This made me want to cry!

I recently read a news article on ABC.com and it made me want to cry. It was talking about child sex trafficking. Most of the teens or children are looking for a father figure. These men, pimps, thrive on that and use it to their advantage. They tell these girls everything will be ok as long as they are with them they pimp them out to other men, and even women. Most all, if not all, of these girls are abused mentally and physically not only by their pimps but by other girls that they are housed with. Threats to hurt the girls’ family keep them from running away and trying to reconnect with family.

M.S. was a pre-teen who lost her mother at a young age and she only saw her father on the holidays and craved a father figure. She thought she had found that father figure in a man that would patrol up and down her street, “wooing” her. M.S. stated she “just fell into his arm.” This is what these men want. They want you to believe that they wouldn’t hurt you or put you in harm’s way. That is what M.S. thought when this man invited her to go on a drive with him but she never returned home. For four years she was forced into child prostitution with four different pimps. She rarely, if ever, got to keep any of the $1500 she made every day. M.S. also stated she thought child prostitution was what she was supposed to do, so she did it. She didn’t know any different. She was terrified to runaway for fear of the pimps hurting her family becoming a reality. This was even after her grandmother and sister handed out missing person fliers in hopes of finding her.

This is something you don’t always think is going on in America; when you hear of “sex slaves,” most people thing Cambodia or even Delhi. The Department of Justice estimates more than 250,000 American youth are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The average age for female prostitutes in the US is between 12 and 14 years old. These statistics are one reason why Demi Moore and her husband Ashton Kutcher started The Demi and Ashton Foundation to raise awareness about the issue of sex slavery worldwide.

Like I said in the beginning, I read this story and wanted to cry. I couldn’t image losing my daughter not to mention thinking of her being used as a sex slave as young as 12. She is 9 now, and I would be horrified to think something like this could happen to my daughter. One of the things that is aiding in the rise of child sex trafficking is the internet. My daughter is currently not allowed on the internet. I know there will come a day where she will need the computer and internet for school work and such but when that day comes you better believe I will do my VERY best to monitor what is going on when she is longed into the PC.