex workers.
5
A real frontal assault on this sick human condition. We need to expose this more that just your article. Governments should be bound to create resources to combat this tragedy of human sickness. Yet it seems in this country little is done or said about this crime... thank you for providing, at least, vital information. I hope this will startf some movement to combat this.
24
Two things: One is that the customers of the sex industry call this a victimless crime. It can only hope to be victimless if it was fully legal, fully regulated for health issues and abuses, and fully transparent. Two is where does anyone get the nonsensical arrogance to say there are only 20 million slaves in the world? There is no way of knowing how many slaves there are but out of 7,500,000,000 people 20,000,000 is a ridiculously low number. If it’s lower than 100,000,000 when all children, sex workers, farmer workers, domestics, shipping workers, beggar’s assistants, and detention workers are really counted it would be a miracle. Speaking of miracles, has the richest company in the world assured that real living wages are provided for all workers toiling away on their exotic gadgets of the month? If you stacked all the hypocrisy out there it would reach to the Sun by now.
47
The sex industry would cease to exist if every individual had access to work with dignity at a wage that sustained a healthy, decent life.
82
winchestereast *** The sex industry will never cease to exist. It might slow down in some of the places Mr Kristof is writing from if there were decent jobs. But many of the woman in the industry enjoy themselves esp when they are making $150 plus an hour. The sex drive is a primary life force. People will always need to relieve tension esp if you are older and alone, or young and confused. Where do you think many well off people ( rock stars, athletes, hedge fund managers, Governors, Presidents, etc. ) spend all that cash ???
3
@r: Enslaving children so that men can "relieve tension" as you put it is a horror. Evidently, you believe that "people" (you mean "some men" here) have a drive so compelling that it justifies using others in this most vile of ways. Never mind the destruction of lives. Sex is a "primary life force?" Procreation is part of nature. But the human sex urge is controllable. And "people" usually includes the 51% of human beings that are women. I know no women who spend their "cash" on child sex slaves.
11