Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate sexual slavery...one life at a time
Join us at a benefit concert for the Defenders at Crossroads Church in Vancouver, WA on June 1, 2013 from 6:30-9:00 pm. Featuring local bands Ninth & Final and James Younger. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Defenders program, which will help us continue to defend, protect, and restore women and children exploited through the commercial sex industry.
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Backpage.com, one of the most accessible and anonymous platforms for adults to buy sex with children, has been the focus of Shared Hope’s advocacy campaign, and has resulted in the departure of many national and local advertisers including Starbucks, AT&T, LiveNation, American Airlines, Best Buy, Macy’s, and U.S. Bank. Thanks to YOUR pressure, Village Voice Media (VVM) has decided to split from the Backpage.com advertising site to create a new company called Voice Media Group.
The new company, managed by CEO Scott Tobias, former president and COO of VVM, along with CFO Jeff Mars, former VP of finance at VVM, and executive editor Christine Brennan, has agreed to buy the print publications and digital properties (excluding Backpage.com). It will manage the 13 alternative weekly newspapers and their websites as well as a national advertising network unaffiliated with Backpage. No one involved with the current ownership of VVM will hold any part of the new company.
“Backpage has been a distraction – there’s no question about it – to the core (editorial) properties,” Tobias said.
The loss of some key advertisers and the revenue generated by Backpage.com, has forced Voice Media Group to make it a priority to entice new advertisers. Tobias said Voice Media Group is exploring the possibility of a strategic partnership, but declined to specify any potential partners. To keep this new company on its feet, Tobias and other former VVM editorial management executives have raised “some money from private investors” for Voice Media Group.
Current VVM shareholders Jim Larkin, CEO, and Mike Lacey, executive editor, will continue to operate Backpage.com as a separate entity, raking in over $20 million a year in advertising fees. “Backpage.com, which is not included in the transaction, will become the centerpiece of a new online classified advertising company with business worldwide,” Village Voice Media said in a statement provided by general counsel Elizabeth McDougall.
Unfortunately, since the original owners of VVM chose to keep Backpage.com going, they continue to generate an extraordinary amount of revenue through its adult advertisement section. So we’re not quite done yet. Backpage.com is still being used to exploit children. We’re hopeful that the company’s owners will be held accountable through either criminal or civil charges and that Members of Congress will take legislative action to protect our children from being sexually exploited through websites like Backpage.com.
“We believe these tragic stories will save lives all over the United States,” said SHI president Linda Smith.
FULL STORY: KGW – Wash. woman tells her story in sex trafficking documentary
According to the National Runaway Switchboard, between 1.6 and 2.8 million young people run away from home each year. These runaway youth need food and shelter, and may also be looking for acceptance and love they didn’t get at home. Their need to survive combined with their desire to be loved puts them at high risk of being trafficked.
Teens have a variety of reasons for running away, but the most common reasons may surprise you. One of the myths about runaway teens is that they leave home because they don’t want to follow their parents’ rules. The truth is that many leave home because they’re being abused, or because a family member is an addict. Many runaways honestly think they’ll be safer on the streets than at home, because “home” is violent and dangerous.
There is another disturbing trend on the rise among runaway teens – leaving home because they’ve been ostracized or even punished because of their sexual orientation. Studies have shown that between 20 and 40 percent of runaway youth identify themselves as LGBT, though the actual number could be much higher because some LGBT teens don’t self-identify.
For these kids, the place where they were supposed to be loved and kept safe becomes a place of isolation and neglect because their parents and/or siblings are unwilling to accept their sexuality At best these kids experience isolation, at worst – violent conflict and abuse.
LGBT teens who run away are not always welcome in shelters, either. They may experience the same isolation they experienced at home, causing them to live on the streets, where they’re at even greater risk of being trafficked. Traffickers and pimps prey on vulnerable kids, promising them money, shelter, and the acceptance they so desperately long for. But instead of finding a safe, happy new home, these kids find themselves forced into prostitution, threatened with violence if they try to leave.
Parents who struggle to accept a child’s LGBT lifestyle would never want their kids to be harmed or exploited. Shared Hope encourages parents to seek out resources that can help the entire family process and talk through their thoughts and feelings, and make sure the home is a safe and loving environment for every family member.
Here are a few resources (please note the resources may not reflect the opinion of Shared Hope):
Oregon recently received a “D” in a report card from Shared Hope International, an organization dedicated to fighting sex trafficking. The report outlines several flaws in Oregon’s sex trafficking law.
FULL STORY: Human trafficking bill heads to Senate
