Dr. Craig McCarron has informed us about a connecting service called “Seeking Arrangements,” that connects young college women with wealthy older men. These young women are lured into the escort business as a way to pay for their college tuition. Unfortunately, this is happening in our backyard, 35% of the girls who attend UTSA have signed up to be part of the escort service. Please inform others about the dangers this service is causing. No amount of money is worth losing one’s human dignity and being trapped into being a personal “slave." 

Here is local news story:  http://www.ktsa.com/young-women-looking-men-pay-college/

 

If you Google “seeking arrangements”, you will find a flood of these “news” stories.  It’s a marketing scheme where they provide “stories” to periodicals read by college-age women and then trick them.  Examples:

 

http://www.lsunow.com/daily/lsu-junior-uses-seeking-arrangement-to-make-extra-money/article_d55ea9e2-e715-11e6-ac18-6ff2b40b6a23.html

 

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a59164/heres-what-its-like-inside-sugar-baby-boot-camp/

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/magazine/12sugardaddies-t.html

 

http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/features/a20381/i-lived-the-girlfriend-experience/

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/05/seeking-arrangement-201005

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/seeking-arrangement-college-students_n_913373.html

 

In popular couture, it’s seeping in through this movie and cable series spin-off:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103982/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3846642/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness month.

We were called to be light-bearers, to shine some much needed light onto those suffering from human slavery in today's world.

Please check out this article, http://saccvi.blogspot.pe/2016/12/a-call-to-be-light-bearers.html

What happens if the US does not sign the TPP

I know most of us have not read or thoroughly understand exactly what the TPP involves but it does include pieces that set standards for wages, the environment, human rights, and human trafficking.  These standards are all United States standards.  If we do not sign the TPP, China has already started working on a trade agreement that does not include the United States and would not change or improve these standards.  It will create a power vacuum in Asia that China will happily fill without the United States presences.  This was presented on a radio show right before Thanksgiving.  Below is the link for the radio show.  I found it very fascinating as I did not know the piece about human trafficking was included.

  http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/11/22/thomas-friedman-thank-you-for-being-late

Truckers Against Trafficking

I discovered this Facebook page from an Upworthy (on Facebook) video about Truckers Against Trafficking. Using social media to expose trafficking could be a pretty powerful way to inform people who may not be aware.
https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos

https://www.facebook.com/truckersagainstrafficking/

The world’s first massive open online course about contemporary slavery.

Ending Slavery: Strategies for Contemporary Global Abolition' is the world’s first massive open online course about contemporary slavery. The course is free. Lead by Kevin Bales, a leading expert in contemporary slavery, the course will cover the most cutting-edge research available.

As well as an opportunity to deepen your knowledge of different forms of slavery today, learn about ground-breaking research and examine strategies to end historical and contemporary slavery. You’ll be part of brainstorming a new guide to ending slavery, covering every level from the individual to the United Nations.

The course begins on the 17^th October, 2016 and will run for four weeks, with certificates available. No prior knowledge is necessary, but you will have the opportunity to debate with others solutions for the future of the abolitionist movement, towards a world free from slavery. 

Click to register now.

  https://www.walkfree.org/modern-slavery-online-course/?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.walkfree.org%2fmodern-slavery-online-course%2f&utm_campaign=MOOC&utm_content=MOOC_Custom_Launch_EN_FullList_01Oct16 

Alamo Area Coalition against Trafficking

AACAT initiatives

• Short-term drop-in evaluation and treatment center for high risk runaways and misdemeanor youth offenders

• Public Awareness Campaign

• Training: Schools, Law Enforcement, Victim Populations & Industry Groups

• Data based targeted law enforcement interdiction strategy

• Passage of targeted bills in next legislative session

Check out the website
 https://sites.google.com/site/aacatsa/

Thanks to Dr. Ambrose for informing us about this site.

Check out this new book

Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking

A new book by

by Leela Corman, Delia Jean, The Ladydrawers, Melissa Mendes andAnne Elizabeth Moore

“Ever wondered who makes your clothes? Who sells them? How much they get paid? How the fashion and sex industries are intertwined? Threadbare draws the connections between the international sex and garment trades and human trafficking in a beautifully illustrated comics series. Anne Elizabeth Moore, in reports illustrated by top-notch comics creators, pulls at the threads of gender, labor, and cultural production to paint a concerning picture of a human rights in a globalized world. Moore's reporting, illustrated by members of the Ladydrawers Comics Collective, takes the reader from the sweatshops of Cambodia to the traditional ateliers of Vienna, from the life of a globetrotting supermodel to the warehouses of large clothing retailers, from the secondhand clothing industry to the politics of the sex trade. With thoughtful illustrations of women's stories across the sex and garment supply chain, this book offers a practical guide to a growing problem few truly understand.”  https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/6190   and learn more http://bkaccelerator.com/threadbare-new-book-fashion-sex-trafficking/     

Thanks to Melinda Adams for informing us about this book.