4/20/2008

On the April 19, 2008 Larry King show on CNN, I got to hear the polygamous women share their emotions on the loss of their children to the State of Texas after a raid on their compound. As I listened to them, it was as if Texas storm troopers were carrying out an ethnic cleansing operation where these people and their children were rounded up and herded off to detention centers. The media had done an excellent job of presenting the case that child rape was the underpinning mode of operation at the polygamous compound; therefore, the mothers were coconspirators to the rape of under aged girls.

King asked the spokeswomen how old were they when they got married. Two said they were twenty and one said twenty-one. He asked them about marriage of older men to young girls. These ladies said that had not occurred to their knowledge. Finally, they opened their home to the cameras that showed a very well organized place where a large family lived under one roof.

The Larry King show piqued my interest in looking into the sex exploitation of under aged girls in the nation as a whole. We need to think about this under aged sex exploitation from the point view of turning under age girls into whores. Veronica’s Voice offers us some disquieting statistics to ponder:

1) There are approximately 1 million prostituted women in North America, or 1% of women in North America are involved in prostitution.

2) An estimated 600,000 children under 18 are involved in prostitution or pornography.

3) 12 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.

4) As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets. 1 out of every three will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

5) A national study shows that 75% of all women used in prostitution were victims of incest and/or physical abuse as children.

6) Most of those involved in prostitution ran away from home at an early age to escape their abuse...then turn to prostitution as a way of survival.

7) Most prostitutes became drug or alcohol addicted on the streets and became more trapped in prostitution to earn money to support their habits.

8) Up to 90% of prostitutes are under the control of a pimp.

http://veronicasvoice.org/statistics.html

The real tragedy is we have de facto polygamy operating in full view of the public in many areas of the nation and I do not hear an outcry over it. Consider the pimp with his family. Veronica’s voice further reports, “Pimps have a strong emotional hold over young women they sexually exploit, which makes it difficult to build a legal case against them. A 17-year-old who was sold by a pimp on the street, refused to testify against him and visits him in prison. Even teenagers covered with bruises and cigarette burns remain loyal to pimps. A typical pimp has six girls and refers to them as "family." The girls are instructed to call the pimp "Daddy." Each girl earns approximately $500 per night for the pimp. Although selling a child for sex is a felony that carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, that sentence is never imposed.”

If I believe Veronica’s voice, then I ask why we are not in an uproar over what the pimp is doing. He is selling under age girls as sex slaves. Is polygamy so counterculture to the economic mainstream that we must prosecute anyone attempting to make it a legitimate mainstream lifestyle?

On the other hand, Current TV reports that there are 30,000 to 100,000 practicing polygamists in the United States. The attorney general of the State of Utah only prosecutes the ones who have serious problems for they do not have enough prison beds to handle all of the adults involved and they would be left with what to do with all of the children. Current TV does show a couple of ladies that offer the downside of polygamy. However, the Current TV story offers the question, is polygamy the next civil rights battle that may be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court?

http://current.com/items/76454122_polygamy_in_america