From Balenciaga to Disney, companies profit by sexualizing kids – at a horrific price
The consequences of our complacency to the sexualization of children are far-ranging – and none more horrifying than the rise in demand for children in the sex trade.
Balenciaga, the celebrated fashion house, recently made headlines for a campaign featuring young children holding plush teddy bears dressed in sado-masochistic trappings – bondage gear, fishnet shirts and studded leather harnesses and collars.
Balenciaga’s gaffe wasn't an accident – a parallel campaign featured other rotten Easter eggs, like a page from a Supreme Court case on child pornography and a coffee table book on an artist whose artwork depicts children in sexual, macabre and disturbing settings.
The hypersexualization of young children in fashion, TV and social media is not an exception, it’s a worrisome trend that should be triggering a crescendo of warning bells.
Supply and demand in the sex trade
Yet, Balenciaga’s egregious misstep resulted in nothing more than a blip on the radar, another quasi-scandal that further desensitized us to using young children as a means to an adult end. The consequences of our complacency to the sexualization of children are far-ranging – and none more horrifying than the rise in demand for children in the sex trade.
Child sex trafficking is mostly portrayed in the media as a distant problem – not one that occurs in the United States – until, inevitably, something happens to remind the general public that sex trafficking is pervasive and that it’s in our backyards.
It’s not just Balenciaga. It’s Benetton. Gucci. Calvin Klein. The fashion industry is riddled with photos and stories of young women who are sexualized, exploited or fetishized.
And it’s echoed across industries – from Disney and Nickelodeon’s hypersexualization of child stars, to TikTok super teens cashing in on their sexuality for careers as fledgling influencers.
Yet, even with repeated red flags launched into the ether, we seem resistant to make the causal link between the sexualization of young children and the rise of sex trafficking – with figureheads like Tate, who has openly admitted to making a lucrative living through the sexual exploitation of young women, at the helm.
Companies profit from cycle of exploitation
We look the other way while corporations sexualize young girls with impunity in a cycle of exploitation – we continue to buy the clothes, watch the shows and use the apps. And, much like the apologue of the frog who was boiled by an incremental increase of the water’s temperature, we won’t realize the danger we’re putting our youth in until the consequences become far too dire.
As images of young people in sexually suggestive contexts subliminally enter minds and cross the blurred boundaries of acceptable norms, our society becomes more and more comfortable with pushing the envelope.
And with increased demand comes increased supply – naturally, the trafficking business is booming. American children are diverted from a bus stop near their foster or group home or on their walk home from middle or high school – or groomed online with gifts and compliments, only to be lured into a cycle of sexual exploitation.
Traffickers, skilled in their trade, are experts at recruitment of minors, misdirection and concealment. They count on the incredulity of adults who are supposed to safeguard children. They count on our complacency. And in looking the other way, we become their conspirators.
Victims of child sex trafficking are the most vulnerable in our society, including runaways and youth in foster care who have already experienced significant trauma. Many of the teens are victims of parental or caregiver abuse, making them more easily tempted into connecting with a trafficker in hopes of escaping an abusive situation at home.
Often, traffickers manipulate traumatized children by offering them housing, food and the type of stability they’ve lacked in previous living situations. Later, perhaps when the child isn't bringing in enough money or tries to leave, the trafficker resorts to physical and psychological violence.
Trafficking victims fall through the cracks
Most of these children aren’t strangers to abuse – accustomed to trauma, they’re less likely to escape the situation even if given a chance. Trafficked children usually don’t call hotlines; some might not even identify as being trafficked.
Without concrete evidence and proper training to ferret out traffickers, authorities to whom these cases are (rarely) reported often fail to act on behalf of the victim. So trafficking victims fall through the cracks and once they age out of their bondage – if they survive it – it’s to make space for the next generation of sex trafficked youth.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2023/01/18/human-trafficking-cycle-complacency-sexualizing-kids-ads-social-media/11041168002/
Doesn't matter. I want them to see the things we post and to be absolutelyENRAGED!
I bet the pop-up recovery tents are full right now and maybe even a long line to get into the tent.
Madonna Accused Of Trafficking & Sexually Exploiting Children – Removes All Posts From Instagram
Pop star Madonna has been trending on Twitter after being accused of child trafficking. The singer has been accused of exploiting children by the Ethiopian World Federation, who “advocate to change the laws that harm all Black People.” They uncovered several problems in the musician’s adoption of her four children, David Banda, Mercy James, and twins Esther and Stella.
The EWF has requested Malawian President Lazarus Chakwara to investigate Madonna’s charity Raising Malawi. The non-profit claims to support orphans and vulnerable children by providing health and educational programs. The EWF is asking the Material Girl singer and her associates to be restricted from Africa and not be given access to African children until an investigation into- “child trafficking, sx exploitation, sxual slavery, adoption reversal, the threat of coercion, fraud, deception, and abuse of power or vulnerability” is completed.
We can’t confirm whether the allegation is true, but the fact she has been accused is 100% true!
https://defiantamerica.com/madonna-accused-of-trafficking-sexually-exploiting-children-removes-all-posts-from-instagram/
>took down the post
Yeah but, thanks to DC Draino’s TS post from yesterday, now anons have it and we’re going to keep it!
John Larroquette confirms he was paid in marijuana to narrate 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
A low-budget movie calls for some creativity.
John Larroquette narrated the prologue of the 1974 horror movie "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" without pay — at least not in the traditional sense.
Larroquette, 75, confirmed longstanding rumors that he was paid by late director Tobe Hooper in marijuana. "Totally true," he told Parade Tuesday.
"He gave me some marijuana or a matchbox or whatever you called it in those days. I walked out of the (recording) studio and patted him on the back side and said, 'Good luck to you!'" the "Night Court" star recalled.
Larroquette said he and Hooper sparked a friendship years earlier in 1969 when the director was filming a project in Colorado, where he was bartending at the time.
They later reconnected when Larroquette moved to Los Angeles to begin his acting career. "Tobe heard I was in town and asked for an hour of my time to narrate something for this movie he just did," the Emmy winner said. "I said 'Fine!' It was a favor."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/01/18/john-larroquette-paid-marijuana-weed-texas-chainsaw-massacre/11073784002/