Episodes

Dr. Stephany Powell joins the podcast to share about her unique insight into the world of sexual exploitation and trafficking gained through her thirty years with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), coupled with her time serving survivors and advocating for vital policy reforms.

She addresses law enforcement perspectives on identifying and investigating sex trafficking cases, and misunderstandings that can hinder them. Dr. Powell recently contributed to a book titled “Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls.” Her chapter addressed myths around the commercial sexual exploitation of African American girls, and she elaborates on these themes in her podcast.

Child sexual abuse materials (or CSAM, aka child pornography) has surged over 106% during COVID according to the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children. And tragically, CSAM isn't only happening on the Dark Web - it's also flourishing on mainstream social media platforms like Twitter.

Survivor John Doe was only 16 when he discovered exploitative child sexual abuse materials of himself at age 13 were posted on Twitter. The video managed to accrue over 160,000 views before Twitter finally took it down—despite multiple reports from both John Doe and his mother verifying his status as a minor.  

Lisa Habba, Esq. and Peter Gentala, Esq. joined this episode of the Ending Sexploitation podcast to share the story of John Doe, and another male survivor, who are suing Twitter for facilitating their child sexual abuse materials.

The discussion includes the legal challenges of the case and why Twitter assumes it should be immune from any liability, despite fostering an environment that appears to allow child sexual abuse materials to flourish.

Take Action:

If you or someone you know has been harmed by sexual exploitation via Twitter please contact the Haba Law Firm and the NCOSE Law Center.

Learn more about this case and help spread the word on how Twitter is complicit with the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM.)

Since the 2007 movie Lars and the Real Girl, sex dolls have become increasingly popular and normalized. In fact, mainstream companies like Amazon, Etsy, and the Wish shopping app have sold sex dolls, including ones that looked child-like.

During this episode of the Ending Sexploitation podcast, Haley McNamara interviews Caitlin Roper, PhD candidate, and Campaigns Manager at Collective Shout.

They discuss the rising trends of sex dolls being made to look like children or people the buyer knows in real life, and the way sex dolls are not an answer to loneliness or pedophilia. In fact, they discuss research that shows how child sex abuse dolls normalize and encourage sexual interest in children. 

Take Action:

Connect with Collective Shout and engage in their campaigns: https://www.collectiveshout.org/

Follow Caitlin Roper on Twitter: https://twitter.com/caitlin_roper

Contact Etsy on Twitter and tell them to stop selling sex dolls: https://twitter.com/Etsy

Entities such as strip clubs, massage parlors, brothels, and pornography production companies exist around the world and are commonly referred to using innocuous terms such as “sex trade,” “sex sector,” and “commercial sex industry.” However, what these entities really constitute is a global supply chain of organized sexual exploitation.

Lisa Thompson, Vice President of Policy and Research at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, analyzes this complex supply chain.

Resources:

This presentation was recorded at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation's national briefing in the U.S. Capitol building, entitled "The Freedom from Sexploitation Agenda."

To learn more about the agenda, and to see more videos from the event, visit: endsexualexploitation.org/freedomagenda/

The abuse of children is something we recognize as a horrific crime. But what happens when the abuser is a child themselves?

This week we hear from Heidi Olson, a registered nurse who specializes in pediatrics and leads the team of forensic nurses at a large children’s hospital in Kansas City, MO.

This presentation will give real-life examples of unlikely juvenile sex offenders, their victims, and how this is directly related to exploitation and pornography.

*Listener Discretion Advised: This episode includes graphic medical descriptions of the acts and after effects of sexual assault. 

Resources:

Learn more and find resources if you or someone you love has experienced this kind of abuse:

https://endsexualexploitation.org/cocsa

While this work is sometimes dark and depressing, we are so grateful to see many victories from 2018!

Join us in looking back and recognizing the forward momentum our movement has, from corporate policy progress at Walmart and Comcast, to more state resolutions recognizing the harms of pornography, and more!

Resources:

Get involved and be a part of the 2019 victories by taking action at DirtyDozenList.com.

Earlier this year,  Jayme Cross, a 13-year-old girl had been missing for months after a 21-year-old man murdered her parents, duct-taped her wrists and mouth, threw her in the back of his trunk, and drove away. Some 88 days after being abducted, Jayme was able to get out of the house, and run to get help from a woman out walking her dog.

Perhaps few others have as clear of a perspective on this story than the family of Elizabeth Smart—the woman who was abducted for several months in Utah in 2002 at the age of 14.

At the 2015 Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit, Elizabeth Smart’s father, Ed Smart, gave a moving presentation about the way sexual exploitation and abuse is interlinked in real-life, and how to turn trauma into action. Ed Smart is now an advocate for child protection, working with numerous nonprofits and has lobbied Congress and the Senate tirelessly to prevent further abductions and to rescue missing children.

Resources:

First, you can go to http://www.childIDprogram.com/ for the ID Kit which allows parents to take and store their child's fingerprints in their own home. Keep for your own records in case the worst happens and you need to give them to authorities.

Surviving Parents Coalition

http://www.spcoalition.org/index.html

TAALK has many resources and a private forum with one section that is specifically for Parents of Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: https://taalk.org/forum.html

https://elizabethsmartfoundation.org/ - ending victimization through prevention, recovery and advocacy