I woke up at about 1:30am this morning and could not go back to sleep. Since I did not have to be at work today – I decided to pull what I have named my “up all night gimmick” – which basically involves me staying up long after the sun rises and enjoying some much needed “me” time. Browsing through the movie channels, I came across a documentary on Showtime called Very Young Girls – and since I have seen it – it is all I can think about.

While the title is suggestive – especially if you are a pervert – the documentary deals with the sexual exploitation of girls between the ages of 12 and 16. Set in New York City, the film shows what these naïve girls go through and deal with from their “pimps” – and how Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), an organization that, according to their website, http://www.gems-girls.org/index.html, “was founded in 1999 by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been sexually exploited as a teenager. GEMS has helped hundreds of young women and girls, ages 12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and to develop to their full potential. GEMS provides young women with empathetic, consistent support and viable opportunities for positive change.”

As I watched the documentary, I was immediately drawn in to this world of, “The Game,” which is what they call the world of “pimps and hoes.” Basically, “pimps” – or scum as I like to call them, find down-on-their-luck, impressionable young girls that feel they have no future – and offer them “love” and “companionship” (or manipulation and brainwashing) – and force them to sell their bodies to anyone with a wallet full of cash – all the while telling them that they “love them.”

According to statistics supplied by GEMS:

· The average age of entry into the commercial sex industry is now 11-12 years old
· Approximately 325,000 children in the United States are subjected to sexual exploitation each year
· According to a 2007 report from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, over 2,200 children are victimized through commercial sexual exploitation in New York City

Sadly, I have to admit that as I watched the documentary, I was at first angry with the girls who, despite getting rehabilitation and all the essentials they needed from GEMS, still admitted that they loved their “daddies” as they called them. But as I continued to watch – I realized that it was not their fault – because they were so brainwashed by these lowlifes that they could not make rational decisions. As a man, I find it deplorable that a member of my gender could find a vulnerable adolescent girl, make her think that he “loves” her, send her out on the street to have sex with men she does not know, collect the money they make from these illegal sex acts, beat her if she does not make enough – and then sleep like a baby at night while she cries herself to sleep.

I recall doing a story for The Brooklyn Skyline back in 1994 about women who were victims of abuse. I had made contact with a woman who ran a domestic violence shelter for young mothers. Before I could talk to one of her “tenants” – it took me three weeks of convincing to ensure this woman that I was not one of her husband’s friends or colleagues who was trying to find out where she was so he could get at her. I was amazed at the level of fear she lived with every day – thinking that instead of trying to help her and expose the pain she lived with that might help other women – she thought I was someone who was trying to lead her abusive partner to her location.

One of the quotes that really stuck with me from the documentary was from Rachel Lloyd herself as she received the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award from Wanda Sykes for her work with GEMS. After receiving the award, she said, “When it’s happening two blocks away from this auditorium, when it’s happening in Bedford-Stuyvesant or Hunts Point or Queens Plaza, we look the other way.” While that is a powerful quote – the sad thing is that it is true. I can’t even fathom how a man my age (36, soon to be 37) would actually pay a 12-16 year old girl for sex – and walk away “satisfied” not even caring that she is in the situation she is in – and trade “getting his rocks off” versus offering this child a way out.

If you have Showtime, the documentary will be on again in the following timeslots:

· January 4 Showtime 2 10:00pm
· January 10 Showtime 2:30am
· January 17 Showtime Women 7:20pm
· January 20 Showtime 2 8:30pm
· January 27 Showtime Women 7:30pm
· February 5 Showtime 3 7:00pm
· February11 Showtime Next 9:40pm
· February 19 Showtime 2 8:30pm
· February 23 Showtime 3 10:00pm

If you have the time to catch the documentary, please do. I hope, whether you are a man or a woman, it will enlighten and educate you the way it has me. And if you would like more information on GEMS, they can be reached by mail at 201 West 148th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10039, by phone at (212) 926-8089, by e-mail at info@gems-girls.org, or on the web at www.gems-girls.org.

And no matter if you are a man or a woman, if you are ever in New York City, and you see a very young girl on the street that is obviously underage and selling her body, ask her how much she charges for a “date,” agree to pay the fee…

…and take her directly to GEMS.