The SAGE Project | Standing Against Global Exploitation

Frequently Asked Questions about SAGE and CSE

Q: Why take on working with people in prostitution? Don’t people end up just relapsing or going back to the streets?
A: Since 1997, SAGE has already successfully assisted nearly 2000 people in exiting systems of prostitution and creating safer, healthier lives. It’s also true that some people don’t survive, never get clean and sober, or aren’t able to stay in treatment. Sometimes it can be a process of trying multiple times before finally being able to make big life changes. We never know for sure what the impact of our work will be for any individual person. But we know that people who are suffering, who are experiencing police harassment and social discrimination, or who are being deprived of legal rights deserve to know that advocates and survivors are fighting for people who are in the sex industries. The youth, women, transgender people, and men we work with and for are worth all of the time, attention, energy, and respect we have to give.

Q: What is it like to work with people who are in the sex industries or who are surviving exploitation or trafficking?
A: Our work gives us hope, grief, inspiration, pain, anger, and insight. We get to be part of the amazing experience of people healing and getting to feel better. We always risk going through the pain and loss of connecting with people who are being destroyed by pain and violence, or who are dying from deprivation, illness or abuse. We feel deep anger and grief at the extreme brutality, oppression and terror living beings experience in systems of prostitution. Sometimes we feel despair or outrage that too many people participate in sexual exploitation, or don’t recognize the pain or humanity of sexual exploitation survivors. Many of us are sustained by the fact that we do get to pose a powerful challenge to violence and abuse; we also feel very strengthened by our work. We continually recognize that people who are in the sex industries can be absolutely anyone—with differing survival strategies, backgrounds, experiences of the sex industries, strengths, sorrows, belief systems, and ideas. We particularly love that we get to witness survivors of violence be creative, achieve goals, and shatter stereotypes about “deviants”, “trash” and “criminals”. Our work helps us fully believe in the possibilities of tremendous healing and change.

Q: What are common myths about people in systems of prostitution?
A: Individuals in the sex industries are the targets of a virtual frenzy of negative stereotypes—including being labeled stupid, naturally slutty or promiscuous, inherently dishonest, incapable of doing anything else, pathetic, predatory, criminal, and trashy. These ARE myths—most people are recruited into prostitution by pimps or economic necessity, or through trafficking. There is no particular personality type, no common characteristic which describes individuals in the sex industries. Some people in the sex industries may learn helplessness, aggression, or self-destruction through repeated sexual exploitation, or prior abuse—but this is not inherent. These behaviors are a product of the sex industries, rather than a cause of them—and they aren’t true for everyone. One of the most prevalent myths about people called “whores” or “prostitutes” are that we are to blame for the existence of prostitution. This isn’t and never has been true. Sexual exploitation exists because people are willing to exploit or use others, and because societies allow it to happen.

Q: Is SAGE trying to get people to leave prostitution?
A: We are very committed to assisting and supporting anyone who wants to find an alternative or way out of the sex industries. This is definitely one of our main priorities. However, we do not try to pressure anyone who is not able or wanting to exit systems of prostitution. We are also very committed to working with individuals who want to receive healthcare, legal advocacy, education, vocational training, material resources, or support while remaining in the sex industries.

Q: Why work with “Johns”? Does it really make any difference?
A: Men who pass through our ‘Johns’ School” can—in some cases—be successfully deterred from re-offending. We certainly can’t change or reach everyone—but we tend to be more successful in influencing men who were previously unaware or ignorant of the consequences of exploitation on other human beings,, who are open to getting help with sexual addictions, or who are afraid of becoming victims of violence themselves or of future arrests. Many men are socialized from childhood by media, peers, and social norms to believe that it’s okay to treat others as sexual objects, and to look to sex to solve emotional and social problems. Sometimes education is effective in challenging this socialization, and encouraging healthier relationships. In other cases, dehumanization of girls and women, sadism, misogyny or other hatreds, and long-term patterns of sexual violence prevent us from having any dramatic impact. However, even with those who are not at all receptive to change based on ethics or a desire for health, we find that it can be at least a partial deterrent to emphasize possibilities for future prosecution, and increased focus on stopping sexual perpetrators. We emphasize all of these issues in the education we provide. Working with sexual perpetrators is actually essential; always focusing treatment or education exclusively on victims or individuals in the sex industries fails to address the real origins of the problem—we can’t stop exploitation or abuse unless we reach, challenge and change the men who put money into the sex industries.

Q: Why does SAGE work within the criminal justice system? Does this mean you support arresting people in the sex industries?
A: We do not support criminalizing people for being in the sex industries. We work with the criminal justice system because until legislation and legal practice changes, this is how we can reach people who often need access to the resources we have to offer. We believe that providing groups and advocacy in jails, diverting people who are arrested into drug treatment and support rather than jails, and providing education are powerful ways to work within our current social service and legal systems.

Q: Does SAGE support legalizing prostitution?
A: Some individuals and organizations are promoting legalization based on the argument that it will be a good thing for societies and for individuals in the sex industries. Some of these initiatives have been supported or promoted by individuals who are in the sex industries and want to reframe prostitution as “sex work”. Most of these efforts have been funded and primarily initiated by pornographers, gambling industries and organized crime, and others who particularly are profiting from the use of other people in systems of prostitution.
We respect that individuals in the sex industries and survivors of sexual exploitation will have varying perspectives and approaches to problems of law enforcement harassment and abuses of civil rights, exploitation and abuse, and discrimination. Some proponents of legalization seem completely unconcerned with human rights abuses. Other people who favor legalization are clearly concerned with the impact on children and victims of violence, but presume that most prostitution either is or could be between adults who are not coerced. In other words, some people who support legalization argue that child prostitution and trafficking can be stopped or reduced by making the sex industries a legal economic institution, and that creating more legal prostitution will decrease abuse and violence.

We do not support legalization, because we do not believe it addresses the needs of most people in the sex industries, and results in increased harm. Our response to legalization is strongly shaped by our concerns about trafficking, child abuse, racism, imperialism and poverty as underlying causes of recruitment into the sex industries, an awareness of the extreme trauma and pain experienced by people who are sexually abused in the sex industries, and an understanding of why many men come to the sex industries seeking to buy sex.

Neither legalization or criminalizing everyone in the sex industries works effectively to prevent violence and exploitation. Debates about legalization have often deliberately ignored that these are not the only options. The criminalization of prostitution traditionally assumes that prostitution is first and foremost a crime against society—and everyone involved is a criminal. This approach rarely recognizes that people are victimized or exploited within systems of prostitution.

We also believe legalization doesn’t really work for the vast majority of individuals in the sex industries, for a number of reasons.

First, legalization campaigns have never reflected the leadership or beliefs of more than a small sector of people who are actually coming up against discrimination and violence in systems of prostitution. The most vocal proponents of legalization from within the sex industries have been adults, primarily white people from western societies, and primarily not people who represent the interests of survivors of trafficking and child sexual exploitation. We can’t support any approach to addressing exploitation and abuse which doesn’t adequately include the perspectives or have the support of most youth, peoples of color, or survivors of exploitation. We are looking for solutions which build on the strengths and knowledge of diverse populations and fully represent the most marginalized and silenced people in systems of prostitution.

Second, legalization presumes that more than a very small number of people will want to work in the sex industries consensually. Since the vast majority of the sex industries do involve explicit force, trafficking, child sexual abuse, or recruitment through extreme poverty, legalization does not effectively address the experiences of abused and exploited peoples, and masks the reality that for most people, the sex industries are not just another kind of “work”—or something that more than a very small percentage of people are willing to choose, given other options.

Third, in areas where prostitution has been legalized, “black market” or illegal prostitution has increased, not decreased. Many of the men who are the primary market for prostitution do not have or do not want to pay more money for regulated prostitution, and many are specifically seeking children or youth, or are paying for sex in order to have access to someone they can physically abuse and sexually violate. Legalization puts the focus on whether prostitution is legally legitimized, rather than how and where individuals are being abused, exploited or harmed.

Fourth, legalization actually makes it more difficult to prosecute rapists, perpetrators, and traffickers. Because the sex industries are more legitimized under legalization, there is no basic presumption that buying or selling someone else’s body is a crime—and therefore the burden on victims of violence to prove that they are experiencing harm or exploitation is increased. When sexual exploitation is legalized, sexual abusers can use excuses like, “she’s just a ho who wanted more money” to discredit anyone in the sex industries who tries to get legal support.

Q: What is SAGE trying to achieve relative to law enforcement and legislation?
A: We are working to educate legislators, law enforcement, and the general public to approach systems of prostitution from an anti-violence, human rights perspective. We support total decriminalization of people considered “prostitutes”—or who are working, bought, sold, or trafficked in any area of the sex industries. Further, we support increased legal protections, victim’s services, and social supports for people in the sex industries. However, an anti-violence approach differs from total legalization—we do not want to legalize or legitimize any forms of sexual violence or exploitation or trafficking in persons. We support legislation which recognizes and works to prevent or prosecute trafficking, pimping, sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse, statutory rape of youth in systems of prostitution, and violence or hate crimes against people in the sex industries. Our goal is not to support legalization of the sex industries as a whole, but to protect the rights of people who are abused and exploited or who are persecuted by the legal system, and to create an effective legal and social response to violence in systems of prostitution.

Q: What’s the relationship between drugs and the sex industries?
A: Not everyone in systems of prostitution is a substance abuser, but the relationship between the two is very strong. Many people are initially recruited into the sex industries to feed a drug habit, and many are deliberately addicted by pimps in order to create more dependency. Others develop drug habits to “numb out” from the humiliation, pain, and vulnerability of being used and sold for sex. For many survivors of sexual exploitation, the process of escaping the sex industries is inseparable from the process of detoxifying and learning to live clean and sober. For some individuals in the sex industries, the combination of intravenous drug use and unprotected sex dramatically increase the likelihood of contracting HIV, Hepatitis C, and other diseases. The combinations of substance abuse and repeated traumas also result in many survivors developing complex health problems or disabilities. Perpetrators—whether johns or pimps—often use drugs during or prior to committing violence or sex crimes. Trafficking in drugs and trafficking in human beings are also overlapping areas within organized crime.

Q: How is prostitution a social justice issue?
A: Every movement and community for social justice does or should have an interest in recognizing and combating sexual exploitation. Systems of prostitution draw strength from the economic, social and physical vulnerability of girls and women, and reinforce the belief that girls and women are sexual objects. Sexual exploitation thrives on child abuse and teaches men to be pedophiles by marketing teenage and child “prostitutes”. Systems of prostitution are viciously and extremely destructive to communities of color, playing out patterns of sexual domination rooted in colonization and slavery. The increased presence of the sex industries is part of a larger pattern of environmental destruction, labor exploitation, and globalization of capitalism. As people lose access to living wages, as unions are destroyed or weakened, economic deprivation forces people to submit to sexual exploitation to survive. Any living being, including animals used in bestiality prostitution, can be used and abused within systems of prostitution; where sexual exploitation is rampant, other forms of violence are likely to increase as well. The extremes of violence that occur within the sex industries are a continual threat to public safety. Systems of prostitution generate incredibly complex public health problems and overwhelming burdens on social services. Lesbian, bisexual, gay and particularly transgender youth who lose family shelter or support are particularly vulnerable to pimps and predators. Many transgender individuals are particularly marginalized into systems of prostitution because of an extreme lack of social and economic resources. Homeless populations, particularly homeless women and children, are treated as an endless source of bodies for the sex industries. The creation of stigmatized populations and subcultures within systems of prostitution set the stage for police brutality, serial killings, and other violent crimes against those deemed “criminals”.

Feminists, anti-racist and indigenous activists, labor organizers, environmentalists and animal rights advocates, disability rights advocates, youth organizers and advocates, transgender, lesbian, bisexual and gay human rights activists, and any individuals concerned with stopping violence or exploitation have a stake in and excellent reason to become part of the global movement against sexual exploitation, trafficking, and commercialized sexual violence.

Q: How exactly are the sex industries related to globalization?
A: Globalization refers to the creation of a world capitalist economy, in which multinational corporations have easy access to resources and labor anywhere in the world, and national boundaries and local cultures are dissolved or become less important. As more communities and local economies are dismantled or absorbed through globalization, many people lose land, income, legal recognition, or experience more communal crises. All of these changes are part of the process of making people vulnerable to exploitation, whether through sweatshop labor, labor trafficking, or systems of prostitution. As military bases and western industries establish a foothold in more and more regions, women and children are increasingly recruited into systems of prostitution, and more men are encouraged to use pornography and prostitution. “Sex tourism” is a massive industry in itself, with dramatic and destructive impacts on local cultures, economies, and individual bodies. Essentially, prostitution is one of the weapons, consequences, and foundations of global economic exploitation.