Rape For Profit (2012) Reviews

• Disappointing! A lot of inaccurate information

  willdaviswd2013-08-12

  I was hoping this film would offer a different view than what we have come to expect from mainstream media. I was disappointed to say the least. I have done an extensive amount of research regarding the sex industry, and while I agree that trafficking and violence against women needs to stop, continuing to approach it the way this film does, is not going to help. The film makers were irresponsible (I'm sure to give it some sensationalism). Aside from the film containing a lot of inaccurate information and statistics, the opener starts with them chasing someone down and causing an accident. I'm glad it wasn't my property, kid, or wife the guy hit. Some of the police officers are completely unprofessional and actually engage in behavior that would escalate a situation, exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. And, rescuing these victims results in them going to JAIL! How is that helping them? It only serves to stigmatize them more! The only reason I gave this four stars is because of the women in the film. They are genuine and real, their stories heartbreaking, I feel for them. They are the true victims, and the backlash from a film like this will only serve to victimize them, and others like them, more. This film is not representative of the industry. American Courtesans is a movie you should see for real insight. All the women show their faces and tell their life stories. People interested in this subject need to educate themselves about it. People who produce media like this, along with police, most social workers, citizens, politicians, etc., have absolutely no idea of what the real issues are or how complex they are. Nobody is ever going to solve a problem they don't understand. This film only clouds and minimizes the issues.

• Powerful Message but Possibly the Wrong way to Delivery it

  pelucid692013-08-18

  There is no doubt the message is strong in Rape For Profit. It lets abused women share their brutal stories and allows the viewer to share in a small part of their pain. The movie is shot well and sends a pretty clear message that the problem has many reasons this "profession" continues. However, I must admit that I found it strange the writer/director is so involved in confronting the women and men involved in this story. Standing along side police, he forcefully confronts the characters, at times, roughly and intensely sharing his view. I have always believed that a great documentary allows the footage and interviews to get the message across, rather than the writer him or herself interjecting their personal views so loudly. This of course leads me to my disapproval of his position. The movie clearly states that powerful men or men desiring that power are the key abusers of women, yet the director in his powerful role often finds himself alone with a abused minor basically telling her what she should be feeling, rather than asking her what SHE is feeling. "You are happier here now!" "This is much better for you!" While he may be correct in his assessment, I think it would have been a smarter move to have a female, who is educated in counseling abused women to speak with these girls, rather than potentially exploit them for, what appears to be, camera time. I want to stress that I believe the movie and this particular directors' heart appear to be in the right place. I just wish he would have stepped out of the frame more often to allow the actual story to be told by those who lived it.

• Brilliant display of unpleasant reality

  Tim-680-5897362013-05-10

  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.

• Rape For Profit

  a_baron2015-02-16

  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.

• Worth the watch.

  irreligiosity2013-08-28

  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.