Creating Options for Women in the Sex Trade
Most people think that prostitution is a victimless crime, but the reality is that women and youth are harmed every day through the exploitative and coercive sex trade industry.
Current Initiatives
Lucretia knows first hand about the brutality of the sex trade. When she was only 12 years old, Lucretia's biological mother sold her to a pimp.
For a while, the life seemed glamorous to a girl who had been abused and abandoned by her own family. As time went on, the constant violence, degradation and periodic homelessness took a toll on her physical and emotional health. Twenty-six years later, she made a final plea for help after trying to take her own life. Thankfully that call was answered, and she was admitted to a program that provided the structured residential treatment and services she needed.
Sadly, the story of Lucretia’s involvement with the sex trade is not unique. In the Chicago metropolitan area, between 16,000 and 25,000 women and girls are regularly engaged in the prostitution industry (Source: Center for Impact Research, 2001 [PDF]); 62 percent started before the age of 18 (Sisters Speak Out, Center for Impact Research, 2002) [PDF]; Deconstructing the Demand for Prostitution, 2008 [PDF]).
Desperation drives people into prostitution. Many youth and women engage in survival sex, the trade of sexual acts for basic needs such as food, clothing or a place to stay. (See Domestic Sex Trafficking of Chicago Women and Youth, 2008 [Word Document])
To address the link between prostitution and homelessness, CCH founded Prostitution Alternatives Round Table (PART), a network of governmental and private nonprofit organizations and survivors of prostitution. Since 2003, Lucretia has been an active leader, helping CCH advocate for people victimized by the sex trade. She first got involved with PART when a friend in prostitution was murdered by a customer.
"This was a wake-up call," says Lucretia. "I got out before it was too late. I wanted to show other women that they aren't lost causes, like everybody had told me I was."
