Organizations work to normalize conversations about sex trafficking, end the issue

Experts in the field say it’s time to get comfortable with the uncomfortable to help stop sex trafficking. They believe normalizing the conversation about the issue will improve the issue.  

In just the last week, more than 20 men were arrested in a Hennepin County sex trafficking sting and a federal sex trafficking case began for a Minneapolis man.

When asked how big of a problem sex trafficking is in Minnesota, executive director for Citizens Against Sex Trafficking (C.A.S.T.), an organization whose main mission is to prevent it from happening, Ashley Moore called it “profound.”

“The FBI has identified human trafficking as an issue in Minnesota specifically,” Moore added. “This isn’t just a Minneapolis issue, human trafficking is not just a downtown St. Paul issue, it happens just as often in suburban and rural communities.”

Through education, awareness and collaboration, C.A.S.T. works to normalize the conversation about human trafficking and help breakdown the myths and stereotypes about the issue.

“Prevention is important because people matter and if we can end human trafficking before it begins that saves the trauma and the heartache of someone being exploited,” Moore said.

A big focus of their work involves educating middle and high school students.

According to the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey, University of Minnesota researchers asked high school students if they’ve ever been sexually exploited — specifically if they’ve ever “traded sex or sexual activity to receive money, food, drugs, alcohol, a place to stay or anything else.”

More than 5,000, or 1.4%, of respondents said they had — a number researchers feel is underestimated because they only asked kids who were at school that day and that some may have been “reluctant” to answer yes because of “shame or fear.”

“We have to stop being in denial that it doesn’t happen in our county, or it doesn’t happen in our town, it does, it absolutely does,” Mary McRoy, the east metro’s Safe Harbor navigator, said.

The Safe Harbor program is organized by the Minnesota Department of Health — its mission is to guide sex trafficking victims to help and resources. As a navigator, McRoy serves as the point-person for those in need surrounding these issues — including law enforcement, educators, and community members.

“Anyway that people come to us, we’re going to immediately assess need and triage any safety issues,” McRoy said.

More information on the Safe Harbor program can be found here.