By Maxim Lott

Published September 01, 2010

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I just finished reading this article and was happy to see different suggestions on how the demand on sex trafficking can be attacked. The best thing about this article is that the information came from a man! This is wonderful to see. I like the idea of men coming out and speaking out on the issue of sex trafficking. Too many men do not believe that this is an issue that truly occurs. Many men believe that the women in the sex industry are there because “they love having sex”. Maybe men do this in order not to feel any guilt or to possibly rationalize what they just did.

The issue of sex trafficking is a serious issue and until all sides of this issue are addressed, we will not be victorious. To fight the issue of sex trafficking, we need to be educated, we need to fight the demand, and we need to rescue and restore the victims. This is a multi faceted approach. Until everyone is united for this common cause, the traffickers will continue being one step ahead of us all.

Please take the time to read this and share it with others.

Holding Men Accountable for Sex Trafficking

Too often when we think about human trafficking, and sex trafficking in particular, we think of it as a problem “out there.” But this year, for the first time, the U.S. State Department included the U.S. in its annual report on trafficking, admitting that it is a grave problem in the U.S. as well.

Jewel Woods, Executive Director of The Renaissance Male Project, is trying to combat that myth. Woods recently began promoting RMP’s efforts to address the role of the US in trafficking.

They recently produced a brochure: “Ten Things Men and Boys Can Do to Stop Human Trafficking.” Woods co-chairs the Ohio attorney general’s “Ohio Trafficking In Persons Study Commission Demand Reduction Sub-Committee.” I asked Woods why the RMP, located in Columbus Ohio, has made this a major focus of its work these days:

“Toledo, Ohio has the dubious distinction of being one of four cities to lead the nation in the number of domestic minors involved in human trafficking…we realizes we need to deal with the demand-side of human trafficking because no one was dealing with it. We started working with the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition about a year ago, and RMP just started our first John School in Toledo.”

The reality is, as Woods succinctly puts it, “there would be no human trafficking if there were was no demand for it!” That is why we need to target boys and men. Woods charges “we need to turn male spaces into circles of accountability where men learn about non-violence, social justice, and ending violence against women.” And that is just what the RMP is doing.

The following list has been adapted from the RMP brochure, and suggests specific actions that men and boys can take to end this atrocity that is occurring here in the United States and around the world. (Contact RMP for the brochure and other resources)

1. CHALLENGE THE GLAMORIZATION OF PIMPS IN OUR CULTURE
Mainstream culture and the music industry have popularized the image of a pimp to the point that some men and boys look up to pimps as if they represent legitimate male role models and view “pimping” as a normal expression of masculinity. In reality, pimps play a central role in human trafficking and cause tremendous harm by routinely raping, beating, and terrorizing women and girls to keep them locked in prostitution.

2. CONFRONT THE BELIEF THAT PROSTITUTION IS A “VICTIMLESS CRIME”
Many men view prostitution as a “victimless crime.” But it is not. For example, women who are involved in prostitution are at greater risk to be murdered, and suffer
tremendous physical and mental trauma. The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 13 years old.

3. STOP PATRONIZING STRIP CLUBS
Strip clubs in the United States and abroad may be a place where human trafficking victims go unnoticed or unidentified. Men rarely consider whether women working in strip clubs are coerced into that line of work, because to do so would conflict with the pleasure of participating in commercialized sex venues. Strip clubs–like brothels– are the most popular venues where the purchase of sexual services from women occurs the most.

4. DON’T CONSUME PORNOGRAPHY
Pornography manipulates male sexuality, popularizes unhealthy attitudes towards sex and sexuality, and eroticizes violence against women. Pornography leads men and boys to believe that certain sexual acts are normal, when in fact sexual acts that are non-consensual, offensive and coupled with violent intent result in the pain, suffering, and humiliation of women and children. In addition, a disproportionate amount of mainstream pornography sexualizes younger women with such titles as “teens”, “barely 18″, “cheerleaders,” etc. Victims of human trafficking have also been forced into pornography. Men can stop the voyeurism of sex and sex acts that fuel human trafficking by refusing to consume pornography and encourage others to do the same.

5. TACKLE SEXISM ONLINE
Men spend a significant amount of time online discussing their sexual exploits. The internet provides many men with the ability to mask their identities while indulging in racist, sexist, and violent diatribes against women and girls. Choosing to be a critical voice online is an extremely important way to educate and inform men and boys about their choices.

6. END SEX TOURISM
Men in the United States routinely travel overseas and have sex with women in developing countries. When men engage in these practices, they do not acknowledge the fact that many trafficked women and children come from developing countries– even in countries where prostitution is “legal.”

7. TALK TO MEN AND BOYS ABOUT MEN’S ISSUES IN MALE SPACES
The only way to change men is by engaging spaces where men and boys talk and develop their ideas and attitudes towards sex and sexuality. Males spaces such as barbershops, locker rooms, fraternities, and union halls are the real classrooms where boys learn to become men and where men develop most of their ideas about how to interact with women. If men do not feel comfortable talking about these issues in male spaces, they can drop off informational brochures and make themselves available to talk with other men and boys when they have questions
or concerns.

8. SUPPORT ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING POLICIES
One of the most important acts men can do to stop human trafficking is to support
anti-trafficking legislation at the local, state and federal level. Many states have no anti-trafficking legislation.

9. SUPPORT CREATION OF “JOHN SCHOOLS”
Strategies aimed at ending human trafficking must focus on eliminating the demand. “John Schools” are education programs designed to educate customers apprehended by law enforcement who attempted to purchase sex. By teaching the legal and health effects of buying sex and the realities of prostitution, such schools impart knowledge that can reduce demand, making men consciousof how their actions can spur on human trafficking. Learn whether or not your local community has a John School. If not, encourage your local prosecutor’s office or city counsel to start one.

10. RAISE SONS AND MENTOR BOYS TO CHALLENGE OPPRESSION
No boy is destined to be a “john”, a pimp, or a human trafficker. Raising young men in circles of accountability, to be respectful and protective of all women and children is one of the most important things men can do to stop human trafficking.
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Comments

1.
Dennis Rogers says:
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August 31, 2010 at 8:47 AM

You have made valid points with a good strategy as well. The DefendersUSA(https://www.thedefendersusa.org/take_pledge.asp) and the meetup group The Defenders – Tampa Bay Area Chapter (http://www.meetup.com/The-Defenders-TBAC/) have almost exactly the same strategies and goals.
You are correct in saying that the only way to have any affect on this scourge is to educate the men while they are still boys. That is also one of the things The Defenders-TBAC wishes to do. Your idea of the “John” schools is a good one but it must incorporate behavioral changes as part of the rehabilitation.
We would be willing to work with you on these schools.
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Will the EPA infuriate gun owners–and seal the fate of Democrats on November 2?
BY John McCormack
August 27, 2010 9:57 AM
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Will Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson make a back door move to ban lead bullets the day before the November 2 elections?

Several environmentalist groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are petitioning the EPA to ban lead bullets and shot (as well as lead sinkers for fishing) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Although EPA is barred by statute from controlling ammunition, CBD is seeking to work farther back along the manufacturing chain and have EPA ban the use of lead in bullets and shot because non-lead alternatives are available. But here’s the catch: the alternatives to lead bullets are more expensive. A ban on the sale of lead ammunition would force hunters and sport shooters to buy non-lead ammunition that is often double the cost of traditional lead ammunition. A box of deer hunting bullets in a popular caliber could be upwards of $55.

Although the EPA could have dismissed the request due to a lack of jurisdiction, it is obliging CBD. The EPA has asked for public comment on banning lead in ammunition, and an EPA notice was published seeking public comment that closes on October 31. Jackson would then make a decision to accept or reject the petition on November 1. You might say that even considering enacting what is effectively a new tax on hunters and gun owners–seemingly the only non-liberal group the Obama administration hasn’t yet intentionally provoked–is less-than-perfect timing for the already beleaguered Democrats as the midterm elections approach.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a trade association for the firearm and ammunition industry, has hit back against the petition sending Jackson a letter documenting why EPA has no jurisdiction and outlining the damage that banning lead ammunition would do to U.S. industry and jobs, conservation, and law enforcement. The NSSF estimates that more than 90 percent of hunters and sport shooters use traditional lead ammunition. If all hunters were forced to buy non-lead bullets that are made out of metals like tungsten, bismuth, and copper alloys, demand could easily begin to outstrip the supply and prices would go even higher.

Bill Clinton famously blamed the NRA and gun owners for sweeping Democrats from control of the House in 1994 after he pushed them to pass the Assault Weapons Ban. For Democrats, especially those in rural and conservative districts that are already facing voters’ wrath, gun control could once again be an issue that helps defeat them and swings control of the House and perhaps even the Senate to the GOP.

New Jobless Benefits Claims Leap to 500,000, Highest Since November

Published August 19, 2010

| Associated Press

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WASHINGTON — New applications for unemployment insurance reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November, a sign that employers are cutting jobs again as the recovery slows.

The Labor Department says initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000, the fourth increase in the past five weeks. Wall Street economists forecast that claims would drop.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose by 8,000 to 482,500, the highest since December. A Labor Department analyst says there were no special factors that distorted the numbers.

Jobless claims declined steadily last year from a peak of 651,000 in March 2009. Employers reduced layoffs and began hiring. But after flattening out earlier this year claims have begun to grow again.

Please click the link below and watch the video. The man who is from The U.K., whose country is already well entrenched in this battle, sums it up nicely.

Listen to him folks. He’s right.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/06/pat-condell-on-ground-zero-mosque-is-it-possible-to-be-astonished-but-not-surprised.html

I am putting a link from Bay News Nine here about a story they have just put on their website. It involves a child sex sting operation in Polk County. Read the article and watch the videos accompanying the story. It should make you sick and/or angry. If it doesn’t then you have a heart colder than the one I am accused of having. In this particular case, I can assure you there is no love lost in my heart for the perpetrators.

Here’s the link:

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/august/137671/Sheriff:-Those-arrested-in-sting-are-disgusting

Here’s something that will be of interest to you.
The following shows how ANYONE can become of Human Trafficking. The language in some of the video clips is NOT SUITABLE for children.
The video is about the daughter of well known actor … Read moreLAURENCE FISHBOURNE. It can happen to anyone.

http://fcaht.wordpress.com/category/sex-trafficking/

President

Weekly Jobless Numbers Exceed Analyst Expectations, Rise to 484K

Published August 12, 2010

| Associated Press

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Last evening I participated in a speech rehearsal for the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force on Human Trafficking of which I have recently had the privilege of joining. Several times in the speech I made some personal references as to why I became involved and why I feel so strongly about this horrendous crime that, in a perfect world, would never exist. After I had finished, the floor was opened for constructive criticism from the Chairwoman of the Speakers Bureau and other future speakers. The first to speak up was the Chairwoman herself whom was overall very pleased. The second woman said that I had made the speech more interesting by sharing some of the personal stories, mostly from raising two daughters in an area with a very high percentage of pedophiles, drug dealing (which the local S.D. is always chasing), transients, the homeless, and everything else that most of you have in your area whether you choose to see it or not. Her comment was followed by others of the same type. Another  woman commented that it was nice to see a man becoming involved and I thanked her for the compliment. I went on to explain again why I became involved, reiterating my personal parental stories. I then stated how this felt to be a natural extension, not just of my self but my business as well, when someone asked me exactly what it is I do. I told them that I was a small business owner who trains and instructs people to obtain the concealed carry weapons permit for Florida. The only one other man in the group, a neurosurgeon, asked me again what I did and the Chairwoman explained in a slightly different manner in which the doctor understood. He said he had no issue with my profession and that he simply did not understand my explanation. His comment made me feel glad that he, as a member of the medical community, felt this way. That is an unusual opinion considering that the American Medical Association, as a group, is abhorrently against firearms in the hands of the general populace.

Later, after arriving home and relaxing  I began wondering, merely because of the doctors presence at the meeting, if and why there is a conflict between my chosen profession versus my volunteer work with the Human Trafficking organization and what brought this thought to consciousness.

The doctors presence and attitude alone spurred this thought.

Most doctors are by their individual nature compassionate toward their fellow man intertwined with love and an inquisitiveness about the  inner, divine workings of the human body. They are perplexed when a diagnosis is just beyond grasp. They feel remorse at the loss of a patient even though they realize they are not GOD and try to rationalize the death of a patient by attempting to put a thin mental wall of indifference up as a defense mechanism. Many of us have also tried that thin wall of indifference only to see it break apart like the thinnest wing of a butterfly to result in pain we did not wish to feel. Personally, my own doctor is a very compassionate man who believes strongly in The Hippocratic Oath he took. He is a wonderful man of whom I can now call friend after twenty-eight years as one of his patients. (He does not like when I come in though. My presence forces him to scratch his head in wonderment just before retreating to his office and the medical books he keeps there. Most likely because of me!) Perhaps I am fortunate to have a doctor such as he. I do feel that way. But is he really any different than most of the doctors out there? Does he have any more compassion, love and thin walls in place than any other doctor? I say no because of the presence of the neurosurgeon at last evenings speech rehearsal.

Now, let’s look at another side of the speakers table from last evening. Nine concerned individuals were there. Seven of those being women. This does not surprise me nor does it give me reason for concern. Women are, by their Godly design, the more compassionate, loving and concerned of the two sexes. They are also, by “nature” more inclined to willingly allow their heart-felt feelings be known to others without fear of reaction from their peers or the male gender. It is these components that, aside from the biological differences, make them better mothers than any man could hope to be in most cases. They are not afraid to cry when something moves them to do so. They are not afraid to hold their children when something is wrong nor to counsel them on the matters of importance to the child and teach them the right thing to do. That is what a mother is supposed to do. That is the role our society has given them, along with other more numerous ones. Yet, even a woman who is a captain of industry, a role traditionally held by men, will still come home and do these very things with no thought given to what her “peers” may think.

A woman is fortunate because she is allowed to show her fears.

Most men I know would never even mention such things unless they were near the physical limitations of alcohol poisoning. It is not what “MEN” do. We do not show our emotions because we have none.We do the dirty work at home and in society and we have no opinion about it. We just do what needs done. And we WIN! To show our emotions would be unheard of unless we had just won the Super Bowl or The World Series. Those are the truly important things in life! SPORTS are the only things that matter in our life because we are born to be strong and born to be winners in life.

Get a life. Better yet, learn how to truly enjoy life.

The other side of the “speakers table”. Two men, both adult and professional, one a neurosurgeon, the other teaches and instructs others on self-defense, weapons and  some tactics. He helps people to obtain their concealed carry weapons permit. A permit that allows those people to carry, perhaps, a dangerous weapon, capable of taking another persons life. Such responsibility is something most of us have never had any experience with save our law enforcement and military. He teaches them the statutes they need to know pertaining to Florida concerning “justifiable force” for defense of others and themselves. He teaches how to prevent themselves from becoming victims of a violent crime. And he teaches them some of the most effective areas to shoot someone in order to end the “situation” quickly. In short, he teaches them some of  the “how to’s” of self-defense and, if necessary, how to kill someone should their life depend on it.

Is this needed knowledge? Isn’t this one of the areas that man has spent the most time and energy on? We spend more time devising ways and methods to kill each other than anything else.

GOD forgive us. We are an unruly lot.

The “He” is me.

This is now the point where the question of conflict between my business and my volunteering meet head to head. Perhaps like two opposing boulders falling from opposite sides of the valley only to meet with a thunderous crash at the bottom. Which one survives the impact? Which one crumbles to pulverized dust? Which one? Perhaps they both succumb to the impact, to the point that they are now just a small part of the river bank, releasing nutrients for the creation around neither one greater than the other. Neither surviving. If one of those boulders does not survive then that side of me no longer exists. And if one part of me dies than the whole passes with it. But does one of those boulders have to cease to sit upon the valley walls?

From where I stand, at the bottom and in the middle, I say no.

These two parts aren’t separate from each other. They are two parts that make up the whole, the complete Me. The very reason I do these two things that may appear on the surface to be individualistic.  The “whole” me does not like to see anyone become a victim of anything. Especially of a violent crime.

A violent crime does not always result in physical pain, bloodshed or death though we all know many do.

Another way to inflict something maybe even greater than physical pain is by attacking the mind. This attack can be so torturous that physical death would be more welcome because of the finality it brings. The final realization that there is no more torment nor sadness nor wonderment as to the very origin of  the torment. I can see the appeal of such thought but have no first hand knowledge of such depravity that would cause a desire such as that. I can get just close enough in my mind.

Some of you may say that there is a way to stop from becoming a victim of such tyranny and torment at the the hands of others. Just say no or walk away from it. Would those things be easy to do if your society is what bred such occurrences in the first place? If your mother or father told you countless times in countless days from the day of birth that you are less than nothing – You will believe it! You will accept it! Because you know nothing else!

The only way to train someone for against this type of attack is, from the day of birth,to tell them, to show them, to teach them that no one person is less than another. Regretfully, in many countries as well as own great nation, this is not always done.

I am unable to raise and teach every child in every country how not to be victimized regretfully.

However, this brings us the answer to the question of  “Am I in conflict with myself between my business and my volunteering?” The answer is a thorough and complete, looked at from logical and honest viewpoints of myself by my “self” – No!

By volunteering to speak about Human Trafficking (second only to the drug trade as a choice “business” for criminals) I am still doing what I truly enjoy and have a passion for doing! Training others to not only protect themselves and others from a violent crime is what I do, is what I am!  By volunteering to speak out against Human Trafficking I become like two boulders that have become molten, the ores contained in each becoming fused together, adding to the parts, making them stronger.

The two do not create confusion.

They have created completeness.