Teen prostitution

Hazel McCallion Senior Public School
Mississauga, Ontario

By Jacquie B. (Grade 8)

A young girl stands in the freezing cold with shorts riding up her butt and a shirt so short that it barely cover her chest. Fifty dollars for straight sex and $40 for oral sex. Sure she gets paid more than minimum wage but is it really worth it?

When those young teenagers who have "chosen" this way of life get into cars, they don't know what is going to happen to them. They don't know if they're going to get hurt, beaten or whatever but, as soon as they strip, hop into that hotel-room bed with the client, their lives could be over forever. They could get some untreatable disease like AIDS or something else like chlamydia. What is the future going to hold for a young teen with AIDS? Or will it hold anything? Living with a disease because of prostitution is not worth it and teens don't see that. Using a condom isn't always going to work 100% of the time and it is not going to protect them from all the different afflictions going on. Those children on the street, working in the oldest profession, who should have years ahead of them, could end up having only two or three years left.

Health is just one problem but getting pregnant is another. It is so difficult for a young woman to raise a child, let alone work on the street and be sick at the same time. The child could be born with a disease, a defect or disability which makes it even that much harder on the single parent. A child coming into this world doesn't need to be living in a run down area waiting for his/her mother to return home from work. They deserve to be in a safe environment with a parent that is mature enough to raise them.

Raising a child at any age is difficult but, for teens working the streets and living by themselves, it is an obstacle too difficult to overcome. The father, who may already be married does not want a child to take care of, and the girl's pimp certainly would not want anything to do with the child. And the mother, all she wants to do is get back on the streets to make more money - usually to feed a habit, not a baby.

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