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Going undercover as a sex worker

aljazeera.com

21–30 of 236 posts

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#21
post #16

The big elephant in the room that it is politically incorrect to discuss: human trafficking happens because of Muslims and because of Islam. Recognizing this fact will help fight it, for example by closing Europe to Muslims.

Actually most of the human trafficing in Europe and Asia has nothing at all to do with Muslims. Not to mention human trafficing in the US and Latin America...

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#22
post #18

"Human trafficking" is a deceiving word. It is all too often used by people on the payroll of these organizations. It invokes imagery that doesn't anywhere near equate reality. I advise you to avoid puff pieces, find the truth in actual journals and save your compassion for things on a case-by-case basis. For those who aren't aware, there is another side to the story. There are many people who inflate these statistic…

>I could elaborate

Please do.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#24
What is the level of opportunity for these young women (and lets call them women that is what they usually, calling them girls makes them sound like less human and more of a commodity) in the origin countries.

Fighting pimps and such is all good but cut off supply then there is no need to deal with pimps. Are hiring laws enforced in these countries?

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#25
post #18

"Human trafficking" is a deceiving word. It is all too often used by people on the payroll of these organizations. It invokes imagery that doesn't anywhere near equate reality. I advise you to avoid puff pieces, find the truth in actual journals and save your compassion for things on a case-by-case basis. For those who aren't aware, there is another side to the story. There are many people who inflate these statistic…

>I could elaborate Please do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaly_Mam

is an example.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#26
post #18

"Human trafficking" is a deceiving word. It is all too often used by people on the payroll of these organizations. It invokes imagery that doesn't anywhere near equate reality. I advise you to avoid puff pieces, find the truth in actual journals and save your compassion for things on a case-by-case basis. For those who aren't aware, there is another side to the story. There are many people who inflate these statistic…

This is a perfectly valid comment until it's proven wrong. I don't think it should be "LA LA LA I'm not list-en-ing"-downvoted.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#27
post #12
post #2

Much like with drugs, the best way to reduce human trafficking and abusive prostitution would be to fully legalize and regulate sex work. In countries where prostitution is accepted and legal, it's safer for both the sex workers and the customers, with less risk of disease and abuse. Sex workers are treated humanely and not condemned. Society in general benefits too, through properly paid taxes, lower crime rates, an…

In countries where prostitution is accepted and legal, it's safer for both the sex workers and the customers, with less risk of disease and abuse. Do you know any good studies that back this up. While I certainly want to believe it and it does fit nicely with my own general political/economic narrative of the world, I've yet to find any conclusive evidence for it.

You might want to read the execute summary of this report [0]. It was produced by a panel whom the New Zealand government commissioned to examine the effect of legalising prostitution in New Zealand. The results are perhaps more ambiguous than anyone would like, but at least you know that the report isn't politically slanted.

(For a little bit of context: prostitution became legal in New Zealand in 2003.)

[0] http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/commercial-property-and-re...

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#28
post #12
post #2

Much like with drugs, the best way to reduce human trafficking and abusive prostitution would be to fully legalize and regulate sex work. In countries where prostitution is accepted and legal, it's safer for both the sex workers and the customers, with less risk of disease and abuse. Sex workers are treated humanely and not condemned. Society in general benefits too, through properly paid taxes, lower crime rates, an…

In countries where prostitution is accepted and legal, it's safer for both the sex workers and the customers, with less risk of disease and abuse. Do you know any good studies that back this up. While I certainly want to believe it and it does fit nicely with my own general political/economic narrative of the world, I've yet to find any conclusive evidence for it.

Unfortunately, it is not true. In germany prostitution was legalized a few years ago and what mostly happened was a massive increase in it. The situation of prostitutes barely improved and human trafficking went up.

But you have to keep in mind that that is also the effect of only one country doing it. What would happen if the whole EU legalized prostitution is a different question.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#29
When reading works like this one I tend to find three stories being merged into one. It focuses on slavery where most of the evil aspects of humans tend to come out, as in order to reduce a human person into something that can be traded, everything that gives that person a social context must be torn down. This is where the "break down" period comes from and it's a common theme in everything from the African slave trade to forced labor camps. Slaves are broken down, displaced, and controlled in order to place them outside the social economics shared by everyone else.

The second story is one about social stigma. We live in a society which views sex trade to be worse than going into a life of crime. From a social standpoint, it means that providing a sexual service in return for money is worse than breaking the law and social order that society is built on.

The third, although one which often is used as an introduction, is one about poverty. In order to get food on the table people will agree to many kinds of dangerous, dirty, and unwanted lines of work. People have entered the death sentence called a coal mine, gone into work which has a life expectancy of months, but in contrast to prostitution those are often viewed as sacrifices rather than something shameful. I suspect this has something to do with gender roles, where a man who is forced by poverty to unwanted work is a hero while a woman doing the same is a victim.

Re: Going undercover as a sex worker

#30
post #13

What makes me very uncomfortable is that are enough men that not only not care about, but actually enjoy rape to make it a huge market. This is not something that happens "between two consenting adults". If you read the article you'll see that there is no way in hell that they don't know what they are participating in. In fact many seek out the worst treated girls. There looks to me that there are more than one type…

The sad truth is that rape (like many disturbing behaviours including murder and child abuse) is entirely natural, it's not actually aberrant behaviour. Of course we're capable of recognizing it as harmful behaviour we would rather not see happen, but that's a matter of "ought" not "is".

I think the best bet at preventing rape is education and empathy (violence becomes more difficult if you can relate to your victim). But with human trafficking the situation is a bit more difficult than with "rape culture" at large: the victims are in a uniquely helpless position, legal (or social) consequences are practically absent and as a "customer" you're already engaging in a highly illegal environment. Psychologically this is entirely different from overpowering or drugging a free person and raping them.

Our best bet at preventing rape in human trafficking is likely just to eliminate human trafficking -- which seems like a worthy enough (if Herculean) task in itself.

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