Reply #134: I realize it is not cut and dried

[Armstead]

I can't speak for anyone else on this thread, but this is how i look at it. It is not an either/or situation.

However, there is a distinction between the basic issue of prostitution and sex trafficking.....Just as there is a difference between workers on a farm and slaves who are held captive and enslaved on a farm.

When you hear of the horrific tales of women (and males) who are captured and trafficked and enslaved, it makes you sick to your stomach, if one has any sense of decency. Sex trafficking is part of the larger issue of slavery -- and to my mind that is about the worst crime one can commit -- almost worse than murder.

That, I believe,should be the focus of a worldwide push to stop it -- sex trafficking, child slavery and all forms of enforced slave labor.

Prostitution is an issue that is obviously part of that. And there are various gradations of force involved in much of prostitution.

However what I think people are saying -- and I am saying -- is that the moral objections people may have to sex workers in all forms can get in the way if the focus is diffused into campaigns against all forms of sex for sale. A root issue is trafficking and slavery, and that shouold be the focus of that effort.

Again, I realize there are gradations.A situation like your neice was in is horrible and should be dealt with too. The overlaps should be acknowledged and in many cases the solutions may overlap. However, at base the focus in terms of trafficking should be on the enslavement, regardless of ones views of the other legal and moral aspects of prostitution....In my opinion of course.