An Important Battle

I'd like to bring up something very important: the horrors of modern sex trafficking. 

Now, I know there are people out there that believe anyone has the right to sell their body if that's what they choose to do. I have no strong opinion on the subject of voluntary sex working. What does bother me, however, is the forced or coerced sex trade.

A lot of people don't realize the magnitude of this issue. 

What sparked this particular blog post was this article: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/01/142969391/states-fail-in-fight-against-sex-trafficking

I am lucky to have friends who are fighting this issue with passion. I learn a lot from them, and for that I am grateful; I might otherwise not have any knowledge that this is even an issue. 

A huge number of people are forced into prostitution. Some of them are threatened, abused, and physically forced; others are psychologically manipulated and pushed into it by their circumstances and lack of resources. 

Some statistics I've come across: 

The average age of entering prostitution is 12.

Human trafficking is the second largest criminal operation worldwide.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events for sex trafficking in the United States

I don't know about anyone else, but this bothers me. It's not an invisible problem by any means -- it's part of almost every inch of the world. 

Shouldn't we be doing more to address it?

(If you're interested in learning/exploring this issue more, the Sex+Money documentary might be worth a watch: http://humanrightsteam.org/educational-information/human-trafficking-facts-figures/)