PROTEST

HARLINGEN - A group of protesters hoisted picket signs Friday in front of the Harlingen police station, decrying the recent arrests of women charged with prostitution whose arrest photos were shown in local news media.

At its peak, seven demonstrators brandished signs outside the police station.

Emiliano Diaz de Leon, executive director of the Men's Resource Center of South Texas, said the male customers, or "johns," should be the targets of police action.

But Harlingen Police Department spokesman Dave Osborne said the women, most of whom had long records of arrests on charges of selling sexual services, were arrested in a sting operation in which male police officers posed as johns.

The department periodically conducts such operations, but sometimes has "reverse stings" in which female officers pose as prostitutes, he said. In those cases, the johns are arrested, he said.

"When we do that, I'll be happy to provide the names and mugshots of the johns (to news media)," Osborne said.

De Leon said there should be more emphasis on arresting prostitutes' male customers.

"We want to see more of that," De Leon said. "We want to see them really go after the johns."

Non-uniformed male police officers have also been solicited by "alternative lifestyle" or gay prostitutes, Osborne said.

De Leon said police are spending too much time, energy and tax money to arrest female prostitutes.

"Without johns, there wouldn't be prostitutes," De Leon said.

"We're not really addressing (the women's) needs to help them get off the streets," he said. "If we wanted to stop those women from having to prostitute themselves, then we really need to figure out what to do to make sure that they get housing, that they have a job, that they have education, that they have food and that they have the ability to take care of their children."

Edith Garza of Pharr said she met De Leon at a recent conference on sexual violence at South Texas College in McAllen and decided to join his group's protest.

Prostitution exploits women, she said. "It's like we're making women commercial. ... You can find them anywhere.

"If you want a certain background or race or whatever, it's like chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Just pick one and you'll get it."

At times, boyfriends or even fathers have forced women to prostitute themselves in order to earn money for the men to spend, De Leon said.

The purpose of the demonstration was to call attention to the exploitation of women, he said.

He may organize such events in front of bars and strip clubs in the future, De Leon said.

"If we can raise awareness, then we can have conversations with boys and men that it's not OK to treat women as sexual objects," De Leon said.

"We have a responsibility to encourage men not go to prostitutes, not to go to strip clubs, not to go to Hooters, not to buy porn," he said. "Then we're buying their bodies."