Latest 2024 Super Bowl LVIII News
- Super Bowl sex trafficking stings arrest hundreds, but sometimes miss target – February 10th, 2024 – Connor Letourneau
- 2024 Sex workers push back on Super Bowl trafficking narrative – February 9th, 2024 – Naoka Foreman
- It’s Time to Retire Super Bowl ‘Sex Trafficking’ Stings and Myths – February 5th, 2024 – Elizabeth Nolan Brown
- Sex workers and advocates organize to stop trafficking raids around Super Bowl – February 7th, 2024 – Noah Berlatsky
- OPINION: As the Super Bowl nears, anti-trafficking organizations do more harm than good – February 4th, 2024 – Victoria McMahan Parra
- Ties between major sporting events and sex trafficking is a myth – November 16th, 2023 – Adalind Gray
Stop the Raids Las Vegas Super Bowl LVIII 2024 Coverage
“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” said Doogan, who has been a Bay Area sex worker for 35 years and helped organize an anti-raid gathering Monday outside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. “Our business is part of the larger economy, and it’s just really a discriminatory act to single us out at these large sporting events.”
From Super Bowl sex trafficking stings arrest hundreds, but sometimes miss target
“Almost half of Americans believe that prostitution, the exchange of sex for payment and a misdemeanor in many states, should be decriminalized. However, few doubt that sex trafficking — defined under federal law as commercial sex involving minors, force, fraud or coercion — is an act of evil.”
“You can’t help but feel bad for the prostitutes that get caught up in these sting operations,” Doogan said. “The Super Bowl is such a unifying event, and they won’t get the chance to take part in it.”
February 10th, 2024
“The laws that criminalize prostitution … end up being the basis that people, mostly women, are discriminated against in housing, access to employment, access to their child custody rights, access to financial institutions,” said 35-year “working prostitute” Maxine Doogan. “So that prostitution arrest can be like a social death.”
From 2024 Sex workers push back on Super Bowl trafficking narrative
February 9th, 2024
“Activists say increased police raids around the Super Bowl only harm and traumatize consensual sex workers without actually helping trafficking survivors”
From Sex workers and advocates organize to stop trafficking raids around Super Bowl
“Yet, anti-trafficking organizations like Freedom Network USA and Polaris all agree that there is no evidence to suggest that there is a spike in human trafficking around the Super Bowl. Researchers have also found no link. Instead, this messaging is an effective way for some organizations to boost their profiles while also making the police look good and necessary. But it does little to help actual victims or survivors.”
February 7th, 2024
“Cities routinely engage in sweeps of the community, trying to push the poor and impoverished out of view. They want to sweep the extent of poverty and homelessness under the rug. Looking pristine for tourists is more important to Las Vegas officials than helping the most marginalized in our community. As we get closer to the Formula One and the Super Bowl, such activities will only increase, purposefully making the lives of many people worse. These events are opportunities for the city to bring in large amounts of money, and the City of Las Vegas should be allocating some of this revenue to increasing social safety nets.”
From Ties between major sporting events and sex trafficking is a myth
November 16th, 2023
Images from the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII Stop the Raids Rally
Photos from @domina_elle on X
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 30, 2024
Sex Workers Call Foul on Harmful, Dangerous ‘Human Trafficking Awareness’ Campaigns
Las Vegas-Sex workers across Nevada are coming together to call foul on the superbowl myth saying that law enforcement agencies routinely use so-called ‘anti-trafficking’ campaigns as an excuse to round-up sex workers, primarily people of color, immigrants and the unhoused during large sporting events.
“Law enforcement, in concert with faith-based rescue groups and anti-trafficking non-profits, are using human trafficking campaigns as an excuse to arrest sex workers trying to make a living”, said Victoria Parra, a Las Vegas-based writer and organizer. “These are not rescue missions, but morality-fueled vice campaigns that devastate the lives of sex workers. This January 11, sex workers are refusing to be exploited by law enforcement and government agencies in order to secure greater publicity and funding for their departments.”
“The media must not be complicit in this campaign of erasure and eradication. Year after year, we see the media report these campaigns based solely on the false information provided by government agencies, law enforcement, anti-trafficking non-profits and faith-based rescue groups, dedicated to eradicating sex work entirely”, said Maxine Doogan of the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project.
Every year, the Super Bowl is used as an excuse to violently arrest sex workers under the guise of anti-trafficking raids. This year, Las Vegas will host Super Bowl LVlll. The Stop the Raids committee, and our allies will fight back with education rally for the public and the media to disrupt the lies at Allegiant Stadium Monday, Feb. 5th, 2024 4pm
Sex workers demand decriminalization!”
MEDIA CONTACTS
Victoria Parra
ISWFACE
725-253-0878
contact@victoriaparra.com
Las Vegas Red Umbrella Collective
IG: @vegasruc
X: @vegasruc
vegasruc@gmail.com
Maxine Doogan
ESPLERP
415-265-3302
info@esplerp.org
Los Angeles
Soma Snakeoil
The Sidewalk Project
415-966-6019
soma@thesidewalkproject.org
Sacramento
Kristen DiAngelo
SWOP Sacramento
916-390-7107
sacramentoswop@yahoo.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 15, 2023
Contact: contact@victoriaparra.com
Victoria Parra, President of International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education (ISWFACE)
Sex Worker Groups Challenges Media and Law Enforcement Tactics Amid Formula 1 Event
Las Vegas, NV — As the city of Las Vegas prepares to host the upcoming Formula 1 race, a significant sporting event that is expected to attract thousands of visitors, the Stop The Raids urges the local government and law enforcement agencies to reconsider their approach to combating sex trafficking and sex work.
Contrary to popular belief and prevailing media narratives, there is scant evidence to suggest that large sporting events like Formula 1 contribute to a rise in sex trafficking. Studies have debunked this myth, indicating that increases in sex work during these events are often of a consensual nature.
“Rather than protect vulnerable individuals, police stings typically serve to further marginalize sex workers and even arrest sex trafficking victims in the criminal justice system. These sting operations do little to address the root causes of sex trafficking and instead stigmatize and criminalize marginalized populations”, said Maxine Doogan, organizer for the Erotic Service Providers Union
The International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education (ISWFACE) believes that the financial and human resources spent on these stings would be more effectively used in social welfare programs. “Police stings routinely entrap both sex workers and sex trafficking victims, introducing both groups to the criminal justice system. Resources used to conduct these stings would be better used towards serving the community,” says ISWFACE President Victoria Parra. These programs could include healthcare, housing, and educational services for vulnerable populations, which would contribute to reducing the factors that allow for exploitative situations.
Stop The Raids
Stop The Raids is a coalition of sex worker rights groups who have come together to address the unwarranted targeting of sex workers during large sporting events. ###
2023 F1 & 2024 Super Bowl Stop The Raids Committee Members
LV Red Umbrella Collective
A grassroots network led by and for sex workers in Las Vegas offering support through mutual aid, community events, and political activism.
ESPLERP
Sex Workers and Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research Project. Peer-led training, organizing, and advocacy for the erotic service community.
