„When you see people fucking ever since you’re little, it seems to be just nuthin‘.“
A study of child prostitution and child-pornography video production in the United States.
The author is J. A. Inciardi, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and Co-Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies. He sent this report to the chairman of a U.S. Senate hearing on „Child Pornography and Pedophilia“ and published it in the journal Deviant Behavior. *
Inciardi came to this topic while following up on a study that actually had a very different topic. It was an effort designed to study the relationship between drug use and criminal behavior of active addicts in the street community.
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Inciardi:
[…]
It was during this interviewing process that the first child prostitute was inadvertently encountered. She, in turn, introduced the author to three other drug-using prostitutes of the same age. Intrigued by the possibility of collecting interview data on a yet to be studied cohort of prostitutes, the author shifted the course of the research temporarily, and requested from these respondents introductions to other young prostitutes — drug using or not. In all, 9 such individuals were contacted — 7 in New York City and 2 in Wilmington, DE, and all were interviewed „on the street“. Given the sensitive nature of the interviews, the setting in which they were undertaken, and the ages of the respondents, only minimal information could be elicited.
Findings.
Briefly, the nine child prostitutes ranged in age from 8 to 12 years, with a median age of eleven years. In terms of race/ethnicity, 4 were white-Anglo, one was black, one Puerto Rican, and 3 were Oriental. None of these individuals were engaging in prostitution as a full-time occupation. All were attending elementary schools, having completed a median of 6 years of education at the time of interview. None of these children were runaways. Rather, they were living at home with a parent(s) and/or relatives. They were introduced to their careers in prostitution by a parent, sister, or other relative who was also involved in prostitution or pornography.
More specifically:
Julie, age 11. Born in Oxford, PA, Julie is a 7th grade student living with her parents. She was introduced to prostitution at age 9 by her mother, also a prostitute. Julie’s first experience involved posing in the nude by herself, and later with other girls her own age. The photographs were taken by her father. Within a few months, she began participating in pornographic films, performing such acts as masturbation, fellatio, and cunnilingus with both children and adults. Since age 10, she has worked in a massage parlor, about twice a week, fellating and masturbating older men. She has never engaged in sexual intercourse. She has never used drugs, been arrested, nor did she admit to any criminal activity.
Stephanie, age 9. Stephanie was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and is a student in the 5th grade. She lives with her 21-year-old sister who introduced her to massage parlor operations at age 7. Stephanie’s sexual activity has been limited to masturbating her sister’s clients, both men and women, about once a week. She has never engaged in sexual intercourse. Stephanie smokes marijuana about twice a week, which she has been doing since age eight. On occasions, she sell marijuana to her peers. She is generally high on marijuana when she engages in sex.
Kelly, age 11; Kim, age 12. Kelly and Kim, of Oriental extraction, are sisters. Their parents are pornographers, who introduced them to films at age 7 and 8 respectively. Both have engaged in all varieties of sexual acts, with each other, children and adults of both sexes.
Kelly and Kim also use drugs, a practice they began at age 9. Their drug use occurs several times each week, and has included marijuana, alcohol, minor tranquilizers, organic solvents, and cocaine. Kim, the older of the two sisters, is a part-time prostitute, while Kelly’s sexual activity is limited to pornography.
Chris, age 8. Chris, who has done films with Kelly and Kim, is also of oriental extraction. She is an orphaned cousin of the two girls and lives with them. She did her first pornographic film at age 7. Her primary activity has been oral sex, which she says she enjoys. She has never had sexual intercourse and does not use drugs.
Diana, age 10. Born in Mt. Vernon, NY, Diana lives with her sister and an aunt, both of whom are street prostitutes. They also work in massage parlors. Diana began her career in prostitution at age 8, masturbating some of her sister’s clients. By age 9 she was engaging in fellation and intercourse, occurring at the rate of one or more times a week. Her only drug use is alcohol, but she claims she has never been intoxicated.
Maryann, age 12. Living with an aunt in New York City, Maryann’s sexual experiences began at age 5, with sexual intercourse occurring „sometime after that“. She has never done „kiddy porn“ but has engaged in all varieties of sexual activity, about 4 times each week. She has never used drugs.
Georgia, age 11. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and brought up by her mother and uncle, Georgia began her career with pornography at age 9. Sexual intercourse began at age 10 and since that time she has participated in pornography films combined with prostitution at the rage of about once each week. She was also in a live sex show with several girls and boys her own age. Her only drug use is occasional marijuana smoking, which she began at age 10.
Laura, age 10. Originally from Chicago, Laura has lived in various cities along the East Coast. She has been a prostitute for two years, and was introduced to it by her teenage brother, who serves as her pimp. Both she and her brother have worked in films and live sex shows. Her drug use is generally marijuana and sometimes codeine, both of which she became involved with „only recently“.
The initiation of these girls into prostitution and pornography appeared to be neither forced nor traumatic. Rather, the overt presence of nudity, sexual promiscuity and prostitution in the home seemed to desensitize them. As Julie indicated: „When you see people fucking ever since you’re little, it seems to be just nuthin‘.“ And Diana:
My sister would take me to work with her [to a massage parlor] sometimes when she couldn’t get a baby sitter. I can’t remember the first time I saw a dude get on top of her, but it didn’t seem to bother her. She said it was fun and felt good too.
After their observations of sexual activity, actual participation began in several ways. Some were just simply told to do it. Kelly and Kim, for example, grew up in a household where pornographic films were produced on an almost regular basis. One day their mother told them it was their turn to take off their clothes and get in front of the camera.
Georgia reported a similar experience:
Mom was doing a film one afternoon and her period was coming real bad and making a mess out of the bed. Then my uncle said „why don’t you put the kid in there and have her just give a hand job.“ I had seen it done often enough so it was no problem.
On the other hand, some of the girls asked to participate. As Chris explained: „Kelly and Kim were on the bed having all the fun and all the attention, so I asked if I could do it too. One day mom said OK.“ Similarly, Julie commented: „Mom and dad were talking about me doing the films. I told them I’d do it if they’d take me to the beach… It was so easy. All I did was sit in front of the camera with my legs open.“
In general, the girls‘ attitudes towards participating in prostitution and pornography appeared to be rather cavalier and nonchalant. Many viewed it as a mechanism for „easy money“. Julie stated: „A hand job takes less than two minutes. The old fart is usually already hard when I go in there, and it isn’t long before they shoot their load. Twenty bucks for a two-minute „local“ [masturbating a male client] isn’t a bad deal.“
And Laura:
Giving head isn’t the most fun thing I ever did, but it was never scary either. Someone was always there to see that nothing went wrong and so that nobody would hurt me, and then I’d get some nice presents or get taken out somewhere so it was worth it. Now I’m used to it and the spending money is real nice.
Discussion.
As indicated earlier, the data collected on these nine young prostitutes are rather sparse. This was due, in part, to the nature of the street-corner interviewing encounters, combined with the fact that all of the informants were both unwilling and unable to fully express themselves. It was apparent during the interviews that all of the girls had been instructed at length by their parents, guardians and peers as the illegality of their activities, and that there could be severe consequences if their prostitution became known. As one child put it: „My sister said we would all go to jail if people find out about it.“ Or another stated: „They’d put my mom away, and that would be bad.“ A second problem was the informants‘ inability to fully articulate their feelings and experiences. With regard to the topics of drugs or specific sexual activities, most of the girls were able to speak in a rather matter-of-fact and somewhat mature streetwise manner. But when it came to attitudes and feelings, their chronological age and educational level seemed to come forward, leaving them with the same intellectual and perceptual abilities of other children in the 8- 12 year cohort. Despite these problems, however, a number of tentative conclusions could be made.
First, it would seem that their early and repeated observations of sexual activity combined with the guidance of a parent or other relative provided them with an easy transition into the worlds of pornography and prostitution. These factors may have insulated them from the trauma that would ordinarily be experienced by other children who become victims of sexual exploitation.
Second, to a noticeable extent, their willingness to participate in sexual activities, both at the outset and as a continuing practice, seemed to be motivated by fear. Not fear in the sense of any physical harm or coercion, but fear of rejection by a parent or guardian. Their involvement was often a way of getting attention from an otherwise ambivalent mother, father, or sister. Many of these children were showered with affection, money, presents, or „a trip to the circus,“ after many of their sexual encounters. In this behalf,
Georgia commented:
They wanted me to do this [sex] show with bunch of other kids one afternoon. I didn’t mind playing around with the others, but it was in a room with a whole bunch of people watching. I felt kind of funny…. My mom said that it was just this one time, and after that, she’d take me to [F.A.O. Schwartz] and I could pick out anything I wanted.
Third, also apparent were their negative attitudes towards their clients. The „johns“ were almost exclusively males, and were typically referred to as „old farts,“ „suckers,“ „assholes,“ „scum bags,“ and „shit heads“. Although this vocabulary was most likely picked up from their parents and „pimps,“ they generally spoke of their male clients with some disdain. As Kim stated, for example: „You have to be awfully fucked up to want to be pissed on or screwed by a kid….“ On the other hand, no such attitudes emerged with respect to the children, and men, who performed with them in films. These individuals were viewed as their equals — as others performing a service for a fee.
Fourth, their drug use did not appear to be related to their careers in prostitution and pornography. Rather, they all resided in high drug use areas, and their initiation into marijuana and alcohol use was more a matter of differential association with the public school drug culture. Kelly and Kim, for example, were the heaviest drug users (although not daily users), and had been introduced to substance abuse by a 14-year-old non-prostitute schoolmate. A similar type of initiation was clear with several of the other respondents. On the other hand, their drug consumption patterns were made readily possible by the funds earned through sex. This was particularly clear with respect to Kelly and Kim, who would purchase cocaine once or twice a month.
Fifth, and finally, the absurd hypocrisy associated with the way these children had been sexually exploited surfaced when they were asked whether they had intentions of becoming career prostitutes. They all said no, offering as alternatives the same type of professional aspirations that most of the children have — to be an actress, a television star, a doctor… Most had been told by their parents — the very same parents that introduced them to sex — that prostitution was no way to earn a living, and that „when they get older,“ they ought to do something else. Maryann, the oldest, most mature, and the most sexually experienced of the group seemed to have the most realistic attitude toward her activities:
I know that this is a dirty business and that hookers end up as junkies and street bums… But I also know that as long as I look young I can do OK…. Once I grow up I won’t be so special anymore.
In conclusion, it is clear that a high degree of coercion, however covert, stimulated the entry of these nine girls into pornography and prostitution and has influenced the development and continuation of their careers. How these experiences will ultimately shape their conceptions of self, development of sex roles and attitudes, and views of the world as adults is open only to speculation.
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Inciardi may be right in his >conclusions< in the long term (i.e. with regard to the after-effects of these childhood experiences in later life). Nevertheless, scientific research into the consequences of sex between adults and children could be advanced if the IMMEDIATE EFFECTS were also examined and the CHILDREN’S OWN ASSESSMENTS included. However, the design of most research projects on this topic does not allow for this. Damage is measured with psychiatric questionnaires, scores are calculated and then correlations are determined.
But comments such as those made by these children who grew up with prostitution and pornography would provide very important information both for the basic science of social psychology and directly for abuse research. The comments of these children who were introduced to prostitution show the importance of the SETTING inwhich an experience took place for their evaluation and processing. Social psychology has long since coined the term FRAMING to describe this effect. However, abuse research obviously shies away from its application. Yet it would make many things easier to understand. I am thinking of the contradiction that Susan Clancy found between the direct experience and the subsequent evaluation by the child after being confronted with the social evaluation. Or I’m thinking of police officers who bristle when they see the children laughing in the recordings.
BTW: Inciardi’s article has been viewed 32 times and quoted 5 times to date. A rather poor result for a scientific publication in a well-respected, internationally renowned journal. Apparently, scholars did not want to take note of such findings or even help them to become known. Or they simply did not know how to incorporate these findings into their work. The findings simply ran counter to their own theoretical orientations and research work. mb.
This might also interest you:
The Traunreut Man – or: the case of the JM Girl.
Here it is interesting to read what the mother later said in court about the girl’s condition, what impression the policewoman who interviewed her had, and what the girl herself had to say about it, after apparently surprising many viewers of the videos.
»Everything that happened was very pleasant. I enjoyed it.«
That’s what a 20-year-old testified before a Swiss high court about incestuous sex between her and her father. She sued him anyway.
Eva Ionesco I – The Scandal Child
Eva Ionesco II – „The Children of the Night“. News from her wildest years (11-13).
Eva Ionesco, the youngest model ever to appear in a Playboy centerfold (at the age of 11), after having been the object of her mother’s pornographic recordings for years and having been referred by her to Polanski and to the naked-girl photographer Bourboulon, and finally had to do sexual nude scenes in Maladolescenza (Puppy love) in the leading role, tells in her two autobiographical childhood accounts how she experienced it all, what she undertook sexually – out of revenge, or because she soon thought herself mature enough.
LS – The dark story of the 1,500 Ukrainian child models who became erotic myths.
Probably the largest Child Erotica project ever undertaken. The once world-famous girls are now adults, the agency called LS closed, and the whole story lies in the shadow of the current events in Kiev and Ukraine. At least Maya Poprotskaya, alias Dasha, probably the most beloved model of them all, can still be found active on the Internet.
NEW –> SONYAGATE – or: The End of LoLand.
https://montebas.blog/sonyagate-or-the-end-of-loland/
Fit for sex from the first menstruation on
Where sex from 10 is normal. A story and a discussion that took place among the indigenous people of Brazil.
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*) Inciardi, J. A. (1984). Little girls and sex: A glimpse at the world of the „baby pro.“ Deviant Behavior, 5(1-4), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.1984.9967632
Documents:
Hearing before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, 99th Congress, 1st Session, Part 2, February 21, 1985.
The report appeared under the same title in the scientific journal Deviant Behavior 5: 71-78 (1984). Siehe: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01639625.1984.9967632
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montebas 