Sex Trafficking 2.0

In Blog Post #1, I have written about the general definition of what my topic is, Sex Trafficking. I stated my findings on the matter, specifically: statistics on the occurrence of the issue, and also ways this concern could be prevented.

I have recently discovered this organization in which deals with sex trafficking victims up close. They listen to their personal encounters and help them move past it. This is their website, and I genuinely recommend that you check it out. Thankfully, I have gotten the chance to interview a member, as well as explore their website in great depth, and received amazingly informational responses. I decided to do an interview for my original research. My previous research had to do with personal encounters from victims of sex trafficking, therefore doing an interview with someone that is an expert in the area gave me further insight on the issue. The interview went as so:

What connection or involvement do you have with child trafficking?

The organization I am apart of mainly focuses on listening. They listen to survivors of sex trafficking. Members say “We’re particularly focused on understanding patterns of vulnerability and successful reintegration of survivors.”

In your experience, can you tell me what the typical age of someone that is exploited to this is?

The typical age of someone that is exploited to this ranges from the age of 18 and under.

Who do you think the typical recruiter is? A male or female, stranger or friend?

On their website it states “Too often the stories we hear involve pastors, diplomats, youth leaders, law enforcement, and educators—perpetrating unspeakable crimes against children, using their power and connections as protection and facade. They come from various walks of life.”

People doing the recruiting, do they most likely get the victims through kidnapping, false promises, or by taking advantage of the family because they are poor?

“Most often, children are trafficked through vulnerabilities.”

Once the victims are in the process, do you think they feel as though there is no way out, in your experiences?

What do you think are the long term effects of a victim who later runs away or is rescued?

The long term effects of a victim who is rescued, based on their experiences involve: “Drug and Alcohol Dependencies, Depression and Anxiety, Revictimization, Unplanned Pregnancy, Health Complications, Addiction to Money, Trauma Bonds and Stockholm Syndrome” and many more.

The process for conducting this interview was not easy though. I have in total contacted three people who I thought could help me get through this action. The first expert organization I contacted responded to me quickly, which I was excited about, though saying that they could not fulfill my needs and actually were too busy to be interviewed. The second person I contacted, yet not an expert, knew more information on the topic then them regular person, things did not work out. After this, I was stuck for a long while trying to find someone else to contact and I ended up finding an organization in which I happened to feel very passionate about. After looking through their site, I contacted them and got great results in which I have shared previously.

Some things I am still left wondering about after I have conducted an interview along with the research I have done is how effective are these organizations towards the victims and how many organizations are actually out there and aware of this issue. I also am curious of finding out the locations of these organizations and if there are these people trying to help right in the area of the trafficking. And I expect to find this out in further research.

My plan for bringing awareness to this issue is to make stickers and/or posters containing statistics of some sort of Sex Trafficking. I intend to post these throughout the city and possibly around the school to attract a wider range of people. These stickers/posters will also be promoting the organization I have showed to you today in this blog post.

This is the front cover of the organization that I got results from for the interview > website