A US Navy lieutenant commander has pleaded guilty to accepting cash, hotel expenses, and "the services of a prostitute" in return for handing over classified information. 

Todd Dake Malaki pleaded guilty in federal court today to bribery charges. He allegedly accepted the bribes in return for providing classified naval ship schedules to a defence contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), according to a press release from the Department of Justice. 

“Another Navy officer has now pleaded guilty and admitted to taking bribes to reveal classified military information to a major supplier,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell has said. 

“It is both troubling and disappointing how many Navy officers we have exposed as willingly falling prey to GDMA’s corruption, and our investigation remains active and ongoing.  Those who serve in our nation’s military must uphold the public’s trust or pay the consequences for their crimes.”

Malaki has admitted to receiving the equivalent of $15,000 in benefits from GDMA since he began providing information to Leonard Glenn Francis, the former CEO and president of GMDA. In return for envelopes of cash, stays in luxury hotels in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tonga, and "the services of a prostitute," Malaki gave Francis Navy ship schedules and invoice information on GMDA rivals. 

A total of eight individuals within the Navy have so far pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from GDMA in exchange for information. 

Francis pled guilty in January 2015 to providing members of the Navy with over $500,000 in bribes, luxury travel, entertainment, and the services of prostitutes.

SEE ALSO: There's an embarrassing bribery and prostitution scandal still looming over the US Navy

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A top US Navy lieutenant commander just became one of the highest-ranking military officials ensnared in the "Fat Leonard" bribery scandal.

On April 15, Todd Maliki admitted "that he accepted cash, hotel expenses and the services of a prostitute in return for providing classified US Navy ship schedules and other internal Navy information to an executive of a defense contracting firm," according to a Department of Justice press release. 

Maliki became the eighth person to plead guilty to accepting favors from a US Navy contractor called Glenn Defense Marine Asia, making him one of the highest-ranking military officials to be convicted in the lurid scandal that defrauded the US military of $20 million and resulted in the demotion, conviction, censure or punishment of nearly a dozen officials. 

The bribery scandal involves a Singapore-based naval company run by Leonard Glenn Francis, which provided various logistical and port-related services for American military vessels operating in Asia. As James Weirick, a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and judge advocate general explained in an article for Task and Purpose, "Fat Leonard" eventually "admitted to providing Navy officials with millions of dollars in gifts and expenses, including luxury travel, $500,000 in cash, and prostitutes."

The bribery paid off handsomely for Francis — at least until the law caught wind of it. "Francis received confidential ship schedules for the Navy’s 7th Fleet, along with pricing information about bids submitted by competitors," Weirick recounts. He used this information to snag additional contracts for Glenn Defense Marine Asia and overcharge US taxpayers by some $20 million — although "Fat Leonard" and his company had to forfeit $35 million after the fraud was exposed. Francis pleaded guilty to a variety of bribery related charges in January.

Still, Weirick argues that the Navy's inability to punish anyone at the general officer level reveals a disturbing degree of impunity at the US military's top ranks. The admirals who oversaw officers implicated in the scandal — and a few who even admitted to accepting favors from the company — haven't received any serious punishment, and a few top officers were allowed to remain in their positions and keep their rank despite having their security clearances suspended.

Malaki's guilty plea — which stems from bribes accepted in 2006 — shows that justice is at least being meted out to some of the US military's guilty parties, even if it isn't being distributed evenly. It also gives an idea of just how serious the "Fat Leonard" scandal really is.

A high-ranking officer sold sensitive US national security information in exchange for money and other, even more ephemeral benefits. This suggests an uncomfortable closeness between military contractors and the US officers they supposedly service, as well as alarming gaps in basic oversight.

The scandal implicated some of the highest-ranking officials in the Navy — including the former superintendent of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, a vice admiral who received a censure after admitting to accepting bribes from "Fat Leonard." According to Defense News, as many as "three-dozen flag officers" were under federal investigation for their connections to the scandal as of this past February.

It's a remarkable degree of institutional damage for a single, corrupt defense contractor to inflict. And it suggests that the worst aspects of the "Fat Leonard" scandal far go beyond the exchange of "the services of a prostitute" for US national security secrets.

SEE ALSO: There's an embarrassing bribery and prostitution scandal looming over the US Navy

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Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is expected to resign "soon,"CBS News reported Tuesday. 

A representative for the DEA declined to comment to Business Insider on the report. According to CBS, Leonhart has led the agency since 2007.

If true, the resignation would come in the aftermath of a series of highly embarrassing reports involving DEA agents participating in "sex parties" with prostitutes paid by drug cartels. The alleged parties were revealed last month in an explosive inspector general report on sexual misconduct by Department of Justice employees.

The alleged "sex parties" took place in Bogota, Colombia, as far back as 2001, another report said. 

"This new internal report describes not one or two isolated incidents, but literally dozens of parties with prostitutes," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) said at a hearing grilling Leonhart last week, according to Reuters.

The inspector general accused supervisors of not doing enough to report and end the behavior once it became known to them. The original report also accused the agents of creating "security risks" by allowing the prostitute parties to occur around sensitive government equipment. (According to complaints, the parties were "loud.")

"In particular, the Inspector said that she explained to [Office of Professional Responsibility] management that the fact that most of the 'sex parties' occurred in government-leased quarters where agents' laptops, BlackBerry devices, and other government-issued equipment were present created potential security risks for the DEA and for the agents who participated in the parties, potentially exposing them to extortion, blackmail, or coercion," the report said.

The agents involved "should have known" the parties were funded by the drug cartels, the report said.

"Although some of the DEA agents participating in these parties denied it, the information in the case file suggested they should have known the prostitutes in attendance were paid with cartel funds. A foreign officer also alleged providing protection for the DEA agents' weapons and property during the parties," it said. "The foreign officers further alleged that in addition to soliciting prostitutes, three DEA SSAs [special agents] in particular were provided money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members."

Other troubling allegations were also detailed in the inspector general report. In another case involving prostitutes, DEA agents frequently attended a brothel, and a prostitute was allegedly assaulted after a payment disagreement.

"We found that a Regional Director, an Acting Assistant Regional Director (AARD), and a Group Supervisor failed to report ... repeated allegations of DEA Special Agents (SA) patronizing prostitutes and frequenting a brothel while in an overseas posting, treating these allegations as local management issues," the report said. "It was also alleged that one of the subjects in the supervisors’ group assaulted a prostitute following a payment dispute."

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About a dozen women arrested over the weekend in a Honolulu prostitution sting at massage parlors won't be charged with prostitution. Instead, they face the more severe charge of sex assault.

If convicted, the women would have to register as sex offenders and could spend up to a year in jail, while a prostitution charge carries just 30 days.

The new tactic from the Honolulu Police Department is extremely unusual for a law enforcement agency, said legal experts and advocates for prostitutes.

"As advocates, we're really appalled by what law enforcement has been doing in using this unprecedented approach," said Kathryn Xian, executive director of Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery. "Why didn't they arrest the johns or the owners of the property?"

"HPD worked with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations to conduct an undercover operation in response to numerous complaints of prostitution activity and unlicensed cosmetology and massage businesses," she said in a statement. "The operation resulted in more than a dozen arrests as well as several citations. Details of the cases will come out in court."

Hawaii has a strange history with prostitution investigations. Until a year ago, police officers were legally allowed to have sex with prostitutes as part of investigations, an unusual policy that state lawmakers changed last year after The Associated Press highlighted the law. The state is also the last in the nation without a law against sex trafficking, which the Legislature is trying to fix this year.

The standard way police investigate prostitution is to engage in a conversation to agree on a sex act and a price, said Kenneth Franzblau, former anti-trafficking director with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. If that doesn't happen, there's no arrest.

Prostitutes know not to have that conversation, and now that prostitutes in Hawaii know police can't have sex with them, police are trying to get around that difficulty, said an attorney representing some of the women, Myles Breiner. In at least one instance at a massage parlor called Orchid Relaxtion, Breiner said, an officer disrobed, took the woman's hand and put it on his genitals.

A woman who answered the door at Orchid Relaxation on Wednesday declined to comment. At neighboring China Doll Spa, where some arrests took place, there was no answer.

The sex assault charges don't require the proof of a plan for money to be exchanged — just evidence the woman touched someone's genitals without consent.

Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations in Washington, D.C., said while the tactic of charging prostitutes with sex assault is unusual, it could be Honolulu's way of adapting to sex workers' knowledge of how undercover officers make arrests.

"In fairness to the Police Department, it may be the type of thing where ... the alleged criminals modify their activity. So it may be the type of thing where an alleged prostitute may know, 'If I talk about sex for money I'm going to get arrested,'" he said.

Yu said Wednesday that even before the law was changed, officers weren't having sex with prostitutes. Police last year asked lawmakers to retain the exemption as a way to keep secret the methods of undercover officers but assured lawmakers that officers do not abuse the protection and that strict internal rules prevent misconduct.

For many of the women, arrest logs list their home addresses as the same as the businesses where they were arrested, which is an indication the women were trafficked, Xian said. A sex assault charge "completely disrupts the trust we've fostered over the last several years with law enforcement," Xian said. "It also sends the message to the victims that they can never ever look to law enforcement for help."

Sex trafficking is a very serious issue, Yu said, and Honolulu police will work with federal authorities to "identify victims and get them the services that they need."

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In SuperFreakonomics, we profiled a high-end escort whose entrepreneurial skills and understanding of economics made her a financial success.

We call her Allie, which is neither her real nor professional name.

There was so much interest in Allie after the book came out that she agreed to field reader questions on the blog.

They are paraphrased below, along with Allie's answers.

Q. Can you tell us how you became an escort, and what your family thinks — or knows — about your occupation? 

A. My parents don't know about my work, or anything else about my sex life. I was a programmer when I decided to quit my job and become an escort.

I was single and meeting people through a popular dating website.

Finding someone "special" proved to be difficult, but I did meet many nice men.

I had grown up in a repressive small town and I was, at that time, looking to understand my own sexuality.

I have never attached my self-worth to some idea of virginity or monogamy, but I still had not really explored many of my desires. I was meeting people living alternative lifestyles, and, as I got to know them, the stereotypes that I had built up started to come apart. During this time I was in my mid-twenties, and I had an active sex life.

One day I decided to enter the occupation of "escort" on an online instant messaging profile. Within seconds I had many responses, and after about a week of talking to a few people, I decided to meet a dentist at a hotel. The experience wasn't glamorous or nearly as sexy as I thought it might be.

However, I came away from the experience thinking, "It wasn't bad." I began to think that if I just had one appointment a month, I could pay my car loan with it, and have a little extra money. Eventually, I chose to work as an escort exclusively.

At that time, the reason I gave up my programming job was the free time. I was caring for a family member with a serious illness—the free time and money was a huge benefit. 

Q. Do you have any moral problem with what you do?

A. I do not have a moral problem with having sex for money, as long as it's safe, and between consenting adults. However, I have always been concerned about how the social and legal issues may affect my future and the people that I love.

Q. What kind of clients do you have?

A. My clients are generally white, married, and professional males, between forty and fifty years old, with incomes over $100,000 a year. They tend to be doctors, lawyers, and businessmen looking to get away for a few hours in the middle of the day.

Q. How many of your clients are married men?

A. Almost all of my clients are married. I would say easily over 90%. I'm not trying to justify this business, but these are men looking for companionship. They are generally not men that couldn't have an affair [if they wanted to], but men who want this tryst with no strings attached. They're men who want to keep their lives at home intact.

Q. What do your clients' wives know or think about them coming to you? 

A. I rarely got the opportunity to find out if the wives were okay with it, but I did see several couples, so I assume they were okay with it.

Q. Do you know the real names of your clients?

A. Yes. Always. I insist that they give me their full names and their place of work so that I can contact them there before we meet. I also check their identification when we meet. I also use verification companies, which assist escorts in verification of clients.

These companies do the verification of the client and put them in a database so that when the client wants to meet with a girl for the first time, he doesn't have to go through the verification process again. For a fee, I can call in and they will tell me if the client has a history of giving the girls problems, where he works, and his full name.

Q.What are your out-of-pocket costs?

A. $300 to $500 a month for my online basic ads 

$100 a year for the website

$100 a month for a phone

$1,500 a year for photography

If I was touring then there were extra expenses such as travel costs, hotels, and more advertising costs.

Q. Do you have any regrets about your chosen profession? 

A. Being an escort provided me with many opportunities that I'm not sure I would have gotten if I had not been an escort. That said, my choice to become an escort had a definite cost associated with it beyond the advertising, photos, and websites.

I believe it is close to impossible to have a healthy relationship while working. So it can be a lonely life. In addition, hiding my job from my friends and family proved to be difficult for many reasons.

Q. How do you think prostitution would change if it were legalized? Would you want your own child to become a prostitute?

A. If the social and legal ramifications were gone, I think that being an escort might be like being a therapist (I have never been a therapist, so my knowledge is obviously limited). Like most escorts, a therapist sells his or her skills by the hour.

A therapist also has to meet people for the first time not knowing who is walking in the door. Many have their own offices and work alone. In addition, the session is generally private and requires discretion. I imagine that many times therapists have patients that they like and some they don't. A therapist's revenue, like almost all other occupations, probably increases if the client feels that the therapist likes them.

I don't mean to imply that I have the skills of a trained therapist, or to in any way demean what they do; I'm just observing some obvious similarities. If I had a child, I would hope that they would feel empowered, and have the opportunity to do whatever they desire to do, and that they would be in charge of their own sexuality.

This job has its downsides, though, and can take a high toll on a person. I know that it's made many aspects of my life and my relationships more difficult. So, like any parent, I would always want more for my child than I had for myself.

Q. So are you in favor of legalization?

A. I feel that prostitution should be legal. If a couple meets for dinner and a bottle of wine, and have sex, that's a date. If they meet for dinner and a bottle of wine, and have sex, with money in an envelope left on the dresser, that's illegal.

I realize that there are women in prostitution who are there because they feel like they have to be. These women work in a different part of the industry than I did. Many have drug or abuse issues, among other problems. I think, instead of spending time and finite resources on arresting and criminalizing these women, we should spend our resources on making sure that these women have other opportunities and a place to go for help.

The women who don't want to be prostitutes shouldn't have to be, and they should be able to get the help they need. Women who want to be should be able to.

I feel that no one should have to take a job to make a living that is against his or her own moral judgment.

Q. How would legalization affect your business model?

A. I'm sure it would cause me to lower my rates. I'm sure more people would take up prostitution as a profession, and I am sure more men would partake in the activity. That said, legalization does not remove all the barriers to entry.

The job still would have a huge negative stigma associated with it, both for the escorts and the clients. In countries like Canada, enforcement of prostitution laws is extremely lax, and while rates are lower, they aren't wildly different. So there would still be men out there afraid of their wives finding out, and I still wouldn't want to share my job title with my family.

Q. Dubner and Levitt wrote that you have some economics training. Has that informed the way you think about your occupation?

A. Sure, here are some examples:

Dinner with friends = opportunity cost

Perfect information = review sites

Transaction cost = setting up an appointment

Repeated game = reputation

Product differentiation = not a blonde

Seriously, I wish I had known then what I know now.

Excerpted from "When To Rob A Bank...And 131 More Warped Suggestions And Well-Intended Rants" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Reprinted with permission from William Morrow, Copyright © 2015 by Steven D. Levitt & Dubner Productions, LLC.

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Many people have argued for years that legalized prostitution will make the trade safer and fairer for sex workers. 

But legalized prostitution may have unintended consequences, a European sex worker wrote in the New Republic on Monday.

Writing under the pseudonym Molly Smith, the sex worker pointed out that many countries that legalize prostitution leave sex workers tangled up in a mess of burdensome regulations. 

Smith's article proposed an alternative to legalizing prostitution and regulating it heavily — merely decriminalizing it.

In many countries with legal prostitution, like Germany, prostitutes are hampered by bureacratic regulations that turn them into criminals if they don't comply, Smith argues. 

The alternative is a model like New Zealand's, which has a big focus on protecting workers' health without as much bureacratic red tape. Smith refers to this approach as "decriminalized" sex work rather than legalized sex work.

If the distinction between legalized prostitution and decriminalized prostitution seems confusing, this definition from University of Rhode Island professor Donna Hughes might provide some clarity:

Legalization would mean the regulation of prostitution with laws regarding where, when, and how prostitution could take place. Decriminalization eliminates all laws and prohibits the state and law-enforcement officials from intervening in any prostitution-related activities or transactions, unless other laws apply. 

Here are some of the problems with the legalization model, Smith argues:

Widely presented as a more tolerant and pragmatic approach, the legalized model still criminalizes those sex workers who cannot or will not fulfill various bureaucratic responsibilities, and therefore retains some of the worst harms of criminalization. It disproportionately excludes sex workers who are already marginalized, like people who use drugs or who are undocumented. This makes their situation more precarious, and so reinforces the power of unscrupulous managers. 

The US has actually had some experience with both models. Nevada has a highly regulated legalized prostitution system. Rhode Island also decriminalized prostitution in 2003.  

According to University of California researchers, instances of reported rape and sexually transmitted diseases plummeted after Rhode Island stopped policing prostitution. Nevertheless, Rhode Island outlawed prostitution again in 2009.

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Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been acquitted by a French court of aggravated pimping charges.

He told the court on Thursday that he participated in sex parties reminiscent of orgies in antiquity because he needed "recreational sessions" while he was busy "saving the world" from one of its worst financial crises.

A panel of French judges ruled that he was a libertine, a "customer," but not a pimp, and that there was no evidence that the 66-year-old was an instigator of the gatherings, according to Bloomberg.

The women at the sex parties, however, were prostitutes — and testified that they weren't having fun at all during these "beast-like scenes."

The court in Lille found Strauss-Kahn not guilty of charges of "aggravated pimping." Despite his sordid testimony, many expect him to be acquitted, citing limited evidence pointing to a punishable crime.

The verdict is the last step in four years of legal drama for Strauss-Kahn that began when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011, killing his presidential ambitions. That case was later settled out of court.

Strauss-Kahn, 66, is among more than a dozen other defendants, including hotel managers, entrepreneurs, a lawyer, and a police chief. They are accused of participating in or organizing collective sexual encounters in Paris, Washington, and the Brussels region in 2008-2011, when Strauss-Kahn was IMF chief — and married.

During the three-week trial in February, the man known in France as DSK stuck strictly to his line of defense, saying repeatedly that he did not know that the young women at the parties were prostitutes. He said he thought they were simply "libertine."

The sometimes tearful testimony of two prostitutes cast a harsh light on Strauss-Kahn's sometimes brutal sexual practices. But they testified that they had never told him directly about their professions.

Other defendants described how they had voluntarily built up a wall of silence around their powerful friend to protect him from any embarrassing leak.

Even the prosecutor, unusually, asked for Strauss-Kahn's acquittal, saying the trial did not back up the charge of aggravated pimping, which requires proof that he promoted or profited from prostitution. The prosecutor, however, did ask for the codefendants who admitted having organized these evenings and paid the girls to be convicted and sentenced.

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LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Amnesty International voted on Tuesday to endorse a contentious plan to support the decriminalization of sex work, a move that will lead to pressure on governments by the prominent rights group not to punish millions of sex workers worldwide.

"Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world who in most instances face constant risk of discrimination, violence and abuse," Salil Shetty, the organization's secretary general, said in a statement.

"Our global movement paved the way for adopting a policy for the protection of the human rights of sex workers which will help shape Amnesty International's future work on this important issue."

Amnesty said it took the decision after two years of consultation and research, drawing on evidence from U.N. agencies and the findings of research missions to Argentina, Hong Kong, Norway and Papua New Guinea.

The group has come under attack by women's rights campaigners and Hollywood stars, including Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson, since a draft of its proposed policy was leaked.

Amnesty defended its new policy, saying it was the best way to defend sex workers' human rights and reduce the risk of abuse including beatings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, extortion, harassment, human trafficking and forced HIV testing.

It added that the policy had been shaped by discussions with sex worker groups, HIV/AIDS activists, groups representing former prostitutes and anti-trafficking agencies among others.

"I am thrilled," said Laura Lee, an Irish sex worker and activist. "It is the best way forward to take sex work out of the Dark Ages and give us the rights and protection we deserve."

Regarding human trafficking, Amnesty said the practice was "abhorrent in all of its forms, including sexual exploitation, and should be criminalized as a matter of international law".

"Amnesty just lost its soul and it lost its legitimacy to call itself a human rights organization," said Taina Bien-Aimé, spokeswoman for the U.S.-based Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, which helped put together an open letter against Amnesty's proposed policy.

"Amnesty has sided with the sex industry," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Laws legalizing or decriminalizing the sex trade have been introduced in The Netherlands, Germany and New Zealand.

Other countries, such as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Canada and Northern Ireland, have adopted the so-called 'Nordic model' which aims to punish clients without criminalizing those driven into prostitution.

"What we don't agree with is the decriminalization of pimps, buyers and brothel owners ... They are the ones which create demand," Esohe Aghatise, anti-trafficking manager with women's rights group Equality Now, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

But Amnesty policy adviser Catherine Murphy said: "We have to be careful with words like pimp because people often interpret that to mean an exploitative third party and we would not be calling for the decriminalization of an exploitative third party."

"What (the new policy) would mean is the decriminalization of laws on consensual sex work," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Laws that relate to exploitation or trafficking within sex work would still be criminal offences. So the low level operational aspects of sex work such as working together for safety, renting premises, organizing together... these things would no longer be criminal."

(Additional reporting by Joseph D'Urso, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

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A new German-based app wants to cut out the middleman in the sex-work trade by allowing customers to connect directly with escorts to arrange "paid dates."

The app is called "Ohlala," and it has been dubbed the "Uber for escorts" by TechCrunch. Recently, app creator Pia Poppenreiter spoke to TechCrunch about her service where one person pays another person to meet up.

“Whatever those two people want to do — may it be to give company at a dinner or end up in bed together — is a private matter and should be agreed upon in the chat before meeting,” Poppenreiter told TechCrunch. “It’s simple: We match people for paid dates immediately. It actually solves problems in this marketplace that dating sites and most escort sites don’t solve: We match expectations, on-demand.”

TechCrunch explains that a person looking for a paid date must put out a request for what they are looking to do and include an hourly rate, time period, location, and preferences. The request is received by all nearby escorts on the app who can then chat with the customer and work out an agreement.

The Ohlala website explains that all escort profiles are vetted via a phone call to make sure the appropriate people are using the app. Customers can sign up for free and their profiles are only seen by escorts considering their request. Escort profiles remain private until an explicit agreement is reached.

Ohlala touts that it puts power back into the hands of the escort by allowing them to pick their clients, set their price, and work around their schedule. Wired reports that Ohlala will not take a fee for facilitating the transaction until it starts to build up its user-base.

According to TechCrunch, Ohlala closed a small seed round in June to finance their August launch, but will fundraise again in the near future. Ohalala will only be available in Berlin at first (prostitution is legal in Germany), but there will be an English-language rollout soon.

Wired says Ohlala is only available as a mobile-web app currently, but will become a native app in the next few weeks, assuming any of the app stores accept it.

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Amnesty International adopted a resolution last week urging the worldwide decriminalization of prostitution, and D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) was among many to applaud the vote: He announced that he is considering introducing matching legislation this fall. Amnesty International and Mr. Grosso are well intentioned but wrong: The policy would do more to hurt victims of sex trafficking than it would to help them.

Amnesty International’s vote authorizes its international board to adopt an official policy asking countries to decriminalize what it refers to as “sex work” — the exchange of sex for money. The human rights organization makes its recommendation on the grounds that it would allow women to report abuse, gain access to health care and leave the business if they want without fear of legal consequences. Those are noble ends. Yet these means won’t achieve them.

Supporters of the resolution assume that sex work can be a profession like any other and that sex transactions can be consensual. This is probably true for some prostitutes. It is not true for the vast majority, who resort to selling their bodies because they feel they have no other option.

Decriminalizing prostitution entirely might give some of these women a way out. More often, it would allow pimps to operate with impunity, using the money and status that comes with their newfound legitimacy to scale up trafficking operations that hurt the most vulnerable — the young, the very poor and especially the undocumented. The evidence seems to bear that out in Germany and the Netherlands, where trafficking has increased dramatically since the decriminalization of the sex industry in the early 2000s.

Though no policy on prostitution is perfect, some have yielded better results. The so-called “Nordic model” — a set of laws first passed in Sweden — decriminalizes the sale of sex but keeps the purchase illegal. It has its flaws, too. Clients increasingly afraid of punishment may arrange for transactions in underground and unsafe locations, and police might manipulate prostitutes seeking protection into helping track down their pimps, instead of looking first to their safety.

But overall, the Nordic model appears to lead to fewer women being in danger. In Sweden, for example, street prostitution has gone down by half. Men report soliciting sex less, and some traffickers who find the country inhospitable to business have moved away.

Prostitution and human trafficking will never be stamped out, and no legal approach to reducing the harm they cause will be perfect. But wholesale decriminalization is surely wrong. The way to solve a problem is not to protect the very people who cause it — not in the District and not anywhere else in the world.

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Amber Batts, a 41-year-old former sex worker and operator of a prostitution network in Alaska, was locked up for five and a half years on Monday, convicted of sex trafficking and violating probation. Batts ran a statewide prostitution network, and the women who she handled, represented and protected now want her set free. Batts’ supporters say she was not a trafficker, but rather a local businesswoman who helped create a safe, fair work environment for consenting adults.

On Twitter, the protest manifested as the hashtag #whoresUnited907, used to post updates from Batts’ trials in Anchorage, Alaska. More than 25,000 people have signed an online petition condeming the 2014 law under which Batts was charged with trafficking.

That piece of legislation categorizes most sex workers as traffickers or trafficking victims. It defines second degree sex-trafficking as advertising or promoting “travel that includes commercial sexual conduct” and managing or supervising any “prostitution enterprise” other than a brothel. Activists claim these broad definitions target women who work together, and sometimes even leads individual sex workers to be charged with trafficking themselves.

Supporters across the United States are outraged by the absence of sex workers’ voices from media coverage of Batts’ case, so several have published their own interviews and reports on escort community blogs.

One of the major sources of tension in the case stems from the seemingly hypocritical relationship between law enforcement and sex workers in Alaska. According to former sex worker Tara Burns, out of 40 sex workers she interviewed in Alaska, over half of those who had been sexually assaulted said the perpetrator was a law enforcement officer. Over 74 percent of all respondents said they had witnessed a crime but hadn’t contacted police for fear the report would lead to arrest and abuse rather than protection.

“Local sex workers are devastated by the Batts’ trial, because she was sentenced to over five years for screening,” Burns said. “Most of the allegations discussed were about her screening practices. She would share screening information, even with girls who didn’t work with her, to help sex workers stay safe.”

Burns said that members of the Special Crimes Investigative Unit have had sexual contact with several local sex workers, and threatened them, so that the women are now afraid to turn to police for help. On nationalblacklist.com, an anonymous forum typically used by escorts to warn colleagues about pimps and abusers, in 2015 Alaskan users have filed an unusually high number of complaints about coercive law enforcement officers. The visible entries, stretching back to 2012, are peppered with reports of law enforcement officers of different types blacklisted for their contact with prostitutes.

Statistics show that Alaska has one of the highest densities of sex offenders per head of population in the United States—which gives those working in the sex industry good reason to seek to protect themselves, and each other.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Tuesday announced the arrest of the chief executive officer and six employees of Rentboy.com, which prosecutors described as the largest online male escort service.

Rentboy.com CEO Jeffrey Hurant and the employees were charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promoting prostitution.

The defendants, all New York residents, were arrested early Tuesday and were expected to appear in court later in the day. Their lawyers could not be immediately identified.

Self-described as the "the world's destination to meet the perfect male escort or masseur," RentBoy.com said on its website that it had been operating since 1996 and had a database of more than 10,500 men in 2,100 cities worldwide.

Prosecutors said that while Rentboy.com had disclaimers saying its thousands of paid advertisements for escorts were for companionship and not sexual services, the website was intended primarily to advertise illegal prostitution.

The website charged subscribers at least $59.95 per month and up to several hundred dollars to advertise their services, enabling Rentboy.com to generate more than $10 million from 2010 to 2015, prosecutors said.

"As alleged, Rentboy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution," Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie said in a statement.

The six employees charged were Michael Belman, Clint Calero, Edward Estanol, Shane Lukas, Diana Mattos and Marco Decker.

U.S. authorities also served warrants authorizing the seizure of more than $1.4 million from six bank accounts and took steps to restrain the domain name www.rentboy.com. The website was still online on Tuesday afternoon.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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The CEO of the male escort service rentboy.com was arrested Tuesday morning along with six employees for promoting prostitution in the U.S. and internationally, federal officials said.

The website, which was founded in 1997 and run by CEO Jeffrey Hurant, bills itself as the "world's largest male escort site," but insists it is only a place for escorts to post ads for their services and nothing more. 

But rentboy.com's service violated the Travel Act by promoting prostitution, federal officials said.

The site charged for its services, officials said. Subscribers paid $59.95 a month while advertisers can pay hundreds of dollars for a posting.

The site earned more than $10 million between 2010 and 2015, federal officials said.

"Rentboy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this Internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution," said Kelly Currie, the Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The site was based in New York but its reach extended to major cities around the country and around the world as well.

"The facilitation and promotion of prostitution offenses across state lines and international borders is a federal crime made even more egregious when it's blatantly advertised by a global criminal enterprise," said Glenn Sorge with Homeland Security Investigations.

The website was down as of 1:42 p.m. Tuesday, but its social media accounts were still live.

The other employees who were arrested included Michael Sean Belman, Clint Calero, Edward Lorenz Estanol, Shane Lukas, Diana Milagros Mattos and Marco Soto Decker, officials said.

Their roles in the company were not immediately clear.

If they are found guilty, they face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, federal officials said.

The site also tried to empower sex workers, promoting a positive outlook of the career with the hashtag #LoveWhatIDo and it even started a scholarship for men in the field. 

SEE ALSO: This new app is being described as the 'Uber for escorts'

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Prostitution is legal in Nevada, but advertising the brothels that purvey prostitution is trickier.

It's a catch-22 that Dennis Hof, the outspoken owner of the Moonlite BunnyRanch, has had to negotiate since he bought the business in 1992.

"I didn't realize I was buying a business that couldn't advertise … It's part of the laws in Nevada. I had a business that I couldn't tell anyone about," Hof told Business Insider in a recent interview.

In Nevada, the legality of prostitution is determined on a county-by-county basis. Prostitution is illegal in Clark and Washoe counties, which include Reno and Las Vegas.

The ban on advertising stems from two 1979 laws that prohibit advertising brothels except in the counties in which they are legal, as the Associated Press reported. The ban effectively rules out ads on statewide newspapers, radio stations, and television.

In addition, brothels are not allowed to advertise in theaters, on public streets, or on highways.

Despite the ban, Hof hasn’t had any trouble attracting customers.

In the 30-plus years since Hof bought the Ranch, he has expanded from a small house with six rooms to seven facilities with 170 rooms, 540 prostitutes, and 150 additional employees, including bar and restaurant staff, as well as those who work on the hospitality and transportation side of things.

Most brothels in Nevada still run as small, single facilities, but the BunnyRanch has managed to grow despite the ban by using "crazy antics," according to Hof.

After buying the BunnyRanch in 1992, Hof decided to employ some of the unorthodox tactics of his friend, performance-artist Andy Kaufman, who was notorious for elaborate publicity stunts.

"We did just about any crazy stunt that we could do to get in the news," Hof said.

Among Hof's varied stunts:

• Hiring John Bobbitt, who wasmomentarily famous in 1993 because his wife cut off his penis. Bobbitt worked as a bartender and handyman for Hof, until his celebrity became too much of a liability.
• After former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura admitted to frequenting the ranch, Hof put a billboard in front advertising his patronage.
• In 2003, Hof offered the first 50 veterans returning from Iraq a free sex session and a 50% discount on services for the following 50 days.
• Announcing his support of Ron Paul's presidential campaign in 2008 and offering Paul supporters a "two-for-one special."
• In 2008, the federal government gave out tax rebates as part of an economic stimulus plan to jump-start the economy. Hof announced that the first 100 customers to bring those checks to the ranch would receive double their value in services.

The stunts frequently resulted in interviews on radio and television and helped establish Hof as a go-to media figure for the brothel industry in Nevada.

"We're always looking for something to get us on 'Saturday Night Live' or on the late-night shows. I'm good at that," Hof said.

Hof has made a habit of co-opting current events for publicity. When Secret Service agents were caught soliciting prostitutes in Colombia in 2012, Hof publicly denounced the scandal on the grounds the agents didn't "buy American." Earlier this year, after Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for US president, Hof announced a "Hookers for Hillary" campaign. Each of the prostitutes at the BunnyRanch filmed YouTube spots explaining why they supported Hillary.

Hof relentlessly plugs the Moonlite BunnyRanch, its sister facilities, and the prostitution industry at large. According to Hof, he now does upward of 150 segments on radio shows every month, appears on five or six television shows, and is quoted and featured in tons of articles in print and on the web.

"Anytime a politician gets in trouble with sex … I'm the go-to guy. I'm always looking for an angle," Hof said.

In addition, Hof and the prostitutes at the Ranch work social media constantly, posting videos to YouTube, tweeting photos, and publishing salacious content on the brothel's website, BunnyRanch.com.

Perhaps Hof's biggest publicity coup was the development of "Cathouse," an HBO documentary centered around the workings of the Moonlite BunnyRanch. "Cathouse" was later expanded into a documentary series.

"The show has been good for business," Hof said. "When the recession happened in 2008, the brothel industry was off 50% to 75%. Our business didn't suffer a dime."

And Hof isn't done yet. Earlier this year, he released his memoir, "The Art of the Pimp," which goes into detail about his personal life, and includes a scathing evaluation from a psychiatrist and an essay on Hof from an ex-girlfriend.

He doesn't call himself the "P.T. Barnum" of the brothel industry for nothing.

SEE ALSO: 19 striking photos show what Nevada brothels are really like

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Before traveling to Nevada, photographer Marc McAndrews had never been to a strip club, let alone a brothel.

Now he’s been to every single one in the state. 

Over the course of five years, McAndrews made regular trips to Nevada’s legal brothels, staying anywhere from a week to a month each time. He stayed in bedrooms in the houses, shared a bathroom with the working girls, and saw the world that no one — except those who work at the brothels — see. 

“It’s a different experience when you wake up in the morning and have to pass the cereal and the milk to your subject. It changes the relationship,” explains McAndrews. “People’s guards go down and they become more at ease. They start to let you see their world.”

McAndrews shared some photos from his trips inside the brothels with us. (You can see more photos and amazing stories in his book, "Nevada Rose.")

When McAndrews began shooting Nevada's brothels, he expected to find a seedy place, filled with drugs. What he found, at places like the Wild Horse Ranch (shown here from afar), was something completely different.

He started by going to Moonlite Bunny Ranch, which was made famous by HBO's "Cathouse" series. When he first asked about photographing, the women didn't believe him, thinking that he was just a nervous customer. He was eventually turned down.

After being turned down by several other brothels in the Carson City area, one of the prostitutes recommended that he try a smaller town like Elko or Ely, where proprietors might be more friendly.

Truck driver Kevin Kimmel just finished making his overnight deliveries when he noticed something odd at the Virginia truckstop where he stopped to sleep.

A man knocked on the door of a battered recreational vehicle, went inside and the whole vehicle started rocking.

A few minutes later, what seemed to be the face of a distraught girl appeared at the vehicle's window but was quickly jerked away, leaving him weighing what to do.

"The movement and that girl's face, I thought 'I don't think it's a family vacation'," said the Florida-based trucker.

His call to the local sheriff last January proved his suspicions true. Inside the RV was a young woman held captive for 18 days by a couple making her perform sex acts for money.

Kimmel's story testifies to the power and reach of Truckers Against Trafficking, a nationwide U.S. organization that has trained some 170,000 drivers and truck stop workers to look out for possible instances of sex trafficking.

"When you think about all of the strategic places that these guys are in, it's not just truck stops, it's rest areas, it's hotels and motels, it's gas stations, it's busy city streets, loading docks," said Kendis Paris, executive director and co-founder of the group known as TAT.

"They're trained to be vigilant and observant in the course of their everyday jobs. When you factor all that in, it really is a smart audience to educate and work with."

TAT training highlights how to recognize potential red flags, whether it's an unaccompanied minor looking fearful or certain buzzwords on Citizens Band radio chatter, and how to contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. 

"Lots of eyes"

Truckers have made hundreds of calls to the Resource Center, according to Polaris, which operates the center, leading to more than 350 likely cases and identifying about 650 victims.

Paris, a speaker on Wednesday at the Trust Women conference on women's rights and trafficking run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London, set up the non-profit group in 2011.

It grew from a bid by her family's ministry to find a way to fight human exploitation and the focus on trucking was her mother's idea, Paris said. Her family had no link to trucking.

The Colorado-based group reaches drivers through national and state trucking associations, driving schools, industry shows and large companies that wield their own private fleets.

Next year Ohio is poised to become the first U.S. state to mandate that drivers getting commercial driving licenses undergo TAT training to spot potential trafficking victims, she said.

"When you realize that the average age is 13, that kind of sickens you," said Captain Mike Crispen of the Ohio State Highway Patrol who is helping implement the training.

"And that's an average. It's not the bottom number. When people start finding out about that, they get more involved."

Globally, an estimated 21 million people are victims of human trafficking, according to the United Nation's International Labour Organization. Some 1.5 million victims are in North America, according to the Trafficking Resource Center.

The case uncovered by Kimmel led to the prosecution of a Aldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, who, according to court documents, tortured their victim by burning her, hammering nails into her feet and pouring bleach into her wounds.

The pair pleaded guilty to federal sex trafficking charges and were each sentenced in August to at least 40 years in prison by a judge who noted the case's "rare level of depravity."

Kimmel, 58, admits the case of the woman he rescued hit him hard and he now helps spread the word about TAT whenever he can.

"It's all about educating people and especially people in that industry, being that there's a little more than 3 million of us on the road every day," he said. "It's a great opportunity with a lot of eyes."

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BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Investigator General Alejandro Ordonez on Tuesday said he will probe whether the head of the national police force was involved in the creation of a male prostitution ring that allegedly served lawmakers and was aided by police officials.

General Rodolfo Palomino is also being investigated for alleged illicit enrichment and illegally wire tapping journalists' telephones, a statement from the investigator's office said. Palomino has previously been accused by police officers of propositioning them for sex.

The testimony and video would not only be "evidence of the alleged network of male prostitution journalistically referred to as the 'Fellowship of the Ring,' but will also show involvement of certain members of congress in complicity with some officers of the National Police force," the statement said.

Local media reported that the alleged prostitution ring included serving officers, though the statement did not specify.

Palomino denied any involvement on Tuesday.

"I appreciate that the relevant investigations are going ahead, as I requested, and I'm sure they will lead to the truth of false accusations that have been made against me in a reckless and sustained manner," Palomino said.

The investigator general's statement said testimony by police Captain Anyelo Palacios and a video was key to the inquiry.

Local media released a video that shows a discussion in 2008 between former Senator Carlos Ferro and Palacios talking about gay sex. Neither the prostitution ring, nor Palomino were mentioned in the explicit conversation.

The video seemed to have been filmed by Palacios without Ferro's knowledge.

Ferro on Tuesday resigned from his post as vice interior minister, though he did not provide a reason for the move.

(Reporting by Helen Murphy and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Alan Crosby)

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A Colombian police officer who blew the lid off a male prostitution scandal within the institution was found alive on Sunday night, the day after he was abducted.

Captain Ányelo Palacios is a key witness in the scandal that continues to embarrass both the police and politicians, and has already led to some important resignations.

On Monday morning, national police chief General Jorge Hernando Nieto told reporters that the Palacios' family received a call in the early hours of the day saying that he had escaped his captors, and that he was in good health aside from the hypothermia.

"We are investigating in order to find out the motive behind the facts," Nieto said. "We are not ruling anything out."

Palacio was kidnapped on Saturday evening in the northeastern province of Santander while he was driving with his stepfather, Arcilio Ortíz Valero. Ortiz told reporters that four armed men on two motorcycles overtook their car, before doubling back to abduct the whistleblower. He said that the gunmen instructed him to get out of the vehicle, and that his stepson would be returned within an hour. When that did not happen, he called the authorities.

Palacios shot to the center of an investigation into an alleged male prostitution network within the police last month when a Colombian radio station and website called La F.M. published a video he had secretly filmed in 2008 of a conversation he had with then-Senator Carlos Ferro in which they discuss plans to have sex. Though Palacios cannot be seen in the video, the voices appear to match. There is no mention of coercion or prostitution.

Palacios told prosecutors that he had been recruited into a group within Colombia's police created to satisfy the sexual desires of the top brass, as well as those of elected officials. He gave the names of a number of senior officers in his testimony.

He claims that he was drugged and raped when he was a cadet at Colombia's largest police academy by Colonel Jerson Jair Castellanos, who was chief of security for Congress at the time. He also alleges that Castellanos promised promotions and career favors in order to get the cadets to comply.

Palacios, and at at least five other witnesses, claim that over 300 cadets were coerced into the prostitution network, which is being referred to as "The Fellowship of the Ring" by the Colombian media.

The publication of Palacios' video last month triggered a slew of high-profile resignations.

Carlos Ferro, at the time serving as Interior Deputy Minister, walked, as did General Rodolfo Palomino, the Director of National Police. Palomino himself had long been battling sexual harassment allegations, but maintained his innocence.

One of Colombia's most famous journalists, Vicky Dávila, who broke the story, also resigned following pressure from her bosses, sparking a fierce debate about press freedom in the country and whether the police are off-limits to journalists.

Before the scandal broke, Dávila and a number of other journalists claim to have been wiretapped by police officers looking to smother the story. Some, however, argue that the video contains no proof of anything illegal, and its publication is consequently not in the public interest.

After his kidnapping and apparent release Palacios' mother spoke to the media, saying that her son "was in a bad state," and had been beaten.

Razia Palacios, the sister of the whistleblower, told local media that her brother had received threats leading up to his abduction. "They called him and said: 'choose a color: black, white or brown," she said, explaining that the callers were referring to the color of his tombstone.

On the other side of the divide, at least one leading local newspaper, El Tiempo, speculated that the police captain may have kidnapped himself.

The scandal is likely to rumble on for some time still, with investigators only beginning to look closely at Palacios' allegations.

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It is alleged a pilot who flew international flights with United Airlines led a double life and allegedly ran several Houston brothels. He and another woman face pimping-related charges.

After an investigation that ended with a series of raids of alleged Houston brothels, Bruce Wayne Wallis, 51, and Tracie Rebekah Tanner, 37, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with prostitution-related offences.

It is alleged Wallis controlled six brothels in the the Texas city and controlled several women.

WUSA reports Wallis faces one count of aggravated promotion of prostitution and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity.

Tanner faces one charge of aggravated promotion of prostitution. Although the exact relationship between Wallis and Tanner has not been revealed, it is believed Tanner's role was to manage the brothels.

Twenty women, who advertised their services online, were also arrested and charged with prostitution offences.

According to Houston police, there were six brothels located in various apartment and office buildings throughout Houston. WUSA reported George W. and Laura Bush lived in one of the apartment buildings during the 1970s. It is alleged the prostitutes were controlled by Wallis and he received $400 a week from each woman who worked for him.

The Houston Chronicle quotes Assistant Harris County District Attorney Lester Blizzard as saying, "It's one of the largest operations I've ever worked on" and the prostitution ring was described as "massive."

Court records reveal authorities have a lot of surveillance on Wallis as well as seized records including texts between the pilot and the women who worked for him. It is alleged Wallis, who was known as "Bruno" on the streets, carried a gun, drove a black Hummer, and intimidated women and other pimps.

After Wallis's arrest, United Airlines issued a statement saying, "United holds its employees to the highest standard" and added the airline is cooperating with law enforcement. Wallis is flying the friendly skies no more.

According to the authorities, a lot of the women allegedly working for Wallis are Russian and police are looking into whether these women were recruited by the pilot while he travelled internationally for United.

Wallis was released on $5,000 bail Thursday and is due back in court next week.

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Editor’s note: This article is part of our collaboration with Point Taken, a new program from WGBH which next airs on Tuesday, May 31 on PBS and online at pbs.org. The show features fact-based debate on major issues of the day, without the shouting.

It seems that almost everyone has an opinion about prostitution and sex work.

But with Amnesty International’s recent unflinching policy recommendation to decriminalize all adult consensual sex work – including their take-down of the Nordic model which claims to punish only clients – it is becoming increasingly difficult for naysayers to ignore the well-documented ways that sex workers are harmed by criminalization.

Amnesty’s position is based on many years of empirical research by leading health and human rights researchers, as well as calls by sex workers and advocates.

While much of the debate on sex work focuses on what is best for “women,” an enormous diversity of individuals trade sex at some point in their lives.

This includes not just cisgender women from a range of age, racial, religious, dis/ability and sexual identities, but also transgender women, cisgender men and GLBTQ youth.

Yet even when taking into account the diversity of individuals involved and the many settings in which sex is traded and policed, Amnesty studied the accumulating body of evidence and concluded:

to protect the rights of sex workers, it is necessary not only to repeal laws which criminalize the sale of sex, but also to repeal those which make the buying of sex from consenting adults or the organization of sex work (such as prohibitions on renting premises for sex work) a criminal offense.

As Amnesty explains:

Such laws force sex workers to operate covertly in ways that compromise their safety, prohibit actions that sex workers take to maximize their safety, and serve to deny sex workers support or protection from government officials. They therefore undermine a range of sex workers’ human rights, including their rights to security of person, housing and health.

Will Amnesty’s recommendation lead to a change in U.S. policies?

Beliefs versus empirical evidence

The answer to how U.S. lawmakers respond to Amnesty’s call will depend in part on their level of courage to fight other institutional and cultural pressures to maintain and even increase criminal penalties for clients and other individuals connected to the sex industry. But their reactions will also depend on their own personal beliefs.

As someone who has researched and taught about sex work and human trafficking for more than two decades, I know that for some individuals, no amount of evidence or logic will change their opinion that sex work is intrinsically wrong.

For them, decriminalizing any form of sex work – including adult consensual encounters – would send the unacceptable message that sex work is a legitimate form of income generation. And it is in this emotional territory where the decision to decriminalize or not rests.

Because of the difficulty in evaluating evidence on emotional topics, my first assignment for students in my Sex Work, Human Trafficking, and Social Justice class is to document their current reactions to the issue of sex work.

I ask students to honestly reflect on how their life experiences might shape the way they approach the issue of exchanging sexual services for pay.

At the end of the course I ask students to revisit their feelings. I have found that when given the opportunity to make space for their feelings and to evaluate the best empirical evidence (such as Alexandra Lutnick’s “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Beyond Victims and Villains”), most students conclude that adult consensual sex work should be decriminalized. They come to this conclusion even if they still personally do not “believe” in it.

Furthermore, students report that they understand how decriminalization can be one arm of a larger set of strategies to assist victims of structural and individual harms. These harms may include poverty, neglect, police violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

I wish that I could also give this assignment to all policymakers and anti-sex trade activists.

This includes organizations such as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), which described Amnesty’s move toward decriminalization a “willful and callous rejection of women’s rights and equality,“ and Hollywood celebrities such as Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet who have joined CATW in their opposition to decriminalization.

While I have previously written that “it is no longer acceptable to prioritize the opinions of celebrities over those of sex workers and the scientists who advocate for them” – the belief systems underlying these opinions are still important to address.

Prostitution as a trope

As Barb Brents and I point out in our introduction to a special section of Sociological Perspectives on sex work and human trafficking, there has long been a serious decoupling between reliable empirical evidence and sex work policies in the U.S. While there are complex historical and institutional reasons for this disconnect, the answer in part is because sex workers have long served as a trope – a symbol for other people’s agendas.

Of course, sex workers have long been used as punchlines for misogynist jokes. But the symbol of the sex worker is also used by anti-prostitution activists who purportedly want to “help” them. For example, in a recent article discussing sex workers rights in The New York Times Magazine, Yasmeen Hassan, global executive director for Equality Now, expresses the following opinion about sex workers:

They’re sexual objects. What does that mean for how professional women are seen? And if women are sex toys you can buy, think about the relationships between men and women, in marriage or otherwise.

In Hassan’s statement and others like it coming from prohibitionists, a central “problem” of sex work is not what the best empirical evidence says, but what they believe sex workers symbolize. And when one is focused on one’s own symbolic interpretation, it is difficult to listen to conflicting evidence.

Listen to sex workers

Sex workers have long argued that criminalization and policing practices cause and/or exacerbate the worst harms to their well-being. Scientific evidence, as found in Amnesty’s reports, confirms this.

But changing the laws requires policymakers (and to some extent, the larger public) to respect and humanize people who are currently both stigmatized and criminalized.

Sex workers have made some progress in bringing attention to the harms of criminalizing sex work policies. One example is the practice of police using the carrying of condoms as evidence of prostitution. 

With growing global momentum behind the sex workers' rights movement, I expect many more successes to come. Yet now is also a critical time for everyday citizens both to check in with their own feelings about the issue and to read and evaluate for themselves the best available empirical evidence.

U.S. history is full of examples of public beliefs and norms lagging behind progressive institutional change. Examples include civil rights for African-Americans, voting rights for women and marriage rights for same-sex couples. Most individuals in the U.S. now believe that upholding the civil rights for those groups was the right thing to do.

Decriminalizing sex work will not on its own fix misogyny, racism and other forms of systemic oppression. But decriminalization of consensual sex work is one key step toward social and sexual justice.

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