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Books The Slave Across the Street: Th, The Slave Across the Street: Ho, Slavery in the Land of the Free, The Sacred Bath: An American | ||
Tedxcolumbus 2011 theresa flores find a voice with soap
Theresa Flores is a survivor of and campaigner against sex trafficking, and the creator of Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution (S.O.A.P.), a nonprofit organization that aims to help prevent sex trafficking.
Contents
- Tedxcolumbus 2011 theresa flores find a voice with soap
- Theresa flores
- Early life and trafficking
- Activism and legal influence
- Published works
- References
Theresa flores
Early life and trafficking
As a child, Flores' father was a business advocate and his job always required their family to move from city to city. When she was 15 and living in Detroit, Flores was allegedly drugged and raped by a male classmate at Birmingham Groves High School. The rapist's older cousins had taken pictures of the attack, and used it for sexual blackmail that lasted two years. After two years of abuse her dad was transferred to another city and the trafficking stopped. It took Flores many years to speak about her experiences. Flores received her bachelor's degree from Ball State University in Social work and continued her education at the University of Dayton in Ohio, getting her Master's degree in Counseling Education, specializing in Human Development so she could help people who have gone through the same or similar things she has.
Activism and legal influence
Flores is a licensed social worker and the founder of Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution (S.O.A.P.), which gives motels and hotels bars of soap labeled with phone numbers that victims can call for help.
In 2009, Flores was chosen for the Ohio Attorney General's Commission to study human trafficking. She has presented evidence on the problem of human trafficking to the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate. In 2010 her testimony was a major part of the passing of Senate Bill 235 in Ohio, making human trafficking a felony in the state.
Flores received one of the first "Courage" Awards from Gov. John Kasich in Ohio in 2012, and received the "Ruby Award" in 2009 from Soroptimist.
Michigan Senate Bill 584 was named the "Theresa Flores Act" and eliminated the statute of limitations for children who are victims of sex trafficking and changed the status of prostitutes who are minors from criminals to victims.