Survivor Leader and Friend of the Institute, Alisa Bernard, Published in Crosscut

One of our survivor leader bloggers, Alisa Bernard, was recently published in Crosscut, a news source based out of Washington state. When an anti-demand prostitution sting led by the Seattle Police Department swept the city last June, 138 sex buyers were arrested, including sex offenders, a convicted child molester, and a man armed with a gun and a knife. In her op-ed, Ms. Bernard uses that new data to reiterate an established truth: every part of prostitution is dangerous, including the sex-buyers. “I’d love to sugarcoat it all and say this violence wasn’t my experience, but there’s no putting lipstick on this pig. Violence was my experience, and to be honest, it is the majority of other women and girls’ experiences within prostitution too,”  writes Ms. Bernard. Her strong and clear voice, speaking from a place of experience, is a reminder that survivor perspectives must remain at the forefront of our efforts to combat commercial sexual exploitation. Read the op-ed in full.