Human Trafficking in the US
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What the Media Won't Tell You About Child Prostitution
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Swedish Prostitution Model Moves to Illinois
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Rhode Island Bans Indoor Prostitution
Great Idea: Pilates for Hope
Published October 30, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
I love it when people smarter and more creative than me have great ideas and post them on the inter-webs. That means I get to share those ideas with (and hopefully inspire) you! And some of my favorite ideas are when people turn their skills and passions into fundraisers for human trafficking. A couple months ago, we met a woman whose love of baking pies helped her fight slavery. And next week, an LA-based pilates studio will team up with Project Exodus for Pilates for Hope to raise money and awareness for human trafficking. Now I'm the kinda gal who chooses pie over pilates every time (to my belts' detriment), but an exercise-based fundraiser is great idea for a number of reasons.
First of all, Pilates for Hope is the sort of event you can duplicate in your town with a local fitness club or studio -- whether it's pilates, yoga, kickboxing, kung fu, spinning, or synchronized swimming. One of the great components of this fundraiser is that it offers private instruction. This is a tempting offer for novices like me, who are worried about showing up to a group class where everyone has her legs around her head and panicking that I can barely touch my toes. Plus, the lure of private instruction in any new activity can entice people new to both the exercise and the issue. And this fundraiser also offers massages and other treats to get people in the door.
But perhaps the most creative and practical part of this fundraiser is the way they involved a community partner that, on the surface, has nothing to do with human trafficking. At least, I've never heard of a trafficked pilates instructor before. By including community partners that can become invested in this issue, you are broadening your potential audience. You're also helping to draw attention to a local business. So really, everyone wins in this model of fundraising.
Putting together a succesful fundraiser is not a blindfolded and barefoot trip up Kilimajaro. It does take a little work and dedication, but it's a very attainable goal. Attainable like finishing your first pilates class or baking a delicious pie. And it's a goal that, when you reach it, feels great to more than just you. It feels great to all the abolitionists working to end human trafficking who rely on your innovation and support to continue to free slaves.
Photo credit: khatawat
Sex Buys Survival for Runaway Kids
Published October 28, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Nothing calls attention to an issue like an article in the New York Times, and this time the media giant has deigned to shine its blinding spotlight upon domestic minor sex trafficking -- sorta. Never once in the article does the author use the term "trafficking victim" the describe the children in question -- American kids who run away from home and end up in prostitution either for survival or under pimp control. But legally in the U.S., any child under 18 involved in commercial sex is a trafficking victim. Semantics aside, though, the issue of American youth coerced and forced into prostitution by pimps is a significant and growing problem.
Author Ian Urbina gives prostituted runaway youth a face in Roxanne L., a 16-year-old girl from Queens who was picked up for prostitution. Dan Garrabrant, the detective questioning her, has only one hour before he must turn her over to social services. If in that hour he can get her to admit that she has a pimp, he can get her off the street and into victim services. He tries everything -- pushing, commiserating, talking about other stuff, offering safety -- but nothing can get her to admit that she has a pimp. His initials are tatooed on her body, but she denies he even exists overt and over. At the end of the interview, Garrabrant is forced to release Roxanne to a youth shelter. Her body is found several days later, killed by the pimp she insisted never existed. Roxanne is not the first, nor will she be the last, child to die at the hands of her pimp.
Out of the 1.6 million children who run away from home each year, about one third (or over 530,000) trade sex acts for tools of survival like food, shelter, warmth, drugs to feed an addiction, or the promise of protection and companionship.
Publix Secretly Films Labor Protesters to Avoid Paying Farmworkers
Published October 26, 2009 @ 04:54PM PT
Over 100 farmworkers, many of whom pick tomatoes for a living, protested outside a Publix grocery store this weekend to demand an end to exploitative labor practices and a fair price for tomatoes. This protest was on the heels of several others, which a Publix associate had been secretly filming and lying about. Produce and espionage -- now there's two things you rarely hear about together.
Publix has refused to enter into an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to ensure that the some of the price increase of tomatoes makes it to the workers in the fields. So CIW and their supporters began to protest. And how did Publix respond? Like any Southern grocery chain would -- they send a spy. Thomas McGuigan, who works for Publix, began showing up at a number of the protests to film them. He told the protesters that he was an independent filmmaker and "old hippie" interested in protest culture. He followed them to several protests, lying to them about the nature and purpose of the filming. But as it turns out, he had agreed to turn all his footage over to Publix.
WTF, Publix? Did you really send a spy to infiltrate a group of peaceful protesters with a video camera to avoid agreeing not to exploit farmworkers? What are you now, the Bush administration? Reports from the protesters indicate that McGuigan was spending a disconcerting amount of time filming children at the protest. If Publix wants this footage to see how CIW and their allies are plotting to achieve justice for farmworkers, why are they focusing on the kids? Maybe Publix thinks they are the secret masterminds. Or maybe McGuigan's not the best filmmaker.
Michael Hoffman, Executive Director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University in Massachusetts, has stated that Publix's filming was done under false pretenses and was unethical. He recommends they destroy the tape immediately. I second that motion. People have a right to protest you, Publix, especially when you refuse to take important steps towards protecting the people who produce the food you sell from exploitation. So buck up, work with CIW, and leave the espionage to the professionals. They are much, much better at it.
Photo credit: hyku
Man Sells Foster Daughter Into Prostitution
Published October 26, 2009 @ 01:24PM PT
Pimps can be strangers to their child victims, but they are often someone the victim trusts, like a boyfriend, a parent, or a family member. In a case out of Maryland recently, Shelby Lewis sold his 12-year-old foster daughter, along with three other girls, into prostitution -- the price of the "rent" he charged them for living in his home. This case is an excellent case study of what domestic minor sex trafficking looks like in the U.S., since it has a number of very common factors present.
- First, the victim was a part of the foster care system. It's common for American girls who are eventually trafficked by pimps to have been in foster care at one point in their lives. The connection between foster care and trafficking is due to both the vulnerability of young people without stable homes and the dysfunction of many foster care systems in the U.S.
Second, the pimp was someone the victim knew as a protector. While pimps can be strangers, they often approach victims first as boyfriends, friends, stepfathers, family members, etc. They groom the victim to rely on them and then claim, as Lewis did, that the cost of their protection and love is prostitution.
Third, the victims started in their early teens. Lewis first began pimping his foster daughter out when she was 12. He also sold three other girls, who he began exploiting at 13, 14, and 16. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 in the U.S., so the ages of the victims in this case are typical.
Fourth, one of his victims was registered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It's not unusual for children who are reported missing, either as runaways or as kidnapping victims, end up in the hands of pimps like Lewis.
Lastly, child pornography makes an appearance in this case, as it does in many others. Lewis had pictures of his victims tied to beds in sexual poses at his apartment. Pimps can earn money by selling pornographic images of the girls they exploit in addition to selling the girls themselves.
While one of these factors might not be present in all cases of domestic minor sex trafficking, they are certainly present in a number of them. This case is an example of how the issue of child trafficking in the U.S. is deeply connected to the need for reform of the foster care system and better education for girls. The questions this case begs are much broader than just those related to human trafficking: Why are foster youths so susceptible to trafficking? Why are men buying girls so young for sex? It's a reminder that we must always view trafficking within the context of social issues pimps utilize to help them traffic girls.
Photo credit: EOS Cameroun
Supreme Court to Hear "S&M Svengali" Sex Trafficking Case
Published October 16, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
When she took the job, Sotomayor might not have known she's be talking about whips and handcuffs at work. But that's what will happen when the issue of human trafficking with be put before the Supreme Court in early 2010. And how does human trafficking make it's first appearance at the SCOTUS? In the form of a case that involves S&M, slavery, and some other pretty unsavory sexual stuff. Glenn Marcus, the man dubbed the "S&M Svengali", was convicted of sex trafficking in 2001 and has appealed his case all the way up the legal food chain. It's a case that has potential ramifications for trafficking victims everywhere.
Here's what happened: Marcus had an S&M-themed website in the late 1990s which featured photos of women who were his "slaves" undergoing various levels of physical abuse. He met a woman who court documents just call "Jodi," and she agreed to be on the website. At this point, two stories diverge. Jodi claims Marcus took the relationship too far -- that he forced her to do things she didn't want to do and then write about them for the site. She couldn't escape, and was effectively a slave in real life, although she started out only portraying one on a website. Marcus, on the other hand, claims that everything was consensual and part of Jodi's employment contract. Apparently, even the parts where he carved the word "slave" into her stomach with a knife, shaved her head, and whipped her brutally were part of her contract.
The reason SCOTUS has agreed to hear this case is that the abuse Marcus inflicted on Jodi took place between 1999 and 2001. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the law under which Marcus was prosecuted and convicted, was passed in 2000. Marcus's lawyers claim that Marcus's behavior was so different before and after October 2000, that the jury may have only convicted him on evidence prior to the passage of the law. Even if that is the case, was none of his behavior illegal before? I'm pretty sure carving a word into someone's stomach against their will has never been ok.
I'm worried about the affect this case will have on the abolitionist movement for two reasons. One, I think the S&M connection will only confuse SCOTUS's understanding of sex trafficking. Human trafficking and S&M, with the notable exception of this case, are not really connected. Sex trafficking is not about the sort of activities which take place between the victim and perpetrator, but rather the victim's consent to the situation and ability to get out of it. I'm worried that the presence of S&M will bring the court's focus on the wrong set of issues. Secondly, this case could have an impact for victims who were trafficked before 2000. It is dangerous to set a legal precedent where being trafficked before 2000 and after 2000 (instead of just after) may weaken a case.
I'll be following this case closely and will keep you updated on what our good friends on the SCOTUS decide. Hopefully, they're be able to look past the chain-mail-and-leather packaging on this case and see the central issues beneath -- abuse, consent, and slavery.
Photo credit: laura padgett
Action: Tell the House to Fund Crucial Services for Human Trafficking Survivors Today
Published October 06, 2009 @ 11:00AM PT
Today, we are at a crucial moment in the fight against human trafficking: the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies is about to decide whether or not to provide $15 million for services for survivors of human trafficking. Please, write to Committee Chairman Mollohan and Ranking Member Wolf to urge them to fund services for victims of human trafficking today!
The upwards of 17,500 people who are trafficked into the United States, plus the tens of thousands of Americans trafficked internally each year, are in desperate need of services like medical care, counseling, legal assistance, shelter, education, and employment in order to recover from horrific abuses and rebuild their lives. Without adequate funds those services in the U.S. will be underfunded and inaccessible for many survivors. For many trafficking survivors, these services are the key to a new life after the horrible ordeal of slavery.
The Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee has already agreed to fund trafficking victims’ services at $15 million. Now, we are asking the House to support the highest possible funding level to provide trafficking survivors the resources they desperately need. Specifically, we are asking the House conferees to commit to the following:
- To provide the highest possible funding level for Department of Justice grants for programs to end human trafficking and slavery;
- To provide a funding floor for foreign nationals in the Justice grants to ensure continuity of programs;
- Retain the Senate report language requiring the Department of Justice to establish a point of contact in each U.S. Attorney Office to better coordinate human trafficking and slavery efforts in each jurisdiction; and additionally I
- Thank you for the funding for Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. Support the Senate report language for Justice's specialized Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Please, write to Reps. Mollohan and Wolf and urge them to support the highest possible funding level for Department of Justice grants for programs to end human trafficking and slavery. By doing so, you can help trafficking victims get the resources they need to build a better, freer life.
Photo credit: Jenna Carver
Georgia Supreme Court: Let Teen Strippers Take It Off
Published September 29, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Yesterday was a good day for Atlanta area men who like to see young women take their clothes off -- they're about to get to see a lot more of it. The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that young women ages 18, 19, and 20 have a right to work in strip clubs that serve alcohol, overturning an Atlanta city ordinance raising the age to 21.
Legislators claim the law was created to discourage underage drinking, not to target adult entertainers. However, workers ages 18 to 20 in a number of other industries like convenience stores, concert venues, and stadiums would have been exempt from the law. Adult entertainment clubs where alcohol sales are a major source of revenue, were not. In the end, the court decided the case based on the argument that 18 to 20-year-olds have a right to handle alcohol in their jobs; their right to strip in public was never officially questioned.
This case may have an impact on a growing suggestion within the anti-trafficking movement: move the age of consent for commercial sex from 18 to 21. Some advocates have suggested this change should only apply to prostitution, but others have petitioned for the age increase to apply to young women in pornography, stripping, escort agencies, and other adult services as well. The argument for an age of consent increase is that it gives young women more time to mature enough to make an active decision to enter the potentially dangerous field of commercial sex. As a society, we feel young people are not mature enough to make responsible choices about alcohol until they are 21, how could we expect them to make responsible choices about commercial sex, which can be arguably more dangerous for women, before then? The argument against the age increase is that it unfairly limits 18 to 20-year-olds, who are legally adults, from choosing commercial sex. Young people are considered mature enough to consent to sexual activity at ages ranging from 15 to 18, depending on the state, why should they have to wait until they are 21 to consent to commercial sex? Young women can choose to join the army and put their bodies in front of bullets at age 18, why should they not be able to handle the dangers of commercial sex until 21?
I have no doubt that raising the age of consent for commercial sex to 21 might help some women who are stuck in prostitution get out, and might prevent other women from being tricked or coerced into the industry in the first place. But I also have no doubt it would take away the livelihood of some women who are in legal adult industries, like the Atlanta women who fought for their right to strip. It's a tough issue, but one we don't even need to tackle right now.
The fact is there are plenty of truly underage girls -- 11-17 years old -- in prostitution and other commercial sex industries. Before we even consider raising the age of consent for commercial sex to include a broader number of young women, let's focus on helping the children who are in commercial sex right now get help to get out. We don't have enough shelters, enough social workers, enough counselors, and enough lawyers for all the child trafficking victims in the U.S. as it is. Let's focus on increasing services for child victims, not the age of consent.
I hope Atlanta realizes that 18 is still the low-end cut-off age for teens to be allowed to dance nude or strip in clubs, because I've seen 15 and 16 year old girls who have been exploited in strip clubs in the city. Maybe they will use the resources they would have applied to 18-20 year olds to find and help the younger children who need it the most get out of the industry and on with their futures.
Photo credit: Thomas Hawk
