The Johns: sex for sale and the men who buy it – Victor Malarek

Victor Malarek is a journalist living in Toronto.  He has done hard-hitting news segments for the fifth estate and other news outlets on the sex trafficking of women and children for prostitution and sex exploitation.  In his book The Natashas, he explores the stories of these trafficked victims.  The Johns, looks at the problem from the opposite side of the coin – the men who buy sex and create a demand for trafficked women and children.

Malarek presents the various faces of the men who frequent prostitutes, compiling research from interviews, websites and internet forums.  The picture he draws is both heartbreaking and disturbing.  Malarek posits that if there were no johns, there would be no prostitution, yet there are so many factors that drive some men to “pay for play,” many of which had me alternately shaking my head and biting back tears.  How have we come to be a society where people (men) feel so unlovable they would pay for a brief moment of pleasure because no woman could possibly want to be with them otherwise?   Or that older men see it as a rite of passage for their sons, to lose their virginity to an “experienced” woman, often setting up the encounters for them.  The scores of homicides attest to the number of men who see prostitution as an outlet for their violence, their rage, their hatred of women.  Malarek rightly points out that no other profession on earth is as dangerous as prostitution. 

Yet, how do governments fight back?  When it is the victim being prosecuted, we can’t.  Currently it is only the women who face jail time and criminal records.  The men who buy sex are cloaked in secrecy, among the so called “Brotherhood” – the cops and politicians who also “pay for play.”  In the last decade, Sweden passed into law an act that criminalizes the purchase of sex.  Johns are now fearful to buy as they will be criminally charged for their actions.  The country has seen a sharp decline in the sex trade.  If only the rest of the globe would follow suit.  Unfortunately sex tourism brings billions of dollars into impoverished countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Costa Rica and others.  Money the governments of those countries don’t want to turn away.  And so women and children continue to be trafficked and exploited.  Thankfully, voices like Malarek’s are speaking out against this travesty.

The Johns: sex for sale and the men who buy it

Victor Malarek

Key Porter Books, 2009

 

Till next time,

L