CityLimits.org
Slut Shaming Feeds the Sex Trade
By Katie Cappiello and Lauren Hersh | March 12, 2015
"You are NOT leaving this house looking like a hooker."
"Total trash. She's asking for it."
"I have a classroom full of teenaged girl who dress like sluts."
These words are all too familiar. Teens attacking other teens on social media. Parents admonishing their daughter for her clothing choice. Teachers criticizing students. These words not only reinforce the shaming of a girl's sexuality, but further degrade girls and women who have been victimized and forced into the sex trade.
WNYC.ORG
Conversations Offline Prevent Shaming Online
By Katie Cappiello and Lauren Hersh | December 29, 2014
You dead a** need to learn to laugh. It’s just the killing of hookers and it’s supposed to be funny.
This was one of over 250 comments made on 15-year-old Eleanor’s Facebook wall after she praised Target for removing Grand Theft Auto 5 from the store’s shelves earlier this month, following massive public outrage over its violent and misogynic content. For the uninitiated, Grand Theft Auto awards points to players who pay women in prostitution for sex, then beat and kill them.
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
When Girls Are Part of the Solution Everyone Benefits
By Katie Cappiello and Lauren Hersh | March 7. 2014
It’s dark outside, 20 degrees, and we’ve taken to Super Bowl Boulevard in NYC with a team of teen girls who are passionate about ending modern day slavery. They’ve traded their usual homework-filled Thursday night for hours of in-the-trenches advocacy. Bundled in Uggs and puffy coats, the girls walk arm-in-arm, encouraging each other with every step, as they engage passers-by with trafficking facts and dispense information on commercial sexual exploitation.
“If girls my age are forced out in the freezing cold every night to make money for some brutal pimp, I can handle this until dinner time. It’s my way of fighting with those girls and being part of the solution.” says Dominique, a 15-year-old from Brooklyn.