UT hosts prostitution talk

More than 40 researchers, advocates and activists from various countries including Bangladesh, Germany and Nigeria gathered at UT last week to discuss the issue of local, national and international prostitution.

Toledo is considered one of the top hubs in the nation for recruiting children into the sex trade and has been ranked as the fourth highest city in the nation with its number of arrests and investigations relating to sex trafficking, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The sixth annual International Conference on Prostitution, Sex Work and Human Trafficking, was sponsored by the department of social work at UT and co-sponsored by Second Chance, a nonprofit organization located in Toledo.

The conference was broken into one hour sessions throughout the day and addressed topics ranging from sex trade and prostitution in various other countries to women who sell their bodies in bath houses to pornography.

“Second Chance provides help for women and girls that are at risk of prostitution and provides comprehensive services to victims of sex trafficking and prostitution,” said Kizzy Williams, a Second Chance staff member.

“Human trafficking is present, it’s a problem; some girls just aren’t aware of what’s going on,” Williams said. “These girls need to be educated and know how to carry themselves in public.”

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of children recruited into sexual work is 12 to 14 years-of-age and they are mainly abducted from inner cities, suburbs and small towns.

“The easiest target is runaway girls; they are the most vulnerable. They meet these pimps and fall into a trap,” Williams said. “These young girls have nowhere else to go and end up getting lured into the sex trade.”

Anti-sex trade activists at the conference were not hesitant to voice their opinions and views on human trafficking.

“An event such as this portrays the university as a progressive trade for the working condition,” said Celia Williamson, a professor of social work at UT and a founder of the conference.

Sharon Barnes, an associate professor of interdisciplinary studies, led the presentation, “Against Pornography: The Feminism of Andrea Dworkin.”

“Most of the women who enter the pornography industry lack options; they have to make a choice within a constraint of choices,” Barnes said.

According to Barnes, 95 percent of women in pornography have been sexually abused as children.

Kathleen Sabback, who is on the board of directors for Second Chance, said it is important to educate students specifically.

“We need to expose students to the problem because they aren’t aware of what is behind the scenes and they are the most receptive audience,” she said.

A lot of students who attended the conference enjoyed the presentation.

“The presentation was very informative and cleared up a lot of rumors about pornography. My views have definitely changed, there’s a lot more to the commercialized field,” said Jacob Clark, a senior majoring in social work.

Olga Marques, a graduate student majoring in criminology at the University of Ottawa in Canada, who was also presenting at the conference, said conferences such as these are essential to advocacy.

“Professionals are actually taking this information and applying it,” Marques said. “The problem is that people don’t care because it doesn’t affect them. People need to start caring.”

Marques said students and activists who attend conferences such as this do their part to stop prostitution by educating others on how big of a problem human trafficking and other types of sexual work is.

Marques said she hopes by sharing knowledge about prostitution and sex trafficking people will start to collectively come up with a solution.