End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits

In celebration of End Human Trafficking's 500th blog post this week, I've complied a list of End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits -- the ten most popular posts. It's interesting for me to see what you, the readers, have enjoyed engaging in the most. I hope to provide you with more of what you like. I would love your thoughts on this list and any suggestions you have for making the next 500 posts on the End Human Trafficking blog even better.

10. Sex Slave Training Video Game For Sale Under New Euphemism: I find a whole lot of disturbing nooks and crannies of the Internet in my research, but this has to be one of the most egregious ones. It's a video game that actually teaches young men how to train women as sex slaves. I wish I was making this crap up.

9. "Slave Next Door" Exposes U.S. Gov't Sanctioned Slavery: If you think the government stopped sanctioning slavery in the 1800s, you haven't read this book yet. And you should. The Slave Next Door tells many compelling stories of modern-day slavery in America, including one about U.S. government contractors using trafficking victims to build structures for the military in 2003. If you paid taxes in 2003, then that was your money they used to support slavery.

8. Children Are Sold for Sex in America's Capitol: My good friend and colleague, Melissa Snow, points out the disturbing fact that in Washington, DC, the capitol of the U.S., children as young as 12 are being sold for sex on the street, just blocks from the White House. President Obama, this is literally slavery happening in your back yard. It's time to do something about the taint of modern-day slavery in the U.S.

7. 7 Ways to Fight Slavery at the Grocery Store: Human trafficking seems like a huge and daunting issue, but we can make a serious impact as abolitionist with the small decisions we make every day, like what to buy at the grocery store. I list seven common items that are often tainted with slavery somewhere in the chain of production and alternatives to those items which are better for workers. The choices we make make the difference.

6. Diners Club Offers Payment Plan for Vietnamese Brides: I was outraged when I heard that Diners Club was, in effect, allowing men to put women on layaway when using their cards with a mail order bride service based in Vietnam. Mail order bride and international marriage broker agencies have extremely high instances of human trafficking, especially when unregulated. But you sent in hundreds of letters and Diners Club listened -- they ended the promotion. For many of you, this was your first major victory through Change.org.

5. A Side of McSlavery with That?: Millions of Americans eat at McDonald's, and most of them have no idea where the tomatoes McDonald's serves come from. Some of them come from Florida, where farmworkers in slavery or slave-like conditions toil to collect them. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is making tremendous progressive in getting companies like McDonald's and others to pay a fair price for tomatoes, thanks in part to all your efforts.

4. Prostitution and Trafficking: A Policy Debate: In what was probably one of the most controversial and comment-generating posts I've ever seen, I debated a frequent reader about how prostitution policy and the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution relates to human trafficking. The debate sparked discussion. And it showed that people who feel differently and passionately about this issue can engage in a respectful dialogue about the best interests of women.

3. The Real Faces of Prostitution: Of all the topics I've ever written about, I struggled with this one the most. Ultimately, I published and commented on these mug shots, which are public record, to show what prostitution can do to women, even those who enter it voluntarily. Showing their faces was a judgement call I've often questioned, but I stand by my decision to share the cruel reality of prostitution with this community of activists, so we can better understand and address it.

2. Teen Trafficking Survivor Gets Life Without Parole: When you've been working in human trafficking as long as I have, not much breaks your heart any more. But this case of a girl who was trafficked at 12 and killed her pimp to escape at 16 did. Since I published this story, at least one person a day has commented or written to me asking what they can do to help Sarah Kruzan. I've talked to her lawyers, and they've said that it would be better to wait until they have filed a legal action before we do anything. Thanks for your support, but please sit tight. I will let you all know the moment we as a community can be helpful to Sarah.

1.Department of Labor Releases List of Slave-Made Goods:

After several thousand of you wrote in asking for this list, the Department of Labor released it. The findings that a number of consumer goods are made by slaves is not surprising. But the detailed list of what goods from what countries are made by child and/or forced labor is incredibly helpful. We've just really begun to understand the full extent of that information.

Thanks for hanging in with me and End Human Trafficking so far, and I look forward to all the great social change you'll create over the course of the next 500 posts.

Photo credit: Brenda Annerl