“We came up here to work and make money with a pimp,” said the mother who brought her 15-year-old daughter from Florida to NYC.
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Yolanda Ostoloza, 39, allegedly brought her 15-year-old daughter to NYC so that she could “work and make money with a pimp.” I first saw the story listed under the “Sick” news of the day section on The Daily Beast. According to NY Daily News:
“Bronx vice detectives, pretending to be johns trolling for sex online, agreed to meet the teen at the New York Hilton in Midtown on Wednesday just after midnight, sources said. The cops struck up a deal to pay the girl $200 for an undisclosed sex act.”
The mother offered this in defense:
“I thought my daughter was just going to do the fetish stuff.”
The human trafficking awareness campaigns are in full throttle as they attempt to attach their cause with one of America’s largest sporting events. Because there’s a lack of overwhelming statistics, and because the Super Bowl is regarded as the untouchable finale in what is perhaps America’s truest sense of worship save for Christmas, major publications such as The New York Times are calling it all “just rhetoric.”
In some ways, they’re absolutely right. While those in the trenches of this battle see the rise in cases of sex trafficking during every Super Bowl, the many facets of our criminal justice system, including its ability to recognize and statistically report cases of human trafficking aren’t able to keep up.
NOTE: The 15-year-old from above WAS trafficked by her mother but will she be reported as a victim of human trafficking? Will her mother be charged as a trafficker? I wouldn’t put my money on it. Especially considering that as of now she’s only being charged with, “…promoting prostitution and endangering the welfare of a child.” Both of which are misdemeanors.
This is what a lack of funding and a lack of education looks like. I’ve talked to many former prostitutes who were forced into the trade before they were 15 and despite being arrested countless times they never once were offered help or asked why they were working as a prostitute in the first place. In many cases, as one trafficking survivor told me:
“Even though we were barely teenagers there’s just this unquestioned assumption that it’s our choice to do this.”
While “show me the stats” is a fair statement to make, even members of the FBI have pivoted their ideas on the issue and are finding valuable insights as a result:
“In 2010 the Anaheim Police Department (APD) vice detail in Orange County, California, realized that most of the prostitutes it had contact with came from similar backgrounds. Analysis of their common circumstances and reasons for prostituting caused investigators to believe that they were sex trafficking victims. Human trafficking is using force, fraud, or coercion to recruit, obtain, or provide a person for sexual exploitation.”
For those who may question why this is indeed a men’s issues (especially since I haven’t mentioned that there WILL BE a subsequent rise in the sex trafficking of boys during the Super Bowl) consider the myriad links between human trafficking, prostitution and the following:
–80% of prostitutes may come from fatherless homes
–71% of high school dropouts come from a fatherless household (see PDF)
–50-85% of prostitutes are high school dropouts (book excerpt)
–Children in fatherless homes are 9 times more likely to drop out of high school
–Photo: The A 21 Campaign
This is a difficult topic. But whenever it comes up, there is some portion of a gender war always brewing. Both men and women talking about who has suffered more pain and who is to blame for that pain and for the outcome of human trafficking. So the question is, do we fix the gender-war before we help the kids stuck in human trafficking, or do we set aside those differences to focus on the human trafficking. We can blame a lot of sources and come up with a lot of sound, logical reasons why children get stuck. But does… Read more »
Cameron, thanks for the great work you do. Stories like this are particularly heartbreaking for those of us engaged in the anti-trafficking movement. From the mothers in India lining up to sell their daughters, to the poverty-stricken families in Peru who have accepted such a culture, mothers and activists find it exponentially more devastating when a child is trafficked by the one person who is instinctively supposed to be the ultimate protector, the mother.
Considering states get money for stopping trafficking and will go so far as to lie about it… this has me wondering how like the white slavery scare this is. So how do you tell the difference between this and other moral panics?
Then when you consider that those in the trench seem to be making crazy bank… I think we need better objective numbers.
This resource is produced by The Global Alliance in Traffic in Women. Interesting facts produced by an organization in the coal front of the fight.
http://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf
Four years ago I was in jail around this time in Miami during the Super Bowl. The jail was flooded with women being charged with prostitution and I happened to be one. I wonder today how of those women were actually underage using a fake name? I wonder how many of those women were lured and forced by a “pimp” to exploit themselves? I wonder how many women experienced some form of abuse as a child that has damaged their thought process and just their life period? I have always had a heart to help. I’ve tried to love and… Read more »
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/67226344/sex-trafficking-at-the-super-bowl-is-an-urban-legend
Great article. The modern sex slave or human trafficking issue highlighted in your article is becoming more and more prevalent and in the UK it has been growing significantly over the last 10 – 15 years. There was a case recently in my area (which is relatively rural) where a young girl went missing, she was originally from china and all everyone was told was that she was a foster child who had gone missing from her room. Everyone helped look for her, shops had notices up and it was all over S.M. but we didn’t hear anything more. Then… Read more »
Hi Danny, could you go into more detail as to the “stigma” you’re speaking of?
Cameron, glad you added the stats at the end. What’s concerning is that these stats have been around for quite a while yet where are we as a society, changing them. Getting better? Worse? stagnant?
Sure. On one hand subjects like this are a men’s issue because fathers need to be doing their part in their daughters’ lives. On the other when fathers are trying to be in their daughters’ live their considered to be inadequate on the grounds that they are men or they are overbearing and possessive. A few days ago during the State of the Union supposedly Obama mentioned that more needed to be done to help mothers there was roaring applause yet when he mentioned that more needed to be done to help fathers there was dead silence. At the same… Read more »
I saw that speech, the silence when men were mentioned was deafening.
Fathers HAVE a role in their daughter’s lives. There’s no choosing whether to take a role or not. End of story.
Many men want a role in their lives but are denied that role. Generally for financial reasons.
It’s a men’s issue because caring, committed fathers are the answer to self-esteem for these girls.
Dear Angela,
I totally agree. Thanks for commenting. Check out the movie “Absent.” It’s on Netflix and gives some good insights into the deep impact of a father’s physical/emotional absence.
~Cameron
I agree that dads having a presence in their daughter’s lives can do a lot of good here. Problem is there is still a nasty stigma against fathers taking a role in their daughters’ (and sons’) lives. It seems like no one wants fathers to be included until they can be held responsible for unfavorable outcomes, then all of a sudden support for fathers is all over the place.
I just wish people would make up their minds.
It’s a men’s issue because many men are guilty of creating demand for trafficked prostitutes.
Dear Vicki,
You got that right.
~Cameron
Married, older women make up one of the biggest markets for younger male prostitutes.
Yeah, when women go abroad to hire 18-24 prostitutes it gets made into a movie (Stella….Groove….Back). Female use of prostitutes is all good fun and games, and *definitely* doesn’t involve the kind of power imbalances (rich, white, wordly vs other-colored, destitute poor) and the men always have full agency and are never coerced into actions–just like the stud in “How Stella got her groove back”.
We’re here to bring attention to victims–but only *this* group of victims over here. We’re also here to demonize male sexuality, but not female sexuality.
How is male sexuality being demonized by bringing attention to human trafficking? Was how Stella Got Her Groove Back based on a true story? Hollywood in general tends to glamorize prostitution. However, female prostitution is way more glamorized in Hollywood than male. The only movies I can think of that glamorize male prostitution is the one you mentioned and Magic Mike. There are lots more movies of the reverse. This shouldn’t be a gender battle. We should care about helping those who get caught in human trafficking no matter their gender. I fear that we spend so much time arguing… Read more »
this view from the professionals that deal with these issues daily is a strong counterpoint to the undocumented claims about sex-trafficking… http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/the-super-bowl-of-sex-trafficking.html
Dear Galen,
Thanks for posting the NYTimes article. It brings up some great points. Unfortunately, our CJ system is years behind properly being able to report crimes of trafficking. Many of our child welfare systems are getting there but are also ill-equipped to report and/or handle victims – though the latest appropriations bill actually saw an increase in funding for these areas (woot!). I believe the “undocumented claims” are simply a result of how our system simply doesn’t have the funding or educational capabilities to properly document. For an additional perspective on the NYTimes piece check this out:
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/nytimes-link-super-bowl-rise-sex-trafficking-just-rhetoric-cc-kt/
~Cameron
It’s a men’s issue because as many underage boys get trafficked as do underage girls. Buuuut… I don’t see any mention of that here.
It’s at the bottom. 🙂
I agree that it’s important to talk about the sexual exploitation of boys.
I saw him downplay it, yes.
Dear Diz, For years I’ve been researching the sexual trafficking of boys both domestically and abroad. I haven’t found any research (published or experiential) to suggest that boys are sexually trafficked as much as girls. Most estimates say about 20% of sex trafficking victims are boys, and that’s often at the high end. That said, I’ve walked into shelters (in Bangladesh, for example) totally packed with sex trafficked boys. It’s an issue I’m committed to exploring for the rest of whatever time I’m given on this earth. However, if you are talking about numbers of human trafficking victims overall—which includes… Read more »
http://www.reddit.com/r/FeMRADebates/comments/1wn8fu/sex_trafficking_efforts_focus_on_girls_though/
No research? Is that right?
Diz, I think Cameron is engaging you respectfully, and I think you could return the favor by not being snarky or sarcastic with him.
Diz, shouldn’t it be a man’s issue simply because it affects humanity? Not only because boys are also trafficked? But because boys and girls are?