Wake up America! This much-need awareness campaign is coming to your town soon!
“STOP THE MADNESS”: RIGHTS4GIRLS LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE MARCH MADNESS BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN IN CITIES HOSTING NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Drawing Attention To Sex Buyers Fueling Multi-Billion Dollar Sex Trade
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Rights4Girls announced a nationwide billboard campaign to combat sex trafficking/tourism surrounding the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament. This coordinated effort will hit 8 cities hosting the basketball games, with the goal of shining a light on the buyers fueling the multi-billion dollar illicit sex trade. The campaign will target the initial rounds (Cleveland, Milwaukee and Providence) go through regionals (Atlanta, Indianapolis and Newark, NJ) and take things all the way through the finals in San Antonio.
“Major sporting events like March Madness bring a lot of fun and entertainment, but they also attract well-to-do men with the wealth to purchase marginalized women and girls for sex,” said Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director of Rights4Girls. “Amidst the tournament and all the festivities associated with the games, there’s also a dark underbelly of sex trafficking and sex tourism in which vulnerable people are exploited for profit in the shadows of celebration, parties and excitement. And this is a troubling issue all-year-round. The traffickers won’t simply disappear once the confetti is swept off the floor.”
In each host city, the R4G billboards will rotate through a series of messages, including: “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Is Just A Game,” “Sex Buying Is Foul,” “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Won’t Land You A Penalty,” and “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Is A Victimless Crime.”
While patronizing sex transpires every single day in big cities and small towns across America, it happens in a big, concentrated way around major sporting events like March Madness, the World Cup, NASCAR, and the Super Bowl. Anytime large numbers of men with disposable income flock to one place, the obvious happens. A surge in tourism creates an environment in which sex tourism could thrive. Increased hotel bookings, parties and an influx of people make it easier for traffickers and sex buyers to operate under the radar.
“Sex buying is not a victimless crime, as some would mislead you to believe,” said Vafa. “Rampant misogyny and violence against women and girls is not only prevalent, but pervasive. While difficult to read, the sex buyers in this report reflect a community far from Hollywood’s Pretty Woman fairytale, but rather embody the disturbing mantra of ‘your body, my choice.’ Their words and actions reveal buyers as fully aware and indifferent to signs of trafficking, coercion, violence, substance abuse and desperation.”
For more information, please www.rights4girls.org/marchmadness.
