“Legalizing prostitution is a gift to Johns,” says Malarek

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“Legalizing prostitution is a gift to Johns,” says Malarek

Postby sam » Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:53 am

International
Men blamed for sex trade
Melissa Cupovic Mar 11, 2009

Every year, approximately two million people are bought, sold and illegally moved across and within national borders. They are then forced into a life of degradation and sexual exploitation. These individuals, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and young girls, are the victims of human trafficking.

According to the UN, human trafficking is the third most profitable illegal money-making venture in the world, earning an estimated 12 billion dollars per year. Last Wednesday, The Zonta Club of Kitchener-Waterloo hosted a lecture by Victor Malarek, a Gemini award-winning, investigative journalist and author, on the subject of trafficking women.

Malarek described the trafficking of women and girls as “a monumental human rights disaster,” one which “has yet to register as a priority for the vast majority of nations.” According to Malarek, there are many reasons for the explosion of the global sex trade, which include government corruption, the involvement of organized crime, the Internet, the ever-increasing demand from men for paid sex and the movement to legalize prostitution. However, “The key ingredients,” he explained, are “extreme poverty, criminal greed and the perverted sex drive of men.”

Trafficking is often the result of abduction, use of force, fraud, deception and violence. “Criminals know only too well how to employ weakness, and impoverished, desperate young women are easy prey,” said Malarek. Recruiters set up modelling agencies, newspaper ads and job fairs that, from the outside, look legitimate. They promise desperate women employment in foreign countries that will enable them to provide for their families. In hopes of attaining a better life in the West, women are lured into a life of abuse and sexual exploitation.

According to Malarek, recruiters themselves are sometimes trafficked women who are told, “You will be set free if you bring two or three in.” In certain cases, family, friends and even orphanages in countries like Romania and Moldova are involved in selling women to traffickers.

Malarek explained that although women have heard horror stories and are aware of the dangers of such agencies, ads and fairs, “They are willing to roll the dice out of sheer desperation.”

Once the women are captured, they undergo a process of “seasoning,” which ensures that they will be obedient to their keepers. They are threatened, beaten and drugged. Malarek said that trafficked women “live in constant fear as their abusers convince them that the authorities are in on the action.” From his own experience and investigation, Malarek has learned that often police are directly involved in trafficking, particularly in places like Greece, Israel, England and the United States.

According to Malarek, this problem will persist and grow until men realize that they are the problem: “It is men that are fuelling the explosion.” Malarek argued that ordinary men – fathers, husbands, CEOs, politicians, policemen, etc. – “are at the very root of trafficking.” If there is no demand there is no need for supply. Therefore it is men that hold the key to ending the trafficking of women.

Organizations are pushing for the legalization of the sex trade, arguing that it will help victims of trafficking. However, Malarek argued that legalization is a form of “harm reduction” rather than “harm elimination,” which would lead to an end. “Legalizing prostitution is a gift to Johns,” Malarek said. It is an invitation to rape and will only exacerbate demand. It will not empower women, as the message that it will convey is “that it is okay to buy and sell the bodies of women.” Prostitution according to Malarek “is not a job opportunity or an occupation but a lifelong jail sentence.”
"Your orgasm can no longer dictate my oppression"

Trisha Baptie
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