We are encouraged to see that a set of accused buyers from the recent brothel bust in Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C., suburbs may be charged in full view of the press (“Brothel case hearings to be open to media,” Metro, Dec. 22).
The sex industry is fueled by buyers who feel entitled to the people they commodify and operate with impunity. High-frequency buyers are predominantly white men earning more than $100,000 annually. Only 6 percent of buyers report ever having been arrested for purchasing sex.
Meanwhile, the majority of those in the sex trade are people who have been marginalized by systems of oppression. Of the young people served by My Life My Choice, a survivor-led program that serves trafficked youth across Eastern Massachusetts, the average age of first exploitation is 13. Sixty-seven percent identify as BIPOC and 51 percent as LGBTQ, and 88 percent have histories with the child welfare system. They report extraordinary violence perpetrated by buyers.
Young people who do not receive support services become adults in the sex industry who are overlooked at best and, at worst, criminalized for their victimization.
This stark power imbalance between who is buying and who is being sold is what the sex trade relies on. It is a $32 billion industry that targets those with the fewest choices. Currently in Massachusetts, people in the sex trade are arrested nine times more frequently than those who are buying sex from them, according to our analysis of crime data.
The only path toward ending exploitation requires that buyers be held accountable for the harm that they have caused. We will be closely watching what happens in this upcoming legal process. We need the general public as community members to be watching as well.
Lisa Goldblatt Grace and Audrey Morrissey
Co-executive directors
My Life My Choice
Boston