A call from Polaris Project:
A pimp often brands the women and girls he traffics with tattoos - often his name, her nickname, or some other symbol. These tattoos serve as a permanent reminder that a pimp controls the woman's or girl's body.
A recent case out of Texas involved Clint Wilson, nicknamed 'Greedy,' who forced a 16-year-old girl, 'B.J.,' to engage in commercial sex. The pimp, Clint Wilson, convinced her that he was her boyfriend. Two weeks after she started working for him, he forced her to get a tattoo that referenced 'Greedy,' showing that he owned her.
Tattoo artists may be unknowingly carrying out this type of work on trafficking victims at any time. Without training to recognize the signs of trafficking, these artists may not realize that the young girl in front of them is actually a victim of human trafficking, or that the man who brought her in to the tattoo parlor who claimed to be her guardian and authorized her to get the tattoo, is actually her pimp.
You can help ensure that human trafficking cases like this are discovered by asking the National Tattoo Association to incorporate training on the link between sex trafficking and tattoos in their 2012 National Conference.
A recent case out of Texas involved Clint Wilson, nicknamed 'Greedy,' who forced a 16-year-old girl, 'B.J.,' to engage in commercial sex. The pimp, Clint Wilson, convinced her that he was her boyfriend. Two weeks after she started working for him, he forced her to get a tattoo that referenced 'Greedy,' showing that he owned her.
Tattoo artists may be unknowingly carrying out this type of work on trafficking victims at any time. Without training to recognize the signs of trafficking, these artists may not realize that the young girl in front of them is actually a victim of human trafficking, or that the man who brought her in to the tattoo parlor who claimed to be her guardian and authorized her to get the tattoo, is actually her pimp.
You can help ensure that human trafficking cases like this are discovered by asking the National Tattoo Association to incorporate training on the link between sex trafficking and tattoos in their 2012 National Conference.
Sign this Change.org petition to add your voice to the chorus calling for the use of tattoos as symbols of oppression to end.
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