As an educator at a higher education institution, this presenter sees firsthand the struggles that many students have with making the adjustment to college life. That "adjustment period" often leaves students vulnerable to peer pressure and risky behaviors.

Presentation Objectives:

• Educate the audience on what constitutes sexual assault
• Outline the differences between sexual contact and sexual conduct
• Describe how a victim of sexual assault may act after being victimized
• Present strategies on how to combat this behavior on campuses and in our community

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In its annual TIP Reports, the US Department of State evaluates nations for their anti-human trafficking efforts. Based on those scores, it holds traffickers and facilitating governments in disdain, from a moral high ground. Presumably, that ground was won by the abolition of American slavery. However, while American slavery ended over a century ago, in recent times the US has consistently voted down Senate Bill H.R. 40, which calls for the mere investigation of reparations for the descendants of African slaves. Similarly, the US has not moved on the UN’s 2016 request that it pay reparations for slavery based on the UN’s 2006 guidelines. Avoidance to pay the estimated 24 trillion-dollar African slavery reparations debt may erode global perceptions of America’s anti-trafficking moral high ground. For instance, a potential trafficker may reason that, since the US has maintained global respectability and its trafficking-related profits, so can he. And, as the government of a poorer nation may reason the same way, each may ignore otherwise effective anti-trafficking social marketing appeals. The presenters’ view is that if the US wishes to encourage anti-trafficking attitudes, then it should pass Senate Bill H.R. 40.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Describe the main components of H.R. 40

·       Describe four human trafficking reparations episodes across ethnic groups

·       Discuss the pros and cons of passing H.R. 40

·       Discuss the driving factors of “moral high ground” when making moral appeals

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Engaging homeless youth and young adults that have been sex trafficked has challenges, barriers, and bravado! This presentation will share the experiences of a program director and therapist on developing strategies to engage homeless, trafficked youth. Victims of trafficking learn to live by rules of their trafficker, displaying distance and lack of trust with service providers. Homeless youth and young adults are often system involved, lack support systems, and have an increased vulnerability. These experiences alone create obstacles for providers to build rapport with homeless youth coupled with the victim’s trauma, impacted at times by the present trafficker, which create challenges for consistent services. Attendees will learn engagement strategies for both identifying victims and offering housing and comprehensive services, including therapy. Strategies will include leveraging basic needs while building an individual’s autonomy, modifying traditional homeless outreach programs, and increasing minor victim identification. Presenters will share the shifts in programming to meet individualized needs, while utilizing community based services such as housing and legal interventions. Lastly, employee burn out impacts the consistency of care and rapport with clients. Employee turn around and gaps in engagement can impact a victim’s decision to stay engaged with an agency. The presenters will share how to celebrate in a client’s steps towards stability, build a support network of professionals, and establish self-care within a team.
Presentation Objectives:

·       Identify the barriers around engaging homeless, trafficked youth

·       Discuss tools to increase the participation of victims

·       Present ways to tailor programming to improve outcomes and self-care for service providers

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SWOP Michigan would like to present an Indy Sex Worker Film Fest day to showcase a very diverse look at their experiences via a variety of documentaries. Additionally, each of these films has a female director and focuses on sex worker perspective. Their idea is to show each film with time allowed for Q&A following. The Scarlet Road follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton, who is impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers. She specializes in a long over-looked clientele: people with disability, who are deserving of equal sexual rights and expression. People with a disability have an intrinsic right to sexual expression. This right enables people to develop relationships, have sex, explore and express their sexuality, and achieve intimacy without personal or systemic barriers.

Director: Catherine Scott; Release Date: 11 October 2012 (USA); Runtime: 1 hr 46 min (106 min)

Presentation Objective:

·       Review sex worker experiences via a documentary

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Contemporary research on sex work and sex trafficking has highlighted the overrepresentation of persons of color (POC) involved in trading sex, addressing the interplay of poverty, institutional violence, historical trauma, and limited choices as undergirding the racial disparities for provider/victims. However, little research explores this marketplace with an intersectional analysis. This presentation explores qualitative data from interviews (N=157) with social service providers and criminal justice personnel who work closely with these populations in Minnesota (2015-2016). This research comparatively analyzes sex buyer demographics and provider/victim demographics alongside sex buyer preferences/treatment. Interviewees described experiences of POC provider/victims, which were influenced by structural racism and inequality as “push” factors, and sex buyer preferences and treatment of them due to their race/ethnicity. These experiences included racial fetishization, derogatory racial slurs, physical and sexual assaults, and less money to the dollar for sex acts compared to white provider/victims. This research supports a growing understanding of sex trafficking and commercial sex as racial justice and equity issues, as well as adds to practice-based knowledge of complex traumas that persons of color who trade sex may experience.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Gain insight about sex trafficking as an intersectional issue (race/gender/class)

·       Learn implications and strategies for macro social work practice

·       Gain takeaways for clinical social work practice

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A call to awareness regarding sex trafficking has increased research, bolstered social justice efforts, improved education, and influenced federal laws that protect victims and prosecute traffickers. Federal laws on sex trafficking are now being used through undercover sting operations via the Internet to arrest and prosecute buyers who attempt to engage in commercial sex with minors. A narrative analysis was completed to create an in-depth case study outlining the correspondences between a buyer and an undercover agent advertising trafficked children for sex. Participants are afforded a rare opportunity to examine actual emails related to the purchase of a child for sexual exploitation. The emails were used against the buyer as evidence within the court of law. The author asserts that the following case study will contribute to the body of literature on the victim selection processes and cognitive distortions employed by buyers of children for sex.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Describe the current tactics being used to prosecute buyers of sex trafficking

·       Present a case study of a buyer looking to purchase underage sex online

·       Allow participants to explore details of this case

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