No such thing as ‘underage’ sex workers

Editor:

I would like to know precisely what “underserved sub-populations that will be targeted in [the Southern California Border HIV/AIDS Project] are youth sex workers” actually means [“Counsel threatens legal action against activist site,” Nov. 1].

I just happen to know the current views of the Bush administration on the topic of children being offered condoms in response to attacks by pedophiles, etc. It came up just a few days ago; it has not changed.

Your article speaks of the efforts of one of our movement’s heroes, professor Donna Hughes of the University of Rhode Island, to publicly expose operations at the infamous Svay Pak, Cambodia brothel park. There, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worked collaboratively with brothel owners to engage in such efforts as teaching six-year-old girls how to say “please wear a condom” in English, Japanese and German. When asked whether they had any responsibility to blow the whistle on the enslavers of 6-year-old “sex workers,” the NGO leaders made clear that they did not. In country after country, some publicly funded NGOs angrily rejected suggestions that they should be asked to jeopardize their close relations with brothel owners and traffickers by taking any steps that the latter might deem hostile.

That has also been the consistent view of President George W. Bush. One of the major challenges we face today is public money being given directly or indirectly to criminal gangs who are involved in slavery and pedophile crimes.

Would it be possible for the UCSD Center for Community Health to generate an “on the record” definition of “underserved sub-populations that will be targeted in [the Southern California Border HIV/AIDS Project]?

Child “prostitutes” do not need to be taught how to use condoms. They need to be rescued from the sex predators and pedophiles who are killing them. That is the civilized view in our opinion. There is no such thing as an “underage” sex worker. The concept is a legal fiction in California.

— Gregory Carlin

Director, Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition

[Ed. note: The Southern California Border HIV/AIDS Project defines the “underserved sub-populations” targeted by the project as “1) Latinos living or working in the California border region; 2) Migrant farm workers; 3) Youth sex workers; 4) Latino men who have sex with men and 5) Transborder Latino men who have sex with men, according to its Web site.]