4 ms·

Eh, are you equating, ahem, "sexual services providers" with trafficking victims? For some reason, every major prostitution bust catches quite a few working gi

by Fins 9y ago

Eh, are you equating, ahem, "sexual services providers" with trafficking victims? For some reason, every major prostitution bust catches quite a few working girls and johns, but actual trafficking victims are few and far between. And every time I read about a "massage" parlor bust in a paper, it's always "such and such has been charged with pandering", not "such and such has been rescued from the clutches of Backapge-enabled traffickers". Not to say that it doesn't happen, if there were trafficked sex workers "all over the US", someone would have pointed a few by now. Chances are you'll find them in less public-facing businesses anyway. But busting those doesn't make moral crusaders feel quite as good.

tyingq 9y ago
Nope. I'm not. The spa owners may be "providers". The girls themselves are mostly not. See https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-25/across-us-many-illicit-massage-parlors-avoid-police-detection https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-25/across-us-many-illici... for one example. Another: http://www.columbusmonthly.com/article/20150507/LIFESTYLE/305079551 http://www.columbusmonthly.com/article/20150507/LIFESTYLE/30... Or this: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-girls/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-girls/ You'll find similar stories for every major US city. They are slaves lured here under false pretenses and/or sold to traffickers by their families. Generally they are forced to stay in the "spa" 24/7 paying off false debts that will never be paid off. I did mention this is mostly unrelated to Backpage. Edit: Downvote at will, but provide some evidence that the women working in Asian spas are there by choice. My whole rant was directed at GP's claim of " it is also apparently quite difficult to find actual trafficking victims". It isn't difficult. It's pretty clear that most of those places are benefiting from traffickers, thought I don't know what percentage of overall "sex for sale" they represent. That doesn't mean all (or even most) prostitution is related to trafficking. However, I stand by my claim that most Asian spas and massage parlors are mostly supported by trafficking. It isn't difficult to see, find, etc, in any major US city.
- Fins 9y ago
  I have seen quite a few of the same in Chicago as well. It is always hand-wringing over there being internet forums where johns review services, and a lot of assumptions that anyone engaged in prostitution obviously must be trafficked, or forced, or coerced, because surely nobody could ever possibly do it willingly.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    Sure. Not discounting there are girls that do this work willingly. Just that the Asian spas, for the most part, aren't in that category. They are a special case that does indicate traffickers exist and are prolific in the US. And they are likely not the only case. I believe there's a Russian/Ukrainian equivalent as well. Here's a pretty convincing story that Chicago (since you called it out) has this issue as well: https://medium.com/@markguarino10/a-victim-centric-approach-to-fighting-sex-trafficking-in-chicago-a547c26314a3 https://medium.com/@markguarino10/a-victim-centric-approach-... And it doesn't sound "difficult" to find or validate. You would have to believe there are women that want to live 24/7 in these strip mall dungeons on purpose, sleeping on massage tables, paying off inflated debts, to deny the trafficking angle.
    - Fins 9y ago
      Having lived there, I'll take hagiographies of Tom Dart with as many grains of salt as stories of a bright and promising young politician Rod Blagojevich. After all, he had been going against anything sex-related long before he had thought up the trafficking angle. You do realize that for any foreigner/legal resident caught giving happy endings in a parlor the options are either deportation (or at beast "moral turpitude" that makes naturalization basically impossible), or claiming to be a trafficking victim? Validating how many of them actually are is far more difficult than that.
      - tyingq 9y ago
        It seems more clear to me. Who chooses to live, eat, and sleep in a small strip mall sublet, sharing a room and one bathroom with 10+ other people of their own volition? Leaving the place almost never? What they say is less telling than how they live.

by Fins 9y ago

tyingq 9y ago

Nope. I'm not. The spa owners may be "providers". The girls themselves are mostly not. See https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-25/across-us-many-illicit-massage-parlors-avoid-police-detection https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-25/across-us-many-illici... for one example. Another: http://www.columbusmonthly.com/article/20150507/LIFESTYLE/305079551 http://www.columbusmonthly.com/article/20150507/LIFESTYLE/30... Or this: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-girls/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-lost-girls/ You'll find similar stories for every major US city. They are slaves lured here under false pretenses and/or sold to traffickers by their families. Generally they are forced to stay in the "spa" 24/7 paying off false debts that will never be paid off. I did mention this is mostly unrelated to Backpage. Edit: Downvote at will, but provide some evidence that the women working in Asian spas are there by choice. My whole rant was directed at GP's claim of " it is also apparently quite difficult to find actual trafficking victims". It isn't difficult. It's pretty clear that most of those places are benefiting from traffickers, thought I don't know what percentage of overall "sex for sale" they represent. That doesn't mean all (or even most) prostitution is related to trafficking. However, I stand by my claim that most Asian spas and massage parlors are mostly supported by trafficking. It isn't difficult to see, find, etc, in any major US city.

Fins 9y ago
I have seen quite a few of the same in Chicago as well. It is always hand-wringing over there being internet forums where johns review services, and a lot of assumptions that anyone engaged in prostitution obviously must be trafficked, or forced, or coerced, because surely nobody could ever possibly do it willingly.
- tyingq 9y ago
  Sure. Not discounting there are girls that do this work willingly. Just that the Asian spas, for the most part, aren't in that category. They are a special case that does indicate traffickers exist and are prolific in the US. And they are likely not the only case. I believe there's a Russian/Ukrainian equivalent as well. Here's a pretty convincing story that Chicago (since you called it out) has this issue as well: https://medium.com/@markguarino10/a-victim-centric-approach-to-fighting-sex-trafficking-in-chicago-a547c26314a3 https://medium.com/@markguarino10/a-victim-centric-approach-... And it doesn't sound "difficult" to find or validate. You would have to believe there are women that want to live 24/7 in these strip mall dungeons on purpose, sleeping on massage tables, paying off inflated debts, to deny the trafficking angle.
  - Fins 9y ago
    Having lived there, I'll take hagiographies of Tom Dart with as many grains of salt as stories of a bright and promising young politician Rod Blagojevich. After all, he had been going against anything sex-related long before he had thought up the trafficking angle. You do realize that for any foreigner/legal resident caught giving happy endings in a parlor the options are either deportation (or at beast "moral turpitude" that makes naturalization basically impossible), or claiming to be a trafficking victim? Validating how many of them actually are is far more difficult than that.
    - tyingq 9y ago
      It seems more clear to me. Who chooses to live, eat, and sleep in a small strip mall sublet, sharing a room and one bathroom with 10+ other people of their own volition? Leaving the place almost never? What they say is less telling than how they live.