Media 4 Humanity

Fighting Child Trafficking in the United States

Essential Facts and FAQs

FAQFactsTeaser

Read on for answers to your FAQs and more M4H facts...

Q: Who funds Media 4 Humanity?

A: A lot of people do!

Our founders and volunteers have been the primary funders.

Pure efficiency and active solicitation of free goods and volunteer services enabled us to stretch a $5000 donation into $1,000,000 worth of self-empowerment programs.

Board members and advisors absorb most of the operating expenses.

Q: How many employees does Media 4 Humanity have?

A: Our operations are successfully run by mostly committed volunteers and interns...

Other than part-time administrative help, there are no salaried employees.

The President devotes 40 hours a week to M4H and draws no money.

M4H operates out of the President's apartment to minimize overhead.

Non-paid interns and volunteers contribute their time and skills to organizing M4H programs, events--even this website.

Q: How many people are involved with Media 4 Humanity?
A: Since its conception, hundreds of people have worked directly with M4H.

Since 2000, more than 200 interns have donated a summer or semester of work to the cause with approximately 10-20 interns hired almost every semester and summer.

Another fifty volunteers are willing to help when called upon: some to help run events, some to mentor the interns, and some to spend time with our kids at our events.

Q: How many people attend your networking events?

A: Attendance at our social gathering and events ranges from 50 to 200 people.

Q: What does child trafficking have to do with Sports Days and Spa Nights?

A: Self-Esteem!

Learn more about our method of Empowerment.

Learn more about our Sports Days and Spa Nights and how you too can make a difference by becoming a volunteer.

Q: How does self-esteem protect a child from becoming a trafficking victim?

A: Studies suggest that educating and empowering potential victims will reduce their vulnerability to trafficking.

According to child psychologists, a child imbued with a healthy ego is more apt to repel the manipulative tactics of a kidnapper, trafficker, 'enslaver', or threatening individual.

At first, a slave is held captive with chains or other means of confinement. The enslaver then verbally and physically abuses his/her slave.

Once a human being has lost his/her self-worth, s/he has then lost his/her sense of empowerment and may even become enamored with their captor (also known as "The Stockholm Syndrome").

Like in the case of Patti Hearst, a person can become brainwashed to feel indebted to his/her captor. This is why many prostitutes remain loyal to their pimps.

Q: Why does Media 4 Humanity focus on child trafficking affecting America and not slavery worldwide?

A: While M4H cares about children all around the world, there are many suffering in our own backyard and we must concentrate our resources...

Children living in abuse and poverty are more vulnerable to pedophiles AND human traffickers. Recent statistics show an alarming number of American children and children in New York City are at risk.

In 2007, the National Poverty Center reported that 18% of all children in America were living in poverty.

In New York City alone, that same year, more than half a million NYC kids were living in poverty and more than 16,000 were homeless.

Also in 2007, an estimated 39.9% of inner-city kids were reported to suffer from abuse or neglect (www.nyc.gov)

With the economic crisis and the rise of stress and financial instability on families, this number is bound to rise.

Q: Don't prostitutes choose what they do?

A: The majority of prostitutes are forced into prostitution either because they are unable to find work that pays living wage or work under the threat of violence. For most, there is little choice in the matter, and once they become a prostitute, it is even harder to stop.

A recent study by the Urban Justice Center in New York City revealed that...

67% of their respondents got involved with sex work because they were unable to find work that paid the living wage.
46% of sex workers experienced violence in the course of their work and 42% had been threatened or beaten for being a sex worker.
Since prostitution is illegal and has a negative stigma surrounding the work, many prostitutes reported feeling isolated and unable to reach out for support, legal, educational, and other services that would help them escape the abusive lifestyle.
40% of sex workers were born outside the US and its territories and those without work permits saw prostitution as their only economically viable option.

8% were trafficked into the country for prostitution and reported being threatened, beaten, raped, and having their money withheld by traffickers.

In November 2007, New York passed a harsher anti-trafficking law, with pimps and human traffickers alike now facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted--a serious increase from 2 1/2 to 7 years--and a mandate to provide more services to the victims of sex trafficking. This new law shows that the government and police officials are no longer drawing a vague, grey line between pimps and human traffickers.

Q: Why not make prostitution legal?

A: Quite simply, the trafficking industry caters to the sex industry.

As human traffickers experts have written in The Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice, the trafficking trade follows the simple theory of supply and demand: traffickers will meet markets of higher demand with fewer barriers of entry (i.e. legal restrictions) by flooding it with a greater supply.

Already human trafficking makes up a sizable, difficult to regulate, and dangerous portion of the sex industry within the US: 8% of the Urban Justice Center's respondents were trafficked into the country for sex work and reported being "threatened, beaten, raped and having their money withheld by their traffickers."

Between January 2007 and September 2008, sex trafficking made up 83% of all reported trafficking incidents according to a Justice Department press release.

Let's face it. Sex sells. You may know this, but so do traffickers. And they are banking on it.

Q: What gives with all these escort and massage ads on TV, billboards, in local papers and on the internet?

A: Once again, sex sells. The problem is it only pays ad execs and traffickers, not the victims.

In 2007, Village Voice made $80,000 per month from its back page ads, New York Magazine (who have since dropped the ads due to criticism about human trafficking victims) made $40,000 per month from its sex listings, and the Verizon Yellow Pages generated more than $1 million in sale revenues--solely from "adult" ads.
These ads may classify themselves as "adult ads." In reality, these ads are the main way traffickers find customers and are able to traffick underage minors--particularly with the rise of the internet.
To learn more about M4H's campaign working against exploitative ads of minors on internet sites such as Craig's List, click here.

Q: What can I do to prevent human trafficking?

A: Educate yourself. Educate others. Take action. Support action.

Educate yourself: By taking the time to read through the FAQs and Facts of M4H, you are taking a step in the right direction. Continue to educate yourself about this increasingly complicated and multi-faceted issue by signing up for our e-mail alerts, quarterly e-newsletter, and by becoming a M4H volunteer. The more you act, the more you learn.

Educate others: Help us spread awareness. Write a letter to your congressmen. Participate in our awareness campaigns. Attend our events. Even something as simple as sharing a few of the facts you've learned at this website with your friends or family can make a difference.

Take action: With the hundreds of thousands of children at risk in the US and around the world, M4H needs as much help to combat this issue as we can get. Join our efforts today by volunteering online or getting involved in one of our campaigns.

Support action: It is sometimes difficult to dedicate time and energy to a cause, no matter how much you care. Show your support for M4H's activities and help combat child trafficking by making a donation today. It is quick, simple, and will go directly towards preventing human trafficking.

Our site is still under going major renovations! Please keep checking back for more facts about Human Trafficking and M4H.

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 14:08 Last Updated on Monday, 19 July 2010 12:22 Written by Rebekah Breitzer