So, this is a story that’s recently gained a lot of traction,  and that weighs very heavily on my heart. Sarah Kruzan is a young woman from California who grew up hard-  a mother on drugs who abused her. At 13, she met a man who forced her to prostitute herself sexually exploited her. At 16, she killed him. Sarah was sentanced to life in prison w/o the possibility of parole…plus four years. She’s now 29, this is her story.

In cases like these, we all wonder what we can do. Well, the first thing, I think, is to educate ourselves and share what we’ve learned. Two years ago, I went to a panel discussion hosted by the National Organization of Women (NOW) here in New York. They topic was “Mean Streets: NY Teens Caught in the Sex Trade,” and the panel was discussing the selling of children for sex, specifically in New York State (what it is, who it affects, and what we can do to help)

Here are some of the startling facts I learned there:

Fact: “Every year, thousands of kids, 85% of which are girls and 67% which are African American, end us as the victims of sexual exploitation in New York City.”

Fact: “Selling sex if a harsh reality for girls as young as 13 and 14, which is the average age of entry into prostitution in the Unites States.”

(no longer a) Fact: “Children under the age of 17 are not old enough to legally consent to sex, yet under current New York State law child runaways caught in prostitution are prosecuted.”

The panel was to raise awareness for  The Safe Harbor Act which would “treat sexually exploited youth as children in need of supervision and services,” (instead of criminals) and “create a range of specialized, community-based programs to help sexually exploited children reclaim their young lives and get them off the street permanently.” And after years of working to raise awareness, lobbying, rallying, speaking out, and testifying in Albany (by girls who themselves were formerly exploited), The Safe Harbor Act passed last year! It wasn’t an easy fight, but it happened because people worked to make it happen.

One thing that will always stand out in my mind about that NOW panel was this advice- don’t call it “child prostitution,” because that makes it seem like the girls had a choice, or agency, in selling their bodies for sex. Instead, call it “child sexual exploitation,” because that is what it is- adult men exploiting children (who are the victims) sexually. From that point on, I have stopped saying “child prostitute,” and corrected others when they did. It may not seem like much (and it is really a very little thing), but changing the way people think about something is the first step to changing how it’s dealt with.

So when we read stories like that of Sarah Kruzan (and make no mistake about it, she is not the only youth who was sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of getting out), let’s think about what we can do. Learn about the issue, sign the petition (if you are so inclined), send a letter to your congressman,  friend the campaign on myspace.com, or facebook.com, but even more than that, tell somebody else. Start a dialogue in your home, with your friends, in your community. Get involved. It’s the only way to make change happen.

And if you, or someone you know is being sexually exploited, there are places you can go for help. Please check out G.E.M.S.,  a phenomenal organization here in NYC that’s making a real difference.