The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Sunday News Correspondent
WHEN the Covid-19 global pandemic arrived on our shores, a lot changed socially as the country was plunged into lockdowns which restricted movements.
Many businesses, formal and informal were affected by the restrictions, including social activities such as drinking, clubbing and consequently, prostitution. Sex workers were struggling to engage in their business given that they were no longer able to go to their usual haunts like bars and street corners.
And this precipitated a change in their business model: there was a need to find new ways of soliciting for business. So they did what everyone else in business was doing: social media marketing.
Now sex workers are safer and stronger because of social media, but they are locked in frustrating cat-and-mouse games with clients who may have bad intentions for them.
These days, every forward-thinking businessperson understands the importance of establishing a web presence. So should we be surprised to discover that sex trade workers are using Facebook, setting up profiles to promote their services?
Every day, social media sites like Facebook connect entrepreneurs to potential clients, allowing for free publicity and self-promotion. In general, social media become a bit too social. Women are brazenly soliciting men on Facebook and agreeing to perform specific sex acts in exchange for cash.
Prostitutes are using Facebook to find clients and it seems the internet has now become the new streets that are being walked. According to a survey by this publication, the use of social media and other technologies has completely altered the trade on the ground, how it is marketed, client screening, income generation and safety. Facebook and other social tools are being used to friend clients, screen and negotiate.
Facebook has exploded in the sex marketplace, taking a substantial bite out of other venues — such as night clubs, bars, strip clubs, and dating sites. One likely theory is that Facebook has a more positive image, making customers feel safer.
Also, it is less anonymous than dating sites, giving sex workers some leverage over their clients.
Currently, Facebook’s terms of use do not explicitly ban the solicitation of sex, though there is a blanket ban on unlawful activity and nudity and even porn. From the Facebook terms of use:
“You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.”
However, dating sites like Craiglist have removed the adult services listing from their sites, creating something of a defector ban on using the website for prostitution. Though a nearly universally banned practice in this country, prostitution has always made use of legitimate, public spaces to advertise.
Just about every male on Facebook has experienced this phenomenon: An attractive woman in a sexy pose asks you to be friends. If you click through, she says that she and her friends have formed a WhatsApp group for women who want men, and she invites you to join.
It’s an obvious scam. It’s trivially easy to spot. But if you report the person, nothing happens. It doesn’t violate Facebook’s terms of service, apparently.
Groups such as “Zimbabwe Singles Searching For Love”, “Zimbabwe married cheaters group,” “Zim singles and searching”, are examples of groups and pages promoting prostitution through Facebook!
It looks like cyber space will give law enforcement agencies a run for their money. Facebook is the newest place for prostitutes to find customers, and for those clients to find women willing to do anything, for a price. Almost everybody knows what a prostitute is.
“(She is) some woman who’s having sex with men. She’s just doing that because she’s making money,” 67-year-old Julia Mthunzi told Sunday News.
But 67-year-old Julia isn’t familiar with how 21st Century working girls find their clients; Facebook.
“I don’t use the Facebook. I am totally dumb about that sort of thing,” Julia said.
Prostitutes are making more and more friends. That’s not good news for Nothando Moyo, a mum of two who lives in Nkulumane, Bulawayo.
“My children and I are on Facebook, and it’s disturbing to think that that’s how they (prostitutes) are getting their clients,” she told Sunday News.
The women, and sometimes men, can essentially go undercover and hide behind a user name in the Facebook world.
“It seems that would circumvent any filters that are already in place,” Nothando said.
Using the site for prostitution is vaguely illegal and Nothando says the company better crack down if it wants to keep people like her logged in.
“It’s going to continue, and then Facebook isn’t going to be a place that families want to be.”
A snap survey of Facebook pages and groups reveal it is probably used to connect prostitutes with their regular customers. Sunday News found local women and suggestive pictures saying they were willing to do just about anything.
“The internet has purposes and potential for great good, but everything has it’s opposites, and it doesn’t surprise me that it’s right there,” Nothando said.
It’s not just Facebook, but she is just as worried about these lesser known sites a few mouse clicks away from her child’s eyes.
“It’s just unfortunate and we as parents need to be really vigilant about our supervision of our children.” — @RealSimbaJemwa
