day twenty-three! and what is sex trafficking, anyway?

We had another S.T.A.H.P. meeting today!  After figuring out some poster ideas and drawing up a Generals' Period pass that we can laminate and let people reuse for every meeting, I talked about some of the issues revolving around sex trafficking in America.  I'll reiterate them here:

• What exactly constitutes sex trafficking, anyway? According to The Polaris Project, "sex trafficking occurs when people are forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade against their will." The pimp or agency controlling the victim will usually claim that the victim owes them a debt, forces the victim to work off this debt by selling the victim's body for commercial sex, and then takes the victim's earnings as payment for the "debt."
• Under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, victims are defined as follows:
• Any minor (under the age of eighteen) who is induced to perform a commercial sex act
• Any adult forced/coerced/deceived into providing commercial sex acts 
• Children and adults who are forced to perform labor and/or services in conditions of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery through force, fraud, or coercion
• Victims can be male or female, and typically consist of undocumented immigrants, runaway/homeless youth, trauma and abuse victims, refugees and individuals fleeing conflict, and generally oppressed or marginalized individuals.  There is no specific profile of the "typical victim" as this practice is so widespread.
• Where does it happen in America?  Sex trafficking occurs everywhere.  Yes, that's right.  Incidents have been reported in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in every state and Washington, D.C.  
• How? 
• Fake massage businesses (operate in strip malls, office buildings, residential homes)
• Internet sourced (Craigslist, backpage.com)
• Residential/transient brothels 
• Street prostitution (prostitutes must meet a nightly quota, often upwards of $500-$1000/night)
• Hostess/strip clubs (stripping and erotic dancing become sex trafficking when the employer uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel the adult worker to have commercial sex with clientele)
• Escort services (agency/pimp arranges in-call or out-call services, typically advertised through the internet)
• Truck stops (transient nature of truckers and remote location of many truck stops ensures truck stop trafficking remains under the radar)

I'll be posting later about recognizing the signs of sex trafficking, and throughout the year we'll be working on ways to end it.  

Switching gears, today I wore the dress as a skirt with a purple velvety shirt, grey sweater, green tights, brown belt, tan scarf, and brown boots.  Also, forgetting to wear my glasses proved to be quite annoying because it is quite difficult to read the board when I'm sitting at the back of the classroom.