Myths and Facts about Trafficking for Legal and Illegal Prostitution (March 2009)

1. MYTH: Legalizing prostitution gets rid of its criminal elements - pimps and traffickers.
FACT: Legalizing prostitution benefits pimps and traffickers. It also benefits johns.

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Thomas Dart, Sheriff of Cook County Illinois sued Craigslist, Inc. for pimping and trafficking of women and children on its "Adult Services" and "Erotic Services" sections of its advertising website. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) submitted an Amicus Brief in support of Sheriff Dart.

Amicus Brief

Craigslist benefits financially from the advertisements on its website, profiting from an integral role in sex trafficking, taking a pimp's cut.

By creating a special place for those seeking to buy and sell prostituted sex, craigslist has dedicated a portion of its website to johns and pimps. This controlled space provides an extraordinary opportunity for coordinating domestic and international sex trafficking.

Sexually exploited elite, socially invisible harms, denied harms. There is a pyramid-like hierarchy in prostitution. At the top are a very few women - only about 2% of all those in prostitution - who service a few men for a lot of money in a short period of time in their lives - and then they get out, or are bought by one man who supports them.

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Book released May 2007

From a conference sponsored by Captive Daughters and DePaul University in Chicago

Essays by: Catharine MacKinnon, Esohe Aghatise, Julie Bindel, Robert Jensen, Gail Dines, Anna Agathangelou, Neil Malamuth, Eileen Pitipan, Melissa Farley, Christopher Kendall, Diana Russell, Vednita Carter, Chris Stark, Annalisa Enrile, Chyng Sun, Ken Franzblau, Michelle Dempsey, Janine Benedet, Rebecca Whisnant, Rus Ervin Funk. Edited by David E. Guinn with Julie DiCaro

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Marisa B. Ugarte, Laura Zarate, and Melissa Farley 2003

In this article, researchers describe the historical background of sex trafficking from Mexico to the United States. Researchers summarize two case examples that illustrate the complexity of providing physical and emotional safety, as well as immigration protection to victims of trafficking into prostitution. Researchers emphasize the importance of understanding the varied cultural contexts in which sexual exploitation, rape, prostitution and trafficking occur.

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Melissa Farley (editor) 2003

With 32 contributors, this book offers an analysis of prostitution and trafficking as organized interpersonal violence. Even in public health and criminal justice, prostitution is often misunderstood as "sex work." The book includes clinical examples, analysis, and original research that counteract common myths about the harmlessness of prostitution to those in it. Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress documents the violence that runs like a constant thread through all types of prostitution including escort, brothel, trafficking, strip club, and street prostitution. International in scope, the book’s contributors include clinical experts in traumatic stress, attorneys and advocates who work with trafficked women and children and prostituted women.

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Lara Fergus, June 2005

Report on Australian sex trafficking for the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault.

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Onnie Wilson 2000

Brief article that makes the connections between globalization and the exploitation of women in prostitution.

Donna Hughes 2000

Discussion of trafficking with emphasis on Ukrainian women’s experiences.

Amy O'Neill Richard 1999

US intelligence estimates of the extent of (and profits from) trafficking of women and children into the US. Summary of countries where victims come from and descriptions of organized crime syndicates that sell humans.