Bunnies of Las Vegas remains passionate about the harmful effects pimp activity has in cities throughout the United States. We feel a strong sense of obligation to dispel myths about pimps in America. Unfortunately, many view the existence of pimps as a byproduct of illegal prostitution when they are in fact facilitators. Pimps are not solely recruiting legal adults into prostitution; children as young as twelve years old are being coerced into entrusting their well-being to psychologically controlling pimps.
“Child-sex traffickers create a living nightmare for their adolescent victims,” assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, Leslie Caldwell, said recently. “They use fear and force and treat children as commodities of sex to be sold again and again.”
A common misconception by the general public is that child-sex trafficking is an obscure underground network when, in fact, it involves pimps using entities such as backpage.com and social media sites to promote child prostitution. The same dishonorable pimps sending adult prostitutes onto America’s streets are in many cases simultaneously exploiting juveniles in the same manner.
How Can Reputable, Legal Adult Entertainment Businesses Do Their Part to Combat the Problem
Outcall entertainment referral services can and should take it upon themselves to impede illegal prostitution, especially in the area of the protection of children. It is responsible behavior and will assist local levels of law enforcement in their plight. Ways this is accomplished include:
- Absolutely refusing to work with any escort that has the slightest current or prior pimp association, regardless of her age
- Shunning unregulated online advertisers such as backpage.com as these serve as a catalyst for child-sex trafficking due to the fact they are not properly regulated
- Insisting on age-verification when contracting new escorts
Recent Efforts By Law Enforcement to Combat Child-Sex Trafficking
June 2014’s weeklong FBI sting targeting child-sex trafficking took place in over 100 U.S. cities and resulted in the rescue of 168 children and the arrests of 281 suspected pimps. The sting, labeled Operation Cross Country VIII, is the latest installment in a large battle to curb minors performing commercial sex acts under the direction of pimps.
The combined efforts of 54 FBI divisions, local law enforcement in 106 cities and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children yielded a significant number of juveniles being rescued. Sadly, this does not do enough to counter the larger problem of active pimps recruiting new children to prostitute for them.
According to John Ryan, the CEO and president of NCMEC, “Operation Cross Country reveals that children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day.”
Such cross-country efforts have succeeded in rescuing approximately 3,600 children and led to 1,450 convictions. Of these convictions, more than a dozen have resulted in individuals being handed down life sentences due to extensive federal charges.
Law Enforcement’s Efforts to Control Child-Sex Trafficking Remain Insufficient
As citizens applaud efforts by law enforcement to thwart child-sex trafficking, they must also champion more police efforts in our cities. While a major operation such as June’s Operation Cross Country brings this topic to the forefront, it is easily erased from the minds of many. A majority of Americans would rather not contemplate the staggering number of children being sexually exploited every day in America by unscrupulous pimps managing to evade legal ramifications.
Beyond Child-Sex Trafficking, Pimps Use Manipulation and Force to Control Adult Sex Workers
While the area of child-sex trafficking by pimps remains the most serious social issue in the realm of illegal sex-for-hire, a close second is the means by which pimps keep adult sex workers under their control. Vulnerable, often addicted, women fall prey to pimps because their basic needs and perceived needs are not being met elsewhere. Such needs can be as fundamental as food and shelter while other, more extrinsic motivators, such as drugs or the promise of copious amounts of money, exist.
Illegal sex networks remain steadfast and tragically unsafe with more women being directed by pimps to perform sex acts without condoms, under duress or in conjunction with other illegal activities such as drug sales and gang violence.
Bunnies of Las Vegas remains committed to holding its counterparts to the high standard of rebuffing the promotion of pimp activity by refusing to work with those having pimp affiliations. This includes keeping sites containing profiles of minors, such as backpage.com, afloat by doing business with them. Doing so is a big step in the right direction to stunt the growth of illegal prostitution and child-sex trafficking.