Earlier this year, ESPLERP (Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project) filed suit in San Francisco District Court claiming that the state’s prostitution laws were unconstitutional. The District Court rightly rejected ESPLERP’s claims.

Now ESPLERP is appealing the decision.

Savanah Lawrence, NCOSE's Legal Fellow, shares about the amicus brief NCOSE submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of ESPLERP v. Gascón, urging the court to recognize the harms of prostitution.

Because prostitution is inherently dehumanizing and harmful it is vital for the Ninth Circuit to uphold the lower court’s decision.

Studies characterize the violence that animates prostitution as brutal, extreme, common, stunning, normative, and ever-present. Indeed, physical and sexual violence across prostitution types is pervasive, whether one is prostituting in Chennai or Chicago, indoors or outdoors, for drugs or to pay the rent, on a street corner, in a car, back alley, brothel, massage parlor, or strip club. Both the threat of, as well as actual physical and sexual violence, permeate prostitution. Most of this violence is perpetrated by sex buyers and pimps.

Decriminalizing prostitution does not change this reality—it assents to it.

CALL TO ACTION:

Learn more about the harms of prostitution here: http://endsexualexploitation.org/prostitution

Free download booklet on violence in prostitution: http://bit.ly/2h04qb9

Before we can begin to address “how” to talk to kids about pornography, it’s important to understand “when” that conversation becomes relevant.

Many parents might assume that a few years after puberty is the time to have this talk. However, in today's digital culture, studies show that many children are being exposed to pornography before puberty.

“The talk” is no longer applicable in today’s world. Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE and mother of two, shares how parents need to establish open dialogues in our homes about sexuality and media.

Dawn shares that the best time to start talking to your child about these issues is right now. She discusses how this conversation looks for young children and teens alike.

CALL TO ACTION:

Check out our Resource Center for parents: http://endsexualexploitation.org/resources-parents/

Read this blog with some conversational tips: http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/why-vs-what-talking-to-kids-about-pornography/

Have a conversation with your kids this week about pornography and email public@ncose.com to tell us about it. We want to hear from you.