Brothel in China

The U.S. Government is funding a bizarre study ostensibly being conducted on behalf of prostituted people. It is impossible to see how it is consistent with the U.S. Government’s anti-human trafficking policies and efforts. I have to thank Lisa Thompson, who spearheads the Salvation Army’s Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking in the U.S., for calling my attention to the issue. [Read more →]

The Washington Post has been advertising massage parlor ads consistently for at least 15 years. This advertisement for Hong Kong Spa appeared in the paper in 1994. The Washington Post also published a news article that described Hong Kong Spa as a sex trafficking location.

In my previous post, I referred to a policy report on “Paper Pimps,” describing advertisers for the commercial sex industry.  Paper pimps are the enablers of the sexual slavery and exploitation that occurs within the context of the broader industry.  Brothels disguised as massage parlors have been advertised in The Washington Post, which I learned through public postings online from the men who seek commercial sex, based on their reading of those advertisements in The Post.

During a meeting with representatives of The Washington Post’s Advertising Department in 2005, they said that if they knew there was illegal activity occurring in these “massage parlors,” they would take the advertisements down.  Did they know that journalists within The Washington Post have already reported on the illicit nature of these massage parlors advertised in their own paper? [Read more →]

Last year, I spoke with Nomi Levenkron, an attorney with the Israel-based Hotline for Migrant Workers that produced a policy report on “Paper Pimps.”  The report, supported by the European Union, presents research on the scope of sex trafficking in Israel and its enabling support structure, namely the advertisers of commercial sex operations, referred to as “paper pimps” for facilitating the exploitation of victims of sex trafficking.  It asserts the importance of freedom of expression, but the need to balance it with values for protecting other fundamental human rights.

During our conversation, I realized that I have come to know many American “paper pimps” quite well in the last seven years of work in the U.S. anti-trafficking movement.  My first introduction was to one I read every day:  The Washington Post. [Read more →]