I get regular updates from Lisa Thompson at the salvation army and this one is kickin...also close to my home being from pasadena...this advocacy and action on a level we can particpate.
http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3670&IssueNum=30
http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3702&IssueNum=31
I applaud Pasadena Weekly for the two part series covering the issue ofhuman trafficking and prostitution. These are such important issues thatmust be tackled.The most difficult part of offering help to these victims of exploitationis that they are not easily recognized. The US government's efforts torescue and restore trafficking victims have been stalled because the verypeople they seek to help cannot be found. These people are locked inslavery within our own neighborhoods, hidden in plain sight. Our culture ofignorance and tolerance permits this injustice to persist.Unfortunately, in the July 27 article the only recommendations listed fromthe researchers at UC Berkley for the prevention of human trafficking wereaimed at "the state." Yet every one of us has a responsibility to preventhuman trafficking. We all play a part in the cultural complicity when welook the other way and tolerate sexual abuse of children and theexploitation of women and girls in prostitution.All forms of commercial sex, be they legal like pornography or illegal,fuel the demand for human trafficking victims.All prostitution hurts women. It relegates them to sex objects and devaluesthem as human beings. Prostitution is rarely a free choice, but one ofdesperation that no woman should be forced to make.I urge the Pasadena Weekly to follow through with your commitment to cutall questionable advertising, which serves as a guise for the commercialsex trade.You mention your need to be "responsible citizens" but toning down "sexualcontent" is not far enough. On August 15, 2006, a ring of prostitution,involving 240 women was busted in Riverside, CA after police investigatedwhat was posed as an escort service in online and newspaper advertisements.In the same edition of Pasadena Weekly that ran the story "The new face ofslavery" I counted at least 41 "questionable" adds making little attempt tohide their true purpose of selling sex. If many of the services offered areillegal, as you claim, they have no business being in your paper.We do not want in any way to encourage or participate in those actions thatexploit women and facilitate human slavery and misery.Please put your money where your mouth is. Set an example for the communityand other newspapers demonstrating that sexual exploitation will no longerbe tolerated.Sincerely,Ruthi Hoffman HanchettMonrovia, CA
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