Blogging for the Girl Effect: Human Trafficking

The number of slaves in the world today is far greater than ever before in history.

- E. Benjamin Skinner, A Crime so Monstrous

There are more individuals in slavery today than at the height of the trans-atlantic slave trade.

- The Polaris Project

Human trafficking is a very different field than consensual sex work. Trafficking is modern-day slavery. It is an issue that affects both men and women and all victims are important and deserve to be recognized. Girls and women are trafficked at much higher rates than boys, though. Many girls who are trafficked are as young as six years old.

Victims in the sex trafficking industry are raped daily, receive little or no medical care, are subjected to botched, late-term abortions, receive no schooling, little food, are brutally beaten by their pimps and often die from such beatings, as well as from untreated sexually transmitted infections.

TRAFFIK by Norman Jean Roy

How to girls end up in these situations? In developing countries, contraception is either illegal or not made easily available. Poor families may have a large number of children, sometimes more than they are able to provide for. In the cycle of poverty girls always lose. They are sometimes sold into slavery by their families. In other instances families might be tricked by traffickers into thinking their daughters will be taken to the city to work or receive an education, only for them to later be forced into prostitution by their captors after they are taken from their homes.

If girls are able to escape from their brothels and return home they are often shunned or stigmatized by their villages and often even by their own family.

Human trafficking is the second largest industry in the world, pulling in about $32 billion annually.

Two children are sold every minute.

Human trafficking does not just affect developing countries. The countries with the highest recorded amounts of human trafficking are include: Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, China, Thailand, and Nigeria.

Human trafficking is also a large problem in the United States. Over 100,000 children in the United States alone are forced into prostitution or pornography each year. Trafficking tends to increase around areas hosting large events, such as the Super Bowl or the Olympics.

The average age of entry into human trafficking and pornography in the United States is twelve years old.

Women like Anuradha Koirala, CNN's 2010 Hero of the Year and the founder and executive director of Maiti Nepal, are working to combat human trafficking and to provide a reliable means of recovery for its victims.

Since 1993, Koirala's work with Maiti Nepal has led to the rescue of more than 12,000 Nepali women and girls.

Somaly Mam, CNN's 2006 Hero of the Year, president of AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Situations) and president of the Somaly Mam Foundation, is another women who rescues trafficked girls and helps pave a road to recovery for victims of the sex trade industry.

Mam was once a victim of sexual slavery herself. She shares her personal story into and out of the brothels in her book The Road of Lost Innocence.

The Girl Effect is an organization that strives to empower women by keeping girls in school, which will lead to them to marry when they choose, stay healthy and HIV negative, raise a healthy family, and to be able to provide for themselves, raise the standard of living for their villages, and empower other young girls around them.

By valuing, educating and empowering girls, human trafficking can be cut by a wide margin.


For more information about human trafficking, check out Love146.org, a religiously based organization that strives to educate people about human trafficking and combat its causes. Its website provides shocking personal stories from trafficking victims themselves and from people who have gone into brothels to recover these victims.

Read its online zine here.

If you would like to make a donation to an organization that is combating human trafficking and its causes (and I urge you to donate to a charity that is completely secular, these girls need food, shelter, and medical attention, not bibles and preachers), I highly recommend Maiti Nepal as well as The Somaly Mam Foundation, and of course, The Girl Effect.

Hey, so, I'm in college now.

Remember this post? Well, I ended up at the University of North Texas! It is really great, and I will expound on that in later posts.

I live in Crumley Hall, an all-girl dorm, and apparently one of the greenest dorm buildings in the United States. Go us.

I am having a lot of fun here. No one else from my old high school went out of state, so I knew practically no one here from the start, which I am now thankful for. Starting over with new people gives me a chance to start fresh without bringing any of my past here with me.

My current major of interest is International Studies, and right now I am looking at minors in Peace Studies, Women's Studies, and possibly Spanish or Japanese or both, depending on how I manage my time and if I end up doing study abroad over the summer. I have a feeling I will look back on that list and laugh. Haha.

While I am here, with the campus and world at my fingertips, there are a few things I want to accomplish. I have been building a college bucket list of sorts. My current goals are as follows:

- Play in the fountain (Did it!)
- Get on the roof of a building at my university
- Graduate with honors
- Learn Spanish
- Be an officer for a club
- Study abroad
- Do an intership, preferably with the Girl Scouts of America, the Texas GSA Network, the Human Rights Campaign, Heifer International, or with some awesome organizations like them
- Become a vegetarian (I'm working on it!)
- Have a relationship (I realize college is not an expensive dating service, like some students seem to think it is, but people tend to learn a lot about themselves through relationships, and there are many young, intelligent, attractive queer students here so, yes, I want to date people.)
- Help organize a protest or a rally
- Conquer the rec center's rock wall
- Attend Dallas's pride parade (It was so awesome.)
- Volunteer

I am sure I will be adding more to the list as the year progresses, but that is all I have right now.

There are plenty of awesome people to meet and I have been learning more things outside the classroom than in it so far, but I am only taking lower level classes right now.

Oh, I am also apart of the honors college! It is not that incredibly special, actually, but I know it will help me get into graduate school. I plan on taking honor's writing next semester which I will hopefully pour my heart and soul in and come out a more polished writer and poet than I am now.

Now begins the journey of self-discovery and personal growth and coming onto my own and becoming a contributing member of society and what have you.

Go Mean Green!

Caw!

Christians openly advocate killing and raping atheists on FOX News Facebook page

They said there were over 8,000 death threats.

8,000 death threats.

There were threats of killing, many by firearm (how many actually specifically advocated to "shoot 'em"?), and raping the atheist heathens galore, several typed directly after they professed their love for Jesus Christ.

All this comes after American Atheists filed a law suit to have the cross removed from Ground Zero.

(source)

"The cross has become a Christian icon. It has been blessed by so-called holy men a few times, and presented as a reminder that God, in his infinite power of goodness, who couldn’t be bothered to stop the Muslim terrorists, or stop the fire, or hold up the buildings to stop 3000 people from being crushed, cared enough to bestow upon us some rubble that resembles a cross. Ridiculous."
- American Atheists' Blog

I know, I know. Every Christian person who may stumble across the comments made on FOX's Facebook page may think something along the lines of, "Those aren't real Christians!" or, "Not all Christians are like that." I agree with you, and most atheists would agree with you too. We have friends and family members who are Christian. Some may use to have been Christians themselves. We are perfectly aware that not every Christian on the planet is dead set on killing and raping every atheist they come across.

As shocking as some of those commenters' words may be, this violence really does not surprise me. As a queer person, I am very aware of the long, growing list of hate crimes committed against gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans* and intersexed people every day. Many of those crimes are religiously motivated.

The buck does not stop there. The pro-life movement is made almost completely of religious individuals, and as Sandy Rapp has said, "Praying in the light, bombing in the night," with a total of 96 incidences of violence -- including murder, death threats, vandalism, arson and bombing -- against United States and Canadian abortion clinics in 2010.

Again, "Not all Christians are like that! They do not represent all Christians!" I can hear it and I agree. Just like the extremists on 9/11 do not represent all followers of Islam and Westboro does not represent all Baptists, I understand these violent words are not endorsed by all followers of the Christian god.

Is it surprising that there is so much violence perpetrated in the name of Christianity, though? Look at the Christian holy book, the Bible. There is rape, murder, and God-sanctioned killing littered throughout it's pages.

"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."
-Numbers 31:17-18

"If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days."
-Deuteronomy 22:28-29

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."
-Psalm 137:9

"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."
-Jude 1:5

(There is really more blood in the Bible than your standard Hollywood slasher, symbolic and otherwise.)
(I prefer the King James version because unicorns!)

And of course, in the end, atheists suffer eternally in the fires of Hell. God is love!

I have blogged before about violence in the Bible the United States' shaky Christian/atheist relationship (click here!).

I have just been thinking a bit, we have all heard similar violent things from the mouths of Christians before. According to Christians, the Christian god loves everyone. That makes it okay for him to send millions of people into the fires of Hell to suffer eternally. He loves them. Some may even argue sinners and non-believers send themselves to Hell. "How dare you use your God-given rationality to think rationally!"

If someone has a gun to your head and tells you do do something or they will shoot, and you not obeying them causes you to get shot, it is not the shooter's fault you were shot, it is your own fault because you disobeyed them.

Those comments on Fox's Facebook page are shocking, but not surprising. We have heard them before, and we will be hearing similar words from believers again and again for the rest of our lives.

My Second Pride Parade and Being Assumed Straight

Last month I attended my second pride parade in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I walked with the Youth Services Center of Tulsa's float. They have special programs for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth, and I was proud to get to walk with them alongside many other awesome teenagers, a stunning drag queen, and one of my best friends, Lauren.


I do not have my rainbow flag anymore, unfortunately. When I was passing out candy (we aren't legally allowed to toss candy in Tulsa, which is ridiculous) I had it in my pocket. One moment I looked down it had disappeared. I was incredibly upset. I felt like a raccoon who had lost her tail. I will have to get another one soon.

My best friend, Lauren, is straight. It was her first pride parade. She had a good time, despite the heat, and was very entertained by the wide variety of people there. I explained what bears were and what the bisexual flag looked like.

She was a little confused by the bears. Ha, I am honestly a little confused by them as well.

Lauren is a very good ally, but something she said near the beginning of the parade really struck me.

"If I see a cute guy here it won't matter."
"Why is that?"
"Well, he'll probably be gay."
"And?"
"It's sad."

She meant she would not have a chance with most of the men she saw at the parade. She also commented on how everyone at the parade was probably assuming she was gay. It did not bother her much, but she had never been in that kind of situation before, people assuming she was the opposite sexual orientation (which is surprising, seeing as she plays softball, haha).

After she said those things it made me think. It is like that every day for me.

If I see a cute girl anywhere, possibly excluding a Tegan and Sara concert, chances are about 90% of the time she will be straight. It is the most important thing, finding out if a woman is gay or not. Before I take anything else into account, I have to consider a girl's possible sexual orientation. If I hit on a straight girl mistakenly, it can be really, really bad. If something like had happened at my old high school I could have been written up for harassment. If a guy hits on me, a lesbian, mistakenly, oops, not a big deal in his eyes or in the eyes of anyone else. He might even come on stronger and see nothing wrong with his actions.

I often get asked by dentists, doctors, co-workers, people I have just met and people I am not out to about boyfriends. It is always, "Do you have a boyfriend?" or, "When you get married..."

I do not have boyfriends. I currently cannot legally marry the person I will eventually fall in love with. This is a reality I face almost every day, being assumed straight. If someone assumes I am straight I will correct them.

Straight people often do not understand why I feel the need to vocalize my sexuality. It is not the first thing I tell people when I meet them and it is not my most important characteristic, but it is something I like people to know.

It is because I am tired of being assumed straight. I have been assumed straight since I emerged from the womb.

I realize this is not a big deal to most people. Can you imagine, if you are straight, people assuming you are a gay man or a lesbian every day of your life? Can you imagine growing up and having adults talk about your future husband, if you are a man, or your future wife, if you are a woman? Can you imagine being hit on by the same sex and having to come out as straight over and over again?

Now imagine people telling you to keep the fact that you are straight quiet. "You don't need to talk about it so much." "Why do you have to tell everyone you're straight?" "Why can't you just keep it quiet?"

Do you understand why I refuse to be kept quiet?

Social Networking in Big Events: Osama bin Laden's Death

Highlights and facepalms from the night of the announcement and the morning after. I'll let you decide which are which for yourself.

Hairy, Tailed Quadruped, Probably Arboreal in its Habits

"A thorough reading and understanding of the Bible is the surest path to atheism."
-Donald Morgan

(click to enlarge)

www.cectic.com

"I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
-George H. Bush

“High levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism.”
-Phil Zuckerman

Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment

"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear."
-Thomas Jefferson

(click to enlarge)

As part of President Bush’s “faith-based initiative,” US taxpayers gave the Salvation Army’s children services division $47 million this year — 95% of its total budget. Several Salvation Army employees refused to take the Salvation Army’s pledge “proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord,” reveal which church they belong to or identify gay co-workers — and were summarily fired.

The SA has been accused of denying financial assistance and shelter to homosexuals and HIV+ individuals. They have also been accused of pressuring those in need to attend their religious services in exchange for their “charity.”

The SA actively persecutes homosexuals by conducting witch-hunts within their ranks. Suspected homosexuals are terminated from employment and benefits are denied to same sex couples.

www.dillsnapcogitation.wordpress.com

(click to enlarge)

"Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”"
Genesis 22:2

"A 23-year-old Augusta mother who stabbed her two children to death and was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday told a doctor who examined her that she gave in to the voices in her head demanding she kill them."
www.chronicle.augusta.com

"A Texas woman who stoned two of her children to death and seriously injured a third on Mother's Day last year told psychiatrists she was driven to kill by a message from God and that she was sure they would rise again from the dead."
www.independent.co.uk

"A Virginia man diagnosed with schizophrenia told reporters that he cut his 5-year-old son's head off...

During the interview, Hagerman said that God had told him to kill his son, Joshua, to keep him from the anti-Christ."
www.upi.com

"Jennifer told investigators a "spirit" voice told her to harm the baby as a test of faith, according to court documents. "She said she knew that it was wrong to harm the baby, but that the `spirit' voice assured her that the baby would be returned from the dead," the documents state. "Just like Jesus raised Lazarus, I threw the baby on the stones by the pool," she told investigators."
www.sun-sentinel.com

"A man sentenced to 90 years in prison for attempting to set his Orlando home on fire with his family sleeping inside said God commanded him to sacrifice his wife and children, according to a Local 6 News report."
www.clickorlando.com (This one frightens me the most)

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 10:34-37

"If you think God is more important than your neighbor, you're capable of terrible evil

If you think some prophet's words are more important

Than your brother and your sister

You're ill and you're wrong

You're wrong"

-Of Montreal, Do you Mutilate?