This project and website brought to you by the Prostitution Alternatives Round Table (PART), a project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, with the support of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. This poster appears on the backs of a dozen Chicago Transit Authority busses and at the entrance to the el on Clark and Division.
Prostitution, also known as the sex trade or a commercial sex act, is the exchange of a sex act for something of value such as money, clothes, food, a place to stay, transportation, drugs or other survival needs.
In simple terms, prostitution is a system of supply and demand. There are always at least two parties. The individuals purchasing the sex act provide the demand, and the individuals selling the sex act in turn provide the supply. There is often a third party who exploits and profits from this exchange.
There are 16,000 to 25,000 women involved in prostitution each year.[1]
Women and youth are involved in both in both "indoor" and "outdoor" prostitution venues.
Outdoor venues include street, survival sex, truck stops, hotels, drug houses, etc.
73% of women entered into prostitution before their 18th birthday.[2]
33% entered into prostitution between the ages of 12 and 15. [2]
50% experience homelessness at some point. [1]
75% are victims of sexual assault. [1]
66% are victims of incest. [1]
86% are victims of some form of domestic violence. [1]
Still think prostitution is a victimless crime? See more info under "More Facts About Prostitution."
[1] Jody Raphael and Deborah L. Shapiro, "Sisters Speak Out: The Lives and Needs of Prostituted Women in Chicago," (report, Center for Impact Research, Chicago 2002) [2] Jody Raphael and Jessica Ashley, “Domestic sex trafficking of Chicago women and girls,” (report, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, Chicago 2008)
Would there be a supply if there were no demand?
Other reasons:
The most frequent perpetrator of violence against individuals in the sex trade are the customers. [1]
Three-quarters of all prostitution-related arrests in Chicago are of women selling sex. [2]
Communities experiencing high levels of street prostitution report unwanted solicitation of neighborhood children by those seeking to buy sex.
Learn more about why men buy sex and the negative impact it has on our communities, under "Why Men Buy Sex."
[1] Jody Raphael and Deborah L. Shapiro, "Sisters Speak Out: The Lives and Needs of Prostituted Women in Chicago," (report, Center for Impact Research, Chicago 2002)
[2] Chicago Police Department arrest statistics, 2001-2006
This project and website brought to you by the Prostitution Alternatives Round Table (PART), a project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, with the support of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. This poster appears on the backs of a dozen Chicago Transit Authority busses and at the entrance to the el on Clark and Division.
