| |
Issue Paper: Why CSE/CSEC
Happens
There is no single reason or explanation for sexual exploitation.
A complex set of social problems underlie the sale of living
beings for sex. We can best explain the reasons for sexual
exploitation by considering individual motivations and circumstances,
law and social policy and practice, and social norms and inequality.
Individuals become involved in the sex industries for a variety
of reasons. The overarching majority of people who are in
the role of “prostitute” enter or are recruited
due to economic desperation, coercion, force or trafficking.
Addiction and sexual abuse histories also play a role for
many individuals. In simplistic terms, we can understand pimping
and trafficking as people taking advantage of an opportunity
to make money. More broadly, pimps and traffickers may also
be motivated by a desire to feel powerful, to enhance their
social status in some communities, or by sexual aggression
or misogyny. In some cases, pimps may also be motivated by
economic desperation, or may be victims of sexual exploitation
who turn to pimping as a way out of the role of victim. Both
groups essentially fit into the “supply side”
of the sex industries—whatever the individual circumstances
or role, they are there because someone can make a profit.
“Tricks”, “Johns”, or customers comprise
the “demand side” of the sex industries. It’s
important to understand that without a market for sexual exploitation,
it couldn’t exist. Pimps and “prostitutes”
are basically a response to this market. So understanding
the motivations of the “demand side” is crucial.
There are many possible explanations for individual choices
to buy sex or sexual services. For instance, some “tricks”
or customers are lonely and unable to understand how to have
other kinds of relationships. Some are men who face a social
stigma due to physical appearance, disability, or age, and
have difficulty finding partners. This of course does not
excuse behaving in ways that are exploitative or violent—many
of these men are making a choice to buy sex from people who
are clearly, visibly desperate, vulnerable and not making
un-coerced choices.
But, understanding these factors does help us understand individual
motivations. However, many are men who have other sexual options,
but participate in the sex industries out of a desire to be
in total control, to engage in sexual activities that other
partners won’t submit to, or to act gain sexual access
to youth. Some are sadistic sexual offenders who want to minimize
the chance of being prosecuted for committing rape or sexual
torture and perceive people in prostitution as easy victims.
Many are “normal men” who have simply internalized
the message that going to strip bars, using pornography, and
seeking out prostitutes are normal activities for men to engage
in.
We can also understand sexual exploitation as a consequence
of legal systems which punish victims of sexual exploitation
and are slow to recognize the harms perpetrated by “tricks”
or sex offenders. Often, even when “prostitutes”
are children as young as 11 or 12, law enforcement will arrest
and incarcerate them as criminals, while excusing “tricks”
on the grounds of “not embarrassing a family man”,
or “he didn’t know how young she was”. Legal
systems are also very slow to recognize crimes against people
in the sex industries. There is often a presumption that people
in prostitution can not truly be raped, or are “asking
for it” when raped or beaten up, or “brought it
on themselves” by being in the sex industries. When
girls and women in the sex industries are killed, the crime
is often ignored on the basis that “she was just a hooker;
it happens all the time”.
When gay or transgender people in the sex industries are killed,
sexual or gender identity is often used as an excuse for the
crime. All of these injustices create a context in which pimps
and traffickers understand that they can get away with abusing
and exploiting human beings—so long as the human beings
continue to be stigmatized and punished. In this context,
“tricks” understand that they will be fairly sheltered
legally, and that the society does not view their behavior
too harshly—therefore it can’t be that bad. Though
improved in recent years, legal and social policies still
provide inadequate protections for victims of trafficking
who are brought from one country to another. The threat of
being deported or not granted asylum or assistance—or
of punishment or lack of legal protections if returned to
home countries—prevents many victims from seeking or
securing help. Law and social policy reinforce and reflect
victim-blaming social and cultural norms.
Many social ideologies and norms account for the existence
of sexual exploitation. For instance, media practices of frequently
using extreme sexual objectification in advertising reinforce
the idea that sex is just a commodity for sale. Gender inequality
and the idea that sex makes women “whores” while
it makes men “real men” create the climate in
which prostitution seems more natural or normal. The frequent
injection of jokes or eroticized images of “hookers”
and strippers into popular media desensitizes the public to
sexual exploitation, and helps make the sex industries sexy.
Structural inequality is a crucial basis for sexual exploitation.
Without poverty, racism, imperialism, homophobia, and sexism—the
pool of exploitable people who make up most of the “supply
side” of the sex industries would basically disappear.
Sexual exploitation is also particularly an outgrowth of social
indifference to child abuse—whether sexual, physical,
or emotional. Children who are abused in families or communities
make up the majority of runaway youth who end up in the sex
industries. Furthermore, childhood abuse “seasons”
or prepares many youth for later exploitation as teens or
adults.
Many societies do not provide for the basic economic needs
of children—so even with well-intentioned or loving
parents, many children and youth may end up in systems of
prostitution because of extreme economic desperation. In a
sense, societies can starve or deprive children into sexual
exploitation. Whether we are considering the presence of runaways,
children, women and girls, lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgender
individuals, immigrants, people in poverty or homelessness,
or addicts—the common factor is the society’s
willingness to stigmatize, ignore and exploit vulnerable populations,
and to protect sexual predators who have more social status.
Return to Issue
Briefs & Articles |
