Cool Men Don't Buy Sex Campaign
A Call to India to End Demand for Sex-Trafficking
Press and Partnership Enquiries Contact:
Biswa Ranjan Patnaik, ranjan@apneaap.org
OVERVIEW
The Cool Men Don’t Buy Sex Campaign highlights the role that men play in fostering the sex industry. Anti-trafficking efforts frequently address only the victims of sex trafficking, ignoring the force that fuels the trade – male demand for purchased sex. Without demand for purchased sex, traffickers, pimps, and brothel owners will be driven out of business. Apne Aap’s ultimate goal is both societal and legal change. Cool Men Don’t Buy Sex will enlist both men and women to put pressure on the Indian Government for the enactment of the proposed Section 5C of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA). This amendment will shift the burden of criminalization from women and girls in prostitution to the men who buy sex and the pimps who profit from violent exploitation.
PETITION
On January 26th, 2012 Apne Aap will present the President of India with 10,000 signatures on a petition on an amendment to the Indian anti-trafficking law that would deter the purchase of sex by raising punishments on sex buyers and traffickers, and protect the women and girls that fall victim to the industry.
Public Awareness
Apne Aap wants to promote the understanding that:
1. Prostitutes are victims, not criminals. The true criminals are the pimps, traffickers, and johns.
2. Prostitution is not a choice. It is a lack of choice.
3. Prostitution is not the world's oldest profession; pimping is the world's oldest profession.
4. When men buy sex, they are funding a multibillion dollar industry that inevitably exploits women and girls.
Multimedia
The campaign includes a podcast and video series, featuring male leaders taking a stand against sex trafficking.
Student Campaigns
Student groups from around the country are hosting band drives and awareness raising events, and gathering signatures on Apne Aap’s petition. This campaign was launched by SHAPATH (Symbiosis Headstart for Awarness and Prevention and Action against Trafficking in Humans) in Pune. Contact us to bring the Cool Men campaign to your campus!
Community Outreach
The campaign features radio jingles and street plays written by survivors targeting p opulations most likely to engage in or be affected by the sex trade.