Corps of Camp Followers Land on East Rutherford

Human sex trafficking is a very serious subject. All across eastern Europe, China, and even the U.S., young girls, some as young as nine or ten, are being kidnapped off the street and forced into the illegal sex trade. The lives that these girls endure are unimaginable.

Therefore, stories such as this do a disservice to the real tragedy.

I am referring to the item in the news that a globe-trotting army of enslaved sex-workers, 40,000 strong, moves from mega-event to mega-event around the world. No one can explain how this "Lost Tribe of Gypsy Harlots" is transported from one venue to the next, how they're housed, fed, and connected with the legions of horny spectators seeking out their services.

From the World Cup in Germany to the Super Bowl in New Jersey, from the Kentucky Derby to the opening of moose season in Minnesota, this roving band of soiled doves magically appears wherever the scent of musk can be found.

Whenever a host city of an internationally hyped sporting event, such as the Olympics, prepares for the cameras, the police are tasked with getting the city's undesirables off the street. The poor, the homeless, unpopular minority groups, drug addicts and gay people are swept up into jail, or warned to make themselves scarce for the duration. And of course, this includes prostitutes.

This rumor appears to have started in conjunction with the 2004 Athens Olympics. When officials began closing down brothels (which is ironic because prostitution is legal in Greece), a Greek sex workers’ union complained that by making it difficult to work in legal brothels the city would actually increase illegal prostitution.

The "anti-trafficking" movement, as well-intentioned as they may be, pounced on this dispute, claiming that illegal prostitution in Athens increased by 95 percent, and that the displaced ladies of the evening were henceforth taking their "movable feast" on the road.

It should be noted however, that the "rescue industry" brings in tens of millions of dollars per year, so there is a vested interest in keeping the myth going.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, closely investigated the myth, and in a 2011 report found that there was no substantiation to the claim.

After last year's Super Bowl, the head of the New Orleans Human Trafficking Working Group said, "There are no statistics whatsoever that show an increase in people being trafficked during these events."

No pun intended, but perhaps this urban legend can finally be put to bed.

For more information, go to: reason.com/archives/2014/01/26/the-mythical-invasion-of-the-super-bowl