The John School

Our team needed to be in two places at once yesterday; we had a few interviews scheduled in Los Angeles and we also had an invite to sit in on a "john school" in San Francisco.

By the votes of the majority, I was chosen to take a 9 pm flight out of LA on Friday to attend the school. I wasn't looking forward to a late night adventure on San Francisco's public transportation but it ended up not being as bad as I thought. The train (BART) was full of European travelers and our complete ignorance of San Francisco bonded us.

The john school was incredible. San Francisco has a re-education program for johns who are first time offenders. (If you don't know, the term "john" refers to the clients of prostitutes). Instead of slapping the johns with a bunch of punishments the idea is to educate them on the entire scope of prostitution-- how it feeds and funds exploitation and how it adds to the greater world of human trafficking.

The program is a great success. The number of guys going back out there doing the same thing drops dramatically.

It was a little weird for me to walk into a room full of johns. There were 21 of them there yesterday; some were Caucasian, some African-American, some Hispanic and some were foreigners. Some had been caught in bars lured by an undercover cop, some inferred that they were victims of their own sexual addictions and some had prowled the internet looking for a good time. They were old and young and every age in between.

What they all had in common was that they had been caught and were charged with agreeing to, or actually engaging in sexual acts in exchange for compensation or money.

At the beginning of the day the atmosphere in the room was a mix of shame and attitude. Their dark, dirty secret had been revealed to the world, exposed to the light of day and it made them uncomfortable. And yet, wasn't it their right to go to a prostitute? After all, she was out there asking for it. Wasn't this kind of behavior a sign of being a true man?

What surprised me the most was how the guys were treated. They weren't condemned and they weren't judged. Their actions obviously were but not who they were as people. There was a genuine atmosphere of helpfulness and a true desire to help these guys understand the damage their actions cause. The guys responded to that openness and really listened.

By the end of the day their attitude has shifted dramatically. There was much more of an understanding of the implications of their actions, for themselves (the dangers of STD’s and HIV, what happens if they are caught again) and for the women (exploitation, violence, depression). Will some of these guys go back out there and seek out prostitutes? No doubt they will. Will some never again engage in that sort of activity? Definitely. And that’s pretty awesome.

Stopping human trafficking by stopping demand is a pretty great way to go about it.

--Ro

A Glimpse of Tijuana

Tijuana is a unique city. Perched on the very edge of Mexico the whole city seems smashed up against the tall fence that marks the US/Mexico border. It's unique in other ways too. In the "North Zone" (the red light district) young women line the streets their faces blank, their short skirts too short and their faces plastered with make-up.

Red light districts exist everywhere in the world but some are more obvious than others. Tijuana is the first place I've been where so many women line the streets. I've seen brothels, I've seen a few ladies here and there... but not so many all at once all on the same road.

A few nights ago we talked to three American men on the strip and asked them where we could find the youngest girls. "All the classy women work in these bars," they said pointing towards the bright neon lights of two high end bars. "They're older and they do it by choice. It's good money. The younger ladies, the underage ones, they're on the street."

When I asked they if they thought the girls wanted to be there he said, "Of course they do. They probably have family and kids somewhere and they need the money. If it wasn't for us they wouldn't be able to feed their kids. They wouldn't be able to make any money and they'd probably starve."

I clarified. So you're doing them a favor?
"Absolutely. We're helping them"

Right. Nice help. Then why don't you just give them your money and leave? Are you really so benevolent that you actually care about the fate of these women? Do you even know if she has kids or why she needs the money? And do you really thing they choose to prostitute themselves if they have to do it in order to feed their kids?

I didn't ask these questions but I wanted to. I also wanted to punch them all but I resisted. Instead I walked away saddened by the lies and excuses people tell themselves to justify their perversions and saddened by the lives these women lead standing on street corners late into the night waiting for cash.