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A woman identifying as a participant sits contemplating hope

The Issue

What is The Commercial Sex Trade?

The most common reasons people start selling sex include issues leading to dir economic need, including livable wage jobs, struggles with addiction, and homelessness
image representing a briefcase for a job
Image representing a livable wage
Image respresenting housing
Image representing addiction
The commercial sex trade, of "prostitution," is a phenomenon of pverty in the united states
Globally, an average of 84% of people trading sex do not do so by choice
More than 50% of women entering substance use programs have reported trading sex for money or drugs
These are the same issues that commonly make people vulnerable to sex trafficking, and people who start engaging in survival sex are 5x more vulnerable to sex trafficking than they were before they entered the sex trade to meet their basic needs

Who Buys Sex?

The size of the commercial sex trade in the United States is estimated to be $6billion annually.
Image representing the United States and Money made by the sex trade
Most sex buyers in the US are men with an annual income over $100,000
In the United States, 6% of men purchase sex in any given year
Sex buyers' self-described activity and identity, as described in online sex buyer forums, is closely associated with maintaining, perpetrating, and minimizing, vionce against women.
sex buyers share key characteristics with men at risk of committing sexual agression
sex buyers are more likely than men who did not buy sex to report sexual agression, report likelihood to rape, score higher on measures of impersonal sex and hostile masculinity, and have less emathy for women trading sex, viewing them as intrinsically different from other women
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[i] Blakey, J. M., & Gunn, A. (2018). The "ickiness factor": Stigma as a barrier to exiting prostitution. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 57(8), 538-561. 10.1080/10509674.2018.1549177; Gerassi, L. B. (2020). How Adult Women Who Trade Sex Navigate Social Services: A Grounded Theory Study. Feminist Criminology, 15(2), 196-216. 10.1177/1557085119885444; Gesser, N. (2022). ‘[Peers Give] You Hope that You Can Change Too': Peers’ Helping Relationships for Women Exiting Street-based Sex Trade. Ethics and Social Welfare, 16(2), 151-168. https://doi-org.ezproxy.neu.edu/10.1080/17496535.2022.2033292

[ii] Farley, M., Franzblau, K., & Kennedy, A. E. (2014). Online Prostitution and Trafficking. Albany Law Review, 77(3), 1039-1094. http://prostitutionresearch.com/pub_author/melissa-farley-and-kenneth-franzblau-and-m-alexis-kennedy/

[iii] Burnette, M. L., Lucas, E., Ilgen, M., Frayne, S. M., Mayo, J., & Weitlauf, J. C. (2008). Prevalence and Health Correlates of Prostitution Among Patients Entering Treatment for Substance Use Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(3), 337-344. 10.1001/archpsyc.65.3.337

[iv] Demand Abolition. (2018). Who Buys Sex? (). https://www.demandabolition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Demand-Buyer-Report-July-2019.pdf

[v] Alves, C. D. B., & Cavalhieri, K. E. (2021). “Mongering Is a Weird Life Sometimes”: Discourse Analysis of a Sex Buyer Online Community. Violence against Women, 27(9), 1448–1474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220930820; Jovanovski, N., & Tyler, M. (2018). “Bitch, You Got What You Deserved!”: Violation and Violence in Sex Buyer Reviews of Legal Brothels. Violence against Women, 24(16), 1887–1908. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801218757375

[vi] Farley, M., Golding, J. M., Matthews, E. S., Malamuth, N. M., & Jarrett, L. (2017). Comparing Sex Buyers With Men Who Do Not Buy Sex: New Data on Prostitution and Trafficking. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32(23), 3601–3625. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515600874

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Amirah exists to provide exit and aftercare opportunities to people exiting the commercial sex trade.

We believe #HopeLivesHere.

Email: info@amirahinc.org

Phone: 781-462-1758

Office: 100 Cummings Ctr, Suite 204-J 

Beverly, MA 01915

Registered 501(c)3/EIN: 27-1214049

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