Is Child Trafficking Really That Difficult To Absorb?

[ekso8]

Recently, a dear friend of mine launched a Kickstarter campaign to finish paying for a film about the sex trafficking of children in North America. The film was one of the first to paint a comprehensive picture about the fact that most American men who go overseas to exploit children have actually done it here at home first. It also points out that women and children who are trafficked into the country from other places are often accorded protections and welfare services (rightly so) while American kids are arrested and jailed for prostitution because they've been trafficked across state lines and not national borders.

She's trying to raise $200,000 (after successfully raising $1.3M pre-recession) but has found that some folks simply find the topic just too difficult to think about. I wonder if it's a sign of the times - is there such a saturation of bad news that people simply can't read about something so terrible? And yet, child trafficking becomes more profitable and more frequent precisely at times like this. What do you think?

If you're interested in learning more, the kickstarter campaign can be found here: http://kck.st/JU0HCE
and the website fills in much of the information I've left out... campaign13.org

Of course, I want to help her and the cause - but is this topic just too much...?

[Ptree82]

It's certainly not a fun topic to talk about but unfortunately life is full of terrible realities. My book club once read Jaycee Duggard's book A Stolen Life and there were some very tough moments to get through. One of our book club members is a mother and she had to put the book down and start up a few weeks later several times. She finished the book months after the rest of us because she said having a child and hearing what that child had to go through was too much for her because she didn't want to think about her own daughter getting kidnapped and raped. The same goes for subjects like child trafficking because it's just so unpleasant and the thoughts hit home for some people. Also people may feel like they can't do anything about it and no one wants to feel helpful. Still, it's great that your friend is still trying to help and you're getting the word out. It's a scary world we live in.

[LittlestThing]

Child/people trafficking is obviously really difficult to absorb! Because as soon as you do, you start realising how common it is. It's not only something that's happening in "third world countries", but everywhere in the world. There was a documentary on just last month about a girl whose father sold her for 5000 euros (and that's in EU). It's hard to imagine that happened somewhere physically close to me. That's why it's considered a taboo topic.
I hope she gets the documentary out; it's surprising how many people don't even those kinds of things exist...

[KaitlynD19]

It is an incredibly scary thought, I feel personally, that someone would want to do that to any person, let alone a child. I'm currently training to become a nursery teacher, and the first thing that we're taught is how to spot the signs of abuse, and I know that trafficked children would be hidden away from places like nurseries and schools, but just knowing that there are people who would take such horrible advantage of children's trusting nature and vulnerable position in society. It is considered a taboo subject, but without people, everyday people, being educated on how to keep children safe all the time, then I think there will only be even more child groomers and snatchers. It's a horrible thing to think of another person, but there are reasons why children should be protected. It's a pity for the ones who it's too late for to be protected from these forms of abuse, but I'm proud that your friend is doing her best to help the cause.