Category — People

Recent articles regarding the “Sugar Baby” trend, where debt-burdened young people seek romantic relationships with older individuals for financial compensation, have portrayed these arrangements as a new and modern phenomenon.  These journalists have a point: college students entering into these relationships are a byproduct of the onerous cost of education in 21st Century America.  In a broader sense, however, the Sugar Baby craze is merely the newest installment of an age-old quest to seek salvation from economic deprivation. [Read more →]

Vulnerability to any crime is subject to a variety of socioeconomic, cultural, and independent factors that place some individuals at higher risk of entering dangerous situations than others. Although financial insecurity is a huge vulnerability for many college students and recent grads, it is not necessarily the only factor in a persons decision to be come a sugar baby. [Read more →]

Survival sex is a term commonly understood within the context of the runaway, homeless, youth (RHY) community whereby youth turn to prostitution as a means of survival – exchanging sexual services for basic necessities such as food and shelter. Today, educational debt is putting some young adults in the same dire situation. [Read more →]

The phenomenon of “sugar babies,” – where debt-burdened young people seek romantic relationships with older individuals for financial compensation — have been recently in the news. A recent Huffington Post article told the story of a young college student seeking a way out of her college debts and we couldn’t help but draw the connections between these highly exploitative relationships and the potential vulnerabilities linked to situations of human trafficking. [Read more →]

As a case manager and therapist at Polaris Project, I sometimes feel so focused on my day-to-day work that it becomes difficult to see, and know, the anti-trafficking movement as a whole. I connect victims here in the United States to housing, medical, and legal resources and provide trauma-focused therapy, but I know little about the face of human trafficking in other countries. At times I write a supportive T-Visa application statement for clients, but am not fully involved in current state or federal policy initiatives that will eventually help them.

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Black and white animal-printed lounge chairs and couches.  Deep pink and purple mood lighting.  DJ-spun tracks thumping through the speakers and floors.  Champagne-filled glass flutes and cocktail glasses.  From the appearances of the room, I could have been in any number of swanky and exclusive nightclubs in New York City.

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As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
– John F. Kennedy

A year ago this month, Ambassador Lagon and I were steeped in conversations about how Polaris Project could strengthen awareness on modern-day slavery by increasing reports from the frontlines of the anti-trafficking field.  Too often, those working directly in the trenches lack the time to come up for air to share their experiences and thoughts about how this problem is affecting our communities. [Read more →]