R I A H O U S E THE SUPPLY SIDE OF THE ON-LINE COMMERICAL SEX MARKET IN MASSACHUSETTS: A DATA MINING STUDY J

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1 R I A H O U S E THE SUPPLY SIDE OF THE ON-LINE COMMERICAL SEX MARKET IN MASSACHUSETTS: A DATA MINING STUDY J JANUARY 2016 H E A T H E R W I G H T M A N, M S W, M P H, R I A H O U S E, I n c. P A O L A M. C O N T R E R A S, P S Y D, W I L L I A M J A M E S C O L L E G E M I L A Y L E M O S, B A, W I L L I A M J A M E S C O L L E G E J E S S E B A C H, M E d, T H E I M A G I N E F O U N D A T I O N R e s e a r c h A s s i s t a n t T e a m : K e l s e y O l s o n ; R u t e L i m a ; C h r i s D u g a n ; S u z a n n e L a n g e v i n, L I C S W ; M e g h a n H o n i g m a n, L I C S W ; A n o n y m o u s ; A n o n y m o u s

2 INTRODUCTION T h e s y s t e m a t i c q u a n t i f i c a t i o n o f t h e n u m b e r o f p e o p l e s o l d o n l i n e f o r s e x i s a c r i t i c a l s t e p i n d o c u m e n t i n g l o c a l c o m m e r c i a l s e x m a r k e t s i n M a s s a c h u s e t t s o r i n a n y c o m m u n i t y a n y w h e r e i n t h e w o r l d. B y a n a l y z i n g p a t t e r n s w i t h i n t h e s e m a r k e t s, i m p o r t a n t i n f e r e n c e s c a n b e m a d e a b o u t s e x s e l l i n g a n d b u y i n g t r e n d s s u c h a s t h e s i z e o f t h e c o m m e r c i a l s e x m a r k e t a n d t h e f a c e s o f t h e p e o p l e w h o s e b o d i e s a n d s e x a r e a v a i l a b l e i n t h e m a r k e t. R e s e a r c h t h a t i n t e r v i e w e d 7 1 p i m p s a c r o s s s e v e n m a j o r U. S. c i t i e s f o u n d t h a t 4 9 % r e p o r t e d u s i n g o n l i n e a d s t o a t t r a c t b u s i n e s s ( D a n k, ) 1. T h e c o m m e r c i a l s e x i n d u s t r y i s c o m p l e x f o r e v e r y o n e i n v o l v e d s e x b u y e r s o f t e n c o n s u m e i n s e c r e t, t r a n s a c t e d p e o p l e a r e h i d d e n i n p l a i n s i g h t, t r a f f i c k e r s b e n e f i t f i n a n c i a l l y, a n d p e o p l e t h a t s u r v i v e a b u s e i n t h e i n d u s t r y a n d e x i t d e s c r i b e e x p e r i e n c e s t h a t v i o l a t e b a s i c h u m a n r i g h t s. T h e o n l i n e s e x m a r k e t h a s f u r t h e r c o m p l i c a t e d t h e s e x i n d u s t r y. I n D a n k s w o r d s : T h e s p a t i a l l i m i t a t i o n s t h a t o n c e g o v e r n e d t h e u n d e r g r o u n d e c o n o m y a r e g o n e. N o w p e o p l e w h o o n c e w o u l d n o t h a v e v e n t u r e d t o t h e i r c i t y s s t r o l l i n s e a r c h o f c o m m e r c i a l s e x a r e a b l e t o a n o n y m o u s l y c o n n e c t w i t h s e x w o r k e r s. ( p. 1 0 ) 1. D a n k, M. ( ). T h e H u s t l e : E c o n o m i c s o f t h e u n d e r g r o u n d c o m m e r c i a l s e x i n d u s t r y. U r b a n I n s t i t u t e : W a s h i n g t o n, D. C. r e t r i e v e d f r o m h t t p : / / a p p s. u r b a n. o r g / f e a t u r e s / t h e H u s t l e / i n d e x. h t m l 1

3 Regardless of your position towards the sex industry, we hope that this report will educate while it provides tools to contribute to a movement of compassion. As you read, we ask that you keep two considerations in mind : 1) the millions of d ollars (Dank, 2014) exchanged in the Unite d States for the sexual gratific ation of others; 2) that anyone s se x is for sale at the push of a button, at the call of a buyer, at the fle x of a market that is not concerned with people s dignity or humanity, because the sex industry is focused on profits. 2

4 THE POWER OF MANY IN MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS F o r o v e r a d e c a d e m a n y o r g a n i z a t i o n s, p u b l i c s e r v a n t s, a d v o c a t e s, p r o v i d e r s, s u r v i v o r s, a n d c o n c e r n e d c i t i z e n s a c r o s s t h e C o m m o n w e a l t h h a v e a d d r e s s e d t h e c o m m e r c i a l e x p l o i t a t i o n o f p e o p l e. T h e s e e f f o r t s s t a r t e d y e a r s p r i o r t o t h e p a s s i n g o f a n t i - t r a f f i c k i n g s t a t e l e g i s l a t i o n i n S o m e o f t h e e s t a b l i s h e d g r o u p s i n c l u d e t h e B o s t o n P o l i c e H u m a n T r a f f i c k i n g U n i t ; M A P r o s t i t u t i o n P r e v e n t i o n P r o j e c t ; M y L i f e M y C h o i c e ; K i m s P r o j e c t ( n o w t h e E V A C e n t e r ) ; T r a f f i c k i n g V i c t i m s O u t r e a c h S e r v i c e s Net w o r k ( n o w M a t a h a r i E y e o f t h e D a y ) ; a n d t h e S E E N C o a l i t i o n a m o n g o t h e r s. S h o r t l y a f t e r t h e p a s s i n g o f a n t i - t r a f f i c k i n g l a w, A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l M a r t h a C o a k l e y c o n v e n e d a t a s k f o r c e o f i n t e r e s t e d l e a d e r s t h a t p r o d u c e d t h e s t a t e s f i r s t r e p o r t o n h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g ( ) t i t l e d F i n d i n g s a n d R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s. Q u a n t i f y i n g h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g w a s a p r e s s i n g n e e d i d e n t i f i e d i n t h e r e p o r t, w h i c h p a r t l y s e r v e d a s a n i n s p i r a t i o n a n d j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r R I A H o u s e s d a t a m i n i n g s t u d y o n c o m m e r c i a l s e x. 3

5 COLLABORATING ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO MAKE TRAFFICKING RESEARCH POSSIBLE T h e s t u d y t h a t g e n e r a t e d t h i s r e p o r t w a s m a d e p o s s i b l e b e c a u s e o f t h e c o l l a b o r a t i o n b e t w e e n a g r o u p o f a c a d e m i c s ( W i l l i a m J a m e s C o l l e g e ), r e s e a r c h a s s i s t a n t v o l u n t e e r s *, a n d a n t i - t r a f f i c k i n g o r g a n i z a t i o n s ( R I A H o u s e & T h e I m a g i n e F o u n d a t i o n ) w h o p o o l e d t h e i r r e s o u r c e s t o d e v e l o p a s t u d y t o a t t e m p t t o i d e n t i f y t r e n d s i n t h e M a s s a c h u s e t t s o n l i n e s e x m a r k e t. F o l l o w i n g W e i t z e r s ( ) r a t i o n a l e f o r m i c r o l e v e l s t u d i e s o f h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g a n d i s s u e s r e l a t e d t o t h e c r i m e, s u c h a s c o m m e r c i a l s e x, t h i s g r o u p o f c o l l a b o r a t o r s a g r e e d t h a t a s t u d y o f t h e l o c a l o n l i n e s e x m a r k e t w a s a d e s i r a b l e f i r s t r e s e a r c h p r o j e c t t o p o t e n t i a l l y c o n t r i b u t e t o a n t i - t r a f f i c k i n g e f f o r t s i n M a s s a c h u s e t t s. U n l i k e m a c r o l e v e l s t u d i e s, w h i c h a t t e m p t t o g e n e r a t e f i n d i n g s a b o u t t h e p r e v a l e n c e o f h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g, t h e g r o u p o f r e s e a r c h c o l l a b o r a t o r s a g r e e d t h a t a m i c r o l e v e l s t u d y c o u l d p r o v i d e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e l o c a l n u a n c e s o f t h e c r i m e. S o m e o f t h e p o t e n t i a l b e n e f i t s o f m i c r o l e v e l s t u d i e s o u t l i n e d b y W e i t z e r t h a t r e l a t e t o t h i s d a t a m i n i n g s t u d y i n c l u d e : 1. m o r e a c c u r a t e v i c t i m i z a t i o n n u m b e r s ; a n d 2. p o t e n t i a l t o i d e n t i f y t r a f f i c k i n g h o t s p o t s. 1. W e i t z e r, R. ( ). N e w d i r e c t i o n s i n r e s e a r c h o n h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g. T h e A N N A L S o f t h e A m e r i c a n A c a d e m y o f P o l i t i c a l a n d S o c i a l S c i e n c e, ( 1 ),

6 STUDY METHODOLOGY WJC (IRB, RAs, TA) RIA House (RAs) Imagine (Tools, TA) I R B T R A I N R A s D A T A C O L L E C T I O N D A T A A N A L Y S I S The study was reviewed and approved by William James College s Institutional Review Board (IRB). From March 1, 2015-May 31, 2015 ten research volunteers from RIA House and William James College collected daily data from the Escort, Male Escort, and Transgender sections of the adult services listings on the website the geographic areas of Boston and Worcester. Research assistants entered specific categories of information in a secure, shared spreadsheet within 24 to 72 hours of ad postings. 5

7 The Imagine Foundation provided the online spreadsheet, which has been used to run similar data gathering projects in other US cities. Information in the shared document included the following fields: unique posting identification numbers for each listing as generated by Backpage.com; phone number; primary geographic location; secondary and tertiary locations; gender; race; number of people advertised in each listing; face shown or not shown in ad; price by hour; and a notes field where researchers were trained on entering any unusual body markings or text in the ad, and/or if a photo appeared to be that of a minor based on personal assessment. Additionally, to determine the accuracy of numbers of ads logged, a separate RIA House volunteer developed a web crawler computer program to automatically search every listing every hour within the Massachusetts region on backpage.com. The program was run from May 15 th 2015 to September 1 st From May 15 th 2015 to June 15 th 10,085 postings were found within the Boston region. For the same time period 15,159 postings of ads were found across all regions (Boston, Cape Cod, South Coast, Springfield, and Worcester). From May 15 th 2015 to September 1 st 2015, 82,672 postings of ads for sex were found across all regions. 6

8 Volunteers were trained prior to collecting data, and met at the mid-point for additional advisement and support. All volunteers had daily access to the study s director through telephone and . To decrease the likelihood of volunteer burnout, data entry was limited to one day of the week for those logging Boston data, and those entering data in Worcester (less volume) did so on multiple days of the week. If a research assistant suspected that a listing showed a minor child, a child that looked under the age of 18 years old, that posting was flagged and the study s director reported it to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children through a protected web portal. At the request of the research assistant volunteers, a final appreciative inquiry debriefing group was conducted by the study s principal investigators. The volunteer group gave permission for the debriefing to be recorded. Preliminary results of their reactions to the experience of reviewing and entering data will be provided at the end of this report. 7

9 A ROBUST MARKET & MANY FACES During the research period, research assistants gathered information on more than 18,000 advertisements. Ads without telephone numbers were excluded from results, leaving a total of about 16,997 postings to analyze.our final tally included roughly 15,500 individual advertisements for the Boston area and 1,447 for the Worcester area. Of this total, several hundred ads were reported into the National Missing and Exploited Children secure web portal, as minors. 8

10 A ROBUST MARKET & MANY FACES Of the Boston postings, 90% were female, 2% male, and 8% transgender. The Worcester postings were similar: 96% female, 1% for male, and 3% transgender. 9

11 Percentage A ROBUST MARKET & MANY FACES When considering all postings, we found that Whites comprised about 43% of all advertisements, while Blacks made up about 18%, Asians about 17% and Hispanics about 14%. Approximately 8% of postings were comprised of various racial minorities. Among the categories of escorts, we found that Whites represented between 44%-50% of the female and male escorts in both Boston and Worcester regions. In Boston, the remaining advertisements for females were 18% Asian, 16% Black, and 12% Hispanic. In Worcester, the non-white female escorts were 23% Hispanic, 19% Black, and 7% Asian. In Boston, the non-white male escorts were 19% Black and 19% Hispanic. In Worcester, non-white male escorts were 30% Black and 20% were noted as being Other % 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% Racial Breakdown Race N =

12 DEMAND BY DAY OF THE WEEK Distribution of Advertisements By Day 30.00% 25.00% % 15.00% 10.00% % N = While the total number of advertisements in Worcester were similar in March (448) and April (438), the number increased to 561 advertisements in May. The number of postings in Boston increased during each month of our study with 4,702 in March, 4,969 in April, and 5,878 in May. We found that more advertisements were placed on Saturday than any other day of the week. When we combined the numbers of advertisements for both Boston and Worcester, we found that Saturdays averaged 328 postings. The average number of postings for other days, were in descending order, Tuesday (195), Friday (185), Thursday (172), Wednesday (145), Sunday (139), and Monday (133.) 1 1

13 HOLIDAY DEMAND Spikes in numbers of advertisements occurred on several days. There were 365 postings on Saturday, April 11. On Saturday, May 9, the day before Mother's Day, there were 394 postings. Saturday, May 16 had 351 advertisements. The start of the Memorial Day weekend, Friday, May 22, showed 452 postings, which was significantly higher than any other day during our research period. Saturday, May 30 had 359 postings. 12

14 THE PAIN QUOTIENT: THE CASH FLOW OF THE COMMERCIAL SEX INDUSTRY 16,997 ADs $150 each (national average) $2.5 Million The prices were predominantly in the $200/hour range for female and transgender individuals. Male escorts in both Boston and Worcester tended to be in the $150-$180/hour range. The approximate cash flow generated for the period studied, if but one transaction had been generated per advertisement, was $2.5 million US dollars. 1 3

15 Frequency ALL OVER THE MAP One common myth about the commercial sex industry is that it thrives in high crime and poverty stricken neighborhoods. An assumption that may be partially true in the case of street prostitution. In contrast, the online sex industry analyzed for this study, low crime and high income parts of the city garnered the highest number of advertisements. Top Sub-Areas Mentioned in Ads Sub-Area 14

16 NOW YOU SEE ME OR YOU DON T A review of all postings(16,997) revealed that in 49% ofpostings a person's face was shown while in 51% of the face was either not shown or just partially shown so that the individual could not be identified. Face shown Face not Shown 48.92% 51.08% N =

17 Percentage NOW YOU SEE ME OR YOU DON T We found that 40% of the advertisements for Whites or Blacks showed the individual's face. In advertisements for Asians, 90% of the faces were shown. Faces were shown about 50% of the time when the race was categorized as Hispanic. Faces were shown in about 70% of the advertisements for Pacific Islanders, about 80% in listings for individuals from the Middle East, 55% of the time for those identified as Indian, and about 18% in postings when the race could not be identified % 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Identifiable Features Within Race Face Shown Face Not Shown Race 16

18 SUPPORTING TRAFFICKING RESEARCH TEAMS Because we were aware that the research assistant group would be exposed to potentially disturbing material during data entry, the research directors took several measures to attempt to regulate their experience (see full description in methodology). Additionally, the group of research assistant volunteers were invited to debrief their experience of data entry for this study. They agreed for the researchers to tape record the conversation, which was guided by questions inspired in appreciative inquiry format. Thereafter, one of the research assistant volunteers coded for themes that described the research assistants reactions during the experience, and the resources they used to cope with difficult experiences. We will present preliminary findings of the interview in this report. The chart below describes the major reactions to the data entry experience reported by the research assistant group. Reactions Dysregulated Biorhythms Feeling Burdened By Difficult Feelings Experiencing Isolation Difficulty sleeping Quantity of ads Anger Family/friends don't understand Rumination about images Long hours of data collection Sadness Difficulty asking for help Physically unsettled Futility 1 7

19 SUPPORTING TRAFFICKING RESEARCH TEAMS The following chart describes the coping and resilience resources that the research assistant group indicated they used to regulate the experience of data entry. Coping & Resilience Agency Supervision & Peer Support Cognitive Strategies Meta- Perspective Self- Care Reporting Mechanisms Connecting Person; Debriefing; Processing Faster, break data down, change environment Magnitude of Project Connecting with Meaning Tending to the Body 18

20 SUPPORTING TRAFFICKING RESEARCH TEAMS Based on the preliminary findings of the debriefing with the research assistant volunteer group, we generated several ideas that could help future trafficking research teams. Oppportunities to empower, normalize the experience, and validate difficulties regulating reactions appeared to be helpful. Also helpful was the feeling camaraderie with peers and the research directors. And reminders about the larger objectives of the project appeared to help the research assistants locate purpose and meaning in their work, thus decreasing the feeling of overwhelm that could lead to burnout. Areas of Attention to Increase Resilience Empower, Normalize, Validate Camaraderie Across Projects Collective Whole Approach 1 9

21 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS The research team recorded data from over 18,000 Backpage advertisements posted for the Boston and Worcester sexual services section over the three month (March- May 2015) duration of this study. After a descriptive analysis of the data the following patterns were identified: * G E N D E R : T h e m a j o r i t y o f a d v e r t i s e m e n t s w e r e f o r w o m e n ( B o s t o n, 9 0 % ; W o r c e s t e r, 96%); * A G E : Several hundred ads were reported into the National Missing & Exploited Children secure web portal. Most ads appeared to be between years old; * R A C E : Whites comprised 43% of all advertisements; Blacks 18%, Asians 17% and Hispanics 14%, and various other racial minorities 8%; *SUPPLY & DEMAND: Saturday yielded the highest number of sex advertisements, which is likely responding to high demand for sex buying. Holidays that yielded an unusually high number of sex ads included the Saturday before Mother s Day, and the start of Memorial Day weekend; *CASH FLOW: 2.5 million dollars was the conservative estimate of monies generated during the three month period that sex ads were documented; *LOCATION: low crime and high income cities garnered the highest number of advertisements; *FACE SHOWN/NOT SHOWN: 49% of postings a person's face was shown while in 51% the face was not shown. However, when the face shown/not shown variable was reviewed by race there were larger differences. For instance, 40% of advertisements for Whites or Blacks showed the individual's face, 60% did not show their face. Whereas, in advertisements for Asians, 90% of the faces were shown. *RESEARCH TEAM COPING: Research assistant volunteers reported that factors that helped them cope were: mechanisms to report suspected abuse during data entry, supervision and peer support, cognitive strategies, information about the contribution of similar studies in other cities, and caring for self. 20

22 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the patterns identified in this study about the Boston and Worcester sex markets on Backpage.com during three months (March-May 2015) the following recommendations can be made: * S e x a d s w e r e l a r g e l y t a r g e t e d t o w a r d s h i g h i n c o m e a n d l o w c r i m e c i t i e s, w h i c h s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e s e a r e a r e a s t h a t s h o u l d b e t a r g e t d t o i d e n t i f y p o t e n t i a l v i c t i m s o f s e x t r a f f i c k i n g t r a p p e d i n t h e s e x i n d u s t r y ; * W h i l e w o m e n w e r e t h e l a r g e s t g r o u p r e p r e s e n t e d i n t h e s e x a d v e r t i s e m e n t s r e v i e w e d f o r t h i s s t u d y, m e n a n d t r a n s g e n d e r p e r s o n s w e r e a l s o a d v e r t i s e d. T h e r e f o r e, w h i l e w o m e n a r e s t i l l t h e m o s t v u l n e r a b l e g r o u p, p e r s o n s o f a l l g e n d e r s p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n t h e s e x i n d u s t r y s h o u l d b e s c r e e n e d f o r p o t e n t i a l s i g n s o f h u m a n t r a f f i c k i n g ; * L a r g e d i f f e r e n c e s w e r e n o t e d a c r o s s r a c e s a n d g e n d e r w i t h r e g a r d t o a d v e r t i s e m e n t s w h e r e t h e p e r s o n s f a c e w a s s h o w n / n o t s h o w n. S u c h p a t t e r n s s h o u l d b e f u r t h e r s t u d i e d t o d e t e r m i n e i f t h e y m a y r e v e a l s i g n s o f c o e r c i o n. * I t i s s u g g e s t e d t h a t o u r 3 - m o n t h s a m p l e i s a g r o s s u n d e r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e o n - l i n e c o m m e r c i a l s e x m a r k e t a c r o s s a l l g e n d e r s, r a c e s, a n d l o c a t i o n s i n t h e C o m m o n w e a l t h. F u r t h e r a n d l o n g e r t e r m s t u d i e s a r e w a r r a n t e d t o u n d e r s t a n d t r e n d s a n d o t h e r l o g i c. * T h e r o b u s t s e x m a r k e t s s u g g e s t t h a t f i r s t p e r s o n i n t e r v i e w s w o u l d h e l p u s u n d e r s t a n d t h e n e e d f o r a n d t y p e o f s e r v i c e s w a n t e d b y t h e d i v e r s e p o p u l a t i o n i n v o l v e d. 21

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24 T H E I M A G I N E F O U N D A T I O N i n f i m a g i n e f r e e d o m. o r g w w w. i m a g i n e f r e e d o m. o r g W i l l i a m J a m e s C o l l e g e O n e W e l l s A v e n u e N e w t o n, M A w w w. w i l l i a m j a m e s. e d u p a o l a _ c o n t r e r a w i l l i a m j a m e s. e d u R I A H O U S E C o c h i t u a t e R o a d # F r a m i n g h a m, M A i n f r i a h o u s e. o r g w w w. r i a h o u s e. o r g