By: Maikeabe
On January 28, 2014, Halton Regional Police Officers arrested and charged two males, Jahmar Gayle and Michael Poku, with trafficking in persons and procuring a person to become a prostitute. This is the third human trafficking arrest in the Halton Region this year.
These incidents of human trafficking, if they can be called incidents because their impact spans a lifetime, often get me thinking about gender and society in general.
Why is it that prostitution is viewed as a victimless crime, getting a lap dance as a “right of passage”, pornography as a healthy way to curb sexual needs, and “Blurred Lines” as the summer’s hit song.
It’s almost easier to comprehend why organized crime and widespread corruption occurs than to reason with why two men in their early 20s would hold an 18-year-old girl hostage in a hotel room and force her to provide sex. Greed and money come to mind when I think of the former. It is only when I hear of these “small-scale” crimes of human trafficking that I begin to wonder why there is a profusion of sex trafficking in almost every society in the world.
The unfortunate answer is that there is a pervasive notion that the lives of women and girls are expendable. This belief that women’s lives are significantly less valuable than those of men permeates almost all societies. It is the root cause of widespread violence against women. It is the reason women experience unprecedented rates of sexual harassment, domestic violence and rape both by strangers and familiar men. It is also the reason why any effective approaches to end sex trafficking must include efforts to combat gender inequality.
Free-Them 
Maikeabe
Thank you for saying so. Gender issues are contentious issues. But somebody’s got to speak up. That is,If empowered western women want to see things change–they need to change out of the lap-dancing outfit. And while we are at it, let’s change advertisers (ahemmLaSenza) to stop making sex appeal the primary appeal for young girls to aspire to.