WHAT IS BACKYARD BROADCAST?
Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age. –Defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Children are being bought and sold as if they are commodities. This isn't just happening in developing countries, but right here in our home towns to American children. The average age that a child is first forced to have sex for money is 13. This is often disguised as "prostitution". We know this to be similar to modern day slavery. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, AT LEAST 100,000 American Children are being trafficked every year. There are many factors that could leave youth vulnerable to sex trafficking, including age, previous abuse, unstable home, and older boyfriends.
At Backyard Broadcast, we believe the first step to combating domestic child sex trafficking is through education. Awareness breeds prevention. There are various warning signs of trafficking to be familiar with- a significantly older boyfriend, signs of trauma, abrupt change in attitude, spending lots of time with an older (non-relative) male, delinquent charges, chronic runaway, homelessness, substance abuse, expensive new clothes and gifts, or marking tattoos. Familiarity with these warning signs can stop trafficking before it happens.
VOCABULARY AND DEFINITIONS-
Broadcasting: The action taken by a supporter of Backyard Broadcast; raising awareness on the dangers of child sex trafficking in one’s community.
Branding: A tattoo or other permanent marking to show ownership by a pimp.
Brothel: Any kind of establishment where sex is sold for money. Can be located anywhere.
Circuit: A chain of cities through which pimps move victims. The goal of a circuit is to seperate victims from familiarity and remove support systems.
Daddy: The term pimps often require victims to refer to them as.
Grooming: The process through which a pimp picks a girl, earns her trust, and slowly eases her into a trafficking circle.
John: Slang word for someone who buys a victim.
Pimp: Slang word for a trafficker, a person who sells other human beings to perform sex acts.
Stable: A group of victims under the control of one pimp.
Station: A chapter, or club, started in high schools or colleges to fight child sex trafficking on a local level.
Station Chief: The chapter/club president.