There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. – Mark Twain
The “sex trafficking” witch hunt continues, this time courtesy of the State of Texas. Though these articles are a dime a dozen these days, this one is of particular interest because it’s so all over the place; the terms “prostitute”, “sex worker” and “escort” are used interchangeably and with no apparent logic, as are “human trafficking”, “prostitution” and “the illegal sex trade”; because the word “trafficking” is not used to refer to one specific concept, I have placed it in quotes wherever it appears. The guesstimates used in the article vary wildly even by the usual shoddy police standards, facts and opinions are arranged so haphazardly I didn’t even try to put them into a more logical order, and there seem to be at least three different prohibitionist philosophies clashing in this abortion they call a “task force”. But my readers over the age of 30 with good memories may recognize the tone and pattern of the article: It very closely resembles the sort of nonsense which appeared every week in all the mainstream news media at the height of the Satanic Panic in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the FBI plan to bring nearly two dozen extra staffers to assist local law enforcement with combating “human trafficking” during Super Bowl XLV; the plans were first mentioned Wednesday at a meeting of the state’s “Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force” at Arlington City Hall. Abbot opined that the Super Bowl is one of the biggest draws for prostitution, claiming: “There is an organized effort to bring in children and women for the purpose of ‘human trafficking’ and for the purpose of the sale of sex.”
As in the “Satanic Panic”, grandiose claims are made and a huge conspiracy is alleged to exist without any proof whatsoever. Read the last sentence carefully; what’s the phrase “human trafficking” doing there? Is he using it to mean the transportation (which appears earlier in the sentence) or the forced prostitution (which appears directly after it)? Or is he just throwing it in there because it’s a buzzword right now, like “23 skidoo” or “Where’s the Beef?”
He also said the “trafficking” has been well-documented at the last two Super Bowls, but the scale of the problem is difficult to quantify; he claimed that one Florida group estimated that tens of thousands were brought to the area to work in the illegal sex trade at a recent Super Bowl, but he said during his speech he only expects hundreds of sex workers to be trafficked into this area when the Super Bowl is held February 6th at Cowboys Stadium. “We’re trying to get ahead of that problem by organizing in advance,” he said. Abbott said that many surveys rank Texas as one of the worst states for “human trafficking”. The estimates are that about 10,000 people are “trafficked” through Texas in the sex trade in a year. Joseph Ullmann, an FBI special agent who handles crimes against children cases, said agents working at the last few Super Bowls have told him the scale of prostitution was “incredible.”
The “problem” is “well-documented”, but apparently not well enough to actually produce a reasonable estimate. Just so you know, neither “hundreds” nor “tens of thousands” is anything close to reality; judging by what I saw in New Orleans, it’s more like a couple of dozen. Touring girls don’t wait for major sporting events that will drive up the prices of hotel rooms, and conventioneers are a far more lucrative market that sports fans, most of whom attend with their families. But as Dave points out in Sex Hysteria!, making wildly exaggerated Criswell-like predictions of the number of hookers who will descend upon a major sporting event has become a popular pastime of prohibitionists. Notice the pretense that escorts are “brought in” or “trafficked into the area”; obviously we’re not competent to drive, buy plane tickets or otherwise arrange our own travel. The last sentence is particularly ludicrous; it makes it sound as though streetwalkers were hawking their wares in the stadium like hot-dog vendors.
While numbers vary, Abbott mentioned a couple of cases related to recent Super Bowls. Two Florida men were recently convicted on federal charges for attempting to pimp a 14-year-old girl through the Craigslist website for a “Super Bowl special,” according to stories in Tampa area newspapers. Craigslist has since shut down its “adult services” section because of complaints about prostitution advertisements. The Florida Department of Children & Families took into care 24 children who were brought to the Tampa area in 2009 to serve as prostitutes in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, according to other news reports.
So of the “tens of thousands” of “trafficked children” estimated by the Florida group in the previous paragraph, the cops were able to find…one. Unless you believe those unspecified and unattributed “other news reports”, in which case it was 24. But still nobody questions these figures. And they just couldn’t resist throwing Craigslist in there, though of course the sentence is an outright lie; Craigslist didn’t shut down adult services due to “complaints” but rather due to threats and harassment by government entities, i.e. censorship.
Sandy Skelaney, a program manager at Kristi House, a Miami-based child advocacy organization, said she doesn’t know of any reliable numbers for “child trafficking” and the Super Bowl. But she said that during the street outreach in the days leading up to this year’s Super Bowl in South Florida, the group counted about four times the number of prostitutes as they would typically see. “It’s [Super Bowl] synonymous with sex and drugs and partying,” Skelaney said. She said she didn’t think the problem was worse now. What’s different, she said, is people’s awareness of the overlap between prostitution and “trafficking”.
Sandy is apparently being as honest as her blinders allow her to be, though she unsurprisingly confuses brainwashing with “awareness”.
The attorney general’s office expects to have as many as a dozen staffers in North Texas to help with “human trafficking” enforcement. Abbott said they would deal exclusively with those crimes and leave prostitution cases to local law enforcement. Ullmann told the task force that the FBI plans to supplement its local staff with 10 additional agents, officers, analysts and a supervisor. He said analysts will be scouring websites, such as Backpage.com, looking for possible illegal activity. The analysts will “keep us [agents] on the street where we need to be rather than sitting in front of a computer,” he said.
That’s right, the FBI (a federal agency) will be assisting cops in persecuting adult prostitutes, even though prostitution is not a federal offense. Just let that sink in for a moment, and I’m sure you can imagine all sorts of things Uncle Sam can do once that precedent is firmly established.
Arlington Police Lt. Jerry Hataway said his department has increased its focus on prostitution and related crimes in the last few years. Besides the sting operations and posting photos of prostitution clients on billboards, officers have started contacting escorts directly. He said officers will text, call and e-mail suspected sex workers advertising their services in Arlington and warn them that officers are aware of them. “Each day, 70 to 100 of these advertising are being contacted by my unit, trying to deter them and move them elsewhere,” Hataway said. If past experience holds true, the numbers of escort ads could increase significantly by the end of January, just before the February 6th game. Ullmann said that’s when more out-of-town and out-of-state phone numbers will start showing up on the ads. “That’s usually your first clue that they’ve arrived,” he said.
Clearly, Arlington, Texas is such a Mecca for prostitution that they can harass 70 to 100 new girls EVERY DAY and yet still not get them all! Obviously, Lt. Hataway has the same kind of ego problem as Chief Lisecki of Green Tree, Pennsylvania, another town under attack from veritable hordes of whores. I’m honestly not sure what to think of this strategy; clearly it isn’t based in “trafficking” rhetoric because at least the Arlington Police department seems to recognize that the escorts are autonomous agents who are not in need of “rescue” from “traffickers”. But really, what are they telling them? “Officers are aware of them”? Translation: “I spend all day on the public dole looking at online hooker ads and I saw yours.” Whoop dee doo. When I had my escort service the ad was there in the phone book all day, every day; I’m sure plenty of cops were “aware” of it. Unless sleazy cops can trick a girl into a room with them there’s nothing they can do, and that’s exactly why persecuting victimless crimes has absolutely no lasting effect other than to waste public funds.
Now just one damned minute!
“one Florida group estimated that tens of thousands were brought to the area to work in the illegal sex trade at a recent Super Bowl, but he said during his speech he only expects hundreds of sex workers to be trafficked into this area when the Super Bowl is held February 6th at Cowboys Stadium.”
So, Texans are such a (relatively) chaste bunch that it only requires “hundreds” of sex workers to handle the demand, but Floridians needed “tens of thousands?”
As a Texan, I don’t know if I should be amused or offended.
Now, Sailor, don’t look at it that way; maybe he figured Texas are smarter than Floridians and wouldn’t buy that ludicrous “tens of thousands” figure! 🙂
I would say that in the DFW area, there is plenty of sex available for free. It’s the Floridians that need a little help. 🙂
LOL! I can assure you there’s also plenty of sex available for pay in DFW; that’s why the article is even more ridiculous. The low going rate in that area wouldn’t exactly attract huge numbers of touring girls; it’s the Northeast which is known for that. 🙂
Maybe that’s why they have to traffic them in: not enough economic incentive to get girls to show up on their own.
Then again, how are the eeviill pimps going to make any money if there are so many not-trafficked prostitutes to compete with?
Oh silly me; I forgot. There aren’t any non-trafficked girls! Man do I feel dumb.
These “authorities” could avoid sounding so stupid by just doing a little research, but I guess it’s easier just to make shit up. 🙁
“Cowboys Stadium seats 80,000 people, of whom 10,000 or more will be whores.”
:-D:-D:-D:-D
WOW! I’ve been on a bit of a dry spell lately so maybe, if I dare brave what will be a monumental traffic catastrophe in Arlington… I could get laid! WOOOHOOO!
You could do that any time, Rusty; just consult the internet for escorts in your area and I’m sure you can find one whom you like. 🙂
[…] here. See what Ms. McNeil said about this very subject (about the Super Bowl crap that is) here. This entry was posted in In the News. Bookmark the permalink. ← Victims of Happy […]
I hope they start arresting pimps! Lets start with Jerry Jones!!! Talk about someone who has totally screwed the city of Arlington and is getting blessings for doing so. Morality seems to exist the most when you are in the spotlight. We are not going to show that same moral fabric during our daily lives, only during the damned Super Bowl! Arlington wants to show the world how great, wonderful, MORAL and just we are so politicians can beat their chest and get their mug shots on national TV, peachy! If one truly wants to know what your city or area wants their citizens to think they are, HOST A DAMN SUPER BOWL! Then wait for the lies to begin!
Hi, Bob! You may also be interested in this article which debunks the claims of mass whore migrations to sporting events. 🙂
So what’s your story Honest Courtesan? How did you find yourself involved in the sex industry? And why exactly did you retire?
The development of my whoredom (part one of three)
The last few months (also part one of three) 🙂
That makes six parts, but they’re not terribly long, and they’re well worth reading.
[…] supposed myth of sex trafficking at the Super Bowl and other major sporting events? Check out the blog of a former prostitute who claims that the trafficking of minors at the Super Bowl really is a […]
[…] of moral hysteria. If you want an informed voice that’s critical of Arlington’s actions, read this in-depth essay by a “retired call girl” blogger whose web name is The Honest […]
[…] in Tampa had turned the rumor into a campaign…which bagged exactly one quarry, a 14-year-oldpimped by two rather clueless individuals on Craigslist under the heading “Super Bowl Special” (a detail regularly repeated as part of the […]