Yesterday I attended a special conference hosted by the Department of Children and Families in Connecticut on the topic of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. I first learned of this issue at a Soroptimist meeting, a non-profit women service organization dedicated to helping to improve the lives of women and girls in our local communities and around the world.
We have a serious problem in our local community – in EVERY local community in the United States. It’s called human trafficking of minors. Reports estimate that more than 300,000 children are being sexually exploited in the United States. These are U.S. citizens, minors, children, girls, boys, kids as young as 9 years of age, being lured in and then trapped into a life of selling their bodies and souls for the sexual gratification (and profit) of others. This is not just an international problem, but a local problem and its jeopardizing our future.
At the DCF conference, I heard from Shaleen Silva who works for a fantastic organization called Paul & Lisa Program, Inc. They are trained to bring the My Life. My Choice project into group foster homes and schools to educate and empower at risk girls and youth from entering into “The Life” as they call it or prostitution.
What was most shocking was to learn that the children that are ensnared in human trafficking often don’t realize that they are victims. Their pimps and exploiters have sufficiently manipulated them, abused and threatened them such that they don’t even realize the magnitude of the offense. Often times, the victims call their abusers their “boyfriend” or “Daddy” and think that the abusers actually care for them.
Here are some facts:
- there are over 300,000 children (US citizens girls and boys) exploited each year in the USA…and growing
- 80-90% of these victims suffered childhood sexual abuse, often incest
- the average age of entry into childhood prostitution is 12 years of age (some are recruited as young as 9)
- 75% of these domestic minors who are ensnared in childhood prostitution have attempted suicide; 15% of them has succeeded in taking their own lives.
- 10-20% of US adult men have paid for sex at some time in their life (or currently)
The face of the modern day pimp is much different than what you may imagine. They include the “Media Pimps” the “Sneaker Pimps” and the “Business Level Pimps.” They tightly control their “inventory” and have a firm grasp of the money and finances in their “business.” They all have superb internet marketing skills and use the internet to lure women and girls and to secure customers. They even use the internet to train others how to be effective pimps.
Pimps are constantly recruiting. They know how to spot a vulnerable youth and how to lure her and gain her trust. They hang out in places where run-aways and foster kids who go “AWOL” from group homes may go. They even use grandmother-looking women impostors to lure kids at train stations and bus depots.
Shaleen Silva told us about a 48-72 hour window when run-aways are most likely be approached by a predator masking as someone who can help them. They offer to provide their basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, money – in trade for something. Sometimes the recruitment “dance” can go on for several weeks or months until the youth is tricked into life of sexual servitude and prostitution. They are told to lie about their age. They learn to lie to everyone, just to survive.
Yet, some youth have the illusion that there is something glamorous about it all. You just need to watch the video below to understand the reality. Produced by the organization GEMS, this video entitled “The Marking of a Girl” gives a chilly reality check with its powerful personal narration of “You don’t know what it’s like when…”
Scary. Very scary…and very real.
Red Flags that Youth May be Involved in Sex Trafficking
Because few victims actually realize that they are being victimized (despite the atrocities that are happening to them), very few girls report the abuse. Here are some of the visible signs that you need to keep your eye on that might suggest that the young girl may be involved in sex trafficking and need help:
- Tattoos. Pimps like to brand their girls with tattoos – a way of marking their inventory
- Exhaustion. Victims of sex trafficking are focused to work at night and often get little or no sleep.
- Hotel Room Keys. Girls may have on their possession extra hotel room keys that their pimps have given them.
- Multiple cell phones and pagers
- Increased use of street talk.
- Tons of new friends that they aren’t willing to tell you about.
- Repeated incidence of STD or sexually transmitted diseases.
- Change in clothing, jewelry, hair and make-up use.
- Unexplained absences.
- Increased use of the Internet – visits to inappropriate sites.
- More gifts and presents than normal.
Change of language changes attitude
Shaleen Silva explained why the simple change in the way we talk about this problem from Prostitution to Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking can help us all better understand the severity of what’s really going on. We need to stop thinking of these girls as prostitutes, whores, ladies of the night, but to see them as the VICTIMS that they really are.
What can you do?
There is much work to be done in order to eliminate the threat of domestic minor sex trafficking in the USA. What is needed in order to combat this huge problem and to rescue these victims and help them to heal and recover from this trauma? For starters…
- Awareness of this serious human rights issue and education for law enforcement agencies, law makers, social service providers, teachers, parents, teens and other concerned citizens;
- Programs that bolster girls’ self esteem and confidence and increase their understanding of the realities of “the life” and how to avoid it;
- Additional support & services for sex trafficking victims and cooperation between law enforcement and social services to deliver those programs and support in a coordinated and compassionate manner. Remember, these teen girls are the VICTIMS, not the criminals.
Please note that I no longer allow comments on this blog because I have found that it is largely the exploiters who take advantage of this open communication channel to advertising their poison.
For the rest of you, I thank you for reading this blog article. Please forward it to other people that are motivated to eliminate this horrific social injustice. Let’s us unite our efforts with the resolution that “Our children are NOT for sale!”
