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Politics | 08/22/2008 11:00 am

Hookers Wanted: The Sex-Trade Industry Expects Big Business During Political Conventions

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
iStock

Those involved in the sex trade in Denver and the Minneapolis area are gearing up for some big business.

ABC News reports that prostitution will get a boost during the political conventions being held in these two cities in the coming weeks, and online ads indicate the industry pros are getting themselves ready.

"We know it’s going to rise," Vednita Carter of Breaking Free, a Denver-based nonprofit which helps women and girls involved in prostitution and sex trafficking, told ABC. "That’s what we’ve been hearing from women who are involved in that life."

"Republican Convention Party Entertainment Hostesses wanted," reads the headline of one "erotic services" ad from the Minneapolis area on CraigsList.org.

A quick search by wowOwow.com found another ad from Minneapolis titled, “Convention goer from DC seeks Asian.” The ad text says: “Coming to town with Republican convention seek attractive asian woman for week! It will be a five star ride in every way no expense spared!!!”

Another one posted by a woman offering her services says: “If you are coming to the Republican Convention next month and need a distraction I’d be happy to come by. First timer, nervous CD: ht/wt proportional, wm, safe, sane, professional working in st. paul, ultra discreet.”

In the Denver section, one finds the likes of posts titled “Support Your ‘Colorado’ Entertainers” (aka, prostitutes). Other women tout in their postings their proximity to the Pepsi Center and convention sites; “incall loft,downtown by pepsi cntr and coors field& convention cntr also.”

In another Denver ad, "Rebecca" explained that she was offering a special convention rate of $350 for two hours but to qualify, clients must "provide proof of dem. Membership." "Rebecca" confirmed to ABC that responses to her online ads had increased in the days leading up to next week’s convention.

In Minnesota and in Denver, victims’ groups are planning to distribute leaflets and other material outside of convention events. They are particularly concerned about young girls who might get “pimped out” by older men to the cities’ guests.

13 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Lorraine Bates
This isn’t really news, and it’s no different than any other convention, in any other year, anywhere. I remember being in a gay bar in San Francisco with two male gay friends of mine during the 1984 convention, and it was FULL of conventioneers trolling for “dates” - with their delegate badges still on!
By Lorraine Bates on 08/22/2008 10:42 am
Frank Peterson
Nah say it ain’t so joe! Like Duh! This is news?
By Frank Peterson on 08/22/2008 11:44 am
Diana T
Has there ever been a convention of any kind in the history of mankind that didn’t have its camp followers? Nothing new under the sun…
By Diana T on 08/22/2008 11:43 pm
kim speight
We are gearing up for the Winter Olympics in 2010 and it’s the same here… lock up your daughters… I’m not kidding
By kim speight on 08/22/2008 2:06 pm
theCHEROKEErose
it always makes me kind of sad (prostitution/escort is a SAD business) to see this kind of story….i know there are women who choose this as a career, but there are thousands more that it is their income…i dont know why good old prudish amerika doesnt legitimize it like enlightened european countries…still too many ‘happily married’ women who think that would just give free-er rein to their already philandering husbands…if illegal things were legal, it would solve a heck of a lot of problems…am i the only person left who believes that????
By theCHEROKEErose on 08/22/2008 2:14 pm
Jeannot Kensinger
Cherokee Rose, you are so right, prostitution is here to stay, make it legal and with supervision of medical check ups. I grew up in Belgium in the 1930’ and 40’s. Two of my class mates had mothers in the business. We did not sneer or call names , it was a job they picked. I thought sitting in a window was pretty boring. What did I know? When we had to go around and collect for the Red Cross I always followed Ginette, she would take me to the glass street where her mom worked and we would collect the most money. Guess they could not wait to get these two brats out of the establishment. My mother yelled at me, not because where I had been but because I went out begging for a group which did not help us. True story.
By Jeannot Kensinger on 08/22/2008 6:49 pm
Dorothy Nichols
know there are women who choose this as a career” No, they don’t. There are no little girls out there in the world saying to themselves ‘I want to be a hooker when I grow up.’ Women who end up doing this are forced into it from economic need, at best. At worst they are trapped by abusive pimps and just can’t see a way out. There are many countries in the world where prostitution is already legal, and absolutely no proof that it has made any real difference in their safety and security. The truly scary part is how many of these ‘women’ are not women at all, but underage girls forced into prostitution, sold and rented out like human cattle. This does happen in this country all the time, young girls who have run away and get talked into this life by pimps, only to be abused and beaten if they ever try to get away from it. Making it legal would only make it harder to prosecute the abusers.
By Dorothy Nichols on 08/24/2008 12:52 pm
Chrome Toe
I’m with you Cherokee - we had this discussion at length on another thread some time ago. Legalize it already for gods sake.
By Chrome Toe on 08/22/2008 3:30 pm
Sandbee (FB) 54
Yes - it is obviously here to stay - make it legal. Makes it safer for the seller and the buyer.
By Sandbee (FB) 54 on 08/22/2008 6:40 pm
No Way-No How -No McCain
I used to stay in The Brown Palace in Denver when there on business. Someone told me that a nearby men’s club built a secret underground tunnel over to the hotel in the late 1880s early 1900s and while their wives gathered downstairs they’d be “upstairs” on ‘business’ and would take the tunnel, unseen, over to the Brown Palace to meet ladies of the night. Why doesn’t it surprise me that the same husbands that couldn’t replace a burned out lightbulb….could engineer a long underground ‘tunnel of love’. I guess of the hookers its Xmas in August.
By No Way-No How -No McCain on 08/22/2008 9:31 pm
Dorothy Nichols
The tunnels actually run all over downtown Denver. One goes from the Brown Palace to the Capitol, too. That was so the Governor and various state representatives could have their long lunches…
By Dorothy Nichols on 08/24/2008 12:55 pm
Gretchen Perkins
Oh yeah….and let’s advertise this business. Why not give out the phone numbers and the women’s names?
By Gretchen Perkins on 08/24/2008 9:54 am