Anti-maskers use dangerous lies about child sex trafficking to push their agenda | Opinion
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has added additional fuel to the fire of harmful disinformation and misinformation campaigns spread on “alternative fact” blogs and popular social-media sites. The anti-mask movement now is trying to prop up its dangerous agenda with the phony and false claim, that wearing a mask increases the risk of kidnapping and child sex trafficking — an assertion that is equal parts absurd and harmful.
Let me be clear: There is zero credible information to suggest that children wearing face masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 increases their risk of being kidnapped or trafficked. (And, while we’re at it, mask-wearing does not dangerously decrease oxygen levels or cause children to get pinworm, as many of these same sources want you to believe.)
Face masks are an important public health tool and, according to the CDC, should be worn by children ages 2 and older in public settings when social distancing is not possible, unless otherwise advised by a doctor.
This fear-mongering on social media and beyond is an unacceptable attempt to commandeer the very real issues of kidnapping and child sex trafficking to further the anti-mask agenda. It is important to understand the real facts that surround human trafficking and child abduction — and unlike what the anti-mask brigade would have you believe, “stranger danger” is usually not a factor in the equation.
Kids are virtually never grabbed off the street and pulled into an unmarked van. Most children who become victims of sex trafficking are groomed with false promises of love, safety or opportunity. Some victims are trafficked by family members, recruited by peers (as we saw in the Jeffrey Epstein case) or “Romeo pimps” who pretend to have romantic interests before then tricking, trapping and exploiting a young victim. Sometimes, a a trafficker holds explicit photos or drug use held over a victim’s head to make the child or teen feel trapped and unable to get help.
Again, while each case is unique, victims are almost always groomed into submission and silenced by someone they get to know and come to trust.
The anti-mask disinformation and misinformation campaign not only undermines the fight to stop COVID-19, it also perpetuates harmful falsehoods about the real dangers of trafficking that can leave children more vulnerable, and even dead. Florida is a hotbed for human trafficking. It’s the third-biggest trafficking destination in the country, with half of all victims being children. Human trafficking is the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprise and is set to outpace drug trafficking. The problem is real and it is growing — fast — aided purposely or otherwise by the kind of disinformation disseminated by bogus anti-mask keyboard warriors.
Fortunately, school-based lessons now are required to be taught statewide to combat distortions like the ones spread by this campaign. The State Board of Education last year mandated developmentally appropriate human-trafficking prevention lessons for children in grades K-12, aimed at protecting them from being groomed into trafficking. This rule also requires dissemination of information to arm teachers and parents with the knowledge they need to recognize and report signs of exploitation.
Knowledge is power. Traffickers and child predators are smart — but together we can be smarter. It starts with rejecting harmful falsehoods like the messages being perpetuated on social media by this anti-mask movement and, instead providing and accessing accurate information to children and adults that can stop those who seek to harm our children and help victims speak up and get help.
For information on human trafficking and more, visit www.laurenskids.org.
State Sen. Lauren Book, is the founder and CEO of Lauren’s Kids.