The illicit markets of prostitution and sex trafficking are, like any other markets, driven by demand. Wherever demand occurs, supply and distribution emerge. It is indisputable that removing or reducing demand reduces or eliminates markets. The need for people to provide a “supply” and for pimps and traffickers to “distribute” the supply to buyers would not exist without demand. The historic emphasis on interfering with supply and distribution systems has been ineffective at producing substantial and lasting reductions in illegal commercial sex markets. Given that people are the commodity exploited, supply is difficult to contain. Distribution is also difficult to contain: since the markets are highly profitable, arrested traffickers and pimps are soon replaced. Distribution requires relatively little skill, and supply is plentiful and easily acquired, presenting few barriers to entry or startup costs for pimps and traffickers.

Efforts to reduce prostitution and sex trafficking by constraining supply have not usually been successful, aside from temporary effects or displacing markets to other areas. Where demand is strong, interfering with supply chains usually results in shifting to other sources or other means of distribution. The “service gap” is too great to close by addressing supply only.

Conservative estimates of the number of victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking are in the tens of thousands nationwide, while fewer than 100 beds in residential treatment or shelters are known to exist that are designed specifically to serve survivors of prostitution or sex trafficking.

Massive increases in victim services would still leave the majority of survivors un-served. While it is necessary and just to assist survivors, and expansion of those services is acutely needed, the interventions are not designed to prevent or reduce the occurrence of exploitation.

We treat the symptom – but not the disease.

Prostitution is associated with higher crime rates and other forms of community degradation. Among the immediate safety problems are used condoms, syringes, and other health hazards left in public areas where prostitution occurs. Surveys of business owners and community organizations find that street prostitution negatively affects local businesses and lowers the quality of life within communities. Collaborative problem-solving efforts over the past 20 years have repeatedly determined prostitution to be among the higher-priority problems plaguing communities throughout the nation.

Most crime statutes in U.S. states as well as abroad categorize common street prostitution involving adults as a low-level misdemeanor, public nuisance crime. Advocates of legalization of prostitution view it as a victimless crime, while others see the community where soliciting occurs as the “victim” because prostitution negatively affects neighborhoods and attracts other criminal activity.
As our society comes to understand that there is no difference between prostitution and sex trafficking, we have a better understanding of the dynamics of the problem and one of the goals we need to add is a commitment to reduce the demand by treating the disease and not just the symptoms.

It begs the question “Who is buying all these sex services?”

Many studies have examined men’s motivation for buying sex, and found that there is a wide range of reasons for buying sex from prostitutes. The most notable is addiction. Just as an alcoholic is compelled to drink and a drug user is compelled to do drugs, a sex addict seeks to feed his sexual appetite which – as with any addictive behavior – grows according to the amount of time, money and energy he invests in his addiction.

Both prostitution and sex trafficking come from the same source: men’s decisions to buy sex. Both traffickers and victims of the sex industry report that the men they service tell them they are seeking the services of a prostitute for a variety of reasons.
• To engage in sex acts that few other women are willing to engage in.
• To experience sex with women with a variety of physical traits.
• To satisfy the desire for sex and/or intimacy that they are unable to meet in other ways.
• To satisfy a need for emotional support that they are not receiving from others.
• To provide them with sex that requires little or no emotional involvement.
• Because they are attracted to the excitement of the illicit nature of prostitution.
• Because they have difficulty meeting women conventionally (e.g., feeling shy or awkward approaching women).
• Because they feel that most women find them unattractive.
• Because they do not have the time nor desire the responsibility of a conventional relationship.
• Because it provides a less risky means of mimicking extreme or illegal fantasies, such as incest or rape.
• Because they desire being “in control” or dominating women when having sex.

Anyone who works with people trapped in sex trafficking and prostitution, have concluded that without the demand for commercial sex, there would be no market for prostitutes or traffickers. Nor would there be a force driving the “supply” of people to be sexually exploited.

These perspectives have led many cities to enforcement policies oriented to accomplishing short-terms goals of cleaning up particular street corners and business districts; cities often tolerate prostitution activity confined to restricted locations. Frequently, enforcement activities involve arresting prostitutes followed by short-term punishment and no provision of services. Thus, police departments and district attorneys’ offices process a large number of recidivist prostitutes with unaddressed service needs, but prosecute few johns.

Prostitution places a substantial burden on the criminal justice system and on providers of public health and social services. Those involved in prostitution are typically in need of other public services. Prostituted persons are often sexually assaulted, and victims of sexual assault present an array of service needs ranging from the need for employment; refuge from abusers; child care; and legal advocacy to addressing psychological problems resulting from sexual violence. They also are at high risk for a host of physical and mental health problems, including drug addiction, STD infection, PTSD, and injuries from violent crimes. Those supporting themselves exclusively through commercial sex are usually uninsured, and seek costly, reactive health care services at emergency rooms and public health care providers. Since many prostituted women and girls have children, they also are high-end users of the foster care system and child protective services.

The experiences of law enforcement in addressing prostitution and sex trafficking, as well as other illicit markets such as those for illegal drugs, indicate that little lasting, substantial impact results from strategies heavily focusing on supply and distribution. If law enforcement were suddenly to increase its commitment to arresting pimps and traffickers, and if it began to have greater success against them, it is likely that traffickers would adapt by changing tactics or replacing those arrested as long as demand for their “product” remained strong. If enforcement efforts were enhanced, the less organized and less competent small-time pimps may be the first to succumb to law enforcement, but may be replaced by more highly coordinated human trafficking, drug trafficking, or organized crime networks. Alternatively, the same pimps and traffickers could change tactics to avoid whatever was working for police. Additionally, a very small portion of pimps and traffickers are ever arrested, due in large part to reliance upon frightened and/or reluctant survivors to make cases against their abusers. The rare instances where pimps and traffickers are taken out of action may cause short-term interruptions, but they are likely to be replaced as long as demand remains strong and there is profit to be made.

Primary prevention refers to stopping negative events before they occur,
ensuring that people do not become afflicted rather than addressing the
symptoms of the afflictions that have occurred.

The majority of effort to confront prostitution and sex trafficking in the United States has been devoted to tertiary or secondary approaches (trying to stem the progression of a problem, or recover from an affliction after it has occurred); while relatively little investment has been made in primary prevention (attacking consumer-level demand).

Reverse sting operations provide those prevention services have been proven to be easy to implement and are revenue producing for both the Law Enforcement Agency conducting the actual sting operation, the Social Service Agency providing the testing and counseling and provides resources for the countless victims who have become trapped in prostitution.

It is our premise that the underlying problem of the buyers of sex services and products is Sex Addiction.
Treating the underlying problem just makes more sense.