The consequences of our complacency to the sexualization of children are far-ranging – and none more horrifying than the rise in demand for children in the sex trade. Melissa L. Breger
It takes a special kind of evil to prostitute and traffic a child for sex, and yet this evil walks among us every minute of every day. Every two minutes a child some as young as 9, is bought and sold for sex.
Child rape has become Big Business in America and it is happening everywhere, right under our noses, in suburbs, cities and towns across the nation. And by looking the other way we have become their conspirators. Trust me when I say that it is our complacency and silence that allows them to flourish.
It is estimated that at least 100,000 to 500,000 children are bought and sold for sex in the U.S. every year. Some of these children are forcefully abducted, others are runaways, and still others are sold into the system by relatives and acquaintances. The average age of those being trafficked is 13 but every year they get younger and younger.
Like so many of the evils in our midst, sex trafficking and the sexualization of young people is a cultural disease that speaks to a sordid, far-reaching corruption that stretches from the highest seats of power in government down to the most hidden corners of society.
Balenciaga, the celebrated fashion house, recently made headlines for a campaign featuring young children holding plush teddy bears dressed in sado-masochistic trappings – bondage gear, fishnet shirts and studded leather harnesses and collars. A parallel campaign featured a page from a Supreme Court case on child pornography and a coffee table book on an artist whose artwork depict children in sexual, macabre and disturbing settings. Unfortunately, it’s not just Balenciaga that is guilty of the hypersexualization of children in fashion ads, and on TV. It’s a worrisome trend that should trigger warning bells. This objectification and sexualization of children directly contributes to the epidemic of child sex trafficking by fueling demands to purchase minors for sex.
We have become complacent to the epidemic. We continue to buy the clothes, watch the shows and use the apps. As images of young people in sexually suggestive contexts subliminally enter minds and cross the blurred boundaries of acceptable norms, our society becomes more and more comfortable with pushing the envelope. And with increased demand comes increased supply – naturally, the trafficking business is booming.
That so many children continue to be victimized, brutalized and treated like human cargo is due to three things: A consumer demand that is increasingly lucrative for everyone involved, except the victims; A level of corruption so invasive on both a local and international scale that there is little hope of working through established channels for change; and worst of all, An eerie silence from individuals who fail to speak out against such atrocities.
We need to do more than simply criminalize and prosecute sex trafficking. We need to get to the root of the problem: It is incumbent upon us to reject the notion that sexualizing children is acceptable in any way.
Source: Evil Walks Among Us: Child Trafficking Has Become Big Business in America by John Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute; From Balenciaga to Disney, companies profit by sexualizing kids – at a horrific price by Melissa Breger, USA Today; The Assault on Our Children by Franklin County Patriots.
