Flagstaff Anti-Sex Trafficking Summit

Flagstaff Anti-Sex Trafficking Summit

Brings Education to the Forefront

$1.25

Monday, February 17, 2014

Vol XCIII, No. 311

"I was groomed for trafficking when I was 6 years old." -Sanders

At the event Sanders shared her personal experience with sex trafficking

Savannah Sanders Had Full Attention

• Raped by a family member when she was 6.

"I was broken down by sexual abuse so by the time I was 16 I didn't need anyone to beat me up or drug me to make me a victim of sex trafficking."

• Then sold to a pimp where she was forced into multiple abusive situations.

"By the time I was 18, I had 17 different abusers."

• Years of sexual abuse made her unable to tell who a dangerous person was. She now uses the term a "creeper box" to describe someone who understand a bad situations.

"When you are born you have a creeper box or an instinct that tells you when someone is bad, when you experience abuse like I did that box gets broken."

Northern Arizona Anti-Sex Trafficking Summit

"Human Trafficking occurs everyday in Arizona and it affects everyone"

- Michael Russo, Chandler police detective for the departments Vice and Human Trafficking Unit

• First event was last Wednesday but continues today at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

This is the most under reported crimes in Arizona. It is happening here in Northern Arizona and the rest of the state every single day, It affects all races and social economic classes.

According to the national Human Trafficking Hotline

• Since 2007, 2,000 calls have been made to Arizona Authorities reporting human trafficking victims.
• Of those, 621 are seen as high-risk victims.

"We Serve a Large population of victims that don't want to be served. I hate the idea of the 'rescue myth' a lot of these women don't want to be rescued because years of abuse have put them n a situation where they have a sense of loyalty and love for their abusers." - Sarah way a social worker for the Family Advocacy Center.

Majority of sex trafficking victims are addicts, homeless and young.

Most victims being forced into sex trafficking at the median age of 14. according to Arizona State University Sex Traffic Intervention Research

• Brought experts and survivors who want to educate people on the signs of sex trafficking.

Stockholm Syndrome: Emotions like fear, trauma and shame create a perfect storm for loyalty.

Arizona Governor's Office of Youth, Faith and Family

Education

How this relates to groups, Like Michael says this affects all groups in the community, not only the men or women who are sex trafficking but the friends a peers around them as well. I see a sense of power the buyers and owners get to have over the girls so that is another way to relate this topic back to groups.

Indicators of possible prostitution or sex trafficking

Sanders parents never abused her, her parents trusted the wrong people and were uneducated about the signs.

"We can prevent trafficking by creating healthy families that prevent buyers from becoming buyers, traffickers from becoming traffickers and victims from becoming victims."

The key to preventing sex trafficking is catching the early signs of any abuse.

• couch surfing
• changes in dress
• uncharacteristically promiscuous behavior
• physical abuse
• diagnosed sexual transmitted disease
• gang affiliation
• presence or reference to a much older boyfriend.

Questions

1. How does this make you feel, knowing more information about sex trafficking.

2. Do you think there should be more education on the topic of sex trafficking?

3. Do you think education will help?

Works Cited

Lancaster, M. (2017, November 15). Flagstaff anti-sex trafficking summit brings education to the forefront . Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from http://azdailysun.com/news/flagstaff-anti-sex-trafficking-summit-brings-education-to-the-forefront/article_362fd54a-52d5-5711-8644-50e44ba3dce6.html