A Cause You Can Believe In

Rachel Allison

There are many causes in the world:  “Save the whales;” “Save the forests;” ”Save our environment;” “Preserve Freedom.;” and, of course, “Save the Family.” It’s important for people to have a cause.  It keeps us focused during our discretionary time on bettering our neighborhoods, community, society, and world.  Because of our potential to make a marked difference we should consider our causes carefully.

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s cause parade, but let’s compare a few causes.

Squirrels or freedom?

Forests or family?

Whales or the birth of a child?

There are many others…and honestly, I’m not trying to discredit anyone’s cause.  I just think we all need to recognize that we have a certain amount of time on this earth, and prioritizing that time is pretty significant. When we meet our Maker, as many believe we will, I can imagine we’ll be making a report of the causes for which we actively advocated.

In my humble opinion Family and Freedom should take precedence on anyone’s list.  However I was just reminded of a cause that I learned about several years ago at the UN.  A film was shown at one of the side events during a major UN Conference.  The film took us to the Brothels of Calcutta where children had been trafficked and sold as sex slaves.  I was appalled!  And the subject of the film literally gave me nightmares.  And then I left NYC and over the months and years I have forgotten that child sex slavery still exists.  Well it does.

This is a cause that every decent man and woman in the world should embrace. Demanding that this type of abuse must stop should be paramount, until pressure is so great that governments have to address the issue and stop the practice.  Information in the film strongly suggests that local governments are compliant with this practice.  Financially there are a lot of people who are benefiting from the trafficking of these young boys and girls… including government leaders and policemen.

If enough people made it their cause, and our voices were united around the world, the lives of these sweet innocent children will be saved.  Go to  LOVE146  to learn more.  Warning:  It’s going to break your heart!

The Face of Modern Slavery

by Rachel Allison

When I read last week from United Families Weekly News Feed about The Face of Modern Slavery By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF I was reminded of what I had seen and felt years ago at the UN Conferences when desperate men and women would come to plead their frustration and helplessness in regards to the sex trafficking they saw and experienced in their native countries.

I was shocked to see live footage of courageous men who, with video cameras in hand, took the viewer through the narrow winding crowded paths that led to a brothel in Calcutta, India.  The keeper of the gate did her best to shut out the cameras, but without men to help, she was helpless.  We saw 5 young girls caged like animals in a prison the size of a washing machine or clothes dryer box.  We saw the blank stares from these young girls, as well as those assigned to small rooms where men came hour after hour to satisfy their sexual cravings.

Shortly after arriving at the brothel, men did come to kick out the intruders, but it was too late.  The images were recorded.  The men didn’t confiscate the camera nor the film.  They just shoved and man-handled the camera man and narrator until they were forced to leave.

The documentary told of taking the footage to the local police who did nothing, even when they were told that the girls in the brothels were being held captive against their will, and that they were all minors.

We learned that the police are part of the problem.  In essence they feel that these young girls are providing an important service to the men of the city.  There was nothing wrong with what was going on…it is an age-old tradition that is part of their culture, and they didn’t want to be bothered by these men and their high-minded ideas.  In fact at the end of the video, we learned that the narrator of the film was killed two weeks after taking the film to the local police. His murderer was never caught.

At this same UN side event we learned that women go to the rural areas where poverty is rampant and ask parents to allow their daughters to break out of their situation by working in the homes of good people needing domestic help.  These trusting parents turn their young daughters over to these women, and when they don’t hear from their daughters, they are told they ran away from their employment and cannot be found.

One such situation involved the young daughter of the villages’ local policeman.  When his daughter was not heard from he went to find her.  After weeks of searching he found her in one of these disgusting brothels.  She was pregnant, but she didn’t have any of the life-threatening diseases that so many of these young girls contract. She was one of the lucky ones to have been found and brought home.

Some of these girls are taken to other countries where they can’t communicate.  They are helpless in their quest to escape.  After months of being raped over and over again, all eventually contract tuberculosis, venereal disease, or other life-threatening illnesses or they become pregnant.  What happens to them at that point?  They are thrown out into the streets to wander and fend for themselves in a foreign and adverse environment.

We shudder, but it happens every day.  How depraved the societies of the world have become!  Would the reader be surprised to learn that there is sex-trafficking taking place right here in the United States?  There is.  We heard the testimony of one young woman from New York City, who after being raped repeatedly by an uncle, left home because there was no one there that would protect her. Pimps picked up on her situation the minute they found her roaming the streets.  She was used and abused for months before she found shelter and people who helped her escape her desperate situation.

Have things changed?  Apparently, it is still taking place.  We can do all that we can to protect and educate, but we should also search the internet to learn if there are groups fighting this tragic abuse of young boys and girls.  If any find such groups please let UFI know, and we will publish and disseminate the information.  If Kristof is right  in his calculations,that at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, then this is a cause every person should become aware of and the outcry should be heard around the world.

 

 

 

“Slavery is Very Much Alive Today”

Each year more than 100,000 children are being sold for sex on the street corner, through escort services, and over the internet…and that’s just in the United States.  Sex trafficking is an international plague that has received scant attention.  Thousands of sexually exploited children in the U.S. are unable, even after being freed from their pimps; to have their basic needs met.  Today you have an opportunity to do something about it by participating in the “National (Call-in) Day of Action.”

The National Coalition to End Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking is asking individuals to help in the passage of the Domestic Minor Sex trafficking and Victims Support Act (H.R. 5575) which will provide grants to states to train social service agencies and law enforcement in reporting and investigation of trafficking incidents.  The bill will also provide much needed services and shelter to those who have been victims.

We direct you to Polaris Project’s website and urge you to go here to  follow the steps outlined to participate in this call to action.  Even if you can’t participate today, please do make a call or send contact your representative this week.  The victims of trafficking need you.

Trafficking is an issue that UFI deals with regularly at the UN.  It is a “family issue” and it does impact you, your family, and your community.  Go here to see a short video on one young girl’s life as a trafficking victim.

UFI readers give their opinion on the legalization of prostitution

Last week’s poll question:

Laws banning prostitution were recently struck down in Canada.  There are many who believe that the legalization of prostitution is an effective way to minimize violence and discrimination against women.  What do you think?

19%        Yes, legalization is a positive step toward protecting women

76%        No, legalization will harm women

5%          Not sure what to think

Take a look at some of the statistics from countries that have legalized prostitution:

• In the Netherlands, 60 percent of prostituted women suffered physical assaults; 70 percent experienced verbal threats of physical assault; 40 percent experienced sexual violence; and 40 percent had been forced into prostitution and/or sexual abuse by acquaintances. (Vanwesenbeeck I., de Graaf, R., van Zessen, G., Straver, C.J. & Visser, J.H., 1995)
• Eighty percent of women in the brothels in the Netherlands are trafficked from other countries. (NRM, 2002)
• The legalized sex industry in the Netherlands now accounts for five percent of the Netherland’s GDP.  (Daley, 2001)   (By way of comparison, the entire health industry in the U.S. is 12 percent of GDP.)
• Following legalization of prostitution in Victoria, Australia, the number of legal brothels doubled, but the greatest expansion was in illegal prostitution. In one year (1999), there was a 300 percent growth of illegal brothels. (Sullivan, M.,& Jeffreys, S., 2001)
• Fifty-nine percent of German prostitutes reported that they did not think that legal prostitution made them any safer from rape and physical assault. (Farley, M., Cotton, A., Lynne, J., Zumbeck, S., Spiwak, F., Reyes, M. E., 2003)  Fifty out of 100 prostitutes in a Washington, D.C, survey reported the same opinion. (Valera, R., Sawyer, R. G., & Schiraldi, G. R., 2001)
• Legal prostitution cannot possibly protect children from being exploited. The existence of a neighborhood adult sex industry constitutes one of the risk factors for adolescents’ entry into prostitution. (Estes, R. J., & Weiner, N., 2001)
• Eighty-eight percent of people working as prostitutes said they wanted to leave prostitution. (Melissa Farley, Prostitution Research and Education)

Prostitution is objectification and exploitation of women—whether they consent or not, whether they are paid or not.

Censorship or Good Citizenship?

Craigslist can make cleaning and organizing your garage a money-making affair.  Looking for a free couch or maybe a TV?—check Craigslist “free” section.  Looking for services from a prostitute?—check Craigslist.  The on-line phenomenon known as “Craigslist” has create trouble for themselves by allowing listings for “adult services” as cavalierly as they allow ads for the sale of a fridge.  There have been some tragic consequences as a result.  Craigslist ads have been used for child predation, for obtaining rape victims, and for providing a boost to both the “demand” and “supply” side of the prostitution and sex trafficking industry.

When 17 State Attorneys General demanded that they eliminate their “adult services” postings, Craigslist simply ignored their request.  That is until a few days ago when Craigslist arrogantly replaced their “Adult Services” listing with the word “CENSORSHIP.”

Really….?  Censorship?  How about a little corporate responsibility!  Craigslist has a responsibility to the community at large and its citizens—those citizens that have made Craigslist millions of dollars, by the way.  Being a good corporate citizen means not promoting and making money off of sexual activity that is illegal in most states, not putting children and teens at risk, and not aiding and abetting pimps and traffickers.  I’ve been a big fan of Craigslist for years, now I’m just embarrassed for and ashamed of them.

ESPN: Prostitution and Sex Trafficking Increase during World Cup

The 2010 World Cup is underway in South Africa and so is the increase in prostitution and sex trafficking.  This information doesn’t come from UFI and other anti-prostitution groups, but from the sports news giant ESPN.   In a detailed investigative report, ESPN details how the prostitution and sex trafficking industry thrives during major sports events.   Pro-prostitution groups such as the West Coast Cooperative of Sex Industry Professionals purport to have research and studies showing the opposite.

Common sense, however, would tell you that wherever you have large groups of men gathering, especially for sporting events, the demand for prostitution would go up.  When the demand goes up, enterprising “business people” (pimps) are sure to capitalize on it and work to increase the supply.   Basic economics.   But where is that supply going to come from?  How many women and young girls do you know that are willingly go to sign up for a “career” in prostitution?   Pimps produce the “supply” through trafficking in deceived and unwilling women and young girls.  It is a multi-billion dollar industry.

But don’t believe us.  ESPN has taken the time to shed some light on the seedy underbelly of prostitution and sex trafficking at the 2010 World Cup.   Caution:  Video contains graphic scenes and content. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5253283

Tell ICANN: “No .XXX Internet Domain”

Think pornography is a huge societal problem now?  If the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gives the go ahead to a proposal to create a .XXX domain, it could get worse.  A possible ruling by ICANN this month (May) would create the .XXX in an effort to create “an online home for those members of the adult industry who wish to self-identify and responsibly self-regulate,” according to the ICM website (a proponent of the pornography designation).

Proponents of the creation of  .XXX claim that this would aid in self-policing of the pornography industry and better allow for best business practices that would prohibit such things as malicious software and child pornography.  Stuart Lawley of ICM claims it would be a “win win win situation” for the adult entertainment providers, consumers of adult entertainment, and parents who wish to protect their children from adult content on the internet.

Larry Magid, an Internet safety advocate sees it a little differently:

“My concern about .xxx is that it could give parents a false sense of security. True, it would be very easy to configure browsers or filters to automatically block sites designated as .xxx, but since this is a voluntary program, there would be nothing to stop adult site operators from also using .com. It would be like setting up a red-light district in a community while also allowing adult entertainment establishments to operate in residential shopping centers”.

Even the ACLU opposes the creation of .XXX, but not for reasons that would necessarily align with those who oppose the spread of pornography.  The ACLU believes the .XXX domain would be used by countries around the world to force anything that they view as offensive on to the .XXX domain and that free expression rights of individuals may be forced into the narrow slot of .XXX when they should be allowed to reach a much larger audience.

Parents can protect their families from porn by installing internet content filters.  These have gotten a little better over the years, but they are far from ideal.  Parental involvement and vigilance is your best protection.

The creation of .XXX  does nothing to stop the spread of pornography and will only make pornographers’ lives easier, helping their bottom line by allowing for more organized access to the internet for porn seekers.  It doesn’t protect those who wish to eradicate pornography from their homes and lives.  As our friends at Concerned Women for America put it “We don’t need to relocate pornography, we need to prosecute it!”

ICANN is taking input on this decision until May 10.  Send them an email at  icm-options-report@icann.org .   Concerned Women for America recommends this sample email:

Title: Vote NO to Triple X Domain

To Whom It May Concern:

I support Option #3 of the March 26, 2010, process options submitted by ICANN for public comment. The .XXX sponsor, ICM, never satisfied the sponsorship requirements and criteria for a sponsored Top Level Domain. The ICANN Board denied ICM’s application for the .XXX TLD on the merits in an open and transparent forum. Please oppose ICM’s proposition to establish an .XXX domain.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Feminist Claim Legalizing Prostitution Will Eliminate Sex Trafficking

US President Barack Obama declared January 2010 National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and asked everyone to recommit themselves to ending the modern practice of slavery in the world.  Human trafficking is an international problem where men, women, and children are victimized through force, fear, and threats.  Women and children are particularly vulnerable to this black market industry because of the demand for prostitutes around the world.  Most women who enter the industry do so before the age of 16 and are submitted to violence, sexual and physical abuse, and rape.

Sex trafficking is an epidemic which does not limit itself to one place or one group of people.  Too often the crime of sex trafficking is ignored because it is termed prostitution. The majority of sex trafficked women end up in unfamiliar countries, stripped of every right to control what happens to their own bodies and given no power to negotiate for their own safety. Reclassifying the act as prostitution by giving a woman a little money only serves to mislead individuals from what is actually happening – sexual abuse, rape, violence, and battery. Study after study shows that an overwhelming majority of women who are currently working as prostitutes did not enter the industry willingly and want out of the industry immediately.

The Opposition’s Agenda

Many feminist groups and leftist governments from around the world would try to convince us that the only way to stop the sex trafficking of women and young girls is to legalize and regulate prostitution and provide sex workers with rights.  It is argued that women have the right to decide what they do with their bodies and if they choose to participate in prostitution then that should be within their rights.

What these groups aren’t saying is that the women who participate in prostitution are not choosing to do so but are resorting to the only options left available to them.  It is a modern form of slavery; for the most part, these women are not free to make their own choices.  Women sex workers disproportionately come into the industry from poverty and from marginalized ethnicities and races.  Far from the picture of women’s rights that is painted by nongovernmental organizations and leftist countries is the reality of women being turned into commodities to be bought, sold, and victimized for someone else’s profit.  Unlike what these groups may claim, prostitution systematically discriminates against women, children, and those from the poorest and most disenfranchised ethnic and racial groups.

Many developing countries support the legalization of prostitution because of the economic benefits they feel it will bring them.  If prostitution were legalized it would allow governments to count prostitutes as among their workforce which would lower their unemployment rates and would allow governments to tax the industry and its workers which would increase national revenue.  But while these governments try to emphasize the perceived benefits of such a decision, they are ignoring the facts.

An International Epidemic

Countries in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia have become notorious for their sex industries and draw “tourists” to the country for the expressed purpose of taking part in the violent exploitation of women and children.  Countries such as Thailand and the Philippines are plagued with expatriate pedophiles from the Western world whose sole draw to these countries is the easy access to young boys and girls to sexually exploit.  In China an atmosphere has developed, driven by the demand for young Asian women by foreign business men, which has created a generation of Chinese women who feel it is their patriotic duty to contribute to the country’s GDP by selling their bodies.  In the United States the State Department estimates that anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 young girls are trafficked each year in this country.

Legalizing prostitution does not eliminate the negative impacts of the industry.  Sex trafficking is necessary to keep prostitution functioning and profitable for suppliers.  In the developed world where some “progressive” governments have legalized prostitution, sex trafficking has done nothing except to continue growing at an even faster rate.  In the Netherlands where prostitution is legal, statistics show that over 80 percent of sex workers are trafficked in from other countries.

The Work of UFI

Through United Families International’s two-pronged approach of education and advocacy, we have been working to combat global sex trafficking through our presence at the United Nations.  UFI battles for the rights of all by keeping language out of international resolutions which would recognize prostitution as a right and seek to legalize it.  Not only does UFI work to keep such language from international law but we work to include protections which explicitly forbid the practice of sex trafficking and prostitution.  We fight to protect families against the threats of an industry which perpetrates violence against women and children and increases the risks of child sexual abuse by fostering the adult sex industry in our own neighborhoods.

By proliferating accurate information about the ills of prostitution and sex trafficking, we seek to continue building a global community which values protecting individuals from the perils and pernicious damage of this industry.  Education is the fastest and most effective way to bring about a broad cultural shift in perspective which values the preservation and protection of traditional families.  Through our work at the local, national, and international levels we are combating the leftist, feminist agenda which attempts to legalize the exploitation of the world’s most vulnerable.  The morals of society must not be undermined by misguided and short-sighted government policy or relaxed cultural expectations.

UFI’s Unique Role

United Families International works to unite organizations in their efforts to combat human trafficking and provides them with the research, science, and support necessary to defend families from this onslaught against the vulnerable among us.  Through UFI’s role as the primary non-sectarian, social science-based organization with an international presence, we are working to build an international and united front for the family across the world.  Our new President, Michael Duff, is advancing this effort with a new vision for UFI that will allow us to better  influence and guide policies affecting sex trafficking and exploitation policies around the world.

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PROTECT LIFE – SIGN TODAY!!!

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Last year we made the same request and thanks to your support we were able to go to the UN with over 400,000 signatures confirming the human right to life. This year we want to return in December with 1 million signatures proving that the international community believes in the sanctity of life and the humanity of the unborn.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITON TO PROTECT LIFE TODAY!

The Freakonomics of Prostitution

The authors of bestselling book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, released a segment from their new book SuperFreakonomics in last week’s The Sunday Times. And what was the topic? The economics of prostitution.

The article was presented under the guise of moral neutral, by focusing primarily on the reasoning behind the pay discrepancy between a high-class, high-paid prostitute named Allie, and a low-paid prostitute named LaSheena. The authors argue that Allie is making $500 an hour for her services, compared to LaSheena’s $27, by providing more than simply sexual services. They argue:

Allie is essentially a trophy wife who is rented by the hour. She isn’t really selling sex, or at least not sex alone. She sells men the opportunity to trade in their existing wives for a younger, more sexually adventurous version — without the trouble and long-term expense of actually having to go through with it.

They then go on to conclude: “So the real puzzle isn’t why someone like Allie becomes a prostitute, but rather why more women don’t choose this career. “ So what began as a morally neutral economic explanation of prostitution becomes a more or less veiled promotion of the profession for women.

The excerpt from the upcoming book has obviously stirred up a fair amount of debate about both the morality and economics of prostitution. But I cite the article here as an example of the intellectual dishonesty and moral bankruptcy that surrounds debates over the legalization of prostitution. For believe it or not, these debates are very real and very present.

In Britain, for example, where prostitution is currently legalized, this debate was recently revived as Nick Davies of The Guardian wrote an article last week attacking the opposition to legalized prostitution by arguing their numbers on sex-trafficking were inflated and inaccurate. He concludes this study of the numbers on sex trafficking with the traditional argument for legal prostitution: prostitution should be completely legalized without limitations in order to ensure the safety of women who choose to be in the trade.

However, what both of these arguments fail to recognize is the unseen social, moral, and economic costs of legal prostitution. It has been repeatedly shown that legalized prostitution:

• increases sex trafficking (although that number may be open for debate),
• disproportionately victimizes the most impoverished and vulnerable women,
• submits women to exploitation, sexual harassment, disease, rape, and frequently homicide
• encourages corruption and crime
• incentivizes the government to draw tax dollars from the exploitation of women and children.

If they want to talk about the economics of prostitution, let’s look at simple supply and demand. Legalizing prostitution increases the demand for prostitution. And anyone who is intellectually honest will admit that those who select prostitution as a profession are 99.9% of the time the most economically and socially vulnerable. Most of the time, only those who see no better alternative would choose the exploitation of their bodies as a profession.  The examples of happy prostitutes such as Allie are grossly misrepresentative of the actuality of those subjected to prostitutions brutality. In truth, legalized prostitution is essentially no different than legalized slavery—it rips profits from the bodies of those who most often than not are the most oppressed, impoverished, and brutalized.

The threat of legalized prostitution may seem distant and unreal. But it is clear from these two articles that the mentality that supports the legal brutalization of women is widespread and intellectually fashionable. This is not a threat to be dismissed.