Image: Kevin Dooley Probably one of the cutest things going around on the internet right now are pet shaming photos. Pets, mostly dogs and cats, are posed next to the scene of the crime with a note announcing what they did, in first person. As though they wrote it themselves! Cute. It's cute. I'm serious. And informative, the amount of animals that eat their own poo and their neighbour's poo is shocking. Don't have a pet? Perhaps you have a recalcitrant teenager you'd like to publicly humiliate, or a cheating partner you want to punish. Because they are totes modern and down with the internet, police in California are stepping up a campaign of John shaming in a bid to combat sex work.
What is John shaming? Men believed to be soliciting sex workers on the street are photographed holding the a note with the date and their name on it. The police then post the picture up on social media sites. The police in the Bay Area were inspired by a campaign based in Oakland called Enough.
The Enough campaign posts photos of people who have been arrested and charged with the crime of sex trafficking, they are listed under pimps and purchasers: "Sex trafficking - buying and selling human beings for sex - is illegal. One of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world, sex trafficking forces thousands of men, women, and children into a life of prostitution every year. This low-risk, high-profit crime affects victims from all walks of life...
"The Oakland Police Department is committed to combating sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. We are dedicated to identifying and rescuing victims of trafficking and locating and arresting perpetrators of this crime."
The Enough campaign posts photos of people who have been arrested and charged with the crime of sex trafficking, they are listed under pimps and purchasers: "Sex trafficking - buying and selling human beings for sex - is illegal. One of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world, sex trafficking forces thousands of men, women, and children into a life of prostitution every year. This low-risk, high-profit crime affects victims from all walks of life...
"The Oakland Police Department is committed to combating sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. We are dedicated to identifying and rescuing victims of trafficking and locating and arresting perpetrators of this crime."
| The Oakland Police Department describe the site as a way of keeping the general public informed. Police Lt. Kevin Wiley who helped create the campaign said: "It's a way of using the embarrassment card...It can attack an individual's reputation. They are engaging in crimes that are beneath the surface, off the radar, a dirty little secret, (and) we expose that secret." | A jumpy man is a dangerous man. The safety of the sex workers does not appear to be of high concern in these strategies. |
Police Captain Mark Gagan said the Bay Area John shaming campaign helps people learn from the mistakes of others: "They need to get wrapped around the reality that picking up prostitutes could have your photo on Facebook in three hours, having to explain to everyone what you are doing."
The photos are presented with the disclaimer that the subject is considered innocent until proven guilty and the policy is that any photos of innocent people will be taken down. However the fact they are posted clearly sends the message that the police have a big hunch about this guy.
Therefore the campaign has been met with concern over interference in innocent people's lives and risk their reputation both socially and professionally.
Of course it also brings up the question of whether or not the campaign is bringing much out into the open or driving it further underground. A jumpy man is a dangerous man. The safety of the sex workers does not appear to be of high concern in these strategies. There's also the odd and worrying issue of the police involved in these campaigns conflating sex trafficking with sex work.
No campaign designed to stop sex trafficking or monitor sex work can succeed until we truly concern ourselves with the safety of the victim or the sex worker.
Squeamish Kate
The photos are presented with the disclaimer that the subject is considered innocent until proven guilty and the policy is that any photos of innocent people will be taken down. However the fact they are posted clearly sends the message that the police have a big hunch about this guy.
Therefore the campaign has been met with concern over interference in innocent people's lives and risk their reputation both socially and professionally.
Of course it also brings up the question of whether or not the campaign is bringing much out into the open or driving it further underground. A jumpy man is a dangerous man. The safety of the sex workers does not appear to be of high concern in these strategies. There's also the odd and worrying issue of the police involved in these campaigns conflating sex trafficking with sex work.
No campaign designed to stop sex trafficking or monitor sex work can succeed until we truly concern ourselves with the safety of the victim or the sex worker.
Squeamish Kate
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