Guest Blogger Rebecca Kantar: Localizing the Global Sex Trade

In 2006, my friends and I organized a yard sale in hopes of raising $5,000 for a rehabilitation center being built for child survivors of the commercial sex trade in the Philippines. We knew little about the plight of the global child sex trade, but as high school freshmen we had learned that in the United States, our peers were trapped in a vicious form of slavery. We could not understand why, since teenagers in our nation were at risk for entering the trade, no one had ever even told us a child sex trade existed. None of us had been sexually exploited, yet we all felt a collective responsibility to act. Back to our yard sale - though our whole community called us crazy, we raised $6,500 by selling crap.

By 2007, we had raised $35,000 through small community events and had helped complete the construction of the rehabilitation center in the Philippines. We had weekly "meetings" at which we discussed our projects and organizational plans.  We incorporated as Minga, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to combating the global child sex trade by harnessing the power of teens. While in our first year we focused on rehabilitating survivors, we quickly realized that few organizations in our space worked with at-risk young people in order to prevent them from becoming future victims or abusers. As teenagers, we were best fit to talk with our peers in hopes of exposing them to the realities of the commercial sex trade. Since 2007, we've educated and empowered more than 10,000 young people nationwide. 

But as we learn more about the global slave trade and sex trafficking, we recognize just speaking to our youth will not be enough to generate systemic change. We must change the economic equations behind the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in order to reduce demand and supply. First, we have to change our laws and make buying and selling children for sex too risky and too expensive. Law enforcement training is critical to enforcing already-existing and new laws that increase the penalties pimps and johns face. Beyond increasing the actual risk to pimps and johns, we must shift the cultural stigma that currently surrounds child victims to instead plague exploiters. As Sweden has, our nation must unanimously condemn buying sex with children and in doing so increase the perceived risk, deterring potential exploiters from buying or selling children for sex in the first place. 

To achieve legal and cultural shifts that will ultimately change behaviors Minga is positioned to unite organizations in our cause space, relevant corporations and celebrities to provide a framework for high-level change. We are launching a campaign in the coming months that will empower hundreds of thousands of young people to take action. While campaign details are not yet public, our programming focuses on ensuring key players in the travel industry become a part of the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. 

By building a critical mass of youth, organizational, corporate, and celebrity support, Minga and its partner organizations will be poised to act as a national coalition focused on filling in gaps, which despite our laws and systems, still fail our nation's most vulnerable children. Minga doesn't provide the kind of programming where you donate $20 and we promise to save a life: our cause doesn't work like that. We could fund rehabilitation centers; this work is important. But no matter how many centers we build, pimps would recruit new victims and johns would keep paying. We lead campaigns that aim to address roots causes of CSEC, mainly pop culture's glorification of pimping and glamorization of sex-work coupled with the chance for exploiters to profit extremely with little risk of being caught. Although our impact may not be fully realized for a decade, we will measure the pulse of our nation to evaluate our progress in building a movement that brings our taboo cause to the forefront of our nation's conscience. 

About United Way Women's Initiative Education Series: Saving Our Girls - Demystifying the Secret World of Sexual Exploitation
An estimated 240,000 - 325,000 youth in the US are at risk for sexual exploitation annually. The most common ages for girls recruited into prostitution are between 12 and 15 years old from foster homes, MBTA stations and high schools. United Way heard the story of Rodnee Davis and her brave escape from this lifestyle at our Women's Leadership Breakfast in September. Join us for a powerful roundtable discussion with local leaders and advocates who are working on the front lines to eliminate sexual exploitation. Boston City Councilor-At-Large Ayanna Pressley will moderate the discussion between panelists including Mia Alvarado (Executive Director of Roxbury Youthworks, Inc.), Audrey Porter (Assistant Director of My Life, My Choice) and Rebecca Kantar (CEO of Minga). This event is generously sponsored by Eastern Bank and Nutter, McClennan & Fish, LLP.
When: Wednesday, December 7 from 5:30-7:30pm
Where: Nutter, McClennen & Fish, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston, MA 02210
Contact: womens@supportunitedway.org or call Beverly 617-624-8059