This blog is part of a series, “Reality Check: Exposing Myths from the Pro-Prostitution Lobby.” Read the other installments in the series:
- 5 Arguments to Legalize or Fully Decriminalize Prostitution – DEBUNKED!
- No, Prostitution is Not the Same as Being an Athlete or a Secretary
- 5 Things Sex Buyers Reveal About Prostitution
“My sex traffickers even said to me, ‘Nobody is going to believe you.’ And nobody believed me for a very long time. First, because I’m a male and second, because I’m a part of the LGBTQ+ community.”
This is a quote from Cristian Eduardo. Eduardo is an advocate for the anti-exploitation and LGBTQ+ rights movements. He is also a sex trafficking survivor.
Across the globe, there is a movement to legalize or fully decriminalize prostitution. Proponents of this stance believe it would also be a victory for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, as LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately represented in prostitution.
Eduardo thinks that by this logic, it implies prostitution is a “default” for LGBTQ+ individuals.
“I don’t want my community to be told that the only option is to sell their body,” Eduardo said. “I want my community to be thriving, rather than just surviving and continuing to be exploited just because we don’t have options.”
The push for legalizing or fully decriminalizing prostitution is disguised as a pursuit of social justice for members of the queer community. But in reality, it only normalizes the oppression of LGBTQ+ individuals (and all individuals) in this exploitative system.
Why the LGBTQ+ Community is Vulnerable to Exploitation
Eduardo cited the ostracization of LGBTQ+ individuals from mainstream society as the main factor that can lead them into a life of prostitution. Vulnerabilities like homelessness, being victimized through hate crimes, and systemic discrimination are all factors that account for the overrepresentation of this community in prostitution.
“The more isolated a community is, that’s perfect for prostitution,” Eduardo said.
Eduardo described a sex trafficker’s grooming tactics like this: “‘You’re being rejected from everywhere? Let me welcome you. Let me show you that this is the path for you.’”
The vulnerabilities which Eduardo speaks to are amply reflected in research. For example, according to National Network for Youth, only 9.5% of youth in the United States identify as LGBTQ+, yet LGBTQ+ individuals account for 40% of youth experiencing homelessness. Further, a study of 270 homeless youth in Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC found that participants who were sex trafficked were disproportionately LGBTQ+, and especially transgender.
Research also shows that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to seek out online spaces for community, likely because they often struggle to find acceptance in their in-person communities. This increased time spent online further heightens the vulnerability of LGBTQ+ individuals to exploitation, as the Internet is the #1 way in which traffickers recruit their victims.
Eduardo spoke to how sex traffickers are using the Internet to prey on LGBTQ+ individuals:
“I really think that social media, like Internet, it’s a lot of time used against the LGBTQ+ community. I think that a lot of individuals use it to educate about the LGBTQ+ community like in a great way, to fight for LGBTQ+ rights. But the reality is that recruiters, like those people that are sex buyers even, they are reaching out to LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ youth.”
Normalization is NOT the Solution
Eduardo lamented the fallacy that legalizing or fully decriminalizing prostitution is a pro-LGBTQ+ move, because this notion erases the harms that are regularly inflicted on LGBTQ+ individuals in prostitution.
“We always try to romanticize it or say there’s no harm, but people are dying in prostitution. They are being beaten. They are being impacted by [sexually transmitted infections] and not receiving treatment,” said Eduardo.
Legalizing or fully decriminalizing prostitution would normalize and facilitate all the atrocities committed in the prostitution marketplace every single day. Most notably, sexual violence.
Eduardo expressed extreme disappointment with the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in statistics about sexual violence, despite the pervasiveness of the problem in the community.
According to a brief published by the U.S. Department of Justice, the “rate of violent victimization” (sexual or other) against lesbian or gay individuals was more than two times the rate for straight individuals. Further, against transgender individuals, the “rate of violent victimization” was more than 2.5 times the rate for cisgender individuals.
Why We Must Oppose the Full Decriminalization of Prostitution
Because of the hyper-sexualization of LGBTQ+ individuals and the rampant sexual violence they experience, Eduardo has found that there is almost a desensitization to rape and sexual assault when it is committed against members of the LGBTQ+ community.
He said, “A lot of times what I hear is, ‘Well, it happened to you already,’” referring to sexual violence, “‘so why don’t you do it again? Now, you’re going to get paid.’”
Eduardo continued, “So, you’re telling me that because I experienced sexual violence, if I experience sexual violence again, there’s not going to be any harm done to me? If sexual violence has been committed against you, your body, your mind, your soul, how are we going to just ignore it?”
Attempts to erase trauma inflicted on the LGBTQ+ community are deeply troubling. We should not push to label prostitution as a “career” when so-called “workers” in this industry must endure sexual violence as a “part of the job.”
“We are more than bodies, and the solution is not normalizing prostitution,” Eduardo says.
A Path Forward: The Survivor Model
Eduardo advocates heavily for the Survivor Model (also known as the Equality Model, the Nordic Model, and the Abolition Model) as the path to end sex trafficking.
Although many advocates for the legalization or full decriminalization of prostitution have good intentions—aiming to protect those victimized in prostitution—these efforts are misguided. Such measures would fail to hold accountable the true perpetrators: sex buyers.
The dollars of sex buyers fund the commercial sex marketplace and drive sex trafficking. The Survivor Model, which criminalizes sex buying, deters people from purchasing sex and keeps money out of the pockets of sex traffickers. Just like any other industry, if there is no money in it for anyone, it will inevitably topple.
“Why would you send your community to a place where they are being commodified? A place where sexual violence is continuing to be normalized?” said Eduardo. “And why would we support a system where, actually, those who are perpetrating sexual violence have a free pass?”
If prostitution continues to be accepted by mainstream society, sex trafficking will only thrive, with the LGBTQ+ community among the foremost of those who are hurt.
How You Can Help
1. Call on your legislators to pass the Survivor Model! Take 30 seconds to complete the quick action form below.
2. Share the podcast interview below. Help raise awareness about how prostitution truly impacts the LGBTQ+ community!
