Men like Robert Kraft are the reason prostitution and sex trafficking exist.
The owner of New England Patriots, and recent Super Bowl champion, is being charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution. The charge, which only classifies as a misdemeanor, will likely amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist for Kraft.
But here’s the story people aren’t talking about…
The women Kraft abused are possibly victims of severe sex trafficking. Brought from China on temporary work visas, they were promised legitimate jobs but were instead pressured into the sex trade. On average, these women performed sex acts on 1,500 men per year.
Police investigators have found evidence suggesting the women were not allowed to leave the premise. Personal items, beds, and a refrigerator filled with food and condiments indicate the women were living on-site. In some sex trafficking cases, victim’s passports are stolen by their pimps, which may be the case here as well.
While all the news focuses on Robert Kraft and the future of his football team, why is nobody talking about the women whose lives he helped ruin? Without demand for prostitution, there is no sex trafficking. Men like Robert Kraft are the reason prostitution and sex trafficking exist. It’s Economics 101—where demand exists, pimps and sex traffickers provide the “supply.”
The best way to combat forms of sexual exploitation like prostitution and sex trafficking is to stop the demand. A mere slap on the wrist is grossly insufficient. This isn’t the story of an NFL owner who merely “made some bad decisions”. This is the story of several women who were sexually trafficked and serially raped because of some men’s belief that they have the right to purchase a woman’s body to use for their personal sexual gratification.
At NCOSE we’ve been developing our Face the Demand campaign to take on this very issue. Please join us in fighting for the victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking by helping us unmasking the perpetrators—the men who buy women for sex.
