Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) 212-643-9895
and Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) 415-922-4555
Craigslist Protest Fact Sheet
Craigslist Corporate Office, San Francisco, California July 8, 2010
Survivors of Craigslist trafficking speak out:
My first introduction to prostitution was arranged through Craigslist. I answered an ad for online modeling which turned out to be an agency recruiting for "escorts". Escort is a word they use instead of prostitute. First model, then escort and eventually prostitute. After I was eased into prostitution, many of the pimps, massage parlor owners and girls themselves would use Craigslist to post adds for prostitution. They used words like "sensual massage" and "full body massage" to attract johns. I was a prostitute for much of my young life and would say Craigslist is now one of the most effective ways to sell your body on the Internet. It's free and the word is out that if you want to buy sex, you can find it on Craig's List. The sad part is that not everybody knows the dirty secret about Craigslist, so if somebody's little girl wanted to be a legitimate model she could easily by lured into a trap. I fear for the vulnerable, the naive. A young person can easily be lured into prostitution by online pimps like Craig.
--- Nekome, a Bay Area survivor of prostitution, July 2010
I personally know over 20 girls who were trafficked through Craigslist. Like me, they were taken from city to city, each time sold on a different Craigslist site --Philadelphia, Dallas, Milwaukee, Washington D.C. My phone would ring, and soon men would line up in the parking lot. One Craigslist caller viciously brutalized me, threatening to dump my body in a river. Miraculously, I survived.
-- Open Appeal to Craig Newmark (Rebecca Project/ San Francisco Chronicle) May 19, 2010
The technological innovations and unregulated use of the Internet have created a global medium for men's sexual exploitation and abuse of women and children. The sex industry has aggressively adopted every new information technology to increase men's sexual access to women and children.
In the San Francisco Bay area, for several days in October 2008, Craigslist's own search page listed more than 18,000 advertisements for prostitution - called escort, massage, erotic services, adult services, adult entertainment - and other commonly-used terms for prostitution.
Staff members for Illinois's attorney general, Lisa Madigan, have counted more than 200,000 sex ads since late 2008 posted to Craigslist in Chicago alone -- which they estimate have generated $1.7 million for the company. New York Times April 25, 2010
Organized crime uses the services of Craigslist. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested 14 members of the Gambino crime family on charges of, among others, selling the sexual services of girls, ages 15 to 19 on Craigslist. New York Times, April 25, 2010
Craigslist named as America's Biggest Pimp
March 2009, The Age
Calling Craigslist the "largest single source of prostitution in the nation," Cook County Illinois Sheriff Tom Dart sued Craigslist founders Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster. The lawsuit focuses on allegations of human trafficking and sex crimes, a release from Dart's office said. Sheriff Tom Dart is asking a federal judge to order Craigslist to eliminate its "erotic services" section, where most prostitution ads are posted. He is also seeking reimbursement for tax dollars spent paying the salaries of officers who investigate and arrest those responsible for trafficking women on the website.
Read entire fact sheet (PDF format)
