Walk Reclaimed

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Boys

The Hidden Victims

People usually don't think of boys as being victims of sex trafficking, but they are. Recent research has identified commercially sexually exploited boys and young men as vastly unidentified and under reported. There is also a shortage of services available to them. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in New Your City report estimated that as many as 50 percent of the CSEC population is male. The data are hard to verify, but even if that estimate is high, it is obvious that these victims do exist, and they need help.

According to a recent report produced by the Luskin Center of UCLA, boys are typically sold for sex in the same venues as girls. These include on the street, through internet classified ads, sex oriented websites, clubs, bars, truck stops and conventions.

It is less common for boys do not work under the control of a trafficker. It is more common for boys to be homeless and living on the streets where they engage in survival sex to meet their most basic needs.

Hope

There are many people and organizations working to fight trafficking. Some in legislation, others in education and still others in rescue. Our goal is to work in restoration, giving these boys and young men a place and the tools needed to rebuild their lives.

In Hosea 2:15 God tells how he will, "Make the valley of Achor a door of hope." The valley of Achor translates to valley of trouble. God says that he will make the valley of trouble a door of hope. He doesn't say he will pluck us out of trouble, but that he will use the trouble to create a doorway into hope.

It is hard for us to think of anything as horrible as trafficking being used to bring hope, but our God is a God of miracles. He can use the pain itself to create his hope in our lives, taking us to a place we couldn't have reached any other way.

As Harmony Dust, author of 'Scars and Stilettos', observes, "God never wastes a hurt."