User Reviews

The people who made this film have the temerity to call it a documentary; in reality it is nothing more than a thinly veiled piece of propaganda. Rape and prostitution are not two sides of the same coin anymore than paid work and slavery; one is a voluntary transaction, the other is a crime.

As Chris Tame used to say, when they talk about protecting children, what they really mean is destroying your rights. That is the case with those who wilfully conflate "pornography" with "child pornography" and it is the same here with those who conflate " (street) prostitution" - a voluntary if sordid transaction, with child prostitution - a criminal act regardless of the state of mind of the minor who is selling sex.

The semantic sleight-of-hand doesn't stop there, rather than calling prostitutes prostitutes, whores, harlots or even hookers they are "prostituted women" and for those who don't have pimps, the "johns" are the bad guys.

This is not the first documentary to be made about the underbelly of Seattle; "Streetwise" dates to 1984, and it is disgraceful that these very real problems, including young girls being lured, coerced or otherwise entering into street prostitution, are only now being addressed, but they need to be addressed honestly. It remains to be seen if the damaged women interviewed here are being honest, it is far from novel for a prostitute to claim she took up her trade after being raped. One woman claims her first "john" as a child prostitute was a lawyer, then came a police officer, a judge and a pastor - all supplied by her madam. Does this really sound credible?

The law enforcement officers in this film also go after on-line prostitution; if the prostitute concerned is, or appears to be, underage, fair enough, but the stench of righteous indignation throughout is unreal. Unbelievably, they even drag in the Green River Killer. How dishonest can anyone get?

They attempt also to tie in pornography - which is of course an extremely broad term - with the overt claim that this is another pathway to "prostituted women", indeed they have the audacity to claim that "pornography" is itself a form of sex trafficking, with the unspoken corollary that we need these same sanctimonious creeps policing the Web. Hey, perhaps all cameras should be registered and before any photograph is published on-line it should be submitted to some sort of moral watchdog?

Then there is all the usual garbage about the trafficking of women and girls. One "john" is asked how old he was when he "bought" his first woman. Not once in this propaganda piece is there any attempt to see the point of view of any of these so-called johns, some of whom are clearly physically undesirable individuals for whom buying sex is the only option bar celibacy or perhaps rape.

Indeed, the start of the First World War saw young men - in reality boys - queueing up to lose their virginity to whores so that they would die "real men". How sad is that? No mention of such sad cases, social inadequates, the disabled or just plain ugly men here. In short, this film is a total crock, whatever the good intentions of the police concerned in taking teenage prostitutes off the streets.

From the very beginning the film sucks you in with curiosity and intrigue. The unique window provided by the film makers masterfully expose the underground world of exploited teenagers in sex trafficking. The film easily flows between first person interviews from victims who used to be trapped and undercover gorilla style footage from sting operations those who are buying girls. It also features first person interviews from experts and local leaders in government who discuss the depth of the problem as it pertains to society.

This is not an easy film to watch. It puts on display the grotesque desires of human nature and makes you empathize deeply with the victims you meet through the film. The content is heavy but it inspires a new hope for young girls who have been mired in a life run by pimps and sexual predators.

Jason Pamer and Eric Esau have done a superb job of capturing the dark essence of the sex- trade without assaulting the senses of the viewers. Their work reveals the insidious manipulation that continues to prey upon vulnerable children and youth. One cannot view this film without evaluating one's complacency, complicity, or perspective toward modern-day slavery. The sensitivity in which survivors were interviewed speaks to the changing perspective of society and law enforcement toward victims of human trafficking. Trafficking victims are seen as people in need of the Law's protective arm rather than the Law's indictment. One viewer responded, "I walked away wanting to express mercy toward the survivors and pray that justice would have its way with their abusers."

Horrible things happen to prostitutes. This is news to no one. This film is motivated by nothing more then putting people in the pews!!! If you are a fundamental Christian you will love the view points expressed here.

I find it disgusting that they are using this abuse to move forward their own Christian agenda. Especially since it is primarily the Christians that have caused this problem.

You want to help them. Legalize prostitution. Normalize sexual expression in art. Regulate. You will never stop this. But you can provide these men and women someone to reach out to when they are abused but the pimps or customers.

Attract decent loving people to the industry by removing the stigma of adult entertainment.

Please. If you watch this movie. Do not drink the KoilAid and lets really make a difference in their lives. And condemn the producers of this film for being part of the problem instead of the solution.

I live in Seattle, and I watch a lot of documentaries. This one happened to come up & watched it because it had good reviews. I had no idea this was happening in areas I am in all the time. I also had no idea that my cousin Joel Banks was in it - he's known me since I was a baby, and I used to play with his oldest daughter & son all the time growing up.

It is heart breaking hearing that these girls don't think they have any value in life. The documentary is worth the watch.

From a critical standpoint the documentary is done well, but not fantastically. The subject matter pulls you in though & the story is not boring to watch.

How this documentary affected me....the crew of RFP created a deeper awareness of how men contribute to this issue, on a daily basis. Even further, the correlation with pornography use, strip club visits and mistreatment of women are very clear in how they contribute to sex- trafficking. As one of the guests stated in the documentary, "...it is time for decent men....to stand up and make a difference..." As a man, husband, friend and soon-to-be-father, the content of this documentary should make us all think harder at how we can make a positive impact. How our words, glances, actions, habits can be a positive example for other men. Well done, RFP crew. You have changed my life for the better. God bless.

Must see. Impactful, world changing and life changing. One of the best documentaries I've seen on human trafficking.

Can't believe it's happening in our backyard. I've always thought "human trafficking" was "out there", it happens in other countries/cities and not here. I was shocked.

The people really spent their time researching, documenting and risked their lives telling the stories of these women. Great props to the courage of these women coming forth and share their stories/struggles so to bring light into this ugliness in our city and world.

We gotta do something. This is not right. If it's happening here in Seattle, I wonder what other areas have this, and how much we need to bring light into all of those areas.

Not that long ago, people said that if men and women are created equal, then how can we allow slavery. Here we are today with innocent victims walking our own streets being forced to sell their bodies for the profit of sadistic pimps. Unbelievable. These young film makers have exposed that this issue is not only happening in far off countries,it's happening right here! Awareness is so important but we also need action. Men and women of the United States of America need to say in unison that if men and women are created equal, then how can we allow these victims to be abused. Rape for Profit is a movie that creates Awareness and is a call to Action for all of us to step in the gap for those who desperately are crying out for help.