Dr. Stephany Powell, Director of Law Enforcement Training and Survivor Services at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins the Ending Sexploitation podcast to discuss the concept of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) through the lens of implicit bias. 

Dr. Powell explains that Trauma-Informed Care entails a paradigm shift from wondering, “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”. She says, “Once we understand ‘What happened to you’, without bias, then that’s when we can really begin our journey alongside our clients to be able to help them become the person that they want to be.” 

Dr. Powell explains that the ability to understand people’s trauma and provide them with Trauma-Informed Care is often hindered by our own implicit biases. Implicit biases are the attitudes or stereotypes we unconsciously hold which affect the way we view and treat other people. They are different from explicit biases in that we do not know we have them and they can even be in opposition to our declared beliefs. Dr. Powell emphasizes that everyone has implicit biases. Fortunately, these biases can be gradually unlearned, but in order for this to happen we first have to recognize what our implicit biases are and how they are affecting our attitudes and behaviors. 

Why focus on combatting the demand for prostitution (ie. Sex buying)? Is combatting demand an effective way to reduce sex trafficking? Is it affordable and accessible for law enforcement? What kind of tactics and strategies can be used to deter sex buyers? How does full decriminalization of prostitution affect demand reduction efforts?

These are some of the questions explored by the experts on Demand who join the Ending Sexploitation podcast for this episode. These experts include Marian Hatcher of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, who has worked on countless law enforcement initiatives targeting demand; Jamey Caruthers, the Director of Demand Reduction and Policy at Street Grace; and Dr. Michael Shively, long-time researcher on Demand and Senior Advisor on Research & Data Analysis at NCOSE.

Peter Gentala, Senior Legal Counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins the Ending Sexploitation podcast to discuss the issue of holding social media platforms legally accountable for facilitating sexual exploitation. Gentala addresses both the particular challenges in this space as well as the unprecedented progress that has occurred over the past year.  

Gentala explains how American Law has been interpreted as granting internet platforms blanket immunity for third-party content, under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. As such, it has historically been exceptionally difficult to hold social media companies accountable for the role they play in recklessly distributing sexually exploitative content. However, thanks to the brave voices of survivors and the collective efforts of law firms, advocates, journalists, and more, groundbreaking progress has been made. Gentala speaks to the milestones that have been reached in the past year, sharing a message of hope and inspiration.