We addressed sex trafficking by hosting a symposium in partnership with Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST) to educate the tech sector on how they can help prevent sex trafficking.

UPDATE: Check out KIRO-TV coverage of this event and more stories in other major publications.

 

Attendees at Tuesday’s “Sex Trafficking & the Tech Industry” symposium were greeted at the Pacific Tower’s Panoramic Center by some surprising, sobering and uncomfortable statistics:

• The peak time people are procuring sex online is 2:00 pm when most people are at work.
• 64% of prostituted people say they have met clients on company properties.
• In one 24-hour period in Seattle, about 6847 people solicited sex on one of the 100+ websites advertising sex.
• 12% of people charged with soliciting sex from children in King County were from the IT sector, one of the largest industry represented.

The information set the tone for the day, which was one of “I want to know more,” as speakers, panelists and attendees discussed sex trafficking and its connection to the technology industry.  Sponsored by WTIA and the Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST), the symposium was a groundbreaking event in its approach to the topic.  

“This is the first time I’ve heard of an entire industry coming together to talk about how to stop sex trafficking and buying,” said Mar Brettman, founder of BEST.

The risk factors in tech

“The Internet is the ‘street’ where exploitation happens,” Valiant Richey, Sr. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, told attendees.  “Tech has a number of risk factors for participating in the sex industry.  It’s male-dominated, people have money, and a lot of solicitation happens online.”

Mr. Richey explained that demand for buying sex is huge, and it’s what’s driving the growth in sex trafficking.  This is why, he said, that King County has been taking a new approach to the problem:  going after buyers, who are creating that demand, rather than prostituted people, who tend to be victims of exploitation and abuse.  Prosecutions over the last two years reflect this change, with buyers making up the overwhelming majority of people arrested for sex crimes.

Still, the problem is enormous and nearly impossible to address through the justice system alone.  Mr. Richey encouraged the audience to get involved, saying there are two things the tech industry can do to help:  provide jobs to people who want to get out of the sex trade and discourage demand among employees.

Sex trafficking isn’t “victimless”

Alisa Bernard, a survivor of prostitution and activist, and Mike Provenzano, a “Men’s Accountability” facilitator who works with men who want to stop buying sex, talked about the harm in sex trafficking.  Ms. Bernard explained that the cultural stigma of prostitution, rather than encouraging people to get out, acts as a barrier and keeps people in, as many shelters and human services organizations deny help to people who’ve been prostituted.  A key theme in her comments was that we need to bust the myth that prostitution is a victimless crime.

Mr. Provenzano discussed the cultural factors, such as the societal pressure on men to objectify women and pursue sexual conquest, which help foster the demand for buying sex.  (Men, especially white men, are the majority of buyers.)  He also addressed the issue of men who don’t acknowledge the harm they cause through buying sex, saying that while some men don’t care about harm and some choose to deny it, many men, with education, are motivated to change their behavior.

Leadership and culture make a difference

Heather Redman, VP of Business Ops and GC at Indix Corporation, moderated a panel discussion with leaders from the tech industry, including Dawn Lepore (former CEO and Chairman of the Board, drugstore.com), Robb Monkman (CEO and co-founder, React Mobile), Bill Richter (Partner, Madrona Ventures), and Brent Turner (COO, Rover.com).  The group talked about a number of ways the industry can address the problem of sex trafficking:

• Building cultural values that go beyond “being scrappy,” “no rules,” and “brogrammers” to having zero tolerance for exploitation, discrimination and violating human rights.
• Working with BEST to promote change and awareness among tech employees.
• Raising awareness among tech leaders and encouraging them to speak out against trafficking.
• Building greater diversity in the tech industry and creating job opportunities for people who’ve been prostituted.  (One attendee commented during the discussion, “It’s easy to say ‘we don’t discriminate, we can hire former prostitutes,’ but the fact is that prostitutes don’t look like the tech industry.”)

Lead by example

Dow Constantine, King County Executive, was the final speaker of the morning, and he focused on the call to action, encouraging more industries to step up and work to end sex trafficking in the region.  He noted that King County was a founding member of BEST and called sex trafficking “a crime against the powerless.”  He said that King County has thousands of Metro bus drivers, nurses, parks employees — all interacting with people who may be victims. “We are working together to figure out how we turn those interactions into interventions,” he said.

Mr. Constantine reiterated the message that leaders can make a difference and companies can take steps to help stop trafficking.  “We need leaders who are willing to step up and create a more enlightened and compassionate community,” he said.  “It’s important that our policies reflect our values.”

Michael Schutzler, the WTIA’s CEO, closed the event by urging attendees to work together as a community. “You now have peers and associates who are informed,” he said.  “Every single person sitting in this room, with one act, will be able to contribute to ending this problem in our society.  This isn’t the end of the conversation for the WTIA.  It’s just the beginning.”

Check out the press coverage here: KIRO, PSBJ, Geekwire, Crosscut