Safety of using Seeking Arrangement Grey Areas It is common that arrangement websites connecting sugar babies to sugar daddies and mamas are vague, allowing for potential harm towards its users. As claimed on SeekingArrangement.com, “everything is on your own terms: (). The site connects users together but does not take responsibility for any consequential action beyond signing up. Users are free to negotiate the prices and activites on their own terms. However, since there are more female sugar babies than male sugar daddies, the latter party tends to wield more power in the negotiation process. It is usually the tendency for sugar babies to begin negotiations with a strong sense of choice and moral code, but then waver as negotiations continue and the need for income becomes more imminent (). The site claims that arrangement resulting in sex are “a bonus”, implying that sexual activities are negotiable and not necessary (). However, in practicality, this statement bears no merit because it is generally understood by all parties that any and all conversation, negotiation and interaction will be of sexual nature or advance in sexual nature. Despite the fact that the site claims to filter out individuals who are using it for the sole purpose of sex, there are no regulations in place that ensures the safety of these young adults. Although SeekingArrangement.com encourages users to report sexual offenders, the most drastic of actions taken is the mere deactivation of accounts.
Sex trafficking, particularly that of children, has become a growing concern in the United States over the past several decades (Kotrla, 2010). By definition, child sex trafficking is “when a child (under 18 years of age) is induced to perform a commercial sex act” (U.S., 2013, para. 4), and includes forms such as prostitution and pornography (Kotrla, 2010). Researchers suggest that children are the most vulnerable to becoming victims of prostitution (Kotrla), and it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 victims in the United States (Estes & Weiner, 2001). Sex traffickers, otherwise known as “pimps,” often lure children with promises of food, clothing, love, and shelter, and then the pimps manipulate the children to keep them in prostitution (U.S. Department of Justice [DOJ], 2015). Awareness of the issue has led to the development of organizations, such as Children of the Night, that seek to help victims escape the sex trafficking industry (Children of the Night [COTN], 2016d).
Child sex abusers find the internet or mobile phones a convenient place to participate in a range of child sexual
The adult services ads on the internet offer an accessible means for the commercial sexual exploitation of children, but the truth is that the demand for sex with underage girls precedes the technology. Closing down such avenues may temporarily interfere with business, yet the industry of selling children for sex continues as long as there are buyers. (Axtell, pg.2) According to the U.S. Department of Justice, human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry- just behind drug trafficking. Approximately half of all victims are children. (Axtell, par.2) The buyers have it made so easy when they can just go online and purchase their girl of choice. The internet has black market pages for buying humans, but most are only open for a certain number of hours then deleted completely. Websites such as Backpage and Craigslist are monitored but not all are captured. Backpage accounts for about 70 percent of America’s prostitution ads (many placed by consenting adults who are not trafficked), according to the AIM Group, a trade organization. Backpage cooperates with police to screen out ads for underage girls. (Times, par. 9) With all of these portals being available it makes capturing some of the sick people out there buying their own kind close to impossible. Craigslist used to have an erotic section but it was removed from the page after the infamous “craigslist killer” case. However, there is a personal section
One study found that over half of children with access the internet on a weekly basis have been exposed to online pornography and almost a third receive unwanted sexual comments via email, chat, instant message or text. (Livingstone, s and Bober M 2004). There is no one way that CSE is perpetrated (CEOP, 2011; Berelowitz et al. 2013). Grooming is common in some forms of CSE, but it is not always present (Beckett, 2011; Melrose, 2013). Online and offline exploitation can overlap (Fox and Kalkan, 2016). Although CSE can presented itself in different forms youth workers and educators should be clear that CSE is abuse and in whatever form it presents itself , it still is child abuse. One thing that is clear, definitions of CSE emphasises exchange and power imbalance. It is explicit about the power the perpetrator has over the young person or persons they are exploiting, either through forceful acts or through persuasive techniques that might convince a young person they are making a ‘choice’, it is therefore important that practitioners use language that reiterates the need to look beyond apparent consent, especially as young people may describe exploitative relationships as consensual or withdraw claims as a result of coercion (Green et al, 2014).
One of the “finer things in life”(par. 4) in which sugar daddies are now increasingly providing for their sugar babies is a college education, or, at the very least, the money needed to acquire one. In an article titled “How Sugar Daddies Are Financing College Education”, Caroline Kitchener of the Atlantic writes of a prostitution website created uniquely for sugar babies and sugar daddies. The website is called Seeking Arrangement. On Seeking Arrangement sugar babies are connected to and can view both the profiles and incomes of various sugar daddies (Kitchener, par. 4). In fact, the website is set up and is promoted basically like any other run-of-the-mill dating/partner seeking site (par. 5), even though money is often times traded for intercourse (par. 5). In designing
Traffickers and pimps are looking for vulnerable, “at risk” young girls to come join the black market of sex trafficking. Whether this means the girls are in a foster care system, a group home, an already abusive home situation, or simply living in a family below the poverty line and struggling to make ends meet. These types of victims are easy to convince that a life of prostitution which seemingly offers protection and opportunities is what they deserve. Before the widespread use of the internet, traffickers had to send out pimps to “scope out” their potential victims, gather information, and determine whether or not they fit the criteria of the black market. But with the rise of the technological era and easily accessible personal info, traffickers simply require their pimps to scour online profiles, find vulnerable targets, and send out a message or set up an online ad that appeals to their
Sex trafficking is becoming more of a problem as time moves on. Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion [Internet Safety 101]. Sex trafficking is increasing due to the evolution of modern day social services and sources. From safety sources, it is the second fastest growing criminal industry, [Internet Safety 101]. Increasingly, sex trafficking is coming about due to the evolution of the internet and the improved ability of GPS tracking. On social media, many people find other people and try to be their friend, even if they don't know who they are. This provides opportunities for fake people to create more of a problem. The internet is providing different advertising places that can increase the effect of sex trafficking and lure in citizens to becoming victims. Sex trafficking has to come to an end for the safety of citizens, for the safety of their pride and dignity.
Online predators and Stalkers can easily gain access to social media users’ personal information by either requesting to be a user’s friend or simply finding a way around the user's privacy settings. According to June Ahn, chat rooms are public and is an unmonitored space where online predators are more likely to be. “Adolescents are less likely to be targeted for unwanted sexual solicitation in social media than chat rooms.”(Ahn, June) I have found that, 412 adolescents were more likely to talk with strangers. This is hazardous for young children and adolescents because their lack of life experience leads them to blindly accept all friend request. The effort to seem popular by having many friends online can damage credibility and truth worthiness.
However a majority of the girls are abducted or forced while many are attracted in other ways. Fake agencies sometimes posing as massage agencies lure in women into the trafficking industry. These women are offered money, free transportation to these agencies to work, with an agreement that the costs will be paid back through the woman’s earnings for her work (Hodge, D. 2008). Other girls are lured in through brothels, escort services, hostess clubs, and strip clubs (Kotrla, K. 2010) where they are abused, manipulated, and have been forced to participate in sexual acts against their will.
It is not uncommon for someone to exaggerate the truth or to leave out facts about themselves on the web. In fact, you may even find that the person you thought you knew on the internet is nothing like their profiles in real life. Whether it is to stand out in the crowd or to fool someone into thinking you are someone else entirely, you should not believe everything you see or read online. With photo enhancements, little white lies, and the scam termed catfishing, you just never really know who you are talking to or what their intentions are. Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, authors of “Teens in Cyberspace”, determine that parents and the public share the concern of teens encountering predators and pedophiles on the internet and could lead to inappropriate relationships on and off the web. The young generation typically communicates with peers and people close in age, however, Fleming and Rickwood advise “Even though many teens appear Net-savvy, they still need to be reminded of the potential dangers lurking online. There may be many friends in cyberspace but there are undoubtedly a number of
As time progresses on, more reports of child sexual abuse (CSA) have been documented. According to Colangelo and Cooperman, CSA is defined as “the use of a child under 18 years of age as an object of gratification for adult sexual needs and desires.” Another definition of CSA is “sexual abuse [that] occurs whenever one person dominates and exploits another by means of sexual activity or suggestion.” (Hall, M., & Hall, J., 2011) it is difficult to
How would one feel if one 's daughter was kidnapped and ended up being a victim of child prostitution? Of course you would feel sick and disgusted. In the book, Somebody 's Daughter: The Hidden Story of America 's Prostituted Children and the Battle to save Them, Julian Sher explains that prostitution affects young women in America who are usually runaways. There are multiple situations of different victims being sex trafficked all over the United States; however, they are treated as criminals rather than victims. All through the book, Sher clarifies that, child prostitution is an important awareness that we the general population should put a stop to
Lately, Internet social sites, like facethejury.com and hotornot.com, both with membership in the millions, have become a way to get easier access to hook ups. Teenagers can post their personal profiles on these sites, many without consent from their parents, and spend hours in chat rooms talking about sex or making plans to meet a person and have casual encounters.
Sales in her writing explores many premises presented in the essential nature of the outside culture of today’s online dating manners. Sales write’s of the in’s and outs of why online dating has created a sort of “Dating apocalypse” in the culture of today. Assuredly she explicitly states,“Dating app swiping has been jocularly incorporated into advertisements of various products to the nod to notion that, online, the act of choosing consumer brands and sex partners has become interchangeable”(2). Prior to the internet dating culture, much of the relationship that took place were very serious and not seen as a joke, not many “hookups” were taking place. In many ways that idea has
Orenstein began her quest for an honest account of today’s hook-up culture as her daughter approached adolescence. Prior to this point in her life, she had only heard from friends about how teenage girls were treated in today’s culture, now she needed to know if this type of culture really did exist. Since she had been chronicling girl’s lives for over twenty-five years, it was an obvious place to start (Orenstein, P., 2016). She interviewed girls, psychologists, sociologists, pediatricians, educators, and journalist to uncover the ugly truth.