Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Inside the Underground Sex Economy




This article covered many facts that have recently been field researched in major cities like Atlanta, Denver, Seattle and Miami. Pimps, prostitutes, and offenders were interviewed for current information about how much they make, how people become prostitutes, pimps, or "security" and the current style or characteristics of going about their business.  

The range of money each pimp or group made off of prostitution or any form of was very large from almost 33,000 dollars a week to 12,000 a week. Before this research was done it was already known that coercion into prostitution was by knowing friends or family in the business and environmental factors such as being poor or childhood trauma. Now after new research it shows that psychological manipulation plays a major role in coercion. This slides into the realization that the internet is an easy and very accessible new way to recruit workers for the underground sex business.

Questions were also asked about why some involve themselves in this business verses the drug trafficking business. Some said that there was much less worry about getting caught because the internet allows for anonymity and people just aren’t getting arrested for being a pimp.

I believe that this reports how slow law enforcement is behind current legal issues. Young kids are being manipulated into working these underground sex jobs without consequences. The amount of money generated on a weekly basis is outrageous. If young people are going for these types of jobs because there are far fewer arrests in the sex economy than with the drug wars, then law enforcement has acquired some strong tunnel vision. It seems to me that the underground sex economy is flourishing due to the current focus of crime being on drugs and guns. Even though the harm of the sex economy is not immediately noticed by a community it plays a major role in the affluence of gangs which reflects back into crime and drugs.

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