First off, good job to everyone who presented on Tuesday...really creative, informative, and well put together! I have a heightened sense of respect for all of you because I don't think there's any way I'd be able to handle reading/watching the articles/videos that you described. The video played at the presentation admittedly brought tears to my eyes...it really scares me to think of what humans are capable of doing to one another. It was truly devastating for me to consider the atrocities, and I walked away from the presentation wishing there were something I could do to instantly and completely rid the world of this unspeakably inhumane and disgusting phenomenon.
I was absolutely shocked by some of the statistics presented, like that the human trafficking industry makes more money annually than Nike, Google, etc. (what the hell is wrong with our world?!) The fact that children as young as FIVE(!?) make up 50% of the trafficking population is completely horrifying, but the fact that 70% of those trafficked are women didn't come as a surprise. It's very frightening to think that many children and women are tricked into this terrible industry by people promising them a better life. I feel spoiled and stupid for having all that I do when there are things like this going on in the world. I'm getting worked up about it again...ugh.
As a side note, I do think that we tend to speak jokingly or insincerely about human sex trafficking to mask the horrifying reality of what's actually happening...(it kind of relates to the article about "nuclear language," right?) In class, we played a game as part of the presentation, but I think that was a bit insensitive. If there were a sexual assault victim among us (not impossible), I think making a game of things would be very disturbing. I know that wasn't the group's intention...just something to consider.
Overall, the presentation was super successful because it heightened my awareness of human sex trafficking and instantly made me want to do something to help. I plan to read more about it as soon as I can to find out how I can make a difference.
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