National Day of Action!

Tomorrow, November 17, is the National Day of Action to urge Congress to pass the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and Victims Support Act. This legislation provides victims of human trafficking with access to needed services and shelter. This day of action is organized by the National Coalition to End Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, and one of the organizations in the coalition, Polaris Project, is a partner with CAASE in our End Demand Illinois advocacy campaign, which seeks to transform Illinois' response to prostitution and sex trafficking.

To make sure this crucial legislation passes, please commit to take action!

Visit Polaris Project to learn more about how you can help to fight human trafficking.

Photo by Mike Bitzenhofer

Child Sex Trafficking in Chicago

The news yesterday about FBI raids that arrested hundreds across the country in child sex trafficking stings was very disturbing. Three children were rescued in Chicago alone. Sadly, the news that children are victimized in the sex trade in the United States is not a revelation, it’s reality.

If you get a chance today, buy an issue of StreetWise. It includes the story of Jessica (not her real name), who was kidnapped in Chicago and prostituted in the suburbs for three years. She was held against her will, clearly a victim of trafficking right here in our own back yard.

And until recently in Illinois, children who were arrested for prostitution could be charged criminally. Our End Demand, Illinois campaign helped to stop this practice in Illinois by advocating for the passage of the Safe Children Act, which took effect in August of this year.

The sex trade is fueled by the most vulnerable in our society, and children are often victims. Here are some startling facts from research CAASE has compiled into fact sheets:

• A University of Pennsylvania study from 2001 estimates that close to 300,000 children nationwide are at risk of falling victim to some sort of sexual exploitation. Outreach workers concur, saying that of the 1 million to 1.5 million runaway children in the country, about a third have some brush with prostitution.
• The overwhelming majority of runaway, homeless, abused, and at-risk children are approached by pimps and drug dealers within 48 hours of landing on the streets.
• Sixty percent of children exploited in prostitution are first recruited by peers.
• The U.S. Department of Justice states that the average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 years old.

We should all be disgusted, but what can we do next? You can raise awareness and take action. Until the demand for prostitution ends, there will always be people willing to supply children for the sex trade. Visit www.enddemandillinois.org and get involved with the local campaign . Read our guide to concrete ways you can help fight the sex trade here.

Photo by Manuel Faisco.

Rachel Durchslag featured on What's Your Calling?

Rachel has been featured in the PBS mini series What's Your Calling?. She discusses how she became interested in sex trafficking and exploitation and what inspired her to advocate against it.
Check it out at the link below!
http://www.whatsyourcalling.org/campaign/how-much-of-ourselves-do-we-give-up-to-help-others/?ref=nf/

And as always, to find out more about how to end sex trafficking and exploitation visit: caase.org

Celebs Join Somaly Mam to end Child Sex Slavery

Last week activists and philanthropists gathered in New York City to support the Somaly Mam Foundation, a nonprofit organization co-founded by trafficking survivor Somaly Mam, that supports programs worldwide to end sex trafficking. Also in attendance was Phil Kowalcyzk, President of The Body Shop North America,a company that has worked with Somaly Mam for two years and has recently launched a petition to Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People, which has gathered 3.5 million signatures.

The article touched upon a point made by the event's honoree, CEO of LexisNexus Group, Andy Prozes, that the driving force behind sex trafficking is demand,and CAASE has been working to end the demand for sex trafficking and prostitution through the End Demand Illinois campaign, a multi-year organizing effort to transform Illinois's response to prostitution and sex trafficking.

Click here for the rest of the article!

Also check out this video of trafficking survivors sharing their stories

Who Made Halloween About Sex?

Photo from Mark Strozier.

Rachel Durchslag, our executive director, is quoted in RedEye about the trend of increasingly “sexy” Halloween costumes, and I thought maybe we could chat about it over here too. Alysse, the RedEye reporter, interviewed Chicagoans about which type of costume was better, sexy or scary. We appreciate our perspective being included in the story—here’s a longer quote from Rachel on the subject:

“As our society is getting more and more hyper-sexualized, people are going over the top on Halloween to out-do the pace. It’s still really taboo to talk about sex in our culture, and yet we’re bombarded with sexual imagery.

I see this trend as our culture’s failure to create authentic ways to celebrate sexuality. Who gets to define what’s sexy and sexual? We’re letting costume companies make money off of defining our sexual desires.

Men, on their own, probably wouldn’t say that they fantasize about a woman in a skimpy firefighter outfit. And yet now that it’s accepted, women feel they need to live up to these standards.

We should think about the role we’re letting corporations play in shaping our identities. It’s frightening.”

What do you think? Is Halloween about sex because we want it to be, or because someone else tells us it should be? And, on a lighter note, what’s your costume going to be this year? Rachel was Waldo :)

Sex Slavery in our Backyard

When reading the story regarding the woman who was made into a sex slave in Kansas City, I was truly mortified. This woman apparently became a victim at the age of 16, when she ran from her adoptive parents. The couple charged with sex trafficking both stated that the victim asked if she could live with them, after escaping her adoptive parents. Unfortunately, many victims of prostitution and human trafficking are often runaways. They try to lead healthier lives by running away from abuse and then become re-victimized by pimps, traffickers, or in this case, a couple the victim thought she could trust.

To me, the most upsetting part of this story is that the victim is blamed. In the article, people who have encountered the victim have stated that she enjoyed what she was doing, which includes stripping, pornography, and being tortured during sex. In research performed by CAASE, men have admitted to buying prostituted women because they are too embarrassed to ask their partners to perform specific acts. In this case, men were soliciting this woman online and in person in order to perform BDSM. This article also stated that the woman was “mentally deficient” – therefore no consent (if consent was even given) is consensual.

A coworker of this woman stated that she looked “happy and spoiled.” Being tortured by methods of electric shock and waterboarding does not seem like a happy and spoiled life to me. A life full of physical and sexual abuse does not seem like a happy and spoiled life either, actually it sounds terrifying.

Want to get involved and help combat sex trafficking? Would you like to become a voice for millions of women and children who are victimized each year by this crime? Find out more information at www.caase.org

Sarah Jessica Parker and Gabourey Sidibe Join Fight Against Sex Trafficking

Actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Gabourey Sidibe join the fight against sex trafficking in Brooklyn by recording public service announcements to raise awareness of sex trafficking and Brooklyn's new hotline for victims. The PSAs highlight the fact that young adolescents are trafficked and encourages use of the hotline for helping end sex trafficking.

CAASE has been a leading organization in the fight against child sex-trafficking, and was instrumental in helping to get the Illinois Safe Children Act passed, which protects victims under the age of 18 of sex trafficking and forced prostitution from being prosecuted for prostitution. To learn more about the advocacy work that CAASE engages in, visit End Demand Illinois


Listen to the PSAs here!