As my friend and I walked around a highly populated area in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, we saw this woman who literally looked like something you would only see in a movie. Her clothes were tattered, she was covered with dirt, people went out of their way to avoid her – she looked helpless. My friend and I could tell simply by looking at her and the way she was acting, that she was a prostitute and that her pimp was probably somewhere nearby watching. We tried to approach her and see if we could help in any way, but after about a minute of attempted communication, overcome with fear, she literally darted across a busy intersection to get away. There was no telling what her pimp would have done to her if he had caught her talking to us.
This harrowing experience left my friend and me both very shaken and incredibly angry about this individual woman’s struggle and the sad fact that she was just one of literally millions throughout the world in this same situation. During our trip, we learned that prostitution and sex trafficking is a major problem in Mongolia and throughout Asia. A few of us were able to talk with people in Mongolia who are partnering with organizations to help end this ever-growing problem.
source: http://knabe.com/_dev/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/trafficking2.jpg
Upon returning to Kansas, one of my other friends who also went on the trip immediately began to take action and learn more about the sex trafficking issue here in the United States. She also quickly partnered with organizations aiming to end the awful industry and to help the affected women and children. This past week, she invited me to watch a documentary titled “Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth” on this highly disturbing problem. Before going to see the film, I had no grid for the size of the problem; I was sure that it existed, but I had no clue that it is still such a large-scale issue, even here in the United States.
I learned that well over 100,000 children are sex trafficked in the United States. Furthermore, the sex trafficking organization is only exacerbated by the pornography industry, which brings in $12 billion (yes – billion with a “b”) annually. If that doesn’t make you want to vomit yet, according to the documentary, $3 billion of that income stems from child pornography. As the demand grows, so will the number of women and children affected.
source: http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/files/2012/01/sextrafficking.jpg
However, the demand for pornography is not the only thing that is fueling this oppressive industry. Another driving force is the staggering amount of tolerance that has built up in this nation and around the world. Too many people simply turn a blind eye, arguing that their children, friends and family will never be subject to that life. As young women on college campuses, we need to take action in every way possible to save those who have already been affected and to prevent anyone else from that harm.
The most important step is to raise awareness. Yes, sex trafficking continues to exist all over the world today; yes, this also includes the United States; yes, hundreds of women and children are forced into this life each day and coerced into believing that they have no hope of getting out of the system. I am confident there is a plethora of organizations near your college campus with which you could partner to begin to take action. Here is a list of some of the organizations I found with just a simple Google search:
A21 Campaign, Polaris, LOVE146, Unbound, Not For Sale, and Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
So I encourage you to take a stand and help save the lives of millions.