Sex Trafficking in the USA

Speaker: 
Documentary & Discussion
 
08 Sep 2015
 
7:00 PM
 
Great Hall, Memorial Union

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"Sex Trafficking in the USA" is the first episode of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's new documentary, A Path Appears. The Department of Justice estimates that there are 300,000 children at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery in the United States. Reporters Kristof and WuDunn introduce us to the complex circumstances behind these shocking numbers and some of the survivors. They also document growing efforts to reshape law enforcement's response to prostitution and trafficking and the work of anti-trafficking organizations. National Affairs Series: When American Values Are in Conflict

George Belitsos, Retired Youth & Shelter Services CEO, will provide opening remarks. Following the 84-minute film, Teresa Downing-Matibag, executive director of the Network Against Human Trafficking and a lecturer of sociology at Iowa State, will lead a discussion. Participants include Ruth Buckels, the mother of a human trafficking survivor, and Mike Ferjak, who leads the Iowa Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

[i]A Path Appears[/i], is a follow-up to Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's groundbreaking series [i]Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.[/i] The film features such advocates as Malin Akerman, Mia Farrow, Jennifer Garner, Blake Lively, Eva Longoria as they travel to Colombia, Haiti, Kenya, and throughout the United States uncovering the harshest forms of gender-based oppression and human rights violations, as well as the effective solutions being implemented to combat them. In [i]Sex Trafficking in the USA[/i] we meet Shana, who was first sold to a pimp by her mother at the age of 12; Maria, a mother who discovers her 15-year-old daughter being sold through backpage.com; and Savannah, who was stalked by an older man and then sold and held in sexual bondage. [b]Related Lecture [url=http://www.lectures.iastate.edu/lecture/35789]Nicholas Kristof: Why We Should Care About the World & Want to Change It[/b][/url] Monday, September 14, 2015 at 8:00 pm Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center