Portland State University Study Confirms that Portland is a Sex Trafficking Mecca. (Authors, PSU professor, Christopher Carey and graduate student Lena Teplitsky)

This study released on 08.08.13 provides substantiation of a long held belief on the part of law enforcement and social service providers that selling young girls for sex is a big time business in the Portland area. The study reports that at least 469 children were exploited as sex workers in the Portland area from 2009-2013. This is likely an underestimate of the true numbers. Many of these girls are controlled by gangs which are increasingly turning away from drugs and gun running to the sex trade which is safer and more lucrative. The study detailed that the average age of victims was 15.5 years and the youngest was 8 years old. 

 This study was commissioned by Amanda Marshall, U.S. attorney for Oregon. She exclaims that by cracking down on both the supply and demand side of sexual slavery, Oregon is stating that “our kids are not for sale.”

By quantifying the extent of child sex trafficking in this area, the PSU study will likely provide a continued stimulus to law enforcement efforts to continue to make inroads on this important social problem.

Representative Carolyn Tomei sponsored two bills through the legislature this term with one increasing penalties for Johns who purchase sex and another providing stiffer penalties for Pimps who coerce young girls into prostitution.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden cosponsored federal legislation that would beef up identification and case finding re sex trafficking cases. Wyden’s bill would change the practice of treating victims as criminals and recognize that they have been exploited and victimized and in need of social service.

Let’s hope that studies like this one bring the problem of sex trafficking out of the shadows and into the public consciousness to spur more widespread outrage and action against sex trafficking.

Richard Lazere, East Portland Rotary Human Trafficking committee

“The Case for Gender Equity”-Nicholas Kristoff-2013 N.Y. Times News Service

Nicholas Kristoff, the co-author of “Half the Sky” about Gender Inequity around the world recently wrote a piece about “ Women as a Force for Change”, printed in The Oregonian on 08.02.13.

He cites the case of Marte Dalelv, a 24 year old Norwegian woman who reported a rape in Dubai and was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges that included extra-marital sex. This sentence was three months longer than the alleged rapist’s prison sentence! A worldwide outcry resulted in her being pardoned as was her alleged rapist! Gender inequity exists in every corner of the globe including The United States. 

The U.S. military has had a poor record of defending women service members and is only beginning to consider how women can be better protected in the military.

Many women express frustration that they are not more included in decisions that affect them. One leading female spokesperson said recently “If you are not at the table then you are on the menu.”

In the recent past, 16 year old Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban for advocating education for girls. She fought her way back to health and refuses to be silenced. In addressing the United Nations recently Malala noted that one of the best ways for countries to increase their human capital is to educate their girls. She recently said “We cannot all succeed if half of us are held back”.

We must continue to work to prevent the subordination and marginalization of women and provide for girls and women an equal place in all societies as full participants in the present and the future fortunes of society.

Such efforts will be an important weapon in the fight against sex trafficking and the use of girls and women as tools to gratify sex hungry Johns who pay for play in a way that subordinates their victims.

Richard Lazere-on behalf of East Portland Rotary Sex Trafficking task force

Pornlandia-Sex Trafficking wears many disguises in Portland

Undercover Portland Police officers are cracking down on the sex trade in the city of Roses.

The sex industry masquerades thinly disguised in porn shops, strip clubs, lingerie parlors and sexual massage businesses. Many underage girls walk the streets and/or meet their dates in motels or private homes which become centers of opportunity for Johns looking for young girls. 

Their pimp handlers keep a close eye on the girls and control them like puppet masters with a combination of physical, emotional and sexual abuse as well as drug addiction. Pimps lure and ensnare vulnerable girls who often come from abusive homes which imbue the girls with low self esteem and love hunger. Pimps promise love and relationships, manicures, etc. and instead force their sex slaves to service fifteen to twenty customers per night. The pimps keep all the money and often give the girls a financial quota they must meet failing which they are sent out on the streets again to make up their shortfall.

Following years of this kind of work, sex workers begin to harden their hearts, suffer from soul injury and feel worse and worse about themselves.

Survivors who are rescued from the life need extensive shelter and rehabilitation to regain their self respect and perspective on what they have experienced for years. Many of these young women need help to break the trauma bonds which they have developed towards their pimps (Stockholm 

Syndrome) and need safe and secure facilities where they can heal and become whole again.

We can only hope that with dedicated police, local DAs and community based organizations working to quell this problem of sexual slavery that young girls will have a better chance of living a good quality of life in The City of Roses.

Richard Lazere on behalf of East Portland Rotary anti-trafficking task force