A Celebration of Women

“Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Isaiah 1:17

If you think that sex trafficking takes place only in developing countries, think again.

I watched a video featuring Ashley Judd who introduced the panel “‘No Such Thing’: Trafficking of Girls in the United States” for the 2nd annual “Women In The World” summit) the weekend of March 10-12 in New York City. In it she shared a heartwrenching story of a 14 year old girl she knew since she was a baby was recently forced into prostitution in Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, human trafficking exists in the United States of America. According to Judd, Atlanta is overrun with sexual exploitation. Such human indecency has contributed to a percieved bad reputation for the escort business. Rest assured that Glasgow Escorts have chosen freely to work in this industry. However, this is not neccessarily the case in other parts of the world.

A Celebration of Women asks:

“How can we plan on saving the planet

when we are killing our most valuable resources ?”

In a matter of fact, deliberate and clear presentation, Judd shared some harsh truths—the monsters who prey on our children are not necessarily strangers but people we know—fathers, brothers, husbands, friends. It could be a neighbor or co-worker or someone you work out next to in the gym. At one point as Judd related the story of her 14 year old friend, she was visibly upset.

Watch the video.

I came across a disturbing article about sex trafficking in Atlanta. As a major city that houses a super-busy airport and hosts a lot of major sports events, Atlanta is possibly one of the biggest hubs for underage sex trafficking in the U.S. The girls in Teen Identity’s video point out that 500 girls are trafficked for sex each month, servicing 7200 men — a startling, yet smart statistic to include in order to emphasize the extent of demand. Further, each weekend, between 100 and 150 girls are “raped for profit,” a phrasing that stresses the true horror of this crime: not only are girls violently raped, but money changes hands for that rape to occur.

Holding up hand-written signs with messages like, “They stole my childhood,” “Wake me up from this nightmare” and “They silenced my voice,” the girls give us a sense of what is lost during those transactions. Approximately 90% of victims — whose average age is 14, but are as young as 9 — have a history of abuse in their lives, and in one way or another, this fact has put them at risk for being trafficked. Perhaps they lack a strong support system at home, or they have run away from a bad situation to find an even worse one. And the abuse they endured prior to being trafficked has surely taken its toll, creating a mindset in which sexual exploitation is acceptable, even deserved (http://news.change.org/stories/putting-faces-to-the-statistics-child-sex-trafficking-in-atlanta).

Approximately 375 young girls are trafficked each month in Georgia. Studies have shown that approximately 375 children are believed to be at risk for sexual exploitation in Georgia, with Atlanta as an identified focal point for such atrocity.

Can you believe that an estimated 7,200 men knowingly or unknowingly pay for sex with adolescent females in Georgia each month? The statistics are out of this world and it only goes to show you the kind of predators we have out there who would have sex with girls 14 years old and as young as 9! (http://streetgrace.org/facts).

What is being done to stop this? What are the authorities doing? What is the Governor of Atlanta doing about this evil that has pervaded the city? The men who traffic this girls and the men who have sex with them should be thrown in jail. Those who watch and promote child pornography should be thrown into jail. Not all pornography is bad, adult pornography is legal and millions of people across the world visit full tube xxx and other adult movie websites on a regular basis as part of their normal adult lives.

Whenever I hear about these atrocities, it seems to me that it’s usually organizations and mostly women who speak out. Where are the men? More men need to speak out and say that “children are not for sex!” We need more fathers, brothers, husbands, etc to speak out against the men who sell and buy sex with children. This is an issue that concerns all of us. Our children and youth need both men and women to be their advocates. We all need to take action! Enough is enough! Children are people not properties. They have rights too. It’s time that we all stood up and fought for their rights. It’s time to stop sex traffickers and pedophiles—let them know that we are not going to let them get away with their crimes.

WATCH THIS MOVIE.

Inside the Child Sex Trade – 40min. documentary : Take Action !

The plight of child sex slaves has been well publicised but seldom do we get to see inside their nasty world. Recently however, an undercover film crew did just that. They gained rare access to Diana and Lina, two teenage prostitutes at a brothel in Batam. Focusing on the girls’ plight and the mission to save them, they filmed every event leading to the girls’ rescue. It’s a confronting and harrowing expose of young children lured into a life of prostitution.

See full film here: http://journeyman.booserver.com/store?p=3031

June 2005

Produced by SBS/Dateline
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

As a parent, it is worrisome. There was a time when you worried only about your daughters but now you have to worry about your sons as well. We live in a society where monsters who may have children of their own prey on ours. They robbed them of their innocence. They expose them to horrors they should never have to face. Children should be allowed to be children. They should be free to play and explore their world without the threat of danger—or fear of the sexual predators who think nothing of snatching them from their homes or playgrounds and assaulting them or worse…Let us take action and rid our society of sexual predators so that our children can have a healthy environment they can thrive in.

– Adele Butler, A Celebration of Women 2011

“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

(John F. Kennedy).

A Celebration of Women

reminds you that these little boys and girls…
COULD BE YOUR CHILDREN, and implores that the Women of our World to:

Take Action!

RELATED: http://internetsafety101.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/pornography-trafficking-and-prostitution-connections-are-clear/

A Celebration of Women