‘It’s daunting’ | New report shares insights from sex buyer message boards, giving rare perspective on sex trafficking industry​on March 28, 2025 at 11:28 pm

DALLAS — A new report published by advocacy group Rights4Girls paints a bleak picture of what goes through the minds of men around the country who regularly purchase commercial sex. 

The organization presented the findings of the 66-page report this week at Southern Methodist University in partnership with anti-human trafficking advocates and groups that serve North Texas. 

“This was really different for us,” Yasmin Vafa, executive director of Rights4Girls, said. “It talks about other countries, and it really focuses on the perpetrators. It really wasn’t like the other reports that we have put out.

Vafa said the organization usually focuses its advocacy work on the experience of women and girls who have been sexually abused, exploited and trafficked. Focusing on the people who are purchasing commercial sex is a different approach, but Vafa said it is crucial to addressing the deep-rooted issues with the commercial sex industry. 

“We consistently hear… consenting adults, consenting adults, but when you read their words, I don’t think you can argue with the fact that these are violent behaviors,” Vafa said. “These are dehumanizing narratives and, in many cases, racist, objectifying, incredibly just harmful views.”

The report features dozens of pages of posts that were pulled from so-called “Hobby Boards” where men share tips, recommendations and advice for soliciting commercial sex in cities across the country. 

“We didn’t have to look very hard. You just have to look at the first couple of pages for every city,” Vafa said. 

The chilling posts are organized by region, with each featured post identified by the city where the man was seeking commercial sex.

A buyer in Ohio acknowledged that a woman he purchased had “mental issues” but went on to complain about her “technique.” Another buyer described dropping off a woman who was “just the right amount of high,” warning that if someone wanted to pick her up, she might be more “irritable” later before going to see her dealer. 

Men warned of pimps and law enforcement officers, giving safety tips for other purchasers, however; never expressing concern for the safety of the women. They complained about being asked to use condoms and warned of sex workers who wanted to verify their identity before offering services. 

A man in Arizona advised men in the area to frequent a certain casino because women often became “desperate” after they ran out of money and were “stranded.”

Another person wrote about his experience with a woman who he said was smoking fentanyl during their encounter, noting visible track marks on her arms and legs but touting that “she would literally do anything you want.”

“They are aware and indifferent to overt signs of trafficking, coercion and substance abuse…violence,” Vafa said. 

One of Vafa’s main hopes in publishing the report is to combat the idea that legalizingsex work, which is illegal almost everywhere in the U.S., would create a safer environment for sex workers and decrease human trafficking concerns.

“Right now, there is this very well-funded and well-coordinated campaign across the U.S. to decriminalize prostitution and it’s better known as decriminalizing sex work,” Vafa said. “This report was our Hail Mary to show people that these individuals do not deserve the same legal protection as sex trade survivors and prostituted people. They are violent offenders.”

Vafa said the attitude expressed in the conversations in the message boards reveals a mindset that would make it impossible for there to be a safe, equitable sex work industry. Especially, since data from this report and many others show a major impact on women and girls of color who are disproportionately identified as victims of trafficking and exploitation as well as criminalized when arrested for prostitution.

“It was very important for people to realize, these are the attitudes that these people hold,” Vafa said. “You have to look at the fundamental inequalities between who is being purchased and who is purchasing them.”

Instead, Vafa and many other advocates are pushing for what’s called the “Survivor Model” to be used as the best practice to combat trafficking. The model creates framework to provide legal protections for people who have been prostituted and provide resources for recovery while placing the responsibility and criminal ramifications on sex buyers and people who exploit the victims, like pimps. 

Bianca Davis, CEO of New Friends New Life, a Dallas-based nonprofit that serves trafficking survivors, emphasized the significance of these findings.

“This is the message that we’ve been trying to send for years,” she said. “This is an every day man who is fueling this industry. It could be the attorney, the pastor, or the physician. He’s not a deviant living in a cave somewhere. This is a man who many times is married, he has disposable income. He has influence and presence in the community.”

New Friends New Life created an advocacy group for men nearly a decade ago, with hopes of raising awareness of the dangers of sex trafficking with local men as well as showing the relationship between trafficking and other activities like frequenting strip clubs and watching porn. 

“If men knew about these connection points, most men would make a different choice,” Davis said. “67% of the women we see at New Friends New Life have been trafficked in Dallas strip clubs. The lights are turning on because that’s not what they want either.”

Davis acknowledges that the details of the report are jarring, but she said it brings the kind of awareness that is needed to truly get to the root of the issue. 

“It’s uncomfortable, but it’s fresh. It’s supported by data, and it really is the key to ending trafficking in our community,” she said.