Youth Involvement in Prostitution: A Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography

Appendix A: Annotated Bibliography (continued)

Brannigan, A., & Fleischman, F. (1989). Juvenile prostitution and mental health: Policing delinquency of treating pathology?”Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 4, 77-97.

Approaches to youth prostitution are dominated by a therapeutic view that emphasizes sexual abuse and victimization of young persons. The authors question this model by critically reviewing the incidence of juvenile prostitution and the literature suggesting youth enter prostitution because of previous abuse. National prosecution data indicates that youth comprise only a minority of the total number of individuals charged for solicitation. Research on the association between childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and subsequent involvement in prostitution is characterized by methodological and ideological inconsistencies. A review of two studies on runaways in Canada downplays the link between child abuse, leaving home at an early age, and becoming involved in prostitution. The authors question the value of addressing juvenile prostitution as pathology and the merits of treating soliciting as a crime.

Brannigan, A., & Gibbs Van Brunschot, E. (1997). Youthful prostitution and child sexual trauma. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 20, 337-354.

This paper reviews the empirical literature on traumatic intrafamilial experiences and subsequent involvement in prostitution. The research suggests that prostitutes experienced rape, incest, and other sexual abuse in the family, however the “evidence is inconsistent and contradictory.” The authors advocate an approach based on general control theories, an approach that focuses on socialization and control models of delinquency as opposed to pathological responses. Traumas or conflicts that result in children and youth running away from home exposes youth to delinquent situations; weakened family bonds disrupt a youth’s self-control development, increasing their early sexual activities and their risk of entering prostitution. Understanding these factors can help explain entry into prostitution, without searching for “unobservable traumas and psychiatric disturbances.” The authors suggest an interaction between “social control factors and the normal process of sexual development.”

Brannigan, A. (1996). Victimization of prostitutes in Calgary and Winnipeg. (Report No. TR1996-15e) Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada.

In December 1985, the federal government passed legislation that criminalized communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution. In response to concerns that the communicating law contributed to the victimization of prostitutes, the Department of Justice Canada sponsored a series of studies to determine if there was a link between s.213 (the communicating law) and an increase in violence against prostitutes. The present study uses multiple sources, which included: a review of s.213 enforcement patterns, interviews with criminal justice personnel, an examination of homicide data, interviews with Calgary prostitutes, and an analysis of prostitution-related newspaper items. The data indicate 20 homicides involving prostitutes in Calgary and Winnipeg since 1985. Violence against prostitutes does not appear to be “directly” related to enforcement of the communicating law. The report includes an overview of alternative social and legal programs to deal with prostitution-related issues.

British Columbia(2000). Sexual exploitation of youth in British Columbia. Assistant Deputy Ministers’ committee on prostitution and the sexual exploitation of youth. B.C.: Ministry of Attorney General, Ministry of Children and Families, Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for Seniors.

This report was completed under the guidance of an inter-ministry working group of the Assistant Deputy Minister’s Committee on Prostitution and the Sexual Exploitation of Youth. The Committee argued that effective strategies for addressing sexual exploitation of youth include prevention strategies, meeting the “crisis needs” of youth in the sex trade, reducing health and other risks, and developing community strategies for helping youth exit the trade. This report reviews the literature and provide results from a “jurisdictional scan and consultations with Aboriginal agencies.” A review of the literature reveals that many sexually exploited youth “…come from economically disadvantaged, multi-problem families; have been abused sexually and physically as children; and have left school and home at an early age.” Once on the street, with little education and work skills, some youth turn to prostitution as a “means of survival.” There is a paucity of research that examines “ethnicity and other marginalizing factors” and research concerning off-street prostitution. The jurisdictional scan (interviews with services providers in nine B.C. communities) revealed that prostitution was a problem in seven of the nine communities. Key informants estimated that 20-50% of the youth sex trade takes place on the streets, while other venues include massage parlours, karaoke bars and trick pads. Eight interviews were conducted with informants for Aboriginal agencies. Estimates of the proportion of prostitutes who are Aboriginal ranged from 14% to 60%, “depending on the community consulted.” Informants suggested that most Aboriginal youth in the sex trade work on the streets, and most experienced early childhood physical and sexual abuse and have substance misuse problems. The report outlines suggestions for the integrated plan of the ADMs’ Prostitution Working Group for addressing child and youth sexual exploitation.

British Columbia(1994) News Release: Government Action Plan to Combat the Sexual Abuse of Kids on the Street. Government of British Columbia

In November 1994, the British Columbia government launched the Vancouver Action Plan, a community-led initiative to combat the sexual exploitation of street youth in the Vancouver area. This news release announces the commitment of $1.9 million to enhance services for sexually procured youth, and reveals plans to confront pimps and johns. Resources focus on harm reduction strategies and long-term solutions to prevent the sexual procurement of youth.

British Columbia. (1996). Community Consultation on Prostitution in British Columbia: Overview of Results. B.C.: Ministry of Attorney General.

This document summarizes the government of British Columbia’s community consultations on prostitution. Conduced in spring 1995, the consultation process was designed to collect data on the characteristics of prostitution and issues related to social services, law enforcement and legislative reform. It is suggested that the results could act as recommendations to the Federal/Provincial/ Territorial Working Group on Prostitution, and they offer ideas for new provincial initiatives. Surveys were administered to those who attended community meetings (one on services and one on justice issues), and interviews were conducted with 75 sexually procured youth and adults (administered by street workers and other advocates) and 16 parents of youth prostitutes. Consultation meetings with customers were arranged through Sexual Addicts Anonymous.

British Columbia. (1997). Provincial Prostitution Unit Reports. B.C.: Ministry of Attorney General.

In September 1996, the government of British Columbia launched the Provincial Prostitution Unit, mandated to assist communities in developing and implementing prostitution-related enforcement, prevention and education strategies. This document outlines the role and policy approach of the Unit, and it details current projects and initiatives. The Unit supports the development of programs for preventing the sexual exploitation of youth involved in prostitution, reducing levels of violence against prostitutes, and addressing nuisance concerns and other prostitution-related issues. The Unit consists of three police officers, crown counsel and a community co-ordinator. From September 1996 to February 1997, the Unit held symposia throughout the province to introduce their mandate, consult with service providers about the incidence of child sexual exploitation, and help communities launch action teams. Community Action Teams work to develop prevention, education and social intervention strategies to combat the sexual procurement of youth at the community level.

BC Ministry of Children and Families. (2000). New law to keep young people safe. News Release. Government of British Columbia.

On June 21, 2000, the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Families announced plans to introduce the Secure Care Act 2000 in the B.C. legislature. The new legislation will give “parents and authorities the power to get help for high-risk children and youth who are unable or unwilling to help themselves.” The Act is not limited to youth prostitution and covers other forms of “self-harm” (e.g. severe drug addiction). The Act empowers a parent, guardian, or director of secure care to make an application for having a child apprehended into secure care for up to 30 days. In emergency cases, authorities will have the power “to ensure the safety of a young person by detaining them for up to 72 hours for assessment and arrangement of treatment and support services.”

Brock, D. (1989). Prostitutes are scapegoats in the AIDS panic. Resources for Feminist Research, 18 (12), 13-17.

Prevailing beliefs suggest that prostitutes are carriers of sexually transmitted diseases, and that women involved in the sex trade are “morally and physically dirty.” This attitude was evident during the first and second world wars when women involved in prostitution were blamed for spreading venereal disease throughout the military. This article critically examines contemporary scapegoating of prostitutes as responsible for spreading HIV. The author berates the public, media, and police officials for suggesting that “prostitutes are causing an epidemic” in Canada. To challenge the notion that prostitutes spread HIV, the author cites data indicating that few prostitutes have been found HIV positive. Except for young women and men who recently entered the trade, the author asserts that most prostitutes practice safe sex procedures. The advocates education and prevention initiatives, “rather than searching for villains and creating scapegoats.”

Brock, D. (1998). Making work, making trouble: Prostitution as a social problem. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Prostitution as a social problem is not a new phenomenon. However, we seldom question why prostitution is treated as a social problem, and who considers it problematic. This book examines the construction of prostitution as a social problem by analyzing the regulation of prostitution from 1970 through the 1990s. The author discusses the relationship between urban gentrification and the idea that indoor prostitution constituted a social problem. The production of a moral panic led to the closure of off-street prostitution venues (mainly massage parlours), subsequently forcing many prostitutes to work on the streets, and creating new interest group concerns about the visibility of the street trade. The work of the Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution (the Fraser Committee) and the introduction of Bill C-49 (the communicating law) are also discussed. In addition, the author argues that juvenile prostitution was redefined as child sexual abuse through the work of the Committee on Sexual Offences Against Children and Youth (the Badgley Committee). The Badgley Report propelled demand for the expansion of “criminal law and social services, despite the questionable adequacy of these measures in meeting the needs of young prostitutes.” The author cautions that the introduction of more legislation to control prostitution only serves to punish people involved in the sex trade. Brock concludes that it is necessary to transform prostitution from its current form by challenging the social conditions that makes prostitution a favourable choice for some women and young people.

Brock, D., & Kinsman, G. (1986). In J. Lowman, M. Jackson, T. Palys & S. Gavigan (Eds.)Regulating sex: An anthology of commentaries on the findings and recommendations of the Badgley and Fraser reports. Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser University.

In response to growing concerns with child sexual abuse, the federal government charged the Committee on Sexual Offences Against Children and Youth to investigate the incidence of abuse and to make recommendations for combating this phenomenon. This paper criticizes the Badgley Report for its inability to address patriarchal relations that contribute to sexual offences against children and youth. Patriarchal relations are defined as “the historically developed social relations of male domination organized through the sexual division of labour, family organization and state policies.” The authors argue that the Badgley Committee used a narrow legislative framework that eschewed analysis of social and economic factors associated with child sexual abuse. The Report treats sexual abuse as a uniquely sexual problem, and its administrative and managerial approach to sexual abuse provides no indication of what needs to be done to transform the social organization of male violence. The authors argue that we need to transcend discussions that treat abuse as a sexual matter, in favour of initiatives that address “relations of domination and subordination that act to imprison the lives of young people.”

Brown, J., & Victor, M. (1996). Research directions in male sex work. Journal of Homosexuality, 31, (4), 29-56.

This paper reviews the literature on male prostitution to examine theoretical and research conceptualizations of the male sex trade. The authors note that previous research focuses on the biopsychology of male prostitution; however, recent concern with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has shifted researchers’ attention to the risk male prostitutes and their customers’ face of transmitting this disease. The authors discuss the “typology and psychology of male sex workers, reasons for entering the trade, sexual orientation and practices, sexually transmitted diseases, and clients.”

Brown, M. (1979). Teenage prostitution. Adolescence, 14, 665-679.

This paper reviews several studies to explore the social conditions that make some girls vulnerable to “deviant sexual activity,” experiences facilitating entrance into prostitution, and the way the criminal justice system deals with female adolescent prostitution. Factors identified as precipitating involvement in prostitution include: broken homes, parental neglect and abuse, educational difficulties, poor work prospects and “psychological disorientation.” Alienation from conventional social values provides females with exposure to deviant lifestyles. Once exposed to deviant socialization, several motives potentially draw youth into prostitution (e.g., financial needs, the desire for adventure, associating with delinquent girls, situational factors associated with being a runaway). The author notes that the criminal justice system “over prosecutes” teenage girls; juvenile girls are harshly punished for status offences, and they are drawn further into deviant lifestyles through a process of labeling and stigmatization

Bullens, R. (1996). Organized abuse, disorganized lives: Making a deal with the devil. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 2, 99-111.

This study investigates the organized sexual abuse of adolescent boys involved in prostitution in Dutch sex clubs. In-depth interviews are conducted with 8 boys (age 14-16) and 5 of their parents. Topics include: background characteristics of the boys; recruitment practices; indoctrination process from “passive spectator to active participant”; financial seduction and coercion; participation and responsibility factors; and, issues related to inadequate safe-sex practices. The author also reviews the motivation to remain in the club scene, and the boys’ perceptions following a sexual abuse investigation by police.