Please note: Right below is an excerpt from this article, which covers Section IV regarding pornography as a demand factor for sex trafficking. The full article covering all demand factors for sex trafficking is below the excerpt. Apologies for any non-functioning links in this article. They will be repaired when possible. Thank you for your patience.
Copyright (c) 2004 Southern California Review of Law and Women's Studies Southern California Review of Law and Women's Studies. Spring, 2004 - 13 S. Cal. Rev. L. & Women's Stud. 387
IV. THE SOLUTION MUST COMMENCE AT HOME
U.S. lawmakers ought to note that "sexual exploitation is the basis of
women's oppression ... [and] rape... andpornography[constitute] the primary human rights violations against women." 85
[*405]
A. Social Demand for Pornography
U.S. popular culture has become so entwined with pornographic images and
depictions of women as sexually exploitive creatures, that it has become
difficult to separate images of sex from the most fundamental media outlets
of U.S. society. The pornography industry is cited as one of the largest
thriving industries in the United States and continues to broaden in scope
to include videos, phone-sex businesses, adult toys, magazines, and web
sites. 86 Additionally, pornographic and sexually exploitative images
dominate advertising and news media (as discussed supra).
Although the U.S. adamantly criticizes the objectification of women as
objects of sexual gratification abroad, Bill Asher, president of Vivid
Entertainment, reports that his adult entertainment company has "'gone from
a market of hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions'" over the past
twenty years. 87 "The film, television, and Web-based products produced by
Vivid alone grossed one billion dollars in retail sales last year. A 1998
study by Forrester Research in Cambridge, [Massachusetts] estimated that the
industry generates $ 10 billion a year." 88 The porn industry glorifies and
romanticizes those acts which foster the demand for illegal sex workers, and U.S. society financially embraces the industry, as is evidenced by the
emergence of pornographic video producers as "star-making machinery much
like the old Hollywood studios." 89 Actors like Jenna Jameson, the "reigning
star of adult films have big-dollar contracts with filmmakers who promote
them on Web sites, movie display boxes and public appearances." 90
The internet hosts more than 40,000 sex-related sites, and it is commonly
known that "the adult entertainment industry drives the internet." 91 During
the crash of the dot-com industry, some technology specialists who found
themselves unemployed leaped at the opportunity to join the porn web sites
culture, which:
shows little sign of slowing. According to New York-based market research
firm Jupiter Media Metrix, Inc., the number of individual [*406] visitors
at sex sites grew nearly 30 percent in about two years, from 22 million in
December 1999 to nearly 28 million [in 2001].
Meanwhile, [while] the number of IT jobs grew during 2000 at its slowest
rate since 1995[,]...Vivid [Entertainment Group has added] about ten web
designers, programmers and marketers....All of a sudden, tech workers are
talking to the stepchild they ignored a few months ago. 92
Despite the financial boom of the internet porn industry, "as the internet
sprawls into one massive (cyber-) mall, the growth in the transnational sex
industry is spurred by the immense promotion and marketing of women and
children for sex tourism, as electronic mail-order brides, and in
pornography." 93
Pornographic images also dominate mainstream popular culture through
advertising and other forms of media, which the U.S. has come not only to
accept, but also to embrace. Currently, a new beer advertisement is rousing
debate as "two buxom women [debate over the beer]...tear each other's
clothes off and end up wrestling in wet cement." 94 Organizations, like the
Association for Women in Communications, made a poignant statement that
"these blatant displays of sexism simply reinforce ... attitudes that keep
women from achieving equal treatment in pay and career opportunities." 95
However, this does not seem to hold true for the 50,000 women who have been
abducted into the U.S. sex trade and whose business unfortunately
flourishes. The proliferation of the legalized commercial sex [*407]
industry in the U.S. provides unwavering evidence of the demand associated
with the use of women as sexual objects. U.S. legislators must combat the
proliferation of sexually explicit images and legalized sexual acts that
serve to endorse the use of women as mere objects of sexual conquest. As
will be discussed in the next section, U.S. trafficking laws must be
expanded to include harsher punishment for consumers in addition to
traffickers, and U.S. First Amendment protections must be narrowed in order
to more effectively regulate the reinforcement of objectifying social
standards.
Studies continue to link the use of pornography with the rape and
molestation of women and children. 96 The relationship of pornography to
sexual abuse is compelling. A review study of eighty-one studies published
in peer-reviewed journals found that "with fairly impressive consistency"
exposure to pornography negatively affects attitudes towards women and
increases the likelihood of rape. 97 In addition, the crimes that
international trafficking laws are attempting to prosecute continue to be
glorified by pornographic materials. One study of adult sex offenders found
that 86% of convicted rapists said they were regular users of pornography,
with 57% admitting direct imitation of pornographic scenes they enjoyed, in
the commission of their rapes. 98 In addition, both pornography itself and
the projection of sexual imagery in the media connote and validate the
perception that "women have one value - to meet the sexual demands of men."
99 It is no coincidence that a society that fosters sexual objectification
of women is also one whose economy thrives on the legal commercial sex
industry. Efforts to thwart illegal trafficking of women and children have
failed to surpass the demand for these illegal slaves, and violence against
women (including those trafficked into the United States) continues to
occur.
B. Current State of U.S. Law Regulating Pornography and Sexually Exploitative Imagery
This section will address the extent to which U.S. laws that attempt to
regulate the commercial sex industry have sacrificed the legal system's
[*408] ability to prevent women's sexual exploitation, ultimately leading
to violence, in order to maintain the highest degree of First Amendment
rights. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court holding in Miller v. California that
"obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment," the scope of what
has been considered obscene material and what will be tolerated as falling
within the protection of the First Amendment, continues to narrowly evolve.
100 The challenge is the extent to which U.S. Constitutional law can and
should reflect the commitments that U.S. legislators claim to have made to
the suppression of international sex trafficking. In response to assertions
made in the previous section, it is impossible to attack the demand for
illegal sex workers without curbing "obscenity" in pornography and in
popular culture, including advertising and news media. This objective can be
achieved through the application of a more expansive standard of obscenity.
The media protected under the First Amendment includes the very media that
host sexually explicit materials and includes film, radio, television
broadcasts, and live entertainment. 101 Courts have found that many
businesses that purvey sexually explicit speech, such as bookstores, live
theaters, motion picture theaters, and nude dancing establishments are
protected by the First Amendment. 102 However, as was noted above, it is
sexually explicit speech and imagery that validates and legitimizes the
objectification of women as mere sexual beings and unfortunately does not
fall within the scope of censorship exceptions. Material that is held to be
"obscene" is not protected by the First Amendment and can be censored by the
states. 103 Roth v. United States set the standard by which obscenity is
determined. It held that in order to be classified by law as obscene, the
material, taken as a whole and applying comtemporary community standards,
must appeal to the "prurient interest" in sex, depict sexual acts in a
patently offensive way, and hold no serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value. 104
In an effort to safeguard these values, the Supreme Court has protected the
broadest scope of pornographic expression. Requirements [*409] that
pornographic imagery be submitted to a censor prior to publication are
sanctioned only "under procedural safeguards designed to obviate the dangers
of a censorship system." 105 These safeguards are the only exceptions under
which the dissemination of pornographic and sexually explicit material can
be categorically curbed. Because these safeguards are strictly procedural,
they are incapable of expanding to include considerations such as the effect
that such images have on the demand for illegally trafficked sex workers.
106
One may tragically assume that the only area of pornographic expression that
remains highly censored and legally forbidden is child pornography. However,
the U.S. Department of State reports that "on-line stalkers, international
child pornography rings, and sex tourism are increasing in a world where
such problems are becoming more globalized," suggesting that efforts to
regulate the image of children as sexually exploitable objects are failing.
107 The allegedly strict ban on media that portray actual children engaging
in sexual activity reveals inherent legal contradictions which, until
resolved, arguably heighten the demand for women and children that can be
used for sexual exploitation. MacKinnon argues that, through the validation
of such sexually subservient images, women and children are identified
through a process of gender socialization, as sexual "beings who exist for
men." 108
The Supreme Court, in New York v. Ferber, recognized the harm caused by
child pornography, clarifying that child pornography was not protected by
the First Amendment because of the physical and psychological effect on the
children depicted in the materials. 109 It is a child's inability to choose
and to psychologically cope with this type of sexual experience that exists
at the foundation of child pornography. 110 Why is it that the harsh
psychological effects on the public of pornography and sexually exploitative
imagery in popular media, the demand for trafficked sex victims, and the
violence against illegally trafficked women carries so little weight when
determining the extent to which other forms of pornographic media ought to
be regulated? It can be argued that the Court makes a catastrophic
distinction between present and potential psychological harm. In addition,
the erroneous assumption continues that only children are in need of
protection against such harm.
[*410] The elasticity of child pornography laws and the distinction between
actual and potential psychological harm prevailed in the recent Supreme
Court Case, Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition, striking down a
six-year-old law that prohibits the distribution and possession of virtual
child pornography that appears to, but does not, depict real children. 111
However, to what extent is the Supreme Court limiting harms to children in a
country where "Lolita-like depictions of [thirteen] and [fourteen] year olds
in the media and on the streets condition people to see [these children] as
adult-like adolescents who are capable of choice?" 112 As the Supreme Court
continues to deconstruct the legal power of child pornography laws, age
becomes an "ambiguous cohort," disabling the legal ability to distinguish
between children, teenagers, and women, and contributing to the perception
that women of all ages are acceptable targets for sexual exploitation. 113
One survivor of the illegal sex trade, who was subjected to prostitution at
age thirteen, remarked "the day I turned [eighteen], the sexual abuse I was
subject to did not turn into a self-determined choice." 114 The
psychological harms instigated by the projection of women in U.S. media do
not diminish as women age:
The ILO Report recognizes that "commercial sexual exploitation is such a
serious form of violence against children that there are life long and life
threatening consequences. There are also chain effects, with sexual abuse
leading to other forms of abuse, such as drug abuse, and cumulative negative
consequences." Oral testimony from women in prostitution reveals the same
effects on adult women - that it is such a serious form of violence that it
affects their lives forever. 115
Whether or not one acts, when an adult perceives the bodies of women and
children as sources of sexual gratification, it is a violation of the
humanity of those women. Whatever the age, culture, race or condition of the
victim, the crime must be made legally actionable despite the professed
right of Free Speech in pornography and the dissemination of pornographic
[*411] images. Therefore, as a result of the psychological harm to adult
women who are sexually exploited, domestic trafficking laws and First
Amendment regulations of pornographic and sexually explicit material must be
amended so as to afford legal adults the same protections as exploited
children.
In addition to the underpinnings of Constitutional "Free Speech"
justifications, the pornography debate includes a "morality" justification
of censorship that conflicts with the anti-pornography feminist perspective.
Religious leaders condemn pornography for its potential to cause "harm to
the spirit;" to them, pornography "arrests personal development," "distorts
the beauty and goodness of human love," and "erodes the general moral
fiber." 116 Meanwhile, pro-pornography sects of the feminist movement have
attempted to re-define pornography in a way which empowers the female
spirit. In so doing, they perpetuate the violence unsighted by the
commercial sex industry from the inside out.
In a recently successful movement to unionize exotic dancers and porn stars,
strippers who were struggling for what they perceived to be their economic
independence have contradicted the essence of the feminist movement. 117
Those who endorse the adult entertainment industry as a vehicle towards
empowerment and economic freedom argue:
"Unlike modern feminists who decry beauty, femininity, and sexuality as
weapons of a patriarchal plot to keep women submissive, strippers take what
is inherently theirs - feminine sexuality - and they exaggerate it to
extremes, confidently using their bodies as weapons against the very men who
believe they are using the stripper." 118
However, these arguments are dauntingly similar to the debates that
bolstered examination of whether a woman's consent ought to factor into the
culpability of international sex traffickers. 119 Repudiation of such
consent-based arguments is directly at odds with the notion of "the other
faction within feminism...[that] claims...sex workers use their sexuality to
[*412] their advantage and beat patriarchal society at its own game by
taking its money to better their lives." 120
As pro-union strippers proudly define the nature of their economic
prosperity, recognizing that "ultimately, the men pay for perpetuating false
and sexist beliefs with hard currency," they are selling the objectifying
image of female sexuality that fuels the demand for illegal sex trafficking
victims, and now they "have the power of the law." 121 In defense of the Sex
Workers Arts Festival, even festival co-director Julianna Piccillo relied on
a First Amendment assertion, arguing, "the several hundred thousand women
who are dancers in this country, or phone-sex operators, or models or porn
actresses are also paying taxes, and I think they have a right for their
voices to be heard." 122 Appeals to First Amendment rights, "reminiscent of
all that John Stuart Mill thought was none of the business of a liberal
state," plead for the preservation of limits on government power to suppress
expression, disabling U.S. lawmakers' attempts to curb the perpetuation of
false and sexist beliefs. 123
"A rationalist pornography law - absent in the United States and everywhere
else - would focus first on a harm, and then identify those objects that
conduce to it." 124 Courts have failed to broaden the scope of harm to
include not only censorship's threat to free expression, but also unbridled
free expression's effect on the demand for women to be used as objects of
sexual gratification. The narrow construction of laws censoring child and
adult pornography, the legalized commercial sex industry, and the
dissemination of pornographic and sexually explicit materials in the media,
which all serve to violently objectify the female body, will continue to
bolster the demand for illegally trafficked women to be used as objects of
sexual gratification.
V. CONCLUSION: THE REAL SOLUTION IS CHANGING PERCEPTIONS AT HOME
The legal and social standards by which "obscene" material is judged must
balance the value of political, commercial, and social speech, as well as
the harm to those women who are victimized by violently objectifying [*413]
images. U.S. legislators and justices must thwart the objectification of
female sexuality that fuels the demand for illegally trafficked sex workers.
The irony of criticizing the demoralizing and abhorrent treatment of women
as sexual objects in foreign nations is magnified by the recent U.S. Supreme
Court holding in Ashcroft that "pictures of what appear to be 17-year-olds
engaging in sexually explicit activity do not ... contravene community
standards." 125 Participation in a community with the type of standards that
endorse the portrayal of teenagers engaged in sexually explicit acts, while
criticizing the dehumanization and objectification of women and children in
"third world countries" exemplifies the hypocritical blindness that enables
the illegal sex trade to operate in the shadows of U.S. cultural and
legislative consciousness.
NOTE: Footnotes for the above article section follow below PornHarms.com section.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information about the connections between pornography and sex trafficking please see our page on Pornography and Sex Trafficking as well as the sex trafficking and prostitution pages of the extremely informative new websitePornography Harms.
"Dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion."
This outstanding website comprehensively addresses the harms of pornography in regards to all of the following categories: addiction, brain science, children, cybersex, family, Internet, Internet safety, marriage, men, psychological, prostitution, relationships, research, self image, sex trafficking, sexting, sexual violence, societal, STDs, teens, and women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOOTNOTES: (Starting at #85, the first one noted in section IV, "THE SOLUTION MUST COMMENCE AT HOME".)
n87. Id. (reporting that sales and rentals of adult videos was a four
billion dollar business last year, "based on a survey of thousands of video
stores and overall sales figures from the Video Software Dealers
Association." However, "adult filmmakers and actors aren't the only ones
making money. Mainstream cable companies, satellite providers and hotel
chains that offer in-room adult movies are cashing in, too, but like to keep
their involvement low profile").
n88. Id.
n89. Id.
n90. Id.
n91. Brendan Koerner, A Lust for Profits, US News and World Report, Mar. 27,
2000, 36-42.
n92. Julekha Dash, Former Dot-Com Workers Find Homes at Porn Sites (June 13,
2001), at http://www.cnn.technology.com (last visited Feb. 16, 2003)
(exposing other IT workers, such as Frank Papa, who "are striking out on
their own in the online pornography world. As his contract Web programming
position at an online health firm in RaleighN.C. nears its end, Papa
doesn't worry about his finances because he has been devoting more than
[thirty] hours a week to developing his online porn site... 'It's a better
way of using my skills rather than working for somebody else' said Papa").
n93. Hynes, supra note 24, at 205-6 (arguing "globalization of the world
economy has been accompanied by globalization of the sex industry. Sexual
exploitation moves freely across local and national borders in the same
circulation patterns as drugs, weapons, finance, information, goods and
services, and labor. In what becomes a predacious cycle, the growth of the
transnational sex industry-with its unique profit potential from the reuse
and resale of women, compared to the one-time sale of drugs and weapons -
entices governments facing economic crises to promote women for export
within the global sex industry in order to attract a flow of remittances
back to the country; or to directly and indirectly promote local sex
industries to bring money into the sending country").
n94. Amy C. Sims, Bust Beer Ads: Sexist or Just Smart Selling?, (Feb. 3,
2003), at http://www.foxnews.com (last visited Feb. 16, 2003) (quoting
Miller Co. spokeswoman Molly Reilly,who said that the ad, "which turns out
to be a fantasy ad imagined by two guys, is supposed to represent what men
are thinking about").
n95. Id. "The beer company has received approximately [four-thousand]
e-mails and phone calls fairly evenly divided in opinion about the
commercials," and generating feedback "is what most companies dream of." Id.
n97. J.S. Lyons et al., A Systematic Review of the Effects of Aggressive and
Nonaggressive Pornography, in Media, Children & the Family: Social
Scientific, Psychodynamic, and Clinical Perspectives 271, 273, 305 (Dolf
Zillman & Jennings Bryant, eds. 1994).
n98. W. Marshall, Use of Sexually Explicit Stimuli by Rapists, Child
Molesters and Non-Offenders, 25 Journal of Sex Research 267 (1988).
n100. See Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 23 (1973).
n101. Schad v. MountEphraim, 452 U.S. 61, 65-66 (1981). This case does not
specifically hold that the internet is protected media, but the law could be
expanded to include the internet in the future.
n102. See FW/PBS, Inc., v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 224 (1990).
n103. Miller, 413 U.S. at 36-37.
n104. Memoirs v. Massachusetts 383 U.S. 413, 418 (1966). See also Roth v.
United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957) (The Roth test consists of three parts:
"(a) dominant theme of material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient
interest in sex, (b) the material is patently offensive because it affronts
contemporary community standards relating to the description or
representation of sexual matters, and (c) the material is utterly without
redeeming social value.")
n105. Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51, 58 (1965).
n106. See id.
n107. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, supra note 31.
n108. MacKinnon, supra note 83, at 110.
n109. New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 758, 763-764 (1982).
n111. The law had banned a range of techniques, including computer-generated
images and the use of youthful-looking adults, which were designed to convey
the impression of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Ashcroft v.
Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 258 (2002) (writing for the majority,
Justice Kennedy said key provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act
of 1996 were "overbroad" and infringed on established protections of
material with artistic value that does not violate community standards).
n112. Janice Raymond, Legitimizing Prostitution as Sex Work: UN
International Labour Organization (ILO) Calls for Recognition of the Sex
Industry, at http://action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom (last visited Feb.
11, 2003).
n113. See id.
n114. Id.
n115. Id. at 108 (citing a study that found "[forty six] percent of the
women in prostitution had attempted suicide and nineteen percent had tried
to harm themselves in other ways").
n116. Anita Bernstein, The Representational Dialectic (With Illustrations
from Obscenity, Forfeiture, and Accident Law), 87 Calif. L. Rev. 305, at 329
(1999).
n118. Holly J. Wilmet, Naked Feminism: The Unionization of the Adult
Entertainment Industry, 7 Am. U.J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 465, at 495-496
(1999). Wilmet further explains that then, they Playing on men's desires and
arrogance, strippers manipulate these men into believing that they (the
strippers) are attracted to them. Id.
n119. See Inglis, supra note 4, at 67.
n120. Christopher Spencer, Live Nude Girls, Unite! at
http:www.mtholyoke.edu/org/mhnews/archives/.
n121. Wilmet, supra note 119, at 498.
n122. Gallagher, supra note 77.
n123. Bernstein, supra note 115, at 329 n.152 (quoting John Stuart Mill,
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any
member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to
others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient
warrant").
n124. Bernstein, supra note 115, at 330.
n125. Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 246 (2002).
** J.D. Candidate, University of Southern CaliforniaLawSchool, 2004; B.A., ColgateUniversity, 2001. The author wishes to thank both Professor Niels
Frenzen for all of his guidance and the 2003-2004 staff and board of the
Southern California Review of Law and Women's Studies.
SUMMARY:
... The objectification of women as sexual beings in the public and private
spheres is not a new phenomenon and, despite political and media portrayals,
is in no way unique to any one culture, society, or religious sect. ...
Section 1, the only section using the terms "sex trafficking" and
"commercial sex act," is carefully crafted to exclude those potential
violations by legal adults (women above the age of eighteen) who consent to
"commercial sex acts" in the porn and legalized commercial sex industry. ...
Victim-centered legal strategies overshadow the escalating demand for
trafficked sex workers in industrialized societies and quell attempts at
eradicating the prevalence of the international sex trade. ... The
over-generalized racist claims that attempt to define the victims of sex
trafficking thwart attempts at effectively protecting trafficked women and
children. ... " U.S. advertising, media, and popular culture rely on the
portrayal of women as mere sexual beings, preserving the conditions under
which the demand for illegal sex trafficking victims thrives. ... The narrow
construction of laws censoring child and adult pornography, the legalized
commercial sex industry, and the dissemination of pornographic and sexually
explicit materials in the media, which all serve to violently objectify the
female body, will continue to bolster the demand for illegally trafficked
women to be used as objects of sexual gratification. ...
TEXT:
[*387]
I. INTRODUCTION
The objectification of women as sexual beings in the public and private
spheres is not a new phenomenon and, despite political and media portrayals,
is in no way unique to any one culture, society, or religious sect. For
centuries, human societies have portrayed women as mere sexual beings in art
and in literature, have relegated women to sexually subservient roles in
domestic spheres, and have continued to exploit women, and even female
children, as sexual entities to be possessed. It should come as no surprise
that the conflicts embedded in current world politics have revived social
awareness of trafficking. "The problem of trafficking has again drawn
worldwide concern...partly in response to reports of the sexual enslavement
of Muslim women," invigorating social awareness. 1 Moreover, the "disturbing
growth of the involvement of [*388] international organized crime in the
sex trafficking of women demands increasing political attention and
concern." 2
The angst of the international community regarding the violent treatment of
trafficked women has instigated worldwide examination. 3 Each year, more
than one million women and children are trafficked worldwide for compulsory
labor or the illegal sex trade, which includes forced prostitution and
involuntary marriage. 4 These women are held captive in "brothels, sexually
exploited, imprisoned behind barbed wire,...and confined in abusive homes as
servants or mail order brides." 5 Within the spectrum of ways in which women
are trafficked for sexual slavery, the most common method of enslavement
includes "'girls [who] might be sold by their parents to a broker, or
tricked by an agent; once they are away from their homes they are brutalized
and enslaved, then sold to a brothel owner.'" 6
Of these 1,000,000 women and children who are trafficked internationally
annually, about 50,000 of them are trafficked into the United States from Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the newly independent
states of the former Soviet Union. 7 According to the State Department,
women and girls trafficked into the United States are often forced into
prostitution. 8 A United States Justice Department official [*389] cited a
mid-1990s case in which several Mexican women were abducted, smuggled into
the United States, and condemned to live in "trailers under armed guards and
were forced to engage in prostitution. If they refused, the women were
beaten and threatened with death. Some of the women were forced to have
abortions." 9
In response to increased recognition of the violence associated with
international trafficking, "governments, such as the United States, and
international organizations, like the United Nations, have begun to focus
financially and strategically on combating this immense human rights
problem." 10 United States efforts at countering international and domestic
trafficking have focused on the prosecution of traffickers and the aiding of
victims, with increasing success. 11 Both United States and international
legal efforts have diluted the illegal sex industry's stream of supply by
increasing the number of traffickers prosecuted and broadening the scope of
political forums in which victims can vindicate their rights. 12 However, as
this paper will examine, the United States regrettably does so by defining
victims as women who are trapped in seemingly repressed economic and social
conditions, which are a function of their cultural heritage. 13 The relative
factual foundations of such portrayals and the ability of such realizations
to fuel effective efforts at combating "the supply," the U.S. legislative
efforts, scholarly debates, and mass media depictions have exaggerated the
extent of such cultural oppression. This, in turn, enforces racist beliefs
and overshadows the extent of American cultural oppression, which fuels the
demand for illegal sex workers. U.S. legislation ignores the cultural
foundations that support an increasing demand for illegal sex workers in America. Although current U.S. law provides a strong foundation from which
to build, new regulations and legislation must be drafted that contend with
the increasing U.S. demand for illegal sex workers.
This note will examine the extent to which growing international concern has
fostered racist "images of the 'Third World' subject - in particular, the
female subject - " in the developed world, despite having also facilitated
the conviction of countless traffickers and continued [*390] protection
and empowerment of some victims. 14 Part II of this note addresses the
current international and U.S. efforts at combating the international sex
trade by examining the present state of international and U.S. laws. Current
legal efforts have successfully increased the numbers of traffickers
prosecuted and have secured greater legal protection for victims of the sex
trade who are subjected to traffickers' coercive tactics of "sexual abuse,
torture, starvation, and imprisonment." 15
Part III uncovers the extent to which current U.S. legal efforts, although
affecting progress towards the elimination of the supply of the illegal
commercial sex industry, have, in so doing, established racist imagery that
thwarts suppression of the growing sex trade in the United States. Legal
discourse focuses on the tendency of traffickers to "exploit poverty,
disparate female rights, and emergent political situations." 16 Sex
trafficking allegedly "thrives upon the powerlessness of women and girls to
change the conditions of their existence" and exploits the power imbalance
that exits within developing countries. 17 This view has aided the
empowerment of victims. Yet, U.S. legislators rely on data suggesting that
as women migrate to urban areas, "traffickers use this migration to supply
the demand in industrialized countries for...sex." 18 Rather than
considering [*391] the root of such demand, U.S. law continues to
emphasize the helplessness and vulnerability of the victim. The Office of
Violence Against Women identifies trafficking victims as women who are
"poor, frequently unemployed or underemployed" and "who may lack access to
social safety nets." 19 This type of analysis, while enabling international
efforts at empowering victims, provides a racist foundation from which to
build an effective solution, barring efforts at defeating the demand that
sustains U.S. sex trafficking rings.
Part IV argues that the objectification of women in the U.S. through the
legalized commercial sex industry is the dominant factor bolstering the
demand for illegally trafficked sex workers into the United States. The
legalized commercial sex industry, for the sake of this note, is defined to
include exotic dance clubs; all forms of pornographic media including the
internet, motion pictures, and photography; sexually exploitative
advertising; and elements of popular culture that legitimize, validate, and
endorse the treatment of women as sexual beings. As long as the United
States continues to be a country in which the legal commercial sex industry
glorifies those acts that are at the foundation of the demand for illegal
sex workers, victims will continue to be trafficked into the United States
and brutalized by both U.S. citizens and those living within the
jurisdiction of U.S. laws.
Effectively protecting women against the violence and objectification of the
illegal requires a law that accurately identifies the crime. As human rights
activist Fyodor Sinitsin declared, "where there is no law, there is no
crime." 20 The commercial sex industry, like any other capitalist industry,
is subject to the natural pulls of supply and demand. U.S. lawmakers must
turn their focus to the underpinnings of the demand, rather than continuing
to construct new ways of prosecuting suppliers. The United States must
continue to prosecute traffickers and ought to continue to empower victims.
The illegal sex trade will emerge unscathed so long as U.S. laws ignore the
reality that U.S. demand financially supports the supply of the over 50,000
women who are illegally trafficked into the United States annually.
[*392]
II. VICTIMIZATION OF WOMEN PRECLUDES AN EFFECTIVE SOLUTION
A. The Success of International and U.S. Law: Attacking the "Supply" Through
Increased Prosecution Rates of Traffickers and Greater Resources for Victims
This section will examine the international and U.S. legal efforts that have
evolved to broaden the scope of trafficking definitions, increase regulation
and prosecution of traffickers, and provide greater economic, political, and
social resources for victims.
1. International Legal Efforts
A multitude of international treaties and regulations now condemn and outlaw
sex trafficking as a gross human rights violation. 21 Initially, there was
some contention among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as to whether
cases where a woman consented to employment in the illegal sex industry
ought to be treated differently than those cases of a woman's abduction and
whether women ought to be prosecuted as criminals or protected as victims.
22 The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), following interviews
with trafficked women, continuously urged "a policy of prevention through
alternatives for women, protection for trafficked women, and prosecution of
traffickers and other exploiters." 23 However, prior to the recent enactment
of international treaties and regulations, "many groups, such as COYOTE in
the United States and the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women
internationally (GAATW)," urged that the entire international sex industry
be decriminalized, arguing "women have the right to contract with third
parties, now known as pimps, redefining them as 'third party business
agents' for women in the sex industry." 24 Despite such debates, CATW and
the International Human Rights Network have prevailed, influencing
international lawmakers to decriminalize women and to prosecute pimps. 25
[*393] The initial international instruments, such as the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights, addressed the problem of sex trafficking generally in terms
of slavery and cruel, degrading treatment. 26 However, these non-binding
agreements lack authority and have failed to provide relief for women or
effectively thwart trafficking efforts. 27
The definition of "trafficking" was expanded from the classic historical
definition embodied in the United Nations 1949 Convention for the
Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the
Prostitution of Others. The U.N. definition excluded vast numbers of women
from protection, including those who were trafficked for domestic service or
other forms of labor and mail-order brides, by "confining the definition of
trafficking to trafficking for prostitution." 28 The Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
enforceable beginning in September of 1981, addresses prostitution "within
the broader framework of furthering women's rights in all aspects of culture
and society." 29 Article 6 of CEDAW mandates that "State Parties shall take
all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of
trafficking in women and exploitation of prostitution of women." 30
The Optional Protocol, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on May 25, 2000,
reinforces the commitment of the international community to the protection
of children and to the termination of abuses through the recognition of
universal human rights norms. 31 U.N. legal initiatives to target
trafficking rely on international consensus that trafficked women [*394]
come from backgrounds where they are "denied legal identity or access to
justice, and are, therefore, at greater risk of abuse, violence,
exploitation, domination and discrimination." 32 In response, the U.N.
Trafficking Protocol includes "the abuse of power or a position of
vulnerability" as one of the means of trafficking in persons. 33 Such
vulnerability exists when a person has "no real acceptable alternative but
to submit to the abuse involved." 34 The U.N. remains committed to ensuring
that countries adopt national legislation securing viable political forums
and economic alternatives to sex trafficking for women.
Recognition of the inherent vulnerability of trafficked women has
effectively increased international efforts at protecting women and children
against the violence associated with prostitution, forced labor, and
mail-order bride rings. However, as will be discussed later, such emphasis
on victim vulnerability has also thwarted international and U.S. efforts at
isolating legal remedies that adequately deflate the demand.
2. United States' Legal Efforts
In accordance with international legal efforts, U.S. lawmakers have focused
their primary attention on the protection of victims through the prosecution
of traffickers and the expansion of legal remedies available to women. The
Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has established the
Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force (TPWETF), which
"seeks to prevent trafficking in persons and worker exploitation throughout
the United States and to investigate and prosecute cases when such
violations occur." 35 In its attempt to combat the influx of trafficked
persons into the United States, the TWWETF enforces criminal [*395]
involuntary servitude statutes, recognizing that "trafficking in persons is
a form of modern-day slavery." 36 The criminal section of the TPWETF uses
these criminal involuntary servitude statutes as critical tools, while
working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, and the ninety-four U.S. Attorney's offices "to
ensure that allegations of trafficking and slavery are investigated and
prosecuted." 37 "Since the creation of the TPWETF, the number of open
slavery investigations in the Section has tripled." 38
The U.S. State Department reports that the Department of Justice, as of
February 2002, had "[ninety-one] trafficking investigations pending, which
represents nearly a [twenty percent] increase over the number of
investigations from a year earlier." 39 In addition to the prosecution of
perpetrators, the criminal section has created an outreach program that,
among other endeavors, educates trafficking victims of their rights. 40
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTVPA),
enacted in October of 2000, amended the slavery statutes to make prosecution
efforts more effective by increasing the statutory maximum sentences that
traffickers will face, in addition to creating new protections for
trafficking victims. 41 Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota), who
co-sponsored the bill along with Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), stated:
"This bill will take immediate action against international sex trafficking,
before the lives of more women and girls are shattered." 42 Simultaneously,
a new immigration statute, a special "T" visa [*396] for trafficking, will
be created "in order to give victims a better chance to bring charges
against traffickers. The victims, instead of being deported, will be granted
'interim immigration relief' for up to three years." 43 The U.S. Department
of State reported that as of January 31, 2002 in accordance with statutory
limits, there will be 5,000 T visas available annually. 44
Despite the increase in the number of traffickers prosecuted and the
expansion of the legal remedies available to victims, the United States has
failed in its attempts to successfully curb the trafficking of 50,000 women
and children into the United States each year. While U.S. legislators focus
on the efforts of suppliers, they have ignored the increasing demand of U.S.
consumers for trafficked sex slaves.
B. The Current Law Misconstrues the Source of the Problem: The Need to
Increase Focus on the Demand
Under U.S. Federal law, "severe forms of trafficking in persons," punishable
under the criminal system, are defined as:
1) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud,
or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under
18; or
2) The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a
person for labor or services throught the use of force, fraud or coercion,
for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage,
debt bondage, or slavery. 45
Despite the ability of federal law to deconstruct the supply of trafficked
sex workers, the law has virtually disregarded the growing presence of the
demand for such women. There are two inadequacies embedded within the scope
of this definition. Section 1, the only section using the terms "sex
trafficking" and "commercial sex act," is carefully crafted to exclude those
potential violations by legal adults (women above the age of eighteen) who
consent to "commercial sex acts" in the porn and legalized commercial sex
industry. 46 Therefore, Section 1 seems to [*397] validate those sexually
exploitative acts that the law seeks to condemn, so long as a legal adult
consents to them. However, as already mentioned, and as will be explained in
further detail, consent does not legitimize brutal or objectifying behavior.
Section 2 focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and on those who
"obtain" trafficked victims for forced "labor or services." However, Section
2 inadequately addresses the full scope of the objectification of women for
the purpose of commercial and private sex acts. The full breadth of the
former issue will be more thoroughly addressed later in the note.
Section 2 exemplifies the insufficient legal foundation with which U.S.
officials combat the escalating dominance of the sex trade. 47 A thorough
examination of the current legal instruments with which the United States
and the international community are attempting to dismantle international
trafficking networks reveals that, despite recognized victories in the
battle to empower trafficked victims with a legal voice, the industry
remains financially sound. 48
In addition, victim-centered international legal efforts have instigated a
backlash in national laws promulgated in countries where women have been
deemed more vulnerable to trafficking. "The construction of women
exclusively through the lens of violence has triggered a spate of domestic
and international reforms focused on the criminal law, which are used to
justify restrictions on women's rights - for the protection of women." 49
The government of Nepal, as part of an anti-trafficking initiative, recently
passed legislation that "restricts women under the age of thirty from
traveling outside of the country without the permission of a husband or male
guardian," thus reinforcing a "woman's victim status." 50
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (the Act) exposes a misguided
hopefulness in its distinction between perpetrators and victims of sex
trafficking. The shift away from the prosecution of the women who are
trafficked and towards the prosecution of the male traffickers initially
appeared promising: "Prosecution efforts will shift away from women [*398]
forced into the sex trade...instead the focus will be on criminal punishment
of those found guilty of operating as traffickers in the United States." 51
Yet, rather than focusing on eliminating the demand of the customers who
provide the financial foundation for the trafficking industry, the Act
focuses legislative attention on the criminal prosecution of traffickers.
Another attempted solution mentioned earlier, the special "T" visa for
trafficking, has been created "in order to give victims a better chance to
bring charges against traffickers" and grants victims "interim immigration
relief" for up to three years. 52 The bill also facilitates international
assistance and awareness programs by effectively "keeping girls in school
and otherwise enhancing economic opportunities for potential victims of
trafficking." 53
"The United States is funding a number of programs, including public
awareness campaigns in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to warn
potential victims of methods used by traffickers." 54 In addition, the U.S.
Department of State boasts that it "took the lead in negotiating the United
Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons." 55
However, no efforts focusing attention on the increasing demand for
illegally trafficked sex workers in the U.S. have even been mentioned.
Victim-centered legal strategies overshadow the escalating demand for
trafficked sex workers in industrialized societies and quell attempts at
eradicating the prevalence of the international sex trade.
III. THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF CURRENT LAW REMAINS EMBEDDED IN THE PERPETUATION OF RACIST PERCEPTIONS
This section will examine the extent to which the focus of U.S. law on the
victim "reinforces the depiction of women in the Third World as perpetually
marginalized and underprivileged, and has serious implications for the
strategies subsequently adopted to remedy the harms women experience." 56
A. The Characterization of the Victim Through Racist Imagery
Trafficking victims are described using racist language and imagery,
facilitating the U.S. perception that women are abused, objectified, and
[*399] humiliated by "certain countries" 57 whose "third world," allegedly
"backward" cultures "force[] [women] to work in the sex trade." 58 In an
effort to respond to the "estimated one million children [who] are currently
trafficked for coerced sexual exploitation or labor," 59 U.S. media efforts
have identified the problem with racist undertones. The New York Times,
cited the example of girls in southeastern Ghana who are often offered by
their families to priests as "slaves of gods" to appease the gods for family
sins, yet failed to comment on the increasing demand for these children in
western cultures. 60
Racist portrayals of women in other, seemingly economically depressed,
"third-world" cultures are rampant in U.S. media, and are rarely accompanied
by any suggested parallel of such conditions in American society. For
instance, the television program, 60 Minutes, told the story of a Filipina
woman who supported her daughters' efforts to become mail-order brides and
find wealthy foreign husbands so that they could send money home to support
her. 61 Rather than go on to examine the receiving sector of the U.S.,
specifically the men who demand and pay exorbitant prices for such
mail-order brides, the program showed the woman's previous home, a
"ramshackle hut," and then the big concrete house she acquired following the
sale of her daughters. 62
The New York Times, in June 2002, published an article reporting that the
increase of prostitution and the overwhelming spread of AIDS in Tehran "are
symptoms of a floundering economy,...political isolation...atrocious
unemployment [and] high inflation." 63 However, only six months later, The
New York Times quoted New York police officials saying: Of the 179 people
arrested for prostitution so far this year by the Child Recovery Enforcement
Unit, 66 were younger than 18, and 26 were younger than 16. 64
[*400] The New York Times, in the second article, did not mention dramatic
economic windfalls, repressive culture, or severe unemployment rates as
factors contributing to the prostitution crises facing New York City teens.
The over-generalized racist claims that attempt to define the victims of sex
trafficking thwart attempts at effectively protecting trafficked women and
children. "These generalizations efface the problems, perspectives, and
political concerns of women marginalized because of their class, race,
religion, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation." 65 Scholars in the United
States, to the detriment of victims, continue to attribute the violent and
primitive nature of the international sex trade to cultural values
entrenched in third-world nations. "Women in the Third World are portrayed
as victims of their culture, which reinforces stereotyped and racist
representations of that culture and privileges the culture of the West." 66
Using the Third World as a scapegoat, Americans are never confronted with
their own social, political, and economic shackles, which invigorate the
demand for the trafficking of women and children.
B. U.S. Racist Perceptions Enable the United States to Ignore U.S. Parallel
Contributions to Sex Trafficking
Racist perceptions have continued to color the U.S. position on and response
to international trafficking of persons, specifically the sex trade. "Latin
American and Asian women were trafficked into the United States for many
years prior to the influx of Russian traffickers and trafficked women." 67
But it was not until Russian and Ukrainian women began to be trafficked to
the United States in the early 1990s that governmental agencies and many
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began to recognize the problem. 68 The
fact that it took blonde and blue-eyed victims to draw governmental and
public attention to trafficking in the United States gives the appearance,
at least, of racism.
Americans, through the use of media and political propaganda, including
print, on-line, and television sources, avoid association with and
acceptance of responsibility for the type of violence against women that we
harshly criticize in other countries. 69 In the U.S., "trafficking in women
for [*401] prostitution and related forms of sexual entertainment is so
widespread yet so invisible." 70 News media continues to focus its attention
on the deplorable behavior of the traffickers who ostensibly entice foreign
women into the sex industry. Commentators make no mention of those "valued
customers" that are providing the U.S. sex industry with the demand
necessary to maintain its current vitality. The Houston Chronicle, recently
reporting on the numerous U.S. cities that have become the home to "sex
rings," focused the article on the women who were allegedly "lured" to the United States with promises of good jobs. 71 The article made no mention of
the increasing demand that placed those cities as the bustling centers of
such "sex rings."
While the United States disparages the maltreatment of women in other
cultures, stories about the maltreatment of women in the United States
rarely make national headlines. The stories not often told are the stories
unveiling hyper-masculine elements, including the degradation of women in
advertising, male-dominated arenas like the military, and attitudes in
popular culture. Those stories explain that "receiving countries (i.e.,
where women end up in the sex industry) tend to be wealthier" and that sites
of military conflict "are popular destinations for trafficking victims." 72
Although U.S. social and political commentary, in addition to U.S. and
international legislative efforts, continue to debate the most effective
social programs to empower victims in their countries of origin, we have
failed to examine the extent to which our own hyper-masculine behavior
contributes to the same objectifying and violent conditions we condemn.
[*402] Despite criticism of African, Arab, eastern European, and Southeast
Asian countries whose military conflict fosters the type of hyper-masculine
environments that seem to breed demand for the illegal sex trade, a recent
article entitled "Porn Stars Film Appreciative Video for Troops" detailed
the efforts of U.S. adult entertainers "[who] want to raise spirits [of U.S.
military personnel]....Busting out of barely there outfits and grasping a
disturbingly long microphone, porn actresses took turns [being] taped at the
recent Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas." 73
In the face of harshly critical U.S. attitudes toward the glorification of
dominant and sexually abusive male images abroad, American popular culture
continues to financially endorse male "heroes" who objectify, sometimes
brutalize, and even rape women and girls. CNN reported that, ironically,
despite the arrest of R. Kelly (a contemporary pop star) on child
pornography charges for making a home movie of himself engaging in sexual
activity with a thirteen-year-old girl, "the Grammy-winning singer has
written a number one song for the teen boy band B2K ... [and] the video for
his song is one of the most requested on BET and [airs] on MTV." 74
In addition, while criticizing receiving countries, whose dire economic
conditions are said to promote the illegal sex trade, U.S. legislators have
failed to focus on the reality that:
Countries as diverse as Vietnam, Cuba, and those in Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union - all beset by acute financial crises while becoming
market economies in varying degrees - are witnessing a tremendous increase
in trafficking and prostitution. Mail-order bride industries capitalize on
the trafficking of Russian and Asian women, particularly to men in
industrialized countries who want foreign wives they deem to be pliable and
exotic. 75
The view of women as "pliable and exotic," bolstering the demand for
trafficked women, is a view based on cultural essentialism. Scholars in the
[*403] United States continue to ascribe culpability for the growing sex
trade to economically depressed nations, arguing:
In what becomes a predacious cycle, the growth of the transnational sex
industry - with its unique profit potential from the reuse and resale of
women, compared to the one-time sale of drugs and weapons - entices
governments facing economic crises to promote women for export within the
global sex industry in order to attract a flow of remittances back to the
sending country. 76
Scholars also condemn countries such as Thailand, Australia, and certain
European countries, alleging, "prostitution and sex entertainment are
imputed and institutionalized parts of the formal economy, making use of the
media, airlines, hotel chains, international communications and travel
agencies, and banks." 77 However, in the United States, "the advertising
maxim is, 'sex sells.'" 78 U.S. advertising is now based solely on the
ability of sexual content to sell products, and sexual imagery is embedded
in commercials advertising anything from clothing and athletic sneakers to
furniture:
A Levis commercial starts with the full-screen view of a woman's midriff -
just above her bare belly button down to mid-thigh. The viewer sees a bare
stomach and a pair of low-riding jeans. Then two female hands appear and
unbutton, unzip and pull down the pants. The woman is wearing a pair of
skimpy silk underwear. This scene repeats itself with other female models
turning around to reveal their rear ends, jumping up and down, laughing and
frolicking for the camera. 79
The reality that the "high mobility of the sex industry" is a dominant
factor contributing to the victimization of and violence against women and
children is overshadowed by the current focus on "conditions of isolation
and confinement [including]...fear of deportation" and other previously
[*404] discussed consequences of trafficking. 80 In November of 2002, Tucson, Arizona was home to the Sex Workers Arts Festival that offered "the
general public lectures on "spiritual sexuality" and "sexual slavery," as
well as a "sacred prostitute workshop" with live demonstrations and other
offerings." 81 "The fact that prostitution is a flourishing industry
indicates the failure of governments to make the necessary social choices to
eliminate it." 82 U.S. media and political discourse ignore the growing
demand for prostitution in the United States when contemplating a solution
for deterring the 50,000 women trafficked into the United States for sexual
slavery annually.
"Sexuality and sexual relations remain central to women's oppression." 83
Women's social conditions around the world, including in the United States,
are shaped by prevailing social and political images of women as sexual
objects. Despite U.S. attempts at distinguishing the social position of U.S.
women as one that celebrates female strength and achievement, Catharine
MacKinnon emphasizes "what [women] have in common is not that our conditions
have no particularity in ways that matter. But we are all measured by a male
standard for women, a standard that is not ours." 84 U.S. advertising,
media, and popular culture rely on the portrayal of women as mere sexual
beings, preserving the conditions under which the demand for illegal sex
trafficking victims thrives.
IV. THE SOLUTION MUST COMMENCE AT HOME
U.S. lawmakers ought to note that "sexual exploitation is the basis of
women's oppression ... [and] rape...and pornography [constitute]
the primary human rights violations against women." 85
[*405]
A. Social Demand for Pornography
U.S. popular culture has become so entwined with pornographic images and
depictions of women as sexually exploitive creatures, that it has become
difficult to separate images of sex from the most fundamental media outlets
of U.S. society. The pornography industry is cited as one of the largest
thriving industries in the United States and continues to broaden in scope
to include videos, phone-sex businesses, adult toys, magazines, and web
sites. 86 Additionally, pornographic and sexually exploitative images
dominate advertising and news media (as discussed supra).
Although the U.S. adamantly criticizes the objectification of women as
objects of sexual gratification abroad, Bill Asher, president of Vivid
Entertainment, reports that his adult entertainment company has "'gone from
a market of hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions'" over the past
twenty years. 87 "The film, television, and Web-based products produced by
Vivid alone grossed one billion dollars in retail sales last year. A 1998
study by Forrester Research in Cambridge, [Massachusetts] estimated that the
industry generates $ 10 billion a year." 88 The porn industry glorifies and
romanticizes those acts which foster the demand for illegal sex workers, and U.S. society financially embraces the industry, as is evidenced by the
emergence of pornographic video producers as "star-making machinery much
like the old Hollywood studios." 89 Actors like Jenna Jameson, the "reigning
star of adult films have big-dollar contracts with filmmakers who promote
them on Web sites, movie display boxes and public appearances." 90
The internet hosts more than 40,000 sex-related sites, and it is commonly
known that "the adult entertainment industry drives the internet." 91 During
the crash of the dot-com industry, some technology specialists who found
themselves unemployed leaped at the opportunity to join the porn web sites
culture, which:
shows little sign of slowing. According to New York-based market research
firm Jupiter Media Metrix, Inc., the number of individual [*406] visitors
at sex sites grew nearly 30 percent in about two years, from 22 million in
December 1999 to nearly 28 million [in 2001].
Meanwhile, [while] the number of IT jobs grew during 2000 at its slowest
rate since 1995[,]...Vivid [Entertainment Group has added] about ten web
designers, programmers and marketers....All of a sudden, tech workers are
talking to the stepchild they ignored a few months ago. 92
Despite the financial boom of the internet porn industry, "as the internet
sprawls into one massive (cyber-) mall, the growth in the transnational sex
industry is spurred by the immense promotion and marketing of women and
children for sex tourism, as electronic mail-order brides, and in
pornography." 93
Pornographic images also dominate mainstream popular culture through
advertising and other forms of media, which the U.S. has come not only to
accept, but also to embrace. Currently, a new beer advertisement is rousing
debate as "two buxom women [debate over the beer]...tear each other's
clothes off and end up wrestling in wet cement." 94 Organizations, like the
Association for Women in Communications, made a poignant statement that
"these blatant displays of sexism simply reinforce ... attitudes that keep
women from achieving equal treatment in pay and career opportunities." 95
However, this does not seem to hold true for the 50,000 women who have been
abducted into the U.S. sex trade and whose business unfortunately
flourishes. The proliferation of the legalized commercial sex [*407]
industry in the U.S. provides unwavering evidence of the demand associated
with the use of women as sexual objects. U.S. legislators must combat the
proliferation of sexually explicit images and legalized sexual acts that
serve to endorse the use of women as mere objects of sexual conquest. As
will be discussed in the next section, U.S. trafficking laws must be
expanded to include harsher punishment for consumers in addition to
traffickers, and U.S. First Amendment protections must be narrowed in order
to more effectively regulate the reinforcement of objectifying social
standards.
Studies continue to link the use of pornography with the rape and
molestation of women and children. 96 The relationship of pornography to
sexual abuse is compelling. A review study of eighty-one studies published
in peer-reviewed journals found that "with fairly impressive consistency"
exposure to pornography negatively affects attitudes towards women and
increases the likelihood of rape. 97 In addition, the crimes that
international trafficking laws are attempting to prosecute continue to be
glorified by pornographic materials. One study of adult sex offenders found
that 86% of convicted rapists said they were regular users of pornography,
with 57% admitting direct imitation of pornographic scenes they enjoyed, in
the commission of their rapes. 98 In addition, both pornography itself and
the projection of sexual imagery in the media connote and validate the
perception that "women have one value - to meet the sexual demands of men."
99 It is no coincidence that a society that fosters sexual objectification
of women is also one whose economy thrives on the legal commercial sex
industry. Efforts to thwart illegal trafficking of women and children have
failed to surpass the demand for these illegal slaves, and violence against
women (including those trafficked into the United States) continues to
occur.
B. Current State of U.S. Law Regulating Pornography and Sexually Exploitative Imagery
This section will address the extent to which U.S. laws that attempt to
regulate the commercial sex industry have sacrificed the legal system's
[*408] ability to prevent women's sexual exploitation, ultimately leading
to violence, in order to maintain the highest degree of First Amendment
rights. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court holding in Miller v. California that
"obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment," the scope of what
has been considered obscene material and what will be tolerated as falling
within the protection of the First Amendment, continues to narrowly evolve.
100 The challenge is the extent to which U.S. Constitutional law can and
should reflect the commitments that U.S. legislators claim to have made to
the suppression of international sex trafficking. In response to assertions
made in the previous section, it is impossible to attack the demand for
illegal sex workers without curbing "obscenity" in pornography and in
popular culture, including advertising and news media. This objective can be
achieved through the application of a more expansive standard of obscenity.
The media protected under the First Amendment includes the very media that
host sexually explicit materials and includes film, radio, television
broadcasts, and live entertainment. 101 Courts have found that many
businesses that purvey sexually explicit speech, such as bookstores, live
theaters, motion picture theaters, and nude dancing establishments are
protected by the First Amendment. 102 However, as was noted above, it is
sexually explicit speech and imagery that validates and legitimizes the
objectification of women as mere sexual beings and unfortunately does not
fall within the scope of censorship exceptions. Material that is held to be
"obscene" is not protected by the First Amendment and can be censored by the
states. 103 Roth v. United States set the standard by which obscenity is
determined. It held that in order to be classified by law as obscene, the
material, taken as a whole and applying comtemporary community standards,
must appeal to the "prurient interest" in sex, depict sexual acts in a
patently offensive way, and hold no serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value. 104
In an effort to safeguard these values, the Supreme Court has protected the
broadest scope of pornographic expression. Requirements [*409] that
pornographic imagery be submitted to a censor prior to publication are
sanctioned only "under procedural safeguards designed to obviate the dangers
of a censorship system." 105 These safeguards are the only exceptions under
which the dissemination of pornographic and sexually explicit material can
be categorically curbed. Because these safeguards are strictly procedural,
they are incapable of expanding to include considerations such as the effect
that such images have on the demand for illegally trafficked sex workers.
106
One may tragically assume that the only area of pornographic expression that
remains highly censored and legally forbidden is child pornography. However,
the U.S. Department of State reports that "on-line stalkers, international
child pornography rings, and sex tourism are increasing in a world where
such problems are becoming more globalized," suggesting that efforts to
regulate the image of children as sexually exploitable objects are failing.
107 The allegedly strict ban on media that portray actual children engaging
in sexual activity reveals inherent legal contradictions which, until
resolved, arguably heighten the demand for women and children that can be
used for sexual exploitation. MacKinnon argues that, through the validation
of such sexually subservient images, women and children are identified
through a process of gender socialization, as sexual "beings who exist for
men." 108
The Supreme Court, in New York v. Ferber, recognized the harm caused by
child pornography, clarifying that child pornography was not protected by
the First Amendment because of the physical and psychological effect on the
children depicted in the materials. 109 It is a child's inability to choose
and to psychologically cope with this type of sexual experience that exists
at the foundation of child pornography. 110 Why is it that the harsh
psychological effects on the public of pornography and sexually exploitative
imagery in popular media, the demand for trafficked sex victims, and the
violence against illegally trafficked women carries so little weight when
determining the extent to which other forms of pornographic media ought to
be regulated? It can be argued that the Court makes a catastrophic
distinction between present and potential psychological harm. In addition,
the erroneous assumption continues that only children are in need of
protection against such harm.
[*410] The elasticity of child pornography laws and the distinction between
actual and potential psychological harm prevailed in the recent Supreme
Court Case, Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition, striking down a
six-year-old law that prohibits the distribution and possession of virtual
child pornography that appears to, but does not, depict real children. 111
However, to what extent is the Supreme Court limiting harms to children in a
country where "Lolita-like depictions of [thirteen] and [fourteen] year olds
in the media and on the streets condition people to see [these children] as
adult-like adolescents who are capable of choice?" 112 As the Supreme Court
continues to deconstruct the legal power of child pornography laws, age
becomes an "ambiguous cohort," disabling the legal ability to distinguish
between children, teenagers, and women, and contributing to the perception
that women of all ages are acceptable targets for sexual exploitation. 113
One survivor of the illegal sex trade, who was subjected to prostitution at
age thirteen, remarked "the day I turned [eighteen], the sexual abuse I was
subject to did not turn into a self-determined choice." 114 The
psychological harms instigated by the projection of women in U.S. media do
not diminish as women age:
The ILO Report recognizes that "commercial sexual exploitation is such a
serious form of violence against children that there are life long and life
threatening consequences. There are also chain effects, with sexual abuse
leading to other forms of abuse, such as drug abuse, and cumulative negative
consequences." Oral testimony from women in prostitution reveals the same
effects on adult women - that it is such a serious form of violence that it
affects their lives forever. 115
Whether or not one acts, when an adult perceives the bodies of women and
children as sources of sexual gratification, it is a violation of the
humanity of those women. Whatever the age, culture, race or condition of the
victim, the crime must be made legally actionable despite the professed
right of Free Speech in pornography and the dissemination of pornographic
[*411] images. Therefore, as a result of the psychological harm to adult
women who are sexually exploited, domestic trafficking laws and First
Amendment regulations of pornographic and sexually explicit material must be
amended so as to afford legal adults the same protections as exploited
children.
In addition to the underpinnings of Constitutional "Free Speech"
justifications, the pornography debate includes a "morality" justification
of censorship that conflicts with the anti-pornography feminist perspective.
Religious leaders condemn pornography for its potential to cause "harm to
the spirit;" to them, pornography "arrests personal development," "distorts
the beauty and goodness of human love," and "erodes the general moral
fiber." 116 Meanwhile, pro-pornography sects of the feminist movement have
attempted to re-define pornography in a way which empowers the female
spirit. In so doing, they perpetuate the violence unsighted by the
commercial sex industry from the inside out.
In a recently successful movement to unionize exotic dancers and porn stars,
strippers who were struggling for what they perceived to be their economic
independence have contradicted the essence of the feminist movement. 117
Those who endorse the adult entertainment industry as a vehicle towards
empowerment and economic freedom argue:
Unlike modern feminists who decry beauty, femininity, and sexuality as
weapons of a patriarchal plot to keep women submissive, strippers take what
is inherently theirs - feminine sexuality - and they exaggerate it to
extremes, confidently using their bodies as weapons against the very men who
believe they are using the stripper. 118
However, these arguments are dauntingly similar to the debates that
bolstered examination of whether a woman's consent ought to factor into the
culpability of international sex traffickers. 119 Repudiation of such
consent-based arguments is directly at odds with the notion of "the other
faction within feminism...[that] claims...sex workers use their sexuality to
[*412] their advantage and beat patriarchal society at its own game by
taking its money to better their lives." 120
As pro-union strippers proudly define the nature of their economic
prosperity, recognizing that "ultimately, the men pay for perpetuating false
and sexist beliefs with hard currency," they are selling the objectifying
image of female sexuality that fuels the demand for illegal sex trafficking
victims, and now they "have the power of the law." 121 In defense of the Sex
Workers Arts Festival, even festival co-director Julianna Piccillo relied on
a First Amendment assertion, arguing, "the several hundred thousand women
who are dancers in this country, or phone-sex operators, or models or porn
actresses are also paying taxes, and I think they have a right for their
voices to be heard." 122 Appeals to First Amendment rights, "reminiscent of
all that John Stuart Mill thought was none of the business of a liberal
state," plead for the preservation of limits on government power to suppress
expression, disabling U.S. lawmakers' attempts to curb the perpetuation of
false and sexist beliefs. 123
"A rationalist pornography law - absent in the United States and everywhere
else - would focus first on a harm, and then identify those objects that
conduce to it." 124 Courts have failed to broaden the scope of harm to
include not only censorship's threat to free expression, but also unbridled
free expression's effect on the demand for women to be used as objects of
sexual gratification. The narrow construction of laws censoring child and
adult pornography, the legalized commercial sex industry, and the
dissemination of pornographic and sexually explicit materials in the media,
which all serve to violently objectify the female body, will continue to
bolster the demand for illegally trafficked women to be used as objects of
sexual gratification.
V. CONCLUSION: THE REAL SOLUTION IS CHANGING PERCEPTIONS AT HOME
The legal and social standards by which "obscene" material is judged must
balance the value of political, commercial, and social speech, as well as
the harm to those women who are victimized by violently objectifying [*413]
images. U.S. legislators and justices must thwart the objectification of
female sexuality that fuels the demand for illegally trafficked sex workers.
The irony of criticizing the demoralizing and abhorrent treatment of women
as sexual objects in foreign nations is magnified by the recent U.S. Supreme
Court holding in Ashcroft that "pictures of what appear to be 17-year-olds
engaging in sexually explicit activity do not ... contravene community
standards." 125 Participation in a community with the type of standards that
endorse the portrayal of teenagers engaged in sexually explicit acts, while
criticizing the dehumanization and objectification of women and children in
"third world countries" exemplifies the hypocritical blindness that enables
the illegal sex trade to operate in the shadows of U.S. cultural and
legislative consciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Footnotes for the above article follow below PornHarms.com section.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For more information about the connections between pornography and sex trafficking please see our Pornography and Sex Trafficking page as well as the sex trafficking and prostitution pages of the extremely informative new websitePornography Harms.
"Dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion."
This outstanding website comprehensively addresses the harms of pornography in regards to all of the following categories: addiction, brain science, children, cybersex, family, Internet, Internet safety, marriage, men, psychological, prostitution, relationships, research, self image, sex trafficking, sexting, sexual violence, societal, STDs, teens, and women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOOTNOTES:
n1. Janie Chuang, Redirecting the Debate Over the Trafficking in Women:
Definitions, Paradigms, and Contexts, 11 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 65 (1998). See
also Thomas L. Friedman, Iran By the Numbers, N.Y. Times, June 23, 2002, 4,
at 13 (revealing that "there are now eighty-four thousand prostitutes
operating on the streets of Tehran and 250 brothels, including some linked
to high officials. There are sixty new runaway girls hitting Tehran's
streets every day - a [twelve] percent increase over last year").
n2. Michelle O. P. Dunbar, The Past, Present, and Future of International
Trafficking in Women for Prostitution, 8 Buff. Women's L.J. 103, 104. (2000)
(saying that "traffickers in women and children, much like narcotics
traffickers, now operate boldly across international borders).
n3. U.S. Department of State, U.S. Activities to Combat Trafficking in
Persons, at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/8032pf.html (last visited
Feb. 11, 2003) (exposing the July 2001 issuance of the Department of State's
"first annual Trafficking in Persons report, which presented information
gathered from 186 embassies and consulates as well as non-governmental and
press reports) [hereinafter Combat Trafficking in Persons]. "The report
assessed the counter-trafficking efforts of [eighty-two] countries that were
determined to have a significant number of trafficked victims and became a
primary tool for engaging countries on the issue and identifying areas for
improvement." Id.
n4. Jason Weiss, US Senate Passes Bill Aimed at Combating Sex Trafficking,
at http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/pk1/wwwh00080301.html (last visited Feb.
11, 2003). See also Shelley Case Inglis, Expanding International and
National Protections Against Trafficking for Forced Labor Using a Human
Rights Framework, 7 Buff. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 55, 55 (2001) (stating that
according to United States Government estimates, between one and two million
women and girls are trafficked around the world for purposes including
forced prostitution and involuntary marriage).
n5. Inglis, supra note 4, at 55.
n6. Tala Hartsough, Note, Asylum for Trafficked Women: Escape Strategies
Beyond the T Visa, 13 Hastings Women's L.J. 77, 85 (2002).
n7. Amy O'Neill Richard, International Trafficking in Women to the United
States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime, iii
(Cent. Intelligence Agency, 1999). See also Eric Green, U.S. Seeks to Help
Victims of Modern-Day Slavery, Trafficking in Persons, at http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/pk1/wwwh02020603.html (last visited Feb.
11, 2003). See also, Weiss, supra note 4.
n8. Green, supra note 7.
n9. Id.
n10. Inglis, supra note 4, at 56-57 (citing existing international
protections against trafficking, including the 1949 Convention, which "binds
states to three general obligations: an anti-trafficking principle, specific
enforcement measures and the use of social welfare to 'rehabilitate'
survivors").
n11. See Combat Trafficking in Persons, supra note 3.
n12. Id.
n13. See generally, Hartsough, supra note 6 (discussing the economic and
social factors relegating women to vulnerable societal sectors which are
prone to abduction by traffickers).
n14. Ratna Kapur, The Tragedy of Victimization Rhetoric: Resurrecting the
"Native" Subject in International / Post-Colonial Feminist Legal Politics,
15 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 1, 1-2 (2002). Bill Clinton, in his much publicized
visit to South Asia in March 2000, "stated he 'could have danced all night'
with the rural women he met in the Western Indian state of Rajasthan." Kapur
emphasizes the President's surprise at the "knowledge the women had of their
rights." Kapur criticizes the dominance of images of female victimization
and helplessness in so called "third world" cultures, which the U.S. media
continues to portray. Id.
n15. Hartsough, supra note 6, at 89.
n16. Id. at 77.
n17. Maya Raghu, Note, Sex Trafficking of Thai Women and the United States
Asylum Law Response, 12 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 145, 145 (1997). Raghu criticizes Thailand's attempt to replace past political colonialism with a new form of
neo-colonialism by adopting policies specifically designed to attract
foreign capital, which focus efforts on the ability of the sex industry to
lure commerce into the country. Id. Raghu goes on to argue for stricter
international and local laws which thwart these types of practices by
increasing women's ability to ward off abduction into the sex industry. Id.
Raghu suggests that the development of Thai policies, while stimulating
amazing rates of economic growth and industrialization, have served to
alienate and dislocate large segments of society, and specifically women,
making them increasingly vulnerable to the enticement of the economic
prosperity the sex industry boasts. Id. However, I argue that articles such
as Raghu's, create the perception that sex trafficking is fueled by the
inadequacies of underdeveloped "backward" cultures rather than recognizing
the immense economic contribution the United States makes to the sex
industry in the form of customers. See also Thailand's Tourist Industry:
Beached, The economist, July 6, 1991, at 72. (reporting that Thailand's
economic development plan for 1987-91 stressed the opportunities in tourism
by increasing the number of foreign tourists, and specifically American and
Asian business men, as well as increasing the length of their stay to induce
them to spend more money).
n18. Raghu, supra note 17, at 147. Trafficked victims are most commonly
portrayed as helpless prey, vulnerable to the luring conduct of traffickers
and pimps.
n19. U.S. Dep't of Justice, What is Trafficking in Persons?, at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/docs/NG01.htm (last visited Feb. 11, 2003)
[hereinafter What is Trafficking in Persons?].
n22. See Dunbar, supra note 2, at 115 (recognizing that NGOs have been very
involved in the fight against trafficking in women).
n23. Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Women in the International
Migration Process: Patterns, Profiles and Health Consequences of Sexual
Exploitation (2002).
n24. H. Patricia Hynes and Janice G. Raymond, Put in Harms Way: The
Neglected Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking in the United States in
Policing the National Body: Race, Gender, and Criminalization 197, 222 (Jael
Silliman & Anannya Bhattacharjee eds., 2002).
n25. See generally id.
n26. Raghu, supra note 17, at 164.
n27. Id. at 163-164 (arguing that "while well-intentioned, however, these
instruments are non-binding obligations for non-signatory parties, including
the United States, and do not provide adequate remedies").
n28. Hartsough, supra note 6, at 93 (contending that definitional issues are
extraordinarily important in constructing a remedy for the violent realties
of trafficking. Hartsough urges that "when analyzing protective legislation,
"one must clarify the definition of trafficking to ascertain who is
protected and from what"). Id. at 90-91.
n29. Dunbar, supra note 2, at 112.
n30. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, Dec. 18, 1979, 1249 U.N.T.S. 14. [hereinafter CEDAW]. As with the
1949 Convention, CEDAW targets exploiters of prostitution and not the
prostitute herself. Id. CEDAW does not criminalize prostitution, CEDAW only
criminalizes the facilitators.
n31. U.S. Department of State, Fact Sheet: The Optional Protocol to the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of
Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (Dec. 24, 2002), at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/16216.htm [hereinafter United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child]. The Optional Protocal came into
force February 12, 2002 and was signed by 105 countries and ratified by 42
countries. Id.
n32. Ali Miller & Alison N. Stewart, Report from the Roundtable on the
Meaning of "Trafficking in Persons:" A Human Rights Perspective, 20 Women's
Rts. L. Rep. 11, 15 (1998).
n33. Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (Dec., 2000) at http://www.thai.net/gaatw/GAATW_PRESSRELEASE_BODY.htm (last visited Mar. 3,
2004) (critiquing the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking
in Persons).
n34. Id.
n35. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Nat'l Worker Exploitation
Task Force, at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/tpwetf.htm (last visited Feb.
11, 2003). "The Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division has primary
enforcement responsibility for the involuntary servitude and peonage
statutes and plays an active role as a leading member of the TPWETF. The
TPWETF is chaired by the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the
Solicitor of Labor. Other Department of Justice participants in this
national effort include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, the Executive Office for United States
Attorneys, the Criminal Division, the Office of Victims of Crime and the
Violence Against Women Office. The TPWETF also works in coordination with
the Department of Labor, Department of State, the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission and various United States Attorneys' offices across
the country" [hereinafter Civil Rights Division]. See also What is
Trafficking in Persons?, supra note 19.
n36. Civil Rights Division, supra note 35.
n37. Id.
n38. Id.
n39. Combat Trafficking in Persons, supra note 3.
n40. See generally, Civil Rights Division, supra note 35. The Criminal
Section also creates dialogue and builds trust with community and
non-governmental organizations to support efforts to detect, investigate,
and prosecute trafficking cases, and to assist victims. In addition, The
Criminal Section provides education and training assistance to law
enforcement officers, prosecutors, and victim/witness staff. Id.
n41. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act , Pub. L. No.
106-386, Division A, 114 Stat. 1464 (2000) (codified as amended in scattered
section of 22 U.S.C.). (supplementing existing laws that apply to human
trafficking including those passed to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment. It
also establishes new tools and resources to combat trafficking in persons,
and requires an array of services and protections for victims of severe
forms of trafficking). Under the VTVPA, federal felony criminal offenses
that may apply to trafficking in persons include slavery and peonage, sex
trafficking in children and adults, and the unlawful confiscation of a
victim's documents. The law applies to victims physically present in the
fifty United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of
the NorthernMarinaIslands.
n42. Weiss, supra note 4. "The Trafficking Victims Protection Act
distinguishes between perpetrators of sex trafficking and victims.
Prosecution efforts will shift away from women forced into the sex trade or
working without proper documents; instead, the focus will be on criminal
punishment of those found guilty of operating as traffickers in the United
States."
n43. Id. In addition, "the United States is funding a number of programs,
including public awareness campaigns in the former Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe to warn potential victims of methods used by traffickers. And this
March, the United States and the Philippines co-hosted the Asian Regional
Initiative against Trafficking in Women and Children (ARIAT) in Manila." Id.
n44. Combat Trafficking in Persons, supra note 3.
n45. What is Trafficking in Persons, supra note 19.
n46. See supra Part I for a definition of the commercial sex industry.
n47. See generally Dorchen Leidholdt, Position Paper for the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women, UN Special Seminar on Trafficking,
Prostitution, and the Global Sex Industry (June 1999). See also Donna M.
Huges, The "Natasha" Trade: The Transnational Shadow Market of Trafficking
in Women, 53 Journal of Int'l. Affairs 625, 625 (2000) (reporting that,
despite legal efforts, the trafficking of women into the global sex industry
remains an estimated seven to twelve billion dollar trade).
n48. See generally Leidholdt, supra note 47.
n49. Kapur, supra note 14, at 6.
n50. Id. at 6-7.
n51. Weiss, supra note 4.
n52. Id.
n53. Id.
n54. Id.
n55. Combat Trafficking in Person, supra note 3.
n56. Kapur, supra note 14, at 6.
n57. What is Trafficking in Persons?, supra note 19.
n58. Id.
n59. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, supra note 31.
n60. Howard W. French, The Ritual Slaves of Ghana: Young and Female, N.Y.
Times, Jan. 20, 1997, at A1-A5 (describing the extent to which this form of
slavery includes labor and sexual slavery).
n61. 60 Minutes: Here Come the Brides: Mail Order Brides a Booming Business
(CBS television broadcast, Jan. 12, 1997).
n62. Id.
n63. Friedman, supra note 1.
n64. Diane Cardwell, Officials Say Sex Trade Lures Younger Girls, N.Y.
Times, Dec. 7, 2002, at B1 (reporting that New York law enforcement
officials reported at a joint City Council committee session on teenage
prostitution, that they perceived prostitutes who are younger and younger,
some as young as eleven, to be a "growing and alarming phenomenon in New
York and other cities").
n65. Kapur, supra note 14, at 6.
n66. Id.
n67. Hynes, supra note 24 at 200.
n68. Id.
n69. See Kapur, supra note 14, at 12 (arguing that "in the context of
post-colonial India, a common image that resides in popular imagination or
perceptions about India is the image of the female body in flames. Women are
burned to death, and this act apparently [according to Western media images]
has some kind of cultural sanction" in India). See also Uma Narayan,
Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions and ThirdWorld Feminism 83-87
(1997) (noting that Dowry murders are cast in First World Scholarship as an
age-old Indian/Hindu cultural practice, while domestic violence murders in
the United States are not similarly cast as practices of "American Culture,"
and arguing that the "death by culture" arguments used to explain the
phenomenon of dowry murders are neither accurate nor helpful because they
offer very little understanding about the nature and causes of such
practices).
n70. Hynes, supra note 24, at 199-200 (identifying the extent to which the
use of trafficked victims is wide spread, they cite the most prevalent forms
of sex trafficking as prostitution, sex tourism, and mail-order bride
industries. In addition, arguing that women and children are also trafficked
for bonded labor and domestic work, and much of this trafficking includes
their being sexually exploited as well).
n71. Slave Trade: Legislation a Step Toward Stopping Forced Prostitution, Houston Chronicle, July 31, 2000.
n72. Bortel, supra note 20. See also Hynes, supra note 24 at 199-200
(reporting that "international women are trafficked from economically
unstable countries to economically stable ones; from developing countries to
industrialized countries; ...from rural to urban centers within developing
countries; through developed countries and regions, such as Western Europe
and Canada, to the United States; and within the United States").
n74. CNN, R. Kelly Flourishing Despite Porn Charges (Feb. 14, 2003) at http://cnn.entertainment.com (revealing that "in February 2002, the Chicago
Sun Times reported that it had received a tape that purportedly showed Kelly
having sex with a [thirteen-year-old] girl. The newspaper passed it along to
the Chicago police").
n75. Hynes, supra note 24, at 199. (stating that "in the Asian region alone,
200 to 400 Bangladeshi women are illegally transported into Pakistan monthly
and 7,000 to 12,000 Nepali women and girls are sold yearly into the brothels
of India. The trafficking of girls from Nepal to India is probably the most
intensive sexual slave trade anywhere in the world... .Brothels in Bombay
and Delhi, receive trafficked women from Bangladesh and Nepal and are often
the transit point for moving women to Europe and North America").
n76. Hynes, supra note 24, at 205.
n77. Id. at 206.
n78. Jane O. Hansen, Police, Pickets May Outnumber 'Pimps', The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, Feb. 8, 2003, at A1.
n79. James R. Peterson, Selling Sex? The Religious Right Rediscovers the
Obvious, Playboy, Oct. 2002, at 57. (quoting the Reverend Donald Wildmon,
who as head of the AFA, warns: "So you thought TV filth was just limited to
the programs. Well, if you haven't noticed, the advertisers have decided to
sell sex, not quality." Among his examples: A Reebok commercial features a
table full of women in a reverse-Hooters-type restaurant. The well-built
waiter wears a tight shirt and short shorts. The women begin dropping their
spoons, forcing him to bend over so they can leer at his rear end. A
commercial for Thomasville furniture features a man and a woman. The woman
begins to remove her clothing, leading the viewer to assume that the couple
is about to engage in sexual activity. However, "Volkswagen, for one, told
Wildmon to take a hike: 'We hope people will use their best judgment when
viewing entertainment. If they find a program's content offensive, they have
a choice of not viewing any further'").
n80. Janice G. Raymond et al., Sex Trafficking of Women in the Unites
States: International and Domestic Trends (2001), at www.action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom.shtml (last visited Mar. 3, 2004).
n82. Janice Raymond, Legitimating Prostitution as Sex Work: UN International
Labour Organization Calls for Recognition of the Sex Industry, Part Two, at http://action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom.shtml?sh_itm (last visited Feb.
11, 2003). Raymond is the Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women.
n83. Kapur, supra note 14, at 9 (interpreting Catharine MacKinnon). "If
sexuality is central to women's definition and forced sex is central to
sexuality, rape is indigenous, not exceptional, to women's social
condition". Catharine A. Mackinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State
172 (1989).
n84. Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law 76
(1987).
n87. Id. (reporting that sales and rentals of adult videos was a four
billion dollar business last year, "based on a survey of thousands of video
stores and overall sales figures from the Video Software Dealers
Association." However, "adult filmmakers and actors aren't the only ones
making money. Mainstream cable companies, satellite providers and hotel
chains that offer in-room adult movies are cashing in, too, but like to keep
their involvement low profile").
n88. Id.
n89. Id.
n90. Id.
n91. Brendan Koerner, A Lust for Profits, US News and World Report, Mar. 27,
2000, 36-42.
n92. Julekha Dash, Former Dot-Com Workers Find Homes at Porn Sites (June 13,
2001), at http://www.cnn.technology.com (last visited Feb. 16, 2003)
(exposing other IT workers, such as Frank Papa, who "are striking out on
their own in the online pornography world. As his contract Web programming
position at an online health firm in Raleigh N.C. nears its end, Papa
doesn't worry about his finances because he has been devoting more than
[thirty] hours a week to developing his online porn site... 'It's a better
way of using my skills rather than working for somebody else' said Papa").
n93. Hynes, supra note 24, at 205-6 (arguing "globalization of the world
economy has been accompanied by globalization of the sex industry. Sexual
exploitation moves freely across local and national borders in the same
circulation patterns as drugs, weapons, finance, information, goods and
services, and labor. In what becomes a predacious cycle, the growth of the
transnational sex industry-with its unique profit potential from the reuse
and resale of women, compared to the one-time sale of drugs and weapons -
entices governments facing economic crises to promote women for export
within the global sex industry in order to attract a flow of remittances
back to the country; or to directly and indirectly promote local sex
industries to bring money into the sending country").
n94. Amy C. Sims, Bust Beer Ads: Sexist or Just Smart Selling?, (Feb. 3,
2003), at http://www.foxnews.com (last visited Feb. 16, 2003) (quoting
Miller Co. spokeswoman Molly Reilly,who said that the ad, "which turns out
to be a fantasy ad imagined by two guys, is supposed to represent what men
are thinking about").
n95. Id. "The beer company has received approximately [four-thousand]
e-mails and phone calls fairly evenly divided in opinion about the
commercials," and generating feedback "is what most companies dream of." Id.
n97. J.S. Lyons et al., A Systematic Review of the Effects of Aggressive and
Nonaggressive Pornography, in Media, Children & the Family: Social
Scientific, Psychodynamic, and Clinical Perspectives 271, 273, 305 (Dolf
Zillman & Jennings Bryant, eds. 1994).
n98. W. Marshall, Use of Sexually Explicit Stimuli by Rapists, Child
Molesters and Non-Offenders, 25 Journal of Sex Research 267 (1988).
n100. See Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 23 (1973).
n101. Schad v. Mount Ephraim, 452 U.S. 61, 65-66 (1981). This case does not
specifically hold that the internet is protected media, but the law could be
expanded to include the internet in the future.
n102. See FW/PBS, Inc., v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 224 (1990).
n103. Miller, 413 U.S. at 36-37.
n104. Memoirs v. Massachusettes 383 U.S. 413, 418 (1966). See also Roth v.
United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957) (The Roth test consists of three parts:
"(a) dominant theme of material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient
interest in sex, (b) the material is patently offensive because it affronts
contemporary community standards relating to the description or
representation of sexual matters, and (c) the material is utterly without
redeeming social value.")
n105. Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U.S. 51, 58 (1965).
n106. See id.
n107. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, supra note 31.
n108. MacKinnon, supra note 83, at 110.
n109. New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 758, 763-764 (1982).
n111. The law had banned a range of techniques, including computer-generated
images and the use of youthful-looking adults, which were designed to convey
the impression of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Ashcroft v.
Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 258 (2002) (writing for the majority,
Justice Kennedy said key provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act
of 1996 were "overbroad" and infringed on established protections of
material with artistic value that does not violate community standards).
n112. Janice Raymond, Legitimizing Prostitution as Sex Work: UN
International Labour Organization (ILO) Calls for Recognition of the Sex
Industry, at http://action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom (last visited Feb.
11, 2003).
n113. See id.
n114. Id.
n115. Id. at 108 (citing a study that found "[forty six] percent of the
women in prostitution had attempted suicide and nineteen percent had tried
to harm themselves in other ways").
n116. Anita Bernstein, The Representational Dialectic (With Illustrations
from Obscenity, Forfeiture, and Accident Law), 87 Calif. L. Rev. 305, at 329
(1999).
n118. Holly J. Wilmet, Naked Feminism: The Unionization of the Adult
Entertainment Industry, 7 Am. U.J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 465, at 495-496
(1999). Wilmet further explains that then, they Playing on men's desires and
arrogance, strippers manipulate these men into believing that they (the
strippers) are attracted to them. Id.
n119. See Inglis, supra note 4, at 67.
n120. Christopher Spencer, Live Nude Girls, Unite! at
http:www.mtholyoke.edu/org/mhnews/archives/.
n121. Wilmet, supra note 119, at 498.
n122. Gallagher, supra note 77.
n123. Bernstein, supra note 115, at 329 n.152 (quoting John Stuart Mill,
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any
member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to
others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient
warrant").
n124. Bernstein, supra note 115, at 330.
n125. Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 246 (2002).
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For more information about the connections between pornography and sex trafficking please see the sex trafficking and prostitution pages of the extremely informative new websitePornography Harms.
"Dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion."
This outstanding website comprehensively addresses the harms of pornography in regards to all of the following categories: addiction, brain science, children, cybersex, family, Internet, Internet safety, marriage, men, psychological, prostitution, relationships, research, self image, sex trafficking, sexting, sexual violence, societal, STDs, teens, and women.
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DESCRIPTION
Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexualitytakes an unflinching look at today’s porn industry: the stories woven into the images, the impact on our culture, the effects on us as men and women, the business machine that creates and markets porn, and the growing legitimacy of porn in mainstream media. Above all, PORNLAND examines the way porn shapes and limits sexual imaginations and behaviors.
Although we are surrounded by pornographic images, many people are not aware of just how cruel and violent the industry is today. PORNLANDshows how today’s porn is strikingly different from yesterday’s Playboy and Penthouse magazines — how competition in the industry and consumer desensitization have pushed porn toward hard core extremes. And, with the advent of the internet and other digital technologies, users don’t have to wander far to access porn; todaythe average age of first viewing is about 11 for boys, and studies reveal that young men, who consume more porn than ever before, have difficulty forming healthy relationships.
PORNLAND also looks at how our porn culture affects the way women and girls think about their bodies, their sexuality and their relationships. PORNLAND: How Porn has Hijacked our Sexuality argues that rather than sexually liberating or empowering us, porn offers us a plasticized, formulaic, generic version of sex that is boring, lacking in creativity and disconnected from emotion and intimacy.
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For more information about the documented harms of pornography please visit the extremely informative websitePornography Harms at PornHarms.com.
"Dedicated to providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion."
This outstanding website comprehensively addresses the harms of pornography in regards to all of the following categories: addiction, brain science, children, cybersex, family, Internet, Internet safety, marriage, men, psychological, prostitution, relationships, research, self image, sex trafficking, sexting, sexual violence, societal, STDs, teens, and women.
Have you taken the NO-PORN PLEDGE at NoPornPledge.com yet? If not, now would be a really great time to do so! Please click here or the banner below.
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See the list of many people from all around the world who have signed the No-Porn Pledge. Click here.
Read the reasons why they have signed in the No-PornPledge Guestbook. Click here. Don't forget to join them by signing the pledge and sharing your reasons why in the guestbook there as well!
From NoPornPledge.com:
"Join a growing number of people who have made a decision to eliminate porn from their lives. Sign your name, and publicly declare that you won't use porn, or have an intimate relationship with anyone who does."
At AntiPornography.orgwe are working to prevent and combat the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual slavery, as well as all other forms of sexual exploitation, through public education and advocacy. We are:
Pro-Education, Pro Safe, Healthy, Respectful, Equality-Based Sexuality
Pro-reasonable regulation of the pornography industry for the health and safety of the performers.
*Please see FAQ for more information on all of the above. Thank you!
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RESOURCES, FRIENDS, SUPPORTERS AND ALLIES:
NOTE: All those marked with * are friends, subscribers or followers of AntiPornography.org at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or one of our other social networking websites, or have demonstrated support for our work otherwise, such as providing content for this website or linking to us or to one of our blogs and/or social networking projects. Also please note that the below list is a work in progress and that it is not complete. Please share any errors, omissions or suggestions here. Thank you!
WOMEN AND GIRLS FOCUSED RESOURCES:
(For family, children, men and addiction focused resources, please scroll down.)
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ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY ORGANIZATIONS GROUPS AND WEBSITES:
Saavi Accountability -- The only online accountability program that works with all online addictions. It is also the only program that sends notifications instantly via text message to an accountability partner so that they can be supportive when an individual needs it the most at the point of weakness, while they are accessing the online content. The software was created by a young man (26) who overcame his addiction and is trying to help others.
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ADDICTION MESSAGE BOARDS & DISCUSSION FORUMS FOR HELP & SUPPORT:
NOTE: There are MANY anti-porn and porn addiciton discussion groups and pages at Facebook.
Just search GROUPS and PAGES for "porn addiction", "pornography addiction", "sex addiction", "anti-porn," "antiporn," "anti-pornography" & "antipornography"
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For more than 50 personal stories documenting the harms of compulsive and/or excessive pornography use and/or pornography addiction please see our "Porn Harm Stories" page. Thank you.
(Note: The No Porn Northampton FAQ is in the bottom half of their sidebar. In addition to the usual questions about pornography it addresses questions and concerns about activism against sexually oriented businesses such as "adult bookstores.")
Shared Hope International specifically focuses on fighting the demand for commercial sexual exploitaiton, including addressing pornography as a very significant demand factor for sex trafficking.
"Pornography is a marketing device for sex trafficking: It normalizes degradation and violence as acceptable and even inevitable parts of sex, and uses the bodies of real women and children as objects. The difference between pornography and erotica is clear in the roots of the words themselves -- porne means females slaves, eros means love -- so pornography, like rape, is about violence and domination, not sex. Millions of lives depend on our ability to separate pornography from erotica, and to disentangle violence from sexuality."
Gloria Steinem, 2006
For information about Gloria Steinem's important work of fighting against the harms of pornography, sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation and abuse, including videos and an audio interview, please see our page on Gloria Steinem. Click here.
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For more information on how pornography fuels prostitution and sex trafficking, please see our page on Pornography and Trafficking. Click here. Thank you!
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Please remember that it is not up to AntiPornography.org, the other organizations listed on this page, the government, or "someone else" to do the entire job of fighting against the devastating harms of pornography, prostitution, trafficking, and other forms of sexual exploitation or abuse. It is an enormous job and the responsibility lies with each and every one of us to do our part as part of the bigger team of those who are choosing to be part of the solution of creating a more just and humane world for everyone, rather than be part of the problem.
So thank you in advance for whatever you are able to contribute to the cause, whether in the form of a tax-deductible donation or your actions. What you do does matter, so for the sake of all those across the world who are being exploited and abused, and for the sake of the future of humanity, please do what you can to create a more compassionate and safer society for all.
Thank you for whatever you are able to give or do to help create a better world for everyone, especially for women, children and future generations.
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