Sex trafficking sounds like something that happens in far-off places, like Thailand or China, maybe.
But sex trafficking is happening in our North Shore communities, in the suburbs, in Chicago. Since 2012, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department has picked up more than 300 children forced into prostitution. Globally, it’s a $32 billion economy that survives by feeding the desires of men who buy sex.
“These men are in denial that they’re impacting a woman’s life,” says Mary Bonnett, a Chicago playwright whose new show, “Shadow Town II: The Johns,” is about the men who buy sex. Bonnett interviewed dozens of men and women involved in the sex trade as the basis for the narrative. “Shadow Town II: The Johns” focuses on the “demand side” of the business. An earlier production, “Shadow Town,” focused on the “supply side,” telling women’s stories.
“The Johns don’t see what they’re doing as harmful,” Bonnett says. “They think they’re doing these women a favor. For these guys it’s a hobby, a sport.”
From trust-fund babies to heroin addicts, married or single, Bonnett says that generally men buying sex don’t brag about their activities, but “one man told me he’d been married for 37 years and never got caught. He’d been buying sex for decades.”
The Internet obviously facilitates the sex trade. “You can order what you want, like pizza,” Bonnett says. “Women are being advertised.”
Raising awareness is Bonnett’s goal. “This is my passion,” she says.
Sex Trafficking as a Local Issue
It’s become the passion of Glencoe resident and clinical psychologist Kathi Marks, too. A book club selection about sex trafficking opened her eyes to the problem.
“I was dumbstruck at how prevalent this is right in our own backyards,” she says.
Her outrage led her to the Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization combatting sex trafficking, and later to “Shadow Town,” which she saw in its initial run. “I wanted to bring the show here, on the North Shore. I begged Mary for months,” Marks says. “This issue is so devastating, people are very surprised that it’s in this area. They really don’t believe it.”
Marks and Bonnett agreed to premiere “Shadow Town II: The Johns” in the northern suburbs. Marks scouted out venues, securing the Mayer Kaplan Theater for the play’s world premiere. Proceeds from the play’s five-week run will go to The Dreamcatcher Foundation, a Chicago-area nonprofit working to protect teens from sexual exploitation.
Photos from Shadow Town via Her Story Theater
Men are welcome. In fact, they’re a target audience.
“We want men to come,” Marks says. “If they understand, that will impact demand. If we can end the demand, it will go away.”
“Shadow Town II: The Johns” opens at the Mayer Kaplan Theater, 5050 Church St., Skokie, on October 16 and runs through November 23. Check website for dates and showtimes. Order tickets online here.
