Will You Do Something? Part 1

I believe in the goodness of humankind--I see it around me every day. But I also know, that people don't always choose the good. My heart hurts when I see the awful things we humans do to each other.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  --Edmund Burke

PART 1

Human sex trafficking. I have posted about this before, but Ashleigh Becker of SelaDesigns recently shared via email some information she learned from an anti-trafficking organization in her community.

This is what she had to say:

Last week I spent 90 minutes talking with a rep from Eye Heart World, a local anti-trafficking organization in WI. My entire purpose for the call was to get some real answers to my questions:

1. What does sex trafficking look like in my city?
2.  What can I do about it?

Human trafficking is happening in every county in my state. If it's happening here I'm going to go ahead and say it's happening where you live as well. Today I want to talk specifically about sex trafficking (labor trafficking is another wide-spread problem).

I fully understood the big picture stories of girls being taken, stolen and things like that we often hear about, but I know that's not actually what usually happens. I needed to understand how a girl who grew up in a great family, doesn't have an issue with drugs or partying, ends up being trafficked.

Here's what I learned:

1. Kids get angry at their parents, no matter how great the parents are. And in today's world, they take that anger to social media. They don't realize what they are doing when they write a post about how awful their parents are and use a hashtag like #ihatemymom or #mylifesucks. 
2.  Traffickers are interested in one thing - making money. They are skilled in their craft. They prey on kids who are angry with their parents or have any type of a problem at home. 
3.  Traffickers know how to speak 13 year old girl lingo! They will befriend "good girls" on social media and spend up to a year building that relationship. Eventually they will arrange a face to face meeting. 
4.  Traffickers will work in different ways to take the victim to the next level - maybe start buying gifts or playing with their emotional state - whatever they need to do to build trust and eventually control.

Now you may be wondering how/why the girl ends up having sex for money. I certainly was! Here's a common scenario: the trafficker invites the girl for a weekend away or to a party. She goes. He gives her a lot of alcohol or drugs. She passes out. He lets 5 men have sex with her. She wakes up naked and wonders what happened.

The trafficker shows her pictures of the night and all the men the girl has had sex with. He tells her that if she doesn't continue to do it he will ruin her life - tell her parents and friends what she has done, etc. The trafficker now has control over his victim.

That's heavy, difficult to read. Need a break? My heart is racing as I write this...

Friend, this is just one common way traffickers work. There is more, but that's enough for today. Let's talk about what we can do to prevent this, because there is hope.

Parents, Aunts, Teachers, Counsellors, Youth Group Leaders, etc - we all have a role to play here. We all have a responsibility to the young people in our lives. Here's how we can help them:

1. PARENTS: know what your kids are doing! Know where they are and who they are with at all times. Have regular check-ins. MONITOR ALL ELECTRONIC DEVICES! 
2. Teach young people about trafficking. Tell them the lies that traffickers use. When the lies have already been exposed they lose their power. 
3. Remind teenagers that people on social media are strangers. We do not know who is behind a cute photo. Make profiles private. Don't ever tag your current location.

Small steps in the right direction change the world. Applied knowledge is powerful.


She is right, applied knowledge is powerful. Make sure the kids in your life know about this. Be proactive, be part of their lives, make a difference. Another way you can support this is by giving to organizations in your community/globally who fight this. Shop their sites, give a little every month, talk about it with your friends and your kids. As soon as they have access to social media, we should be having these conversations. If you think they're too young to have these conversations, then maybe consider that they are too young for social media.