How the End of CraigsList's Call Girl Ads Will Make Things Worse for Sex Slaves
Craigslist slapped a "censored" banner over its "Adult Services" ad section in an apparent victory for anti-sex-slavery campaigners, but don't think it will do anything to stop the trafficking of girls and women: There's a good chance that the end of these ads will make their lives worse.
The first thing to note is that there are very few facts about how many ads on CL are actually for sex slaves. The state attorneys general who pressured CL into folding identified only three in their letter to the company. The Polaris Project, which campaigns against modern day slavery, says "14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the country each year." The Fair Fund has a similar number, but the Rebecca Project claims "More than 100 thousand underage American girls are being sexually trafficked in the United States right now." One of these organizations has gotten their numbers wrong.
Polaris also has a fairly broad definition of slavery:
- Trafficking does not require physical force, physical abuse, or physical restraint.
- The consent of the victim is considered irrelevant, as is payment.
Much of the impetus for the anti-CL movement comes from this CNN video, "Men paid to rape me via Craigslist," in which a reporter located a woman who says she was forced by her pimp to be a prostitute. She said:
I can't leave. I cannot leave. I'm his. I'm his property. He owns me and that's how it is with most girls.The reporter then doorsteps CL owner Craig Newmark and demands to know why he hasn't screened out sex-slave ads. Newmark fumbles in silence, and looks idiotic.
But the CNN reporter -- and the anti-sex-slave campaigners -- all fail to ask the same question: Why is stopping trafficking CL's responsibility and not that of law enforcement? Put another way, if CNN can track down a sex slave in an afternoon, why are the state attorneys general sitting in front of their office word processors writing letters to CL when they could be staking out hotel rooms?
The uncomfortable legal truth about why prosecutors are writing protest letters instead of bringing charges is that CL probably has the law on its side:
Legal experts say it is difficult for state prosecutors to charge Craigslist for sexual ads, because of a federal law that limits the liability of Web sites for content posted there by others. The site's terms of use also state that ads for illegal activity, like prostitution and sex with minors, are prohibited.Worse, the CL ban may actually make life more dangerous for the working girls everyone wants to save. The Washington Post notes that CL allowed pimps and prostitutes to move their business off the street and into hotel rooms. Going back to the street will not make their lives safer.
Of course, they won't be going back to the street. They'll be going to Google, or Yahoo!, or the Boston Globe, as Yahoo's John Cook pointed out.
So congratulations, anti-slavery campaigners. You've taken what you alleged was America's greatest single slave market and scattered its denizens hither and yon, without making a single arrest. This helps the cause ... how?
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