Trafficking of Persons: Lessons Learned

I am astounded by our ignorance. In the last three days I have learned more about human trafficking than ever before, and what most shocks me is that it is growing more rapidly and in more insidious ways then I wanted to think about. I never considered how sexist and discriminatory our prostitution laws are, for instance. How we chose to stigmatize women who are already victims of sex trafficking and further shame them and degrade them, stripping away their dignity, when, in reality, the demand for commercial sex is what should be punished. Pimps, who keep 100% of profits (common misconception is that women actually get a cut - this, I have learned, is FALSE) keep women in the sex industry through force, coercion, fraud, keeping women is a constant state of fear and forcing them to remain in that state, feeling helpless and hopeless to get out. I am disgusted with our judicial system, which criminalizes the act of prostitution, while our society glorifies pimping! What kind of world are we living in where women are punished for being victims of sex trafficking!!!!!! How is it possible that books, such as Pimpology and Pimp, are being sold in mainstream bookstores, where anyone could learn how to commit sex trafficking? As a society we tacitly condone the brutal exploitation of these women and children (average age of females "recruited" for prostitution: 12-14yrs of age), and encourage traditions that involve men going to brothels, strip clubs, and massage parlors seeking "consentual sex" with women, as if the women want to be there - another common misperception. Pimping women out is sex trafficking. It is illegal. It is brutal, exploitative, sexist, discriminatory, vile, and criminal. It is rape, but with money and a pimp involved as an intermediary. It is a part of our society which should be vanquished, and the johns who provide the demand should be prosecuted, and the pimps should be prosecuted, and the women should recieve services, just as any other victim of violence, abuse, coercion, fraud, or rape would deserve. These women and children so not deserve the stigma which has been attached to their work, they deserve understanding, compassion, and a shared sense of loss that we could let daughters in America be born into a world where, when they grow up they are all too often see as objects, property, and disposable at that. All women are human, and all humans deserve liberty at the very least. Sex trafficking not only denies womien and children their liberties, but it denies their very humanity. How can people be so blind? How could I have been so oblivious? How can we change this? End the demand for commercial sex, and end it now. It is not "fun" to sleep with a prostitute, it is active participation in a system of sex trafficking that shouldn't exist in any society. It is not a way to "relax," to avoid your own life and problems and wife and children (and daughters, who could easily be victimized along with 200,000 other high ris youth in America) and it isn't helping women to make an income, because pimps keep everything. So stop. Stop pretending trafficking doesn't exist. This is slavery. MODERN SLAVERY. Your mother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece - any of them could be victimized, any of them could have been trafficked and forced to have sex with strangers for money they will never see, forced to live a life they never imagined and feel powerless to escape. You know at least one person who has been a victim of a form of trafficking, whether you know it or not, and you know at least one "john" who utilized the sex industry, and was an active part of exploiting these women. Educate yourself, become involved, end the stigma and reduce demand. Pressure lawmakers to renew the Trafficking Victims Protection Act this year. This is our issue, this is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. This must end. Ignorance must end.