Both Las Vegas and Atlanta have serious problems with prostitution, but their approaches could hardly be more different.
While Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and her administration have been ramping up enforcement activities to combat prostitution, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been famously quoted as dreaming of a series of “magnificent brothels” for his city if prostitution can be decriminalized.
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert condemned Las Vegas as the worst place in America for the treatment of women. He wrote, “If you peel back the thin, supposedly sexy veneer of the commercial sex trade, you’ll quickly see the rotten inside, where females are bought, sold, raped, beaten, shamed and in many, many cases, physically and emotionally wrecked.”
For that, Goodman threatened to break Herbert’s head with a baseball bat if he ever sets foot in his town again.
In Atlanta, Mayor Franklin launched a “Dear John” campaign to raise awareness about minors in prostitution through a series of print and broadcast public service announcements. Her administration established a new Child Exploitation Unit and an Anti-Trafficking Unit within the police department. Legislation was passed making trafficking a felony, while Franklin pushed for stiffer sentences for johns and pimps and creation of a “john school” for men caught trying to solicit a prostitute.
Franklin also took aim at craigslist.com, which she termed “Atlanta’s primary source” for advertising prostitution, as in other cities. She sent a letter last year to founder Craig Newmark and James Buckmaster, chief executive officer, asking them not merely to segregate these solicitations in one “Erotic Services” page, but to eliminate them altogether.
“Half of all Atlanta-area prostitutes are children,” she wrote, “ranging in age from 11 to 16. Youth from around the state, other states and several countries are brought into the metro-Atlanta area for the sole purpose of being exploited within the sex trade. Children who are commercially sexually exploited often become victims of violent crime and are at greater risk for substance abuse, depression, suicide, psychiatric disorders, pregnancy and physical health issues.”
Buckmaster wrote back that the company shares Franklin’s concerns and it would consider the matter, but to date craigslist policies have not changed.
