Just as predicted. You not gonna stop women from selling sex because men will always want to buy sex. They should've never taken down backpage and let these hoes sell that ***** in peace. If they really wanted to stop trafficking they would've kept backpage up and worked with the site owners.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/ar...s-13304257.php
The Scanner: Sex workers returned to SF streets after Backpage.com shut down
The government shutdown of Backpage.com this year sought to curtail the type of sex-for-sale classified ads that made the company infamous. Months later, though, the closure has prompted an increase in sex trafficking on San Francisco streets.
Reported crimes related to pimping and sex trafficking have more than tripled in 2018 — with 67 through August, up from 21 during the same period last year, according to police. Meanwhile, officers have made more arrests than previous years as much of the activity had been hidden online, said David Stevenson, a city police spokesman.
Violence against both sex workers and people soliciting sex is a concerning trend as well, said Sgt. Antonio Flores of the department’s special victims and human trafficking unit.
“A few sex workers are becoming violent,” he said. “Then there are those that tend to prey on sex workers.”
Backpage.com, long criticized by authorities for being an online brothel, was shut down in April after an FBI investigation, and CEO Carl Ferrer was charged with money laundering. The website’s closure came after Congress passed laws that effectively made websites hosting adult ads responsible for the postings of users
The new laws have had a side effect on San Francisco streets, said Pike Long, deputy director of St. James Infirmary, a peer-based health and safety clinic for sex workers in San Francisco.
“Without being able to advertise online,” Long said, “a huge number of sex workers were forced to go outside, and many have reported that former pimps came out of the woodwork offering to ‘manage’ their business again since they were now rendered unable to find and screen clients online.”
St. James saw a spike in street-based sex work in the month after Backpage.com was shut down, Long said, and screening clients has become more difficult because of the closure of other sites popular in the industry.
“The very bill that was supposed to stop trafficking has quite literally given formerly irrelevant traffickers new life,” Long said.
Carol Leigh coined the term “sex workers” about 40 years ago and now advocates for them as director of Bayswan, the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network, in San Francisco. She said sex workers who are unable to advertise online or screen clientele are being forced into increasingly vulnerable circumstances.
“I hear from sex workers talking about suicide attempts,” she said. “I hear about some considering working for exploitative ‘managers’ because of limited options.”
The government shutdown of Backpage.com this year sought to curtail the type of sex-for-sale classified ads that made the company infamous. Months later, though, the closure has prompted an increase in sex trafficking on San Francisco streets.
Reported crimes related to pimping and sex trafficking have more than tripled in 2018 — with 67 through August, up from 21 during the same period last year, according to police. Meanwhile, officers have made more arrests than previous years as much of the activity had been hidden online, said David Stevenson, a city police spokesman.
Violence against both sex workers and people soliciting sex is a concerning trend as well, said Sgt. Antonio Flores of the department’s special victims and human trafficking unit.
“A few sex workers are becoming violent,” he said. “Then there are those that tend to prey on sex workers.”
Backpage.com, long criticized by authorities for being an online brothel, was shut down in April after an FBI investigation, and CEO Carl Ferrer was charged with money laundering. The website’s closure came after Congress passed laws that effectively made websites hosting adult ads responsible for the postings of users
The new laws have had a side effect on San Francisco streets, said Pike Long, deputy director of St. James Infirmary, a peer-based health and safety clinic for sex workers in San Francisco.
“Without being able to advertise online,” Long said, “a huge number of sex workers were forced to go outside, and many have reported that former pimps came out of the woodwork offering to ‘manage’ their business again since they were now rendered unable to find and screen clients online.”
St. James saw a spike in street-based sex work in the month after Backpage.com was shut down, Long said, and screening clients has become more difficult because of the closure of other sites popular in the industry.
“The very bill that was supposed to stop trafficking has quite literally given formerly irrelevant traffickers new life,” Long said.
Carol Leigh coined the term “sex workers” about 40 years ago and now advocates for them as director of Bayswan, the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network, in San Francisco. She said sex workers who are unable to advertise online or screen clientele are being forced into increasingly vulnerable circumstances.
“I hear from sex workers talking about suicide attempts,” she said. “I hear about some considering working for exploitative ‘managers’ because of limited options.”
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