{"id":26,"date":"2010-05-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/05\/shutting-down-americas-online-sex-cafe.html"},"modified":"2010-05-04T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-04T07:00:00","slug":"shutting-down-americas-online-sex-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/05\/shutting-down-americas-online-sex-cafe.html","title":{"rendered":"Shutting Down America’s Online Sex Cafe"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's bad enough to hear about men who pose as animals and force young girls to prostitute themselves in foreign countries. That's horrible, and should never happen. But sex traffickers operating right here in the United States under our nose on Craigslist?!<\/p>\n

Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere are abuzz with the revelation
\nthat 1\/3 of Craigslist revenue comes from sex ads<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Many of these ads
\noffer young girls for sex<\/a>. It strikes me that this is exactly like the
\nsex cafe<\/a> I visited in Moldova. <\/p>\n

While I'm shopping for a used couch on Craigslist, thousands of girls are being trafficked in the cyberspace
\naround me. <\/strong> <\/p>\n

So far, the Craigslist leadership appears unwilling to take down the
\ntrafficking ads<\/a>, or to offer a real aggressive enforcement strategy. <\/p>\n

Many
\nhave taken to <\/a>boycotting craigslis<\/a>t until they get serious about not allowing the site to serve as a medium for trafficking underage girls. If you're
\none of these people, leave a comment and tell me why and what you think
\nthe boycott can accomplish<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Having just been in Moldova and Russia, sitting with girls who themselves had experienced the horrors of trafficking, I cannot believe this is happening on a site like Craigslist.
<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is happening in the open–on a public site. Many of the ads are plainly pornographic–and they are right there in the open. It's just like the sex cafe in Moldova! <\/p>\n

As the organized protest continues, there are a variety of ways that you can respond and act. Many of you asked what you can do to prevent sex trafficking. I never thought I'd be telling you to boycott Craigslist for facilitating the prostitution and rape of girls in the United States. Here goes…<\/p>\n