Nicholas Kristof Blames Backpage For Aiding Child Prostitution

New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof has penned a scathing piece about Backpage and the site's links to child prostitution.

Kristof describes the online classifieds site which includes a section for escorts to advertise, as a "godsend to pimps, allowing customers to order a girl online as if she were a pizza."

Kristof also includes examples of children as young as 13 being forced into prostitution and marketed on Backpage.

Rev. John Vaughn, a spokesperson for the Groundswell Coalition which has urged Backpage to ditch its "adult section," told The Huffington Post that he hopes Kristof's column will help educate the public on issues of sex trafficking and child prostitution.

"We believe that the shutting down of Backpage will serve as a deterrent and will continue a groundswell of support," Vaughn said.

In a letter to Kristof, the legal council for Village Voice Media, the company that owns Backpage, said the site already works very closely with law enforcement, helping to curtail illegal activities.

"Of course, Village Voice Media stands against such repugnant criminal behavior," the letter states. "But we are not going to sit quietly while officeholders exploit crimes against kids for political purposes."

The letter adds, "censorship will not rid the world of exploitation."

But Vaughn counters that Village Voice Media misses the point of his group's efforts.

"For us the bottom line is that the issue isn't about censorship," Vaughn said. It's about children being trafficked."

UPDATE Linda Smith, Former Washington Congresswoman and Founder of Shared Hope International tells HuffPost that even if pimps and child traffickers find some other venue besides Backpage, it's still worth trying to get the site to change its ways.

"It would be like saying 'there's going to be crime in our community anyway, so why fight it?'" Smith said.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[dbrett480]

04:34 PM on 02/03/2012

Good for Kristof. The Village Voice has continuously written articles about the "myths" of underage prostitution when they get money that benefits from it. Why hasn't there been more outrage from the left over this?

[cathouselover]

06:53 PM on 02/14/2012

Because there isn't any solid evidence? The average sting from ANY source nets 8-10% of the prostitutes that are under-aged. AND not all, if any at all, were 'trafficked.'

[dbrett480]

07:26 PM on 02/15/2012

The fallacy with that is the assumption that those that are underaged are being charged with prostitution. Since they are not being charged, they will not be recorded as prostitutes.

[kelleyajones]

10:34 AM on 01/27/2012

Remember those du#b@sses in the 80's and 90's who used to say "I know it's a mistake, but my computer won't let me fix it". The Village Voice response that "censorship will not rid the world of exploitation." strikes the same hollow cord to me. There are millions of internet age approaches to self governance that circumvent censorship. A responsible (sophisticated) solution may require the investment of smart thinking and extra $$.

[DevonTexas]

10:05 AM on 01/27/2012

Didn't he get what he ordered? Comes off like an angry consumer.

[PostCapitalist]

10:02 AM on 01/27/2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_D._Kristof#Opinion_and_stances

[kelleyajones]

09:46 AM on 01/27/2012

Come on Village Voice...where the fu#k is your sophistication? You are aiding and abetting child pornography and it is not an internet problem, it is most definitely a user (content generator) problem. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. This is an internet lesson all responsible parents begin teaching their children when they begin to engage with online social media. "I love you my child, don't upload photo's of your penis to FB", it will later (or sooner) come back to haunt you; or it will invite unwelcome and perhaps dangerous attention to you. It is not censorship to refuse to accept an ad promoting dangerousillegalquestionable conduct. No respectable treepulp newspaper would accept a classified ad buying or selling child pornography...same self-governance should apply to respectable online advertising. This is not rocket science!

As for Linda Smith, Former Washington Congresswoman..."It would be like saying 'there's going to be crime in our community anyway, so why fight it?'" ...Where is your thinking? There is no "like" about it, child pornography IS a crime.

[themainpoint]

08:00 AM on 01/27/2012

I respect Kristof for bringing attention to this important topic. Good for him. The pedophiles who buy and sell children should be put away.

[fredpa]

06:34 AM on 01/27/2012

Censorship??? Didn't know that child exploitation was a form of protected speech.

[altohone]

04:56 PM on 01/26/2012

The NYT should be closed down for publishing lies that killed children in Iraq. Their ongoing lies about Iran show they are unreformed and habitual violators.

Ideology based journalism leading to the deaths of thousands will continue if not challenged.

[Jack Davies]

04:51 AM on 01/27/2012

While that may be true, it has no bearing on this situation. Why try to distract and detract from the issue in this story?