While data on the exact impact is tough to come by, large-scale sporting events like the Super Bowl present the opportunity for increased human trafficking activity. Here’s more about the problem—and more about human trafficking survivors how are working to help protect and rescue others.
“Super Bowl Is Single Largest Human Trafficking Incident In U.S.: Attorney General” from the Huffington Post
The influx of fans fosters the optimal breeding ground for pimps looking to boost their profits. Experts say that the sheer number of men looking to pay for sex substantially increases demand and the massive crowds allow for pimps and victims to essentially go unnoticed, newsnet5.com reports.
“It’s not so much that you become a victim at the Super Bowl, but that many victims are brought in to be used for all the men at the Super Bowl,” Stephanie Kilper, a representative for Operation Freedom Taskforce in Akron, Ohio — an organization which aims to end to human trafficking –- told newsnet5.com
According to Forbes, 10,000 prostitutes were brought to Miami for the Super Bowl in 2010 and 133 underage arrests for prostitution were made in Dallas during the 2011 Super Bowl.
Prostitution of minors is considered trafficking under federal law.
Greenlee, a former sex trafficking victim who was abducted and raped by her captors at 12, told the Times-Picayune that she was shuttled around cities in the South to work as a prostitute at large-scale events. The 53-year-old, who now works as an advocate for sex trafficking victims in Louisiana, said there was immense pressure to meet her traffickers’ demands at events like the Super Bowl.
“Super Bowl surge in sex trafficking? Maybe not, but issue grabs the spotlight” from NBC
The idea of helping sex-trafficking victims came to Theresa Flores when she was naked and freezing on the floor of a motel bathroom, after being gang-raped by at least 10 men, maybe more. She says she lost count when she passed out from the pain.
Decades later, Flores, a sex-trafficking survivor, has made good on her promise to herself. The founder of SOAP, or Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, is trying to make at least a small dent in a national problem this week with a modest act: distributing bars of soap with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number on the wrapping to hotels and motels in New York and New Jersey.
“There are three things in every motel: a Bible, toilet paper and soap,” said Flores. “Every girl cleans up after every man and it’s often the only time she’s allowed alone. Who knows? The soap could be the difference. I wish there had been one in that motel room all those years ago.
Flores, 48, is making her rounds because the Super Bowl will be held on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., and many of the fans will stay in New York before and after the game. Her presence is just one indication of the unwelcome role football’s marquee event has assumed in the debate over sex trafficking and prostitution.
Some experts and organizations that advocate for sex-trafficking victims and/or prostitutes say that big sporting events like the Super Bowl provide a major boost to the illicit businesses by providing a ready-made customer base. That view gained ground after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott labeled the game the “single-largest human-trafficking incident in the United States” in 2011, when it was held in his state.
Bars of soap, with the phone number for the national human trafficking hotline on them, are being distributed to hotels and motels in New York and New Jersey.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie indicated on Wednesday that the law enforcement is taking seriously the possibility of an influx of prostitution and sex trafficking surrounding the game.
“Sex Trafficking Survivor Works To Protect Girls Before Super Bowl” from WBUR
A Massachusetts organization is working in New Jersey to raise awareness before the Super Bowl about the sexual exploitation of girls.
The Boston-based program My Life My Choice is nationally known for its curriculum that trains young girls how to recognize the signs of human traffickers and pimps.
My Life My Choice Executive Director Lisa Goldblatt Grace and Associate Director Audrey Morrissey — who is a survivor of the commercial sex industry– joined WBUR’s All Things Considered host Deborah Becker to discuss how the curriculum works, and why it’s especially important ahead of the Super Bowl.
Deborah Becker: How were you approached by New Jersey to help out there?
Lisa Goldblatt Grace: We’re working with a great agency there called Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, who is working in collaboration with their Department of Children and Families. Now, we know that the commercial sexual exploitation of young people happens 365 days of the year. But it was this catalyst of knowing that when there are major sporting events there is an increase in the exploitation that happens around that that led New Jersey to bring us in to do some work.
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