|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
End Demand, IL will advocate for the creation of resources and tools for law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable, deter further exploitation and increase options for prostituted and trafficked women and girls. EDI's extensive organizing and community education efforts will shift public perceptions of the sex trade industry and prostitution so that "pimping" is no longer glamorized and the stigma for the women involved in prostitution is reduced. EDI's work will result in the adoption of sound public policies and practices that focus law enforcement efforts on protecting victims of the sex industry and prosecuting traffickers, pimps and other enterprises that profit from the exploitation of women and girls in the sex trade. Furthermore, our work will create an infrastructure of care for those involved in prostitution, and will encourage Illinois residents to not tolerate the patronizing of sex trade venues and the buying of sex in their communities.
In Chicago 16,000 - 24,000 women and girls are regularly involved in prostitution (i). Countless others, including men and boys, are also prostituted throughout the state. The public health risks associated with prostitution are well documented and acknowledged. Interviews of women in prostitution conducted in Chicago reveal that high percentages experienced physical and sexual violence, regardless of the type of prostitution activity.
Customers were the most frequently identified perpetrators of this violence, followed by intimate partners and pimps. A quarter of these women stated that police officers were responsible for some of this violence. Furthermore, sixty two-percent of women first exchanged sex for money before the age of eighteen, and large percentages experienced homelessness. (ii) Reasons for entering and staying in the sex trade vary. For some it is pure economic necessity; others enter and stay in the sex trade through some form of coercion exercised by another person (iii). No matter the reason for entry, it is clear that those who enter prostitution and are trafficked are often some of society's most vulnerable, and their experiences once in the sex trade are violent and often psychologically devastating.
i Claudine O'Leary and Olivia Howard, "The Prostitution of Women and Girls in Metropolitan Chicago: A Preliminary Prevalence Report," (report, Center for Impact Research, Chicago 2001).
ii Jody Raphael and Deborah L. Shapiro, "Sisters Speak Out: The Lives and Needs of Prostituted Women in Chicago," (report, Center for Impact Research, Chicago 2002).
iii Ibid.
|
|
|
|
|
|
copyright 2010 End Demand, IL
|
End Demand, IL is a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. Unauthorized use of information is prohibited.
|
|
