The sex industry operates by standard supply-and-demand dynamics. Those who buy sex (usually men) fuel the demand that traffickers and pimps supply with victims (mostly women and girls). The commercial sex trade drives both the international and domestic sex trafficking markets. While it’s critical to rescue the victims and pursue traffickers, growing recognition worldwide and within the US reveals that in market terms, tackling demand addresses illegal commercial sex at its core.

Men who attend San Fransisco’s first-time offender education program, or “john school,” are 40% less likely to be rearrested.

A number of successful initiatives within the United States are combating demand. A landscape analysis conducted by Abt Associates Inc. found that demand-reduction best practices include public awareness campaigns, law enforcement initiatives, and prevention education curricula. Public officials can play a key role in supporting demand-reduction efforts and have been instrumental in their implementation — and they can work with laws already on the books that outlaw the purchase of sex. These innovative best practices are critical to eradicating the commercial sex industry, which is dangerous to victims, degrading to perpetrators, and harmful to society. Until demand is eliminated, the sexual enslavement of children, women, and even men will continue.

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Best Practices for Reducing the Demand for Commercial Sex
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2010