UP students take action to help reduce growing problem in Portland
By Hannah Gray
By the time you finish reading this article, about 12 children or young teens will have been victims of sex trafficking: forced into prostitution, strip clubs and/or child pornography.
In the United States, 300,000 American children are sex- trafficked every year, according to the Transitions Global, a nonprofit organization that houses victims of sex trafficking, teaches the victims job skills and provides mental, dental and medical care.
In Portland, local law enforcement believes it encounters three to five girls per week who are currently victims of sex trafficking, according to the Transitions Global.
Furthermore, in an FBI series of child prostitution raids last February, Portland ranked number two out of 29 cities.
UP junior Brianna Hodge wants UP students to know about the problem so they can help.
"My intention is to create awareness that it is happening locally," Hodge said.
Hodge is in the recruiting and brainstorming phase of creating a committee on campus to plan a week of events focused on awareness of child sex trafficking.
"(Sex trafficking) is a humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed by everyone," said Seth Johnson, the global advocacy director and a full-time volunteer for Transitions Global.
Freshman Shelby Lies gave a presentation on Transitions Global for her Persuasion and Leadership class.
Lies plans to be a part of the committee with Hodge.
"I feel like any help I do towards it will help even one person," Lies said. "It's got to start somewhere to help them."
The week, date unknown, would educate students and staff on the issue, as well as fundraise for Transitions Global.
"I want this to be very successful," Hodge said. "Our community is in desperate need of this shelter."
Establishing and operating the Portland house would cost at least one million dollars essentially, according to Johnson.
"It costs $60,000 to $70,000 to take care of one girl for one year in the U.S.," Johnson said.
"We have a problem right here in our backyard that we have to deal with," said Deputy Keith Bickford, director of the Oregon Human Trafficking Task Force.
The task force was created in 2005 by the Department of Justice.
Bickford oversees law enforcement, as well as trafficking-victim assistance for both domestic and international trafficking cases.
"The most common (case) wraps around underage prostitution," said Bickford, whose group currently focuses on cases mainly involving young girls.
Predators often target girls in shopping malls or other places teens frequent.
"They pick someone out who is vulnerable," Hodge said.
The traffickers flatter the girl and buy her things.
Afterwards, they turn it around and "guilt" the girl, making her believe that she has to repay the traffickers.
Then the traffickers, commonly pimps, gang rape the girl in order to break her down emotionally. From there, the girl is forced into prostitution.
"That is one way," Bickford said.
However, he added it is not the most common case.
Typically, a pimp will date a girl and slowly manipulate her until she starts to turn tricks, Bickford said.
"It doesn't have to be violent," Bickford said.
The pimp then slowly brainwashes the girl by buying her things and letting her do things her parents would not. The pimp will do this until he slowly manipulates the girl into the prostitution lifestyle, according to Bickford.
Additionally, the boyfriend/pimp will stay in the shadows - he won't meet the parents or friends, Bickford said.
"Pimps have figured out that if you beat them and put them on drugs, they don't look as well," Bickford said.
If the pimp keeps the girl looking healthy, she inherently brings in more money, according to Bickford.
The pimp is able to manipulate the girl so much through complete control over the relationship that she wants to return to him, even after police offer to help, according to Bickford.
"They're like little hornets - they'll kick and bite in order to get back to their pimp," Bickford said.
There have been a few fundraisers locally to address the problem.
Local colleges, including Portland State University and Reed College, organized a bike race on Sept. 27, Bike for Shelter.
The race raised about $13,000 for Transitions Global, according to Johnson.
Unfortunately, $13,000 is only a drop in the bucket.
"As a movement, way too much emphasis on awareness, not action," Johnson said. "I don't know what the missing piece is to move from awareness to action."
Here at the University of Portland, the Feminist Discussion Group looks at the big picture and the many issues regarding sex trafficking of females, domestically and internationally.
"The bigger issue is demand," said Jeff Gauthier, a philosophy professor and the adviser of the Feminist Discussion Group. "It's men in western countries who are fueling the demand for these women."
Gauthier also noted that the young females who are involved in manipulative relationships with pimps are girls who are running away from bad home lives, possibly with a history of sexual abuse.
Many men do not realize they are involved in supporting sex trafficking because they are consumers of women who are in strip clubs and pornography, Gauthier said.
Similarly, many UP students do not realize that sex trafficking is an issue locally.
"I had no idea that it was a big problem here in Portland," sophomore Erin Wodnik said. "It makes me sad that girls are being taken advantage of, and they don't have the resources to get out of that situation."
