Virtual Brothel: Pimps and Prostitutes Online

The following is an excerpt from the Convergence Summit, sponsored by pureHOPE and the Religions Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP).

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During most of the twentieth century, pimps, madams, and traffickers exploited their victims on street corners and in brothels. Girls and women would be paraded up and down the street in front of cars driven by johns. The buyers chose the one they wanted. [At] the brothels, the madam would call the girls downstairs to the parlor, and a lineup would pass by the johns. The john would say, “I’ll take the one in the red teddy.” The exploiters (in other words) were the ones who had to go looking for the victims. The johns had to go in search of the prostitutes, and the victims were the ones who were moved to whatever location had the most potential for the most customers.

That was then, and this is now.

That’s the sound of a victim being sold online. That’s the sound of a john buying a human being. That’s the sound of a child being groomed by a predator. That’s the sound of profits for today’s pimps and traffickers.

Pimps and traffickers want to make money. They do that by exploiting people, exploiting the demand for prostitutes, exploiting the victims they ensnare, and exploiting the market conditions that allow sex trafficking and prostitution to flourish.

Pimps, traffickers, and even prostitutes capitalize on the demand for commercial sex by catering to it online.

Pornography is also thriving on the Internet. According to TopTenReviews.com, there are 42 million pornographic websites. That’s 12% of all websites and 68 million pornographic search engine requests every single day. That’s 25% of all total search requests.

How many of those 68 million requests will lead to the viewer wanting to buy sex afterwards?

Well, the retail stores know they need to get people to buy something, and they have to do it while those people are in the stores looking around, because if the person leaves before buying they are not likely to come back and purchase something. Online, the pimps know that lesson well, so they want to make it very quick and easy for the porn viewer to find a prostitute online.