Cover Story
by Katie Childs
"Prostitution is a game that has only losers in it, a game about sad, broken, pathetic people."
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Young Prostitutes Sell Body and Soul to Street
Many prostitutes enter the industry before age 18.
--Brad Hein, photo
Jed, 19, has lived on the streets for about five years, prostituting himself to support his heroine habit. When the money runs out, and he needs another hit, prostitution provides a quick source of cash.
He changes his prices depending on the kind of customer he's servicing and the amount of competition.
"Most street kids have turned tricks-- sexual acts for money--at one time or another," Wil Sharp said. He has worked with Portland street kids for three years through his Dinner and a Movie ministry.
A prostitute will turn one to 12 tricks a night, making an average of $20 to $200 per client.
Some prostitutes inherit the family occupation; others are taken on and turned out by a pimp. In Portland, prostitutes more often work independently than for a pimp, Jed said. Often, a boyfriend will encourage his girlfriend to get into prostitution to support his drug habit.
Within prostitution is a hierarchy, Vice Officer Marsha Carson said. At the very bottom sit the street prostitutes who work either independently or under a pimp. Most girls and boys involved in this form fall between the ages of 12 and 18, and the bulk of prostitutes fit into this category.
Next are the strippers and those in the lingerie and massage businesses, Officer Carson said. The April edition of "Exotic," one of three escort magazines that flood the Portland streets each month, listed 45 of these businesses in Portland; Forty-three are downtown. At the top, escort services serve as a front for prostitution. Each escort magazine is filled with photographs of nearly, if not completely, nude women and what they have to offer for the right price.
Portland, often dubbed "Pornland," has more strip clubs per capita than any other U.S. city.
For Brandy, a prostitute behind the façade of the escort business, her lifestyle is about freedom. Despite having an intelligent mind, she chooses to sell her body for up to $1,000 per client. She has no need to get up each morning to go to school or work. She takes whatever drugs she wants, when she wants.
Jed's boyfriend, Web, 43, has turned tricks in the past to make money for various drugs. He believes prostitution should be legalized but controlled. That way prostitutes would have access to disease testing and organized protection services, even designated housing.
Officer Carson believes legalized prostitution could never work in the United States. The United States has too great a division between the upper and lower classes, too many predators.
Portland laws against prostitution are becoming increasingly strict. Portland has Prostitution Free Zones by Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Southeast 82nd Avenue and east and west Burnside Street where prostitutes are banned from entering.
Making a sale is easier for male prostitutes as homosexuality is still underground, Web said. Many married men will come down from Vancouver, buy a quick sexual fix, and return home to their wives and children.
A male prostitute may charge $80 for full-service sex and $40 for oral sex, but if the john--the client buying the prostitute-- has a wedding ring, the prostitute will up the price another $10, Brad Hein, who formerly arranged escort services, said.
Male prostitution is about pedophilia, not homosexuality, Mr. Sharp said. A john with a fetish for little boys will feed it with male prostitutes.
For women the job is more difficult, Web said.
Twelve years ago, Mr. Hein spent many of his evenings escorting street prostitutes through Portland to protect them from rape and abduction. One girl, a blond who always wore blue pants and white, lace-up cowboy boots, sought him for protection. One night he took her to a downtown fountain, shared a couple beers with her, then left her to fend for herself. A week later the girl was found stabbed and dead in a dumpster.
Every prostitute has a different background, but most have been sexually abused as children and have the same type of damaged psyche, Officer Carson said.
Many prostitutes have been molested by the men in their lives since they were five years old and now don't know anything different, Mr. Sharp said. "They're taught that they're dirty little girls (or boys)."
According to the LOTUS (Liberating Ourselves Through Understanding Sexploitation) foundation, 84 percent of prostitutes have been assaulted, 89 percent raped.
"We live in a highly sexualized culture. These kids are abused anyway; it's typical for someone who has been abused to think that they have no choices. They are already beat down, prostitution is like throwing a nuclear bomb onto the fire," Mr. Sharp said.
Society doesn't want to recognize how big a problem prostitution is, Officer Carson said. They don't realize that each prostitute is someone's sister, daughter, grandson or brother. People are more concerned with how it affects them, she added. Most citizens do not want to see the acts in a parking lot or have to step over used condoms on the sidewalk.
The church has lost focus on the things that really matter, Mr. Sharp said. "When we look at what's going on in the world, watching R-rated movies is not that bad compared to one in three girls being molested."
Christians may easily have a passion for reaching prostitutes, but it needs to be coupled with knowledge, Mr. Sharp said. He has seen people with a lot of zeal start up prostitute ministries without first studying the culture. Christians should examine organizations like Children of the Night or LOTUS.
Instead of "Beautiful Women," people should be watching movies like "Monster" or "American Pimp," Officer Carson suggested.
"It's not as easy to demonize the lost given their true circumstances," Mr. Sharp said. "Prostitution is a game that has only losers in it, a game about sad, broken, pathetic people. It's the circumstances of my birth that differentiate me the most."
"I'm not inhibited by the mind glitches that say guys shouldn't go with guys and girls should be loved, not hated," Jed, said. He compared himself to a cockroach, standing in the corner beneath a spider's web. When a fly lands he knows he will eventually get to eat the carcass. But first he has to wait for the spider to suck out the blood. He knows he will make money if he does a trick, but the fact is, he has to do the trick. "A businessman always has a smile on his face," he said. "It's not until going home that you see a human face."
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