CATW-A Conversation Among Men About Sex Trafficking

I attended this event on December 2 at the NYU Wasserman Center. It was conducted by CATW- the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

There were 4 men as speakers...
Peter Buffett (Composer/Philanthropist)
Michael Cory Davis (Actor/Activist)
Jonathan Walton (Poet)
Victor Malarek (Activist/Author The Johns)

The topic of discussion was the function of men to the continuation of Sex Trafficking. They discussed a very interested analogy, that the sex trafficking followed the economic system of supply and demand. The idea was that sex trafficking of women (as well as all trafficking of humans) occurred and was rising in popularity because there is an increase in the demand, in this case men who seek these relations, pornographic material, as well as sex in the media.

I learned that the average age of sex trafficked female was 12 years old. I learned that men who engage in some form of sex trafficking are usually lead to it through an elder and/or mentor. I learned that they cannot simply be blamed for their behavior, but rather given the opportunity and tools to unlearn this behavior and way of thinking.

As a future teacher, I feel that this is a very important topic that children a privy to, but are never explicitly taught or given the opportunity to discuss. They are surrounded by media and influential people that contradict the idea that women and their bodies have right and should be respected. Many times it is women themselves who pose nude for magazines for money, or fawn all over a famous man for a few minutes in the limelight and make the battle more difficult. But children, both male and female, need to learn that even though the ideas may be everywhere and seem to be shown in the most positive light, they need to question the basic foundations of human rights.

This is greatly connected to our course, first through the idea of protecting basic human rights, and secondly as the topic of my groups curriculum project. There were many resources shared, books, media, heart-wrenching poetry, that are great to incorporate into our curriculum. As well as encouragement from Michael when he explained that he has taught classes of children about the existence and horror of trafficking humans. Unfortunately the US, at least NY, has not allowed this information to reach our teenagers, but he has taught in China as well as many other countries, and continues to do so.