The episode dealt with the growing number of young women and children that are enslaved and forced to work in prostitution. It is reported that “[e]ach year, more than a million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.” Both domestically and internationally this is an issue that must be addressed and soon, as “[a]ccording to the United Nations, more than 12 million people worldwide are forced to work against their will. They work in fields and sweatshops, in homes and factories; many of them are caught up in the sex industry.”
These young girls and women found in this industry are either abducted and brought into the US or, as in the case of many American girls, are deceived into “voluntarily” working in the field only to find themselves enslaved and treated like chattel. Rather then extending a helping hand to battle this issue in the US these innocent girls are being chastised, while it is viewed that girls in this industry abroad should be sympathized and helped; as one of the commentators noted “We need to look at them [the young girls] as victims. We need to treat them the same way that we look at children from India or Pakistan or the Philippines or the Ukraine.” In the US often people deny that there are slaves in contemporary society and there is therefore a taboo surrounding the issue of child prostitution. Such mindsets on this matter are, in part, the reason that very little that is being done to combat this problem; many of the laws are weak and the resources are few.
Click here for the show transcript.
For more on the episode click here.
