Human Sex Trafficking

AJ Teaters

Human Sex Trafficking

Hopefully you're speechless because you NEED to listen to what I have to say. I don't normally get up on my soap-box about issues that are as powerful, significant and compelling as this. Obviously, if you have read my last few blog posts they were about 4-square, dating and little kid body odor. So I think it's sufficient to say that this topic must hold a high level of importance to me for me to be talking about it.

Being a Phoenix resident, and having spent most of my teenage and adult life living in the Phoenix Metropolitan area this information shocked me. I had no idea that Phoenix was a city where minor sex trafficking would be an issue, and not just an issue but a powerfully overwhelming issue. "The exact number of children being exploited through prostitution, pornography, and sexual performance in Arizona is impossible to determine because no agency or organization has specifically focused on data collection to document the problem. However, it is reasonable to assert that Arizona's developed highway system, warm climate, high tourist and snowbird population, and wealth of convention centers and sports stadiums attract buyers and traffickers alike, making Arizona a target for domestic minor sex trafficking," (http://www.sharedhope.org/Portals/0/Documents/ArizonaRA.pdf, pg.10)

This is an issue that is not usually a topic of dinner conversations, Christmas parties or something you have to get your team to guess at charades, but this IS a topic that needs to be discussed. First read the 10 Quick Facts About Child Sex Slavery and educate yourself before you read on.

"Most commonly, young people who end up under the control of a pimp have come from abusive homes and have run away. They are lured into a relationship with someone who claims he will care for them and love them.

At some point, the tables are turned and the "protector" becomes abusive and forces the girl to sell herself on the streets or through internet ads. The young lady believes that the money she earns will create a better life for the two of them. Between threats to her and her family, psychological manipulation, and physical force, she has been beaten down enough that she will comply, becoming more deeply entrenched in a vicious cycle of abuse, lies, rapes, and every kind of demeaning sexual acts.

Sometimes, a child or teen will be forcibly abducted from home or school or even a friend's house. Such a victim may not be as emotionally needy to begin with, but the perpetrator will still use the same methods for breaking her down to get her to comply with prostituting herself.

Paige [the girl depicted in the video above] was 16 was she was abducted and forced into the world of sex trafficking. She was still wanted by her mother who worked hard to get her back home and into a treatment center. However, the pimp's hold on her was stronger and more insistent, so Paige went back with him to a tragic end.

There are minimally another 100,000 girls like Paige, and some boys, in the United States who are brutally enslaved to be raped for profit repeatedly on a daily basis. The statistics are overwhelming, and the unseen faces and unheard voices of these children are screaming out for help. No child deserves to be abused. No child deserves to be treated like an old rag that is used over and over and finally thrown in the trash. No child deserves to be brutalized and ripped apart emotionally by being a sexual toy for the most perverse of fantasies," (http://streetlightusa.org/the-story).

So, before you jump out of your chair and run out the door and scream this injustice from the hilltops and hamlets of the world, educate yourself again. Learn how to be the best and most valuable tool in this fight. What should you do to get involved?

1. Visit Streetlight USA website: for information about the issue, the history and the story behind this organization.
2. Become a modern day abolitionist: Take a stand and become involved in making a change you want to see happen. Become a Modern Day Abolitionist
3. Do work: use your voice [tell people about this cause to fight this injustice], use the resources available [hand out information to friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, etc. or request a speaker to come talk about this issue], DONATE [time (volunteer), money, furniture, supplies, etc.] Various Ways To Give

Hopefully this has lit a fire inside your heart, a fire that will eventually consume and burn down this injustice. Let's take a stand, voice the cause and hold fast to this thought, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery," (Galatians 5:1).