Child Prostitution

They are just like everyone else. Yet, one thing separates them from others. Desperation, one might say, picks and chooses who will be the next victims of the Life.

She likes swimming, SpongeBob, Mexican food, writing poetry, getting her nails painted (light pink is her favorite color), and Harry Potter books (plus she thinks Daniel Radcliffe is “fine”).  This Christmas, she really an iPod but would settle for some sweat suits, preferably pink. Sometimes she’s petulant-pouting and sullen-but mostly she’s open and eager to be loved. When she smiles, huge dimples crease her chubby face and are capable, as she moves into awkward adolescence, of melting hearts. She’s much like any other eleven-year-old girl in America, except for one critical difference. Over the last year of her life, she’s been trafficked up and down the East coast by a twenty-nine-year-old pimp and sold nightly on Craigslist to adult men who ignore her dimples and her baby fat and purchase her for sex.  (Lloyd 1)

One might see another on the street and not know who that person really is. Pimps are shadows hiding behind a mask waiting to reveal their true identity; but only to those unfortunate souls who become their prey. “Pimps use a powerful combination of charm, flattery and attention to draw girls into a world of sex trafficking. These predators sniff out vulnerability, and typically prey on the most fragile, attention-starved girls who have had a rough life already” (Merritt and Thomas 2). There are so many lives ruined through trafficking, but the pimps and johns alike do not care who gets hurt through their actions. “Earlier this year, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes stated in its Global Report on Trafficking in Persons that 79 percent of all global trafficking is for sexual exploitation, one of the world’s fastest growing crimes. The report stated that the proportion of minors involved in the various forms of human-trafficking increased from about 15 percent to nearly 22 percent between 2003 and 2007. . .” (Guzder 2).  In America alone the rate of sexually exploited youth is staggering. People think that it does not happen here-that America the great cannot be reduced to such filth. “It is not known how many children are engaged in prostitution in the U.S. The FBI, in a March 2011 report, estimated that 293,000 American youths are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation” (Merritt and Thomas 3). Child prostitutes are victims to the alcohol/drugs, STD’s, and abuse; however some think they are choosing to do this for the money and attention.

Child prostitutes are often given drugs/alcohol so that they work up the nerve to do whatever the pimps want. “He encouraged her to drink and gave her drugs and began to bring her to the homes of his friends, ordering her to have sex with them” (Merritt and Thomas 1). When pimps first see their potential victims, they turn on the charm and flattery. “He was charming, showered her with attention and offered her drugs. She had sex with him. Before long, one night turned into a month. She considered him her boyfriend” (Merritt and Thomas 1). However, when pimps are caught in the act of sexual exploitation or drug dealing, they go to prison and learn from convicts charged with similar things. “On an average night, a Connecticut pimp can make anywhere from $250 to $1,500 per girl. . .’It’s so much more risk-free than dealing drugs”’ (Merritt and Thomas 3). Prostitutes are also told to ‘touch’ each other at clubs; after which drugs have been taken. Child prostitutes also drink so they might forget what happened to them the prior night. “Ginny, . . .Sheryl, Harlan, and Callie . . .had . . . testified that, in 2004, after ‘graduating’ from the kindergarten, they’d left Tyler, in Smith County, and had been taken by six men and women up the road to Mineola, in Wood County, to a swinger’s club, where they’d danced and touched one another’s privates onstage in front of two or three dozen grown-ups” (Hall 1). The girls get high to work up the nerve to force themselves to have sex with grown men. “Pimps manipulate and control the girls in two primary ways: They get them addicted to drugs or alcohol, or beat them, a brutal tactic known as ‘gorilla pimping”’ (Merritt and Thomas).

Grown men who buy sex from many children can STD’s and then infect the children. Children who run away from home can become unhealthy and catch various diseases. “’ One day, I saw him on the streets again,’ she says. ‘He looked very skinny and unhealthy”’ (Guzder 1). Perverts and pimps can find children and take away their virginity and in the process give them STD’s. Little kids can get HIV and other numerous STD’s from the careless people who exploit them. “Niran told Asipong he was sick, and had HIV/AIDS. The United Nations estimates that 1 percent of Thailand’s population is infected with the HIV virus-nearly three times the rate in the U.S. ‘When I last saw Niran in the hospital he told me that he wanted to be a good boy again,’ says Asipong. On August 22, 2009, Asipong attended Niran’s cremation ceremony in Konchanabuori, Thailand” (Guzder 1). Children are made false promises if they have sex with the buyer or his friends. Young kids can also easily fall prey to people who will sexually exploit them. “The trafficking and exploitation of children for sex is a global problem. UNICEF, the international nongovernmental organization for the protection of children, estimates that 1.2 million children and youth are commercially and sexually exploited each year worldwide” (Lloyd 10). The pimp will make promises of quick money, video games, or new clothes in exchange for sexual favors. “’There are groups of people who take advantage of children and sexually exploit them,’ says Asipong. ‘The children get tricked easily because of promises of quick money”’ (Guzder 1).

Child prostitutes regularly suffer abuse from their pimps, whether it be verbal abuse, physical abuse, or the children not following the rules; somebody will end up getting hurt. Pimps can and will frequently abuse the girls they are ‘caring’ for. They will verbally abuse their girls if the children think they are making money for themselves. “’Can I have my money back?’. . .’You not getting your money back!. . .’You making this money for me to take care of you “’ (Lustig 1). As one can see, if the girls ask for their money back, then they could get yelled at or even punched if the pimp is in a foul mood. Pimps will physically abuse the girls they sell. For example, if the child refuses to have sex with either pimp or john, the child could be gang-raped. “According to court documents. . .pimp, Corey Davis,. . . . became angry at one of his victims for becoming drunk on the job at a strip club. He sliced the top of her head to her shoulder with a box cutter, a wound that required 10 staples and eight stitches to close” (Merritt and Thomas 3). Also, prostitutes have to follow the rules or they will be beaten or they could be made the property of another pimp. Just walking on the sidewalk is a challenge for some girls.

When a girl is on the street and she sees a pimp on the sidewalk, she has to get off the sidewalk, into the street, and not make eye contact with him or talk to him. Otherwise, she is ‘out of pocket’ and has ‘caught a charge’. . . .That pimp has a claim on her and either her own pimp has to pay a fine or else she is now the property of the new pimp. She can also be put under ‘pimp-arrest,’ when a group of pimps surround a girl on the sidewalk and she has to squat, put her head down, and not speak or make eye contact until her own pimp comes to get her.  (Lustig 3).

In conclusion, child prostitutes are slaves of the Life that brings alcohol/drugs, STD’s, and abuse; however, some people believe that they choose this path for the money and attention. Even though child prostitution happens here in America, there are people who care about stopping it. “. . . . This past June, the Obama Administration expanded the U.S watch list of countries suspected of not doing enough to combat human-trafficking, putting more than four dozen nations on notice that they might face sanctions if their records don’t improve” (Guzder 2). The children are attention-starved and that makes them susceptible to predators. “After pimps home in on their targets, and turn on the charm, they typically begin to groom them and pretend to be their boyfriend or a protective figure, even urging the girl to call him ‘Daddy’” (Merritt and Thomas 2). There are a number of possible reasons to explain away why the children have turned to prostitution. The main thing is that they are desperate. Desperate for attention from a father figure or someone to love and care for them. Over the years, it has gotten so bad that they would rather be a child prostitute that to live without someone that cares for them.