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Woodhull Freedom Foundation, as part of its Human Rights Commissions program, has released its findings on the facts – and fictions – behind the oft-repeated warnings of a dangerous spike in sex trafficking at the Super Bowl.

After partnering with SOAR Institute to conduct a careful analysis of the situation, Woodhull concludes that the dangerous uptick in sex trafficking is a myth, long encouraged, about a dangerous uptick in sex trafficking, long-encouraged by law enforcement, state/national governments and the media, has been continually disproven but continues to circulate – leading to confusion on all sides of the issue.

With Super Bowl LVI set to take place on February 13 in Los Angeles, California, experts are highlighting how this debate interacts with the broader socio-political landscape, the conflation between sex work and human trafficking, and the fulfillment of sex worker rights.

The report’s findings have found:

– While ads for sex may increase during the Super Bowl, instances of commercial sex and trafficking do not.

Researchers from the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, found that claims about increases in sex trafficking during the event are false and may reflect false socio-cultural fears “about sexuality and sexual exploitation that depict men as aggressive and autonomous, and women as victims in need of rescue or as criminals who should be arrested.”

– The myth helps serve as a narrative to benefit nonprofits and NGOs fighting trafficking around these events, virtual signaling national/state/local governments, media and those who want to justify their social control measures such as increased policing and migration controls based on anti-prostitution ideology.

– The true victims of the ‘Super Bowl sex trafficking myth’ are human trafficking victims themselves. 80% of cases are in labor sectors outside of commercial sex.

Trafficking hysteria around the Super Bowl causes host cities to increase police surveillance, and thanks to the conflation between adult consensual sex work and human trafficking, much of these resources are used to police and arrest sex workers rather than engaging in prevention at the expense of those experiencing exploitation.

– Criminalization prevents those participating in commercial sex from reporting crimes committed against them for fear of arrest.

Even trafficking survivors participating in commercial sex because of force, fraud or coercion fear criminal justice penalties if they come forward as a result of the massive stigma and risk of arrest surrounding sex work. In a criminalized environment, sex workers also have less agency to engage in safe sexual practices and less access to medical care.

 – Increased policing has disproportionate consequences for communities with intersecting vulnerabilities. Members of LGBTQ communities, communities of color, the unhoused, and immigrants are among those disproportionately targeted by law enforcement as sex workers. 

Black adults make up over half of the people arrested for loitering for the purpose of prostitution in Los Angeles, even though they are only 8.9% of the city’s population.

–Human trafficking is a problem that persists year-round. 

As the Polaris Project pointed out in 2019, encouraging hysteria around specific events detracts from the need to establish effective, holistic policy responses rather than sensationalized rhetoric.

Woodhull Freedom Foundation exists to fight back against laws that suppress sexual freedom and to advance sexual rights. Woodhull works at the intersection of many movements and campaigns, often in coalition with other organizations and communities, in order to achieve political, cultural, and social change. From #BlackLivesMatter to #MeToo, from reproductive justice to racial justice, from free speech to sex worker rights, Woodhull stands at the intersection of many movements and campaigns in order to affirm, protect, and advance sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.

To learn more about the facts and myths about ‘Sex Trafficking at the Super Bowl’, visit WoodhullFoundation.org.

ABOUT THE WOODHULL FREEDOM FOUNDATION:

Headquartered in Washington DC, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to change laws, policies, and practices across a range of issues that deny or threaten people’s fundamental human right to sexual freedom.

Founded in 2003 and named for Victoria Woodhull, the 19th-century feminist, activist, and suffragette who fought for the right for women to vote in public elections, the Foundation is the preeminent voice at the intersection of sexual rights and human rights that continues to fight against the tyranny of widespread sexual repression in America. To learn more, visit WoodhullFoundation.org.

Learning for Justice is hosting a series of virtual professional development workshops starting in March and going into May 2022. The workshops are open to current K-12 classroom teachers, administrators and counselors, and for anyone who coaches classroom teachers and administrators. Check out the full workshop schedule here and register now—space is limited!

Sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions, Minnesota

Date: Thursday, February 17, 2022
Time: 7 pm-8:15 pm (Central Time – USA)
Where: Zoom (register at link below)
Cost: FREE and open to the public

Watch the film, then join the discussion with the guest speaker, Diana Quintero. YouTube ( or copy and paste it: https://youtu.be/ftFbCwJfs1I)

Register here:  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqcOyprzIsE9YLn46sbTjJdP0GNE7Zn2eM

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Description: ALUNA is made by and with the Kogi people, a genuine lost civilization hidden on an isolated triangular pyramid mountain in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, nearly five miles high, on the Colombian-Caribbean coast. The Kogi have made this amazing documentary to help us understand how to avoid the destruction of the world that they are trying to protect, and of ourselves. Learn more about the movie in its website: https://www.alunathemovie.com/

Guest Speaker: Diana Quintero is a Visiting Human Rights Engaged Scholar at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs. she has been teaching since 2008 a Human Rights Law Clinic focused on legal defense to vulnerable communities and groups such as armed conflict victims and people living under environmental risks. She participates in different professional nets working on sexual and productive rights of women and in women’s equality as well.

You can find this information, as well as upcoming events, on the CGS-MN website: https://www.globalsolutionsmn.org/upcomingevents

Past events and recordings: https://www.globalsolutionsmn.org/pastevents

The HRE USA Innovations & Partnerships Committee is working on developing language that clarifies the importance of diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) from an HRE perspective in order to support educators who are dealing with challenges to bringing this orientation to their schools and/or other forums.  

To that end, they are seeking your input to the following questions:

1. What is your experience with being trained or with doing training in DEI?

    a. What has been positive?

    b. What has been negative?

    c. What perceptions do you see relative to DEI?

2. How have you seen DEI related to HRE?

    a. In what ways does HRE inform efforts to further DEI?

3. How would language connecting HRE to DEI be helpful to your efforts?

Please send your responses to Sandy Sohcot by Tuesday, February 15: sandy@theworldasitcouldbe.org

Inspired by the real time conversations our facilitators, friends and communities are having around COVID vaccines, we invite you to dialogue across the divide and find a shared meaning behind vaccines and mandates

February 9th at 12pm PST on Zoom

In dialogues, we go beyond right or wrong. We explore experiences, how you arrive there and how you move forward. Let’s share a conversation!

More about this event: This dialogue offering emerged from a small group dialogue held recently, where we began to understand the spectrum of vaccine willingness. We also filtered the mandates through a human rights lens. For example, how are mandates affecting movement and employment status, and whose rights are affected when we don’t vaccinate ourselves? Explore the fundamentals of dialogue as we take on a difficult subject.

REGISTER HERE