Am I Not Human?: Ending Sexual Exploitation of Children

There is limited information available on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and adolescents within the United States. The absence of published facts and figures beyond estimates and small-scale local information highlights the pressing need for systematic and verifiable qualitative and quantitative information to guide national level action.

The prostitution of children is a widespread, national phenomenon yet members of the public and law enforcement view children in prostitution as a public nuisance or as immoral, bad kids, if not criminals. They tend not to see American children in prostitution as “innocent victims”, in the same way as they might see poor, young foreign children who may be kidnapped, sold or trafficked to the US for such purposes. Rather, American girls are seen as willing participants, mostly inner city teenagers who “know just what they are getting into and deserve what they get”.

The United States is one of the world’s largest producers, distributors and consumers of child pornography. Online images of sexual exploitation of children is the most significant cybercrime against children confronting the FBI. The US is also a source country for child sex tourism (CST), and a destination country for trafficking in children for sexual purposes.

The above is an excerpt from an article at ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes).

My goal today is to have us reconsider the plight of sex crimes against children. Often times the news media will cover the sexual exploitation of children in other countries while never highlighting what's happening in America. I think there is a tendency to believe that only black and other minority children, poor children, and troubled teens are prostitutes in this country. If a child is prostituting, then she or he must be a "willing" participant is the way many Americans see this crisis.

Children cannot legally buy cigarettes or alcohol in this country because these are drugs that are not healthy for them. Yet, children are seen as willing participants in their own sexual abuse - this is illogical. Children and teens are being forced into the sex trade business by pimps who have promised to take care of them, to to love them and, to buy them fancy clothes and toys. Our children and teens are forcibly given drugs to make them drug addicted, are getting beaten to instill fear to make them stay, and are being murdered when they try to escape. This problem of sex crimes against children is just a real and horrific in the US as it is in other countries. I see it first hand every week and the children seem to get younger.

Let me tell you about one of the young ladies, I'll call her "Angel." Angel is a 12-year-old girl who is in foster care. Angel is a chronic run away and to support herself she began to trade her body for money and food. Angel was detained and questioned by police officers for suspicion of prostitution. When the officers checked her name in the database Angel was reported as a runaway from foster care. Angel was then driven to social services after hours office for immediate placement back into a foster home. At the time Angel was wearing only a blouse that stopped right below her pelvis. She had on nothing else. The officers that brought her to the social services office had not bothered to find something to cover her. A social worker was able to find a sheet from a baby's crib that's kept in the office.

Angel's birth mother is drug addicted, her father is incarcerated, and other family members tried to take care of her. It seemed no one tried therapy and I have no clue about religious support. One of Angel's foster parents allegedly sexually abused her. Angel will probably go from foster home to foster home until she ages out of the system (turns 18 when she can refuse services).

Sadly, there is nothing uncommon about this story, at least not in my line of work. There are other children who are not a part of social services and have no place to turn. There are children who are kidnapped, coerced, and forced to become sex slaves right here in the good, ol', US of A.

Children of The Night is a private, non-profit agency that works diligently to rescue children from prostitution. ECPAT works to protect children's right to grow up free from sexual exploitation. ECPAT-USA is the American branch of the international organization that fights against the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the US, including the trafficking of children to and within America. Stop It Now! provides a list of resources and other information about ending child sexual abuse.

Explore what you and I can do link. Children's Rights ARE Human Rights!

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Photo credit: Am I Not Human logo from Roots of Humanity; "Sex Slaves on Main Street" New York Times Magazine cover published January 24, 2004.