Love

Sex trafficking at the superbowl

Having grown up in Las Vegas, Im very aware of the market for what some people consider fun...coming to a place where 'what happens there, stays there' and doing things you never would at home in your normal every day life.

Several years ago, a man came to Vegas on business and ended up being thrown out of a strip club and beaten to the point of being paralyzed by the bouncer. Not only did he have to go back home and fess up to his wife and loved ones of his activities while in Vegas, but his life was forever changed as well as the life of his wife by a moment of desire and lack of integrity.

Others come to Vegas and 'the code' (the 'what happens here stays here') isn't broken until five years later when the disease they have contracted shows up in their loved one back home.

While I do understand that what happens between two consenting adults should be a right, I am not naive enough nor foolish enough to believe that the effects of those actions do not remain in that isolated incident...no matter how 'secret' the event might be...the action becomes a part of each participant and is spread rampantly throughout both personal lives and society as a whole. No matter the alluring billboards nor the sexy tv ads, Sin City spreads like a cancer and can not be contained by any code or secret.

But...regardless of this truth...there is another place where selfish desires are fulfilled and where the market is thought out, planned, and carried out in a surprising and disheartening display of cruelty and evil. It's at a place I never would have thought of... The Super Bowl.

For the past few years, I've become very aware of the problem of sex trafficking and the SuperBowl. Young children and women are kidnapped and or sold into sexual slavery and marketed to men at this event. I am not talking about willing prostitutes (that's a whole other story), I'm talking humans unwilling and in bondage who are bought and sold by the hour, by the minute for the cruel desires of some. They are dehumanized and hurt. And let's be honest, the way out of this life, once sold into it, normally is by death. Once the woman or child becomes unusable anymore, they are most often killed so that they are kept quiet rather than freed.

The people providing this service are rarely seen by the public. We just don't even know its going on in front of us sometimes. Last year, when the superbowl was in Dallas, I learned that my new home was one of THE leading places in the world for sex trafficking. I could not believe my ears! I never saw it, never. I even spent quite a bit of time in rougher areas of town documenting different stories for work and I never even came close to seeing anything I would consider suspicious! Where is it? I had to realize that just because I didn't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

And most of us will never ever see that side out it. But what most of us do have the power to do it reduce the market for it. I can't imagine the type of man who would buy an hour with someone for sex...willing, but especially unwilling. But I know that they are out there in droves and I know that men with integrity and character have the ability to speak to those who don't about why this is so wrong. Men, do not turn a blind eye...be bold, be courageous, speak against this in every way you can. Again, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Women, continue to spread the word, educate others on what you learn, help women and girls realize they are more than just their bodies, help educate them on dangerous situations. Keep your eyes open and keep spreading the word. If you see anything suspicious, if your gut tells you something is off...contact authorities immediately. There's group after group working on eradicating this...join up or at least become aware.

Just a few places you can help:
http://www.ijm.org/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://abolitioninternational.org/
http://www.unearthedpictures.org/

Heather Veitch

http://vimeo.com/17089525