Optimist
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Features
    • Book Review
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
  • Podcasts
    • Optimist Overtime
    • Top of the Key
  • Police Log
  • Print Edition
  • Projects
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Staff Contacts
    • Jobs
You are here: Home / Opinion / Columns / Sex trafficking at Super Bowl used for attention

Sex trafficking at Super Bowl used for attention

February 4, 2015 by Brittany Jackson

If you were in Texas on Sunday, or anywhere in the United States for that matter, you most likely had your behind planted on a stool, couch or lounge chair watching the Super Bowl.

I won’t lie, I was there. I ate the mini hot dogs and probably consumed more root beer float than humanly possible.

We screamed, we shouted and we cried while watching the Patriots win (still bitter).

But for some, the Super Bowl isn’t just about a pigskin, rivalries and food. As the media and officials have often proclaimed since 2010, the Super Bowl is a prime sex trafficking event. Statistics of sex trafficking blow up at the same rate of food consumption stats, reports and Twitter feeds flood with claims of huge increases of prostitutes being brought to the host city of the Superbowl.

In fact, if you type in “Superbowl and sex trafficking” into the search bar, I guarantee at least six recent stories on sextrafficking arrests in correlation with the sport event will surface.

However, looking further into the issue, some organizations against sex trafficking oppose the media exposure, saying it comes with a false pretense: large sports events are directly correlated to an increase in sex trafficking.

In Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women’s article, What’s the Cost of a Rumor?, the group deconstructs the myth. The writer claims the myth is not statistically feasible, that such short-term events would not be profitable enough for traffickers and paid sexual services wouldn’t be accessible to most sports spectators.

They claim the myth is a ruse to gather media attention, to quickly fundraise, to give the appearance that things are being done to oppose sex trafficking on a regular basis, and to promote anti-immigration and prostitution agendas.

The widespread acceptance of the myth has created a misrepresentation of people and issues, displaced marginalized groups in an effort to correct the situation and even spurred attempts to restrict women’s traveling plans, they said.

While the Super Bowl may not have a significant effect on sex trafficking numbers, though, it did the trick of getting media’s attention. And so, it caught our attention, for the fifth year in a row.

Now, what are we going to do about it? We can read Huffington Post’s reports on a national sex trafficking operation making about 600 arrests, or Fox News’s account of a previously sex-trafficked woman and her experience in business during the Superbowl, or we can read beyond the first two articles popping up on our Twitter feed and really investigate the issue.

People are posted and sold online every day. Sex trafficking is not exclusive to large sporting events, and so our initiative to fight it should not be exclusive to the weeks leading to and following the Super Bowl.

Filed Under: Columns, Opinion Tagged With: Column, Opinion

Other Opinion:

  • Not-so-friendly competition

  • Sing Song in the Expo Center presents an exciting opportunity

  • Micro-trends are a danger to Gen Z and the planet

About Brittany Jackson

You are here: Home / Opinion / Columns / Sex trafficking at Super Bowl used for attention

Other Opinion:

  • Not-so-friendly competition

  • Sing Song in the Expo Center presents an exciting opportunity

  • Micro-trends are a danger to Gen Z and the planet

Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Optimist on Twitter

acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
4 May

"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray:
https://acuoptimist.com/2022/04/not-so-friendly-competition/

Reply on Twitter 1521918832738144257Retweet on Twitter 15219188327381442571Like on Twitter 15219188327381442578Twitter 1521918832738144257
acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
3 May

Royce Clough and Jael Morel have been named as Mr. and Miss ACU for the class of 2022, a traditional honor voted on by the student body and awarded to two members of each graduating class.

Reply on Twitter 1521607087553458178Retweet on Twitter 1521607087553458178Like on Twitter 152160708755345817819Twitter 1521607087553458178

Optimist on Facebook

The Optimist

3 weeks ago

The Optimist
"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray: ... See MoreSee Less

Not-so-friendly competition - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

BY: LONDYN GRAY “Number 18, you look like you don’t shower!” I chuckled and shrugged it off. “Londyn!” They had looked up the roster. “Do you even brush your teeth?” I laughed again, rol...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Optimist

3 weeks ago

The Optimist
Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and the Department of Theatre. ... See MoreSee Less

Cullen Auditorium still set for a name change alongside renovations - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and th...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Videos

Women’s tournament run ended by first-round exit against UTRGV

The Wildcats’ Western Athletic Conference tournament run and season came to a ... [Read More…]

  • Optimist Newscast Feb. 22. 2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.16.2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.9.2022

Latest Photos

  • Home
  • Weekly Ads
  • Classifieds

© 2022 ACU Optimist · All Rights Reserved

Posting....