Sex In The Public Square - On teens and sex work and the problems of "saving" street kids - Comments

Judith Levine is a hero of mine

Elizabeth — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:22:06 -0700

Thanks for mentioning her book. I think we reviewed it somewhere on the site, or have at least mentioned it before in several posts. Sanity.

"Saving" sex and teens

Leon Symone — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:48:35 -0700

I saw this report a few days and I, too, questioned the underlying message and what it truly meant for teens, sex workers, and sex in general. Elizabeth, you brought up some excellent points!

Another book that I would recommend is Judith Levine's "Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting our Children from Sex". She argues that much of our strategies for preventing such misunderstood plights like teen pregnancies, online predators, and sexual trafficking are actually far more damaging to children than one would expect. She has a great section about teenage runaways who turn to prostitution for survival and youth groups that believe in realistic solutions instead of ideological ones.

Groups such as those held in District 202 in Minneapolis do not treat child/teen prostitutes/runaways as victims that need to be "saved." Instead, they provide counseling, condoms, and an environment where these kids can go for shelter, food, or support.

I also agree with Gemini Girl in terms of what survival prostitution actually means. It certainly reflects a society that is unable to provide essential needs to its fellow citizens. We often leave children out of that loop. But, if these kids have to make very adult choices about their situation, then it only seems reasonable to treat them as such, allow their choices some validation, and let them live their lives knowing that they are respected as human beings. You can't put an age or a price on that!

Claudine, thank you so much

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:22:21 -0700

Claudine, thank you so much for the links to your coverage and the additional details about the arrests. I'm so glad you are out there with Rethink Resources advocating for wiser policy and programs to support teens in a way that will help them rather than marginalize them further.

supporting marginalized youth

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:17:54 -0700

Gemini Girl, thank you so much for sharing your compassion and your experience here. I am so glad there are people with your sensibilities reaching out to teens who need support and not judgment.

I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote regarding the distinction between adults choosing sex trade work and teens doing the same, and I'm not convinced that our society sexualizes kids but I would agree that we fetishize youth in a way that may make younger and younger people seem attractive to adults. As you say, kids are sexual beings. I do see how the combination of a society that fetishizes youth and a population of young people on their own and seeking affirmation and basic surivival resources makes for a situation where teens lacking enough information, maturity and bargaining power will end up in dangerous situations.

I'm particularly struck by your last sentence:

When basic survival is the motivation behind sex work I believe it illustrates the deficits which exist in our society to support those who are at risk.

I'd expand on that to include all socially devalued or stigmatized or unreasonably dangerous work and not just sex work.

Sex work and teens

Gemini Girl — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:32:32 -0700

It is always interesting when headlines use words such as saved or saving. There is more than a hint of "look how wonderful we are, we saved children. Pat us on the backs and see how much we do for the collective you". I can only begin to imagine how much money was spent to save these 21 young people and what a dfference this same money could have made in their lives if it had been utilized differently.

I do not believe the words "teens and sex work" should be coupled. A teen/adolescent/youth still has much of the child within them. Adolescents are finding the balance between becoming adults (hence the phrase young adults) and responding to certain situations in the same way as when they were a child. Humans are sexual beings, but our society prematurely sexualizes its children. It concerns me when children (anyone under 16) has to resort to the sex trade in order to survive.

I have worked with marginalized youth and street kids for long enough to know few young people leave home because they don't like the rules or structure in the home. They leave because life at home is worse than the risks of living on the street.

I am frustrated that our society does not value children sufficiently to insure adequate support and programs are available to young people who can no longer live in the family home. Forcing anybody to do anything does not work. Youth who are survivors of abuse do not belong in the justice system, nor in a shelter. Adults often mistake the survival behaviors of youth as disfunctional or inappropriate and think the young person should be in residential "treatment". In my experience the young person is more likely to need a safe, warm, supportive living environment and possibly support as they recognize their survival behaviors may not be necessary anymore and are getting in the way of the next step in their life journey.

I also agree with your statement regarding meeting "...them where they are, finding out what they need, and offering services they will use while building trust and helping them form goals and make plans for meeting them." People solve their own problems, offering our solutions to another's experience is of no value. We need to respect the life experiences the youth brings with them and support them as they take the next step in their lives.

I have no issues with the sex trade, if the sex trade worker is an adult who has made an independent decision to enter into the transaction. When basic survival is the motivation behind sex work I believe it illustrates the deficits which exist in our society to support those who are at risk.

So true - "saving" does not work

Claudine O'Leary — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:33:42 -0700

I work with teens in the sex trade and it's definitely true that "rescues" are not helpful at all. I wrote about it in my blog too. http://www.rethinkresources.net/2008/06/25/ap-reports-345-arrested-kids-..., and http://www.rethinkresources.net/2008/06/26/local-reports-from-the-arrest...

I'll point out too that at least 290 of the arrests were of adult women (18 and over) who were charged with offering sex for money, and may possibly face federal charges if the feds believe they had any involvement with minors in the sex trade. They also arrested people offering money for sex in that number. Very few were charged with pimping offenses at all.

On teens and sex work and the problems of "saving" street kids

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:44:06 -0700

The story in last Thursday's New York Times began:

Twenty-one sexually exploited children have been saved from the streets, and 389 people arrested on charges of trafficking children for prostitution, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls the largest such multistate sweep ever, officials said Wednesday.

The five-day operation, this week and last, spanned 16 cities and involved hundreds of local, state and federal agencies in the work of rescuing missing children, many of them runaways, and identifying networks behind domestic child trafficking for the sex trade. (Susan Saulny, "Hundreds Seized in Sweep Against Child Prostitution" June 26 2008)

It continued: