NEW YORK (WordNews.org) Jan. 12, 2012 — John Mailer, the son of author Norman Mailer, is criticizing the paper his father helped start, the Village Voice, for accepting sex ads that feature children and teens for sex.

Mailer is joining more than 80,000 who are campaigning on Change.org to ban the ads on the paper’s website.

“The Village Voice was born out of the desire for an independent media voice for the people, a voice that had the freedom and authority to hold those who abuse power accountable for their actions,” said Mailer. “While I understand firsthand the financial difficulties facing all print publications today, the fact of the matter is that Village Voice is making money from selling advertisements that others have used to buy and sell minors for sex.”

Mailer said the paper seems to have “lost its way.”

“For the sake of the Village Voice brand and for the sake of the legacy of a great publication, take down the adult section of Backpage.com, before the Village Voice must answer for yet another child who is abused and exploited because you did not do enough to prevent it.”

More than 80,000 people have petitioned the paper.

“I applaud John Buffalo Mailer for speaking out on this critical issue,” said the Rev. Dr. Katharine Henderson, president of Auburn Seminary and convener of the clergy coalition asking Village Voice Media to shut down Backpage.com’s adult section. “The drumbeat demanding action from Village Voice is getting louder everyday. Village Voice, please hear our plea for action. Despite the safeguards and security procedures you have put in place, others continue to advertise children and minors for commercial sex on your Web site. This needs to stop. It is time that you reversed course and shut down Backpage.com’s adult section.”

Fifty-one of the nation’s attorneys general have demanded the paper’s Backpage.com site be taken down, calling the site a “hub” for human trafficking. Fifty-three anti-trafficking experts and organizations say the Village Voice’s efforts to prevent trafficking via its web site “fall far short of what is needed to eliminate the use of [Backpage.com] by others to exploit women and minors.”