Stop trading lust, lives

It seems as though sex has been in the local headlines quite frequently in recent months. Stricter regulations were placed on strip clubs last fall and, subsequently, a loud and clear backlash was heard from both club owners and strippers. More recently, a late-night pornographic television show was taken off the air to protests of its producer and viewers.

It's no surprise, then, that the topic is back in the spotlight yet again, this time as a matter of legislation at the state level. It seems a new bill -- Senate Bill 6731, which takes aim at the international sex trade -- is slowly moving its way through the lawmaking process in Olympia.

Unfortunately, much of the public will automatically associate this new headline with the former two, as matters of governmental regulation of sexual entertainment. Further, according to this generalization, they will not likely think much more of it.

But there is an important distinction that must be made in talking about the sex trade which sets it far apart from the other sex-related issues that have appeared in headlines of late: Whereas strip clubs and pornography are almost always matters of personal and societal senses of morality, the sex trade is a matter of universal human rights, as declared by the United Nations.

The fact that so many citizens are unaware of the underlying nature of the sex trade -- or that it even exists -- is undoubtedly much of the reason that sorely needed legislative action has failed to come about until now. The industry has thrived as a result and, in my estimation, will continue to do so until public awareness is raised.

With over two million women and girls worldwide -- from places as diverse as Western Europe, Sri Lanka and China -- enslaved as sexual servants, the sex trade is a global problem like none other. Bought and sold by human traffickers for as little as $4 per pound, these girls and women are seen as little more than flesh, forced to work as prostitutes at hotels and resorts where wealthy businessmen from predominantly developed countries visit on "sex tours."

During the '90s, an estimated 300,000 women were sold into Western Europe's sex trade, according to a report from DePaul University's International Human Rights Law Institute. Today, as many as 30,000 of these women and girls, some as young as six years old, die each year from the effects of torture, neglect and infection.

The sex tours are usually arranged through travel agencies, which, given the nature of their dealings, frequently change names and addresses to avoid inspection. They are found throughout the United States and Europe, as well as internationally on the Internet. According to The Seattle Times, such an agency was known to be operating in Spokane as recently as 2002.

As the public has remained outwardly indifferent on these issues -- presumably because it lacks knowledge of the sex trade -- very few lawmakers have shown an interest in combative legislation. It has therefore remained difficult to prosecute anyone in connection with the sex trade, even if the crimes are obvious.

Although this proposed bill is meeting no opposition and will, in all likelihood, be passed into law -- thereby making solicitation for the sex trade a Class C felony -- the problem is still immense. Supposing the bill does pass, Washington will become only the second state, following Hawaii, to create such a law.

Intervention beyond this level is clearly needed if things are to change. The public must be made aware of the sex trade like it has been made aware of the AIDS pandemic, world hunger and the hazards of smoking. It is surely a problem at least as deserving of public attention as these others.

Domestic sex issues and human trafficking are nowhere near commensurate. The facts make this clear. It is now the responsibility of politicians and journalists to disseminate the necessary information in beginning to lessen the prevalence of this grievous problem.