2003 Conference

In prostitution, demand creates supply. Because men want women who are constantly sexually available, prostitution is assumed to be inevitable, and therefore normal. Trafficking, the transnational movement of women for the purpose of prostitution, supplies the demand for quantity and variety of women and girls in prostitution.

Who are the “johns,” those people who buy women and girls in prostitution? What do we know about them? Johns are average citizens rather than sadistic psychopaths. They are from all walks of life – doctors, judges, famous actors and CEOs, as well as construction workers, social workers, and travelling salesmen. Rich and poor, young and old, the men who buy the women and girls in prostitution are from every race/ethnicity in the world. Most are married. Women in prostitution report that about half of their customers demand sexual acts without a condom. One woman reported that as she was about to perform fellatio on a man in his Volvo, she heard a cry from behind her, turned around, and saw a year-old baby, strapped into a car seat.

Johns demand sexual acts where they have 100% control over what happens. They may, for example, want oral sex that their girlfriends refuse to perform, or they may want to be spanked and they are embarrassed to ask their wives to spank them, or they just want to get off with no emotional obligation. As one man put it, “it’s like going to have your car done.” Sometimes men in heterosexual marriages go to gay prostitutes – and don’t use condoms because planning to use condoms would impede their denial that they are bisexual or gay.

Johns’ capacity for denial is legendary. Against common sense, johns insist that prostitutes truly enjoy the non-relational, repetitive, rape-like sex of prostitution. One man told an interviewer that he visited a prostitute regularly in a Nevada brothel “in order to give her pleasure.” A predatory genius with a website posted articles about the medical benefits to women of breast massage, then claimed that his purchase of women in prostitution was promoting their health.

Johns are secretive, and it’s not easy to interview or research them. It is almost impossible to estimate how many men in the world have bought women for sex. Even where prostitution is legal, much of johns’ behaviors are hidden from public view. We can’t be sure how many men have used prostitutes. But it’s a lot, especially when you include bachelor parties (sometimes described as gang rape parties by prostitutes) and strip clubs (where women are prostituted in lap dancing). Estimates of the numbers of men who have ever purchased women in prostitution range from 16% - 80%. A conservative guess at the percentage of US johns is probably around 50% of all men. This includes purchase of trafficked women. Johns don’t ask for a “trafficked woman” in a massage parlor. We do know, however, that they often demand “something different,” which keeps up the demand for so-called “exotic” women.

Sexologists like Kinsey and Masters & Johnson worked from the 1940s through the 1970s, and articulated a prostitution-like sexuality for men and women that was enthusiastically promoted by Hefner and Hollywood. Most people learn about prostitution from movies such as Pretty Woman. While the women and girls may be pretty, the johns are not. According to one woman, “Prostitution wasn’t the fantasy full of well-adjusted, merely lonely men, attractive and charismatic, that we had all imagined. They were aggressive, needy, filthy and unwashed. They scammed us constantly….”

Our awareness about the harmful consequences of prostitution lags many years behind awareness of the harms of incest, rape, and domestic violence. We do know that violence against women is strongly associated with culturally supported attitudes that encourage men to feel entitled to sexual access to women, to feel superior to women, or to feel that they have license as sexual aggressors. Accepting prostitution as normal or inevitable male behavior justifies violence against women. It critical to understand the nature and origin of men’s attitudes and behaviors in prostitution: The relationship between men and women in prostitution is paradigmatic for the relationship between the sexes everywhere. This conference in Chicago, October 16-17, 2003, brings together activists, survivors of prostitution, lawyers, and researchers to challenge men’s demand for prostitution.

* Melissa Farley PhD is at Prostitution Research & Education, San Francisco.
Email: mfarley@prostitutionresearch.com
Website: www.prostitutionresearch.com
Phone 415-922-4555

This bibliography provides web links to materials that will help you understand the topic of our conference, "Demand Dynamics: The Forces of Demand in International Sex Trafficking."

Bibliography

Compiled by Ms. Heena Musabji
International Human Rights Law Institute College of Law, DePaul University

Corrections/additions to the bibliography should be sent to: ddchicago2003@yahoo.com

1. Banarjee, Upalla Devi. Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of the Girl Child: The Indian Scenario. Global March. http://www.globalmarch.org/child_labour_today/sexual_exp.php3

2. Barry, Kathleen. Female Sexual Slavery. New York: NYU Press, 1979.

3. Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: NYU Press, 1995.

4. Briere, J. and Runtz, M. "University Males' Sexual Interest in Children: Predicting Potential Indices of Pedophilia in a Nonforensic Sample." Child Abuse and Neglect. 1989; 13(1): 65-75.

5. Brooks, PhD., Gary R., The Centerfold Syndrome: How Men Can Overcome Objectification and Achieve Intimacy with Women, San Fransisco: Josey-Bass Publishers, 1995.

6. Bryant, Jennings. Testimony to the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. Houston, Texas. Hearing. 1985: 128-57.

7. Check, J. "Teenage Training: The Effects of Pornography on Adolescent Males." In: Lederer, L. and Delgado, R., eds. The Price We Pay: The Case Against Racist Speech, Hate Propaganda and Pornography. New York: Hill and Wang; 1995: 89-91.

8. "Child Prostitution; Curb Sex Slavery by Reducing Demand," The San Diego Union-Tribune. 9 Dec 2001.

9. Combating Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia: Guide for Integrating Concerns into ADB Operations, Asian Development Bank, Apr 2003, http://www.adb.org/Documents/Guidelines/Combating_Trafficking/Guide_Integrating_
Trafficking_Concerns.pdf.

10. Committee on Public Education, American Academy of Pediatrics. "Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media." Pediatrics. 2001; 107(1): 191-194.

11. Corne, S. and Briere, J. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 1992; 7(4): 454-461.

12. Cotton, Ann, Farley, Melissa & Baron, Robert (2002). "Attitudes toward Prostitution and Acceptance of Rape Myths". Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32 (9): 1790-1796.

13. Cotton, Ann, Farley, Melissa, & Schmidt, Megan (2001) "Prostitution Myth Acceptance, Sexual Violence, and Pornography Use." Presentation at Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco CA. 27 Aug 2001.

14. Davidson, Julia O'Connell. The Sex Exploiter: Theme Paper for the World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, U.S Embassy Stockholm, 27-31 Aug 1996, http://www.usis.usemb.se/children/csec/the_sex_exploiter.html.

15. Ekberg, Gunilla. (2003). Final Report. Nordic-Baltic Campaign against Trafficking in Women, 2002. Nordic Council of Ministers. See especially pp. 30-35; 69-79. http://www.nordicbalticcampaign.org.

16. Estes, Richard J., and Neil Alan Weiner, "The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children to the U.S, Canada and Mexico", U of Penn. 18 Sept 2001 (amended Apr. 2002), http://caster.ssw.upenn.edu/~restes/CSEC_Files/Complete_CSEC_020220.pdf.

17. Fact Sheet from Swedish Government Offices. (1998). Violence Against Women, Government Bill 1997/98:55. English summary of the Swedish Law prohibiting the purchase of sexual services. www.kvinnofrid.gov.se.

18. Factors that Contribute to the Trafficking of Women, Stop Violence Against Women, Minnesota Advocates of Human Rights, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/svaw/trafficking/explore/3factors.htm.

19. Farley, Melissa (2003) "Johns: prostituted women's accounts, social science anecdotes, but little research." Panel Presentation Prostitution: a Perspective on the customer's domination of women. 111th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association. Toronto, Canada, 28 Aug 2003.

20. Farley, M., Becker, T., Cotton, A., Sawyer, S., Fitzgerald, L., & Jensen, R. (1998) "The Attitudes toward Prostitution Scale: College Students' Responses Compared to Responses of Arrested Johns." 14th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, D.C., 21 Nov 1998.

21. Government of Sweden Web Site. Documents on National Swedish Campaign on Prostitution and Trafficking, Limited availability in English. http://naring.regeringen.se/fragor/jamstalldhet/kvinnohandel/kampanj.htm.

22. Hotaling, Norma and Leslie Levitas-Martin, Increased demand Resulting in the Flourishing Recruitment and Trafficking of Women and Girls: Relating Child Sexual Abuse and Violence Against Women, 13 HASTINGS WOMEN'S L.J. 117, (2002).

23. Hughes, Donna M, "Pimps and Predators on the Internet: Globalizing the Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children", The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. U of R.I., (1999), http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/pprep.pdf.

24. Hughes, Donna M., "The Demand: The Driving Force of Sex Trafficking", The Human Rights Challenge of Globalization in Asia-Pacific US: The Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, Globalization Research Center, U of Haw., 14 Nov 2002. Paper Presentation. http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/the_demand.

25. Hughes, Donna M., "Men Create the Demand; Women are the Supply", Lecture on Sexual Exploitation. Valencia, Spain, Nov 2002, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/demand.htm.

26. Hughes, Donna. "The Impact of the Use of New Communications and Information Technologies on Trafficking in Human Beings for Sexual Exploitation: A Study of the Users". Committee for Equality Between Men and Women, May 2001. http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/study_of_users.

27. Hughes, Donna. "The World's Sex Slaves Need Liberation, Not Condoms," The Weekly Standard. 21 Feb 2003.

28. Hynes, Patricia and Raymond, Janice G. Put in Harm's Way: The Neglected Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking in the United States, Policing the National Body: Sex, Race and Criminalization, 31 Jul 2002, http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/Put%20in%20Harm%5C%27s%20Way3.doc.

29. Itzin, Catherine. "Pornography and the Organization of Intra- and Extrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse in Kantor." In: Glenda Kaufman & Jasinski, Jana L., Out of Darkness: Contemporary Perspectives on Family Violence, Sage Publications, California, 1992.

30. Jeffreys, Sheila. The Idea of Prostitution. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press, 1997.

31. Katz, J. "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity: From Eminem to Clinique for Men". In Gail Dines and Jean Humez, Gender, Race and Class in Media, CA: Sage, 2002.

32. Kouvo, Sari. "The Swedish Approach to Prostitution", Dept. of Law, University of Goteborg, Sweden, http://www.penelopes.org/Anglais/xarticle.php3?id_article=21.

33. Loviglio, Joann. "Researchers: Go After Adults who abuse kids, not the children," Associated Press. 4 Dec 2001.

34. Malamuth, N. "New Research on the Harm of Pornography." Speech, Equality and Harm Conference, University of Chicago Law School. March 7, 1993.

35. Mansson. Sven-Axel. (2002). "Why Do Men Buy Sex?" NIKK Magasin (Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research), 1: pp. 22-25. Available at nikk@nikk.uio.no.

36. Marshall, W.L. "Pornography and Sex Offenders." In: Zillman, Dolf and Bryant, J., eds. Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1989: 203-10.

37. Phinney, Alison. "Trafficking of Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation in the America's." Inter-American Comission of Women and the Women, Health and Development Program, February 2002., http://www.planetwire.org/wrap/files.fcgi/2369_trafficking_paper.htm.

38. Raphael, Jody and Deborah L. Shapiro. Sisters Speak Out: The Lives and Needs of Prostituted Women in Chicago, A Research Study. Center for Impact Research, Aug. 2002. http://www.impactresearch.org/documents/sistersspeakout.pdf.

39. Raymond, Janice G. "10 Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution." 2003, Available at www.catwinternational.org

40. Raymond, J., Hughes, D. and Gomez, C. Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States: Links Between International and Domestic Sex Industries, Funded by the U.S. National Institute of Justice. N. Amherst, MA: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. 2001, Available at www.catwinternational.org.

41. Raymond, J., d'Cunha, J., Ruhaini Dzuhayatin, S., Hynes, H.P., Ramirez Rodriguez, Z., and Santos, A. A Comparative Study of Women Trafficked in the Migration Process: Patterns, Profiles and Health Consequences of Sexual Exploitation in Five Countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela and the United States). Funded by the Ford Foundation. N. Amherst, MA: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). 2002, Available at www.catwinternational.org.

42. Richard, Amy O'Neill. "International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime", Center for the Study of Intelligence, U.S. Department of Justice. Apr 2002, http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/trafficking.pdf.

43. Rudman, L.A., Borgida, E. "The Afterglow of Construct Accessibility: The Behavioral Consequences of Priming Men to View Women as Sexual Objects." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 1995; 31:493-517.

44. Schmidt, M., Cotton, A & Farley, M. (2000) "Men's Attitudes toward Prostitution and Self-Reported Sexual Violence." Presentation at the 16th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, San Antonio, Texas, 18 Nov 2000.

45. The Second World Congress on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, U.S. Gov. Report, Yokohama, Japan, 17-20 Dec. 2001, http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/2ndWrldCong.pdf.

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48. The Trafficking Project & Articles, Stiftelten Kvivvonoforum. Available at http://www.qweb.kvinnoforum.se/.

49. Villani, Susan, MD. "Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A 10-Year Review of Research." J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry. 2001; 40(4): 392-401.

50. Warburton, Jane. Theme Paper for the Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Prevention, Protection and Recovery, Yokohama, Japan, 2001. http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/child/congress01-r.html.

51. Willis, Brian M., Levy, Barry S. "Child Prostitution: Global Health Burden, Research Needs, and Interventions." The Lancet. 2002; 359: 1417-1422.

52. Wilson, Onnie. "Globalized Female Slavery." Said it: Feminist News, Culture and Politics. April 2002. http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/wilson-trafficking.html.

53. Wingood, Gina M., ScD, MPH, DiClemente, Ralph J., PhD, Harrington, Kathy, MPH, Davies, Suzy, DrPH, MPH, Hook, Edward W., III, MD, Oh, M. Kim, MD. "Exposure to X-rated Movies and Adolescents' Sexual and Contraceptive-Related Attitudes and Behaviors." Pediatrics. 2001; 107: 1116-1119.

54. Wyre, R., "Pornography and Sexual Violence: Working with Sex Offenders." In: Itzin, Catherine, Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

55. Zillman, Dolf. "Effects of Prolonged Consumption of Pornography." In: Zillmann, Dolf and Bryant, J., eds. Pornography: Research Advances and Policy Considerations. Hilsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1989: 147.

56. Zillmann, Dolf, Bryant, Jennings, Huston, Aletha C., eds. Media, Children, and the Family: Social Scientific, Psychodynamic, and Clinical Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1994.

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