A couple of days ago I was perusing the News-Gazette‘s online edition when I stumbled across a rather disturbing article about a woman who was assaulted after entering an agreement to accept money in exchange for performing a sex act.
Nathaniel L. Gano, the alleged perpetrator, is said to have brutally assaulted his victim with a stun gun before attempting to steal his money back.
From the Gazette:
When her back was to him, Gano allegedly produced a stun gun and made contact with her back. He then tried to grab her money and his clothing and leave the apartment, but the woman put up a struggle. He was able to get some of the cash, Seraphin said.
The Gazette‘s account of this crime paints a very clear picture of how human trafficking and sexual exploitation are serious problems in our community that affect vulnerable and marginalized populations. I personally have no doubt that this type of thing happens in our own backyards every day. In my mind, the take-away from this article is crystal clear: due to a variety of circumstances, women are often forced into the sex trade, exposed to incredible health risks, and put in danger of being raped and/or physically assaulted.
The commenters who chimed in on thus article, I imagine, might disagree with this interpretation. The very first commenter suggests that the police ought to have arrested the woman as she was clearly engaged in the illegal act of prostitution. Another commenter marvels at the idea that prostitution is “legal here now,” and yet another expresses fear that his own community will be affected by, what he perceives as, the justice system’s ineptitude:
She was not arrested, or identified; but she was given the motivation to move on. Next stop, Mahomet?
Yes, since the police opted to prosecute the far more serious crime instead of punishing its victim, your white-flight haven is certain to be chock full of prostitutes by summer’s end.
As a frequent reader of the Gazette‘s online edition, I’m never more disgusted with the internet than I am when I read the comments on local crime reports. So often the critiques serve to demonize victims, racialize the perpetrators, and hyperbolize whatever situation is at hand (Exhibit A). The underlying issues behind the crime described in this article seem to elude those who (in a stroke of irony) anonymously chime in to lament the lack of personal accountability practiced by their neighbors.
In fact, the reasons women become involved in the sex trade are often far more complicated than those who call for this woman to be identified and prosecuted would have us believe.
While these comments don’t surprise me in the least, they do shed light on a faction of our community that would rather criticize from afar rather than take the time to understand, and dare I say empathize, with a woman who has likely been dealt a much harder hand to play than they themselves have. It’s no wonder to me that these folks are afraid to associate their names with such malicious drivel.
/dismounts soap box