No Doubt About It--Sex Sells

Among all of the many topics under the umbrella of sex offender issues, I guess that sex trafficking has been fairly low on my radar, that is until I read this article about the need for increased police efforts in New Jersey between now and the Super Bowl to curtail the huge sex trafficking problem.

The most significant--and honest--statement from this article is, "There are scant statistics...over how much sex trafficking increases...." That is because it doesn't. Prostitution may increases, possibly; with more potential buyers, there will be more sellers. Look at the elements needed for "trafficking": a buyer, a seller, and, often, a middleman. How is that different from what has been the world's oldest occupation for thousands of years?

I am not downplaying the destructive lifestyle inherent in the sex trade. I have often said that the true victims were the prostitutes themselves, and I know that many young run-away teens get trapped in the lifestyle. But this isn't a new problem, and fancying it up in new language in order to get increased funding and federal grants and beef up police squads is dishonest, and using language and rhetoric that has parents terrified that their children will be snatched off the street and forced against their will to prostitute themselves is irresponsible journalism.

Now, if the real objective is to keep the specter of the "sex monster" and the need for an ever-increasing sex offender industry alive and well, then this article does a good job of that.