For those who were raised in religious households like I was, you might remember the "Satanic Panic" of the 80s.  A christian comedian by the name of Mike Warnke wrote a book called "The Satan Seller" in which he claimed that before becoming a christian, he was a satanic high priest in charge of several covens in major U.S. cities, which were run much like the mafia. He also claimed that "undercover" satanists were infiltrating churches.  Combined with hysteria over "satanic" metal bands like Slayer, the evangelical church went on a witch hunt, and LE came right along for the ride.  The most extreme example I heard was a sunday school teacher who was accused of being one of the "undercover" satanists.  The adults asked the children about it, and the children, sensing their chance to stir up some trouble, said yes.  Then the adults asked if the teacher had engaged in any animal sacrifices, and one boy said that the teacher was frying monkeys right in the classroom at the church.  LE was called, a full investigation was launched, and by the time everyone figured it out, the damage was already done.  Eventually, Mike Warnke was exposed for the fraud that he was, and the Satanic Panic faded into history.

There are still witch hunts going on, however.  The current one is the hysteria over sex trafficking.  Just like satanism, sex trafficking does exist...but it isn't any more prevalent than satanism was in the 80s.  LE and government officials need to wise up and realize that they're being played...again.  And once they decriminalize our hobby, they will have willing partners in the fight against the few cases of actual sex trafficking.

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And politicians love nothing more than a new "moral panic" to rally against. It's a fear-mongering formula as old as time.

Posting your website isn't mandatory. It's even prohibited if you are the Original Poster.
Providers post all the time without posting their site. I'm not bashing you just want things to be accurate.

The same people that are "fighting for women's rights" are the ones saying that a woman can not chose to do sex work. A woman that works in the sex industry can only be coerced into sex work or is brainwashed into thinking sex work is ok. The woman can only be a victim. It what twisted reality is that fighting for women's rights? Yes underage girls forced into prostitution is an EVIL thing, but that for sure does not mean a woman can not choose to do this without being forced or brainwashed.

Tori,  I generally agree with you, however, my local story from 2015's Operation Cross Country seems to passively suggest a focus on underage girls.  For instance, the second paragraph reads:

"Twelve pimp suspects also were arrested through the operation that was part of a national effort to combat sex trafficking involving children as young as 12 years old, according to a news release Tuesday from the FBI. Locally, the girls ranged in age from 13 to 17, according to an FBI agent involved in the investigation."

The entire article specifically states children (under 18 I'm assuming) several times and makes very little mention of general prostitution.

Additionally, some very crude research of mine determined that many of the regular participants of a popular advertising website that shall not be named were continuing to advertise before, during, and after the local sting dates suggesting none of those providers had been picked up.  

I'm not suggesting drawing any strong conclusions, but I've followed OCC for a few years now in the news and at least locally, it seems the focus really is on the underage situations and not on the adult providers.  

Check out the link and be sure to watch the raw footage video.

and the truth of the matter is very few "children" are actually rescued and the overwhelming majority of those arrested are consenting adults.

Here is a much more objective article on the subject.

Thanks for the read and I hear you.  In fact, I generally agree with the overall sentiment of the reason.com article(s) (seems like there was another long one I read about 75% of a few days ago).  

That said and again only speaking from my local viewpoint (metro Detroit), I believe the "authorities: here are less focused on the adult side of it and are more focused on the "children" side of it.

the reason.com article for MI states quite vaguely:
 "In Detroit, 19 minors were found and 12 sex-trafficking suspects arrested".

I don't know about the 12, but 19 minors is a good thing in my eyes.  My Freep article also states nothing about the minors being charged, but does talk about getting them back to their parents.

I'm not agreeing with the method/process and I'm admittedly no expert and have few if any facts, so my observations are just anecdotal, but it appears to be that way here to me.  I understand the issue is typically way overblown in the media, but I'm still fine with focusing on the under 18 crowd.  I think there's a lot better ways they could approach it and the reason.com article has some suggestions too.

It seems that very few minors were "saved, but a shit load of adults were arrested on anything possible. There is no way LE and politicians are going to claim anything but success. Careers and budgets hinge on them claiming "victory".

If there was only a believable way to try these "perverts" to terrorism ...

they are actually rather tasty.  But you really have to get the breading right. The secret is in the pepper.

Be aware , fried monkey is very high in cholesterol.

Well, their parents are often the reason they run off to join the circus in the first place.

Do you know what you are saying?
Independent escorts are not trafficked...  
You are very just in your attempt.. It's just stupid though?

I hate Auto-correct sometimes, the was supposed to read

If there was only a believable way to  TIE these "perverts" to terrorism ... aw fuck it!

As Tori and Satinbutterfly pointed out, the ones who are whipping up the hysteria are the ones who want more control of women.  This brings together two unlikely bedfellows:  the religious right and the feminazis (please excuse my ripoff of a Rush Limbaugh term).  The religious right wants to stamp out sex work in general, because "its' what god wants."  The feminazis rage against men in general, and while on one hand they insist on abortion on demand, because it's THEIR body, on the other hand, they want to control the bodies of escorts, dancers and porn stars, because somehow the sexual liberation of these women reflect badly on them.  And of course, the religious politicians who cite "family values" are usually the first to get busted with escorts.  Fucking hypocrites, all of them, on both sides.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm sure that LE reads these boards, and I hope they get the message.  Oh, and Hound, I don't think you read my post very carefully.  Your response sounds rather drunken, I thought you had been told to stay out of your dad's liquor cabinet.

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Will someone please call Hound's mom and let her know her retarded son is on her computer again??

For me, the most liberating experience I've had, sexually, was being with someone who loved and cared about me...ME, and not some hyper-sexual, manicured, over-polite version of myself. I trusted the other person enough to feel completely comfortable, relaxed, and secure with him. THAT is sexually liberating.

Sex work to me can be liberating (more below), but there is NOTHING particularly liberating about, say, giving a guy I don't like a BJ for three hours straight. Or receiving a sudden and unwanted (dry-fingered) poke in the ass, and getting a 'No, let me, it will enhance your pleasure!!!!!' response when you ask the guy to lay off. There is nothing liberating about being treated like a hole, or having somebody condescend to you or mistreat because you are just a hooker...and then, not being able to say anything except - to yourself - 'What a jerk! I will certainly never see him again.' Even when the client is nice, I'm still completely subject to his whims and also to professional standards. That's not always a bad thing (so long as those whims/standards are within my comfort zone), but I do see it as a lack of freedom. I can make decisions about my own body, in terms of whether or not I choose to sell it...but then, I'm immediately confronted with realities like 'If you don't do BBBJ you can't get more than a 7'. Then, once the guy is in the door, I give up most of what remains of my freedom in terms of what might happen to me physically.

To me, what is liberating about sex work has nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with living a life completely outside of societal norms. I do something for which 95% of people would judge me very harshly. I am aware of that judgment, but I don't internalize it. What other people think of escorting and sex work has NOTHING to do with me, the type of person I am, or how I live my life. The tendency to externalize society's opinion, and rely more heavily upon my own perceptions, has extended to other areas of my life.  

That's not to say that I brush off others' opinions. Any person's disapproval can be a wake-up call for me, an indicator that I am excusing or indulging myself in some type of behavior that does not benefit me or anybody else. But I definitely don't care as much what others think of me as I used to, before escorting. Also, I more apt to question the status quo, in terms of what some particular group, or society as a whole, finds worthy of approval or disapproval.

-- Modified on 10/17/2015 5:31:35 PM

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First, I want to make sure you understand that I am not suggesting the LEO strategy is good, helpful, beneficial, etc.  

That said, the MI portion of your article continues to support what I am generally pointing out.

1) The kids are not being charged with anything.  The article states they are either placed with their parents or no help is offered (both a form of catch and release).

2) There's nothing stating that in MI that any adult providers were targeted, arrested or charged.  The "12" may fall into this category, but that's not what is being suggested.

I'm not trying to argue whether or not placing back with the parents or simply letting them go is the right/best/optimal action,  that's a different discussion.  I'm simply saying the focus here in MI does not seem to be on arresting or charging adult providers.  In fact it doesn't even seem to be on arresting the underage providers either.