A few months after I first moved to Portland, I read a headline article in the Portland Tribune that discussed the high prevalence of sex offenders living in Portland. The article “Portland: Sex offender magnet?” revealed that Portland is home to a relatively high number of people on sex offender registries, and many people have arrived to the city because they are attracted by Portland’s lax laws on regulating and punishing sex offenders who refuse to register and report their activities.
The article was the first indication to me that Portland might have a problem dealing with these issues. Along with its noted sustainability policies and tolerance of subcultures, alternative lifestyles and hipster fashions, Portland also possesses an ugly reputation as a city where little attention is paid to people who have committed sex crimes.
The Oregonian reported last August that the Portland metropolitan area is “a major hub for the sexual exploitation of underage girls,” and that the officially recorded numbers of children forced to become sex workers are most likely much higher. These sobering findings, which include studies conducted by Portland State Associate Professor Christopher Carey, reveal that the overwhelming majority (96 percent) of victims are girls, a significant percentage (27 percent) of sexually exploited children are black, and many victims also suffer from drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and gang affiliations. Many have relatives who also are sex workers.
In the face of these discoveries, it makes it more crucial than ever that the public’s image of Portland as an admirably green, peaceful paradise where the 1990s live on be altered. Organizations such as Oregon’s Department of Human Services and nonprofit groups such as Youth Ending Slavery and Oregonians Against Trafficking of Humans are working to combat the exploitation of child sex workers.
The Polaris Project, an international organization that studies and fights slavery and human trafficking, studies all 50 states and rates each on how well it handles sex trafficking. Oregon receives praise for possessing laws that prohibit sex trafficking and labor trafficking, but according to YES, more progress is needed to crack down on exploitation of children.
Oregon received a Tier 2 rating from the Polaris Project for its efforts against sex trafficking, indicating that “it [Oregon] passed numerous laws to combat human trafficking, and should take more steps to improve and implement its laws.” The YES website states, “Although we have positively progressed over the years, this area still requires more attention and action.”
YES observes that “In recent months, Portland has made headlines as a hub for juvenile sex trafficking—the second worst city in the entire nation. Due to the proximity of two major highways, a large and legal sex industry (Portland has the most strip clubs per capita in America), and a large population of street kids, juvenile human trafficking in Portland has the ability to thrive.”
Unfortunately, Portland’s culture of tolerance for unconventional behavior, coupled with the prevalence of strip clubs and sex industries, may encourage the growth and acceptance of sex trafficking of adults and children.
The popular media shields Portland from a more honest vision and understanding of crime and other issues in the city. We rarely ever hear about the disturbingly high numbers of children being exploited and sold, or any other problems with crime, yet we are inundated with images of a city where nothing wrong ever occurs ad nauseam.
For YES, the main goal currently is to amend legislation that will squarely prosecute pimps and people who hire prostitutes, rather than punishing people who are forced into prostitution.
According to YES, “When adult men solicit minors for sex, the teenage girls are not to blame. Laws need to reflect that; the age of the prostitute matters. However, not only do our laws need to change, but our culture as well. Society needs to view prostitutes as the victims, rather than the perpetrators.” Too often, we pay no attention to problems that do not concern us, and quickly view the prostitute as the guilty party, while it is abundantly clear that many sex workers are in their positions because they cannot find any other profession, or are being enslaved and controlled by others to work against their will.
In spite of all these horrors, there are actions one can take to fight sex trafficking that are not overly difficult or time consuming. By exploring YES’s website, one can find concerts, speeches and other activities that YES plans that spread information about sex trafficking and how to stop it.
The Polaris Project runs investigations in all states, provides telephone hotlines and reports on progress made toward ending sex trafficking. Greater awareness and interest in sex trafficking can go a long way to ending the practice once and for all.
