Sex Trafficking XLVI

I don’t know much about football. Basketball maybe (I’m from LAkers), but football is a serious fumble for me. Supposedly though the NY Jets are doing well, and the Super Bowl XLVI is approaching.

The most recent news that pops up when I search sex-trafficking online is sex-trafficking at the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has become the area where sex trafficking is sold and in high demand for Americans; many use the event to sell sex. Many of the attendees are men who are inebriated, though not all I'm sure. The average age of these victims is 13 years old and mostly children. Those that are trafficked at the event have an average life span of seven years.

Sex trafficking at the Super Bowl is just starting to have awareness brought about it, but supposedly this has been a disturbing sort of “tradition” for many of the buyers who attend the Super Bowl. The Dallas police claim a no tolerance policy this year to focus on preventing and catching the trafficking on event day, and advocacy groups have created the I’m Not Buying It campaign.

On change.org, there is a petition you can sign commending the Super Bowl for their entertainment and sports achievements but asking for the Super Bowl Committee to use some of their money and influence to really put an end to this horrible market here.

The petition includes:

- Funding a set of strategically located electronic billboards for one month.
- Equipping your volunteer airport greeters, hotel welcome desk volunteers and transportation volunteers with I’m Not Buying It informational cards to hand out to Super Bowl tourists.
- Playing a 30-second PSA on the stadium jumbo tran during the Super Bowl.
- Displaying an I’m Not Buying It banner in the stadium during the game.
- Contributing to the building of the Traffick911 safe house for children who are victims of this crime.

At first I read this and thought, would the Super Bowl really do this? Would they really play a PSA about sex trafficking on the jumbo tran at the Super Bowl? I couldn’t imagine banners and signs that advocated against trafficking in the middle of the game, because perhaps the committee would not comply with bringing in something disconcerting on a day that’s supposed to be fun and focused on a game. A rain on the parade. Then I thought, still, that’s what the truth is sometimes, uneasy. Uneasiness is not an excuse for irresponsibility or looking the other way. Uneasiness shouldn’t be the determinate for what is appropriate and inappropriate for the Super Bowl image if it links and indirectly fosters sex trafficking. It should be an emergency warning to all event goers that is to protect and not a matter of politics or advertisement.  I urge the Committee to take responsibility for the abuse of these children that is generated on their grounds and under their name. 

You can sign the petition here: to help end trafficking at the Super Bowl. 

-T

Katsuo Takahashi

"Katsuo Takahashi is a Japanese freelance photographer based in Tokyo. He takes photos of people who are the voice of voiceless, that are on the edge and baring their soul. He has been working on a documentary about Burmese migrants."

I just ran across his photos online and he has some powerful photos of Burmese women that are trafficked into marriage with Chinese men in his most recent photo essay called "Lured Into a Trap."

A mother of a victim calling to her daughter when a member of a local organization visited her house. She realized her daughter was 4 month pregnant. 

A Burmese trafficker in a Burmese jail. She trafficked 3 Burmese women and earned 24000 Yuan,about 3200 U.S$.

 I was surprised that the trafficker in this picture was a woman. I guess I always assume the people in charge of trafficking to be men.

A father of a victim coming to a border town, Laiza for getting information about her.He sold almost all properties to trace her. She was trafficked a half year ago and she`s got married with a Chinese.

This next one breaks my heart:

A mother of a victim crying over seeing a picture of daughter`s sons.

You can see more of Takahashi's photos at his website. 

-T

First Post!

Hello reader! This is Tammy here, the treasurer of our club. Just breaking in the new blog. Take a look at our "About Me" on the right side tab there. This blog will be kept up by various members of our club to post stories of human trafficking to spread awareness. I hope this blog will be informative and a good place for discussion and thought. Just a lil' bit about the picture on the profile, dang it, I can't seem to find the photographer who took it, but it's one of my favorite photos. It's of a girl spreading her arms out to water from a broken hydrant. I hope we can all spread our arms out like she is with what we learn from our club and with this blog. Spread the arms! Spread the word! Let's fill in that blank.

-T