Patzi 1

Dylan Patzi
Humanities
May 16th 2014
Teen Prostitution In San Diego
Imagine being a teen alone and afraid with no one to turn to. You are desperate for money,
your family can not support themselves or you have run away, having no means to support
yourself and no way to survive the cruel harsh world ahead of you. You soon turn to selling
yourself on the street throwing your future away, risking your own safety, possibly getting into
drugs and never escaping that dangerous lifestyle.
The number of teenage girls who sell themselves as prostitutes is a serious problem in San
Diego County. Researchers estimate that there are 200,000 to 300,000 sexually exploited youth
in the United States who tend to be concentrated in communities near or bordering Mexico.
(San Diego's Regional Planning Agency)The youth who are most vulnerable to exploitation
are homeless, thrown away, and runaway youth: approximately 55 percent of homeless or
runaway youth engage in formal prostitution. This means that the youth turn to prostitution just
to survive on the streets. While engaged in prostitution, youth are vulnerable to violence at the
hands of pimps and solicitors, rape and assault, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, and
substance abuse.(San Diego's Regional Planning Agency). All of these experiences ruin many
chances they could have had if they didn't turn to prostitution. Countywide, 76 girls were
arrested last year, a 27 percent increase over the 60 reported arrests in 2003. The majority of the
professionals, 81 percent, felt that female teen prostitutes only practice safe sex some of the time,
the study said. About half of the professionals
Patzi 2
described most of the girls as 13 to 15 years old, while the other half said they were between 16
and 17. About 59 percent of the girls are coerced into prostitution, while two of the most
common reasons the girls become prostitutes are to have personal spending money and to buy
drugs and alcohol. (U-T San Diego)
I chose to research this topic because I as a teen sympathize with the teens dealing with these
struggles. I have had every opportunity to better myself because of my loving parents and their
support something many of these teens don't have, It truly breaks my heart that these teens have
to risk their lives and let people exploit them just to support themselves. Every teen should be
able to enjoy their youth and not have to sell their bodies to survive.




















Works Cited

"Area Study Says Female Teen Prostitution 'common'" U-T San Diego. Web. 17 May 2014.
Graham, Marty. "San Diego Gang Ran Prostitution Ring across U.S.,

Prosecutors Say." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 09 Jan. 2014. Web. 17 May 2014.

"SANDAG :: PROJECTS :: San Diego's Regional Planning Agency." SANDAG ::
PROJECTS :: San Diego's Regional Planning Agency. Web. 17 May 2014.