Draft:Child prostitution narrative

NOTES:

• following the Congressional hearings (have to get name of hearings and info on "witnesses" who "testified" (and lied)
• right-wing Christians: "protecting the family" and "protecting family values"
• third-wave radical feminists: "male patriarchy" -- (supposed) "power issues" and "power differentials")
• media ran with it

• panic about "children as young as..."
• "runaways" forced into prostitution: "survival sex"

• picked "worst cases" and (falsely) extrapolated to all teens

• same as did with "incest" narrative

• actually a minority of teens--often gay teen "throwaways"
• re-emergence of "homosexual threat to young boys"
• teenagers who were not "runaways" and not forced into "survival sex" (the majority) are ignored

• live at home, home life reasonably normal
• teens discover that sex has economic value

• almost never are pimps involved

• "sex tourism" narrative

• ignoring that the vast majority of the (so-called) "childen" were sexually mature--but "underage"--females

• entirely voluntary, for the most part

• yes, there are street kids who sell sex, and it is a problem

• but basically, it no longer exists in the U.S.--it is heavily policed

• so now emphasis on foreign countries--basically, very poor ones

• "trafficking in woman and children" (false) narrative

• but the real problem is the social system that does not care for children who left home because of serious physical abuse

• they confound the physical abuse (at home) with the later economic needs of children on the street which society does not meet

• a "feel good" solution ("see what we're doing for these poor children") to cover over/assuage guilt feeling because society fails in other areas

• [to be continued]
• [must search BW for "narrative" and fix "see other"]