ASU study: Most backpage ads tied to prostitution
A new Arizona State University study says that around 80 percent of the ads posted on the adult-services section of the classified website Backpage.com are for prostitutes.
The Arizona Republic reports that the newly released study shows that researchers found more than 900 advertisements offering sex or prostitution in Phoenix, and nearly 650 ads offering sex or prostitution were posted in Philadelphia during the week of the study.
An attorney for Village Voice Media, an alternative-weekly conglomerate that includes the Phoenix New Times, questioned how the researchers determined what ads were for prostitution.
The study comes as New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez recently called for state lawmakers to change its state’s outdated prostitution laws after a judge cleared two professors in New Mexico of running a prostitution-linked website.
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