FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 25, 2022

Sacramento Anti-Prostitution Group CASH Took $1.5m Of State Money To Produce Worthless Study That Recommends CASH Gets More State Funding

SACRAMENTO — Sex worker groups today reacted angrily to a Sacramento anti-prostitution group’s (CASH – Community Against Sexual Harm) research study supposedly estimating levels of “sex trafficking” in the Sacramento area.

“CASH has made their money off the backs of sex workers, treating them as if they’re criminals,” said Kristen DiAngelo, Executive Director of Sex Work Outreach Project Sacramento, who herself is a trafficking survivor. “Their numbers have been ludicrously exaggerated for years, but it’s pretty clear why. They just got paid $1.5million to produce a whole new set of fantasy numbers with no Internal Review Board (IRB) oversight – with their main conclusion being that they need more State funding.”

“This is a classic case of ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’,” said Soma Snakeoil, Executive Director of The Sidewalk Project in Los Angeles. “CASH provides remarkably little visibility on their methodology, but it appears they collected data from two sources – firstly from law enforcement – secondly from a captive audience who had been arrested for prostitution and were mandated to spend their unpaid time in CASH diversion programs. They never talked to any non-captive sex workers or academics with relevant expertise. They then passed this highly biased data set on to RTI International (the research group who worked with CASH on the study), who unsurprisingly arrived at the conclusion that CASH wanted all along. No surprise there.”

“CASH is a real money making machine,” said Maxine Doogan, President of the Erotic Service Provider Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP). “Their IRS filings show they have revenues of over $500K a year. They say very little about where those funds go and/or who benefits – but they clearly do not need State money to conduct studies.”

“The media should really be asking some hard questions here,” said Rachel West of the US PROStitutes Collective. “CASH is close to Sacramento law enforcement – a Sacramento police department member has been on their board. There’s a clear conflict of interest here. Anti-trafficking programs are most often used as a cover for police crackdowns, which target migrant sex workers for arrest and deportation. The police arrest prostitute women, force them into CASH’s state funded diversion program, CASH coerces them into being study survey participants, then produces a State funded report which secures more State funding. Everybody (police, politicians, CASH) benefits – except the women selling sex to survive, many of whom are mothers battling rising poverty and struggling to feed and clothe their children.”

Sex workers demand decriminalization!