Bleary-eyed at 5:00 a.m., I was heading to the airport for an early flight. (BT – before tent) All I could think about was coffee.  Dark. Rich. Spoon-stands-up-in-it-coffee.  Fair Trade would be nice.  No such luck. I pull up to a drive-up-coffee-for-the-person-on-the-go. Rolling down my window I am suddenly face to face with breasts barely covered by a bra. I must be in the wrong lane. When did they invent drive-up brothels?

I’m about to pull away when a voice chirps, “And what can I get you ~ pause ~ ma’am” (…well at least the breasts were polite.) What can she get me? How about a sledge hammer.  On second thought, how about a vanity blanket. (Did you know vanity blankets were issued to every Beijing police officer during the 1994 UN Women’s Conference?  It was assumed all the women attending the conference would tear off their clothing to protest in Tian’anmen Square. It’s the truth. Honest. I was there. One of the Beijing police officers told me about it. The Chinese government insisted on police carrying vanity blankets in case of naked protestors.)

Now I wish I had one in my car.  A blanket, silly, not a protestor.  Although at times both would be useful. Do I like underwear clad women serving me coffee?  Not so much.  It did, however, get my attention. Maybe that’s the point. A weak one. But a point nevertheless. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Aren’t you cold?“  Her response? “Not so much. We have a heater in here“.

To this day, I’ll drive an extra mile to find a “family friendly” coffee drive-up.  Somehow their coffee tastes better.  Even if it’s not fair trade. Also, I know I’m not promoting the “sex sells” marketing mentality.

Did I give her a tip?  You bet I did.  “Put some clothes on.”

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THE SEXPLOITATION DIALOGUE CONTINUES…

So the conversation about ’sexploitation’ has continued over the past few days among our high school volunteers,  college interns and  50+ volunteers (notice how cleverly I avoided using “elderly” or “retired” as those of us in the 50+ categories are neither tired nor old!)

We’re exploring the issues and having interesting dialogue about causes, perceptions, freedom of choice, slavery, Children’s Rights, women’s rights, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, prostitution, Child Labor. We interviewed Sarah Sweeney, Washington State Director of the Not For Sale Campaign.   There are no clear answers.  We all agreed each issue is multi-faceted. We often found ourselves saying things like,  “…it depends…” or  “…in that situation it’s different…” or “…I never thought about that…” or “…that doesn’t apply here…”

As for the sexpresso post, it too initiated interesting conversation. We did all agree that being served by men in Speedo’s was not the answer. Although we did have a few laughs about the alternatives.

The most important thing I learned is that I am ignorant about the issues.  I have much to learn.  Here are a few resources for those of you who want to learn more:

These 10 Quick Facts come from the website: Branded phx

1. Slavery has been outlawed in every country but still occurs everywhere (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
2. Human Trafficking is now considered the 2nd largest and fastest growing illegal trafficking activity in the world. (United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, Department of Justice Publication)
3. The United Nations estimates the total market value of human trafficking at $32+ billion-a-year. (Love146.org)
4. 80% of victims are women and 50% are children
5. Child prostitutes serve between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per child (Child Exploitation)
6. One million children are forced to work in the sex industry every year. Between 100,000 and 300,000 children in America are at risk for sex trafficking each year.
7. Among the millions trafficked each year hundreds of thousands are teenage girls, and others as young as 5, who fall victim to the sex trade.
8. Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and among the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet. (National Center For Missing and Exploited Children)
9. As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home
10. The average age of entry into prostitution in Phoenix and U.S. is 13 years old