The Equality Model prioritizes the rights of those who have been exploited while holding buyers and exploiters accountable for the harms they cause.

There is broad consensus in the gender justice and human rights communities – and across the political spectrum – that those who have been prostituted or trafficked should not be criminalized. Beyond this fundamental area of agreement, however, there are two diverging views. On one side are those who argue for full decriminalization or legalization of the entire commercial sex industry, including pimps, brothel owners and sex buyers (this has been broadly defined as the “sex workers’ rights” position). On the other side are those who argue for social services for, and the decriminalization of, those who are prostituted or trafficked, while holding pimps, brothel owners and johns accountable for the harms that they cause. This is the Equality Model.

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Who Buys Sex?

Understanding and Disrupting Illicit Market Demand – By Demand Abolition

Much of the research on prostitution and sex trafficking in the US focuses on the “supply” side of the market: prostituted and trafficked persons, the great majority of whom are women and girls. While it’s critically important to understand supply-side realities and effective approaches to victim services, the other half of the market—the “demand” side, defined almost entirely by the actions of men—has been woefully understudied by comparison.

This report fills those gaps in our understanding of demand in the illegal US sex trade, including why some men buy sex and what can be done to reduce this exploitative behavior in the short and long terms.

Read the Report

Watch the Documentary – Why Men Buy Sex

Michigan Laws

The human trafficking chapter of the Michigan Penal Code was further overhauled in 2014 as a result of a 21-bill legislative package. The 2014 legislative package included safe harbor provisions, stronger tools to hold traffickers accountable, and created a standing Human Trafficking Commission within the Department of Attorney General and a Human Trafficking Health Advisory Board within the Department of Community Health. Most of the new legislation took effect on January 14, 2015.