Empowering Young Men In Ending Sexual Exploitation

November, 2017

Now that another school has started, we’d like to share that we have our prevention education program running strong at schools in Chicago, and making an impact in the lives of many young people.

 CAASE views conversations with students as key indicators of success because commercial sexual exploitation is able to flourish when society tolerates the objectification of certain people, especially those experiencing certain vulnerabilities.  Facilitating discussions about how calling some women sluts and watching others degraded through pornography are ways of participating in the objectification of some women.  Finding ways to speak up and speak out is not only a way of respecting ourselves and others, but breaking the silence is also a way to bring an end to this social problem.

Students are getting the message, and committing to taking a stand.  One story that illustrates the impact of this department in the classroom, is the story of “Vince.” One of our educators recently facilitated a workshop about consent at one of our partner high schools in the city. Directly after the 55-minute class, the eleventh-grader approached our educator and shared and shared a personal story of his relationship with his girlfriend.  Vince wanted to share that, “this class got me thinking,” and he went on to elaborate that he had a new understanding and appreciation for the importance of having conversations about consent.  Vince told our educator that the workshop taught him that “it’s important that everyone is comfortable” and that he plans to wait to go further with his girlfriend out of respect for her – and for himself.

We are looking forward to hearing many more stories like this as the school year continues.  The school is just getting started, and we have many more workshops scheduled throughout Chicago, and many more opportunities to share this information with young people.  We have no doubt that the effort to end sexual exploitation and objectification of people will continue with this generation of young people.  Thanks for your continued support of our work through your donations to GlobalGiving.