Anyone who claims prostitution is a victimless crime should take 10 minutes to read renowned researcher and clinical psychologist Dr. Melissa Farley’s “Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations.”

The statistics and expert commentary provided by Dr. Farley leave little room for doubt. Prostitution is a human rights violation.

Consider this: A report out of Portland, Oregon, found that 85 percent of prostituted women were raped by their pimps. Another report, this one a Canadian study, documented a mortality rate 40 times higher than the national average for prostituted women and girls.

Farley’s bewildering collection of facts and figures also notes the prevalence of pimps in the illegal commercial sex trade. According to author Kathleen Barry, pimps — who manipulate prostituted women through verbal abuse, beatings, and even torture — control between 80 percent and 95 percent of all prostitution.

As Farley notes, “In prostitution, demand creates supply.” With chilling quotes, her factsheet exposes an entitlement factor as a major driver for some men. “It’s like going to have your car done, you tell them what you want done. They don’t ask. You tell them you want so and so done,” said one “john.”

And while it is demand that drives prostitution, “johns” are far more likely to escape conviction. A 1993 study in Seattle found that 42 percent of prostituted women who had been arrested were ultimately convicted. The conviction rate for “johns” was about 8 percent.

Learn the facts and Demand Abolition.

Read the full report
Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations
Available from the Prostitution Research & Education website
By Melissa Farley, PhD
2000