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FEATURES
November 2, 2009
Human trafficking discussed in TSU Project PATHE hosts talk on the capturing and exploitation of children
Project PATHE president Karina it is thriving everywhere. There are Gutierrez co-founded the club a year more slaves today, 27 million, than in any other time ago after learning in history. about human trafA 2004 report ficking in a wom... Slaves are to Congress from en’s studies class. By Nate Hamblen cheaper today than Attorney Gen“Our main For the Daily Titan eral John Ashcroft goal is to spread features@dailytitan.com at any other time in found that an esawareness about history. According to Vintage cars, antique paintings or human trafficking timated 14,500 to the latest item you’re watching on in California and ‘Dreams Die Hard,’ 17,500 people are eBay probably come to mind when the United States, trafficked into the the average cost for a you think of auctions, not children as well as help out U.S. each year. slave today is $90. being sold to the highest bidder. Children as the victims who Cal State Fullerton’s Project have already been young as 6 are PATHE (People Against Trafficking trapped in this taken from their and Human Exploitation) provided situation,” Gutierrez, a 21-year-old homes to be sold in other countries students with information on hu- senior double majoring in psychol- for anything ranging from prostituman sex trafficking and slavery Fri- ogy and political science, said. tion, agricultural work to domestic day night in Titan Theatre. Slavery is not legal anywhere, but service. Project PATHE members began the event Friday night with a short play showing one of the many ways children are tricked into leaving their families. Often, children are persuaded into leaving their homes and families with promises of a good job and a better life, but this is hardly the case. They are taken captive and sometimes lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The seminar also featured two films, “Children of the Night” and “Dreams Die Hard.” Both films showed how prevalent and widePhoto courtesy mct spread human trafficking is today. Danh Thi Anh, 20, sorts plastic bags to sell to recyclers at a garbage dump on the outskirts of One of the reasons huRach Gia City in Vietnam. Anh was one of the seven girls rescued from a sex trafficking scam in December 2008, after she accepted a phony job offer to work in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. man trafficking is able to
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HPV vaccine now offered to males from ages 9 to 26
photo courtesy mct Truong Thi Nhi Linh, 17, collects plastic bags from fresh garbage to sell to recyclers, at a garbage dump on the outskirts of Rach Gia City in Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. She earns the equivalent of $1.75 for a full day’s work. She had accepted a fake job offer to work in Ho Chi Minh City and found herself in a sex trafficking ring which she was rescued from in December 2008.
thrive is that slaves are cheaper today than at any other time in history. According to “Dreams Die Hard,” the average cost of a slave today is $90. The majority of the children being trafficked are illiterate, making it easy to trick them into leaving. Their captors will threaten them using coercive physical and mental control, breaking them down to the point where they are too petrified to run. The children are beaten and captors will often threaten to kill their families if they do not do as they are told.
Muzzamil Ayaz, 21, joined Project PATHE because he thought more people needed to be aware of the growing problem. “Many people actually don’t know that there is a problem, and it is here in the United States and all over the world,” the junior economics major said. The seminar ended with members from groups who are trying to fight the human trafficking problem answering questions and giving their perspective on the issue. Jessica Anderson, a 21-year-old history major, came to the seminar
to learn more about human trafficking and to see what was being done in the community to combat the problem. When asked if she planned on doing anything to help spread the word she said, “Yes, I am going to try and volunteer for one of the local organizations and do whatever I can help stop this horrible problem.” Other students who wish to help fight human trafficking in both their local community and the world are encouraged to join Project PATHE. The club meets every Monday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Titan Student Union’s Stearns conference room.
By Lauren Felechner
Daily Titan Staff Writer features@dailytitan.com
PHOTO COURTESY MCT The Food and Drug Administration announced that males can now receive GARDASIL, the Human Papillomavirus vaccine, in mid-October.
aware of it unless they are affected by genital warts. Even then, there are no long-term effects of HPV for them, Hermann said. Women infected with genital warts carry the risk of it turning into cervical cancer. “Some people think ‘this isn’t going to happen to me,’” Hermann said, “and we don’t have women rushing to the Health Center to get this vaccine and protect themselves, so how are we going to expect men to do the same?” Psychology major Megan Forte, 22, agreed with Hermann. “I didn’t even know there was a vaccine available for guys. I think that if more people knew about it, and knew
the reasons for getting it, then a vast amount of more guys and girls would be getting the vaccine,” Forte said. Forte, who is single and dating, believes this vaccine is something that she would bring up with future boyfriends. She has not received the HPV vaccine, but is not opposed to it either. “I think the majority of young men in their late teens and early twenties have other things on their mind than getting a shot that’s going to possibly prevent cancer from their potential partners ... I think that guys that are in committed relationships would be more than willing to get it,” Forte said. History major Dustin Fisher, 28, is in a monogamous relationship and agreed with Forte on her standpoint with men who are in committed relationships. “First off, one of my biggest fears is catching an STD, so I protect myself. And I see this shot as just another way to do that – to protect me and my girlfriend,” Fisher said. “But she has to get it too then.” The vaccine is a set of three injections over a six-month period, Hermann said. It is offered at $130 per injection at the Health Center, which could be pricey for most students, which is is why they are also encouraged to look into their personal health insurance if interested in the vaccine. Due to the cost, Hermann has noticed that people who begin the immunization process don’t often finish it. “I think it takes a real man to realize it can only benefit them in their future to actually go get it. But hey if you want a bump on your junk, then so be it,” Fisher said. Hermann believes the decision whether or not to receive the injections is a controversial issue amongst the age group it is directed toward. “This is definitely a protective shield for women for the men to get this vaccine,” Hermann said. Although the vaccines may be running a bit high cost-wise, there is no price for the possibility of jeopardizing our future health and future relationships.
Screen capture By shruti patel/Daily Titan Photo Editor MyPsychoEx.net allows people to post their own stories of relationships gone wrong in the same vein as FML.com and TextsFromLastNight.com.
Student’s Web site collects ‘psycho’ stories of past significant others Open forum lets people open up about their love gone awry By Nicole Park
Daily Titan Staff Writer features@dailytitan.com
Everyone has an interesting story about at least one ex-girlfriend/ boyfriend said Todd Favela. “That’s what make exes fun.” Favela, a 21-year-old illustration major at Cal State Fullerton, along with Amanie Al-Faris, Kyle Cannon and Ryan Magallanes, launched a new Web site featuring stories – funny and freaky – about ex-significant others. Co-creator Al-Faris, 22, explained the Web site as a lovegone-wrong version of FML.com or TextsFromLastNight.com. Users generate the content by telling their best, or worst, stories of love gone awry for the Web site and reader’s amusement. “It’s more of a forum where people can read stories about other people’s psycho exes and get a laugh out of it,” Al-Faris said. However, despite being funny, Favela did say that some of the psycho exes can indeed seem psychotic. “We’ve had so many. There was one guy with a micro-penis that held a woman captive with an ax. I know the person who told
the story personally, so it was just the Web site’s operations. shocking,” Favela said. “Amanie brought me on board The Web site is new. The four because I’m a viral Web site and friends found themselves discuss- marketing geek,” Favela said. ing ideas for a Web site over lunch “Ryan really grounded us in saying when Favela brought up the idea that exes would be the best idea to of having a “psycho ex” section. run with. Kyle does the coding and Because of all the excitement it did so for the entire summer.” stirred within the group, the foThe Web site is funded only cus was turned solely to psycho by the four students, but they are exes and MyPsylooking to choEx.net was become large born almost two enough to months ago. gain adverThe open fotisement revrum Web site enue. has generated “As far as approximately advertising, 40 posts and is we’ve been still trying to – Todd Favela, posting in reach out to a forums and Web site creator larger audience. spreading the “I haven’t site through heard of it until now, but it sounds word of mouth. Just recently I’ve like a great concept,” said Bri Ken- been doing some press to promote drick, a 23-year-old Fullerton the site so we can get even betresident and student at Cal State ter stories to share with people,” Northridge. Favela said. Favela realizes that the site is There are other plans for the still new and will eventually garner future of the Web site including more attention was a college-aged the implementation of an iPhone demographic given time. application, a Twitter account and “The site just went up ... We’re links to other Web sites. babies to the Internet world hopFavela said there are also many ing to grow up quick. We were in unpublished stories that have beta stage the entire summer. It failed to be taken seriously. “I was just recently that we decided think the only problem we might to launch it because of school face is credibility. That will be hard starting up,” Favela said. to sort out since some things just He explained the structure of aren’t believable.”
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There was one guy with a micropenis that held a woman captive with an ax.
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We have all seen the commercials for GARDASIL, the vaccine for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for girls and women. However, with the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the vaccine for guys, maybe we will be seeing boys and men in those commercials as well. The vaccine was approved for the use in boys and men ages 9 to 26 on Oct. 16 by the FDA for the prevention of genital warts in males. Warts can be caused by HPV types 6 and 11 which cause about 90 percent of genital warts cases, according to MERCK. com, the vaccine also protects against types 16 and 18. Mary Hermann, director of Health Education at CSUF, said the Health Center has been offering GARDASIL to female students for some time now. With the recent approval of the vaccination for men, appointments may become available to male students as well. “It’s the same exact vaccine for both men and women,” Hermann said. “It immunizes (against) the four strains of HPV which are all linked to cervical cancer and two for genital warts.” Men can carry HPV without being