Financiers and Sex Trafficking (Goldman Sachs)

[MattSh]

THE biggest forum for sex trafficking of under-age girls in the United States appears to be a Web site called Backpage.com.

This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution — is in turn owned by an opaque private company called Village Voice Media. Until now it has been unclear who the ultimate owners are.

That mystery is solved. The owners turn out to include private equity financiers, including Goldman Sachs with a 16 percent stake.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/kristof-financers-and-sex-trafficking.html?hp

Call me not surprised by this, unfortunately.

[crunch60]

1. I think Erik Holder thinks the persuit of medical marijuana smokers takes

precedence over almost everything.. He is not big on punishing his corporate overlords.

[Kevin Spidel]

2. So the real question is...

Have a big site like this with lots of traffic that works with cops to report crimes? Or make it go away and the sex workers fall into the dark shadows and "best of luck" with that?

It is a legitimate question. Just curious the thoughts here?

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. You want to minimize the size of the criminal class to reduce hiding spaces.

If somebody goes to a brothel and sees something really evil going on, you want them to be able to report it to police without indicting themselves for going to the brothel.

[Kevin Spidel]

6. so off the question...

I asked about protection of the provider and you went into criminal activity of "evil doing" which is straight up Bush language. So I am confused! I am here in my fellow DU land right? I didnt go freeper did I?

[napoleon_in_rags]

8. I take it English is not your first language.

You asked about what solution is best. Napoleon in Rags said, focus on worst crimes, so people doing minor crimes aren't afraid to report worst crimes. Sexually exploiting minors is evil, that's bipartisan language.

[Ecumenist]

4. Goldman Sachs, REALLY?? Disgusting and a damn shame.

[fasttense]

5. It's involved in sex trafficking

"This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution."

From the link:

"There’s no doubt that many escort ads on Backpage are placed by consenting adults. But it’s equally clear that Backpage plays a major role in the trafficking of minors or women who are coerced. In one recent case in New York City, prosecutors say that a 15-year-old girl was drugged, tied up, raped and sold to johns through Backpage and other sites."

"Village Voice Media makes some effort to screen out ads placed by traffickers and to alert authorities to abuses, but neither law enforcement officials nor anti-trafficking organizations are much impressed."

"In Washington State, the governor signed a bill into law on Thursday that could expose Backpage to criminal sanctions if it advertises under-age girls for sex without verifying their ages."

"That said, for more than six years Goldman has held a significant stake in a company notorious for ties to sex trafficking, and it sat on the company’s board for four of those years."

"There are no easy solutions to sex trafficking. I think the most important single step is for prosecutors to focus more on pimps and johns. Closing down the leading Web site used by traffickers would complicate their lives, and after so many years of girls being trafficked on this site, it’s time to hold owners accountable."

It's the use of children and coercion that is what is so awful. It seems that allowing them to police themselves has created a nice little safe haven for sex traffickers and a business opportunity for Goldman Sacks. Self regulation never seems to work.

[Kevin Spidel]

7. is it that black and white? I think not...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/mar/26/nick-kristof-anti-sex-trafficking-crusade

Oh and this...

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/25/the_backpage_dilemma/singleton/

[redqueen]

9. Color me not surprised by the effort to make it legal.

As if that would stop men from wanting to find ways to buy sex from underage girls, and stop them from being forced to participate as the supply in this sickening 'industry'.

So that can't be what it's really about, can it? The people arguing that fighting this problem would actually make it worse would seem to have some kind of an agenda.

[Noodleboy13]

10. This does not suprise me, however..

Human trafficking is evil, and underage, forced or coerced prostitution is disgusting. That said, there is reason to believe that the scope of he problem has been overblown. City Pages, a twin cities paper owned by Village Voice, which has Backpage ads on their site, ran this article a year ago.

http://www.citypages.com/2011-03-23/news/women-s-funding-network-sex-trafficking-study-is-junk-science/

The gist of the rather long article is that the methodology used to come up with the "thousands" of trafficked minors was grossly flawed. They also went on to note that very little of the federal funding received was used for actual anti-child prostitution work; most went to 'administrative' costs.

On a more personal note, my best friend has an ad on Backpage (massage) and she makes a tidy living. Recently, apropos of nothing, she paid for my cat's booster shots. (I'm currently unemployed)

Again, I'm in no way advocating or justifying sex trafficking, but I think that rational discussion and accurate research will better solve the problem.

peace,
Noodleboy

[redqueen]

11. On the contrary... I think we've barely even begun to scratch the surface.

Last edited Sun Apr 1, 2012, 07:27 PM - Edit history (1)

http://villagevoicepimp.com/

[Noodleboy13]

12. City Pages has another article about this

Again, it is a Village Voice paper, and they are very aware of he conflict of interest, so they have gone out of their way to eliminate bias.

http://www.citypages.com/2011-11-02/news/lost-boys-new-research-demolishes-the-stereotype-of-the-underage-sex-worker-mdash-and-sparks-an-outbreak-of-denial-among-child-sex-trafficking-alarmists-nationwide/

Again, the article is rather long, but basically a pair of New York sociologists worked through interviews to determine the scope of child prostitution in NYC.

a quick excerpt:
Nearly half of the kids—about 45 percent—were boys.
Only 10 percent were involved with a "market facilitator" (e.g., a pimp).
About 45 percent got into the "business" through friends.
More than 90 percent were U.S.-born (56 percent were New York City natives).
On average, they started hooking at age 15.
Most serviced men—preferably white and wealthy.
Most deals were struck on the street.
Almost 70 percent of the kids said they'd sought assistance at a youth-service agency at least once.
Nearly all of the youths—95 percent—said they exchanged sex for money because it was the surest way to support themselves.
In other words, the typical kid who is commercially exploited for sex in New York City is not a tween girl, has not been sold into sexual slavery, and is not held captive by a pimp.
Nearly all the boys and girls involved in the city's sex trade are going it alone.

That last line really chokes me up. These kids are alone and feel they have no options.

peace,
Noodelboy

[redqueen]

13. 55% are female, but the "typical" person selling sex on the street is not a "tween girl".

I don't even want to waste one more minute trying to figure out what the spin they used there is intended to do.

[Noodleboy13]

14. Personally, I think a lot of it is tied to homelessness

I was talking to a friend who worked with homeless youth here in Mpls, and she said that a majority of the kids on the streets here were basically kicked out of their homes for being gay, or they fled abuse.

As far as children being forced or coerced into prostitution goes, most everything I've read about here in the Twin Cities has been gang related.

Either way, it is terribly sad.

peace,
Noodleboy

[callista]

16. City Pages is Rubbish

The article in City Pages is pure rubbish, and anyone with the slightest background in stats or research would recognize it. These guys interviewed TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY kids. Period. Seem kind of low for a research study? It is so low, no one would take it seriously, which is why the writer had to drag someone out of a second-rate school in VA for corroboration. They claim to have "metrics" which allowed them to extrapolate this data to thousands of underage sex workers (which they claim, for reasons unknown to be 3946). They don't explain how they did this and there's a good reason for this - it's not scientifically valid by any measure. The author attempts to validate this nonsense by claiming that the Dept of Justice used their data. But his link leads back to.... City Pages. The article and the point-by point list of findings are pure rubbish.

But I sure agree - there are a lot of kids out there who need help. And they are not getting it from the Village Voice or City Pages, who attempt to cover their work with nonsense like this and the bile the Voice produced today.f

[callista]

17. City Pages is Rubbish 2

"Again, it is a Village Voice paper, and they are very aware of he conflict of interest, so they have gone out of their way to eliminate bias. " Are you aware that the Village Voice was sold to a media company several years ago? And that writers left in droves because they were pressured to become more "mainstream?"
The Village Voice is not attempting to be unbiased. They are attempting to destroy the reputation of a fine journalist and save their hides.

I reread the City Pages article, in case I had been biased. I was even more appalled. This is self-reported information. What would anyone expect a kid to say? "Yes I am owned by a pimp and his address is XXX 5th Avenue? His name is Harold, would you like to meet him?" Of course they are not going to implicate anyone they are afraid of. What nonsense.

Again. I care about these kids. But help for these kids does not mean running their contacts in rags like City Pages or in supporting those publications.

[Noodleboy13]

18. If you could point me in the direction of an academic study

you feel is statistically and methodologically sound, I would greatly appreciate it.

And for what it's worth, the City Pages have had some very good articles lately, such as the recent one on the stadium debate, or a few weeks ago about the overreach of police databases.

They're movie reviews are pretentious though.

peace,
Noodleboy

[callista]

20. City Pages/Academic Study

I will do that. There are very, very few, for obvious reasons - but two or three are based on actual data, not self-reported stories from paid participants extrapolated to an enormous population.

While I was searching, I noticed something interesting. This "Study Shatter the Myth of Sexpolitation of Young Girls" meme appears in nearly every single one of Village Voice Media publications. Really creepy. It's as if this corporation deliberately latched on to this concept to steer people away from a more controversial and disturbing reality. They sure wanted to make sure the word got out. There is virtually no evidence that they covered other studies (one which included 17 cities), which did not come to the same conclusions.

Beyond the studies, I think you are right - I think a lot of these kids are runaways and they were runaways because their homes lives (gay or not gay) were intolerable.

I think some of the City Rags have decent stories, but I'm just not supporting publications paid for by porn or prostitution. I'm not against sex workers who chose that life, but it is hard for me to believe that is the case for many people and it is undeniable that kids are exploited, whether Backpages admits it or not.

[Noodleboy13]

21. Thank you for taking me seriously

I too, shall look (I've got some free time) and if I find anything i will be sure to post it.

Unfortunately, I think this is a topic that has gone unexplored academically; it would be helpful to get some real understanding of the scope of the problem.

It's late here, and I'm tired, so if I sound brief or dismissive I apologize.

peace,
Noodleboy

[Boops]

15. Actually, that's only one thing they do

I use backpage all the time. There's only one section for adult services. It's a classified ad site not unlike Craigslist. This post and the article you link to are totally disengenous. What a bullshit OP this is.

Furthermore, the vast, vast majority of the escorts are of legal age. In fact, I'd say all of them are. No one in their right mind would actually put an underage escort ad up on backpage. I've never seen a girl on there that was underage.

[Odin2005]

19. Why am I NOT suprised?

[yurbud]

22. it would be ironic if this was the thing that finally forced Obama to cut ties with

these economic terrorists.

Destroying the world economy through intentional fraud and malice is one thing, but anything to do with SEX is quite another.