Dear Friend, Jessica* walked through the hotel lobby—a nearly invisible young woman to the guests. Who could guess that she was being sex trafficked? She had no chains, no visible bruises. But her sex trafficker sat outside in the car. She walked up to the hotel’s welcome desk, and asked the middle-aged woman there for the room key that was waiting for her. Waiting to give entry to a night of violence and abuse. The woman smiled kindly at Jessica before she turned around to find her the key. For a split second, Jessica considered the impossible…should she say something? Ask for help? But in a flash, she made eye contact with a man sitting at the nearby hotel bar. Clean-cut, suit and tie, with a hint of grey around his temples. To other guests, he was the local judge. A man of honor and respect. But her stomach sank. She knew the truth—that he regularly paid her trafficker for access to sexually abuse her. “If you ever ID me, just know I’m friends with every cop and lawyer in town,” he told her the first time he’d exploited her. Of course, he didn’t need to say that at the time. Because she knew cops and lawyers in town regularly assaulted her as well—in fact, one was upstairs waiting for her right now. The woman at the welcome desk turned back around with her kind smile. But instead of asking for help, Jessica took the key silently. Who was she supposed to reach out to, when the powerful men in town were sex buyers? This is a scenario that sex trafficked people face every day. Sex buyers exist in our communities. They can blend in. They may even be respected. They may not consider buying sex “wrong.” But the reality is this: sex buyers are the sole revenue source for sex trafficking, and they are the primary perpetrators of sexual violence and exploitation in the sex trade. This is why NCOSE is fighting to hold sex buyers accountable for the harm they cause. Targeting the consumer-level demand for paid sex is the only way to truly end prostitution and sex trafficking. No buyers, no business. | 
