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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/28/super-bowl-sex-trafficking_n_6564570.html
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WARN OF SUPER BOWL SEX TRAFFICKING RISKS, YOUNG WOMEN POSE IN LIFE-SIZE TOY BOX
Huffington
Post | By Eleanor Goldberg – January 28, 2015
As the Super Bowl
fast approaches, advocates are concerned about issues far darker…They’re eager
to protect potential victims from being trafficked for sex. While some claim
that the links drawn between the increased
risks of sex trafficking at the Super Bowl are
"overblown," many experts in the field remain steadfast that there
are higher incidents of such crimes
at the mega sporting event.
To make fans and
locals more aware of the prevalence of these crimes, advocacy group Shared
Hope International (SHI) has erected a life-size pink toy box and
young female volunteers are taking turns standing inside of it for hours on
end. "It allows us to have a conversation about how children are viewed as
commodities," Taryn Offenbacher, SHI communications director, told The
Huffington Post. "This is a real person no matter how they’re
packaged."
Shared Hope
International (SHI), a group that works to prevent sex trafficking crimes and
help local organizations expand their services, partnered with Brunner, an
Atlanta creative agency, to execute the "Children Aren’t Playthings"
doll box campaign.
The 7-foot exhibit
debuted on Monday at Arizona State University, which is a hosting a weeklong
anti-trafficking campaign, Offenbacher added.
It will also be
stationed at Grand Canyon University, Glendale Community College and downtown
Phoenix throughout the week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, according to a
statement released by SHI. Saturday’s event will be held in conjunction with StreetLightUSA,
a local Arizona group that rehabilitates sex trafficking survivors between the
ages of 11 and 17.
Obtaining exact
sex trafficking figures is notoriously difficult, because it’s a crime that
occurs behind closed doors and victims are often reluctant to come forward
because they fear being treated as criminals. But experts say that there are
enough statistics to indicate that this is an insidious issue year-round, and
is more prevalent during major sporting events.
According to a
2011 FBI report, an estimated 293,000 children in the U.S. are at
risk of being exploited and trafficked for sex.
In Tampa, during
the 2009 Super Bowl, for example, the Department of Children and Families
identified 24 children trafficked into the city
for sex.
"To
understand the dynamics of human trafficking is to understand that events such
as the Super Bowl could never not be
breeding grounds for sexual exploitation," Judy Kluger,
executive director of advocacy nonprofit Sanctuary for Families, wrote in a
HuffPost blog last year. "On the most basic level, any location that sees
an exponential increase in large numbers of men traveling for entertainment
will receive a proportional increase in those who purchase sex."