“Not for Sale: Sex Trafficking in the U.S.” will be the topic of a free public panel at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, on Marshall University’s Huntington campus.
The date has been rescheduled from the originally announced date.
On hand in BE5 of Marshall’s Memorial Student Center will be House of Delegates member Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-Monongalia), Dr. Maggie Stone, assistant professor of sociology and director of Marshall’s graduate studies program in sociology; Margaret Phipps Brown, J.D., professor of criminal justice and criminology at Marshall; and licensed social worker Kristen Kerns. An audience question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.
Stone noted that sex trafficking is often assumed to be an international problem that plagues countries other than our own. Cases of trafficking, however, have been reported in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Many cases go unrecognized, unreported, or are mistaken for prostitution.
Speakers will address definitions of sex trafficking and discuss trauma experienced by trafficking victims, how to identify a potential trafficking situation and ways to effect change at the university, community and legislative levels.
Cosponsors of the panel are Marshall’s Women Connect, Women’s Center, Women’s Studies program, Students against Sex Slavery and the College of Liberal Arts. Representatives from the following groups will be present at the event: the Women’s Empowerment Addiction Recovery (WEAR) Program, Cabell-Huntington Health Department, Amnesty International, CONTACT Rape Crisis Center, Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Students for Reproductive Justice, and Backpacks and Brown Bags.
For more information, contact Stone by e-mail at stonem@marshall.edu or by phone at 502-727-8902.