"I'm Not Buying It" Targets Super Bowl Sex Trafficking

Some say the Super Bowl is a magnet for sex trafficking, but the Super Bowl Host Committee has yet to acknowledge the problem. The “I’m Not Buying It” campaign wants to change that.

The campaign, organized by Traffick 911 in concert with a number of other organizations, includes PSAs like this one by Cowboys tackle Jay Ratliff:

Traffick 911 PSA 10 from Nate Bernard on Vimeo.

Sex worker advocates might quibble with Ratliff’s assertion that “real men […] don’t buy sex,” and it is worth making a distinction, as blogger Momma Rollett does, between “full grown women with other options freely choosing to offer their services to the highest bidder” and “the enslavement of girls and women that are powerless to stop it” (though we should also note that people of all genders can be victims of trafficking). Ratliff’s across-the-board anti-prostitution message notwithstanding, “I’m Not Buying It” is really focused on preventing crimes like the one described by trafficking survivor A.H. at Change.org:

[W]e traveled to several states where I was sold at nightclubs, bars, and parties — fulfilling a demand for sex nationwide. [My pimp] was always there, always watching. If I refused to work, I was beaten and tortured.

We spent an entire month in Dallas/Fort Worth, where my pimp said the “real money” was. We were all young (some as young as 14-years-old) and that’s what the men wanted. No one asked if we were being forced to work, or if we enjoyed it. No one cared. While we were being sold for sex every night, our pimp was recruiting other local girls – from the Galleria, the clubs, concerts, and even McDonald’s.

I lived in fear every day, hoping I’d survive to see the next. It wasn’t until I heard him loading his gun to kill me that I finally mustered the courage to escape.

A.H. is asking the Super Bowl Host Committee to post “I’m Not Buying It” posters and billboards around the stadium — and Change.org is also sponsoring a petition asking the Committee to endorse the campaign. They haven’t done so yet — and it remains to be seen whether they’ll acknowledge the disturbing side of an event they probably hope to market as fun and family-friendly. If you want to join those asking the Committee to address trafficking, you can sign the petition — or contact the committee directly.

Update: A reader says, “The director of communications at the Super Bowl hosting committee has told me that the matter is out of their hands and that the NFL is responsible for deciding which materials, information, and activities the hosting committee can use and engage in.” The Change.org petition will also be sent to the NFL.

“I’m Not Buying It” [Official Site]
A Sobering Side To The Super Bowl [Behind The Steel Curtain]
A Trafficking Survivor’s Plea To Super Bowl Hosts And NFL [Change.org]