Below are a couple pieces that are worth reading on the Secret Service scandal. Additionally I want to acknowledge that some have pointed to the fact that the woman was comfortable going to the police in order to seek her money as an example of why we should legalize prostitution because it would limit the victimization of prostituted peoples. The Renewal Forum agrees that there should be more legal protection for these people who sell their sex for sustenance, but we support a decriminalization of selling sex, but a criminalization of purchasing it (similar to the Nordic Model.)

This piece interviews one of the women involved in the scandal. In Columbia over 20 women were involved that were being prostituted. None of this would have probably came to life if the Secret Service agent paid the money and left, but instead the woman refused to go because she owed a man who “helps” her find customers $250. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/world/americas/colombian-escort-speaks-about-secret-service-scandal.html?pagewanted=all

There is a great piece on our expectation of military in the field written by an Afghanistan war veteran that talks about how common place destructive sexual behaviors are in the military. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthis-chiroux/secret-service-prostitution_b_1432333.html?ref=politics  This behavior has been common place for much of at least the last century with the famous war children in Germany, Korea, and Vietnam. In fact, those in service often feel pressured or bullied in to these acts.

Rachel Durchslag from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation makes the excellent point that this sort of sex tourism fuels sex trafficking. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-durchslag/sex-tourism-the-secret-se_b_1428733.html

Christian Science Monitor has a good read about sex tourism in Columbia and how it is related to child sex trafficking. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2012/0417/Secret-Service-scandal-sheds-light-on-sex-tourism-in-Latin-America