Episode 93 | Building Awareness of Child Sex Trafficking: How We Can All Make a Difference
About Alan Smyth:
Alan Smyth is married and a father of two children and one grandchild. He is the Executive Director for Saving Innocence, an anti-human trafficking agency based in Los Angeles California.
Alan has responsibility for Direct Services and Business Operations.
Alan recently collaborated on a book with numerous survivors of Human Trafficking entitled MEN! Fight For Me. It’s a book for everyone but with a special emphasis on the male audience. You can learn more about this book at www.fightforme.net
Website: SavingInnocence.org
Book: “MEN! Fight For Me” by Alan Smyth and Jessica Midkiff
Audiobook: “MEN! Fight For Me Audiobook” by Alan Smyth and Jessica Midkiff
About Conroy Kanter:
A Los Angeles-based producer, CONROY KANTER is President and Owner of KK Ranch Productions, Inc. and Vice-President of JH Kanter Productions, whose past projects include the Academy Award Nominated film, IRONWEED starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and THE BIG BANG. She’s also a member of LA Women in Film, ALSC, PGA, and SAG, and serves on the Board of the Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation. Kanter and KK Ranch Productions projects include SAVING ANGELO starring Kevin Bacon, GHOST ROCK and THE APPEARING directed by Daric Gates, both released by Lionsgate, CAKE: A WEDDING STORY, CLEARLAKE, WI, and has currently finished post-production on the highly anticipated, independent drama, TRAFFICKED, inspired by the book, “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery” starring Ashley Judd, Elisabeth Röhm, Academy Award Nominated Anne Archer, and Sean Patrick Flanery. Conroy was honored as a speaker on The Power of Film at the GSN/Vatican conference. Keynote speaker at the Canadian Energy Exec Conference and has received numerous awards including the International ISTAND Award as a FREEDOM FIGHTER for taking extraordinary measures to fight Human Trafficking Globally by FREE-THEM Organization and the State of California Ambassador Certificate of Recognition for outstanding service and commitment.
Website: KK Ranch Productions
Movie: Trafficked
Episode Notes:
Content Warning: This episode contains frank discussions about child sex trafficking. We encourage you to care for your well-being as you listen to and share this episode about the all-too-real danger of human trafficking.
Dr. Laura welcomes a return guest alongside a new expert in this challenging and vitally important episode on child sex trafficking. Alan Smyth, Executive Director of Saving Innocence (based in LA) and co-author of “MEN! Fight For Me”, returns to the show along with new guest Conroy Kanter, President of KK Ranch Productions and Producer of the movie Trafficked. Their conversation lifts the veil of secrecy on the issue of child sex trafficking, revealing how close to home it is and the current efforts to raise awareness of the tragic reality of this heinous crime.
Alan Smyth reveals that his celebrated book, “MEN! Fight For Me”, written with the collaborative efforts of trafficking survivors, is now in audiobook form for even wider distribution. Conroy Kanter shares how her 2017 film, Trafficked, starring Ashley Judd and Patrick Duffy, is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime. Alan and Conroy readily share their knowledge with Dr. Laura. Awareness of the grim reality of child sex trafficking is necessary in order to combat the continuing spread of the criminal practice. To that end, everyone who hears this conversation is offered an opportunity to acknowledge the present danger of the issue and act by sharing these resources and protecting children with foreknowledge.
“There’s a trafficker, and then there’s a trafficked victim, to coin your movie title. And all of that is exploitation. There’s certainly exploitation that isn’t yet trafficking, but when that third-party trafficker, controller, is forcing someone to be somewhere and receiving money for some sort of sexual, you know, exploitation or effort, then it becomes trafficking. And it’s usually, according to the definition, through force, physical force, oftentimes violent force, sometimes lethal force, fraud or coercion.” Alan Smyth
“And [trafficking] is not something that you just want to say, oh, that happens in another country far far away. It happens right here!” Conroy Kanter
Resources:
- Episode 25 | Calling All Men to Action: Let’s End Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking! – Part 1
- Episode 26 | Calling All Men to Action: Let’s End Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking! – Part 2
- Watch Trafficked on Amazon Prime
- Find “MEN! Fight For Me” on Amazon
- Canada: Human Trafficking Hotline / phone: 1-833-900-1010
- America: National Human Trafficking Hotline / phone: 1-888-373-7888
- European Commission: National Hotlines
Learn more about Dr. Laura on her website: https://drlaura.live
For more resources, look into Dr. Laura’s organizations:
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