Bodies Are Not Commodities: Examining A21 Curriculum’s Impact on Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Advocacy About Anti-Human Trafficking Rights and Issues

Adolescents’ Victim-Blaming Responses to Narratives About Sex Trafficking: Strategies for Curriculum Development

“…Because of their focus on helping victims rather than preventing victimization, social justice activities may present an opportunity to incorporate efficacy activities that do not promote victim blaming. One study (Scott et al, 2019) evaluated a trafficking prevention curriculum that includes a social activism component but did not directly engage students in related activities. Engaging students in a hands-on activism exercise could help students feel empowered toward a social issue, which the EPPM theorizes would decrease fear-control responses and perhaps decrease victim-blaming responses.…”

“…In their studies testing the implementation of "Bodies are Not Commodities," a human-trafficking curriculum for high schools developed by the NGO A21, Scott et al (2019) and Zhu et al (2020) both found that some students seemed to have emotional responses to the curriculum. Some participants' responses to questions about slavery and poverty's relationship to trafficking were left blank or answered with emoticons portraying sadness/crying.…”

“…A survey of 76 traditional and alternative school principals by Rizo et al (2021) found out that while the principals agreed schools were appropriate sites for sex-trafficking prevention education, they identified multiple challenges, including staff preparedness. Academic literature provides little guidance on best practices for teaching adolescents about the subject of sex trafficking; to date, only one sex-trafficking awareness-curriculum for high schoolers has been extensively evaluated (Scott et al, 2019; Zhu et al, 2020).…”

Curriculum in Action: Teaching Students to Combat Human Trafficking

“…Scott et al (2019) examined the impact of A21’s Bodies are Not Commodities curriculum on secondary students to question whether it was relevant for teaching about modern social justice issues. In their study, they found a wide variety of curriculum tools that help minors to become educated about human trafficking.…”

“…The U.S. government estimates that there are approximately 800,000 to 900,000 human trafficking victims across the globe annually and “about 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year” (Knudsen, 2015, p. 58). To combat human trafficking, countries have passed antitrafficking laws, regulations, and standards (Destefano, 2007; Thomson, 2016); nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) collaborate and/or coordinate to fight against human trafficking (Mertus & Bertone, 2007; Salvi, 2016; Tsalikis, 2011); and educators and advocates voice out concerns for youth and underrepresented groups who are susceptible to human trafficking (Meyers, 2014; Scott et al, 2019). In light of the damages and threats that human trafficking poses to both individuals and society, concerned educators and advocates alike have made concerted efforts to combat this global epidemic in the last decade (Tsalikis, 2011).…”