Sex Trafficking 101
Others, Exploitation , TraffickingContributed by: Hope Restored
We live in a hyper sex-saturated culture where it has become normalized to use one’s sexuality to sell products and services, but did you know that sex (itself) is being sold on a daily basis…in Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, you name it- your city? You may not see a prostituted person walking down your street or a pimp going door to door offering services, but it’s happening in plain sight whether you realize it or not.
While the image of a pimp and prostitute have been glamorized through movies such as “Pretty Woman”, there is nothing beautiful about the dark reality of the sex industry. Maybe you’ve heard the term sex trafficking. It’s simply a politically-correct way of saying sexual slavery.
Although slavery, as we knew it in the abolition of the slave trade, was accomplished in North America is over, (1834 in Canada & the British Empire and 1865 in the US) , there is still a high demand for buying and selling women and children…(and sometimes men and boys) as mere sexual commodities in your city. Actually, there are more slaves today than there ever was in the history of mankind. It’s being sold through ads in newspapers, posts on websites like Backpage, via escort services, at truck stops, motels, and other places you drive by on a daily basis. We are joining other organizations across this nation to educate Canadians that trafficking and sexual exploitation is not only existing in this nation, it is thriving. Rather than turning a blind eye, we are taking a stand with our nation and its current law as buying sex is a crime.
Educating ourselves empowers us to be culture changers in a world of indifference. The phrase ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ is simply powerless naivity when it comes to eradicating sexual exploitation in our nation. We must be educated about this issue in order to make a difference. We bring hope to a very dark issue in our communities.
Article originally posted on the Hope Restored Blog