Runaways, Abuse and Prostitution

"Studies of children and adolescents who run away from home show that many are running away from abuse. One study of runaway youths found that 73% or females and 38% of males reported having been abused. A 1998 study of 26 teenagers revealed that most reported that they left their homes only as a last resort and after having been physically, sexually or emotionally abused.
Ironically, some teenagers may actually increase their chances of abuse by leaving home.. Runaways are often easy prey for adults seeking to lure them into prostitution. Unable to secure a job that pays enough to support them, both males and females are enticed by the promise of large sums of money in exchange for engaging in illicit activities. In addition to sexual exploitation, youths living on the streets are often robbed or assaulted. Most runaways do not live far from home, and several studies have revealed that the wide majority reside less than 100 miles from their families" (The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse 2nd edition page 198).

Tests Show That We Don't Believe Victims

We just don't believe they are innocent...

"Teenage girls are particularly vulnerable to negative judgments regarding their credibility. In simulated sexual abuse trials where only the age of the victim was manipulated, researchers found that jurors tended to find girls over twelve years of age to be significantly less credible than adolescent girls under the age of twelve. As researchers polled their jurors, they found that as victims entered adolescence, jurors perceived them as partly responsible for the abuse they were subjected to, and that belief correlated with a decrease in their perceived credibility... In this respect, the skepticism people demonstrate toward teenage sexual abuse victims is similar to the skepticism that greets adult victims of acquaintance rape. However, even if adult women face serious obstacles in pressing claims of rape, teenage incest victims face even more" (The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology in an article written by Leslie Feiner, as cited in The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse 2nd edition).

A Desire for More

There's been a lot going on in the last months. I've moved out of my house and onto my college campus. There is this little bug inside my heart that keeps bringing me back to my original pain: Sex Trafficking. No matter the distance I get, I can never forget the heartbeat inside me that bleeds for those who are being held against their will...

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around anyone out there ever wanting to become a stripper/ prostitute. The reason I even bring this up is because one day, a girl I knew when I was about 12 years old, told her brother in law that she wanted to be a stripper when she grew up. At the time, she didn't understand it, but she had been so overly sexualized by every man around her that the only thing she knew how to express was her need for love and attention. There was only one way that men gave her that attention back then, and that was through sexual advances. Whether or not they ever did anything to her, she knew at that age that she could use sex or sexuality to get what she wanted/needed. What she really needed was what every little girl wanted and needed: love, attention, adoration, nurturing... etc. she needed something that she was almost incapable of getting because no one else around her provided those things either. So, yes, she did "want" to grow up to be a stripper; If you can even call that a desire.

There are women, children, and men standing right in your midst who are suffering from isolation, depression, drug and alcohol addictions, suicidal thoughts, and so on because they are completely unloved, even hated, by society. The God that we know loves them. So why don't we?

I'm becoming involved in a group called LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) that helps out refugees from North Korea obtain freedom. Many girls end up free from North Korea only to be sold in China. They come from one form of oppression right into another. Please do what you can and donate.