When you think of sex trafficking, what comes to your mind? Most would conjure up images of young women being kidnapped and sold as sexual slaves over seas. The images are clouded in darkness with strewn muffled cries. Yeah, you feel bad… but that’s none of your business. It’s far away; nearly not even part of our world. Right? Wrong. Sex trafficking is right under our ignorant noses.
In the U.S., human trafficking takes place within the sight oblivious mothers and fathers. Young daughter lays on her bed, casually typing away on her laptop, sliding her English homework to the side, as she responds to a rather flattering message from an internet friend of a friend.
This is the most common way pimps lure their prey into their grasp. It’s Egypt’s eighth plague, really. “An absolute plague.” Sam Martinez, Clark county’s District Attorney said. With a zero tolerance policy, he loves sending those pimps to prison.
Sadly the path pimps use to lure vulnerable girls into, seducing them into a world of prostitution, is the same path one world use to find cute puppy videos and see updates of your friends and family. Yep the internet. The trafficking of a child usually begins with a social media message from a stranger who falls in love with the unscripted banter and mystery of not setting privacy filters. Then, her page to be viewed by strangers and even criminals.
The stranger could give compliments on their page boosting their self-esteem or remark that they have common friends or even just make a friendly remark to some of their interests. Resuming the conversation for days, months, unknowing to the parents, the relationship grows, urging the girl to meet this mystery person.
Soon, one thing leads to another and boda-bing, boda-boom, the pimp ensnares the girl exploring her vulnerabilities and promises a lifestyle that she would love; that she deserves. She would get men’s attention, make a lot of money, live life in the fast lane, and have a close, close friend in him.
Eventually, this sweet seduction turns into bitter enslavement. Now, the girl may realize the threat, but the pimp just has too much emotional and or physical control over her. He threatens to harm her or her family if she decided to leave. Or, perhaps, she has lost herself in a world of sex, money, and drugs. These women has turned unrecognizable, for she has fallen for this charming snake.
“Social media is a huge recruiting tool for pimps, and parents need to be aware of their social media accounts and track them,” Martinez said, “It’s through their initial contact on social media that they start the process of recruiting, by making promises. They give their victims compliments and build a relationship of trust, and then the victim is in a black hole and they can’t get out.”
Parents need to educate their kids about the real predators; not just the cliché candy or puppy search, but who are conniving and manipulative. Children are easily tricked when they are yearning for a friend. Martinez has prosecuted cases in which victims were as young as 12.
Thankfully, awareness of this problem has increased throughout the years, but it still lies deep. Strengthen laws have made it easier to persecute human traffickers and gave victims the chance to sue their captors.
There are law enforcement efforts nationwide, particularly the FBI, to decrease the amount of selling sex from teenagers, but most of the action takes place in our own neighborhoods, in our own homes.
So, the bottom line is, children need to be guarded in online exchanges especially from people outside of their personal knowing. Their reactions to such messages, if they occur, should be of suspicion and they should have the confidence to tell their parents.
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, so let this serve as a trigger for parents and children alike to identify and ignore strangers on the internet. Don’t lose yourself in your own bedroom.

This affects both me and the world because it is, as mentioned earlier, a plague: an epidemic. Awareness of this topic could create a significant impact on the victims.

I agree with the author because of their stance on internet monitoring. By being knowledgeable about their children’s or own threats, the can keep themselves safe.

Advertising: turning women into objects since the beginning of time.
A New Zealand men’s fashion brand, I Love Ugly, recently got put in hot water for its sexist advertisements.

These ads depicted a ring-clad man touching and covering a woman’s naked breast, genitals, and butt.

This was immediately set under fire for treating women as simply props and using unjustifiable highly sexual content to try and sell rings.

In response to the negative reactions regarding the extremely provocative campaigns, the company wrote on Facebook, “Jewelry is one of those things you either love or hate on a man. We tried our best to rework something that makes a lot of males a little uneasy and turn it into something the dubious could potentially see themselves wearing,”

Also, now the I Love Ugly company has began printing more ads to respond to the criticism. However, these show a woman’s hand over a man’s torso. Unsurprisingly this move was called out as yet another example of the company completely missing the point of sexist criticism, for it shows a part of a man’s body that is not sexualized in society.

Speaking of this ad, Daniel Barrett wrote,”… A further demonstration of how the brand has no understanding of the power imbalance ingrained in society,” on Facebook.

Hundreds of others echoed his response with calls of misogyny and stating, “You really don’t get it, do you?”

This was followed by another ignorant response, blindly saying in a tweet, “Mixed reviews about our latest ring campaign. Some love it, some hate it. If you’re nervous about something , you’re onto something good.”

Rebutted yet again by Frances Cook saying, “Hey @iloveugly, you’re not onto something good when you’re actively contributing to a system that treats women as second class citizens.”

If you are nervous about something, it’s must likely because you know it’s horribly offensive and you’re too arrogant to apologize. Not because you’re on to something good.
Though some may snort and carelessly shout, “The feminist are coming. The feminist are coming.”, that is not the case. Instead, this is a prime case of sexualizing both bodies and minds in hopes of selfish income by doing so.

This ad affects both me and the world because it depicts the dilapidating state of the sex-driven society we live in. If such a taboo, private subject such as sex is being exploited to sell jewelry, where is the world coming to? The line between prostitution and sells-man ship is not only blurred, but now completely erased. Also, with me, being a female, it shows a great deal of disrespect to every woman alive by treating her as if she was a backdrop or lamp or wall. Therefore, I agree with this writer because they agrees that the sexism shown here is crossing the line– by A LOT.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sexist-i-love-ugly-ad-campaign-reminds-women-they-are-objects_us_5661a889e4b072e9d1c5bbf5

Those paying any mind to the news recently, discovered an unthinkable truth; five people were found dead inside a home on Lake Minnetonka in the city of Greenwood.
While investigation into the matter is still continuing, one thing is sure: Karen Short and her three teenage children were killed in their respective bedrooms with gun wounds in their head. Husband of Karen, Brian Short was also found dead in their garage, having fell victim to a self-inflicted gunshot.
The Shorts and others in similar situations, were victims of familicide, a form of murder-suicide in which at least one spouse and one plus children are killed. This event combined with past similar ones should be cause for alarm.
In Minnesota 2012, seven people were subject to this treacherous act, according to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered women. The number then grew to nine in 2013 but dropped to six the following year.
Another case was April 8th, 2014 when 62-year-old Beverly Gongoll was found dead in her home in Waconia alongside her husband, Kenneth Gongoll. Kenneth was believed to have first killed his wife before turning the gun around, committing a murder-suicide.
Similarly, on Jan. 18, 2015, the bodies of Komel Crowley , husband David Crowley, and 5-year-old daughter, Raniya were found in their Apple Valley home. Yet again, initial reports showed that Raniya and Komel were murdered while David committed suicide leaving all of the corpses for weeks.
As of late September, the number of people in Minnesota killed by a family member during domestic assault was 22, according to the director of the Pearl Crisis Center, Judy Pearson. The County-based organization, The Mille Lacs, supports victims of domestic abuse and tracks those killed by domestic violence. Including the figure of the death of Larry Bowser, who was shot and killed by his 91-year-old father in their nice Maplewood home.
The extreme is met when domestic violence ends in death, however other physical or emotional forms of domestic violence take place right under our noses. Domestic violence is quite real. Its horrifying abuse that destroys families and relationships.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence released startling details in preparation of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The startling details are below:

• Every nine seconds, A U.S. woman is beaten or assaulted.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, more than car accidents, muggings, or rape.
• Studies suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually.
• Nearly one in five teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm in a break-up situation.
• Every day in the U.S., more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.

But how do we save victims of domestic violence? How do we as a broken society stop those who would hurt or even kill their spouses, children, or significant others?
The key is to be aware and have a voice for yourself if you witness or are a victim of domestic abuse. There are many resources available to aid in such issues. For example, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women has a 24-hour hotline available and shelter services are accessible by calling the Alexandra House in Anoka County.
If you are in an abusive relationship or struggling with violent tendencies, it is highly advised to get help now. If you are aware of a abusive relationship, help them! Recognizing the problem is the first step to solving said problem.

Domestic violence affects me because of the enormity of the problem mainly with women because of their supposed vulnerability. This affects the world because, it is, in all actuality, an epidemic that will only spread as life goes on. If no provisions are taken, the world will undoubtedly crumble as all means are relationships are ceased. Therefore, I wholeheartedly agree with ECM’s opinion of domestic violence because of the established seriousness of the problem, followed by a means to an end.

Found at:
http://abcnewspapers.com/2015/10/09/editorial-domestic-violence-its-real-its-ugly-its-never-justifiable/