31 May 2010
30 May 2010
28 May 2010
HOW TO: Children at Risk of Internet Predators
In today's world of obsessions and high pressure demands, the demands of an online sex predator have never been more apparent. In my final "HOW TO", post my goal is to wrap up a series about how to fight online predators. If you've missed out on previous posts, be sure to follow the series in the sidebar for more information on how you and your family can fight online predators.
The first rule of engagement here states that regardless of the situation, any adult involved in any sort of sexual relationship with a child is entirely at fault and takes full responsibility for their actions. But I believe that we can do a better job of guiding our children away from these dangers, and do it without the typical paranoid behavior we all saw after 9-11. With that said, today's topic is going to make you aware of children that are the most vulnerable and walk you through exactly how a predator and even another teen can take advantage of a child in this situation; because not all predators are pedophiles.
The first rule of engagement here states that regardless of the situation, any adult involved in any sort of sexual relationship with a child is entirely at fault and takes full responsibility for their actions. But I believe that we can do a better job of guiding our children away from these dangers, and do it without the typical paranoid behavior we all saw after 9-11. With that said, today's topic is going to make you aware of children that are the most vulnerable and walk you through exactly how a predator and even another teen can take advantage of a child in this situation; because not all predators are pedophiles.
27 May 2010
Y2K Pimpin'
A pimp that understand brand loyalty
In the following paragraphs my intent is to walk you through a young girl's story. It involves her new pimp, her experiences with sites like Craigslist, and most importantly her disappearance. Stories like this will help us reveal the person(s) really at fault.
She was a 16-year-old California girl looking for trouble on MySpace; he was a 22-year-old self-described pimp who liked the revealing photos she posted to her profile. Three weeks after they met on the social networking site, they were arrested together in real life outside a cheap motel in Sacramento, 50 miles from her home. She was turning tricks. On her arm, a fresh tattoo showed bundles of cash and her new acquaintance’s street moniker in 72-point cursive.
Last week, Marvin Chavelle Epps was held without bail on federal child pornography charges over a video found at his arrest, in which the girl is seen performing a sex act on him while he calls her "bitch" and slaps her in the head with a roll of bills. Though the girl, identified as "S.M." in court documents, denied to police that he was her manager, by his own account Epps is a new kind of pimp — a web-savvy exploiter who uses sites like myRedBook and Craigslist to broker his women.
A review of S.M.’s MySpace profile, which lists her age as 19, suggests she fits that description to a T. When she set up the account last July, the Stockton, California, girl immediately blogged that she was looking for someone to sell her pot and MDMA. A couple of months later, she shared that she’d just been arrested on drug possession charges. "I’m a lot more hood than you think", she wrote one of her 1,000 MySpace friends.
In the following paragraphs my intent is to walk you through a young girl's story. It involves her new pimp, her experiences with sites like Craigslist, and most importantly her disappearance. Stories like this will help us reveal the person(s) really at fault.
She was a 16-year-old California girl looking for trouble on MySpace; he was a 22-year-old self-described pimp who liked the revealing photos she posted to her profile. Three weeks after they met on the social networking site, they were arrested together in real life outside a cheap motel in Sacramento, 50 miles from her home. She was turning tricks. On her arm, a fresh tattoo showed bundles of cash and her new acquaintance’s street moniker in 72-point cursive.
Last week, Marvin Chavelle Epps was held without bail on federal child pornography charges over a video found at his arrest, in which the girl is seen performing a sex act on him while he calls her "bitch" and slaps her in the head with a roll of bills. Though the girl, identified as "S.M." in court documents, denied to police that he was her manager, by his own account Epps is a new kind of pimp — a web-savvy exploiter who uses sites like myRedBook and Craigslist to broker his women.
26 May 2010
I "BELIEVE" there is a solution
I believe that only by going to the root causes, which are corruption and the demand in destination countries, will we end the trafficking of women and children.
We could greatly reduce the number of victims, if the demand for them was penalized. If there were no men seeking to buy sex acts, no women and children would be bought and sold. If there were no brothels waiting for victims, no victims would be recruited. If there were no states that profited from the sex trade, there would be no regulations that facilitated the flow of women from poor towns to wealthier sex industry centers. If there were no false messages about prostitution, no women or girls would be deceived into thinking prostitution is a glamorous or legitimate job. - Donna M. HughesProfessor & Carlson Endowed Chair in Women's Studies
University of Rhode Island
Source
We need to urge all governments, NGOs, and faith communities to focus on reducing the demand for victims of sex trafficking and prostitution. All the components of the demand need to be penalized – the men who purchase sex acts, the traffickers, the pimps, and others who profit, states that fund deceptive messages and act as pimp, and the culture that lies about the nature of prostitution.
We could greatly reduce the number of victims, if the demand for them was penalized. If there were no men seeking to buy sex acts, no women and children would be bought and sold. If there were no brothels waiting for victims, no victims would be recruited. If there were no states that profited from the sex trade, there would be no regulations that facilitated the flow of women from poor towns to wealthier sex industry centers. If there were no false messages about prostitution, no women or girls would be deceived into thinking prostitution is a glamorous or legitimate job. - Donna M. HughesUniversity of Rhode Island
Source
25 May 2010
When Conditioning is Key
The Department of Health & Human Services, Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet states:
Sex traffickers use a variety of methods to “condition” their victims including starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and the victims’ families, forced drug use and the threat of shaming their victims by revealing their activities to their family and their families’ friends.
The National Runaway Switchboard, a 24-hour hotline, says that one of every three teens living on the street is lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. Most runaways don't need the conditioning required to be in prostitution. Runaways are taught everything they need to know about sex through sexual experiences with an adult or older child. At the time, children feel safer on the street than at home.
Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away each year. To understand more about teen runaways, contact the National Runaway Switchboard by calling 1-800-RUNAWAY or http://www.nrscrisisline.org/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call 1-800-RUNAWAY if you are a teenager who is thinking of running from home, if you have a friend who has run and is looking for help, or if you are a runaway ready to go home through our Home Free program. Call if you are a teacher looking for information to pass along to your students about alternatives to running from home. Call if you care about a youth and want information on how you can help someone who may be at risk of running from home.
SOURCES:
24 May 2010
A Runaway Love
One in seven youth will run away from home before the age of 18.
David Finkelhor's conclusions about the effects and the impact of child sex abuse is transparently clear. Not unanimously agreed upon, but still clear.1/3 will be approached to enter the sex trade with in 48 hours.
Obviously, there are a number of variables involved when you look at a person's response to sex abuse. Age, sex of the victim and the offender, the extent of sexual abuse, the relationship between the victim and the offender, the reaction of others to the knowledge of sexual abuse and other life experiences to name a few. But there are four general categories, all having to do with psychological and behavioral effects of a CHILD.Runaways are often the victims of sexual abuse before they leave home.
#1 Traumatic sexualization. Included in the psychological outcomes of traumatic sexualization are aversive feelings about sex, overvaluing sex, and sexual identity problems. Behavioral manifestations of traumatic sexualization constitute a range of hypersexual behaviors as well as avoidance of or negative sexual encounters.They feel that it's safer on the streets than to live at home ...
#2 Stigmatization. Common psychological manifestations of stigmatization are what Sgroi calls "damaged goods syndrome"43 and feelings of guilt and responsibility for the abuse or the consequences of disclosure. These feelings are likely to be reflected in self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, risk-taking acts, self-mutilation, suicidal gestures and acts, and provocative behavior designed to elicit punishment.... so they run.
#3 Betrayal. Perhaps the most fundamental damage from sexual abuse is its undermining of trust in those people who are supposed to be protectors and nurturers. Other psychological impacts of betrayal include anger and borderline functioning. Behavior that reflects this trauma includes avoidance of investment in others, manipulating others, re-enacting the trauma through subsequent involvement in exploitive and damaging relationships, and engaging in angry and acting-out behaviors.
Unfortunately, runaways understand abuse.
#4 Powerlessness. The psychological impact of the trauma of powerlessness includes both a perception of vulnerability and victimization and a desire to control or prevail, often by identification with the aggressor. As with the trauma of betrayal, behavioral manifestations may involve aggression and exploitation of others. On the other hand, the vulnerability effect of powerlessness may be avoidant responses, such as dissociation and running away; behavioral manifestations of anxiety, including phobias, sleep problems, elimination problems, and eating problems; and revictimization. [trauma, stigmatization, betrayal; they also know about being powerless]
So a pimp doesn't have to put them thru the normal break-in process.
Even though they will try ...
...shes already broken.
SOURCES:
Song:Runaway Love - listen now
http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/sexabuse/sexabuseb.cfm
Curiosity Is Sometimes Deadly
TALK PLAINLY to your own; as it is one of the worst temptations not to know what we have to meet with. - Dr Carle C. Quale
22 May 2010
OUT with Human Trafficking
Fears of increased human trafficking during the World Cup prompted the Salvation Army to launch a toll-free hotline, which was launched in Johannesburg on 27 January 2010, to take tips and assist victims of human trafficking in the country. The initiative is a joint project between The Salvation Army and BE HEARD, an organization with ten years experience in operating anonymous tip-off services. The number - 0800-RESCUE or 08000-737283 - is expected to operate 24 hours a day and will have operators answering calls in a multitude of languages.
SOURCE
A Victory for the Internet and Humanity
EXCLUSIVE: One Of The Heroes Behind the MetaFilter Human-Trafficking Rescue Speaks Out
Late Wednesday night, Kathrine Gutierrez Hines, 24, came across a frightening story—unfolding in real time on an online message board—about two young Russian women who, by the looks of it, were about to unwittingly become hostesses at a seedy nightclub. Now, less than 48 hours later, they are sleeping in her Chelsea apartment in Manhattan, and she is trying to keep them safe while helping them figure out their next move. In an exclusive interview with NEWSWEEK, she tells her story, which, unfortunately, isn’t over yet.
[To read the entire article click here]"Awesome story about Americans that still have a soft spot in their heart for strangers. Great read for anyone interested in success stories involving the Internet and sex trafficking"
21 May 2010
Illegal and Inappropriate
Craigslist is by far the largest single advertiser of commercial sex in the world. The website has earned the title "Rich Pimp" with profits of US$36.3 from sex ads alone. With that said, are they THE problem?
Responding to pressure from the NCMEC and the attorneys general of 40 states, Craigslist placed new limits on its adult ads last November. Among other reforms, the site now charges $5 for the formerly free postings, allowing it to collect and store the poster’s credit card number and name, making it available to law enforcement subpoenas in any future criminal investigation.
"Misuse of Craigslist for criminal purposes is unacceptable, and Craigslist continues to work with it's partners in law enforcement to eliminate it. Of the thousands of U.S. venues that carry adult service ads...Craigslist has done the best and most responsible job of combating child exploitation and human trafficking." - Jim Buckmaster, CEO
Posting volume in our ‘erotic services’ category is down 85-90 percent" as a result of the measures. Those ads that remain are much more compliant with our terms of use." - CEO Jim Buckmaster in an e-mail
Nevertheless, a month after the measure was adopted, an underage girl missing from New Jersey turned up in a prostitution post on Craigslist. Police spotted her nude photo in an ad offering in-call services in Miami, 1,200 miles away from her home. She was rescued, and her alleged pimp, Ali Hakim, was indicted last month on sex trafficking and related charges.
Tech-savvy pimps use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to recruit young, troubled, and often underage users.
"We’re seeing kids who are getting into this stuff that do not match society’s stereotype ... These are not just kids in poor families who have no other options. We’re seeing kids from the full spectrum of society, and a lot of that is due to recruitment over the Internet." - says Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC
Last June, a 14-year-old Ohio girl ran away with a 30-year-old Florida pimp named Alan Townsend, after meeting him on the social networking site Urbanchat.com. According to court records, Townsend used his senior prostitute, 27-year-old Courtney Shine, to gain the victim’s trust and convince her that a career in modeling awaited if she drove with them to Florida.
THIS JUST IN:"This happens, and it happens a lot more than people realize ... We don’t want to terrify parents. But if their kids are at risk, they’re at more risk online." - Parry Aftab, founder and director of WiredSafety, which advises children on Internet risks.
UNDERCOVER VIDEO: THE CRAIGSLIST PROSTITUTION STING
Is illegal prostitution still rampant on website?
SOURCE:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)