One of the gravest heartaches of being a therapist is listening to the painful memories of men, women, and children who have been exploited for sex. They have been assaulted and forced to do sex acts on family members as well as strangers with no way to protect themselves. Some of the stories are so heart wrenching, even a tough old bird like me has a hard time stuffing my emotions so they can share without feeling judged. Many of the children and young adults I've worked with who went through the foster care system report rape as one of their many traumas. I hear people say in disbelief of the stories of how easily America's children are being lured by men and women through social media away from the safety of their homes and kidnapped into the sex trade, "Not my child. It will be a cold day in hell the day someone tries to take my child." Well people, I hate to say it but, hell is freezing over.
I met Opal Singleton, founder of Million Kids, a few years back when she gave a presentation to a group of businesspeople in the City of Perris. I learned how the internet, social media, the Mexican cartel were moving unnoticed through the southland setting up mobil prostitution rings where illegal children were being forced to perform sex acts on men brought to them by the bus load. I became physically ill as she spoke of the way the "handlers" would drug the children and line the men up outside of an abandoned building and every 10-15 minutes they would enter one-by-one and have their way with the children. When the children refused to perform, they were beaten. When they interfered too much, they were murdered, and their bodies dumped. Because they were undocumented no one even knew they were missing.
During that presentation I learned Riverside County was the leader of Human Sex Trafficking in the Nation, and Hollywood was the porn capital of the world. It now makes perfect sense that there would be a bill quietly moving through the senate to legalize prostitution in California. Opal is concerned that SB 357, authored by California Senator Scott Wiener, has passed the Senate and is in the final stages of a vote in the State Assembly, that "will change the very fabric of our society and our children’s future." You can learn more from Opal's podcast at: https://soundcloud.com/exploitedcrimes/tracks