New York, NY (October 17, 2024) – Sex trade survivors, anti-trafficking advocates and human rights experts who are members of the New Yorkers for the Equality Model (NYFEM), a survivor-led coalition dedicated to preventing sex trafficking and combating the sex trade, urge city officials to address the growing crisis in New York City, including on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens.

 NYFEM welcomes the creation of a multi-agency task force – which includes the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – which will work to tackle the growing “open-air commercial sex market” on Roosevelt Avenue, 24-hour brothels rife with sexual exploitation and violence.  

 Sex trafficking and sexual exploitation cannot be eradicated without explicitly addressing the demand for prostitution. Despite claims by many law enforcement agencies that they have shifted focus to targeting those who promote prostitution (i.e. pimping) or buy sexual acts, the data reveals a different story. According to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, arrests where patronizing a person in prostitution was the top charge in New York City have plummeted – from 1,356 arrests in 2012 to just one in 2022. This drastic reduction in enforcement sends a dangerous message: purchasing and exploiting vulnerable individuals in the sex trade carries little to no repercussion.

 Consequently, sex buyers and pimps have received the message loud and clear: disenfranchised women, girls and other marginalized populations are up for sale in New York City’s vibrant sex trade. Today, just on Roosevelt Avenue, there are an estimated 50-60 brothels, with an uncounted number of women and girls offered up for men’s sexual access. Many of these prostituted individuals are under third- party control that preys on them, or come from backgrounds of childhood sexual abuse and violence, poverty, foster care, displacement, and other vulnerabilities.  The expanding  market of sex buyers, who often commit horrendous acts of sexual violence and degradation, fuel the pockets of traffickers and brothel owners.

 “Sex buying isn’t a quality-of-life issue or a low-level offense,” said Sonia Ossorio, Executive Director of NOW-NYC.  “It’s a harmful cultural practice of male sexual entitlement. It is illegal paid-for sexual misconduct. Our women are not for sale.”

 At the state level, New York needs legislation that recognizes the violence and abuse inherent to the system of prostitution, and protects individuals bought and sold in the sex trade. The Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act (STSJEA), sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and New York Assembly Member Pamela Hunter (D-Syracuse), provides protections for prostituted individuals by ending their arrests and incarceration and expunging past convictions for prostitution. Critically, the bill expands social services for all survivors, including physical and mental health services, temporary and permanent housing placement, legal and immigration services, employment placement, and education and job training. The STSJEA also aims to end the demand for commercial sex by providing stronger penalties for patronizers. More information on the bill can be found here.

 “The Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act is a critical tool in fighting and preventing sex trafficking, and also in promoting gender equality,” said Alexi Ashe Meyers, Director of Anti-Trafficking Policy at Sanctuary for Families. “Our laws must uphold the rights of each individual, especially the most vulnerable among us. Every New Yorker has a right to live free from sexual violence and exploitation.”

 About NYFEM 

New Yorkers for the Equality Model is a survivor-led alliance made up of a diverse group of advocates, prostitution and sex trafficking survivors, and organizational partners across New York State, seeking to implement the Equality Model, a legal framework that ends the arrests of individuals in prostitution and offers them services, while holding sex buyers and other perpetrators accountable for the harm they cause.

 Find out more at equalitymodelny.org, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.