While perusing the Washington D.C. City Paper website, this ad, which links to the anti-trafficking organization Shared Hope International, popped up in the website header.
First of all, the incredibly loaded, sexual phrase “GET OFF” used as a double entendre—meant literally that johns will not get off scot free legally, but also calling to mind “getting off” in a sexual context—is disgusting and in poor taste. Really? A sex pun in an anti-trafficking ad?
Also interesting and discomforting is the use of the second person address, which frames the broad Internet audience—anyone who views the ad—as a potential john, and, in the language of the ad, a sexual predator. It also assumes a male audience, and focuses on deterrence through threat of repercussion (assuming that “they will do it if they can get away with it”). Another interesting language foible is the original use of “underage prostitute,” followed by “underage girl” later in the ad. First of all, the use of “prostitute” constructs a particular criminal sexuality—it is a dehumanizing, stigmatizing word and erases the complex discourse around sex work and why individuals engage in sex work. As an aside--I recommend checking out Different Avenues ' work on no-prostitution zones and the policing of certain bodies in relation to sex work in Washington D.C.. Secondly (perhaps obviously) the use of “girl” erases the lived experiences of anyone who is not a girl who engages in sex work or has been the victim of trafficking, rape, or coercive sex. The entire advertisement sets up a victimizing discourse, particularly when it says “having sex with an underage girl makes you the worst kind of criminal.” It removes any agency or possibility of consent from the “girls” in question, and generally fixes the bodies of young girls as the vulnerable bodies of victims.
Lastly, the bolded and italicized statement “One that other criminals love to hate” does nothing less than evoke the threat of prison rape, implying that johns deserve not only incarceration, but also rape, something that absolutely no person deserves. This also is an incredibly loaded statement to toss up on the header of a web site that serves an area with the fourth highest incarceration rate in the United States. D.C. is also an area that has a huge problem with their treatment of transgender prisoners, particularly transwomen being placed in men’s prisons, a situation in which sexual abuse and rape is often a reality.
I understand that ad space is expensive and ads have to do a lot in a small space, but the language of this advertisement is sensational, dehumanizing, and nothing less than triggering.
Jenna B.
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Wow. JennaB, this makes me really sad...
But thank you for taking the time to tear this apart. I mean, you've said everything that needs to be said -- never mind the problems with calling trafficked children "prostitutes!" This kind of media leaves me speechless.
Washington City Paper has a long tradition of being tasteless, while simultaneously justifying its behavior as being "edgy".
I've never felt that guilt, shame, and gratuitous suggestion did much more than backfire. There's a lot of hatred inside that ad and a lot of small-mindedness as well. That it presumes much while knowing little might as well be the paper's mission statement.