***MEDIA ALERT***

John,

I grew up reading your books. Your characters had an influence on my young mind and their stories gave me impressions of the legal world that I will never forget. In fact, I still have nearly a whole shelf in my library dedicated to your works. Eventually, I decided to become a lawyer, went to law school, and now my career is in human trafficking law and policy. I am responsible for analyzing state laws and making recommendations to state legislatures in order to improve their laws so children are not exploited by sexual predators, including consumers of child pornography.

I am writing you because your comments in your recent interview promoting your new book where you criticized harsh prison sentences for those who view child pornography were discouraging and harmful. Frankly, I’m a little surprised and really disappointed.

John, there is an astonishing demand in America for sex with children. These men who pay for sex with children are acting on fantasies they have cultivated through the consumption of child pornography. Consumption of child pornography is not harmless or a victimless crime. Child pornography includes the recorded production of a real child experiencing real sexual abuse and exploitation. Viewers can normalize the sexual assault of a child and seek to actualize the experience, further victimizing more children.  According to the Demanding Justice Project report, buyers who solicit sex from children are also often involved in production or dissemination of child pornography. It is undeniable that consumers of child pornography drive the demand for sex with real children.

In your interview, you distinguished those who physically victimize children from those who “haven’t hurt anybody” by downloading images of children involved in sex acts. Your distinction is hollow. The collective desire for child pornography creates an illicit market where child exploiters are going to provide images of sexual acts with children that they have produced for the demand. While the child is not being physically victimized by the person who downloads an image of a child, the production of that child’s victimization was done for the consumer. Each time that child’s photo is downloaded, the image of that child is used for the sexual gratification of someone who may ultimately act on that fantasy. Why aren’t you willing to call that person a pedophile? Both are “real pedophiles.”

In your interview, you told the story of your friend who was caught in a sting by law enforcement for visiting a website offering images of “16 year old wannabe hookers” and justified his behavior by claiming they “looked 30” and were “not ten year old boys.” You probably don’t know much about human trafficking or child exploitation, so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and explain why both those statements are, at best, uneducated.

Those 16 year old girls who “looked 30” were groomed by their exploiters and sexualized to appear older than they actually are. This is a tragically common strategy that sex traffickers use to entice buyers who are looking for sex with children. Have you ever known any 16 year old girls whose career dreams involved becoming a “wannabe hooker?” The dark reality is that these children are forced into the commercial sex industry at young ages through manipulation, coercion, deceit, and abuse of trust.

All children are worthy of protection from pedophiles, regardless of their age or gender. You further tried to justify your friend’s decision to download child pornography by distinguishing “ten year old boys” from the “16 year old wannabe hookers,” as if to say that child pornography involving young minor girls is not as worthy of prosecution as child pornography depicting younger minor boys. The broken philosophy underpinning this statement reflects cultural attitudes toward prostitution and children, especially girls. Children are not prostitutes, they are exploited, and that is equally true for the child pornography depicting the 16-year-old girls and the ten-year-old boys. Both offenses deserve harsh penalties.

Judicial reform is a serious and urgent topic. But child pornography convictions don’t deserve lighter penalties; in many states the penalties are far too lenient in comparison to federal penalties for the same offenses.

John, there is a war in American culture and media for the innocence of children. Every time you say that your friend merely “pushed the wrong buttons” and found himself on a child pornography website, you absolve him from responsibility. This has to stop. Men must stand up to protect the exploited and be honest about the consequences of consuming child pornography with themselves and with other men. Nothing is more urgent.

Expectantly,

-Ryan Dalton

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As a survivor of child sex trafficking, I often travel across the country to share my story as part of a larger effort to spread awareness about human trafficking and child exploitation.  After sharing my testimony, I’m often asked for thoughts on ending the demand for commercial sex, as a way to deter sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC).

Several strategies have been posed to help end the demand for illegal commercial sex, including financial penalties, shame tactics, and diversion programs (e.g. “john schools”).  For any person seeking commercial sex specifically with a child, that person is a pedophile; his or her behavior will not be corrected with a fine or john school.  For those buyers who are intending to purchase illegal commercial sex from a “willing” adult, then a john school could certainly educate them about the existence of sex trafficking within illegal (and sometimes legal) commercial sex work, including incidences involving children.

It is not necessarily my mission to end the demand for legal commercial sex work; however, it is my personal and professional mission to end the widespread tolerance for sexual objectification of women and girls, especially in the media.  I believe this will, in turn, help to reduce the prevalence of sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking and CSEC.

Every day we are surrounded by images of women sexualized and objectified in the media.  Consistent exposure to such images can cause impressionable and misled girls to self-sexualize and self-objectify, and can cause both boys and girls to grow up viewing women as objects to critique and consume.  Such a culture creates a tendency toward violence against women, which can manifest in ways ranging from degrading jokes about women in positions of power to excuses made for college students who gang rape an intoxicated and unconscious girl.

In my recently-published book, Walking Prey,I stress the need for media literacy education as a way to prevent sexual exploitation.  Such education would help children and youth to deconstruct media (e.g. advertisements, magazines, movies, and music) and discuss messages within those media, including messages about different genders, races, and cultures.

An ideal media literacy program would include various perspectives on these topics from diverse populations. For example, many media messages attempt to portray an empowered woman, whether it’s for an advertisement, music video, or other media vehicle.  But what does an empowered woman look like?  One person may envision an empowered woman as one who is sexually open and aggressive, while another may view her as one who is academically and professionally successful.  Another person may see an empowered woman as one who is chasing her dreams, regardless of the academic level, financial payoff, or sexual appeal; and yet another may see her as one who embraces her age and the wisdom gained from experience.

The goal of media literacy is to encourage children and youth to question (1) whose view or perspective they are actually seeing in a media image or message, (2) whether or not they agree with that message, and (3) the potential effects that message may have on individuals and societies.

How might such education prevent sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking and CSEC?

Youth and young adults who are forced or lured into commercial sex work have often already experienced sexual abuse and/or exploitation within their homes or communities.  Before I met the man who trafficked me for commercial sex at age 14, I had been sexually exploited by older boys and young men in my community.  As a preteen, I studied fashion magazines, movies, and music videos for clues about how to be pretty and popular.  As a result, I was overwhelmingly exposed to images of sexually objectified women.

What I learned from these messages was that young women who were valued in society were sexy, desired by men, and eager to please men and that sex always felt good to these women.  As I adopted these principles, I quickly learned that I did notenjoy sex, which made me think that something was physically wrong with me.  What I did notlearn from these media messages was that empowered women not only had the choice to say no to sex but also practiced that choice whenever they felt uncomfortable.

In turn, I believe the older boys and men from my youth who sexually exploited intermediate and middle school-aged girls had also been exposed to these same media messages.  I believe they simply didn’t see anything wrong with treating girls as sexual objects without feelings, concerns, or desires of their own.  Had I been exposed to media literacy in elementary and middle school, I might have recognized that I was seeing only one perspective on female sexuality and value; and that this message, without the balance of other perspectives, was potentially destructive.  The same goes for the boys and young men in my community – had they been exposed to media literacy, perhaps they would have recognized, and even rejected, messages that encouraged objectification and exploitation of women.

I ultimately cooperated with the man who forced me into prostitution because I didn’t understand my personal rights or value as a young woman.  In fact, I began to feel empowered by prostitution because I was then getting paid to do something that I hated but thought was a requisite of young women.  Many youth and young adults in illegal (or legal) commercial sex work may harbor these same notions.

So, what are my thoughts on ending the demand for commercial sex?  My thoughts are to instead focus on media literacy as a tool to teach youth to think critically.  Such education can follow youth into adulthood and help them to identify negative messages and situations, especially those that perpetuate violence against others.  Media literacy is one of many vital components to a well-rounded prevention program to educate youth against sexual exploitation.  Change will begin with education, and a movement will flourish with inspired young leaders.