Social media like Facebook and Myspace, among others, have officially overtaken pornography as the No. 1 activity on the Web. Obviously, people have not lost an interest in sex, but clearly the marketplace is moving, growing and operating with relative impunity in the United States via social networks.

This kind of global social change has implications for Costa Rica, and it could mean that the problem of sex tourism will come to an end. However, on the other hand it could make it much worse. When living in Costa Rica, it is easy to lose touch with what is happening in the United States and other parts of the world. The fact that cities like Houston, Chicago, Dallas and Miami have been turned into virtual brothels is something that an expat might have missed if they have failed to keep up with technology.

The issue is spotlighted by a big federal lawsuit brought by Thomas Dart, the Illinois sheriff who has accused Craigslist — Alexa.com now rates the site No. 7 in the United States — of being the world’s biggest pimp. His case was originally dismissed in October of last year and, the reason is, ironically, due to a federal child protection law.

The history may be unclear to many people, but can be summed up simply by thinking back to the late 1990s when the U.S. Congress took up the issue of protecting children from online pornography. A compromise was brokered into the 1996 Communications Decency Act that provides broad immunity for “interactive computer service(s).” Section 230 of the Act states that any “interactive computer service” is not a publisher of the content posted by third parties and they are immune from lawsuits or prosecution based on the material users post.

The bottom line is that under U.S. federal law Craigslist along with any social network or “interactive computer service” is not responsible for criminal activity perpetrated by its advertisers. It is worth pointing out the print media, such as the infamous Las Vegas telephone book or a “free newspaper,” enjoys no such protection under federal law.

The difference is the “electronic” element.

Sheriff Dart has filed a new federal case that attempts to prove that Craigslist is complicit in the act of prostitution, and this will prove to be a difficult argument.

His point is supported by the fact that in Cook County, Illinois, a girl can for just $5 publish semi-nude or explicit photos and receive phone calls in under an hour. Some girls ask for as little as $50, and even the more professional ladies charge under $200. The question to ask is why would an American use vacation time and pay the cost of airfare and daily hotel lodging just to seek prostitutes in Costa Rica?

Perhaps there is some allure in that Costa Rica does offer some anonymity from friends and relatives back home, and that prostitution is not illegal in Costa Rica. While sex tourists in Costa Rica are able to enjoy their party in a relatively open environment, this is likely to have less appeal as the culture of prostitution becomes more commonplace among younger Americans.

Remember there is a generation of Americans who will never buy a newspaper and are more likely to meet a spouse online than in person. It also stands to reason they will date prostitutes online despite the potential outcome of the Illinois federal case. Mainstream social media sites like Facebook and the Internet in general is a magical place where something can be concealed from public view and promoted at the same time.

Once a culture truly changes, it is usually impossible to go back. The phrase to know is media convergence, and it is the reason why 24 out of 25 of the largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation. Once a generation of consumers is lost, the only possible solution is to evolve, and sex tourism is no exception.

Prostitution in Costa Rica is not going to go away, but the face of it will change. The effects are already noticeable when you take a look at the male, aged 20 to 30 who frequent the bars popular with English-speaking tourists in downtown San Jose. This young crowd of consumers are more Costa Rican than international tourists.

The late Pat Dunn predicted early in his career as a local bar pioneer that the business in downtown San José would not be able to rely on tourists alone. We are seeing his prediction come to fruition, and the local market is becoming a vital part of the downtown entertainment business. Social networking is the key to reach this audience and the tourists at the same time.

The Costa Rican government has proposed a law to curb sex tourism promotion. However, the fact may be that they are way behind the worldwide Internet culture. If a sheriff in Illinois cannot stop sex promotion in his hometown by a company located on U.S. soil, how does the Costa Rican government plan to tackle the problem?

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Costa Rican girls — and boys — get into prostitution for a variety of reasons in Costa Rica. Most of the reasons have to do with family economics. Some households that cannot make ends meet push their kids into selling themselves.

In the campo, the countryside, some mothers tell their sub-teen girls to go hang out around the local bar to sell themselves to the patrons. The girls take their earnings home so the family can survive. In other cases, the mothers of these kids are just money hungry. The easiest way for them to make money is to pressure their children into prostitution.

Rufianería is the term used in law to describe this activity of pressuring someone — of either sex — into prostitution and living off those earnings. It is a voracious kind of pimping. It is more common in Costa Rica than most people believe.

Information for this article has been gained from a series of interviews with prostitutes who volunteered their life stories.

The young never have a chance to improve themselves. Prostitution is all they know from a very young age. As soon as they are older and they can fend for themselves, the family sends them off to San José or to one of the tourist areas in the country like Coco, Jacó, or Quepos.

In other cases, friends coax other friends into prostitution. They tell them about their lives in the big city where they can meet foreigners and make lots of money. Some of the young adults send some money home to support their families. Others get into drugs and pornography.

Prostitution is not on trial here. The vicious cycle is. The cycle that begins with mothers — and in some cases fathers — pushing their kids into prostitution to pay bills or worst yet, to pay for their vices. The police in Parque Morazán have seen fathers dropping their underage daughters off for work in the evening. The work the youngsters are given is to sell themselves as prostitutes to those in cars driving by the park or to the foreigners walking the streets.

Costa Rican law gives every adult the right to sell sex because prostitution is not illegal in this country.

The point is the children never become adults to decide if they want to sell sex. They are usually selling it way before they ever become adults because someone else pushes them into it. Once the cycle begins, it is almost impossible to stop. Young girls do not even finish sixth grade in school. With no education, they are doomed for the rest of their lives to prostitution. Usually, they have a multitude of children. It is common to meet a middle-aged prostitute with four, five or more kids.

What happens when the prostitutes are not young or cute anymore and they cannot sell themselves as readily as they once did? How do they feed all those mouths? Well, they end up on drugs or selling drugs to others. The children get no education and end up in prostitution, too. The boys usually end up in gangs and turn to a life of crime.

Many foreigners do not care where prostitutes come from in Costa Rica. They do not care about the social-economic problems that drive the young into such activity. They just want an ample supply when they come here for their sex vacations. Costa Rica’s lackadaisical attitude about pimping prostitutes contributes to the countries worldwide reputation as a sex tourism destination.

Costa Rica’s position on prostitution and pimping has put the country on the United States’ tier 2 watch list for human trafficking because women and children are trafficked in and out of the country for commercial sexual exploitation.

The country has become a mecca for foreign prostitutes because of Costa Rica’s sex tourism industry.

Most foreigners believe sex is a regulated business here. They believe the government controls prostitution and prostitutes run around with government-issued identification cards to prove they are free of disease. This is not true at all. Some of the major hotels that cater to hookers to increase their casino and bar businesses request identification but only to prove the person is an adult, nothing more. They do not request a health certificate.

The country may be on the verge of waking up. Sunday’s front-page headline in the country’s largest local newspaper is “Prostitutes work in massage parlors with business licenses.” The story was similar to that published here two weeks ago. These massage parlors are nothing more than businesses pimping the available prostitutes. The girls in these places usually work there and let themselves be pimped because they have a reason not to go to a local bar or hotel. They also like the mostly daytime hours.

Here are some other reasons: 1.) They are older or have lost their looks. 2.) They are pregnant. 3.) They are married or are involved in a serious relationship. 4.) they are in school or the university, or 5.) they are in Costa Rica illegally. Many of the girls in these places are from Nicaragua.

Curiously, pimping is illegal in Costa Rica but these establishments have business licenses, usually as a pension or rooming house. Everyone in the government and all the judicial authorities know and have known pimping goes on in these places. Everyone knows pimping is rampant in Costa Rica. It seems the country is exploiting its young and taking advantage of its disadvantaged for profit.

What is troubling is this attitude — sacrificing scruples for profit — goes beyond prostitution and pimping and exists deep inside the court system and politics as well.

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First of two parts

Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica. The activity is legal because there is no law against it. In this country, if there is no law prohibiting something, it is legal.

The legality of paid sex has spawned a wide range of activities that are not legal. Yet Costa Rica makes no effort to enforce these laws, despite lip service to the contrary.

The criminal code lumps most of these illegal activities under the heading of pimping. The skeptical could call it, simply, marketing.

Costa Rica has become a magnet for the sex tourist. The country rivals competitors like Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic and Cuba. Brazil and the Dominican Republic are the de facto leaders for sex tourism in the Western Hemisphere, but Costa Rica is a serious contender.

The penal code prohibits pimping in Articles 169 and 171. However, pimping is widespread throughout the country, and the government is generally tolerating the activity. Pimping is the marketing engine that brings the customer and the prostitute together. Without pimping, there would be much less sex tourism.

There are two words for pimping in Spanish, proxenetismo and rufianería. Proxenetismo is the activity of promoting or fostering prostitution of either sex. Rufianería is coercively engaging another into prostitution for financial gain.

Wikipedia defines it this way: “A pimp finds and manages clients for prostitutes and engages them in prostitution (in brothels in most cases and some cases street prostitution) in order to profit from their earnings.”

Most every expat knows there are literally hundreds of brothels throughout San José and thousands throughout the country. The owners of those brothels advertise to get clients and manage the money for the prostitutes.

This is how it works: one goes into a brothel to have sex with a prostitute and pays another person for the activity. The owner keeps a portion of the proceeds, and the prostitute gets a percentage of the take. In other words, the owner of the establishment “finds and manages clients for prostitutes.” This is pimping. The government does not crack down on these locations or controls them in anyway.

There are other pimps selling sex that go unnoticed and uncontrolled. Who are they? Well they are taxi drivers, tour bus operators, guides, and — believe it or not — other expats.

These people arrange sex for anyone. They sell men and women, boys and girls. Some students — as in high school and university students — prefer to work with tour bus operators because they can hide their activity from their parents. Prices for a high school or university student can range from $100 to an astonishing $500 an hour because the prostitutes are outside the normal marketplace.

One extraordinarily beautiful 19-year-old called prostitution “her hobby.” She said she engaged in the activity because she came from middle class Costa Rican family and wanted more. Her family does not know she is a prostitute. A tour bus operator finds her clients, drives her to their location and picks her up when she is done.

Some expats also make their living arranging tours to Costa Rica for the sole purpose of assisting their customers in finding prostitutes. Others arrange sex tours of the local hotels and brothels to sample the menu. Others run online “peek shows.” Many of these activities would fall under a reasonable definition of pimping as contains in the Costa Rican code.

Try this test: Google these keywords prostitutes costa rica. The results of the test will reflect Web sites promoting sex tourism to Costa Rica. Foreigners including Americans — not Costa Ricans — own and run them. In many cases, customers must buy a package from the Web site for their sex vacation. This again is “finding and managing clients for prostitutes” or pimping.

Does Costa Rica try to control this activity? No, it does not. In some cases, fishing or property-finding trips to Costa Rica by foreigners disguise the real activity.

The Óscar Arias government seeks to crack down on casino operations because officials say such locations promote prostitution. No official says anything about the rampant pimping and prostitution visible and invisible all over the country. Only when underage youngsters might be involved do officials express dismay.

The visible includes the strip clubs that are just fronts for the activities that go on in the private rooms inside where the house takes a substantial cut.

One of the few — and the most famous — case in Costa Rica for pimping was the ring run by Sinaí Monge. She was accused and found guilty of pimping in 2004.

Her case was notorious because she allegedly arranged sex with minors for public figures, football players and even judicial workers. Although she was convicted, years of surveillance, wiretapping and detective work failed to get the goods on any other person. Her prison sentence was modest.

Why does Costa Rica not enforce articles 169 and 171 of the penal code?

Maybe because it would be an almost impossible task. It would mean closing down thousands of brothels throughout the country. Maybe it is because sex tourism is very important for the economy of Costa Rica.

On the other hand, it could be that prostitution is so much a part of the Costa Rican culture no one really cares.

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