Worcester Needs to Focus on Johns to Solve Prostitution Problems
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
Rather than spending the time and effort to arrest the johns (the people who are seeking out prostitutes for sex) and the pimps who are creating the demand for the prostitution market, the Worcester Police have made a consorted effort to arrest the prostitutes themselves, as made evident by the 157 arrested women as compared to the 14 males arrested for prostitution-related offenses in 2013.
“It is certainly cheaper for police to arrest the sellers, but there isn’t much evidence saying that it is efficient to do so,” said Michael Shively, founder of Demandforum.net, a Cambridge-based website that tracks actions against sex buyers across the US. “It may be more expensive and time consuming, but evidence shows that going after the buyers rather than the sellers helps to decrease the prostitution market in a given area. The buyers typically are deterred from prostitution after they are arrested while the prostitutes typically return to prostitution because that is how they make a living.”
While Worcester is clearly struggling to arrest the men involved in the prostitution circle, this represents a growing statewide trend. Of the 920 reported prostitution-related arrests in Massachusetts in 2013, nearly 70-percent were women. There are a few bright spots throughout the state, however, as cities like Lynn - who arrested 92 males and 55 females in 2013 – are clearly taking an increased effort to arrest men.
Culture Issues
While the men involved in prostitution are the ones that are creating a greater market, as there is an increased demand for prostitutes and their services, prostitution is typically viewed as a problem comprised of lower-class women offering themselves up for sex.
Because of this, when prostitutes are seen in a neighborhood, it is the women themselves that get much of the negative attention, not the johns driving by in their cars or the pimps lurking in the shadows.
{image_3}“Mass NOW believes that the commodity model of sexuality in our culture contributes to the inability of law enforcement officials to see the percentage of sex workers who are coerced into the sex industry as victims rather than perpetrators,” said Katie Prisco-Buxbaum, Vice President of Communications at Mass NOW. “We believe that the Human Trafficking law, passed in 2011, was a comprehensive and necessary step to provide advocacy and services for survivors of sex trafficking, while also working to erode some of the cultural perceptions around prostitution. Mass NOW will continue to fight against all forms of exploitation and violence against women to work towards our mission of advancing the status of women and girls in Massachusetts.”
Supply and Demand
Regardless of how many prostitutes are arrested in the city of Worcester, if the demand isn’t taken care of then there will always be those willing to sell their bodies for money.
It may be more expensive and time consuming to go after the johns – rather than a singular officer operating a sting against a prostitute, a much more complex and potentially dangerous sting is needed – but it is the only way to truly address the problem of prostitution in Worcester and beyond.
“More arrests does not always equate to a community getting rid of their prostitution problem,” said Shively. “Statistics point to arresting the johns as the best way to eliminate or reduce prostitution in a given area. The johns have a lot more deterrents; they typically have jobs, families, and other things that could be negatively impacted by a prostitution arrest. Because of this, johns typically do not go back to prostitutes after being arrested while evidence shows that women arrested will typically return to the profession because they don’t have anything to lose.”
Related Slideshow: MA Cities and Towns With the Most Prostitution Arrests
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