Life After Craigslist for Online Sex Trade - Page 2

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Carol Leigh, a long-time San Francisco sex worker and activist who co-founded the Bay Area Sex Workers Advocacy Network (BAY SWAN), a group that promotes the decriminalization of prostitution, said that street-level work has historically been believed to account for between 10 percent and 20 percent of the industry. That means that escort services, massage parlors and other off-street operations would account for the vast majority of the activity.

But the Internet has probably shifted that ratio.

"Now that the Internet has nationalized it, and there's the ability to work off the street, one would assume that it's less than that 10 to 20 percent," Leigh told InternetNews.com.

However, she added, "It's an underground population, so most of them are guesstimates."

The Internet has brought a more fundamental change to the industry than just bringing prostitutes off the street, according to Robyn Few, an industry activist who formed the Sex Workers Outreach Project in 2002, following her arrest and conviction for conspiracy to commit prostitution.

"The Internet has revolutionized the sex industry as far as entrepreneurship. Sex workers don't need a manager anymore. The Internet is their manager," Few told InternetNews.com. "The bad thing about the Internet is it's isolating, and it's not safe. It's up to you to make it as safe as you can," she added.

"I'm a pre-Internet worker, so I worked where we networked with others. I was dealing with someone I knew or someone who knew him personally, and I mean in the biblical sense. It's not that way with the Internet."

Few's organization has 10 chapters around the country that promote safety and educational resources for sex workers. She has generally advised against using Craigslist because it was widely known as a favorite haunt for undercover police officers.

Her group is based in San Francisco, a city with arguably one of the most professional sex industries in the country. Two days before Craigslist announced its policy changes, San Francisco voters shot down Proposition K, which would have decriminalized prostitution in the city, by 16 percentage points.

In general -- and especially in San Francisco -- Few said that Craigslist catered to a more amateur class of sex workers than other sites. Because it has evolved into a nearly ubiquitous community portal for everything from finding an apartment to selling an old sofa, it was a logical place for the novice to start.

"These are people who have never heard of things like screening, like a professional would do," Few said. "Craigslist was very accessible to the police."

The screening process is crucial, both to protect against a police sting and a potentially violent client, Few said. Steps like looking up the prospective client's name on Google, and verifying a phone number and other information, are the hallmarks of a professional.

"Any information they give you, you spend an extra hour confirming that information," she said. "For a serious professional worker, they will go the extra mile to ensure their safety."

The same facility of Craigslist that was attractive to industry novices has a corollary on the demand side, according to Southwell.

"Your average Joe looking for a call girl is going to go to Craigslist because that's where they go to look for an apartment or a ride share, so it's a natural thing," he said. Of course with the new policies, that figures to change. But what isn't likely to change, at least any time soon, is the Internet's role in facilitating the sex trade, he said.

"If it gets turned off at one place, they'll find that other place."