I recently watched a documentary about the youth sex trade in NYC called Very Young Girls. It follows the stories of girls that were lucky enough to be engaged with an organization called GEMS whose mission is to "empower young women 12 to 21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop their full potential.".

It's digusting to watch the pimps drive up to these girls and smooth talk them, act like they are going to be the girl's boyfriend then turn around and ask for a "favor" - thus is born an underage prostitute.

Sadly, some of the girls become hooked to the chaos of the lifestyle and aren't ready to leave for good, their stories are shared as well. Just like anything, it's not going to work until they are ready, until they hit their bottom and want to find something different for their lives.

As a parent of a pre-teen, being reminded (which I do to myself purposely) of these types of men that prowl for vulnerable girls makes me hyper-vigilant to raise my daughter to be street smart and to question and to be aware that this is a reality for some people - in doing these things, I hope that she can avoid becoming prey herself.

I highly recommend that every one, especially parents of young girls watch this movie. It can happen anywhere, whether rural, suburban or urban.