Just an eight-minute drive from the University of Southern California lies the Blade, one of the most notorious sex trafficking corridors in the United States. Girls trudge up and down the street in stilettos and lingerie, desperately trying to meet their traffickers’ quota. The Los Angeles city attorney refers to this area – a 50-block stretch of Figueroa Street – as the “Kiddie Stroll,” given the high volume of underage girls who are trafficked here.
Shayna (pseudonym) was 13 when she wound up on the Kiddie Stroll. Her sister was 11. They ran away from their foster home after a “friend” on Instagram reached out saying he could help them. Not long after, they were left on Figueroa Street with nothing but lacy bikinis and a quota of $800 by sunrise.
Many states across the U.S. and countries around the world have promoted the full decriminalization of prostitution and the commercial sex trade. Advocates for this model say it is all in the name of protecting women’s rights and preventing violence. But full decriminalization (as well as the legalization of prostitution, less often advanced these days) does not advance the women’s rights agenda. Read our blog series on prostitution to learn more about the myths behind full decriminalization.
The conclusion is simple: When prostitution is fully decriminalized, sex traffickers thrive. This model makes it more difficult for police to apprehend traffickers, and when buyers are not prosecuted, the demand still exists, allowing the sex trafficking marketplace to flourish. To stop sex trafficking, it is vital to ensure sex buyers, as well as traffickers, pimps, and brothel-keepers, are held accountable for a vicious commercial sex trade that wrecks the lives of its many victims.
Full Decriminalization DERAILED in Colorado: The Latest in an Unbroken Winning Streak
Here’s a heartening fact for you: fueled by your support, NCOSE has fought bills that fully decriminalize the sex trade in 12 different states — and we have won in all 12 states. Talk about impact!
Our most recent victory came just this week in the state of Colorado. Here, we were fighting Senate Bill 97, which would have fully decriminalized sex buying, brothel keeping, and even some forms of pimping. Thanks to your support, this bill was abandoned shortly before being brought up for its first vote at the state Capitol. One sponsor of the bill, State Senator Lisa Cutter, told the media that the bill was abandoned because it did not have enough votes to advance.
The text of Senate Bill 97 argued that criminalizing prostitution “endangers adults who engage in consensual sexual activity.” But this is misguided.
It is true that criminalizing prostituted persons is not the way. The people exploited in the sex trade need support and exit services, not criminal penalties. However, Senate Bill 97 did not stop at decriminalizing the exploited. It also sought to decriminalize the exploiters—including sex buyers, brothel keepers, and some pimps.
Senate Bill 97 erroneously stated that decriminalizing prostitution allowed law enforcement to focus on “perpetrators who induce others to perform sex acts by force, fraud or coercion.” This ignores established research that shows sex trafficking investigations are hindered when prostitution is fully decriminalized or legalized.
The claims outlined in this bill completely failed to recognize the inextricable links between prostitution and sex trafficking, and it also did not allocate resources to survivors of sex trafficking. Legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution increases instances of sex trafficking and violence against women,which is completely contradictory of the stated goals of many advocacy groups in favor of decriminalizing the practice.
We are so grateful to the brave survivors, advocates, and to YOU for helping stop this disastrous bill in its tracks!
NCOSE and partners, including Rights4Girls, are also currently battling full decriminalization bills in Illinois and Rhode Island. We hope to continue our unbroken winning streak.
What’s Happening Globally?
Turning our attention to the global sphere, there are many things keeping us on our toes as well.
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) published an “advance unedited version” of a report regarding the status of women’s rights in the Netherlands. However, this UN Committee recommended that the country loosen restrictions on brothel-keeping, permit “home-based sex work,” and overall expand the sex trade in the Netherlands.
It described prostitution as a legitimate form of work and disturbingly referred to sex trafficked girls as “minor sex workers.”
All in the name of protecting women’s rights.
A press release from the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women stated that this report “patently violates provisions in CEDAW… which respectively recognize that persons under the age of 18 exploited in the sex trade are by definition sex trafficked children and that prostitution and sex trafficking are incompatible with human dignity.”
The release also points out that no international law gives a definition of the term “sex work,” and this term has instead, “crept into our cultural lexicon.” The term “sex work” has normalized the practice of prostitution as labor, consequently allowing sex trafficking to thrive.
History of the United Nations’ Support for Full Decriminalization
Unfortunately, the United Nations has a history of favoring legalization or full decriminalization of prostitution. In 2023, the UN Working Group on discrimination of women and girls released a report which provided guidance on eliminating discrimination of so-called “sex workers” – by fully decriminalizing prostitution. Prostituted persons should certainly not be discriminated against. Their dignity should be honored and they should be given support. But fully decriminalizing prostitution is not the way to do this.
Thankfully, there are some figures in the UN who are pushing back. Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls described the intrinsic violence of the sex trade, even when decriminalized or legal, at a UN session in Geneva in 2024.
She explains that prostitution is an exploitative system that preys on society’s must vulnerable and “reduces women and girls to mere commodities and perpetuates a system of discrimination and violence that hinders their ability to achieve true equality.”
ACTION: Call for the Passage of the Survivor Model!
There is a far better alternative to full decriminalization or legalization. It’s called the Survivor Model.
The Survivor Model, also known as the Nordic or Equality Model, threads the needle correctly by decriminalizing and offering support to people exploited in prostitution, while criminalizing exploiters (sex buyers, pimps, traffickers, brothel keepers, and other facilitators). It achieves the worthy goal of improving safety and dignity for prostituted persons, while not letting perpetrators off the hook.
Ask your state to pass the Survivor Model today!
