Photo by Sanja
The Columbus Dispatch put together some multimedia materials on human trafficking happening in the Ohio area. The headline reads, "New word for prostitute: Victim."
As a country we generally have such a strong reaction toward prostitution. What this article and movies like "Girls Are Not for Sale" encourage is for us to look a few minutes longer at a larger picture. When we're seeing girls who aren't even legal adults yet being pimped and sold, how can we be treating them as though this is a lifestyle choice and then prosecute them as criminals?
On a related note, the Australian Broadcasting Company posted a story on how legalized prostitution is failing sex workers in Australia and that human trafficking for the purpose of illegal brothels is becoming a larger concern. I'm against legalizing prostitution for a number of reasons--most importantly because I think it poses an enormous step backwards in the fight against human trafficking. But I think our automatic criminalization of prostitution in the U.S. is attacking the problem from the wrong angle, as well. It's the two ends of the spectrum and unfortunately, until we can meet somewhere in the middle, we'll continue failing our young girls in the worst way.
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