Closure of prostitution website costly for sex workers

Jolene Parton shops at one of her favorite stores, FeelMore Adult Gallery in Oakland. Parton, a sex worker, used the website MyRedBook to generate most of her business. Jolene Parton shops at one of her favorite stores, FeelMore Adult Gallery in Oakland. Parton, a sex worker, used the website MyRedBook to generate most of her business. Photo: Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Closure of prostitution website costly for sex workers 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

(07-14) 11:37 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Like many young professionals, Jolene Parton starts her day by getting online. But instead of doing research or answering her boss' queries, she's checking to see if anybody wants to hire her as a sex worker.

Parton, who asked to be identified by the name she uses on the job, is one of thousands of sex workers in the Bay Area, many of whom rely on Internet ads to generate nearly all of their business.

The FBI's seizure of MyRedBook, one of the Bay Area's most popular prostitution websites, and the heroin-overdose death of a Google executive in Santa Cruz, who was allegedly injected by a prostitute he hired on a "sugar daddy" website, has underscored the digital transformation of the world's oldest profession.

But the change continues to fuel debate. While police have focused on shutting down the online flesh trade - or have used websites as entry points for undercover stings - some sex workers say they have found an avenue to do their job that is safer and more independent than the streets.

"The Internet has been the most widely used form of sex work advertising for the past 10 years now, maybe even longer than that," said Parton, 26. "It's where the clients are, it's where you get business, and it's just so much easier to go into it for yourself and not have to pay somebody else to do that work for you."

Last month's seizure of MyRedBook, and the arrests of two Northern California residents who allegedly made millions running it, particularly upset some sex workers because it was one of the few places on the Web where they could advertise for free.

Efforts lauded by police

But to police and those who fight human trafficking, the closure of such businesses sends a tough message and should be celebrated. The websites, they say, can easily facilitate the victimization of women and children forced or coerced into sex by domineering pimps.

"The behavior remains illegal," said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Casey Bates, who heads the office's human exploitation and trafficking unit. "There's danger associated with prostitution. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality of it. When people say it's a victimless crime, that's not true."

In the Santa Cruz case, police said a 26-year-old prostitute, Alix Catherine Tichelman, injected heroin into tech executive Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, and then left him to die in November after he fell unconscious on his 45-foot yacht, closing the blinds on the way out.

Tichelman, charged last week with manslaughter, connected with Hayes through a website called Seeking Arrangement, police said. The website purports to connect "sugar daddies" and "sugar babies" who agree on the terms of their arrangement. In a statement, a spokeswoman said the site prohibits "illegal activity including escorting and prostitution."

Members of the Bay Area chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project advocacy group said that while exploitation must be stopped, they are not victims. They see what they do as paid consensual sex between adults, and argue that the criminalization of sex work forces the trade underground and makes it ripe for trafficking and other abuses.

Safeguards on website

One member, 28-year-old Patricia West, said the takedown of MyRedBook stripped sex workers of a valuable asset: forums on the website that vetted clients, blacklisted predators and offered advice and support for those who needed it.

For Parton, the seizure hit her bottom line. In what would probably be considered encouraging news in law enforcement circles, she said she lost 80 percent of her business.

"Right now, everyone I know is noticing a pretty solid down-tick in how many new clients are contacting them because they're scared," she said. "I have the privilege to be able to turn down clients. I'm not desperate for money. But a lot of people don't have that ability and maybe have to see more dangerous clients."

West said that online work allows people to "work independently, and the great thing about that is there is no manager, no pimp, no one possibly exploiting you. You can work your own hours and you can find out if someone is a good fit before you're in their car, possibly exposed to conflict or even violence."

But the Web has introduced some new risks. Madison Graham, 41, who works at Sagebrush Ranch near Carson City, Nev., where prostitution is legal, said the emergence of online reviews has put disturbing pressure on workers.

"In some instances, you can only get high marks on performance if you perform" without using condoms or other protection, Graham said.

'Choose to do this'

Bates, the Alameda County prosecutor, said independent sex workers like Parton and West are not the focus of law enforcement efforts to cut human trafficking. He said he does not believe they make up the majority of sex workers in the Bay Area, online or on the streets, and estimated that 90 to 95 percent of prostitutes are controlled by pimps.

"Almost all of the people who were involved in human trafficking were advertising their victims on MyRedBook," Bates said. "The notion that this is somehow only providing consensual individuals the opportunity to meet online, that simply isn't true."

West said she thinks Bates is unaware of how large her community is because people are forced underground.

With MyRedBook gone, Parton said she will simply post more advertisements on similar sites. She likes the work and thinks she should be able to choose to do it.

"As it is right now, it's the best bad option for a lot of people, and that bad option shouldn't be taken away because of society's moralization," she said. "And for people like me who choose to do this - I'm not a victim."