Our local Seattle Weekly recently dropped all escort ads, which is a huge step in the right direction toward preventing underage prostitution.
The Seattle Weekly is under new ownership—a new company based in Denver, the Voice Media Group. Seattle Weekly publisher Kenny Stocker has said that Seattle will be pulling all escort-based advertising out of the paper. Part of this new action stems from the fact that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn withheld all city advertising from Seattle Weekly because of said escort ads last year.
While Seattle Weekly claims it won’t refer its readers to Backpage.com, the classified ad website that allegedly fosters a space for underage prostitution rings will continue to operate online. It was not sold by Village Voice Media Holdings.
Some controversy still lies in the fact that Seattle Weekly will continue to offer print space for other adult ventures (i.e. massage parlors and phone sex), even though they recognize that it is the escort ads that were the most destructive in terms of underage activity, due to the fact that proof of age wasn’t always required from the pimps placing the ads…more
HUMAN RIGHTS SOCIETY 