Shared Hope International

Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate sexual slavery...one life at a time

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ESPN Supports Domestic Child Sex Trafficking? Village Voice Media Makes Sports Channel a Culprit

Do you watch ESPN? Great channel, right? Did you also know that ESPN is inadvertently supporting the sex trade of American children? ESPN Inc. advertises through Village Voice Media – who in turn advertises American children on their classified escorts site Backpage.com.

Shared Hope International has documented over 200 children who have been sold for sex on Backpage.com in the United States, most victimized in the last 3 years. Shared Hope believes that just one trafficked child is enough reason to act. However, Village Voice Media, the parent-company of Backpage.com, has taken no responsibility for the victimized children and refuses to shut down their escorts’ site to deter the growing number of victims. Also, Village Voice Media is projected to make $26 million this year from their online escort section alone.

Multiple states are trying to take action to protect children from being exploited through online classified sites like Backpage.com’s adult section through legislative action but currently the company is claiming protection under the 1st Amendment and the Communications Decency Act of 1996 which states that a business is not liable for third-party content. Nonetheless, 51 Attorneys General, 19 U.S Senators, 2000 multi-faith religious leaders, 53 leading anti-trafficking experts and organizations and over 250,000 people have stood up and demanded that Village Voice Media shuts down Backpage.com’s escort section. And it is definitely time for Village Voice Media to listen to them.

At this point, Village Voice has proven that they are uninterested in losing revenue made off the commercial exploitation of our children; therefore it is time for Americans to rise up in defense of our children being sold on Backpage.com.

ESPN is one of 40 companies which U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D- Conn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) wrote a letter in April 2012 asking them to withdraw their advertising from Village Voice Media. Multiple companies including Starbucks, T-Mobile and AT&T removed advertisement from Village Voice newspapers because they did not want to be associated with domestic child sex trafficking.

 

As a consumer you have a great deal of power, so it is up to you to harness that power for the protection of children from sex slavery and sex trafficking. Inform these companies that you want domestic child sex trafficking eradicated and for that to happen, they must stop advertising with Village Voice Media. If they don’t, you will be forced to remove your economic support from their company.

Businesses identified by the Groundswell Campaign who continue to support child sex trafficking by advertising with Village Voice Media:

2929 Entertainment
American Apparel, Inc.
American Automobile Association
Android
Angelika Film Center
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Atlantic Broadband
Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau
Bacardi USA, Inc.
Blick Art Materials
Blue Man Productions, Inc.
Brooklyn Museum
Buffalo Wild Wings
Cancer Fund of America, Inc.
Champs Sports
Charter Communications
Cirque du Soleil
Clear Channel Communications, Inc.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY – New York State Psychiatric Institute
CraftWorks Restaurants and Breweries, Inc.
Dave and Busters
Denver Botanic Gardens, Inc.
Diageo PLC
Disney
ESPN, Inc.
Focus Features (Moonrise Kingdom)
Foot Locker, Inc.
Foursquare
Guitar Center
H.D. Buttercup
Hard Rock Café
Harrah’s Resorts
HOOTERS
Houston Symphony
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Icelandair
J&R
JR Electronics
KCRW
LA Philharmonic
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
Landmark Theatres
Lincoln Center Theater
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation
Lululemon
Marriott International, Inc
Mayo Clinic
Mesa Arts Center
MetroPCS
MGM Resorts International
Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co.
Miller Light
Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Wild
Monsanto
MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE – Mood and Personality Disorders Research Program Department of Psychiatry
MTV2
New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
St. Louis Rams
The Bowery Presents
The Salvation Army
Ticketfly
Total Bank
Toyota Motor Corporation
United Way Worldwide
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Denver
Veo optics
Walt Disney Pictures
Warner Brothers Entertainment
Whole Foods
YWCA of Minneapolis
YWCA Twin Cities
Zagat

“How many kids need to be exploited before they [Backpage.com] change their business model?” – Ernie Allen, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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Operation Cross Country – 79 Children Rescued, 104 Pimps Arrested

In a collaborative measure between the FBI, state and local law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children this past June, 79 children were rescued and 104 pimps were arrested. The operation encompassed a three-day attack on child sex trafficking that stretched across 57 cities in the nation.

This was the sixth Operation Cross Country conducted by the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative.

Innocence Lost National Initiative: Task Force

There have been 47 Innocence Lost Task Forces which have recovered over 2,200 children and have arrested 1,017 pimps and their associates. These arrests have resulted in long sentences; some pimps have been sentenced to 25 years up to life in prison. Additionally, law enforcement has seized more than $3 million in assets from the human trafficking criminals.

Victims and Pimps

Chart showing the number of children and pimps apprehended by city during Operation Cross Country VI.

FBI Division Juvenile Pimp
Albuquerque 0 0
Atlanta 3 5
Baltimore 0 1
Birmingham 0 0
Boston 1 3
Chicago 3 3
Cleveland 0 1
Dallas 6 0
Denver 2 3
Detroit 6 3
El Paso 1 1
Houston 0 1
Indianapolis 0 0
Knoxville 0 0
Las Vegas 4 4
Los Angeles 5 3
Miami 2 4
Milwaukee 6 0
Minneapolis 0 4
Newark 0 3
New Orleans 3 10
New York City 1 1
Oklahoma City 3 7
Omaha 0 2
Philadelphia 2 2
Phoenix 2 1
Portland 3 6
Richmond 0 2
Sacramento 6 6
St. Louis 2 2
San Antonio 0 2
San Diego 2 7
San Francisco 6 7
Seattle 6 7
Tampa 3 3
Washington Field Office 1 0
Totals 79 104

Chart Source

 What happened to the buyers?

The information released by the FBI does not address any investigation into the “buyers” of sex with minors. The Operation was focused on victims and pimps. However, DEMAND/buyers are an issue that Shared Hope International believes must be addressed in stings such as this. The men who pay for sex with minors, or the “market-fuelers” of domestic minor sex trafficking need to be arrested and prosecuted along with the pimps. It is, of course, illegal to pay for sex with a child yet the buyers often get away with nothing more than a fine, if arrested at all. This practice must stop and be replaced with harsher penalties if sex trafficking is to be eliminated in the United States.

Without buyers buying the “product” the industry itself would cease to bring profit and children will no longer be sold for sex.

What happens to the victims?

There are a handful of shelters in the U.S. specifically designed for victims of sex trafficking where they can receive protection, restorative care and education. However, the need greatly outweighs resources. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) takes the responsibility for offering counseling and assistance to these children so they can adjust back to normal life. However, Ernie Allen of NCMEC says that many of the rescued children could go back to their traffickers; “these kids are really damaged…it is not only important that they get help – but they need a specialized kind of help.”

Following Operation Cross Country, Ernie Allen and FBI acting executive assistant director Kevin Perkins called for an increase in comprehensive social services. Allen told a story from an earlier Operation Cross Country, “I was called by a prosecutor who said, ‘I know I’m not supposed to lock her up but my domestic violence shelters won’t take her, the runaway shelters won’t take her so I have no choice but to put her in secure detention for her own protection.” Allen says he hopes that America is waking up to the need for restorative and secure care for these victims.

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Becoming a Modern Day Hero

Are you a modern day hero?

With over 100,000 children enslaved in the sex trafficking industry in the U.S. every year, the question arises: how do we end demand for child sex trafficking?

The answer? Men need to be heroes. This will end demand.

Definition of a hero: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities, an illustrious warrior, one who shows great courage.

If all men were true heroes (at their jobs, in their communities, in their families) — they would stop disrespecting and objectifying women. If all guys did not objectify women, they would naturally stop watching porn. And the pornography industry fuels the child prostitution industry. Here is the process: many men who watch porn continue to seek bigger thrills, and naturally begin going to strip clubs, which many times ends up with these men soliciting sex from a prostituted women or child. Simply put, every time a guy looks at porn, he is essentially dropping money into the pockets of pimps. This ongoing cycle of buyers wanting a product (sex with a minor) fuels demand.

But what can you do? This seems like an almost impossible challenge to solve. The media, friends, family members may not understand or be supportive.

But one man can take the pledge. One man can tell a couple of his friends about his commitment to help end demand. One man can hold himself and his friends accountable for their actions toward women and children. One man can help add gasoline to the flame of a wildfire movement. And together, we can flip our society, our country, and our world upside-down and end demand for domestic minor sex trafficking.

The answer to this problem is simple, but initiating, starting, and building the movement proves more difficult.

Women and children need heroes ­­– they need Defenders.

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SEX+MONEY

“Have you ever heard of the issue of human sex trafficking?” 

The trailer for the documentary “Sex + Money” opens by asking this question. Most people don’t know or don’t understand the scope of the problem. Most people who have heard of sex trafficking couldn’t possibly imagine it happening here … not in America, no way.

It is here. It is in every city across the U.S. If you can’t find it in one location, you just aren’t looking hard enough.

In 2011, five young journalists set off on a mission across the United States. They were on a mission to spread awareness about domestic minor sex trafficking by hosting screenings of the “Sex + Money” documentary.

Shared Hope partnered with the Sex + Money team to raise state grades through the Protected Innocence ChallengeReport Cards. Together we have started a wildfire of states introducing and enacting laws and legislation that will help rescue, restore, protect, and defend girls — while strengthening laws that serve justice to traffickers.

Will you join us? Will you watch the video and be inspired to action? Or will you brush it off? You can make a difference. Together, we can change the world.

www.sexandmoneyfilm.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsY93C8cm54

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Can Johns Be Turned Into Defenders?

Fifteen to twenty percent.

That’s the number of American men who will buy sex at some time during their lives. That number may seem exaggerated, but not when you look at the fact that 100,000 children will be trafficked in the U.S. this year.
That means that there are a lot of men out there who buy children for sex.
But this doesn’t have to continue. We can stop this.
But how?
How do we stop these men from buying sex? And how do we ensure that they won’t fall back into their old ways?
Several means of deterring buyers, “johns”, have been tried:

  1. Attending an educational “john school”
  2. Community service
  3. Greater penalties
  4. Putting their names in the newspaper, on a billboard, or on the internet
  5.  More jail time
  6. Adding them to the sex offender registry

 

What’s the most effective method? What will stop these men from continuing to destroy the lives of these young girls?

According to a 2011 study on Boston buyers of sex, adding buyer’s names to the official sex offender registry is the greatest deterrent for johns. It beats out jail time, greater penalties, and community service. Unfortunately, it is also more effective than putting these men through “john school.”
Right now, it seems like cold, hard sentencing, and registering these men on the sex offenders list is the best way to deter buyers of sex.

But who’s to say that couldn’t change?
Could these men be reeducated? One john who went through a reeducation program in Tennessee said: “I’m so embarrassed … These girls are somebody’s daughters. I have a daughter.” He changed. Could other men be effectively taught that these girls they’re buying are someone’s daughter or sister?
We hope so.
What about you? What can you do today to turn johns into Defenders?
Give time, give money, and educate yourselves and others about America’s serious problem of sex trafficking. Spread the word.

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