Erotic Ads Eliminated from Craigslist

Following the highly publicized “Craigslist Killer” case and mounting pressure from several state attorneys general, Craigslist has agreed to remove its erotic services section nationwide. The section will be replaced by an adult section that will be monitored manually by Craigslist employees for illegal activity.

What interests me about this change is that it has been framed as not only a step to eliminating illegal activity, but also as a protection to women. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has stated that “The steps they're taking are the only effective way to prevent the exploitation of women and children.” Is Madigan really so out of touch that she believes that simply eliminating a portion of Craigslist will keep women safe an unexploited? In fact, Craiglist provided a comparably safe atmosphere for sex workers, providing women refuge from selling their services on the street and allowing many to screen their clients before committing to a time and place. The wide client-base Craigslist attracts enabled many sex workers to set their own rules and work independently. The structure of Craigslist “lessen[ed] the class divide found in nearly every other shadowy corner of the sex trade.” While no avenue is completely safe, Craiglist’s erotic services section provided sex workers with more safety than they could hope for on the streets and prevented the exploitation previously suffered at the hands of pimps.

The only effective way to prevent the exploitation of women is not, as Madigan insists, to eliminate erotic services from Craigslist. Funding programs that educate boys and men to see all women as human and not as disposable sex objects that can be used and discarded at will could be a start. Recognizing that the line of sex work does not exist independently of a market of hundreds of millions of men who pay for these services, and that combating exploitation by focusing efforts on the client who exploits, could be more effective. However, these steps would also garner more criticism. It is much easier to disenfranchise a portion of society that has historically been marginalized and silenced.