Men Must Be Advocates for Reform on Human Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation, Prostitution, Pornography

Извор: WUNRN – 01.07.2018

Child sexual exploitation is a profound challenge to our society and to countries around the globe. Given the scale and persistence of the problem, it is an issue that requires all parts of our community to contribute to the solution. And we are fortunate to live an era that recognizes the horrors of modern slavery and has taken initial steps to address it. However, there is one element of society that can have a disproportionate impact in bringing child sexual exploitation to an end, and that is men.

The uncomfortable truth for men in our country is that we are the source of the primary problem of child trafficking. Men mindlessly look at pornography without considering if the “barely legal” girls in the video are actually adults and consenting.

They frequent strip clubs where underage boys and girls are often first forced into prostitution. They go online and purchase sex anonymously from pimps who groom children and force them into the lifestyle. The studies show that the average sex buyer in America looks very much like the average man overall. He is usually, white, married and has a full-time job. Looking in the mirror and seeing yourself in this context is uncomfortable. So it is unsurprising that men across America are largely disengaged from advocating to stop trafficking, and the bulk of the advocacy work is carried out by women.

But this is unsustainable. Men purchase sex from children, but men are also fathers of missing girls, and they are searching desperately for their daughters. Boys and young men are victims of sexual exploitation, and studies suggest that their numbers are likely meaningfully undercounted by current statistics. Of course in child labor trafficking, boys are nearly as likely to be forced into this form of slavery as girls. So, in spite of the fact that the preponderance of buyers and pimps are men, the truth is that men and women, boys and girls all have their lives tragically impacted by human trafficking. And if we are going to address the issue as a society, men must also become advocates for reform.

https://www.ecpatusa.org/blog/2018/6/20/men-a-call-to-action