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05.07.08
CAASE Releases Research on Men Who Purchase Sex |
Read CAASE's research study on Chicago men who purchase sex by clicking HERE
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03.18.08
CAASE Posts A Response to the Elliot Spitzer Scandal |
From Rachel Durchslag:
Not long ago I was interviewed on a radio show about my organization's work towards ending the harms of sexual exploitation. In an attempt to show "both sides" of the issues the radio host had arranged for a 'john' to call in to express his love for prostitution and why it is beneficial to society.
This man, like Elliot Spitzer, purchased women in off street venues through escort services. Though disturbed by most of what this man had to say, what most disturbed me was when he described choosing the women as though "ordering from a catalogue".
The commodification of women has become so normalized and mainstream that the radio host didn't think anything off about this statement until I pointed out that people are not things to be bought and used like objects.
There are major words and concepts that are missing from the discussion about Sptizer's recent crime. The most glaring one is patriarchy. Were the sex trade an equal opportunity employer (exploiter?) then it would make sense that there would be equal numbers of men and women selling sex. But the truth is much different. It is overwhelmingly women who end up selling their bodies predominantly to men. As a society we have constructed this dangerous idea of masculinity as being entitled to sex. And that is why so many are excusing Sptizer's behavior- it's really just "boys being boys".
But is just a "male thing" to purchase the bodies of others? If so, why do so many men not buy sex? And why do so many of those who do have incredibly conflicted feelings about it? As one 'john' who I interviewed said, "I don't like to see women subjugate themselves to anything. But I use rationalization to justify my use of prostitutes."
Another concept missing from the debate is an expanded understanding of why Spitzer's actions were wrong. Yes, he crusaded against corruption and helped bring down organized crime so his actions illuminate his hypocrisy. Yes, he has a wife and family and has brought major pain into their lives. But what about the injustice surrounding Sptizer's feelings that not only is it his right to purchase a human being's body but that he can use the bodies that he has purchased to live out sex acts which accounts have implied were sometimes physically harmful to the women?
We can get lost in debates about legalization or the difference between those who "choose" to be in the sex trade and those who end up selling sex out of survival needs. But this is dangerous for a couple of reasons:
1. It sets up a false dichotomy between "safe" prostitution, or prostitution that occurs behind closed doors, and "dangerous" prostitution, or prostitution that occurs on the street. Research nation-wide has consistently found that there is no such thing as safe work in the sex trade. Physical and psychological harm occur at similar rates irrespective of where the sex act is being sold.
2. Prostitution is not simply an interaction between two people. It is a system or an institution that is based on making money. It is a system that recruits young girls and people with limited resources and often histories of sexual abuse. In the United States the average age of entry into the sex trade is twelve. Can we really say prostitution is a victimless crime when the majority of those in it start as children, experienced childhood sexual abuse, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and experience physical harm at the hands of customers? If prostitution is such a victimless crime then why are women in the sex trade ten times more likely to be murdered?
There are two paths of activism that might emerge from the Spitzer case. The first is a push towards legalization, something that has not worked in other countries and has actually served to increase the number of women and children trafficked illegally into the sex trade. The second is moving towards the acknowledgement of how the sex trade harms those in it, those buying, and us as a society as a whole. By using this opportunity as a starting off point to have these important conversations we can transform a very unfortunate situation into an opportunity to work towards a culture that does not accept, and is free from, commercial sexual exploitation.
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02.21.08
CAASE Releases A College Took Kit to Fight Pimp N Ho Parties |
As the sex trade continues to be glamorized in mainstream culture, parties that celebrate prostitution are growing in popularity. Titled Pimp N Ho Parties, these parties allow party attendants to dress up as racist stereotypes of individuals in the sex trade while ignoring the very real devastating aspects of prostitution for those in it. CAASE intern Erica Rioux has created a powerful took kit to help social justice college groups take action against these parties.
Download a copy of this kit here, and please send along to potential interested groups! |
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11.09.07
Human Trafficking Video Featuring Emma Thomspon |
The Helen Bamber Foundation has created an excellent public awareness public service announcement featuring Emma Thomspon titled "I am Elena". Watch it at the link below and forward it on to your friends.
http://www.helenbamber.org/IAmElena.html
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08.16.07
Jody Raphael releases her third book in her trilogy on violence against women |
Jody Raphael has released "Freeing Tammy", the third book in her series on violence against women (her first two books were "Saving Bernice" about domestic violence and "Listening to Olivia" about violence in the sex trade).
To purchase this book for 25% off (or 30% off all of Jody's three titles) click on www.upne.com and type in the code DMO11.
To see the flyer for the book click here.
Description:
Tammara (Tammy) Johnson is an African-American woman in her fifties, an ex-addict with a 19-year heroin habit and a felony record, who works as the job development trainer for an in-patient drug treatment program in south suburban Chicago. Raised in a middle-class family, Tammy left home early because she could not live up to parental expectations. She turned to drugs and crime and was eventually incarcerated for selling drugs.
This book, based on extensive interviews with Tammy and family members, shows the detrimental effects of incarceration on an already abused woman and illuminates Tammy's efforts to release herself from the literal and figurative prisons of abuse, addiction, crime, fear, and hopelessness.
Raphael uses the transit of Tammy's life--from childhood trauma to adult rehabilitation--to investigate the linkages between childhood sexual assault and domestic violence with women's drug addiction and then with crime. She uses Tammy's own words to demonstrate how childhood sexual assault and violence can make women poor and how dysfunctional coping strategies keep them poor. Tammy's story is a reminder that violence against women and girls economically impoverishes them by trapping them in addictions leading to crime and other self-destructive activities. |
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03.30.07
CAASE Awarded a "What Will It Take" Grant |
CAASE was awarded a "What Will It Take" grant from the Chicago Foundation for Women to complete our research on men who purchase sex. We are incredibly grateful for the support of CFW. Learn more about their "What Will It Take" campaign at: www.whatwillittake.org. |
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