NEWS

Prostitution far from a victimless crime

Rami Yoakum

Special to the Gazette

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard, our little town of Chillicothe has a prostitution problem.

I’ll admit that until last fall I was apparently living under my own personal rock. I knew there was prostitution here, but until the Ross County Health District moved to East Second Street I had no idea how bad it was. The day I saw five girls sitting on the bench across from our building, giving the eye to passers-by, I realized the extent of the problem.

The old saying is that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. While that’s certainly not true (after all, there had to be men making money doing something else, such as farming, so that they could pay for the services of a prostitute), it’s not that far off.

To bring some local context to it, nearly 100 years ago Chillicothe, Ross County, and the United States Army squared off against prostitution.

Camp Sherman, a World War I training camp built here in 1917, brought nearly 40,000 young male soldiers into town, and the prostitutes quickly followed. The federal government — with the help of a local “council of war” — set up a five mile health zone around the camp. Venereal disease was a constant problem. At one point in 1918, 42 prostitutes were being held at the Ross County Infirmary under “medical detention.”

The Army wanted their soldiers training for war, not being treated for sexually transmitted diseases. The feds even made it a punishable crime for taxi drivers to transport soldiers who were with women of “doubtful antecedents.”

Despite these efforts, there were constant problems with the women escaping from the Infirmary. In October of 1918 the city’s health officer reported that there were 82 cases of gonorrhea in the city that month alone!

Thus our first example locally that prostitution is indeed a public health problem.

Women working as prostitutes, whether by force or of their own free will, are exposed not only to mental and physical violence and abuse (whether at the hands of their customers or their “pimps”) but they are also exposed to a wide variety of sexually transmitted diseases.

Hepatitis B (which is most commonly spread via sexual contact) is at record highs in Ross County. Eighty-one cases were reported last year, but certainly many more were not. Chlamydia cases totaled 198; Gonorrhea cases were at 52; and there were six Syphilis cases reported.

The good news is that there were no new HIV infections reported.

Prostitutes are also exposed to things like herpes and HPV (human papilloma virus). This plethora of bacteria and viruses have both short term and long term health effects (such as cervical cancer). Prostitutes are also more at-risk of exposure to things like influenza, Tuberculosis, MRSA, and a wide variety of other respiratory ailments.

And not only are the prostitutes themselves suffering, but common sense tells us that they’re very likely passing many of these STDs, bacteria and viruses on to their customers, who in turn then spread them even further.

Prostitutes also face emotional consequences from their work: trauma, stress, depression, and anxiety are common. Studies show that they’re more likely to rely on drugs and alcohol to get through their days, and they’re also more likely to do self-harm, including suicide.

We’re finding out the hard way that drug use is fueling prostitution, and vice-versa.

There were 234 cases of Hepatitis C reported in Ross County last year, another record high and an embarrassing milestone for our county.

Hep C is most commonly spread through drug use and needle sharing.

Not only are the girls and women selling their bodies being affected, but so are their children and their families. And by extension, our community is suffering: through our image across the state; through the burden on our already strained social services system; and the added workload on our local law enforcement.

Unfortunately, we’re also learning the hard way that violence toward the prostitutes and their involvement in the drug trade can often end in death.

It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever end prostitution in Chillicothe. After all, the trade has been around since Biblical times and even Jesus had to deal with prostitutes.

Regardless, as a community we need to do something. Support the police… support the agencies and groups that try to fight drugs in our community… take part in grass-roots efforts to improve the situation surrounding drug use in our community.

Prostitution is far from a victimless crime.

Prostitution is a public health nightmare.

Prostitution adversely impacts us all.

Rami Yoakum is the director of communications at the Ross County Health District.